How the Falcons can beat the 49ers with these 3 keys to victory

FLOWERY BRANCH — It’s only been a few weeks since Bijan Robinson last talked to Raheem Morris, a figure the Falcons’ star running back describes as a “big brother.”

For this week, however, Morris is an evil stepsibling, the 49ers’ defensive coordinator trying to slow down Robinson and the Falcons’ offense. And he’ll do it with an innate knowledge of Atlanta’s offensive personnel.

After all, Morris coached eight of the Falcons’ 11 offensive starters last season. At 1 p.m. Sunday, he’ll make his return to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the first time since the Falcons fired him as their head coach in January after a pair of 8-9 seasons.

“This is his old team, like, he’s going to bring juice to those guys,” Robinson said Wednesday. “Those guys are going to come here juiced.

So, for us, we have to be tone-setters, we need to come in here ready to go. And we have to understand the urgency they’re coming in here with. We have to match the urgency, and we have to do it one play at a time at the highest level.”

Morris still keeps in touch with several of his former players. “That’s just who he is,” said Robinson, who added Morris will always be family to him. Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. said he hasn’t seen Morris in close to a year and hasn’t spoken to him since the spring, but he enjoyed the energy Morris brought each day.

Now, Morris and the 49ers (6-0) put their unbeaten season on the line against the Falcons (2-4), who are relishing the chance not only to play spoilers, but to face off against San Francisco’s highly-ranked defense.

“I’m super excited to play him,” Robinson said. “To get to play him and his defense and just how well they’ve been doing, it’s a testament to him and what he’s done and then obviously just the players that follow him, man. But I’m super excited to get to go out there and compete against them, especially how they’ve been rolling and coming in undefeated. I think it’s gonna be a great matchup.”

The Falcons’ coaching staff believes the narrative about Morris’ inside knowledge in his return is marginally overblown. Atlanta has only two position coaches on its staff who were with the organization last season. The Falcons have a new system and new play-caller.

There’s still a natural advantage for Morris, who knows the strengths and weaknesses of Penix, Robinson, receiver Drake London, tight end Kyle Pitts and four-fifths of the offensive line — all but right tackle Jawaan Taylor — better than anybody.

But the Falcons believe they can conquer and overcome.

“I know it’s a lot of new schemes because the new offense, just new looks overall,” Robinson said. “But he’s a very smart coach and he knows the personnel that’s here. I guess that’s more of the challenge, like him knowing the personnel sort of in this game. But that’s why it’s so much fun, man, to get to play against somebody like that.

“And then we get to prove ourselves even more for how we want it to happen.”

Here are three keys for the Falcons as they hope to snap a two-game losing streak.

How do Falcons handle the blitz?

Falcons offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said the team has faced more loaded fronts over the past two weeks. They’ve also faced more blitzes.

In the Falcons’ 31-23 loss to the Bears in Week 6, Chicago blitzed Penix on 56.4% of his drop-backs, the highest rate Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has called this season, according to Next Gen Stats.

Across 22 blitzes, the Bears generated 11 pressures and four sacks, including three from nickel corner Kyler Gordon, all in under 2½ seconds.

The NFL is a copycat league, and while the 49ers are tied for 15th in the league in blitz rate, Morris will almost certainly dial up pressure given the success the Bears had with it.

“I (have) got to do a better job of giving solutions against the pressure that had answers,” Rees said Thursday. “We got to correct it. We gotta have answers, we gotta make sure that we’re operating at a high level.”

But the Falcons also insist they’ve had opportunities to capitalize on pressured looks, and Penix proved it. When he had time to get passes off against the Bears’ blitzes, he went 10-for-18 passing for 121 yards and three touchdowns.

Which side of the Falcons’ blitz performance — the negative plays or the explosive efficiency — shows up Sunday will ultimately dictate their offensive success.

“Our players, our coaches, understand in these games, when they pressure you, there can be an advantage to the offense as well,” Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski said.

Can Falcons get the run game going?

The Falcons still have the NFL’s fourth-best rushing offense, but they haven’t looked the part the past two games. After eclipsing 200 rushing yards in both Weeks 3 and 4, they tallied only 173 yards combined in Weeks 5 and 6.

In turn, the Falcons’ offense has struggled. The same unit that scored on 13 of Penix’s first 18 possessions back from his ACL recovery has now scored on just seven of its last 21 drives, reaching the end zone only four times in that span.

The Falcons spent much of this week looking back at their third-down woes against the Bears and put the blame heavily on their inefficiencies on first and second downs, which created an abundance of third-and-long scenarios. To avoid such depths of third downs, the Falcons need to run the ball at a high level Sunday.

The 49ers pose a challenge. They have the eighth-best run defense, allowing only 90.2 rushing yards per game. The Falcons know the key to success Sunday starts with beating San Francisco up front.

“We know our identity,” Rees said. “We know where we’ve been good when we played good offensive football.

“It starts with the run game and we’re certainly aware of that. We just gotta get back to our identity and get back to the things that we do really well.”

Facing short-handed 49ers receiving corps, can Falcons secondary flourish?

Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich anticipated the 49ers’ offense being fully loaded, with the exception of receiver Deebo Samuel. San Francisco indeed ruled out Samuel on Friday, but it also announced receiver Mike Evans won’t play, as well.

Evans leads the 49ers in targets (39) and receiving yards (420), and he’s second behind running back Christian McCaffrey in catches (27). Samuel is the team’s No. 2 receiver but No. 4 target. He’s caught 16 passes for 206 yards and three touchdowns this season.

Ulbrich said the 49ers featured much of their passing game around Evans, who caused problems for the Falcons the past 12 years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“He is a living, walking Hall of Famer, and there’s no doubt about that,” Ulbrich said. “I don’t think, from anybody, there’s an argument.”