Atlanta Falcons: 3 Lessons learned from Super Bowl 54
3. Falcons also have the ability to stop the run
One bright spot that we saw from the Atlanta Falcons on the defensive side of the ball throughout the 2019 campaign was Atlanta’s ability to hold opposing offenses running attacks in check for the most part.
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After the Falcons got off to somewhat of a rough start on defense in the first half of the regular season, during the second half of the year they stepped up and became one of the more dominant units in the league to pair well with their talented offense.
During the regular season, Atlanta’s run defense was in the top half of the NFL, allowing opposing offenses to average 110.9 rushing yards per contest, which ranked 15th-best in the league. The Falcons ended up holding their opposition to a total of 1,775 total rushing yards in the 16-game regular-season schedule, which also ranked 15th in the NFL.
That ability to defend the run well allowed the Falcons to halt opposing offenses by making them more one-dimensional on what they were trying to do on their side of the ball.
On Sunday in the Super Bowl between the Chiefs and 49ers, we saw Kansas City put on a showing that limited San Francisco’s running game throughout the four quarters. Going into the contest, the 49ers rushing attack was stellar throughout the postseason leading up to the big game until they ran into the Chiefs defense.
Atlanta has the ability to showcase just what Kansas City did in Super Bowl LIV and that is something that the Falcons could take away as an area to continue to focus on and try and thrive within moving forward into the offseason and going into the 2020 campaign.