It has been this way in Atlanta for a long time; the offense puts up 40 points, but the defense gives up 42 — a tale as old as time. Even with two defensive-minded head coaches coming before this new regime, the offense always carried the team. With Arthur Smith — an offensive-minded head coach — now in the fold, the expectations haven’t changed.
The Falcons offensive personnel is far superior to the defensive personnel, so you shouldn’t be shocked when you see a few high-scoring affairs. The defense won’t have to be great for this team to win games, but it will have to be timely in its turnovers and stops. Still, a new system in its first year should temper expectations for the offense. It can’t be assumed that the Falcons offense is going to immediately be one of the top groups in the league; it’ll take time.
With that being said, it is imperative for them to hit the ground running because there isn’t much optimism surrounding the defensive group. Like always, the offense will be carrying the team, and it seems like Matt Ryan and Arthur Smith are ahead of schedule.
Matt Ryan said he thinks the Falcons are actually a little farther along in the offensive install than in some other scheme changes he's been through, and he said it's because he is relatively familiar with this scheme.
— Tori McElhaney (@tori_mcelhaney) August 7, 2021
It helps that Ryan is relatively familiar with Arthur Smith’s offensive scheme, but there is still a learning curve in most scheme changes. It isn’t always an easy task to learn and then implement an entire playbook. This should be music to the ears of Falcons fans that there hasn’t been any trouble for the offense to learn this new system. For this team to have immediate success and compete as Terry Fontenot and Arthur Smith want to, this offense will have to continue to be “ahead of schedule.”
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