Atlanta Falcons coach Raheem Morris has taken on a larger role on defense

LANDOVER, Md. – The Atlanta Falcons defense enters Sunday night’s game against the Washington Commanders on a wave of momentum – one that has made the unit one of the NFL’s best over the past six weeks.

Atlanta is second in the NFL in both sacks (16) and yards allowed (275.8) and is fifth in scoring defense, allowing just 18.8 points per game.

The turnaround comes after the Falcons ranked in the bottom quarter of the league in all three categories in Week 12.

On the first day of Atlanta’s bye week, which came after the team’s 38-6 loss to the Denver Broncos on Nov. 17, linebacker Kaden Elliss said the Falcons simply need to perform better.

Clearly the solution wasn’t just execution.

Falcons head coach Raheem Morris, who served as the Los Angeles Rams’ defensive coordinator for the past three seasons, is becoming more involved in defensive work, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport said Sunday morning.

“One of the reasons the Falcons defense was better is because Raheem Morris, their head coach, took a bigger role on defense after the Broncos game,” Rapoport said. “There has been a significant improvement.”

So what happened?

During the break week, Morris himself scouted the defense, as did defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake and all of the team’s assistants.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway the Falcons discovered had to do with personnel. Aside from assistant head coach/defensive coach Jerry Gray, Atlanta’s defensive coaching staff is entirely new.

The Falcons believed they knew their players, but Morris said it was difficult to truly know the intricacies of each player until they were actually available to the team. After three months of almost daily interaction and 11 film plays to evaluate, it became clear who exactly the Falcons had with each player.

Suddenly their pass rush blossomed.

“You have some thoughts and visions about what people can do and what they’re really good at, and you just bring them to the table,” Morris said Monday. “And then Jimmy can give me the honor, but it’s really up to all of us to implement it and make things happen and understand what we want to do so that we move forward as a unit.”

Lake suspected Morris took on a larger role after the bye week, but Morris doesn’t want the Falcons’ revamped defense to draw attention – or at least not all of it.

“You have to give credit not just to me, but really to our entire coaching staff,” Morris said, “for, first of all, having the humility to come together and do these things and not just be selfishly driven like it will be. “We have to be a one-man show that has to have 20 sacks, but how can we hustle to get our things working the way we want them to work?”

The Falcons (8-7) hope to continue their strong defensive form against the Commanders (10-5) on Sunday at 8:20 p.m. at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland.