Although the Falcons won this game by a fair margin, they didn’t look too good in the process. It was the Seahawks who had the superior running game, and the pass defense didn’t look half bad against Matt Ryan.
But the Falcons will take it, and more amazingly, the Seahawks are still in control of their playoff destiny at 6-8. It doesn't seem like a home loss by double digits would be a confidence-booster, but Seattle showed that they could play with the league's best … even if they couldn't actually win the game.
Seahawks: Three performances of note
Part of the way through the game, the Seahawks replaced a struggling Matt Hasselbeck (-3.4) for Charlie Whitehurst (+2.1), and the move worked out well for the team. The numbers between the two didn’t look different, but Whitehurst performed well under pressure while Hasselbeck crumbled in it. Hasselbeck retained the starting job, but this battle bears watching.
DL Junior Siavii (+3.2) had been struggling in recent weeks but put up a strong performance, managing a +3.6 run stop rating on just 18 plays. Although some of the backups also did well, he showed that he could deserve some of the playing time he lost back. The Seahawks' defensive linemen have really had a great season.
MLB Lofa Tatupu (-2.5) struggled against the run, didn’t create any pressure when he blitzed and didn’t fare any better in coverage. The front seven has the potential to be one of the better ones in the NFL, but for it to make that leap it needs help at this position.
Falcons: Three performances of note
CB Brent Grimes (+5.0) has been up and down, and this was definitely an up. The Seahawks threw at him eight times, and he caught the ball as many times as Seahawks' receivers did — one each. Four other times, he was able to come up with the deflection. The entire secondary played well, but Grimes performance was one of the best we’ve seen from a cornerback all season.
DE Kroy Biermann (-4.7) has been one of the better players on the Falcons defense this year and has been solid during all three of PFF’s years, but this was by far his worst game of the season. He had no stops, and on thirty rushes he only came up with one hit. The Falcons surely hope that Biermann returns to his typical form for his matchup against the Saints.
HB Jason Snelling (-3.4) really struggled. His four rushes consisted of two one-yard gains, a run for no gain, and a fumble. He had a few catches, but nothing was overly impressive and he didn’t gain much when he caught the ball. The Falcons need someone to spell Turner, but Snelling didn’t look like he wanted to be that guy.
Rookie report
The Seahawks' LT Russell Okung (-1.3) held his own, but his two penalties hurt the team. FS Earl Thomas (+0.4) played the whole game at safety, but didn’t have a huge impact. FS Kam Chancellor (-1.5) played in dime situations, and didn’t look good in coverage.
The Falcons had two rookies start on defense, OLB Sean Weatherspoon (-1.4) and DT Corey Peters (-2.2). Neither came up with pressure, and both struggled vs. the run, typical for both this season.
Random note
In the last three games for the Falcons, QB Matt Ryan has had a combined rating of +4.5, which is lower than each of his previous four games by themselves.
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