Week 5 Chart You can always count on a game against the Falcons offense to boost your YPA totals, my favorite single stat for measuring a pass defense. Guess what? It was also a game in which we finally played a larger percentage of man coverage than the zone looks we were giving out in our first four games. If you look at the numbers, or just the coverage, there were much harder throws to be made to make plays against the defense this week. Coincidentally, we also applied better pressure this week than we have in the past. Our hurries, hits, and penalties drawn were all up, though we only had 1 sack which probably had more to do with the type of offense we faced.
Tramon had his best game of the season. He was allowed to do what he does best and play a receiver straight up at the line of scrimmage. Even if he's not jamming much, it's where he looks most comfortable. I hope we see more of this from here on out. Don't look now, but his YPAA is only 0.1 yard off from last year. Certainly doesn't feel like though. As he plays man, I expect this number to continue dropping. If you hear any one-year wonder talk, don't buy it.
Hard to hate on the results Woodson put up either. He was clearly getting aggressive on the TD allowed, but wasn't throw at once outside of that poor misplay.
Shields was very impressive in his best game of the young season too. He did a nice job taking Julio Jones for the most part and kept him on his hip pocket. He broke well on the ball and was never really challenged today outside of losing the inside edge on a slant pass.
Bishop struggled to keep pace with Tony Gonzalez who still has plenty left in the tank. He doesn't look as nimble as he once did, but the body control, the route running, and hands are still there. A total mismatch against Bishop.
Finally, don't be fooled by Walden's 3 hits. A pair were hardly impressive--one was on a naked bootleg to his side close to the red zone.
Really hope this is the style of defense we see more commonly from here out. C'mon Dom, make it happen.