FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Jimmy Lake's film study this week for his players didn't just consist of football.
On Wednesday, the Atlanta Falcons' defensive coordinator showed clips of quick knockouts in the UFC, like Conor McGregor's left-cross KO of Jose Aldo in 13 seconds and Jorge Masvidal's UFC-record, five-second, running-knee knockout of Ben Askren. Lake put on tape of boxing legend Mike Tyson on Thursday, showcasing some of his devastating early finishes.
The idea was obvious: Atlanta needs to start games with more intensity on defense. That was the message Lake was trying to get across, and he used video of fights to do it.
"I think there's a lot of correlation between [football and] combat sports and other sports," Lake said. "And what I'm showing is the starting fast and bringing the aggression, but there's also the resiliency factor."
The Falcons have been a very good second-half team in 2024, with notable comeback wins against the Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints despite trailing in the final minute of regulation. But things have been dicey in the first half with several slow starts, including just 26 first-quarter yards against the Saints last Sunday. A decent amount has fallen on the defense, which allowed big plays against the Saints and has been guilty of ceding long, time-consuming drives.
The Falcons have allowed opponents to score a touchdown on 31.4% of their first-half drives, the third-worst rate in the league, according to ESPN Research. Only the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars -- teams with a combined five wins -- have worse rates in the NFL. Meanwhile, in the second half, Atlanta has allowed opponents to score touchdowns on only 12% of their drives, the third-best rate in the NFL, trailing only the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers.
In terms of points in general, the Falcons allow opponents to score on 53% of their first-half drives, the second-worst rate in the league. They're allowing opponents to score 14.5 points per game in first halves, the fourth most. Atlanta plays on the road against the Denver Broncos Sunday.
"Just having that attack mindset coming out, I think, will be our goal," Pro Bowl safety Jessie Bates III said. "Go take over this game before our bye week."
Throughout his coaching career, Lake said he has used visuals to help illustrate the things he wants to convey to players. Earlier this season, Lake said he brought in an original iPhone and aired a presentation by Apple founder Steve Jobs. He then showed players the latest iPhone. The idea was to get across that things should always be evolving.
"The whole point of it was, we always have to continue to grow and develop," Lake said. "And if Steve Jobs would've stopped with the original iPhone, another company probably would've passed him by and made better technology."
One of the fights Lake likes to show most -- he's done so, he said, since 2007 -- is a 2005 boxing match between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales, which featured an epic 10th-round comeback by Corrales.
"It is about starting fast and bringing the aggression, but also finishing fast," Lake said of showing fights. "So, it's not just the beginning. It's not like the first quarter or the first play. It's really the totality of the event.
"And honestly, in mixed martial arts or boxing, that's a different set of time and all that. Ours is a lot longer. It's three hours long and four quarters and all that, but I think there is a message behind it, and that was the whole point. It was to share a different perspective and hopefully they got something out of it."
Edge rusher Matthew Judon said he's not really a fight fan, but the presentation was effective in letting the defense know what Lake's mindset was and exactly what he wanted from his players.
"It gives us a look inside his brain, like what is he thinking?" Judon said. "So, we're not going to sit back there and let them dictate the game. We're gonna go out there and attack."
Judon and safety Justin Simmons, both former Pro Bowlers, said opposing offenses have been throwing different things at them at the start of games. The adjustments have come, as the stats attest, but not until the second half in many cases.
Simmons said the Falcons "have too many talented players to be operating" how they did as a defense in the first half against the Saints on Sunday. He said it's incumbent upon the secondary and linebackers to communicate better "to get everyone lined up and playing fast."
"Sometimes, we're seeing things that are a little bit unique [early in games] that we maybe haven't necessarily prepped for, but that also comes down to just communication," Simmons said. "When we run what we run, we run it at a high level. We should be able to execute, get off the field, come to the sideline, review it and go back and be able to execute again."
Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said there was "excitement" in the room when Lake showed the knockouts. Starting fast is a big emphasis in Atlanta this week. But Morris also doesn't mind the fact that the Falcons have been very good in the second half. It's about putting both together, which is something Atlanta has struggled to do this season despite a 6-4 record and first-place standing in the NFC South.
"You don't like to necessarily go out there and say 'start fast,' because then what if you don't and it's like, 'Oh let's go in the tank -- we didn't start fast,'" Morris said. "That's not how it goes. You got to go out there and still finish the game, but you like to start fast, you like to finish faster."
Or in the case of knockouts like the ones dished out by Tyson, McGregor and Masvidal, starting fast can lead to things being finished quickly.