The Falcons enter Week 10 of the season 3-6, and while they are still somehow in the mix for first place, nobody is feeling especially confident about the direction of this football team.
The bright spots Atlanta had early in the season have almost all faded. Everybody knows Bijan Robinson is one of the top running backs in football, but Atlanta has struggled running the ball against better defenses. The offensive line play has taken a step back from previous seasons, and Penix’s inability to keep defenses honest has also been a factor.
For a brief moment, it looked like Kevin Stefanski and Tommy Rees just might be the guys to make Penix a franchise quarterback. He was brilliant against the Packers and Saints in his first two games back, then had another really strong outing in the Falcons’ upset win over the 49ers.
But a lot of the problems that persisted before the new coaching staff arrived have remained constant this season. Penix doesn’t like to move around — likely because of his injury history — and when pressured, he’s no better than Cooper Rush. He actually might be worse, which has led to far too much inconsistency for someone the Falcons were hoping could be the team’s next franchise quarterback.
Is that the fault of Atlanta’s offensive coaching staff? Possibly. They certainly haven’t done anything worth praise, but it also could be that Michael Penix simply isn’t the guy, and the Falcons need to be back in the quarterback market this offseason.
On the other side of the ball, Atlanta seemed to establish a new identity early in the season. They were a physical team that dominated the line of scrimmage. At one point, they had the top-rated rush defense to go along with the best pressure rate in the entire league. But all of that proved to be fool’s gold once they found themselves up against more competent offenses. This is still a unit littered with holes that Matt Ryan and Ian Cunningham will be tasked with filling come the offseason.
Most of this stuff should have been expected. This was a roster that came into the season with tons of questions. Some were even pegging the Falcons to pick #1 overall, so not all of the struggles can be pinned on Stefanski and his staff. But one area is concerning — and it’s something Stefanski talks about often: the ability to adapt.
The sign of a good coaching staff is one that can lead its team to victory when things aren’t right. Whether it’s missing key players, bad weather, or whatever else, the best coaches in the league are tough to beat no matter the circumstances. One could say that’s the entire purpose of a head coach, and in that area, Stefanski has totally failed.
The Falcons looked like a fish out of water when Michael Penix Jr. was out, especially when the Panthers dismantled them in Week 2. Then fast forward a few weeks to when Atlanta had a chance to take a stranglehold of the NFC South with a win over the Bucs. That game took place in a monsoon, and it seemed like only one coaching staff was aware of it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the Falcons’, who were shut out in an embarrassing 16-0 defeat — one in which Penix threw four interceptions and the Bucs failed to complete a pass.
That’s the biggest knock on Kevin Stefanski through his first nine games in Atlanta. When everything’s perfect, the Falcons look like contenders. But anybody can win under perfect circumstances; it’s the ones who can adapt to less-than-stellar circumstances that are worth their pay. And so far, Stefanski hasn’t proven he’s worth a dime.
Grade: D
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Photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire