Here are five reasons why the Falcons beat the Rams 26-13 in the wildcard round of the NFC playoffs:
1. Screen game shut down. A staple of the Rams offense was their screen passes. They completed only 4 of 10 screens for 29 yards. Running back Todd Gurley, who was their leading receiver with 72 catches for 788 yards, caught four passes for 10 yards.
Cornerback Brian Poole exemplified the Falcons commitment to open-field tackling against the Rams.
Poole had four tackles and three were for stops, a solo tackle that results in a win for the defense, according to profootballfocus.com. He didn’t miss any tackles and has more stops in the passing game (24) than any cornerback in the league this season.
Also, linebacker Deion Jones was strong against the run and in coverage. He finished with 10 tackles and was targeted on six pass plays.
Jones allowed three catches for 24 yards, but only five came after the catch.
2. Outside run shut down. The Falcons slowed down the Rams outside runs, too.
The Falcons allowed just 10 rushing yards outside of the tackles all game. The Rams were averaging 46 yards on the perimeter.
3. Line overcame. The offensive line didn't have a good day trying to block Rams All-Pro defensive lineman Aaron Donald, who moved around the defensive line and whipped up all of the Falcons' linemen.
When rushing the passer, Donald beat left tackle Jake Matthews once, lelft guard Ben Garland eight times, center Alex Mack once, right guard Wes Schweitzer four times and right tackle Ryan Schraeder three times, according to profootballfocus.com. On 34 pass rush attempts, Donald won a whopping 17 snaps.
But the line kept battling and eventually made some creases in the Rams’ defense for the running game.
The 16-play, 76-yard drive to open the third-quarter showed the line’s tenacious and will to keep battling.
“I think that was turning point,” Schraeder said. “At that point, we knew that we kind of had them on their heels. We wore them down a little bit. They fought hard until the end. But at that point, everybody realized that it was time to go.”
4. Receivers got the YAC. The Falcons didn't throw the ball down the field much against the Rams, by quartergback Matt Ryan's wide receivers picked up yards after the catch (YAC).
The Falcons had a season-low in average depth of target in the win over Carolina at 6.4 yards. The Panthers wild pass rush forced Ryan to get the ball off quickly.
Basically, there was no time for any deep breaking routes.
With Donald on the loose, Ryan had to get rid of the ball even quicker against the Rams.
Ryan was even less likely to throw downfield against the Rams with a 4.3 average depth of target, according to profootballfocus.com.
With the short passes, the Falcons relied heavily on the receivers getting yards after the catch and they had a season-high 70.6 percent of his passing yards coming after the catch against the Rams.
Julio Jones caught all nine of his targets for 94 yards and had 13 yards rushing for 107 yards from scrimmage. Sanu has been targeted 19 games and seven times on third down over the past two games.
Sanu had 52-yards after the catch on his screen pass that busted open the game in the fourth quarter.
5. Freeman is back on track. Falcons running back Devonta Freeman, who had a troublesome three-game stretch, where he averaged just 1.75 yards after contact and had four fumbles, has pulled through his slump.
In the last two games, he’s averaged 2.93 yards after contact per carry and hasn’t fumbled.
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