Even though the Atlanta Falcons are still currently second in total defense the Falcons have struggled on that side of the ball since inside linebacker Divine Deablo went down with a fracture in his left forearm in the second quarter of Atlanta’s game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Second year linebacker JD Bertrand has taken the majority of the snaps in Deablo’s place, but earlier today The Morning Shift explained why it’s time for the Falcons to either make a schematic change or a personnel change at that inside linebacker spot until Deablo comes back.
“I don’t know if you can run that out there anymore, JD Bertrand and ask him to do that because it is a disadvantage for you and you are being exposed. You’re gonna have to figure something out.” Beau Morgan said
Beau finished his thought by saying “JD Bertrand is reacting too slow and he’s not reacting quick enough and he’s not fast enough to play that position the way your defense is setup, maybe other defenses that’s fine, your defense is not setup that way, so either change something schematically, or put a guy in there that’s faster, maybe a little bit lighter, but is faster, and see how it goes there.”
If the Falcons don’t make some sort of adjustment at that inside linebacker spot, defenses will continue targeting and exposing Bertrand in the run game and the passing game more and more, starting with the New England Patriots this Sunday.