The Atlanta Falcons might be the scariest team in football

In just two weeks, the entire narrative surrounding the Atlanta Falcons has flipped on its head, and it’s not too difficult to find the inflection point.

Against the Steelers and Panthers, Atlanta’s defense held its own for the most part. Neither team could run the ball on Atlanta, and if the offense didn’t turn the ball over a hundred times against Carolina, that score would have at least been respectable. Instead Cooper Rush looked like a high school quarterback dressed up as an NFL player for Halloween. He legitimately could not throw the ball 25 yards past the line of scrimmage, giving the Falcons zero hope from the moment they stepped on the field.

When Penix returned in Week 3, the switch flipped, and it’s done so in a way that should strike fear into the rest of the league. The mere threat of a passing attack has opened things up for Bijan Robinson, who only needs a little bit of space to make defenses pay again, and again, and again. Following another performance with north of 140 yards on the ground and two scores, he now has 339 rushing yards with four touchdowns over the last two weeks — a clear frontrunner for the Offensive Player of the Year award.

But it’s not just the Falcons’ ground game that’s flourishing. Under the guidance of new head coach Kevin Stefanski and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, Michael Penix Jr. looks like an above-average quarterback. He’s completing over 73% of his passes, and outside of a shaky first quarter in his first game back against the Packers, he’s been basically perfect, getting the ball out on time and never putting it in harm’s way. His 83 QBR on the season is the fourth-best mark in the entire league, behind only Brock Purdy, Caleb Williams, and Dak Prescott.

The Packers and Saints don’t have all-world defenses, but the Falcons’ offense has now scored 80 points over the last two weeks on the road in primetime. It doesn’t matter if they were playing the Georgia Bulldogs — that’s impressive, especially considering this is Penix’s first two games back from a torn ACL in a completely new offensive system. What happens when he starts feeling more comfortable? Nobody outside of Atlanta wants to see that.

However, for as good as the offense has been, the defense seems to have the bones of something even more special. The Falcons were a team that could get after the passer a season ago, finishing second in the league in sacks. But they were consistently gashed on the ground.

That’s no longer the case. Atlanta came into Monday night’s matchup first in rush defense, allowing fewer than 50 yards per game on the ground, and nothing changed against the Saints, who rushed for just 50 yards on 19 carries — averaging 2.6 yards per attempt.

And the Falcons are still getting after the passer just fine. Even if the sack numbers aren’t there yet, that’s a deceiving stat. A more indicative number of how effective teams are at making quarterbacks’ lives a living hell is pressure — and Atlanta currently ranks second in pressure rate.

Want me to keep going with the impressive numbers? I know you do. A season ago, the Falcons were getting a lot of their sacks from creative blitzes by defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. They didn’t have the manpower to get home with four, so Ulbrich went into his bag early and often, blitzing the second-most of any team in the league. He hasn’t had to do that this season. The Falcons are generating all of this pressure despite blitzing the 30th-most of any team — and they’re doing it without Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. Just imagine what this defense could look like a month from now, when Pearce returns from suspension.

Through four weeks, Atlanta has an elite defense and can run the ball as well as anyone in the league. They are outrushing teams by more than 130(!) yards per game, and they spent the first two weeks with a third-string quarterback under center. That is the picture-perfect formula for winning games at this level, especially now that they are getting more than competent quarterback play.

The scoreboard week-to-week can oftentimes lie. But the Falcons aren’t thriving off turnovers or other teams’ mistakes. They are physically imposing their will on every team that steps between the white lines against them. That’s something we haven’t been able to say about the team in Atlanta for decades, and it makes them one of the scariest teams to play in the National Football League

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