Yes, it is very early in the NFL season, however the Atlanta Falcons defense is coming off of a Week 2 performance which lived up to the pre-season expectations following an offseason in which they drafted both Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. in the first round of the 2025 draft and selecting Billy Bowman Jr. and Xavier Watts in later rounds.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve felt this way about a young defense,” 92-9 The Game’s Carl Dukes, said on Monday as he and co-host, Mike Bell reacted to the Falcons win over the Vikings on Sunday night in which the Atlanta defense finished with six sacks, 11 quarterback hits and two interceptions, with Walker notching his first career sack, Pearce Jr. being credited with a half sack and Bowman Jr. and Watts each earned their first interception of their career.
“It feels like we have a foundation we can build. We’ve got vets, Flo [Leonard Floyd] was in the mix last night, so defensively, this feels better than it has the last few years,” Dukes said as he explained why the performance of the defense in Sunday’s win, gives promise of what could be this season in regards to being a top 10 defense.