Falcons Proving to Be Complete Team with Help of Freeman, Coleman and Defense

If the Denver Broncos defense is the league’s largest and most heavily reinforced wall, then the Atlanta Falcons offense is a piercing laser that can cut through the core of any immovable object.

Or that’s how it seemed, at least, with the Falcons doing more each week to cast aside whatever doubts remain about them, highlighted by Sunday’s 23-16 win over the Broncos.

The Falcons had scored 45-plus points in two straight games heading into Week 5, which included pummeling the Carolina Panthers in Week 4. That’s when wide receiver Julio Jones became one of just six players ever at his position to eclipse the 300 receiving yards mark in a single game.

There may have been some who still reacted with a quiet indifference after that trouncing. Those naysayers could have noted the Panthers defense without cornerback Josh Norman isn’t the same unit from 2015, the one that ranked sixth in yards allowed per game. And throttling the injury-riddled New Orleans Saints defense—as the Falcons did in Week 3 while winning 45-32—usually requires an offense to only show up and breathe.

But certain wins can have a silencing effect and cement a team’s position in the league’s hierarchy.

The Falcons’ triumph over the Broncos was one of those wins.

Focus less on the final score that makes the outcome seem closer than it really was. Instead turn your eye toward the complete dismantling of a premier defense carried out by possibly the only offense capable of such a thrashing.

After their first four games, the Broncos were at or near the top of most defensive categories. You know, the surface level but still important numbers we usually cite when trying to gauge exactly how terrifying a defense has become. They were allowing 4.3 yards per play (first), 16 points per game (fifth) and 283.2 yards per game (fourth).

When those common measuring-stick digits are compared directly to the carnage from Sunday, all we can really see is smoke rising from the rubble left behind.

The Falcons averaged 1.7 yards per play more than what the Broncos had given up over the first quarter of the 2016 season. Absorb that for a moment, along with the Falcons saddling a juggernaut Denver defense with the first game when it allowed 20-plus points.

Once your system has recovered from seeing the kings of crunch punched straight in the mouth, let’s move on to the truly glowing development from Sunday. I’m talking about the section of the box score that right now shows only the shattered remains of a normally suffocating defense.

The Broncos came into Week 5 …

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com