Much of the Falcons season will boil down to 3 things

The Falcons’ upcoming season is probably the most rightfully anticipated campaign since the 2017 season after the Super Bowl run.

Fans were excited last year with Kirk Cousins in the fold because he finally raised the standard at the position, but Michael Penix Jr. is the future. This is the beginning of a new era in Atlanta. Even more so, the Falcons actually have some pass rushers worth getting excited about.

At the end of the day, much of the club’s goals are going to boil down to these three things.

3. Coaching

Acting like Raheem Morris wasn’t at least partially responsible for the Falcons’ underwhelming 2024 season is asinine. In-game management and roster decisions directly impacted Atlanta missing out on the playoffs. We all know about the timeout debacle in Washington, but how Morris handled Kirk Cousins and Younghoe Koo‘s respective injuries and struggles had a bigger influence.

Morris did have a positive impact in other aspects, though. Once he took a larger hand in the defense, that side of the ball improved. So with Jimmy Lake out and Jeff Ulbrich in, the Falcons should be much better defensively. Lake was in over his head from the get-go. It was abudently clear to everyone when he was hired, and Morris quickly found out the same.

Zac Robinson is not clean in all of this either. In his first season as a play caller, there was some good and some bad. Robinson will have fewer physical restrictions in his play calling with Michael Penix compared to Kirk Cousins, but in that same breath, Penix has less experience and therefore less knowledge of NFL defenses, so Robinson will have to account for that.

2. Pass Rush Improvement

The Falcons longest-standing weakness might finally take a turn for the good after Terry Fontenot swung big this offseason, drafting two pass rushers in the first round in Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. He also signed Leonard Floyd to join Arnold Ebiketie, Zach Harrison, and Kaden Elliss.

Walker, Pearce, Floyd, and Bralen Trice are the new guys on the block. The Falcons are counting on all of them to boost a historically bad pass rush. The defense finished 31st in sacks last year with 31. The club is the only one in the NFL with fewer than 300 sacks over the last 10 years. The Falcons have fewest sacks in the league in the last five years, 10 years, and 15 years.

This a systematic issue that finally has the solutions in-house.

1. Michael Penix Jr.’s Development

Penix’s arm talent is apparent. The kind of confidence it takes to just throw some of the passes he did, let alone complete them, is why the Falcons fell in love with him. He never flinched in the face of adversity, especially late in games against the Commanders and Panthers. I’m as excited about Penix as I have been about a player in Atlanta in a long time, but it seems like fans just aren’t even considering the possibility that Penix might not be great immediately.

The second-year quarterback only started three games last year and had a 78.6 passer rating (27th) and 58% completion percentage (29th). There were flashes, which is why everyone is so excited, but to completely ignore the bad aspects is disingenuous to just how hard it is to play quarterback in this league.

Penix’s touch in the intermediate area of the field left a lot to be desired, especially from inconsistency standpoint. One aspect of his game that is ultra-impressive but will have to continue is his mental development. Once he failed against a certain coverage, alignment, leverage, etc., he made the proper adjustments. To be a great, that will have to be a constant evolution in his game.

There is no single bigger factor in the Falcons postseason chances than Michael Penix Jr.

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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire

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