Falcons Hold the Vikings to 6 Points: Recap and Reactions

I think it could be argued that the Falcons pitched their best defensive effort in the last decade last night, and I don’t think it would be an overstatement. The Falcons defense forced and recovered a fumble, had two interceptions, and sacked Vikings’ QB JJ McCarthy 6 times on Sunday night leading to a 22-6 victory in Minneapolis. The Falcons also were able to hold star WR Justin Jefferson in check, holding him to only 3 receptions for 81 yards (51 of these came on one play). Since before the Matt Ryan era, Falcons fans and coaches have clamored for pass rush, and today they finally got it. The Falcons got a huge win to avoid an 0-2 start, but there were some key takeaways and questions that emerged after Sunday’s inspiring performance.

Falcons’ Defensive Domination:

The Falcons finally got a rotation of young pass rushers this offseason and it showed. In years past, the Falcons relied heavily on 2 or 3 pass rushers to generate pressure which would give them remarkably low pressure rates as players got tired. This year, they have a rotation of 7 or 8 players who have specific situational roles. For example, rookie EDGE James Pearce Jr comes in on key passing downs (3rd and long) and is able to pin his ears back and not worry about the run whereas players like DL David Onyemata are better suited for rush heavy situations. This led to fresh legs on the field all game for the Falcons defense and even though the Falcons had 6 sacks, no individual player had more than 1.5 sacks. A complete team effort. The Falcons also showed something I had never seen from them – a complex scheme. In my game preview, I talked a lot about Vikings’ DC Brian Flores and his disguises (which he did) but I was shocked to see Falcons’ DC Ulbrich moving around players like DB Billy Bowman Jr and LB Divine Deablo as chess pieces and faking blitzes/coverages throughout the game. This scheme worked to a tee all game. When CB AJ Terrell got injured at the end of the 2nd quarter, I thought Justin Jefferson would get going. The play after Terrell was taken out, Jefferson broke free for a gain of 51. Despite this, Ulbrich made adjustments at halftime and kept Jefferson and Vikings’ pass catchers in check throughout the second half.

Some may say that the Vikings’ O-line was dealing with injuries, as some key players exited the game, but the Falcons showed defensive domination for the first time I can recall. I’m interested to see if the Falcons can build on this next week against a banged up Carolina Panthers offensive line.

Falcons’ Offense:

After Week 1’s poor rushing output by the Atlanta Falcons, I had predicted that they would fare worse against a much stronger Vikings’ defensive line. But in complete Falcons’ fashion, they were unpredictable – but this time in a good way. From the first snap, the Falcons absolutely dominated the trenches offensively and had a great day on the ground. Similar to 2023, the Falcons utilized power RB Tyler Allgeier in the rushing attack alongside star workhorse RB Bijan Robinson which led to 218 rushing yards on the day. Robinson had 168 all purpose yards and Allgeier finished with 80 yards and the Falcons’ lone touchdown on the day. In my opinion yesterday was the best game that Bijan Robinson has played in a Falcons’ uniform. The long runs, vision, and moves he was putting on defenders were unreal all game. Really encouraging day from this Falcons rushing attack which looked lifeless last week against Tampa Bay. Another great sign was the success of their patented outside zone which was borderline unstoppable against the Vikings’ stout front. All signs point to the Falcons being able to replicate this rushing success next week against the Panthers.

Despite the great day on the ground, the Falcons offense had a poor day overall. The defense was giving them great field position all day, but this led to 5 Falcons’ field goals and only one touchdown (coming with under 5 minutes to go in the game). The Falcons only had one turnover (wideout Drake London’s fumble), but once they got into plus territory (specifically in the redzone) after successful running, they would stall. QB Michael Penix Jr did not have the best outing as he took 3 sacks and finished with only 135 passing yards. I did like what I saw from him and the Falcons’ offense on their last drive of the game. They killed almost 7 minutes of game clock and all three of the Vikings’ timeouts and capped it off with a touchdown. After a critical holding on Jake Matthews to set up a 1st and 20, Penix threw an absolute seed to London on a slant and picked up 21 yards. Those are the plays that win games and it allowed the Falcons to chew the game clock and put the game out of reach. Definitely a lot of things for Penix to improve on, but he didn’t put the ball in harm’s way and effectively managed the game.

Offensive Coaching (Zac Robinson):

There were a lot of questions targeted at OC Zac Robinson last week after an abysmal rushing attack and an over reliance on pistol formation. This week, even after seemingly fixing a lot of the issues in the run game, there are still a lot of questions with his playcalling. The amount of pistol the Falcons ran this week was glaring. I personally do not mind the pistol being mixed into the offense, but it does not make any sense why the Falcons are the only team who runs this amount of pistol. It does not even seem to be working well. Robinson also had poor playcalling inside the redzone this game and was a key reason for a lot of drive stalls. It seems like we could be heading for another Matt Ryan offensive era where redzone touchdowns are rare. On the positive side, I think Zac Robinson did a great job incorporating more 12 personnel (2 tight end sets) and this could be a reason that the rushing attack improved drastically. Additionally, there were some concerns about the short-yardage playcalling last week, but Zac Robinson did a great job this week running from under center or I-formation with the power back Allgeier which led to more success. It will be interesting to see if the problems come back or if Zac Robinson has an idea of how to run short-yardage situations now.

Special Teams:
No negative comments to say here. This is one of the best special teams games I have seen the Falcons play in my life. New K Parker Romo finished 5/5 on his field goals and made his lone extra point. After coming in to replace K Younghoe Koo after a game-losing miss, Romo delivered and propelled the Falcons to have a multi-score lead even when the offense wasn’t clicking. The punt and kickoff coverage was also fantastic. It is interesting to wonder how Romo’s kicking day would have fared had he missed his first field goal (which was one or two inches away from sailing wide left), but he delivered and that’s all that matters. I will say it again: special teams matters.

Game MVP: Falcons’ DC Jeff Ulbrich / RB Bijan Robinson

Next Week: Carolina Panthers

Next week, the Falcons travel to Carolina to play the Panthers. This is a huge division game considering the Falcons are already 0-1 in the NFC South. The Panthers are 0-3 and have lots of offensive line injury concerns right now. The Falcons look like they have the defense that can exploit it. The Falcons also have a rushing attack that should be able to dice the Panthers defense. They have had problems before delivering in games that they should win, so it will be interesting to see how the Falcons handle the preparation this week and the looming news of AJ Terrell’s hamstring injury.