A few weeks ago, the Falcons looked like a team headed straight for the top of the draft. Two games in, they hadn’t even reached the red zone, and that kind of start makes the doom spiral easy to see.
Then Michael Penix Jr. came back, and everything changed.
Atlanta has ripped off back-to-back games averaging 40 points, and the attention has quickly shifted to the men calling the shots. Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees is drawing praise, while defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich is getting his own share of notice around the league. Both could end up in the head coaching conversation if this stretch keeps rolling.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler pointed to Rees as one of the names worth watching. “What Carolina offensive coordinator Brad Idzik is doing with Bryce Young will be hard to ignore,” Jeremy Fowler writes for ESPN.
“The Panthers have jumped from 26th to first in passing offense. He has Young playing fast and with confidence.
That will get noticed by front offices and owners. Falcons offensive coordinator Tommy Rees is on a nice stretch, as is Dallas OC Klayton Adams.”
Rees doesn’t have the kind of long NFL résumé that usually comes attached to a head coaching candidate. His first shot as an NFL offensive coordinator came last season in Cleveland, and it didn’t exactly light the league on fire. Still, Kevin Stefanski believed enough in him to bring him to Atlanta in the same role.
That trust matters, but Rees will need more than a hot couple of weeks to really force his way into serious head coaching discussions. If the Falcons keep putting up 40 a night, though, the buzz around him will only grow.
Ulbrich’s case is a little different, and in some ways tougher. Dan Graziano noted that his work has not gone unnoticed either.
“Atlanta is a fun story in the early going, and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich is getting love around the league for the job he’s doing with a unit that’s short-handed up front,” Dan Graziano writes. “He finished the 2024 season as the Jets’ interim head coach.
That obviously didn’t go well, but Ulbrich is extremely well-liked and respected around the league and could get looks if the Falcons have a big season.”
What Ulbrich is doing with this defense is hard to miss. Atlanta is first against the run and second in quarterback pressure, and it’s doing it while blitzing the 30th-most of any team in the league.
That’s a pretty sharp piece of coaching, especially with reserves like Cameron Thomas and C.J. Henderson stepping into bigger roles and playing like All-Pros.
Ulbrich was already viewed as a respected coordinator before the season started. The challenge is that defensive coaches usually have to clear a higher bar in these head coaching races, because teams keep chasing the next Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVay. Offensive coordinators tend to get hired faster, and that reality makes Rees’s path look cleaner than Ulbrich’s.
Even so, Ulbrich has done plenty over the last two seasons in Atlanta to get teams with openings to start paying close attention.
And that’s the larger point here: attrition never stops in this league. Good staffs get picked apart, and strong coaches at every level wind up on the radar. If the Falcons keep looking like a competent football team, Kevin Stefanski may have a hard time keeping the whole operation intact for long.
In Other News...
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Miller arrives with an unusual backstory for a midseason addition. He was originally drafted by the Patriots in the seventh round of the 2026 NFL Draft, but an injury led to his release before the season began. After working his way back, he reportedly stood out in a workout for Atlanta and now gets a chance to show whether that look can turn into something more. [Read more 🡒]
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Drake London Said Exactly What Falcons Fans Love About Beating The Saints
The Falcons had the Saints in a familiar spot by halftime, up 24-7 and well in control, but the lead only kept growing from there. By the end of the game, Atlanta had pushed the margin to 31 points, a reminder that this rivalry still carries plenty of edge when the Falcons get rolling.
Drake London was right in the middle of it, finishing with five catches for 96 yards and again looking like one of Michael Penix Jr.'s most reliable targets. He also spoke to the extra motivation behind Atlanta's continued push to score, tying it back to a previous Saints moment involving Jameis Winston, which only added another layer to a win Falcons fans will happily savor. [Read more 🡒]