New Falcons Matthew Judon and Justin Simmons are getting up to speed quickly.
One of the most underrated things about great NFL defenses is how efficiently and effectively they communicate. The Falcons brought in a hands-on new head coach, a new defensive coordinator, and several new (in some cases, extremely new) faces on that side of the ball. Making sure that communication is on point heading into the season is key.
New additions Matthew Judon and Justin Simmons hit the ground running, though, according to Falcons defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake.
“It’s been extremely smooth,” said Lake on Wednesday. “Shoutout to our position coaches for getting them up to speed, and then shoutout to those players (Simmons and Judon) for really being in this building and taking good notes and watching the film and asking great questions.
“So hey, coach, do you mean this? Does this mean this, and — you know, making sure that communication is going back and forth. And so great job by our position coaches, but really by our additions, of really taking hold and saying, “OK, we need to learn this so we can catch back up, because we haven’t been here very long.”
Grady Jarrett’s return should help. The veteran is the heart of the defense and a 2024 captain, and he is returning to the field after suffering a torn ACL that sidelined him for the back stretch of the 2023 season. And while it isn’t the easiest thing to get new guys up to speed in terms of communicating effectively and familiarity with the verbiage the Falcons are using now, Jarrett feels like his two new defensive teammates have made leaps and bounds since arriving in Atlanta.
“The communication has been working,” Jarrett said. “Like you said, new guys, so it’s been a work in progress, but with the reps we got through training camp and game planning and focusing on the Steelers this week, with more days come more reps and more comfort. So I think it’s just a thing where, with more reps, the better it is. And I’m feeling super, super good about it.”
Judon shared a little about his experience coming into a new environment with a quick turnaround to be ready to compete on Sundays.
“Oh, it’s been fast. We’ve just got to all — well, not all, me — I got to learn the language of the team and how the team is run. ... Obviously, every defense likes to play fast and physical, but sometimes you get in defenses, you got some some players that just play differently, and you kind of just read off of them and react,” Judon said. “And so that’s what I’m just kind of getting to learn. It’s fun, though. I It’s my first time ever doing it so, you know for real, I’m learning on a lot.”
Judon and Simmons haven’t been Falcons long, but there’s no question that they each bring a ton to the table.
“It’s early, you know, at the end of the day, that what they brought to the team is a high level of skill,” Jarrett said. “I mean, their resume speaks for themselves.”
Judon had four sacks in an injury-shortened 2023, but the previous two seasons he finished with 15.5 and 12.5 sacks, respectively. Simmons finished his 2023 season with 70 tackles, three interceptions, and a sack.
On Sunday, the rubber meets the road and we’ll see how far along this defense actually is in its quest to communicate well and play fast, physical and technically sound football. For now, everyone involved seems to be feeling good about it heading into Sunday’s matchup against the Steelers.
