Atlanta Falcons: 3 Players that must shine vs. Titans in Week 4

3. Devonta Freeman

Devonta Freeman had his best performance of the season thus far in the Week 3 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on the road, finishing with a game- and season-high 88 rushing yards on a total of 16 rushing attempts on the ground for Atlanta. He averaged 5.5 yards per carry with a game-long rush of 28 yards.

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That performance comes on the heels of Freeman recording just 22 yards on 11 rushing attempts in Week 2 in a victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, while opening the year up in Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings by tallying 19 rushing yards on a season-low eight carries.

It was good for the Falcons offense to see Freeman returning to putting together performances that we’ve seen from him throughout the course of his six-year NFL career thus far, especially after experiencing a slow start to the 2019 campaign.

The 27-year old running back has the potential to play a key role within this Atlanta offense this year, even with the offensive unit being one that tends to be more pass-heavy rather than leaning on the running game on the ground.

But if Freeman is able to have games like he did in Week 3, opposing defenses will be forced to start paying more attention to the Falcons run game, which will in return help out in making the passing game that much more explosive while balancing the offense.

It would be good for Freeman, who has shown the ability to also be a dual-threat running back while being able to catch out of the backfield, to get in the end zone for Atlanta on Sunday afternoon at home after failing to get into the endzone — both on the ground and through the air — through three weeks of the regular season.