Falcons RBs Tyler Allgeier, Cordarrelle Patterson Shine in Loss vs. Saints: New Dynamic Duo?
The New Orleans Saints played spoilers to the debut of rookie quarterback Desmond Ridder, who made his first career start on the road on Sunday. Yet, a fellow rookie, running back Tyler Allgeier, almost helped the Atlanta Falcons spoil the Saints' win.
Despite the quarterback change made during their bye week, the Falcons' offense suffered similar results to what it's seen with the veteran Marcus Mariota under center. But who would've thought Ridder would come in and light the world on fire? Thinking the Falcons had a similar situation to Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers was ludicrous.
While the Falcons' passing game still struggled to find its footing. As Ridder started the game with five straight incompletions. It wasn't until near halftime that the Falcons started to go back to their strength of relying on the ground game.
That is where Allgeier came into play, leading the Atlanta ground attack with a career-high 139 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.
"He's an instinctive player, smart, hard to tackle," head coach Arthur Smith said of the former fifth-round pick. "Usually the first guy doesn't bring him down. You feel him - he's another volume guy that as the game goes on, most guys don't like tackling him. I'm really excited about him - he's been big for us."
The 220-plus pound excels in yards after contact, showing that off countless times, including his 43-yard run to begin the second half. Allgeier's gashing run would later be capped off by a five-yard touchdown run, the first of the game for Atlanta.
"It's huge. Those runs are huge for us," Ridder said about Allgeier's big play ability. "There was a stat that I heard when we came in rookie minicamp that he was leading the NCAA in broken tackles.
"He's not a speed guy, but every time you hand the ball off, you're expecting that he's going to make one guy miss; it's going to take more than one guy to bring him down."
Allgeier not being the speedy, flashy back is fine for the Falcons because they have that already in Cordarrelle Patterson.
Patterson, a receiver converted to running back, does it all, whether it be on special teams as the return man or even being used as an extra receiver, in addition to his role as a traditional back.
At 31, Patterson already has mileage tacked on from a 10-year career, while Allgeier is just getting started. The two accounted for 191 yards rushing in the loss to the Saints, yet this duo seems to be just getting started.
The Falcons and their backfield duo will take the field Saturday against the Baltimore Ravens at 1 p.m.
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