The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
» Report card for Falcons’ special teams and defense from the 2019 season,
Sitting at the bye week with a 1-7 record and the season up in flames, drastic times called for drastic measures.
Falcons coach Dan Quinn moved wide receivers coach Raheem Morris to the defense and shuffled a few other responsibilities. Like magic, the Falcons’ defense turned around.
The Falcons ditched the 3-4 alignments that had Vic Beasley and Takk McKinley standing up to mask whether they were rushers or linebackers.
Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians pointed out the Falcons started playing less man-to-man defense and more zone coverage. The pass rush and coverage improved dramatically, which allowed the offense to stay in games.
The first half of the season was marked by firsthalf deficits in the double-digits, wide receivers running free through the Falcons secondary and a 357-snap sack drought that went for four entire games and parts of two others.
The Falcons became tougher on third downs (32nd in the NFL the first eight games, first over the last eight) and the defense stopped hemorrhaging points (29.6 points in first eight games to rank 31st, 16.9 points in the last eight games for fifth.)
The takeaways increased from two (ranked 32nd) in the first eight games, to 13 (seventh) over the final eight games.
For his efforts, Morris was named the defensive coordinator for 2020, and former defensive passgame coordinator Jerome Henderson and assistant defensive line coach Travis Jones left to pursue other opportunities.
On special teams, it was a revolving door at punter and kicker, while returner Kenjon Barner and the coverage teams shined.
Here’s a position-by-position look, with grades, on how the defense and the special teams performed in 2019: