For the longest time it seemed like NFL defensive coordinators’ priority was always stopping the run first, and then stopping the pass. However, over the past few years as the NFL, quarterbacks, and offensive coordinators have evolved the passing game has become the most important thing for defenses and defensive coordinators to stop.
Falcons Defensive Coordinator Jeff Ulbrich talked about that yesterday during his media availability yesterday.
“My focus is primarily stopping the pass. Do I spend time on the run game, I do, do we do run fits out there, we do, do we detail out our run fits, absolutely, but if I’m gonna spend my days at the very least 60% pass 40% run if not more that way just understanding that’s the game we play nowadays.” Ulbrich said
Beau Morgan agrees with Coach Ulbrich’s sentiment and explained why
“I agree with him, we had one of the worst rush defenses the first half of last year in the NFL and we were a team headed to the playoffs after the first half of the season.” Beau said
Beau finished his thought by saying “How can I sit here and disagree with the fact that stopping the run is the key to winning while it feels right to say that because that is everything we’ve ever been taught about the game, the numbers don’t necessarily bear out that that’s the truth anymore.”
It’s a new day in the NFL where quarterbacks and the passing game dictate everything, so for Jeff Ulbrich and the rest of the defensive coordinators in the NFL their job is to try and stop it, and that is exactly why the Falcons drafted Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. in the first round, and went and got Xavier Watts and Billy Bowman Jr. in this year’s draft as well.
Terry Fontenot, Raheem Morris, and Jeff Ulbrich knew they had to bolster their pass rush and secondary, so they could improve their overall pass defense because in today’s NFL stopping the pass game is more important than stopping the run.