FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Maybe the Atlanta Falcons shouldn’t have picked Kyle Pitts with the No. 4 choose of the 2021 NFL Draft simply in order that they wouldn’t should reply The Kyle Pitts Question all the time.
In a four-year stretch in Atlanta that has included 5 beginning quarterbacks, three defensive coordinators and two head coaches, the solely constant factor has been everybody questioning what’s occurring with the Falcons’ beginning tight finish. And, primarily based on what I’m seeing, the query will not be going away anytime quickly.
Coach Raheem Morris bought his first actual style of it Sunday afternoon at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Falcons (2-2) had simply completed a dramatic 26-24 win over their most bitter rival, and the third media member to get the microphone requested about getting Pitts extra concerned in the offense. Morris appeared stunned by the query. He shouldn’t have been. Welcome to Atlanta: Where the gamers play and everybody at all times desires to know why Kyle Pitts didn’t catch extra passes.
Morris rambled slightly to start out his reply and then mentioned this: “Really to me, man, stats are for losers. I don’t get involved in that stuff.”
We’ll get entangled in it, although, beginning with this: Pitts caught 68 passes for 1,026 yards in 17 video games as a rookie, turning into solely the second rookie tight finish in league historical past to prime 1,000 yards. It’s price remembering that as a place to begin for the dialog. Matt Ryan, who will go into the staff’s Ring of Honor on Thursday evening, was the quarterback then. The Falcons traded Ryan the following offseason, and whether or not there’s a direct correlation or not, Pitts has by no means been the identical.
In 31 post-Ryan video games, a span that included one main knee harm and 4 beginning quarterbacks, Pitts has 89 catches for 1,128 yards. That’s 36.4 yards per recreation. Cincinnati Bengals large receiver Ja’Marr Chase, drafted one spot after Pitts, is averaging 82 receiving yards per recreation in his profession. Former Falcons coach Arthur Smith bought the blame for Pitts’ dwindling manufacturing the final two years, however 4 video games into a brand new offensive system, not a lot has modified.
In truth, Pitts has fewer targets and catches via 4 video games in 2024 than he did in 2023 regardless of being on the area for a barely increased share of performs. He has eight catches on 15 targets for 105 yards this season. After 4 video games final season, he had 11 catches on 21 targets for 121 yards.
“Of course, you’re wanting to get the ball in his hands,” offensive coordinator Zac Robinson mentioned. “He’ll continue to get the ball in the flow of the offense as it goes. He’s doing a great job. I think the more that he can be detail-oriented and play as fast as he can, the ball is naturally just going to find him.”
Pitts’ routes run and targets have remained constant via 4 video games, however his share of time on the area has constantly, if slowly, been dwindling. The tight finish was in for 96 p.c of the offensive snaps in Week 1, in line with TruMedia. That quantity dropped to 72.3 p.c in Week 2, 67.9 p.c in Week 3 and 64.7 p.c in Week 4.
Falcons followers are nonetheless ready for tight finish Kyle Pitts (No. 8) to return to the manufacturing he had as a rookie. (Dale Zanine / Imagn Images)
Pitts ranked eightieth this week in ESPN Analytics’ weekly Receiver Scores, which provides receivers an total grade primarily based on how typically they're open, what number of catches they make and what number of yards they get after these catches. It was the lowest rating in the league for a qualifying tight finish or large receiver.
First-year Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins definitely hasn’t forgotten about Pitts. Just like he did in the preseason, Cousins frequently talks to the tight finish about what’s occurring in the offense and why.
“It’s interesting because the under route I threw to him, I actually shouldn’t have,” Cousins mentioned after final week’s win over the New Orleans Saints. “I should have gone over his head to Ray-Ray (McCloud). The third down at midfield, I threw it to Drake (London), and looking back I wish I had thrown it to Kyle over his head on a deep corner route. There are some plays where I come back to the sideline and say, ‘Hey, Kyle, I have to work you better there.’ And there are other ones where I did work to him and I say, ‘I probably forced it.’ It goes both ways, you just always go where your reads take you.”
When or if the Falcons’ reads will take the ball to Pitts extra typically is unanswerable at the second. The solely certainty is the query is right here to remain.
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The different offensive targets
Cousins’ remark above — “You just always go where the reads take you.” — applies to greater than Pitts. When Morris took over and employed Robinson away from the Los Angeles Rams, there was a notion that Atlanta would start to function its highest-profile gamers extra.
Through 4 video games, the numbers haven’t modified a lot, and the largest cause for that's Cousins’ absolute dedication to the system. Throughout his 13-year profession, the quarterback has turn into identified for his egalitarian strategy to move distribution — the open participant will get the ball no matter jersey quantity.
“Sometimes it skews the numbers one way or another, and sometimes it’s really balanced,” Cousins mentioned. “You just have to kind of go where the play takes you.”
Through 4 video games, Pitts, large receiver Drake London and operating again Bijan Robinson — all of whom have been top-10 draft picks — have 98 offensive touches for 664 yards. Through 4 video games in 2023, that they had 94 touches for 699 yards. The largest beneficiary of the change has been London, who has 9 extra targets, 9 extra catches and 74 extra yards than he did at the moment final 12 months. Robinson’s numbers are barely down — 70 touches for 359 yards this 12 months in contrast with 72 touches for 452 yards via 4 video games final 12 months.
Jake Matthews, proper, and the Falcons’ offensive line have executed a greater job defending quarterback Kirk Cousins since the opener. (Brett Davis / Imagn Images)
A hat tip
Atlanta’s pass-blocking deserves a point out. Even if the numbers since Week 1 don’t look a lot completely different, the pocket does. Cousins was harassed by T.J. Watt and the Steelers all through the first recreation of the season, resulting in concern that the Falcons couldn’t move block properly sufficient to run the system Zac Robinson desires to run.
The Steelers sacked Cousins on 7.1 p.c of his dropbacks. The final three opponents have managed 4.1 p.c, and the quarterback’s time to throw has gone up from 2.65 seconds in Week 1 to 2.82 seconds in the final three weeks. Not large variations however vital ones.
“Yeah, I think so,” Cousins mentioned. “Usually whenever I felt anything (against New Orleans) it was because I was going through a progression longer. I thought they did a good job. I was really pleased.”
The improved efficiency has survived adjustments up entrance, too, as Ryan Neuzil and Storm Norton have needed to fill in for the injured Drew Dalman and Kaleb McGary.
“There’s a high standard in the room, and we have that next-man-up mentality,” Norton mentioned, “and we try not to skip a beat no matter who is in there.”
Not sufficient straightforward buttons
It’s too early to inform if it is a dangerous factor or not, however the Falcons aren’t getting sufficient actually massive offensive performs, and the ensuing grinding strategy is the largest cause the Falcons are twenty ninth in offensive touchdowns (5) and are tied for twenty second in scoring (18.8 factors per recreation).
Atlanta is ninth in the league in performs of 10 or extra yards with 53, in line with TruMedia. That rating, although, plummets to twenty fifth on performs for 20 or extra yards (10). Maybe meaning the Falcons are about to unlock one other stage to this offense. Or perhaps it simply means their offense goes to be hobbled all 12 months by an incapacity to get something the straightforward means.
All that’s sure is that proper now it appears to be like like the Falcons are having to work very onerous for each yard, and that’s as a result of they're.
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The defensive strategy is boring
It’s boring by design, and it’s most likely the proper strategy to take to protection in 2024. Still, it’s boring.
The Falcons beneath first-year defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake, like virtually each different staff in the league, have determined that the finest strategy to cease NFL offenses is to remove the potential for giant performs. That means lots of two-high security approaches, lots of zone protection and lots of giving up stuff beneath and hoping offenses can’t get all the means down the area the onerous means. The Falcons’ strategy is working. They are second in the league in share of explosive performs allowed (8.3 p.c), in line with TruMedia.
Atlanta is Twenty fourth in the league in defensive splash performs (74), in line with TruMedia. It has pressured solely 4 turnovers, which ranks tied for 14th in the league. It performs zone protection 78.6 p.c of the time, greater than all however three groups in the league, in line with TruMedia. The Falcons blitz at the seventh-highest fee in the NFL (35.1 p.c) however stress the quarterback at solely the Twenty fourth-highest fee (29.9 p.c).
All of this provides as much as a protection that's tied for 14th in the league in factors allowed (21.3) and seventh in yards per play allowed (4.9). So, it’s working, but it surely’s not precisely the Grits Blitz.
(Top photograph: Brett Davis / Imagn Images)
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