With Jeff Ulbrich as their defensive coordinator, the Atlanta Falcons feature a blitz-heavy attack. According to Pro Football Reference, they blitz 35.4% of the time, which is the second-highest rate of any team. They also rank second in the NFL with 50 sacks, in large part because of how often they send extra rushers at the quarterback.
That plan may not work very well against the Rams this week. Matthew Stafford has made a living picking apart defenses that blitz him this year, putting up some eye-popping numbers when five or more players are on the rush.
He has thrown 26 touchdown passes and only one interception when blitzed this season, according to Pro Football Focus. His 126.1 passer rating is the best in the NFL against the blitz, completing 83 passes for first downs – also the most of any quarterback.
What’s particularly eye-popping is the gap between Stafford and the next-closest player in touchdown passes when blitzed. Stafford has nearly double the number of touchdown passes of every other quarterback against the blitz; the next-closest player is Caleb Williams, who has 14.
Stafford has been blitzed 36% of the time this season, which is the eighth-highest rate in the NFL, and he’s made every defense pay for attempting that style of attack.
We’ll see if Ulbrich dials back the blitzes against the Rams on Monday night because surely he and Raheem Morris are aware of how good Stafford has been against the blitz this year. Trying to send extra rushers at him is a fool’s errand with the way he’s been playing all season and Stafford could be in for a huge game throwing the ball on Monday night as he bolsters his MVP case.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Rams’ Matthew Stafford has been dominant vs. schemes like Falcons’