After a couple seasons as one of the worst defenses in football, the Atlanta Falcons added some star talent in the offseason, along with a new defensive coordinator in Ryan Nielsen. 

They put on a great showing versus the Carolina Panthers and Green Bay Packers, and I saw some really good things on tape in both performances. I fully expect the Atlanta Falcons to have a resurgent 2023 season.

Following a strong week 1 performance, the Falcons defense was able to make multiple stops and big plays, including a game-securing moment, that gave the team a big win against a confident Green Bay Packers team. 

Atlanta Falcons 2023 Defensive Film Breakdown

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Disclaimer: The following is a transcript of a YouTube video titled “The Atlanta Falcons Might Actually Have a Good Defense in 2023: Film Breakdown” The content is for informational purposes only and was originally presented in video format.

Most of the Atlanta Falcons analysis from this offseason has been centered around the offense with so many dynamic weapons and an unknown at quarterback. I think everyone's interested to see how that all fits together. 

But Atlanta's defense was one of the most impressive units I watched in week one. And if they can keep it up, that'll take a lot of pressure off Desmond Ridder. 

Atlanta's defense is ranked near the bottom of the league for most of the last decade, and they finish 28th and 29th in EPA per play in Dean Pees two seasons as DC. 

Pees retired this offseason and they brought in Ryan Nielsen who was the co-defensive coordinator and D-line coach for New Orleans Saints. So with a first year play caller taking over a struggling defense, my expectations weren't that high, but the Falcons have a couple established veterans at important positions that are still playing at an elite level. 

They made some key additions in free agency that are already paying off. And they've invested a lot of draft capital over the last few years on talented players that will continue to develop. 

I'm not going to spend a ton of time on this section, because if you're a Falcons fan, you know the deal with Grady Jarrett. He's one of the best three techniques in the NFL. Even at 30 years old, he's still a high impact player on both sides of the ball. 

He had six pressures, a sack, and two run stops in week one. And you can see right here, the Panthers are running inside zone and he's so quick off the snap, he resets the line of scrimmage.

The running back's trying to work frontside to backside, and even though Calais Campbell gets turned over, Jarrett takes away this frontside B gap as an option, by the time he takes the handoff, the guard's right in his face and he has to cut back. 

So with stars like Grady Jarrett who are in their 30s, you've always got to keep an eye out for aggression, but I feel good about him being the disruptive player he's always been. 

And then A.J. Terrell had an all pro caliber season in 2021 last year, he took somewhat of a step back, but he finished the year really strong and he was locked down in week one on 46 coverage snaps. He was targeted eight times and he gave up four receptions for just 19 yards and one first down.

Great job on this dig route of staying locked onto the outside hip. He keeps himself in phase without holding and he doesn't give Bryce Young an open window. I do have to add the qualifier that the Panthers don't seem to have any juice at receiver, so there are going to be tougher matchups, but A.J. Terrell was smothering them the entire game. 

To reach its potential, you need Grady Jarrett playing at 100%, and A.J. Terrell to return to second year form, and Week 1 has me confident on both fronts. But Atlantas free agency additions are already paying off.

They signed one of the best safeties in the NFL in Jessie Bates who had an incredible week one performance; two interceptions a force fumble and seven tackles.

This first interception, the Panthers are running two in breaking routes. Atlanta's playing a split safety match coverage where Troy Anderson's gonna wall off the number two with inside leverage. 

Good job making contact and rerouting the tight end, but he doesn't carry this route across the field because Bates is reading the route concept from the backside. Bryce Young doesn't see him, and Bates breaks on the route for an interception. 

His second interception, the Falcons are in single high man coverage, and all Jessie Bates has to do here is stay home and break on the pass. Against a three by one formation, the safety's first responsibility is usually to give help to the passing strength, but there aren't any routes from that side crossing the field to influence him, so he just maintains his pre snap alignment. Bryce Young decides to hit the backside dig, and Bates is right there to play the ball. 

Now these are some really bad decisions from Bryce Young, but you look at the Falcons schedule and they're gonna play Bryce Young again; they get two games against Baker Mayfield, they play Sam Howell, Justin Fields, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson, Ryan Tannehill. There's gonna be a lot of interceptable passes from opposing quarterbacks that Jessie Bates can take advantage of.

But it wasn't just the interceptions, Jessie Bates ability to fit the run from depth is gonna be so valuable for this defense. So we'll see what Nielsen's defense looks like from a coverage perspective. 

They were playing a good amount of quarters in Week 1. And for that scheme, you need smart safeties with good route recognition, and the Falcons have one of the best safety rooms in the league.

Another big free agency signing was David Onyemata, and teaming him up with Grady Jarrett, this could be a dangerous interior pass rush. They both ranked in the top 8 in ESPN's pass rush win rate for Week 1. 

The Falcons ran a lot of stunts and twists, which fits great with Onyemata's skill set, but he's also a really talented one on one pass rusher. You can see right here, he gets Chandler Zavala with a club rip. Great initial punch to threaten power and get him to drop his anchor, and then he clubs the outside shoulder and rips through the quarterback. 

I do wish they had a true nose tackle that could be a little bit stronger at the point of attack. Onyemata is quick and explosive and he has good play recognition to make plays in the backfield, but asking him to take on double teams like this, you're just not going to have great results. 

So for next off season, that's definitely a position they need to target, but the Falcons ranked 31st in pressure rate last year, and I think their defensive tackle duo alone could get them to league average. 

Kaden Elliss was another free agent they brought in from New Orleans. He's a really good run defender, he can stack and shed, he's an instinctive player shooting gaps. He isn't the fastest linebacker, so in situations where it's a foot race to the edge or you're asking him to cover mesh concepts across the field, you will see some of the athletic limitations, but overall he's a good player. 

And I'm really excited to watch more of Troy Anderson. He had one missed tackle where he was flowing too hard with wide zone and he couldn't get over to the cutback lane, but he's such a freak athlete. He has all the athletic tools to legitimately be a top five linebacker and his development is going to be an X factor for this defense.

So I think Atlanta has a lot of the foundational pieces to be a top 15 defense this year, but there are a couple positions that could hold this unit back. I'm still not that confident in this group of edge rushers.

Arnold Ebiketie I really liked as a prospect, but he was pretty quiet week one. And the veteran rotation of Bud Dupree, Lorenzo Carter, and Calais Campbell I think will be better than what they had last year, but probably not keeping offensive tackles up at night. 

And the rookie Zach Harrison I think is raw as a pass rusher, although he did have a nice rep here where he just folds in this reach block. The good news is Ryan Nielsen has a track record of developing edge rushers like Trey Hendrickson and Marcus Davenport.

So we'll see how that plays out over the next few years. But for this season, I expect them to rely heavily on interior pressure. I also have concerns about cornerback two. Tre Flowers is not a player you want starting, in my opinion. And Jeff Okudah should be back in the lineup soon. He just returned to practice after missing week one. 

Okudah looks like outside of Aaron Glenn's defense. The Lions asked their corners to play probably the most aggressive press coverage that you'll see in the NFL. He was two hand punching almost every play, constantly in recovery mode, and it just wasn't a recipe for success. So if they get him playing more under control and conservative from a technique standpoint, he has the upside to be a good cornerback. 

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