Hogs Haven
It’s week 4 of the NFL season, and the Washington Commanders will be facing the Atlanta Falcons on the road at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA this Sunday at 1:00 pm EDT. The Falcons are in many ways a foil for the Commanders, with a defensive, 2nd-chance Head Coach in Raheem Morris, a 2nd-year QB in Michael Penix Jr, and an OC reportedly sought by many teams last year in Zac Robinson, yet sporting an 8-9 record in 2024, a 1-2 record this season, and the Falcons were shut out by the Panthers 30-0 last week.
On offense, the Falcons are coached by OC Zac Robinson, former QB coach and passing game coordinator of the Rams. Although Robinson was presumably brought in to implement a similar offense to that of the Rams, a big part of the Rams success has been due to Sean McVay’s personal ability to read defenses and audible for his QB as well as McVay’s ability as a playcaller (recently voted the best offensive playcaller by NFL coaches). The results for the Falcons offense have been less impressive thus far, with the Falcons scoring the 2nd fewest points in the NFL through the past 3 weeks. The offense has been criticized for being predictable, with a high number of passing plays called out of shotgun formation and a high number of running plays called out of pistol formation, making playcalls easy to predict based on formation. The passing game also seems to rely heavily on short passes, leading to a high completion percentage without first downs. The Falcons have relied very heavily on RB Bijan Robinson in both the rushing and passing game, as he can take even a short pass for a big gain with his explosiveness and tackle-breaking ability. With 403 total yards from scrimmage, Bijan has personally accounted for a whopping 40% of the Falcons yards gained so far this season!
On defense, the Falcons are coached by DC Jeff Ulbrich, former DC and interim HC of the Jets following the firing, in 2024, of DC Jimmy Lake. Ulbrich has brought a philosophy of using multiple fronts, alternating between a 3-4 and 4-3 front and moving DL around the line to create mismatches. The Falcons also invested heavily in defense in the 2025 draft, taking defensive players with their first 4 picks (including taking two EDGE rushers in the 1st round of the draft: Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr). The Falcons defense is allowing the 2nd fewest scrimmage yards to opposing teams so far this year and held the Vikings to only 6 points in a week 2 blowout win.
I asked Saivion Mixon of The Falcoholic five questions to better understand the state of the Falcons and what to look for in this game.
1) What’s your assessment of Michael Penix Jr and on a scale of 1-10, how certain are you he’s a franchise guy?
I’m not going to act like seeing every one of Penix’s shortcomings on full...
