When the Atlanta Falcons hired Kevin Stefanski, they were hoping he would be their new play-caller in order to avoid the Zac Robinson debcale. But instead, it didn't take long for him to reveal otherwise, as he revealed that offensive coordinator Tommy Rees would be the play-caller during his first presser.
Unfortunately, that decision is starting to look like a huge mistake, especially in their preseason opener. While the Falcons fell 27-7 to the Denver Broncos, they averaged just 3.2 yards per play, recorded less than 200 total yards of offense, and Denver recorded twice as many first downs.
It's clear the Falcons never learned their lesson, since they allowed Stefanski to relinquish play-calling duties to a much-less experienced assistant. The Broncos also had an unexperienced play-caller on Friday night, but I've also seen Madden offenses look more cohesive than Atlanta's did.
Tommy Rees feels a lot like another Zac Robinson for the Falcons
Rees took over play-calling duties from Stefanski in Week 10 of 2025, and that didn't go according to plan. Between bad QB play and awful weapons, the Browns averaged 17 points per game across that nine-game span and surpassed 25 points just once, and they went just 3-6 across that time frame.
Yes, you can use the excuse it was his first time calling plays for this personnel and the concepts being installed were basic, but that doesn't explain why he's calling plays in the first place considering that Stefanski has a much longer and more established track record of calling plays in this league.
The worst part is that Stefanski doesn't trust himself to call plays with this personnel. The Falcons' offense has four All-Pro caliber talents, yet he wants to hand the reins off to a 34-year-old OC who's most successful stints as a play-caller came in the college ranks. I'm not sure I see the vision here.
I get the NFL has fallen victim to McVay-ification and young, hotshot play-callers are all the rage nowadays, but you cannot tell me with a straight face that Rees is more qualified to call plays than a two-time Coach of the Year who's sent the last half-decade establishing himself as an offensive guru.
It never made sense for the Dirty Birds to go this route. And it's not like we've seen the offense dominate in practice either. If I didn't know better, I'd think they never left Cleveland. He never even fired Robinson directly, but he went after Rees on his own accord.
It's a safe bet to assume that Kevin Stefanski is going to turn things around for the Falcons, but if he wants that to happen, either Tommy Rees has to turn things around or he needs to take play-caling duties for himself so the ghost of Zac Robinson doesn't keep haunting them.
Add us as a preferred source on Google