"The Atlanta Falcons' current struggles stem from a lack of offensive identity, as seen in their Week 8 loss to the Miami Dolphins. The team's lack of physicality is dooming any chance this offense has of digging itself out of its current predicament. For the second week in a row, Falcons head coach Raheem Morris used the name of the city as a verb to stand in for being physical when he said the Dolphins "out-Atlanta-ed" the team, just as he had the previous week against the San Francisco 49ers."
"Yet, a reason the Lions can find success despite not catching opponents off guard is that, in addition to their run game, they have an effective counter via play-action passing. Teams can sell out against the run, but doing so makes them more vulnerable against the pass, as the Lions have the highest expected points added (EPA) per pass on play action, according to Next Gen Stats."
"Meanwhile, the Falcons rank dead last in EPA added on play-action passes. However, the team did achieve some success against the Dolphins on their lone play-action pass of the game. That came on a 24-yard strike from Kirk Cousins to Kyle Pitts that helped set up the team's first score against Miami. However, the Falcons did not call another play-action pass the rest of the game."
The Falcons entered Week 8 without a clear offensive identity, undermined by a lack of physicality that hampered progress. Attempts to re-establish a run-first approach were met by a stout Dolphins run defense, exposing predictability. Successful run-first teams like the Detroit Lions pair power running with effective play-action passing, creating high EPA per play-action pass. The Falcons rank dead last in play-action EPA and called only one play-action pass — a 24-yard completion to Kyle Pitts — and failed to exploit play-action the rest of the game. Limited play-action usage and physical shortcomings constrain offensive effectiveness.
Read at The Falcoholic
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