Things are suddenly going better on that side of the ball.
I would not suggest to you with a straight face that the Falcons are a good defense now. They are still last in the league in sacks, and they have two lopsided losses in the past five games fueled in part by defensive ineptitude. There is a long road ahead if this team is going to become a consistently good squad on that side of the ball in 2025.
Yet for all of that, the team has caught fire as a pass rush since the bye week, and they’ve delivered three superior defensive efforts. That includes one genuinely stunning game against the Chargers and a pair of strong efforts against admittedly weak opponents, culminating in a dominant day against the woeful Giants.
In a quality debut by Michael Penix and a great day for Bijan Robinson yet again, the defense is this week’s MVP. Three sacks, two (!) pick-sixes, a forced fumble, and just 234 yards allowed alongside a single, early touchdown will more than do the trick against most opponents, and it led to Atlanta absolutely crushing New York. After the Falcons held the Raiders in check until late and shut down the Chargers—and somehow only won one of those games by the narrowest margin possible—this was a complete effort on both sides of the ball that led to a dominant win. But the defense scoring twice and smothering New York, even if that is not exactly a tall task, was the most valuable effort of the day nonetheless.
There are things to build on here for the future, from Arnold Ebiketie’s continued growth to Jessie Bates’ absurdly well-timed turnovers to an encouraging day from young defenders like Ruke Orhorhoro and Dee Alford. In this moment, though, the results are exactly what these Falcons needed.