The Falcons’ 2026 schedule may look soft in the aggregate, but the trouble is hiding in plain sight. Atlanta opens on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday, Sept. 13, and while ESPN ranks the Falcons’ 17-game slate as the fourth easiest in the NFL, that doesn’t mean the path will be smooth. Their opponents posted a combined .465 winning percentage last season, yet the early stretch is loaded with matchup problems that could quickly derail any playoff push.
That’s the part Atlanta can’t ignore: the schedule may be friendly on paper, but the Falcons will spend the season dealing with some of the league’s most dangerous players. If they’re not sharp, those matchups can turn a promising year into a mess.
One of the biggest headaches comes from Panthers quarterback Bryce Young, who has turned into a problem for Atlanta despite his uneven start in the league. He’s 4-1 as a starter against the Falcons, even though he’s 14-30 overall in Carolina.
Last season, he helped sweep the Falcons, starting with a brutal 30-0 win in the first meeting. Then he came back in November and delivered a record-setting outing, going 31 of 45 for a franchise-record 448 yards with three touchdowns while helping Carolina win the division and reach the playoffs.
The Panthers and Falcons will meet twice, with those divisional games landing early in Week 2 and late in Week 18. In a crowded NFC South, both could wind up carrying real playoff weight.
Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson presents a different kind of problem entirely. The two-time MVP puts stress on a defense in a way most quarterbacks simply can’t, and Atlanta already knows its run defense has work to do even after posting a franchise-record 57 sacks in 2025. Jackson, the quarterback who holds the NFL record for most career rushing yards, effectively gives Baltimore an extra runner every snap.
That makes the Sunday Night Football showdown an especially sharp early test in the second season with Jeff Ulbrich as defensive coordinator. There is at least some reason for confidence: the Falcons handled mobile quarterbacks reasonably well last season, going up against Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Kyler Murray, who is now the starter for the Minnesota Vikings. Jackson, though, is operating on another level as a scrambler.
In Madrid, A.J. Terrell gets one of the toughest receiver assignments around when the Falcons line up against Bengals star Ja’Marr Chase.
It’s a matchup with some history attached to it. Chase, then with LSU, got the better of Terrell, who was at Clemson, in the 2020 NCAA College Football Playoff National Championship game, finishing with nine catches for 221 yards and two touchdowns.
The two also met briefly in the 2022 NFL season, though Terrell exited that game early with a hamstring injury.
Now Terrell has the kind of job that defines cornerbacks: shadow Chase and make Joe Burrow go somewhere else with the ball.
Then there’s Patrick Mahomes, who tends to make things difficult for everybody, whether people want to admit it or not. The Falcons still remember their controversial 22-17 Sunday Night Football loss in 2024, when the refs “swallowed their flags as Kyle Pitts was mugged in the end zone.”
Atlanta gets a chance to answer that one, but it won’t come easy. The pass rush has to get after Mahomes, who is fresh off a torn ACL and LCL.
The challenge is even sharper because Jalon Walker is out for the season with a torn ACL. That leaves the Falcons without one of their rising pass rushers. James Pearce Jr. will be back for his second game after serving an NFL suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
And if Aidan Hutchinson is lined up on Atlanta’s right side, that’s another problem waiting to happen. The Falcons’ right tackle situation is unsettled, and that matters because the blindside for either left-handed quarterback, Michael Penix Jr. or Tua Tagovailoa, comes from that edge.
Jawaan Taylor is the presumed starter, but he leads the NFL in penalties. Michael Jerrell is the other option, though he’s still a developmental piece.
Hutchinson, coming off 14.5 sacks for the Lions last season, would have every reason to like that matchup.
Atlanta’s season begins on the road against the Aaron Rodgers-led Steelers next Sunday, and the schedule’s toughest moments may be lurking long before the Falcons get a chance to settle in.
In Other News...
Falcons Just Got Dragged Into A Quarterback Trade Debate
The Falcons found themselves pulled into a quarterback conversation they had nothing to do with directly, thanks to a speculative idea from Bleacher Reports Kristopher Knox. His proposed three-team structure would send Tua Tagovailoa to Cleveland, while Atlanta would be attached to the deal through Dillon Gabriel and a conditional 2027 first-round pick, a wrinkle that immediately puts the Falcons in the middle of a much broader debate about how teams sort out their quarterback futures.
It is still just an idea, not a move or even a confirmed negotiation, but it does speak to how the league tends to view Atlanta whenever quarterback speculation starts heating up. The article weighs the pros and cons for all sides, and for the Falcons, the real intrigue is less about what has happened and more about whether their name keeps surfacing in these kinds of discussions as front offices look for creative ways to reshape the position. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Just Let A Familiar Receiver Slip To A Division Rival
Cedric Tillman was available after his release from Cleveland, and the Falcons had a familiar connection to weigh in their favor. He had previously been coached by Kevin Stefanski, and Atlanta had a chance to bring in another receiver after the cut deadline, but instead chose to keep moving with the wideouts already in the building.
Now Tillman lands with the Saints, who had a clear need at receiver and can offer him a path to elevation from the practice squad. For Atlanta, it is a small but notable miss in the division, the kind that barely registers in August and can look different later if a rival turns a waiver pickup into something useful. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Defense Gets A Needed Boost At The Perfect Time
Da'Shawn Hand was back on the practice field with the Falcons after missing most of training camp because of a leg injury, a welcome development for a defense that has been sorting through injuries and suspensions. Hand had been listed as questionable for Week 1, and his return at least gives Atlanta a better chance of having a veteran defensive lineman available when it opens the season.
For a group trying to hold up in the trenches, even one healthy body can matter, especially a player with Hands experience helping with depth and run defense. The Falcons still have work to do before game day, but getting him back in the mix gives the defensive front a little more stability at exactly the right time. [Read more 🡒]