FLOWERY BRANCH - Wade Phillips isn't surprised the Atlanta Falcons finished the NFL regular season tied for third with 24 interceptions and tied for fourth with 47 sacks.
Entering his first year as the Falcons' defensive coordinator, Phillips believed his 3-4 schemes would revitalize the pass rush and free inside linebacker Keith Brooking to pursue the ball.
Furthermore, Phillips thought highly enough of Ray Buchanan and Ashley Ambrose that he could use his starting cornerbacks in man-to-man coverage and occasionally free linebackers and safeties to blitz.
Now the Falcons (9-6-1) only hope to feel strong enough to contain the Green Bay Packers (12-4) in a wild-card game at Lambeau Field Saturday night. Phillips was disappointed last week to watch the defense, which had three third-quarter takeaways, allow two touchdowns in the fourth quarter of a 24-16 loss at Cleveland.
``I thought the biggest series was when we turned it over on the 10 and we let them get a touchdown pass on us instead of holding them to a field goal,'' Phillips said. ``But that game is over.''
Of all the injuries that have affected the Atlanta defense this year, including season-ending losses of defensive tackle Shane Dronett and outside linebacker Will Overstreet, none has had a greater effect than the abdominal strain Buchanan suffered at Minnesota five weeks ago.
Buchanan never missed a game, but the former Pro Bowl selection became a liability in the secondary. The Falcons had to remove him from the slot in nickel and dime coverages because the position requires the player's torso to constantly twist and turn.
``I still ain't where I want to be, but adrenaline's going to take over,'' Buchanan said. ``It's playoff time. It's still tough dealing with it, but I'm trying not to think about it. I've been building up a tolerance for the pain.''
Phillips overall plan worked well for the first eight games. The Falcons ranked fifth in total defense and sixth against the pass. In 23 trips inside the Atlanta 20-yard line, opponents had 21 scores, but only 13 were touchdowns.
The Falcons were weak against the run, ranking 27th, but the bottom line for Phillips is scoring, and Atlanta was allowing just 17 points a game, the league's seventh-best average.
A 34-34 tie at Pittsburgh left Phillips feeling despondent. Tommy Maddox had the third-most prolific passing day by an opponent in Falcons franchise history, a 473-yard effort that gave the former journeyman quarterback the NFL's best single game this year.
The Steelers' 645 net yards, including Plaxico Burress' 253 yards receiving, set two single-game records by a Falcons opponent. Atlanta dropped 15 spots to 20th in total defense and 11 spots to 17th against the pass.
``No team goes through a season without facing some uphill battles,'' Phillips said. ``But I think we've done pretty well considering all the injuries we've been through.''
Injuries to Buchanan, Ambrose, inside linebacker John Holecek, defensive ends Travis Hall and Brady Smith, safeties Keion Carpenter and Gerald McBurrows and backup cornerbacks Juran Bolden and Kevin Mathis robbed Phillips of an essential element in coverage.
The Falcons were hurting too much to bump receivers early in their routes, and Atlanta became overtly susceptible to the crossing patterns and passes just beyond the line of scrimmage.
``We've got to get back to that,'' McBurrows said. ``We've got to get in their face. We've got to fight, kick, punch, whatever it is. You can't let them free off the line, and when they do we have to cover them. We have to take all the air out of it.''
In the last five games, the red-zone defense has deteriorated. Opponents took 14 trips inside the Falcons 20, scoring 13 times. Eight of the 11 touchdowns were passes.
``There's going to be a lot of adversity out there,'' said Ambrose, who was the last player William Green ran past on his 64-yard TD run last week. ``We've just got to find a way to get through it all.''
Wednesday
February 19th, 2025
4:35AM
