New York Giants Week 16: A Look at the Atlanta Falcons Offense

The New York Giants will face Atlanta Falcons this weekend in what will be the first career start for Michael Penix Jr.

Brandon Olsen | 12 Hours Ago

Nov 17, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) warms up before the game against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

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New York Giants

The New York Giants will face Atlanta Falcons first-round pick QB Michael Penix Jr. in his first career start. How does this change the complexion of the Falcons offense? Let’s dive in.

Personnel

The Falcons announced on Tuesday night that they were benching veteran QB Kirk Cousins in favor of Penix, who has barely played so far this season with just five pass attempts, completing three of them for 38 yards.

In 2023 with the Washington Huskies, Penix completed 65.5% of his passes for 4,906 yards, 36 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. He has the athletic ability to be a threat as a runner but it’s not something that he does often.

The Falcons run game is built around Bijan Robinson, who has 1,102 rushing yards, 411 receiving yards, and nine scrimmage touchdowns.

Robinson’s second fiddle is Tyler Allgeier, who is more of a short-yardage back who could occasionally rip off a 20-yard run.

In the receiver room, the Falcons have Drake London and Darnell Mooney at the top of their depth chart, the best duo they’ve had in years. London and Mooney have a combined 1,792 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns, with Mooney doing most of his work deeper downfield.

London has struggled to advance as a separator at the NFL level but has done well making catches in traffic and being productive.

Ray-Ray McCloud III is the third receiver who is the main man in an offense that utilizes them plenty. McCloud III has 13 of his 54 catches this season coming off screens.

Kyle Pitts may be an athletic unicorn at tight end,, but this Falcons team still struggles to figure out his usage. At the very least, it will be interesting to see how the Giants plan to defend someone with tight end size but wide receiver traits and skill set.

The Falcons offensive line is unimpressive, to say the least. They don’t get nearly enough push in the run game and are lucky Robinson and Allgeier can create runs after contact.

As pass-blockers, there isn’t a single offense that allows quicker pressure consistently. The Falcons are pressured on average in 2.51 seconds, the quickest in the NFL.

Scheme

The Falcons operate almost exclusively out of 11 personnel, using it 87.1%, the highest usage rate in the NFL. (The league-average usage rate is 60.6%.) Play-action has been a virtual non-factor in this Falcons offense, leaving this team without a key game element.

It’s also important to remember that statistically, teams don’t need a strong run game to have an effective play-action passing attack, so opting out of play-action is just a poor decision overall.

One thing that the Falcons do more than most teams is rotate where receivers are lined up, meaning they have no true outside or slot receivers because everyone plays everywhere.

Receivers comfort in the formation allows the offense to find matchups they like and try to exploit them.

Overview

It’s tough for the Giants to gameplan this week because while there’s plenty of film on the Falcons offense this year, there’s none of it with Penix Jr. as the starter.

Cousins was coming off of a torn Achilles and everyone could see he was limited even in his dropbacks, widening the margin for change in Atlanta.

Limiting the Falcons' ground game and not allowing Penix to uncork deep passes, something he loved to do at Washington, is paramount.