Will The Falcons Slow Down Breece Hall & Other Key Matchups

EAST RUTHERFORD – The Atlanta Falcons are back to work in Week 13 for a road trip to New York to take on a struggling New York Jets team at MetLife Stadium. This will be their second road trip in as many weeks, but they will be hoping to find similar results on Sunday.

They enter the matchup as a slight favorite, but what will ultimately dictate what happens in this game? See below for the biggest questions ahead of this matchup.

DID THE FALCONS SNAP OUT OF IT?

The Falcons entered last week with a world of pressure on their shoulders. They had lost five straight games as their season slipped from their grasp. Now at 4-7, they no longer control their own playoff fate, but they have no margin for error over their final six games.

Fortunately for them, their competition in the NFC South has also slipped a bit in recent weeks, so they are not eliminated from postseason contention. That would change with a loss.

A win would also be their second two-game winning streak this season. How they react to their positive performance last week could help kickstart the home stretch of their season.

HOW DO THE FALCONS SLOW DOWN BREECE HALL?

The Falcons returned linebacker Divine Deablo, and their defensive dominance returned with him. They held the Saints to just three points on offense in Week 12, but they will have a difficult task with running back Breece Hall.

“He's a guy that can hit a home run anytime he touches the ball,” defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said. “He's one of the great backs in this league, and it's going to be a huge test for this defense to contain him.”

As a team, the Jets are averaging 135.8 yards on the ground (7th), while the Falcons are allowing 133.1 per game (26th). After getting smashed by the Colts in Week 11 to the tune of 323 rushing yards, the Falcons have allowed just 146 in their last two games. Hall will put that improvement to the test.

Whoever wins this matchup will prove to be a pivotal point for either side in this game.

CAN THE FALCONS KEEP THE SACK PARTY GOING?

The Falcons have been putting together a strong core of defensive pieces in their front seven. Rookies James Pearce Jr. and Jalon Walker have found their groove, while second-year defensive linemen Ruke Orhorhoro and Brandon Dorlus have powered them from the inside.

As a team, Atlanta has 22 sacks in their last four games, and this quartet accounts for 14 of those.

“We all are just trying to win and figure it out together,” Pearce said. “I just have to keep learning how I can add to the team and just help them guys help me.”

Through 11 games, they are third in the NFL with 39 team sacks this season – for context, they have only reached this total through a full season just twice in the last decade. If they keep with their average of about 3.5 sacks per game, they should finish with about 60 and shatter their franchise record for sacks in a season (55).

The best part of this equation has come to fruition over the last two games. After being one of the most blitz-happy teams in the NFL, they blitzed the Saints on just 15.7% of their dropbacks. Despite not sending the extra bodies, they still managed to record five sacks and their most pressures of the season (20).

“[It’s important to] not have to blitz as much to get some pressure to generate it with our front four,” Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said. “To watch those guys get the pressure, the amount of pressure that they were able to get, the amount of sacks they were getting home with the front four rushing [was great].”

Only three teams have allowed more sacks than the Jets this season, while their sack rate and pressure rates are the worst in the NFL.

CAN THEY FIGURE OUT THEIR THIRD-DOWN OFFENSE?

Throughout the Falcons' five-game losing streak, their offense struggled mightily on third downs. Through the first 12 weeks of the season, they are now 29th in the league and converting just 33.1% of their opportunities. Their 43 total conversions are 31st in the NFL.

Offensive coordinator Zac Robinson identified this as an area in which this offense must find a way to improve.

“The third downs are still something that we're just not clean from a pass protection standpoint, first and foremost,” he said. “We’ve got to protect better. We’ve got to be detailed with our routes. We’ve got to be detailed with our reads as well at quarterback. So, and then obviously, the scheme stuff, we all have our part in it. So, not real fired up where we're at. We’ve got to get a lot better down the stretch if we want to be scoring as many points as we want to.”

Since Week 7, the Falcons’ issues have been highlighted. They are converting just 22.2% of their attempts since that loss to San Francisco, and are unsurprisingly 1-5 in those games.

The Jets are 8th in the NFL in third-down defense, allowing conversions on just 35.9% of their tries. This has been a major point of emphasis for them coming into this week, but they have to figure that out soon.