The Atlanta Falcons' first game with Kevin Stefanski at the helm couldn't have possibly gone worse. Not only did the Falcons fall 27-7 to the Denver Broncos in their preseason opener, they were held to just 192 total yards, averaged 3.2 yards per play, and allowed more than twice as many first downs as they picked up.
It was a nightmarish Friday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but it doesn't even end there. Perhaps the worst aspect of the night in Atlanta was that it saw an old Stefanski problem resurface: the Falcons were penalized nine times for 78 yards as they displayed a gross lack of discipline all night.
The fact of the matter is that undisciplined football is something that has plagued Kevin Stefanski dating back to his time with the Cleveland Browns. In two of his final three seasons in Cleveland, the Browns ranked top five in the NFL in penalties--and it seems the flags have followed him to Atlanta.
The Atlanta Falcons were plagued by penalty issues on Friday night
The two-time Coach of the Year was supposed to be a disciplinarian. The man who would whip this team into shape after the coaching instability Raheem Morris provided across the last two years. But his idea of preaching accountability managed to hit its first roadblock in his first game.
The Dirty Birds finished near the middle of the pack in the league in penalties last year, and they're running it back with the same offensive line for the most part. However, that was not the offensive line that we saw take the field with the first-team offense as Atlanta got demolished by an elite defense.
Jake Matthews left the game with an apparent injury, and despite being activated off the reserve/PUP list this week, Jawaan Taylor didn't play. So there was a point where Michael Jerrell and seventh-round rookie Ethan Onianwa were the starting tackles--and that went as poorly as you'd expect.
Thankfully, the offensive line confirms this is something we need to take with a grain of salt. However, there were a lot of pre-snap penalties and holding calls, and that's something that the Falcons need to clean up regardless of who's in the gamee. Jerrell was specifically bad with the flags last night. But Stefanski's past of coaching some of the NFL's most penalized teams is quite alarming.
Overall, this was just a sloppy and undisciplined game for the Atlanta Falcons on both sides of the football, and that's something Kevin Stefanski knows all too well. He must iron the penalty woes out before joint practices and next Saturday night's game against the Indianapolis Colts.
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