The Atlanta Falcons own the No. 3 ranked run defense in the NFL, with 823 total yards on the ground this season. The San Francisco 49ers defense is the next unit tasked with slowing down the rushing attack.
"One thing about the Falcons is they're physical as they run the ball," defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans said after Thursday's practice. "They run the ball. They don't try to hide it. They're not disguising it. They want to run the ball. They want to play smash-mouth football.
"And they've done a great job this year of sticking to the run. Even when they've been down, they continue to run the ball, and they've been successful at it. Top three in the league at running the football, so we have our hands full when it comes to stopping the run this week."
Ryans later repeated that the defense is committed to stopping the run this week. However, the unit may have to do so without three key starters along the defensive line. Arik Armstead did not travel with the team to West Virginia this week as he is dealing with foot and ankle injuries. He will not play on Sunday. In addition, Nick Bosa and Javon Kinlaw missed their second consecutive practice, lowering their odds of being available to face the Falcons.
The Falcons offense ranks near the bottom of the league—No. 30—in passing yards. The 49ers defense will be without Emmanuel Moseley for the remainder of the season. He suffered a torn ACL on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers. The starting cornerback was playing well in his fifth NFL season.
"I was just fired up for him to have a complete year, and he did a lot of great things for us," Ryans said. "So that's tough to replace. It's hard to replace a guy [like that]. We try to do our best with the guys that we have but losing Moseley definitely hurts. He's just such a great teammate, great person, great player for us, and we're truly going to miss him."
The 49ers' strong pass defense on the edges, helped by the offseason addition of cornerback Charvarius Ward, has permitted Ryans to be more aggressive in his play-calling. His defense has allowed the fewest total yards (1,246) in the NFL and is tied with the Buffalo Bills for the fewest points allowed (61). It ranks No. 1 against the run (357 yards allowed) and No. 3 against the pass (889 yards allowed).
"Any time you lose a starter, a guy that plays at a high level like Moseley, it's going to be different," Ryan admits. "It's not the same. So it's going to be a challenge for sure, but the thing about our team and the guys that we have, is nobody flinches. Everybody has E-Man's back, and we're going to strap it up and be ready to go for him, and everybody's going to go out and compete at their best to get this one for E-Man."
