On Sunday afternoon, the Atlanta Falcons ended their six-game losing streak by defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars 23-17. Despite the victory, the Falcons still find themselves on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs despite beginning the season with a 5-0 record.

At best, the Falcons can still finish the season 9-7, which is a slight upgrade from last season, as they finished 6-10. 

Mike Smith was fired after the season and the Falcons hired Dan Quinn, who was the Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator. The Seahawks' defense had previously sent another defensive coordinator, Gus Bradley, to the head coaching ranks with the Jaguars in 2013.

With Quinn hired as head coach, many were expecting the Falcons’ defense to be significantly better after ranking last in defensive DVOA in 2014. To execute his defensive philosophy, the Falcons used their first two picks on the defense, selecting defensive end/linebacker Vic Beasley out of Clemson and cornerback Jalen Collins out of LSU.

Coming out of Clemson, Beasley was known as one of the best pass rushers in college, racking up 83 total tackles, 48 tackles for loss and 30 sacks over his four-year career. At the "Leo" position, Beasley would bring instant to help to an Atlanta defense that only had 22 sacks, which was ranked 31st in the NFL. 

The Falcons got off to a 5-0 start thanks to their defense making play. They opened up the regular season against the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football defeating them 26-24. 

In that game, the defense shut down the Eagles’ three-headed monster at running back to only nine yards on eight carries. The defense also forced Sam Bradford to throw two interceptions, including one at the end of the game as Philadelphia was looking to win the game.

After that game, the Falcons would win back-to-back games on the road against the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. Once again, the defense stepped up and made plays when it counted the most. Against the Giants, the defense got two sacks and two forced fumbles, while shutting down New York’s running backs to 74 yards on 21 carries (3.5 ypc). Then against the Cowboys, the Falcons’ defense won the takeaway game once again. With Brandon Weeden at quarterback, he would be intercepted by safety William Moore and sacked once by Beasley and Adrian Clayborn.

Finally, they knocked off the Houston Texans and Washington Redskins at the Georgia Dome, with six takeaways.

In those five games, Dan Quinn and defensive coordinator Richard Smith’s defense was following through on what was expected. The defense had caused 10 turnovers, while stopping the run only giving up 78.4 yards on the ground. With those type of numbers, you will win a lot of football games. It almost reminds you of the Seattle Seahawks defense, which is stopping the run and forcing turnovers. 

In comparison to the first five games of 2014, the defense had caused nine turnovers, but was giving up 147.6 rushing yards per game and 28.6 points per game.

But for Quinn and the Falcons, opposing teams began to make adjustments with five games of film available and reality set in of who this team really was. After beating Washington 25-19 in overtime, Atlanta suffered their first loss to New Orleans 31-21 on the road. In that game on Thursday night, everything went the Saints’ way, despite the defense holding New Orleans’ running backs to 81 rushing yards. But the marked difference was they didn’t take have a takeaway.

That changed the next week against Tennessee as the defense held the Titans to 77 rushing yards and forced two turnovers. Atlanta went on to win 10-7. 

During the six-game losing skid, the Falcons’ defense gave 100 plus rushing yards five times in games against San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings, Carolina Panthers and twice to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

The outlier of the four teams is the Niners, who are ranked 23rd in the NFL with 93.9 rushing yards per game. Against the Falcons’ defense, the Niners’ running game (Gabbert, Draughn, Gaskins, Thomas, Ellington, and Miller) had 133 rushing yards.

This was not the same Dan Quinn/Richard Smith run defense that we saw earlier in the season shut down the rushing attacks of the Eagles (63 yards), Houston Texans (54 yards) and Washington (51 yards). 

The loss against the Panthers was an ultimate disappointment for the defense. Cam Newton torched the Falcons’ defense for 265 passing yards and three touchdowns, with Ted Ginn blowing the top off the defense twice for 120 receiving yards. The defense also had two sacks and no takeaways.

For Quinn and the Falcons’ defense, all is not lost as they still have something to play for with two games to go in the regular season. The goal is to help this team finish above .500, with games remaining against the Panthers and Saints, and to continue to see players develop.

If Atlanta wants to win the NFC South next season, they must turn the ship around now on defense because right now the kings of the division are the Panthers. And what does Carolina do the best? Play outstanding defense. 

This season, the Panthers’ defense is ranked first in takeaways with 35 and are ranked fourth in the NFL in sacks with 40. On the other hand, Atlanta’s defense only has 21 takeaways, ranked 13th in the NFL. If you look at the top 10 defense when it comes to takeaways, six of the teams are playoff bound. Then, when you look at the top 10 for sacks, the Falcons’ defense ranks last in the NFL in sacks with 17. The Falcons rank in the bottom third in defensive DVOA, a subtle improvement after hiring a defensive coach of Quinn's reputation.

If you cannot get pressure on the opposing team’s quarterback, it will be a long day for your defense. But this Falcons’ defense has improved from last season and it will continue to get better as they have a young playmaker in Vic Beasley on the defensive line to build around. Beasley has been one of the best rookie pass rushers in the NFL and the Falcons figure to continue to invest in remaking their defense in Quinn's vision in the draft.