Anatomy of a Pressure: The Falcons' Hot Blitz

A deep dive into the Week 1 "Hot Blitz" that shows how the Falcons are finally scheming up pressure.

For years, the Atlanta Falcons have struggled to garner any kind of pressure on the quarterback. It has been an endemic problem with the defense. Last season, Atlanta had the eighth-highest Blitz Rate (31.7%) in the NFL, yet accumulated the 30th most sacks (31) and ranked 29th in Pressure Rate (28.8%).

This offseason, Atlanta finally decided it wanted to…