Falcons look to win first season opener at home since 2015

FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons are 0-2 in season openers under coach Arthur Smith and have lost their past five season openers overall.

In 2017, they won their season opener 23-17 over the Bears in Chicago. The last time the Falcons won the season opener at home was in 2015, when they defeated the Eagles 26-24.

The Falcons (7-10 in 2022) are set to open the 2023 NFL season against the Panthers (7-10) in a NFC South matchup at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

One of the key matchups of the game will include Falcons defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen calling his first NFL regular-season game against Panthers quarterback Bryce Young, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the draft this year.

“It’s an exciting time, right,” Nielsen said. “I feel the excitement from the players and how they practiced. Just the intent and where their mindset is. It’s been good. We say, we are going to work up to and through the game.”

Nielsen is coming over from the Saints, where he was the co-defensive coordinator, but coach Dennis Allen called the defense. Nielsen called some of the exhibition-season action in 2022 to help prepare him for one day being the sole signal-caller.

Falcons coach Arthur Smith said Nielsen will be pushing the buttons. He has a couple of former defensive coordinators in Jerry Gray and Frank Bush on the staff to lean on.

“Don’t want to get into the specifics of how we are going to do it, just talking about the game plan,” Nielsen said. “We’ve talked about it as a staff, down and distances, how we want to call things. The calls and the situations. We are going to know what we are going to call. Just listening to everybody is how it will be called on Sunday.”

Gray has been a defensive coordinator with the Bills (2001-05) and with the Titans (2011-13). Bush had been a defensive coordinator with the Texans (2009-10) and interim defensive coordinator with the Jets (2020). Last season, when Falcons defensive coordinator Dean Pees was injured before the game against the Saints on Dec. 18, Bush took over on short notice and called the game.

“It’s been awesome going through the process with those guys,” Nielsen said. “Our defensive meetings are awesome, just listening to those guys talk and everything. To really lean heavily on our staff, this is all of us in this thing.”

Nielsen notes that the defense is communicating well.

“Our offense does a great job with all the trades, shifts and motions that they do, so it makes us communicate,” Nielsen said. “It makes us have to go through the scenarios, and they put us in tough positions. We feel like our guys have done a really good job. If we missed something, we’ve corrected it. We do feel prepared.”

The Falcons are aware of Young, who played at Alabama.

“He’s talented,” Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “No surprise with where he went in the draft. We’ll just go out there and do what we do, give him different looks and whatever. Just play a whole game for four quarters. Just ball out.”

Falcons rookie safety DeMarcco Hellams played at Alabama and has provided coaches with information.

“Yeah, I definitely picked Bryce off in practice,” Hellams said.

Hellams is a backup, but is hoping to get some action.

“Yeah, it’s definitely fun going against someone I used to play with in college,” Hellams said. “Because it’s things that we always talk about joking around in the locker room. ‘Can’t wait to play against you.’ Just to be here and see my teammate on the other side of the field; we’ll be enemies until the clock hits zero. But it’s definitely a good feeling that you made it to the next level, but also your (former teammate) did.”

Young had a solid showing in the exhibition season. He’s being helped by veteran quarterback Andy Dalton.

“They’ve got a good quarterback over there,” Gray said. “He’s just young.”

Young won the Heisman Trophy after his sophomore season at Alabama.

“No. 1 when you look at him, he’s (from) Alabama,” Gray said. “Their expectations are to win the national championship. So, when you go there and you are a quarterback ... they expect you to win.”