FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Raheem Morris presided over one of the most formidable pass rushes in the league three seasons ago as the Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator. Led by defensive lineman Aaron Donald, the Rams were third in the league in sacks (50) and tied for fourth in sack percentage (7.1%).
The team's ability to get to the quarterback helped them win Super Bowl LVI. The Rams had seven sacks of quarterback Joe Burrow in that championship victory against the Cincinnati Bengals, including two apiece by Donald and midseason addition Von Miller.
"Really, in your career, the most success you have is when you have [a good pass rush]," Morris said. "And you build to it."
In his first season as the full head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, Morris is still trying to figure out how to build a potent pass rush. Ditto for Falcons defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake, whom Morris brought with him from Los Angeles.
For the short term, Atlanta would even settle for getting to the quarterback at a mediocre rate. The Falcons sport the worst pass rush in the NFL, which is not something foreign to the franchise in recent years.
It's something that could limit what they can do in the playoffs, assuming they make it. The Falcons are still the favorites to win the NFC South, according to ESPN's Football Power Index.
Over the last 20 years, the Falcons are one of just six teams with 10 or fewer defensive sacks through the first 11 games of a season, per ESPN Research. Atlanta's 10 sacks are the fewest total through 11 games since 2018. On top of that, the Falcons have a league-worst 23% quarterback pressure rate, the third time in the last four seasons they find themselves last place in that category.
Atlanta lost third-round pick Bralen Trice, who was one of the best pass rushers in college football, to a season-ending knee injury in the preseason. He was lining up to be a significant cog in the Falcons' defense. The team then went out and traded for edge rusher Matthew Judon, sending a third-round pick to the New England Patriots. Judon had 15.5 sacks in 2022 before missing most of last season due to a torn bicep.
Judon has a team-high 2.5 sacks, tied with defensive lineman Grady Jarrett. But Judon's pass rush win rate (12.3%) is his worst since 2017. Part of that is because he's rushing against double teams 22.8% of the time, the highest rate of his career.
"I think it's an individual effort and team effort," Judon said. "Like, man, I gotta go out there and win my one-on-ones, and I gotta play better."
Arnold Ebiketie (1 sack) has been the other edge rusher seeing the most snaps, followed by run specialist James Smith-Williams (1 sack), who was just put on injured reserve last weekend with a tibia injury. Lorenzo Carter (0 sacks), another edge rusher, just returned from injured reserve after dealing with a concussion. The Falcons have, in recent weeks, also utilized practice-squad elevations Demone Harris and Khalid Kareem and special teams ace DeAngelo Malone with the role of getting to the quarterback.
Atlanta's best statistical pass rusher has actually been off-ball linebacker Kaden Elliss, who leads the team with a 26.3% quarterback pressure rate.
With no threat of being brought down or even bothered, quarterbacks have had their way with the Falcons defense. Opposing quarterbacks have completed a league-high 72% of their passes against Atlanta. Only three teams over the last 20 seasons have allowed a completion percentage of 71% or higher, per ESPN Research. The Falcons have allowed the highest rate since 2018. And this is despite a secondary that boasts safeties Jessie Bates III and Justin Simmons and cornerback A.J. Terrell Jr., all of whom have been named to All-Pro teams.
The integration of Harris, Malone and Kareem are in the interest of sending fresher bodies at the passer, Lake said. The rotations the Falcons had in the beginning of the season were a bit "off," according to the defensive coordinator.
"We're got to continue to see what our guys can handle, what they can't handle, and that's the beautiful thing about football," Lake said. "It's an awesome journey, and our whole growth mindset, we're just striving to have a constant state of growth and development -- coaches and players -- and I think every single week we've had some progress, but we're still not where we need to be, but we're working towards that goal."
The Falcons didn't add any pass rushers at the trade deadline, which means they have to go with what they've got into their final six games.
Atlanta limped into its bye week with two straight losses to the New Orleans Saints and Denver Broncos.
The Falcons sent five or fewer pass rushers on just four of Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix's 35 dropbacks (11%), their second-lowest blitz rate of the season. Nix went 25-of-29 for 301 yard and three touchdowns against that standard pass rush and Denver won, 38-6.
It was the best performance of his young career and the worst Falcons loss since 2021. Atlanta was without cornerbacks Mike Hughes, Dee Alford and Antonio Hamilton Sr. due to injury, and lost another corner, Kevin King, during the game.
The lack of a pass rush has put an inordinate amount of stress on the secondary, and what has been a bend-but-don't-break defense this season finally collapsed.
Morris said when it comes to fixing things during the bye week, "a little bit of all of it" is on the table.
"Some of the scheme, some of us putting players in different positions, some of us doing different things across the board," Morris said. "I think everything that you're talking about when it comes to football will be thought about and will be potentially applied to us going out to the next outing. So, whatever it takes to win football games we'll be willing to do."