The Atlanta Falcons registered their first unofficial game of the 2026 season, when they opened the Mercedes Benz Stadium up for a matchup against last year’s AFC Finalist Denver Broncos.
Despite Michael Penix still not being cleared for full contact and Bijan Robinson also being held out, there was real excitement as new head coach Kevin Stefanski announced that the starters would play in the preseason in Atlanta for the first time in years.
That excitement was quickly dashed, however, as the Falcons found themselves down 24-0 at halftime, before mercifully going down with a whimper to the tune of a final scoreline of 27-7. This night showed that there was a lot of work still to do, with the regular season about a month away from kicking off.
This is a look at whose stock is pointing up after the first preseason game and whose is pointing down.
UpJack StrandJack Strand is looking to achieve the rare feat of becoming an undrafted rookie quarterback to make a 53-man NFL roster to start the season, and he looked by far the best quarterback that the Falcons deployed in this game. In fairness, it didn’t take much to look better than Cooper Rush or Tua Tagovailoa (we’ll get to them), but Strand looked like he belonged.
The numbers won’t stick out at you — the Minnesota State-Moorhead alum went 6/12 with 50 yards and no touchdowns through the air — but the most impressive throws of the night from an Atlanta signal caller were a couple of his incompletions. The first was a deep shot with perfect placement to Vinny Anthony against double coverage which would have been an incredibly thrown 38-yard touchdown had Anthony not slowed down at the end of the play. The next was a laster beam thrown in the direction of Kristian Wilkerson, who looked behind the defense and poised for a 56-yard touchdown before Sean Fresch made an incredible leaping play to get a hand on it. If those get completed, we’re talking about an elite preseason debut performance.
Strand exhibited NFL level arm talent when he was allowed to rip it, and he utilized his big body multiple times to successfully convert short yardage QB sneaks, including one from a yard out which represented Atlanta’s only score of the night.
Tyler GoodsonTis the season of position battles all up and down the roster and, much like last year, the battle for that third running back spot on the depth chart is going to be a competitive one. Tyler Goodson, a former Georgia High School player of the year out of North Gwinnett, dealt the first real blow in that competition against incumbent Nathan Carter and new addition Trey Sermon.
Goodson was the best runner of the night for the Falcons, and was the only player out of the eight to take at least one carry (including the quarterbacks) to generate a higher yards per attempt mark than 3.0. In fact, he averaged a full yard more per attempt than the next best Falcon (4.0). The former Indianapolis Colt looked spry kicking it to the left for the game long rush of eight yards for the Falcons on a night where everybody else looked stuck in the mud.
Nothing demonstrated how differently the nights of Carter (6 carries, 8 rushing yards) and Goodson went than a sequence in the third quarter where the Falcons had the ball on Denver’s 5-yard line and gave each of them an opportunity. Carter was stuffed and went backward for a 1-yard loss. Goodson took the subsequent handoff and was stonewalled for what looked like a minimal gain, before he kept his legs churning to turn it into a very impressive 5-yard run to the 1-yard line, setting up Strand’s sneak touchdown.
Special TeamsIf there’s one thing the Falcons can truly hang their hat on from this blowout loss, it was their play on special teams, which is not nothing given how poorly that unit played throughout the two year Raheem Morris regime.
Nick Folk didn’t get much work in, kicking in his only extra point of the night (no attempted field goals), but the kickoff and punt coverage was a thing of beauty. Jake Bailey and Matthew Hayball combined to punt the ball eight times (four opportunities each), for 376 combined yards, and the Falcons’ gunners ran down the Broncos to the tune of five punts downed inside the 20 and four returned for just 13 meager yards.
Denver did not have much more luck in their kickoff returns either, generating returns of just 22 and 21 yards. While nobody broke any big gains on kickoff returns on Atlanta’s side, either, they did beat Denver out with an average of 28.8 yards per return versus 21.5 on the other side. Denver’s average starting field position off kickoffs was the 23-yard line, while Atlanta’s was the 32.5-yard line.
DownThe entire first team defenseI know and understand that the first team defense the Falcons deployed in this game was not complete, particularly as they were missing Jessie Bates Xavier Watts and Divine Deablo while voluntarily relegating James Pearce Jr. to the second team following announcement of his 8-game suspension. They were, however, also facing a Broncos offense down their starting quarterback, their starting running back, their top wide receiver and down to their fourth string center.
In the battle of banged up first teams, the Broncos absolutely cooked the Falcons’ defense, cutting through it like a cold knife through warm butter on a 7-play opening drive where presumed starting cornerback Mike Hughes gave up two explosive plays, including the crucial 40-yard reception to Courtland Sutton which set up an opening drive touchdown.
The biggest concern for the Falcons was just how little resistance they had rushing four, as Jarrett Stidham had all day in the pocket any time he dropped back when the Falcons did not send a blitz. To win in this league, you have to be able to successfully rush the passer without the extra men sent at least some of the time and right now the Falcons’ defense seems miles away from that. They also allowed multiple explosive runs and looked like a unit wholly unprepared for the very quickly approaching regular season.
“Next Man Up” Tackles – Michael Jerrell and Ethan OnianwaThe Falcons were down starting right tackle Jawaan Taylor in this game as he spent some time on the PUP list during camp and is still working back into game shape, and they at one point lost starting left tackle Jake Matthews. As a result, they had the opportunity to more closely evaluate both Michael Jerrell and Ethan Onianwa, who have been dominating first team reps in camp due to Taylor and presumed backup right tackle Wanya Morris’ absences.
Both of those players failed the first preseason evaluation spectacularly. Jerrell, who was given the first look at RT before sliding for an extended period to LT after Matthews left the game, was beaten frequently as a primary catalyst for why the first team offense looked stuck in mud during their couple of drives. Jerrell, however, we have seen extensively in the past as the guy who failed to beat out Elijah Wilkinson for last year’s RT position after Kaleb McGary’s season ending injury.
Ethan Onianwa, being a rookie, is someone we had not seen yet beyond the controlled environment of training camp, and he could not have given off a worse first impression. Jonathan Cooper at one point so decisively beat him off the edge that Tagovailoa did not even have the time to throw what looked like set up screen pass. Later, he gave up the pressure and hit on Cooper Rush which directly resulted in an interception, before giving up a third down pressure later in the second quarter to kill another drive.
The Falcons had better hope that Jawaan Taylor is good to go for Week 1 and that Wanya Morris is healthy and good enough to be the team’s swing tackle for this season. Both Jerrell and Onianwa look like they need more seasoning.
Quarterbacks not named Jack StrandThe second snap of the game for the Tua Tagovailoa-led Atlanta Falcon offense was a botched snap. That wound up being a harbinger of things to come as the Falcons’ offense was stuck in neutral all evening. Tua’s offense was given two drives, featured one first down and three completions (all to Kyle Pitts) for 22 yards. Things just looked out of sync, albeit with Bijan Robinson and Drake London not being given any playing time.
It wasn’t a game where the former University of Alabama quarterback created any separation from the still shelved Penix, but given the circumstances at the tackle and skill positions it also wasn’t a downright turnover filled disaster.
The same can’t be said for Cooper Rush, who’s leaving the door open for Strand to take that QB3 spot. Rush was given the most extensive opportunity among all Atlanta signal callers and he looked downright terrible, generating a pathetic 6.8 passer rating on 19 pass attempts, for a meager 62 yards.
His second throw of the game was intercepted, and he later threw a telegraphed 97-yard pick six when the Falcons got on the doorstep of the end zone. Rush was fortunate not to throw a third interception, as Jahdae Barron (who took that second interception back to the house) just dropped one later in the game.
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