It’s week 4 of the NFL season, and the Washington Commanders will be facing the Atlanta Falcons on the road at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA this Sunday at 1:00 pm EDT. The Falcons are in many ways
a foil for the Commanders, with a defensive, 2nd-chance Head Coach in Raheem Morris, a 2nd-year QB in Michael Penix Jr, and an OC reportedly sought by many teams last year in Zac Robinson, yet sporting an 8-9 record in 2024, a 1-2 record this season, and the Falcons were shut out by the Panthers 30-0 last week.
On offense, the Falcons are coached by OC Zac Robinson, former QB coach and passing game coordinator of the Rams. Although Robinson was presumably brought in to implement a similar offense to that of the Rams, a big part of the Rams success has been due to Sean McVay’s personal ability to read defenses and audible for his QB as well as McVay’s ability as a playcaller (recently voted the best offensive playcaller by NFL coaches). The results for the Falcons offense have been less impressive thus far, with the Falcons scoring the 2nd fewest points in the NFL through the past 3 weeks. The offense has been criticized for being predictable, with a high number of passing plays called out of shotgun formation and a high number of running plays called out of pistol formation, making playcalls easy to predict based on formation. The passing game also seems to rely heavily on short passes, leading to a high completion percentage without first downs. The Falcons have relied very heavily on RB Bijan Robinson in both the rushing and passing game, as he can take even a short pass for a big gain with his explosiveness and tackle-breaking ability. With 403 total yards from scrimmage, Bijan has personally accounted for a whopping 40% of the Falcons yards gained so far this season!
On defense, the Falcons are coached by DC Jeff Ulbrich, former DC and interim HC of the Jets following the firing, in 2024, of DC Jimmy Lake. Ulbrich has brought a philosophy of using multiple fronts, alternating between a 3-4 and 4-3 front and moving DL around the line to create mismatches. The Falcons also invested heavily in defense in the 2025 draft, taking defensive players with their first 4 picks (including taking two EDGE rushers in the 1st round of the draft: Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr). The Falcons defense is allowing the 2nd fewest scrimmage yards to opposing teams so far this year and held the Vikings to only 6 points in a week 2 blowout win.
I asked Saivion Mixon of The Falcoholic five questions to better understand the state of the Falcons and what to look for in this game.
1) What’s your assessment of Michael Penix Jr and on a scale of 1-10, how certain are you he’s a franchise guy?
I’m not going to act like seeing every one of Penix’s shortcomings on full display at once didn’t make me uncomfortable. That said, I’m still optimistic about his long-term outlook. I’d put my confidence level around a 7.5 out of 10 right now. He has to get more comfortable attacking the middle of the field and navigating the pocket when pressure comes. Up until Sunday, he’d done a great job avoiding negative plays, and I believe he’ll learn from such a rough outing.
2) Tell us about the Falcons revamped defense that was able to hold the Vikings to 6 points in week 2.
The Falcons have leaned heavily into Jeff Ulbrich’s aggressive approach. Atlanta leads the league with a 40.4% blitz rate, including 43.3% against Minnesota. They’ve also used the versatility of their defensive line to muddy protections, rotating nine different players for 13–26 snaps each, per Next Gen Stats. That group helped pressure J.J. McCarthy on 53.3% of his dropbacks, and it was a big reason why the Vikings never found a rhythm.
3) What factors lead to the Panthers shutting out the Falcons 30-0 last week?
Honestly, it was a perfect storm of failures in all three phases. Penix struggled to push the ball, missing open reads and settling for checkdowns, one of which Chau Smith-Wade jumped for a pick-six. Bijan Robinson played well, but the run game never got fully established. Special teams were a disaster: Bad punts, two missed field goals, and multiple botched kick returns left the offense with terrible field position (an average starting spot under the 18-yard line). The defense actually held up reasonably well early, but with no help from the other phases, it eventually spiraled into a game Atlanta will want to forget.
4) Who is one Falcons player on offense and one player on defense that Washington fans probably don’t know much about, but should?
On defense, keep an eye on the linebacker tandem of Kaden Elliss and Divine Deablo. They’ve been effective in multiple roles: Blitzing, stopping the run, and reading quick passes, and Ulbrich moves them around constantly to create mismatches.
On offense, everyone knows Bijan Robinson, but Tyler Allgeier deserves more recognition. He’s a bruiser who complements Bijan perfectly, especially in 21 personnel looks. Against Washington, I’d expect his workload to tick up as Atlanta tries to establish the run early.
5) How should Washington go about gameplanning this matchup on both sides of the ball?
When Washington has the ball: Run it. The Falcons didn’t give up many explosive runs, but Carolina controlled the trenches and dictated the game that way. With Washington’s rushing attack and both quarterbacks being threats on the ground, that’s the best way to neutralize Atlanta’s pass rush.
When Atlanta has the ball: Make Penix uncomfortable. Before last week, he was good at avoiding negative plays, but when rattled, he sped through progressions and defaulted to checkdowns. Bijan will get his regardless, but if Washington can stuff the run early, it forces Atlanta to play left-handed and lean more heavily on a rookie quarterback still adjusting.
A companion article to this with my answers to Saivion’s questions will be linked here as soon as it is available.
Thanks again to Saivion Mixon for taking time out of his day to answer our questions about the Falcons. Also, if you want more knowledge about the Falcons, you should check out this Q&A by Falcons beat reporter Jeanna Kelley.
