Buccaneers Opponent Film Study: 2017 Atlanta Falcons Pt. 1

FALCONS SPECIAL TEAMS

Normally I take a look at the offense of the Buccaneers opponents here, but honestly, there’s nothing new to see.

Sure, the scheme is a bit different, and the play-caller has changed. But Julio Jones is still the same player, Matt Ryan is the same quarterback only he moves more, and the attack is the same.

Even with Devonta Freeman out last week against the Seattle Seahawks, the Falcons ran the ball relatively similar to the way they always do. Tevin Coleman stepped into the lead back role, and Terron Ward the backup.

The Bucs defense is going to have to play disciplined and aggressive football if they’re going to contain the Falcons offensive attack. Not something we’ve seen a ton of this year.

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However, I want to talk about the third phase of the game. In Week 2 of the NFL season, I homed in on the special teams aspect of Tarik Cohen and his punt returning tendencies. The Bucs listened – ok, I’m sure their coaches didn’t read this, and the truth is they saw it because they’re NFL coaches – and were able to control the field position battle forcing the Bears offense to earn everything they tried to get.

Against Atlanta, there is a really good opportunity here for the Bucs to hit some doubles on kick returns, and put their offense in great field position.

If you watched last week’s edition of Monday Night Football, you know where I’m going with this. If not, check it out:

On their first kickoff return of the night, Seattle’s Tyler Lockett gets a running start as he fields the kick at his own two-yard line. When he does, his blockers have also begun committing to their blocking assignments as they shift to the short side of their return formation.

The Falcons coverage team however, perhaps in effort to stay disciplined in their lane assignments, has not recognized the shift and is out of position with their coverage spread too thin across the wide side of the field.

As Lockett approaches the 20-yard line, there’s a gap so wide a Mack truck could drive through it. The Falcons have four coverage players behind the play in the wide side of the field with only three blockers accounting for them. This allows the double team in the gap which allows Lockett to burst through having just the punter, Matt Bosher, to beat to ensure a big gain.

Of course, Lockett does this easily. Desmond Trufant is the contain defender for Atlanta’s kick coverage in this situation, and while he does over pursue initially, his speed and athleticism allow him to recover enough to force the return man into more of an East-West path than North-South.

Eventually, Trufant chases Lockett out of bounds around the 50-yard line. Thus, saving a score, but still surrendering the big gain and cutting the field in half for Russell Wilson and his offense.

This isn’t the only time this happens either. Later in the game, it occurs again. The coverage team covered it a bit better the second time around, allowing Lockett to get out to the 35-yard line instead of the 50.

Still, following two Falcons scores, their own defense has more pressure on them due to special teams play and this really allows the Seahawks to stay in a game which could have gotten out of hand rather quickly.

The field position is important, but also the ability for Seattle to snatch momentum back after an opposing score is just as critical.

This isn’t an isolated incident either folks. In 2017, the Falcons have kicked the ball of nineteen times in ten games. They’ve surrendered an average of 26.05 yards per return with a long return of 57-yards.

True, Lockett from Seattle has track star speed, but the Buccaneers also have a guy with great speed who just so happens to have some experience returning kicks.

DeSean Jackson hasn’t done it in a while, but in each season, he’s had twenty or more kickoff returns he’s had at least one brought back to the house.