The Atlanta Falcons' head coaching search was a bit of a doozy. There were several people who disagreed with the idea of firing Raheem Morris after an 8-9 season where Atlanta ended the year on a four-game win streak, but Arthur Blank was more enthralled with the idea of hiring Kevin Stefanski.
When the Falcons fired Morris, Stefanski hadn't yet been fired by the Cleveland Browns, but it was obvious it was coming--and the idea of giving him a second shot in a more stable situation did make sense. Unfortunately, the preseason opener was not the best sign for the new regime and their vision.
The Falcons fell 27-7 to the Denver Broncos in a matchup that couldn't have seen Stefanski's debut in Atlanta go any worse. They committed nine penalties, were held under 200 total yards, and the QBs looked brutal, especially Cooper Rush, who threw two picks, including a pick-six on Friday night.
The Atlanta Falcons' bad performance in the preseason opener is nothing to worry about
It's easy to look at this with this franchise's horrible luck across the last few seasons and assume that the sky is falling. This debut offered nothing to be excited about to the point that Sean Payton had to add to the dogpile. But Kevin Stefanski deserves some more grace before this fanbase writes him off.
Here's what we need to remember, the Dirty Birds were not operating with their usual personnel. Yes, they played their starters, but Bijan Robinson didn't suit up and Drake London played two snaps. Their leading receiver was Chris Blair and their leading rusher was Tyler Goodson, reserve-level players, And they were facing a Broncos' starting defense that was among the NFL's scariest in 2025.
Even still, we only saw the first-team offense play two series, and that's nowhere near enough time to pass judgement. At least Tua Tagovailoa displayed a strong rapport with Kyle Pitts, and I'm sure the Falcons' offense will look more like themselves once Tommy Rees has all of his tools at his disposal .
It also helps to know that there's a more reasonable reason behind Atlanta's offense stagnation. Stefanski himself said the Falcons weren't trying to give away too much in the preseason, so rather than going deep in their bag of tricks, they were more focused on installing more basic concepts.
The two-time Coach of the Year managed to make the Browns look respectable. He led them to their first playoff win in 25 years in his first year, so who's to say a rough preseason debut will be indicative of his entire tenure with the Falcons? This doesn't mean the eight-year playoff drought will continue.
For as badly as the Falcons needed a culture change, it was never going to happen overnight. So for as rough as the result of the preseason opener was, there's no reason to lose trust in Kevin Stefanski and this coaching staff before the regular season starts--especially given the circumstances.
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