FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons had 69 total rushing yards in their Week 1 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They averaged 2.5 yards per carry. And members of the Atlanta run game — from coaches, to linemen, to tight ends, to running backs — had a point to prove about who they are and what they do during Sunday night's win over the Minnesota Vikings.

They did just that. Proving their point to the tune of 218 rushing yards and 5.6 yards per carry in the prime-time win.

Last week, we wrote about why the run game struggled in the Week 1 loss. This week, we flip that script on its head because the Falcons did what they do best: Run the rock.

Atlanta's struggles in Week 1 could be boiled down into three key areas: Finding the right balance in designed runs for Bijan Robinson, running to the right without Kaleb McGary and utilizing Charlie Woerner in more nuanced and deceitful ways. In Week 2, they evolved in all three areas.

The main crux of the changes, though, fall to the latter and the usage of Woerner.

The Falcons have long relied on Woerner's blocking in the run game. For good reason, too, seeing as he's the point of attack in most cases. Against the Buccaneers last week, though, they snuffed out the secret sauce of Woerner's usage. This week, through Zac Robinson and Dwayne Ledford's play design, Woerner's lanes were a bit more disguised than they were the week prior.

Let's look at the numbers first before we get into specific looks from Sunday's game.

The Falcons found quite a bit of success with 12 personnel against the Vikings, and they deployed it a lot. The Falcons were in 12 personnel on 55 of their 63 against the Vikings (87.3%). That's the highest rate of 12 personnel usage in any game in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016). The Falcons had a 53% success rate out of 12 personnel compared to 13% success out of 11 personnel, which they ran only eight times Sunday.

Woerner's role in this offense was the most affected by this uptick in 12 personnel. He went from being in on 42% of the Falcons' offensive snaps in Week 1 to a whopping 85% in Week 2. It goes without saying that this is also a byproduct of the Falcons running the ball 39 times Sunday opposed to 28 the week before, but still, the personnel grouping matter a great deal to this point.

The Falcons lines Woerner up all over the place Sunday. They deployed him in a few more traditional fullback looks, they motioned him, they didn't motion him, they stacked Kyle Pitts over the top of him off the line, they aligned him to the left of Michael Penix Jr. in the pocket. A lot of this can be seen — an an example — through the Falcons final run plays of the fourth quarter, when the ground game put the actual game on ice.

The usage of Woerner out of these looks also varied amongst the Falcons' combo blocks.

With 6:21 left in the game, the Falcons deployed a look similar to that of the first screenshot. As the play begins, center Ryan Neuzil pushes left towards Matthew Bergeron while Woerner drops to take on the nose tackle. Neuzil pulls off and takes on the incoming inside linebacker coming through the gap. What manifested from this was a big hole for Allgeier, making it to where Allgeier went untouched for roughly three yards.

This was something that differed for Atlanta's run game that led to its success. Last week, Robinson averaged 0.42 yards before contact, while Allgeier averaged 1.3 yards before contact. This week, that average was more in line with Robinson and Allgeier's career averages.

Another cool wrinkle out of the first look involved Matthew Bergeron pulling from the right as other linemen pushed to the left. Simultaneously, Woerner followed Bergeron through the gap, picking up the next level blockers.

It wasn't just Woerner, though, who benefitted from the advances in the run game. The Falcons actually deployed fellow tight end Teagan Quitoriano more in Week 2 as well.

Quitoriano went from only getting two offensive reps in Week 1 (3%) to 15 in Week 2 (23%).

On one of the final productive runs of the game — a seven-yard pick up on first-and-10 — the Falcons sent Quitoriano in motion to the right. The Falcons then had numbers on their side with blockers all accounted for to the right of the protection.

Ultimately, the Falcons did two things that helped lead to their success on the ground against a stout Vikings defense.

For starters, the offensive line came out with a vengeance. Head coach Raheem Morris said the group was challenged throughout Week 2's prep to be better. They were. They were more sound on their blocks. They played through the whistle. And more often than not, they didn't allow a free blocker through the gap.

But secondly, you have to give credit to the Falcons offensive coaches for seeing how Tampa Bay was playing with all eyes on Woerner. The way they deployed Woerner — the different roles he played in the structure of the run game designs — was a key evolution for Atlanta that helped them to a 5.6 yards per carry average in a big prime-time win.