FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Last year, they were turnover-producing machines and rewarded with Pro Bowl appearances.
This year, Falcons safeties William Moore and Thomas DeCoud have failed to make plays at the same rate and, even worse, they're making costly mistakes, as played out in Atlanta’s loss to Arizona on Sunday, dropping the Falcons to 2-5.
While statistics tell some of the story, the issues run deeper than that. In 12 games last season, Moore posted four interceptions, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery — roughly a turnover every two games. This season, through seven games, Moore has one interception, one forced fumble and no fumble recoveries.
The fall-off in DeCoud's production has been even more precipitous. Last season (16 games), DeCoud totaled six interceptions — tied for fifth in the NFL and second among safeties — with no forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
Perhaps more tellingly, he had nine passes defended. This year in seven games, he has one pass defended and no interceptions or forced fumbles; but he does have a fumble return for a touchdown, a key play in Atlanta's win over Tampa Bay (Week 7), a lone bright spot in an otherwise disappointing season.
Falcons head coach Mike Smith was hopeful that last week’s victory over Tampa Bay, in which that defensive score played a prominent role, would represent the start of good things to come. Instead, the Falcons ended up regressing, a troubling trend this season.
"We've not been able to sustain much through the first seven games of the season," Smith said, speaking generally about the team. "I don’t believe that (Sunday) we sustained a whole lot.
"From the things we had done the previous week, as I said after the game, when you give up explosive plays that lead to touchdowns or are touchdowns, turn the ball over four times, don’t protect your quarterback, get him hit, you're setting up a formula for not being successful; and we were not very successful (against Arizona)."
Asked to elaborate on why the Falcons cannot sustain a consistent level of play, Smith declined the opportunity.
"I think there's a number of factors," he said. "You can never make excuses, and I think if I talked about those factors, I think they’d come across as excuses. We have to make sure we're prepared each and every week to go out and execute the game plan. We did not. We did not sustain anything in terms of what we put on the practice field and then went out and did not do it in the game."
Among the Cardinals' three touchdowns on Sunday, mistakes by the safeties were critical. On a 51-yard reception by Teddy Williams that set up Arizona's first score, Moore was supposed to be the deep man, but suffered a breakdown in coverage, allowing Williams to get past him.
Then on the ensuing 10-yard touchdown reception from Larry Fitzgerald, one of the league’s pre-eminent receivers, Moore appeared to miss an assignment in a zone coverage.
On Arizona's next score, Andre Ellington's 80-yard touchdown run, DeCoud took a bad angle and, as a consequence, could not catch Ellington, as the Falcons then trailed, 14-6. Lastly, before Michael Floy's 15-yard TD reception late in the first half, DeCoud was loose in his coverage.
The drop-off in production by the safeties has been significant for the Falcons defense, as it is not built to control the line of scrimmage and stop opponents in their tracks. Arguably, DeCoud and Moore represent two of the defense's best players, as well. The Falcons count on their production, especially with so many rookies playing key roles.
In the past, Smith has talked about the concept of allowing "empty yards" — yards opposing offenses gain that don't lead to points. The Falcons don’t mind yielding these gains, as long as they get defensive stops, via passes defended or turnovers.
This year, the Falcons are getting neither. They have just six takeaways and have a minus-5 turnover ratio, 26th in the NFL. Last year, Atlanta had 31 takeaways and a plus-13 turnover margin, tied for fifth.
The club's third-down defense, which was better in Sunday's than previous weeks, still stands 27th in the NFL, allowing opponents to convert 44 percent of the time.
Asked to assess why the safeties have not played up to par this season, Smith again chose not to discuss the subject.
"Again, I don’t want to even pinpoint and talk about one specific group," he said. "We haven’t been consistent in anything we've done, guys, in seven games. That's the entire football team, the entire coaching staff and we all take responsibility for it. Those two guys you mentioned were Pro Bowl players last year, had lots of stats, put up lots of good numbers."
But not this year, and the Falcons are losing games.
