Once upon a time, the Atlanta Falcons got by on defensive guile rather than talent. Atlanta under Mike Smith had one great pass rusher (John Abraham), some above average defensive tackles (Jonathan Babineaux was legitimately great some of that time), and a typically strong secondary. Otherwise, the Falcons did much with little, until the wheels really came off in 2013 and 2014 and Smith got swept out of town.
Since Dan Quinn took over, he has steadily rebuilt the defense to the point where it’s regularly talked about as one of the NFL’s best young units, even if they’re not quite there yet from a production standpoint.