FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Falcons News Now is your go-to source for the real stories coming out of Flowery Branch each week. We're providing a one-stop shop for you to browse through all Falcons-related news at the end of every week of the 2025 season — who's winning reps, who's earning trust and what's happening in and around your favorite team.

From roster move analysis, practice intel, big-play highlights and so much more, this isn't just the news you need, it's what shapes Sundays in Atlanta.

Ultimately, if something matters to this locker room, it makes this newsletter.

So, if you eat, sleep and breathe Falcons football? This is your inside edge — every update, every storyline, all in one place. And this week? Atlanta travels up the east coast to face a New England Patriots team that is on a five-game win streak.

The News, Now

Key developments on the field and roster move analysis

The biggest news of the week coming out of the Falcons' camp revolved around the continued questions about the health of the offense after QB Michael Penix Jr. and WR Drake London did not participate in last Sunday's loss to the Miami Dolphins. Head coach Raheem Morris said at the beginning of the week that he expects majority of the players who have been on and off injury reports the last two weeks to be "day-to-day" and available for the team up in New England this weekend.

Morris added that he expected to see "more Michael" with the first-team offense this week in comparison to last week when QB Kirk Cousins took majority of those reps. In his Wednesday press conference Penix said he "felt good" at practice.

"I feel like I am trending in the right direction," Penix said.

When looking at the defense, though, it is a different story.

Morris said this week that he believed there to be a chance the Falcons could see the return of rookie defenders EDGE Jalon Walker and nickel Billy Bowman Jr., both of whom have missed the last two games. In Friday's game report, Atlanta unveiled optimism on one, but not the other. Meanwhile, two veteran defenders received questionable designations.

For all injury news, you can view all three Falcons injury reports below, including the game designations given (or not given) on Friday.

Wednesday, Oct. 29: Updates for Michael Penix Jr., Drake London as prep for Patriots begins

Thursday, Oct. 30: 12 players listed as limited, Jessie Bates III provides info on knee injury

Friday, Oct. 31: Atlanta offense enters Patriots games stronger, healthier; key defenders questionable

How did the rest of the league fair in Week 8? Tori McElhaney breaks it down in her weekly power rankings, while she also highlighted the NFC South's performance.

Plus, check out this week's mailbag where Tori answers your burning questions about the state of the Falcons.

Falcons Mailbag: Temperature check of fanbase following Atlanta's loss to Miami

Finally, this week's Nerdy Birds put the spotlight on an inconsistent offense, noting that improvement for the unit begins and ends in first down production.

Fan Zone Highlights

Tweets, videos and podcasts you may have missed

Also, a big congratulations to the McFaddens as they welcomed a new baby to the family. Baby Boy No. 2 made his entrance into the world last Sunday, and baby and mother are doing well.

Will McFadden will be back in action soon, but is soaking up some time with his family as they officially become a family of four.

Congrats Will, Allie, new big brother Liam and baby Cooper!

In the Nest

Behind-the-scenes stories, locker room insight into team culture

As previously stated, the Falcons are running into some inconsistency issues. No other entity of the game exemplifies this best than the run game, both getting it going offensively and stopping it defensively. Terrin Waack spent all week reporting on those two facets of the game.

Morris said earlier in the week the Falcons run game is its offensive lifeline.

"And if we don't play well up front, those games can get ugly and that's how it'll look," Morris said.

Offensive coordinator Zac Robinson said Wednesday the Falcons are having "identification" issues upfront, a problem only made more frustrating based on the fact Atlanta isn't really seeing defenses do anything super creative to stop them.

"In the run game, obviously, we want to account for everybody that's down in the box," Robinson said. "When you don't identify those players correctly, or you don't get the right calls correctly, then that's where you can have some free hitters and things like that. Ultimately that's our job to make sure that everybody is on the same page with what the right calls are, making sure we're getting the right looks. A lot of those things (from the Dolphins) were anticipated looks. So, we'll get to the bottom of it, but it's just making sure that we account for the bodies that we're supposed to be going to, obviously, otherwise you have negative plays in the run game and negative plays in the run game can kill you."

Asked about the offensive line's primary role in this, right guard Chris Lindstrom said the blame is "deservingly so."

"The staff's preparation for us, there wasn't a look that the Dolphins presented that we didn't see, that we didn't know and that I couldn't draw out. We just need to communicate it for ourselves, and we take ownership for that loss."

Defensively, the Falcons may be ranking at the top of the league in a few statistical categories, an area they want to see improvement in is in run defense.

As Terrin reported, the Falcons rank 22nd in run defense, giving up an average of 126.4 rushing yards per game.

"We've got to play the run better, and I think everybody knows that," Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said.

He added this is a point of emphasis for the team going up against the Patriots this week and, more notably, the Colts next week in Germany.

"I'll say this, we did play the traditional runs and the traditional run of windows better than we had in San Francisco," Ulbrich said. "So, we fixed some of the problems regarding the big-boy runs, the gap schemes, the two-back stuff. Really, where we were hurt the most in the run game was the non-traditional run windows and the non-traditional runs. I've got to do a better job of maybe playing a little bit safer in those windows, a little bit more run-sound defense as opposed to trying to steal a third-down rep, because that's the way we're being attacked right now."

Game Day Intel

Upcoming match previews and predictions

Falcons released their depth chart for Week 9 vs. the New England Patriots.

Who do the experts have taking the win Sunday? Terrin Waack has got you covered with a comprehensive list in this week's Experts Picks.

Stats and milestones brought to you by StatsPerform:

• Bijan Robinson is 19 rushing yards shy of 3000 for his career in 41 games played. He can become the third-fastest (by games) to reach 3000 rushing yards in the NFL among active players and second-fastest Falcon to reach the mark all-time (William Andrews - 39).
• The Falcons' defense is allowing just 149.1 net pass yards per game this season, lowest in the NFL. That is on pace for Atlanta's best mark in a single season since 1978 (147.8). The Falcons have led the league in pass defense just twice in franchise history: 1977 (98.9) and 1971 (117.0).
• The Patriots defense ranks in the top-5 in run defense, the unit is the first defense since 1950 to play the first eight weeks of the season without allowing a running back to gain 50 yards in a game.