FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The pairing of Kevin Stefanski, Tommy Rees, Bijan Robinson and this particular offensive line has the early makings of a high ceiling.
Robinson is coming off the most complete performance by a Atlanta Falcons running back in franchise history — and one of the best in league history. The offensive line is experienced, with few current groups around the NFL able to match its collective reps together. It's the kind of run game offensive coordinators across the league would love to call. It works. It's explosive. It wins games.
So what can Stefanski and Rees add? For starters, their own flair.
From his time in Minnesota to his years in Cleveland, Stefanski's run game has thrived in a wide-zone scheme — the bread and butter of Atlanta's ground attack in recent seasons. When Bill Callahan joined Stefanski's staff in Cleveland, the two found what they believed was the right balance between wide-zone and gap concepts. That's a blend Stefanski, along with Rees, would like to lean into in Atlanta.
"I think that's a really good place to start when you're talking about run game," Stefanski said. "I do believe you can't be good at everything. I don't believe you can be so diverse that you're trying to live in every single world. I think you have to hang your hat on specific things."
The good news for these coaches is that Robinson has experience in both worlds. Though he's been a wide-zone runner as a professional, his college roots at Texas were built on gap schemes. Robinson has shown he's bigger than any single system. He can do just about everything you ask of a running back. With him, scheme is less about limitation and more about maximization.
So, where does Rees fall in all of this? It's an intriguing question. During his introductory press conference, he was asked about striking the balance between diversity in the run game and staying true to what a unit does best — similar to what Stefanski described. You can't be everything. That's not realistic.
For Rees, the distinction comes down to scheme versus presentation. And in his mind, those are two very different things.
"You can be very consistent in scheme with the illusion of a different presentation that can get some of the variances that you're looking for," Rees explained. "Then, I think you have to have something, 'Hey, this is what we hang our hat on. These are going to be our compliments. That's where your 75, 80% of your run game comes from,' and then week to week, based on a defensive structure, you might pull from something that you installed in camp and say, 'Hey, the defense is telling us we can run this, we'll pull from that.'
"But again, scheme's one thing, presentation is a little bit different in terms of keeping a variance and then you have your core stuff, you have your counters and then you have the things that you can pull from that are kind of in the well ready to go."
The Falcons don't need to re-invent the run game wheel. With Robinson coming off a historic season and an offensive line that has grown together rep after rep, the foundation is already in place. What Stefanski and Rees bring is refinement. It's a clearer identity. It's a commitment to a core run game built on wide-zone principles, layered with timely gap concepts and dressed up through varied presentation.
That balance — between scheme and disguise, between consistency and creativity — is where Atlanta's ceiling can rise. Robinson's versatility makes the blending of worlds possible. The offensive line's continuity makes it sustainable. And the coaching staff's philosophy makes it purposeful.
As Stefanski put it, the Falcons won't try to be everything. As Rees explained, they'll aim to be consistent at their core while being unpredictable in how they present it.
If they strike that balance, this rushing attack in Atlanta may not just remain one of the league's most explosive run games, it could become one of its most complete.
