The Atlanta Falcons secondary could present what offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich described as a “huge challenge” for the Green Bay Packers’ young group of wide receivers on Sunday.
The common theme among Stenavich and head coach Matt LaFleur when asked about the Atlanta defense this week was the word “aggressive.” Both coaches used this adjective to describe the Falcons’ defense from front to back but seemed to really pertain to their secondary.
Buy Packers Tickets“Their secondary is excellent,” said Stenavich on Thursday. “Their corners, their edge guys are good. Very aggressive safeties. So it’s going to be a huge challenge for us, basically across the board.”
Against Panthers rookie quarterback Bryce Young and a relatively young group of receivers in Week 1, the Atlanta secondary limited Young to just 146 passing yards and 3.2 yards per pass. For a little bit of context around that figure, Kyler Murray’s 6.1 yards per pass in 2022 ranked 34th among eligible quarterbacks.
The Falcons secondary also came away with two interceptions and forced a fumble–all of which came at the hands of safety Jessie Bates.
“Jessie is a really good safety for them,” said Jordan Love on Wednesday. “He’s a ball hawk. The numbers he had last week, the two interceptions, the forced fumble. So he’s a ball hawk. He’s a really good player. He’s a very instinctual player. He plays on the quarterback’s eyes, and that’s how he makes plays. Definitely a guy we have to be looking out for and know where he’s at at all times.”
Along with the length and athleticism that the Falcons have throughout their secondary, which on its own can present challenges for an offense, it’s Atlanta’s style of play that can be particularly disruptive.
The cornerback group, which features AJ Terrell, Tre Flowers, and potentially Jeff Okudah this week, who is listed as questionable, is more than willing to challenge the receivers at the line of scrimmage.
As ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky pointed out following Week 1, Atlanta’s defensive scheme is “multiple and always changing, and hard to decipher.” This can cause confusion for an offense, especially a young one, and it’s this changing of personnel and disguises that the New England Patriots deployed against Green Bay in joint practices during training camp that led to some issues for Jordan Love and the Packers pass catchers.
According to Football Insights, the Falcons ran primarily zone and a two-shell look against Carolina, along with 21 percent of their snaps coming in man and 36 percent in one-high. In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Atlanta defensive backs coach and former Packers coach Jerry Gray said that what they really want to accomplish against Love is making him hold on to the ball a little longer so the pass rush will have a chance of getting home. This could result in more press coverage from the Falcons this week and, in general, more man coverage.
“AJ, I think he’s an elite corner,” said LaFleur on Thursday. “Obviously, Okudah, we will see if he’s back, and they’ve got Flowers, who we’ve gone against before. I think all those guys are really solid players. They play a really aggressive scheme as well. They’ll get up in your face. They’ll challenge you. And they do a nice job. They’ve got really good length and size and can run. So it’ll be a good task for our young receiver group.”
For the Packers, any potential success starts with the offensive line play and doing so against a good Falcons defensive front. Being able to move the ball on the ground regularly will open up opportunities in the passing game and set up play-action. Giving Love time in the pocket will provide the Green Bay pass catchers with additional time to find space and allow him to go through his progressions so he isn’t forcing the ball into tight windows.
To combat Atlanta’s aggressiveness, continuing to rely heavily on pre-snap motion, as they did against Chicago, can potentially limit the effectiveness of disguised coverages by forcing the defense to be the one to make the late adjustments. On top of that, the Packers’ versatility can create mismatches, get pass catchers in space, and keep the Atlanta defense off-balanced. When offenses can run a variety of plays from just a few personnel packages – which the Packers often do – it becomes a lot more difficult for a defense to decipher what is or might be taking place pre-snap.
Especailly early on last season, then rookies Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs did struggle to get off press coverages–an aspect that can come with a learning curve in the NFL for many young pass catchers. With that said, the improved speed that the Green Bay offense has in the passing game this season can help with spacing by forcing the defense to play more spread out to prevent getting beat downfield.
The Packers’ offense threw on a lot on tape last week, giving the Falcons a lot to digest and gameplan for, which should help Green Bay’s cause on offense as well. But particularly early on this season, as defenses throw new looks at this young offense and adjust to what the Packers have put on tape, how Love and his pass catchers counter and respond each week will continue to be one of the bigger unknowns around this team.
“We just got to keep doing a great job of communicating,” added Stenavich. “Keep doing a great job of executing and just making sure that when we get the opportunities to make plays we do.”
