Falcons DC Jeff Ulbrich Wants to Find Line Between Aggressive and Undisciplined

Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich is trying to find a more aggressive side to his defense after it was missing in 2024. So, maybe some fights breaking out at training camp are to be expected. 

Rookie edge rusher James Pearce Jr. has been involved in more than one scuffle during training camp, and Ulbrich wants to find the acceptable line between aggressive and distracting. 

"We're trying to develop a culture, a style of play, for sure," Ulbrich said after a particularly feisty practice. "Part of that is the violence in which we play – aggression, urgency and all that. At times, it went a little too far.

“We got to learn how to manage that. You're going to get agitated, especially when you're playing really good defense, the offense is going to get very agitated. So, you got to anticipate punches being thrown, things being said, people being pushed. In those moments, you got to thrive, not retaliate.

“It's a good lesson to be learned today."

It’s always the one who retaliates that gets the flag, so Ulbrich is sending a warning to his defense to keep its composure while ramping up the intensity.

"I think celebrating the guys that take it right there and push it as far as that violence and urgency and intensity, but don't go past the line," Ulbrich said. "Don't throw the punch. Don't retaliate. The more we can take it there and not retaliate and celebrate it, I think that's when you create that style of play."

Fights are expected in training camp, even encouraged to some degree, as long as they don’t take away from what the coaches are trying to accomplish during the short amount of time they’re allotted for practice.

It’s hot, there is competition for spots on the depth chart, and in some cases, for players’ livelihoods as they attempt to make the roster. 

The players are certainly responding to being turned loose, so to speak.

“We’re competing at a high level,” Ruke Orhorhoro said. “The offense is great, the defense is great, and that’s what we’re trying to be. Things get like that, but you’ve got to fizzle it out and you’ve still gotta practice because we’re trying to get great reps.” 

The ramped-up intensity is a welcome sight in Flowery Branch, and Ulbrich is hoping it carries over to the 2025 season and beyond as the Falcons instill a new identity into a defense that had little (positive anyway) last season.