Penix’s success ‘rewarding’ for Falcons; Ulbrich readies to face Zac Robinson

FLOWERY BRANCH — If Craig Aukerman’s coaching responsibilities for Nick Folk are divided into a pie chart, the Falcons special teams coordinator spends the vast majority of his time ensuring his kicker’s mind is in the right head space.

“My biggest thing is I just want to support him, make sure that he knows that I’m there,” Aukerman said Thursday. “If he does miss a kick, I know the next one, we have all the confidence in the world with him. So, that’s just my biggest thing with Nick.

“I want to be out there and let him know that, ‘Hey, we’re moving on to the next one, and the next one is the most important kick that you have.’”

Aukerman, of course, gives input on technique when necessary. But the 41-year-old Folk, in his 19th season, often self-corrects. He’s mentally strong, too, which eases some of Aukerman’s responsibility.

“I want to let him know that I just want to move on to the next one,” Aukerman said. “And I know he’s gonna end up making the next one.”

The dynamic and balance between a special teams coordinator and a veteran kicker is one lesson we learned Thursday. Here are four others from offensive coordinator Tommy Rees and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich as the Falcons (3-4) gear up to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-5) at 1 p.m. Sunday inside Raymond James Stadium.

Penix’s success ‘rewarding’ for Rees

Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors after going 25-for-34 for 213 yards and three touchdowns in the team’s 29-20 win over the San Francisco 49ers last week.

In five starts since returning from a torn ACL suffered last season, Penix has thrown nine touchdown passes to one interception, and he’s led the Falcons to an NFL-best 31 points per game during the span.

“He’s done a really nice job,” Rees said. “The work he’s put in and the time and effort that it took to get back and playing at a good level, it’s been really rewarding as a coach to see him have success and see the enjoyment that he has playing this game and preparing the right way. But those are great. The awards are great, and the recognition is great.

“But he’s got bigger things on his mind, I think, as we continue to move forward on the season. It’s good to be recognized and we just want to keep moving in the right direction and keep playing well at that position and giving the guys around him a chance to have success.”

Rees added Penix was “unflappable” in the Falcons’ victory against San Francisco, during which they scored 23 unanswered points after trailing 14-3 in the second quarter.

“The moment never feels too big for him,” Rees said. “And you have a lot of confidence when a guy prepares that way, and when a guy has that mentality of, ‘OK, what’s the next call? What’s the next play? Have we got another shot?’ So, we’ll keep that going.”

Stefanski plays caddy — but he lets Rees operate his own way

Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski referred to himself Wednesday as a caddy on the headset.

“I want to shut up when I need to shut up. I want to speak up when I need to speak up,” he said. “I’ll suggest a club, and sometimes, I’ll really push that club into the guy’s hand.”

The latter doesn’t happen quite often. Rarely, Rees says, does Stefanski tell him to call a certain play. They work so closely during the week to dial in their play-calling and game scripts that Stefanski lets Rees handle the proverbial club choice on a shot-by-shot basis with little input.

“He’s the head coach, and there are certain things from a, ‘This is how we need to handle the game operation,’ or, ‘This is where the game is in position that impacts the entire team, so we need to do this,’” Rees said. “It’s very rarely like, ‘Hey, you need to call power (run) here.’

“It’s more, ‘Hey, we’re in this situation before the half, this is how we want to handle that.’ Or ‘This is the situation at the end of the game, this is how we want to handle that.’ And then there are times, ‘Hey, don’t forget about this call, don’t forget about that one.’”

Rees said the Falcons’ staff is rooted in collaboration. Everybody — be it him, Stefanski, quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt or offensive line coach Bill Callahan — has a role and a certain area of expertise within the game plan.

It’s Rees’ job, by week’s end, to put it together and decide when the plays come off the call sheet. Stefanski is often a game-day resource who helps drive the team’s direction and coordinates with his play-callers to make sure they’re in the loop on his vision.

“The collaboration with Kev is excellent,” Rees said. “So, in terms of a caddy-player relationship, it couldn’t be better. It’s not anything that’s disruptive to the game flow or disruptive to what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Falcons defense ready to see familiar system

Ulbrich knows the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator quite well — it’s Zac Robinson, who spent the past two years in the same role with the Falcons. They squared off every day at practice during the summer and throughout the season.

Does it help Ulbrich prepare the Falcons’ defense this week?

“A little bit,” he said. “A little bit in regard to, like, I know how he wants to attack us.”

Despite new personnel, does Robinson’s scheme bear a resemblance to what he did last year?

“It’s similar, yeah,” Ulbrich said. “There’s some base fundamentals. There’s some staples that he has and he’ll always have that are part of that system.”

But here’s the catch: Robinson knows Ulbrich, too.

“He’ll have something up his sleeve,” Ulbrich said, “just because he has a deep understanding of how to do things here.”

Ulbrich anticipates Robinson finding ways to put the Falcons’ defense in conflict, be it presenting similar plays in a different way through motion, formation or conceptually. Robinson has evolved and adapted to his personnel, too, Ulbrich said, and he’s finding unique ways to feature his players.

Familiarity helps Ulbrich know the mind, and approach, of his counterpart. But Robinson has changed enough that the true value of their shared experience may not be as grand as one would assume.

“It’s a good bit of the stuff that we got to see out here, but then there’s a good amount of new stuff and it’s challenging,” Ulbrich said. “It’s going to be an amazing challenge in that way.”

Why Falcons moved Mike Hughes to the slot

After starting 33 consecutive appearances at cornerback, the Falcons moved Mike Hughes inside to nickel for their win over the 49ers. Hughes played 17 snaps, roughly a quarter of the Falcons’ defensive action, and allowed only one catch for 11 yards, according to Next Gen Stats, while adding a pass breakup.

The Falcons played without usual nickels Billy Bowman Jr. and Avieon Terrell, who missed the game because of injuries, and they wanted to balance the workload for Sydney Brown. So, they moved Hughes, who led the NFL in passing yards allowed through six games, inside to the slot.

“For Sydney to have to play that every single down, that can get taxing for a guy because what we ask that position to do is so difficult,” Ulbrich said. “It’s corner some plays. It’s safety some plays. It’s linebackers some plays. And it’s a blitzer, so it’s really part of the front some plays, and everything else in between that.

“It’s super valuable to balance it, and (Hughes) was able to do that. To prepare himself — he’s played nickel in the past, and I know some would say he kind of made his name early on as a nickel in this league — but for him to learn the nickel position in essentially three days was really cool.”