CAN'T STOP WON'T STOP WATCHING TYLER ALLGEIER — After years of covering Falcons games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, I have become attuned to the sounds of the stadium. I can hear the screech of a bird in my sleep. Samuel L. Jackson calling fans to "Rise Up" has been engrained in my memory. But there's one specific sound that can be heard at Mercedes-Benz Stadium that makes me laugh every single time.
It's five words, said in an almost sassy fashion, that reverberate through the air after a Tyler Allgeier run.
"Give the ball to Tyler!"
I don't know the origins of this sound. Heck, even my own father asked me about it last year when he came to one of the Falcons' home games. I didn't have an answer for him then and I still don't. All I know is it is one of my favorite parts of game day for some strange reason. And it happened multiple times in the Falcons' home win against the New Orleans Saints Sunday afternoon. So much so that I actually wrote it down in my notebook.
In a game that didn't involve a single offensive touchdown by the Falcons, Allgeier was a bright spot for his group. He had the hot hand to the tune of eight carries for 60 yards and a 7.5 yards per carry average.
Over the first four games of the season, Allgeier has 166 rushing yards on 27 attempts for an average of 6.1 yards per carry. The sample size this season hasn't been very large with Allgeier, but he's been impactful. So, what has led to Allgeier's success? Let's rewind the tape.
We all know Allgeier's style of play. He's not going to outpace many defenders by way of pure, downhill speed, but he sure as heck can run through a few. Breaking tackles — or even carrying players on his back for a couple extra yards — has been Allgeier's bread and butter since his high school and college days. He led the college ranks in broken tackles in his final two years with BYU. He's done it time and time again since being drafted by the Falcons in 2022.
After watching all 27 rushing attempts by Allgeier so far in 2024, he's absolutely still that guy.
More than 60 of Allgeier's 166 rushing yards this season are what I consider to be yards after initial contact. These aren't broken tackles, per se. These are yards obtained by either a broken tackle or picked up with a defender draped around Allgeier towards the play's end. In fact, according to my calculations and film review, Allgeier has picked up at least two yards after initial contact on 16 of his 27 total rushes. So, yes, this is still a very active and thriving part of Allgeier's game. And the Falcons know this, choosing more often than not to keep Allgeier 6 or 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage at the play's start to get his wheels going by the time he gets the handoff from Cousins. Once the ball is secured, Allgeier is already at top speed as he makes it to the line of scrimmage. This lead-up power is important for Allgeier's ability to add an extra 2 or 3 yards at the end of nearly every run.
However, something that surprised me in film review was the play type in which Allgeier has seen successful.
The Falcons love a good stretch play. It's become a part of their offensive identity through four games. But it's the art of misdirection that works within the play design that benefits a runner like Allgeier (and Bijan Robinson, too, but we're not talking about Robinson right now).
Take Allgeier's very first handoff of 2024 as a prime example.
In the first quarter of the Falcons' loss to the Steelers, Atlanta deployed both Robinson and Allgeier in the backfield. Motioning Robinson out to the right, mimicking a screen option with Kyle Pitts and Drake London out wide, the Falcons actually had the offensive line sliding and blocking to the left with the handoff going to Allgeier to the left as well. A key seal by Matthew Bergeron and Jake Matthews along with a downfield block by KhaDarel Hodge sprung Allgeier for a first-down and 13-yard pick up.
By Week 2, this misdirection with the man in pre-snap motion going opposite blocking lanes once the ball is snapped was something the Falcons were deploying time and time again with Allgeier.
The Falcons did a nice job setting up misdirections without motion, too. Like they did on a second-and-6 play in the second quarter against the Eagles.
Running out of shotgun, the blockers tilted left with Pitts picking up the outside linebacker on the right side and London sealing the lane by putting a body on the dropping safety. Not following the tilt of the offensive line to the left, Allgeier cut back to the right to follow Pitts' and London's blocks. It opened up a lane to get Allgeier to the 9-yard line untouched.
In Week 3, back-to-back play designs for Allgeier yielded 22 rushing yards. That's another thing about the usage of Allgeier. After a solid run by the running back, the Falcons are not afraid to go right back to him. They've done this at least once in back-to-back plays in every single game this season.
In this scenario against the Chiefs, the Falcons used a misdirection with Darnell Mooney in motion slightly out to the right from his original spot on the right hash to the outside of Ray-Ray McCloud outside to draw the middle linebackers away from Allgeier, who cut back to the left for a 10-yard gain with a couple broken tackles thrown in there.
On the very next play, the Falcons picked up the first down with a 12-yard run. In this play, the Falcons didn't use motion as the misdirect, but rather personnel. They bunched Charlie Woerner, London and McCloud to the right, but ran Allgeier again to the left where the blockers slid to. The look kept five Kansas City defenders on the left side of the field. A key downfield block by Chris Lindstrom to cover the middle linebacker gave Allgeier plenty of green grass in front with the safety having to come up to make the play.
What's interesting about this game, was the Falcons got away from this art of misdirection in the final two runs by Allgeier. On second-and-6 and third-and-1 in the fourth quarter inside the red zone, the Falcons' play got bottled up at the line of scrimmage in both scenarios. Without any pre-snap motion and a blocking scheme without a tilt favoring one side, Allgeier didn't have room to work in either scenario.
And then that gets us to Sunday, Allgeier's most productive outing so far this year. It was obvious the Falcons took the learnings of what worked and what didn't in their first three games to create a run game in Week 4 for Allgeier that included what works. And you guessed it: That included a lot of misdirection.
In five of Allgeier's eight attempts, the Falcons sent a receiver in motion opposite the direction of the blockers and — at times — Allgeier (though you have to give credit to Allgeier for his decision making as to which direction he cut back to when reading the movements of Pete Werner at inside linebacker to gain the leverage on him. When Werner stepped up to fill a gap, Allgeier cut back opposite a few times to positive production). Those five plays yielded 46 yards and three first downs for the Falcons.
So, all of this to say that yes, Allgeier's style hasn't changed. He's still going to gain a few extra yards almost every time he touches the ball because of his physicality. But the Falcons' design runs for Allgeier have been productive, too, especially considering how its clearly evolved to include more elaborate pre-snap motions and opposite-loaded personnel alignments. When this offensive line gets downhill like the running back behind them does, it's been a recipe for success.
