The Falcons, on paper, look like they can compete for a championship. There’s absolutely no excuse for them to not win the NFC South, but there are still some questions that need answers if the Falcons are going to compete in the postseason.
Raheem Morris, ready for his second stint as head coach?
Morris has come as advertised so far. In fact, he’s probably over-delivered in his first offseason. Talking like Mets fans, the Braves have won the offseason! In reality, Morris has stepped into Atlanta’s head coaching position and done more in six months than Arthur Smith did in three years.
Granted, some of that is due to Smith’s limited resources, but nevertheless, Atlanta is finally a destination where the top players around the league want to play because of Morris.
He fixed the quarterback position, signing Kirk Cousins and drafting Michael Penix Jr., brought the most sought-after offensive coordinator of the hiring cycle with him to the Falcons, and he’s turned the defense into a competent-looking unit, headlined by the recent acquisitions of Matthew Judon and Justin Simmons.
However, unlike a lot of first-year head coaches, there will be no grace period for Raheem Morris. The Falcons are expected to win immediately. The big question is, is Raheem Morris as good of a regular-season head coach as he is in the offseason?
First-time offensive and defensive coordinators
Raheem Morris is expected to float wherever he is needed, meaning it will be up to Jimmy Lake and Zac Robinson to get a bunch of new faces familiar with the two new systems. Both have the pieces in place to put together two top 10 units.
Lake has all of the tools to put together the best defense the Falcons have had in quite some time. With the additions of Simmons and Judon, the defense doesn’t have any obvious weaknesses other than cornerback, which should be mitigated with Simmons and Jessie Bates III on the backend.
Robinson was the hottest name on the offensive coordinator market. To say expectations are high would be an understatement. The former Rams quarterbacks coach will be tasked with getting on the same page as Kirk Cousins to maximize the potential of the Falcons top 10 picks in Kyle Pitts, Drake London, and Bijan Robinson.
The Falcons have to hit the ground running, and a lot of that will be on the shoulders of two first-time coordinators to get a bunch of new faces familiar with two new schemes.
Can Kirk Cousins finally deliver on the biggest stages?
The Falcons don’t have a glaring weakness on the roster, but Kirk Cousins has some doubters to prove wrong.
In four playoff starts, Cousins completed 69% of his passes for 254 yards per contest and seven total touchdowns to only one interception. Those aren’t bad numbers at all, but his teams went 1-3 in those games.
At some point, whether it’s in the playoffs or the regular season, the Falcons will need Kirk Cousins to step up and be a killer. We haven’t seen that from him across his entire career. Raheem Morris believes Cousins is the man for the job, so we’ll see.
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Photographer: Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire
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