The Atlanta Falcons season hasn’t gone the way a lot of fans might have expected coming into the year.
Perhaps the most shocking development is a positive one, as Atlanta’s pass rush — which had been dormant for over 20 years — has gone from one of the worst to one of the best overnight. The Falcons have 13 sacks in their last two games against two teams that are tied for the best record in the league in the Patriots and Colts. That puts them at 29 sacks on the season, which ranks 5th in the league. Comparatively, the Falcons had just 31 sacks all of last season, ranking 31st in the league.
Even more encouraging, Atlanta’s pass rush has been a group effort. No player has more than 4.5 sacks on the season, with nine guys accumulating at least 1.5 sacks. Because of that, the Falcons have the #1 passing defense in the NFL, a stat I’m not sure anybody would have predicted prior to the season.
However, even with all of their success defensively, the Falcons finds themselves at 3-6 through nine games, with their playoff hopes hanging by a thread. Poor coaching is at the root of the Falcons’ issues. Raheem Morris has Atlanta at a coaching disadvantage seemingly every week, and nothing to this point has suggested that Zac Robinson is a capable offensive coordinator at the NFL level.
The Falcons are averaging just 18.7 points per game this season, ranking 27th in the NFL. While Zac Robinson deserves plenty of criticism for that, the elephant in the room can’t be ignored — Michael Penix Jr. simply hasn’t been good enough in his first year as a starting quarterback. It’s fair to question whether he’s the franchise signal-caller of the future, which is why the Falcons were featured on Bill Barnwell’s list of teams that could be in the quarterback market this offseason, under the category “Young guys more likely to face competition than a replacement.”
“Atlanta’s ill-fated dalliance with Kirk Cousins will surely end after the 2025 season, though, opening up the spot behind Penix,” Barnwell writes. “I would be shocked if the Falcons moved on from their 2024 first-round pick after what should be a little over a full season’s worth of work, but it’s still unclear whether they’ll bring in someone who would qualify as just a safe pair of hands behind Penix or someone with a realistic chance of taking over as the starter if 25-year-old struggles next season.”
Cousins will almost certainly be released this offseason, and the Falcons will need to bring in a competent backup. Despite Penix’s struggles, it’s hard to envision any scenario where he isn’t the starting quarterback heading into 2026. The team invested the 8th overall pick in him, and there have been flashes of real promise, particularly in clutch situations. The inconsistency has been frustrating for a team with playoff aspirations, but that’s often part of the growing pains for young quarterbacks, especially when the environment around them hasn’t exactly set them up for success.
Zac Robinson is not a good offensive coordinator. The Falcons have been playing with a third string right tackle, who protects Michael Penix’s blindside, since Week 1. And outside of Drake London, Atlanta’s receiving core has been essentially non-existent.
Things could get a little more interesting if Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot are fired, which is very possible. The next regime won’t be attached to Penix, but it’s still hard to believe they’ll move on from him so quickly after a season in which there are still several positive indicators.
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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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