Falcons dominating the rest of the NFL in one key area

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Falcons dominating the rest of the NFL in one key area

Falcons dominating the rest of the NFL in one key area

Tim Weaver, Falcons Wire · Falcons Wire

Sat, Oct 10, 2026 ·

2 min read

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A lot goes into winning and losing games at this level, but if you can run the ball and stop the run you'll be ahead of the pack. That's exactly the state of affairs for the Atlanta Falcons - who are doing a lot of things well, including the third-highest pressure rate in the NFL and the most-explosive offenses over the last two weeks.

What these Falcons do best though is run the ball (they rank second in rushing yards per game) and stopping the run, where they are light years ahead of the competition.

Going into Week 5, the Jacksonville Jaguars rank second in this department and they're giving up about 50% rushing yards per game than the Falcons. Saad Yousuf at The Athletic has the details .

"The Falcons have the best run defense in the NFL, and it isn't particularly close. They allow 48.3 rushing yards per game, which is easily the best in the league. The Jaguars are second at 74.3 yards. The Falcons are also the only team to hold runners to less than 3 yards per attempt, limiting the opposition to 2.7 yards per rush."

Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich is rightfully getting a lot of love for these early results, but let's not forget the team's new defensive centerpiece, linebacker Divine Deablo.

Going into this season there was a lot of uncertainty about Deablo taking over Kaden Elliss' former role as the green-dot guy despite a strong 2025 showing.

While it's still early we can confidently say Deablo is playing that role exceptionally well. Individual tackling doesn't hurt - but stopping the run is all about the defense playing as one cohesive unit. Right now Deablo has Atlanta doing that as well as any team in the NFL.