After Giving Up 323 Rushing Yards, Falcons Now Face Another Nightmare Matchup

FLOWERY BRANCH, GA – The Atlanta Falcons were barreled over in Week 10 by one of the league’s best running games. Jonathan Taylor and the Indianapolis Colts punched the Falcons to the tune of 323 yards on the ground, their worst performance in franchise history.

Now, they get a fresh new test in Week 11, with the red-hot Rico Dowdle and the Carolina Panthers. Falcons head coach Raheem Morris called him “a man possessed,” and that likely suits the impact the running back has had on this Panthers offense.

Dowdle is third in the NFL in both rushing yards (788) and yards per carry (5.3). He has 20 carries of 10 or more yards. The back is also serviceable through the air, with 18 receptions for 142 yards and a touchdown.

The numbers are great, but take on a new identity when the realization hits that the back has only been taking the lion’s share of carries for the last six weeks. Before that, Dowdle had just 83 yards on 28 carries.

In the six games after that, Dowdle has two games of 200 or more scrimmage yards, three games of 130 or more rushing yards, and 827 total yards and five touchdowns total. The Panthers are now averaging 4.6 yards per attempt and are fifth in the NFL in rushing success rate.

“He's taking his game to a whole other stratosphere,” Jeff Ulbrich said. “He always had speed and athleticism. He always had vision. He always could create, even when there wasn't anything there, [but] he's running with a violence and with an attitude and with a chip on his shoulder that you don't see very often.”

The defensive coordinator compared the way Dowdle runs to the Kansas City Chiefs’ Isaiah Pacheco in the way he runs through tackles and makes defenders earn every stop. It is body blow after body blow. That is what the Falcons can expect from the Panthers’ offense this Sunday.

After the stretch of games the Falcons have had, Dowdle and this Panthers rushing attack will be licking its chops. Since losing linebacker Divine Deablo to a fractured forearm, the Falcons have allowed 73 more yards on the ground per game.

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“It's going to take us all to get population to the ball and put them down,” Ulbrich continued. “But collectively, from a run defense standpoint, we've got to play better. And I've got to do a better job putting them in the right positions to play better.”

Stopping the run will be paramount for the Falcons on Sunday, mostly because the Panthers have struggled to find a counter-punch. They are 4-2 when reaching the 100-yard threshold on the ground, but it drops to 1-3 when they don’t.

The goal is clear for Atlanta: stop the run. Whether they’re up for that challenge is another thing entirely.