December 18, 2024 • 27 mins
Michael Penix has been named the starter in Atlanta! Bobby and Justin break down the decision, and how it impacts the Falcons and Kirk Cousins.
00:00 - Cousins Gets Replaced0
7:27 - Looking Back at the Penix Draft Pick
15:00 - How Does Penix Change the Offense?
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Featuring: Bobby Skinner and Justin Penik
Edited by: Connor Kurpat
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
This Cassidy.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Say something, Bobby, say something, Bobby. Welcome to football today.
I am your host, Bobby Skinner here with my co
host Justin Pennick. And guess what the Atlanta Falcons Cousins
out Pennix then Justin, Uh, we're want to hit this
from a lot of angles.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
How are we doing?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm good, Bobby Skinner. To get all the questions out
of the way. Michael Pennix and I were not related.
I asked him down at the Senior Bowl down a
mobile inter We interviewed him a couple of months ago.
We may talk about that a little bit. Down at
the Senior Ball. I asked him, do you think we're related?
He said, I don't know, maybe, but I'm rolling it out.
We're not related.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
How are you Have you done the twenty three in me?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I have didn't?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
They came back negative.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, So the Falcons have bench Kirk Cousins. They absolute
had to do this right. Justin, I mean, Cousins is
just done. You know, maybe after another extra year rehab
he can get back to being better than what he
is right now. I don't think this was like Matt
Ryan level of bad with the Colts or even at
(01:16):
the end with the Falcons or like Peyton at the
end with the Broncos. But Peyton obviously has the superior
mind where he was able to get by in those playoffs.
I don't think it's that level justin. But it was
just like he he can't push off, right, he can't
throw the ball, you know, the way that he wants
to write, not attacking down the field. They can only
run play action out of pistol. Like just couldn't do
(01:36):
all the things that kirk Cousins had done well in
his career. Like if this was this isn't just like, oh,
Kirk Cousins, this is who he is, Like, this is
not who Kirk Cousins has been. You know, if they
got Minnesota version of him last year, you know, like
health wise, then they're definitely not making this move. But
kirk Cousins forced their hand one touchdown, nine interceptions in
the last five games and one in four with you know,
(01:59):
in the win was an escaping win against the Raiders.
They basically probably threw away the division already. You know,
they're they're one game back of the Bucks now they
have the tiebreaker for the Bucks, but the Falcons have
the Giants, Commanders Panthers, and the Bucks have Cowboys, Panthers, Saint,
so the Bucks do have an easier schedule going ahead.
Now all they need is the Bucks to lose one
(02:19):
game and the Falcons to win three winnable games. But
it may be too little, too late, but this just
had to happen.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
For the Falcons at this point.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Yeah, yeah, I guess we'll touch on first why the
Falcons needed to make this change, and then I even
want to ask you then we'll move to full on.
Michael Pennix, does this change the you know how you
feel about the draft, pick et cetera, et cetera. But
why the Falcons needed to make this change? Man? You
talked about them operating out of the pistol thirty six
and a half percent of their snaps this year. That's
the fourth highest in the NFL that they've been operating
(02:50):
out of the pistol. And we're going to talk maybe
a good amount, a good amount about the Big Bay
branch of offense. That's what Zach Robinson is a kind
of off that Sean McVay branch. I am sure that
this offense wants to operate under center and utilize play
action and we see what they're doing with these outside
zone runs with Jon Robinson. You can't do that with
(03:12):
Kirk Cousins's inability to move this year. And I think
that's probably something that I don't know when Cousins kind
of fully came back it started to practice, but I'm
sure that's something that maybe the team was shocked by that,
Oh shit, we're not going to be able to run
the offense that maybe we fully want this year because
we have a quarterback that legitimately can't move. Cousins not
(03:32):
being able to move and take play action rollouts, it's
taken play action rollouts completely out of the offense. Forget
even the outside zone stuff. Only eleven outs like play
action rollouts this year for Kirk Cousins. That's the lowest
the team has had since twenty seventeen Big Ben, who
also couldn't move. You know, Kirk Cousins has also been
like demand in play action, but it's just been totally
(03:53):
taken away from this offense because he can't move. And
he even saw against the Raider game and our producer
Connor was talking to him on the way in today.
He's a Raider fan, was watching that game and Kirk
Cousins on these outside zones can't even get the ball
out there to these running backs when they're operating out
of pistol, so it's even tough for him to get
the ball out there. So there's a lot of other
(04:13):
reasons why, you know, Kirk Cousins not being able to
use his legs of driving the ball in. He is
the fourth highest tight window throw rate this year. I
think a lot of that has to do with the
the lack of quote unquote arm strength, because he can't
put his legs into a lot of these throws, and
because the offense can be so predictable, predictable. So yeah,
that's they they needed to make this move. And a
(04:34):
lot of it is just because Kirk Cousins literally literally
cannot move.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yeah, and again it's not because of who Kirk Cousins
was in Washington or Minnesota. It's coming off of the
achilles injury. He's just he's not the same. It's showed
up earlier in the year and they found and again
they still like have yard they still have a lot
of yards, even you know, not the Falcons game, We're
only at one hundred or so yards.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
But like even.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
In these higher interception games, Kirk has thrown for yards.
His mind is still there, and they have the ween
yards per game, and I think they have offensive the
offensive play calling is is better, but it just hasn't
gotten the shine because of Kirk Cousins' limitations. Like all
that stuff is there. It's just I just worried that
it is too. I mean, they went one in four
and I understand making this decisions not easy because the
(05:16):
investment they made into him, which we're going to talk
about that when we talk about the decisions with you know,
bringing in Kirk and Penix and all this, but you know,
one in one touchdown, nine interceptions, and you go and
watch the interceptions because interceptions can be a lying stat
at times. You remember like the year Dak led to
the league in interceptions a couple of years ago. It's like, okay,
but he's never he's never done that before, and like
(05:38):
five of these were tipped up and it was a
low year for interceptions total in the NFL. With this,
every almost every single interception was just god awful, ugly
right where it's just he's popping a football up, he's
throwing into triple coverage. It was just really bad stuff
and you didn't have the touchdowns to go with it
with the only one. I think he limited the run game,
obviously limited the pass game. You just had to this
(06:00):
justin Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, like guys like Drake London are coming out of
their brakes before Kirk is even set and is fully
dropped before he's done with his dropback.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
So again, I don't I want to kind of get
to the Michael Pennock's part of this. Let's do it
now now, the.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Let's talk about the draft decision. How about that?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah, And it's not necessarily that Michael Pennox, I feel like,
is going to add this huge dynamic as a quarterback.
But what he's simply going to do is he's going
to open up the playbook more because he he is
a capable moving quarterback. And even though he's not a
mobile quarterback, he's a capable moving quarterback that I think
some of the core identity things that that Atlanta Falcons
(06:42):
offense wants to do, they're going to be able to
do it a lot more now, and I think they're
going to maybe be able to do it better because
it's not Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah, we're not going into it now now you know,
now we're not you know, run in and gun in
and we're making throws on the run and screen like
that's not going to be added with Michael Penicks game,
which we'll talk about. What you It's just like there
were so many limitations because of the Kirk, the Kirk injury,
and then we know Penix can make you know, uh,
you know, basically almost almost all the throws. You know,
(07:10):
he's got this strong arm. So do you want to
talk about Michael Pennis in general as a player before
we talk about the the decision to sign Kirk and
then draft Michael Pennock for the Falcons.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Well, let's I want to. I want to let's start
at the beginning. Let's not quit and Tarantino this and
work our way backwards. Let's I want to hear your
thoughts because it was on this show and you had
a you had a clip that did well after the
draft about the decision to draft Michael Pennix. Now, obviously
none none of us really knew, and obviously the Falcons
didn't freaking know just how physically limited Kirk Cousins would
(07:43):
be this year. So now that we know, and now
that we agree with this decision with three games left
for them to bring up Michael Penix into the mix,
does that change the way that you view the draft pick, Bobby.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
No, because we we we talked about it in that draft.
Body even talk about it on the off season, especially
with some guests. Is that I think, no matter what
way you paint this, the Falcons messed up somewhere along
the line, and not just a little mess up, but
had a major mess up because Kirk Cousins wasn't on
their team. They signed Kirk Cousins, they invested in this.
(08:16):
There's been this like media spin won by the you know,
the bought for you know insiders like man, they are prepared.
And then you also have the people who are just
so over infatuated, like, oh, just quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, quarterback,
you know, just take take shots.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Just draft for quarterback every year type of people. Those
people like it.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
You gave Kirk Cousins a four year, one hundred eighty
million dollar contract. You weren't forced to do that. You
also weren't forced to pay You didn't have to do
that to have Michael Pennock sit for a little bit.
If that was your plan right right, Like you could
have signed a different quarterback and also let Michael Pennick
sit for a little bit. You know, Russell Wilson was
out there, you could have made the trade for Justin Again,
(08:57):
not guys that are that have you know have you
know that are going to be killing, you know, changing
the world. But at the same time, neither is Kirk Cousins.
You're benching him, you know. But the difference is those
guys aren't gonna cost you four hundred four years, one
hundred and eighty million dollars. Now, obviously it's not all guaranteed,
but it's basically a two year deal.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
They have a.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Sixty five if they cut him, which I don't know
if anyone's gonna trade for him. They have a sixty
five million dollar dead cap next year, sixty five million
dollar dead cap like that, That to me is they
screwed up terribly on this quarterback contract, terribly. Okay, So
that's why the whole Michael Pennick's like, oh, well, it
(09:37):
may work out in the end, Like, yeah, Michael Pennix
ends up good, It may work out in the end.
Guess what would have worked out in the end, regardless
Michael Penix.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Then you didn't.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Again, you were not sitting on a team that Kirk
Cousin's been their QB for a long time, and they
went out and signed him as a win now move
and he can't win now for them.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Yeah, I think the decision to draft Michael Pennix looks better,
but what looks exponentially worse is signing Kirk Cousins. Where
now Kirk Cousins is going to go down in NFL
history as the most expensive bridge quarterback ever. Like that,
that's what this is. I don't want net now seeing
(10:18):
what Kirk Cousins says, and this doesn't. I still think
this is very bad process by the Atlanta Falcons.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
It is they should have just signed some use that
money elsewhere, signed a bridge saying that actual bridge quarterback,
and drafted Michael Pennix. Right, So again you have everyone
spending it like, ah, Falcons don't look so crazy after all.
It's like, yes they do. They just fucking spent They're
gonna They're gonna spend ninety million dollars on a guy
who started fourteen games for.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Them, And now my opinion's flipped. Whereas their draft day,
I'm like well, why are you drafting Michael Pennocks when
you sign Kirk Cousins. Now my opinion's flipped where it's like, well,
why did you sign why did you sign Kirk Cousins?
And you know what mix it even worse, Bobby, is
that this costed them a fifth round pick because they
tampered with Kirk Cousins and over a quarter million dollars
in fines, which I guarantee they don't fuck and care
about the fines. But you know, this costs it up
(11:02):
a fifth round draft pick as well because they tampered
with Kirk Cousins, because they really because that's how bad
they wanted to sign him.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, that's how bad they want to sign him. That
he signed the minute free agency star to Justin and
they didn't bring him in for a workout to see
how he was doing physically.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
I don't even know if he was cleared.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
That's no, he wasn't.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
But still, like you could have gotten a idea somewhat
of an idea, like they didn't they they couldn't have
given him a physical or anything like that. Like I
don't know, maybe that's a reach on my point, but
just like again, like if you listen to our Draft day,
you know, our first round recap pod. It's like it is,
it's very stupid. It's very stupid for the Falcons to
(11:38):
sign Kirk Cousins and then draft Michael Pennix. Okay, you
do one or the other. That was always the argument
against the Falcons. Do one or the other. And you're
putting yourself like and at myth Kirk Cousins. You didn't
tell Kirk that you were going to even think about
doing this. You know he was bothered after the draft
on like, you just created a mess. And you know what,
(12:00):
if they drafted a bridge quarterback or signed an actual
bridge quarterback, they would have they could have went to
Michael Pennix a little earlier and maybe even gotten into
the playoffs because they basically had a walk in when
the Falcon and the Bucks got all injured and then
Kirk Cousins has this stretch and they lose four straight games.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Yeah, and we knew that schedule. I mean, coming into
the here, we knew that. You know, we knew this
Falcon schedule was just an absolute cake walk this year.
Number one, because you're playing in the NFC South, Like
Number two, they did just have a kick.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Now the Falcons know they screwed up is because they
played them this long into it, right, because like, oh
we can't, we can't just bench this investment. Like this
was tough for them because they this was not their
plan at all. So again, Michael Pennox maybe end up
looking great. And we looked back at it and it's
like a, well, yeah, we wasted a ton of money
and could have brought in this free agent, but and
(12:48):
then we got our franchise quarterback. St We're happy. That's
all fine and dandy. But that's never the argument against
the Falcons.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Like, right, get it.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I feel like a lot of times whenever a team
does get the And again, I don't think Pennix is
going to be this. I think he can look good
in this offense at times, but I just I don't
look at the Falcons. I'm like, man, look at these
geniuses thinking ten steps. No, this is not Jordan Love
on the Packers, isn't This is not the same situation
(13:15):
at all.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
No, they cost themselves a lot a lot of money
and now they are in a situation where they are praying,
they are praying that a team will take on Kirk Cousins'
twenty seven and a half million dollar base salary next year,
and then I think the Falcons would only need to eat,
would only would only need to eat like thirty thirty
some million, thirty seven and a half million next year,
(13:38):
and then and then luck then if they're lucky, they
have no twenty twenty six dead cap and they just
have to eat almost forty million the next year. So
I mean, they better hope that a team wants to
take that on. And then you're only going to get
a six round.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Draft pick back.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
You're getting a Day three draft pick back for Kirk Cousins. So, Bobby,
before we talk about what Michael Pennix can bring to
the table, since I think that's the really beef of
this conversation, can I talk to you about something?
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Talk to me about something.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
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Speaker 2 (15:03):
I had a I had a thought that I want
to talk about.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
So Dan Pastick.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
People are listening to the Dan Patrick on the feed
in the show I want, I want to get something
national justin. Uh, that has to do with us, all right,
But let's talk about the the Michael Pennix of of
it all. Because at the end of the day, they're
they're just making a change of quarterback. So I'll be
honest as a So we are New York Giants fans,
(15:27):
and so we have the pulse of the team. From
the Giants fan point of view, it's like, let's see
who they passed on with Michael Pennix. From my point
of view, I'm like, let's see Zach Robinson without the
most limited quarterback of all time. But let's talk about
Michael Pennix as a player justin. You know, we did
a lot of work on him. You know, we you know,
did our full quarterback draft previews last year. There's a
lot we interviewed him in Mobile, Alabama. He was the best.
(15:49):
He looked like the best quarterback down there with bow Nicks.
He can read defenses. He sees the rotations that like
defenses use and has good recall to come back to
a play and you know he sees something a defense
that like got him on something.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
You know, he's got.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
A strong arm, right, It's not this crazy you know,
Josh Allen type arm.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
But he has a strong arm.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
He's fairly accurate with a clean pocket, and he's aggressive,
you know, throw the ball deep twenty one percent of
the time. And another thing that can be his good
a good thing and a bad thing for him is
he's not gonna take sacks. He will get rid of
the ball if he whether it's just hey, my internal
clalk is up. Let's throw this ball with whatever I
(16:31):
got to the best option or throw the ball away.
But that can also harm him, right he throws, especially
when there is real pressure and not just like a
play is kind of you know, falling apart. He'll throw
the ball in harm's way. You know, he had eleven
interceptions in fifteen games last year, nine of fifteen games
with an interception. And when pressured, he will panic and
(16:52):
they act. It's not just like decision making. The accuracy
suffers greatly when he's pressured because he doesn't have the career.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Part to his game.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
There's just no creation outside the pocket with his legs.
That being said, though, I think this is a great
fit for somebody from the Sean McVay Tree and Zach
Robinson with this running game with these weapons, because despite
the fact that Kirk has been limited, you know, Kirk
has thrown for thirty five hundred yards this year.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
You know, they're six and.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Passing yards, they're twelfth in rushing yards, they're ninth, and
yards per play, they're seventh and yards per drive. You know,
at one point this year, Darnell Mooney was fourth and
receiving in the NFL. Like at like week nine, he
was fourth in the NFL and receiving yards. Whenever we
did our mid season All Pro I was like, oh
my god, Darnell Mooney is up here and Drake London
was right behind him. This is a good spot. It
(17:43):
kind of reminds me of like maybe we could see
what happened with Jared Goff early with the rams, where
it's a little bit telling him where it is running
play action. They'll be able to do that more if
they face a team that's going to pressure him like
crazy and get after him and Discott's coverages the same
the way the Michigan did last year in the National Championship. Yeah,
it'll be a mess, but I think he's getting into
(18:06):
a pretty nice situation. This is why we love the Falcons.
You know this year with the quarterback and having to
play the Giants who have almost every starting dB is
injured except for like they're probably won their worst starters
in Jason Pinnock. The Commanders, who, despite their success this year,
lack a lot of talent on defense, and then the
Carolina Panthers, the worst passing defense in the NFL. Like
(18:30):
this is a nice landing spot for Michael Pennix to
start his career.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Yeah. Absolutely, that offensive line is still holding up pretty
well in you know, true pass set grades and stuff
like that. We know the we know the talent that
they have there. I love Drake London for this offense
and this quarterback in particular. Drake London I think is
up there in terms of contested catch guys that can
go up and get it, like with with a George Pickens.
(18:54):
Darnold Mooney somehow has like four yards per reception more
than Drake London. I hope that changes.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I hope Drake kind of.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Like that dynamic where London's their main guy and Mooney
is looking he's gonna get those big plays Like you
see that with a lot of teams where they have
their number one who's their go to guy and then
their number two is the guy who's gonna average fifteen
yards per catch.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah yeah, uh you know. And you you talked about
Penis limiting sacks in college, which that was very true.
I have I have that same note. What I think
Penix is going to bring this is again what Cousins
did not bring. And this is what makes Penix different
of you know, you're not going to see the plays
like Lamar and Josh Allen and Mahomes where we're running
around and extending plays like that. But I would say,
(19:37):
you know the ceiling and what you want to strive
for is Michael Penix can be a guy like maybe
like a Joe Burrow where you can extend plays within
inside the pocket. I don't think he's going to be
doing that outside the pocket and making guys miss and
extending plays that way. But that is a guy that
can extend plays inside the pocket, and that's gonna have
to be a key for him in the NFL. Can
he stay calm, canny, stay cool, Kenny, stay collected in
(20:00):
the NFL. In the NFL doing that and even on
place where he's holding the ball for longer than two
and a half seconds, his pressure to sack rate was
still impressively low, where it's like, hey, you look like
a guy like Kayleb Williams. Where you hold on to
the ball for longer than two and a half seconds.
What in the world is gonna happen? What are you
going to do with the ball? That's been a little
bit of an issue this year, right where Michael PENNOCKX
in college was not an issue for him.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Yeah, his issue is the issues Like there's a guy
like Josh Allen who like, oh, is pressure of the
sack rate is great and he's creating big plays out
of it. With Pennix, it's more of like, all right,
we're just gonna throw it or or trying or try
and throw it away to avoid that sack, which is good.
You don't want to avoid those sacks, but that's where
it gets in harm's way.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
So listen. I think this is a good.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Spot for any young quarterback or you know, I guess
Michael Penox isn't the youngest guy, but any rookie quarterback.
The Falcons I think are a very nice offensive structure.
I'm really I think Zach Robinson can get a head
coaching gig off. These next three games. You know, I'm
someone who loves the Sean McVay tree. You saw hires
like Matt Lafleur and Kevin O'Connell get bocked in the moment,
(21:04):
and guess where they're at right now, you know, with
the top combined five losses on the year or whatever,
maybe combined you know, yeah, combined five losses on the year.
So I think he can get I think this is
a really good offense that was just like man Kirk
Cousins can't do anything now Pennick's long term I still
(21:25):
you know, I didn't view him as someone that was
worthy of the eighth overall pick. I view him as
someone like when shit breaks down, it's it'd be one
thing if like, hey, you had some turnovers in those moments,
but the accuracy suffers when he's under pressure. You know,
go back and watch that Michion game. You don't want
to judge a guy off one game, but when they
when the when there's pressure and the picture on defense
(21:48):
is not clear, that the accuracy suffers. Like even the
preseason game he played was pretty good. You saw some
good moments in there, m but you like, see if
I can even find my notes I went and watched
every furrow from that one when we did on it,
and it was like, man, the actor's seat, Like he's
missed on like half of these.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
These furrows.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
If I can find my notes, I actually charted it
from that preseason game, but yeah, justin go ahead say
something while I find these notes.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah, yeah, and confident that might and Michael Penix's arm.
But the one thing that I wanted to add that
I'm a little hesitant on is the quick game. You know,
I think we're gonna see him sling it. We're gonna
see him sling it to Mooney, We're gonna see him, Hey,
even get Kyle Pitts involved. We're gonna see him sling
it to Drake London. But the one thing that I
have a little bit of a question on is a
lot of the quick game at Washington was short passes
(22:37):
and screens to the outside, but utilizing the middle of
the field and attacking all three levels of the field.
That's something that you kind of need to do with
the NFL. That's not really what he did at Washington.
I feel like a lot of it was towards the
sideline when it's short, and then if it's long again,
you're attacking the sideline, you're going deep, you're going vertical
in that grub offense. Just think of how many big
plays was like, you know Michael Pennis, and this is
(22:59):
good on him. You're the arm talent, you're showing the accuracy,
but it was kind of just giving his top three
wide receivers, you know, particularly Polk and you know Romo Dunesa,
just giving them almost contested catch opportunities.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Which the Falcons have.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Washington was right, and they can replicate that for sure,
and they could replicate these quick little passes to you
have these weapons, you have guys that are good with
yards after the catch, so that is something that you
can replicate. And in terms of Bobby's point about pressure,
I think if there's ever a situation or if there's
a game or a scheme that the Falcons feel like
there's gonna be a team that's going to bring pressure,
you know, maybe even the Giants, Like the Giants have
(23:33):
a decent pass rush still, you know, heading into the Sunday,
I could very much see play action rollouts and getting
him away from the pressure. And that's an answer to
how can we get this guy throwing from a clean space,
play action rollouts is the way to go, and again
they could not do that with Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Again, it's very similar to what the Rams did with
Jared Goff, who had similar issues where it's like, when
it's clean and the reads there, he's got it. When
they're pressure, it breaks down. But like you know my
preseason like that nine for six teen, one hundred and
four yard game, Like here's my note, miss deep shot
on third down, but good read of safety, rotation, corner,
a little too wide, deep ball versus cover three. Guy
(24:09):
gets beat, nice ball, ball sailed on an out route
move linebacker with a pump to hit dig over the middle,
miss deep on an alert good stick flat to get
third and goal at the one, then miss the fade,
missed the checkdown flat behind the guy a third down
almost interception on. So like we didn't see him light
the world up on fire in those most but even
though you do see good stuff. So three years from now,
(24:32):
am I gonna be like, man, look at this.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
With Michael Pennix to be one hundred percent real, But
I think this is a great opportunity for him in
these last three games and I think the Falcons are
a pretty good offensive situation as being that's been held
back significantly by Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Yeah, I mean, if anything, we can, maybe we could
even wrap this up by giving a little bit of
a preview. What what do we expect this Sunday, Bobby
going up against our New York Football Giant and what
is a completely decimated defense? And if the Falcons are smart,
Michael Pennix isn't throwing the ball more than sixteen seventeen
times this game because they should just run the damn ball.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Well, here's the issues.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
The Giants have started playing run defense very heavily since
they lost Exter Lawrence, and their dbs are like a
lot of their touchdowns that the Ravens had were like
their corners just playing the run way too heavy and
guys getting behind them. So I think they can they
I think Penics have a big they They're starting corners
were in this most recent game where two guys who
(25:33):
weren't on the roster last week, and then Isaiah Simmons
who's a linebacker.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
That's that's what their starting corner group was.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
And then a bad a bad safety duo and Dane
Belton and Jason Pinnock or some people call him Justin Pinnock.
By the way, go if you're listening to this from
the go, check out the first twelve minutes of our
podcast talking Giants. That's a little more Nationals. That's shocking, shocking.
It's gonna be our most listened to episode ever because
of how shocking the Giants are, how dumb they are.
(26:02):
But let me say this, if he struggles against this
Giants team, Like, you don't want to judge a guy
off his first game, good or bad. Right, We've seen
the good where you have the Will Levis's, Daniel Jones,
Marcus Mariotas who lighted up in their first game and
then look at them now. But I'll be disappointed if
(26:22):
Michael Pennicky doesn't light up this Giants offense.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Again.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
I don't need him to throw the ball thirty times,
but he should be averaging eight to ten yards per attempt. Yeah,
you know, hitting passes over the middle and have a
touchdown or two.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Yeah, I agree with that.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
But I'm excited for I'm just excited for the Falcons
offense to be able to run without just extreme limitations
at the quarterbacks, which is what they were dealing with.
Like it hurt every aspect of that offense. Having Kirk
Cousins that quarterback, You know, yes, and it's not because
of who Kirk Cousins has been in his career, right,
if Kirk Cousins is not injured. Yes, their limitations Kirk
(26:57):
kirk Cousins not a great quarterback, sure, but he's a
pretty damn good quarterback. But when you have those physical limitations,
it's just hard to do it. And I still think
they did pretty damn well considering all of that. Justin
do you have anything else on this before we head out?
Speaker 3 (27:12):
No, nothing else.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
This is a fun episode.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Get the fucking dive deep on a thirty minutes on
just one subject. How about that. We appreciate you, guys.
We will see you on Friday. Until then, that is
football today.
This Cassidy.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Say something, Bobby, say something, Bobby. Welcome to football today.
I am your host, Bobby Skinner here with my co
host Justin Pennick. And guess what the Atlanta Falcons Cousins
out Pennix then Justin, Uh, we're want to hit this
from a lot of angles.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
How are we doing?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm good, Bobby Skinner. To get all the questions out
of the way. Michael Pennix and I were not related.
I asked him down at the Senior Bowl down a
mobile inter We interviewed him a couple of months ago.
We may talk about that a little bit. Down at
the Senior Ball. I asked him, do you think we're related?
He said, I don't know, maybe, but I'm rolling it out.
We're not related.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
How are you Have you done the twenty three in me?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I have didn't?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
They came back negative.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, So the Falcons have bench Kirk Cousins. They absolute
had to do this right. Justin, I mean, Cousins is
just done. You know, maybe after another extra year rehab
he can get back to being better than what he
is right now. I don't think this was like Matt
Ryan level of bad with the Colts or even at
(01:16):
the end with the Falcons or like Peyton at the
end with the Broncos. But Peyton obviously has the superior
mind where he was able to get by in those playoffs.
I don't think it's that level justin. But it was
just like he he can't push off, right, he can't
throw the ball, you know, the way that he wants
to write, not attacking down the field. They can only
run play action out of pistol. Like just couldn't do
(01:36):
all the things that kirk Cousins had done well in
his career. Like if this was this isn't just like, oh,
Kirk Cousins, this is who he is, Like, this is
not who Kirk Cousins has been. You know, if they
got Minnesota version of him last year, you know, like
health wise, then they're definitely not making this move. But
kirk Cousins forced their hand one touchdown, nine interceptions in
the last five games and one in four with you know,
(01:59):
in the win was an escaping win against the Raiders.
They basically probably threw away the division already. You know,
they're they're one game back of the Bucks now they
have the tiebreaker for the Bucks, but the Falcons have
the Giants, Commanders Panthers, and the Bucks have Cowboys, Panthers, Saint,
so the Bucks do have an easier schedule going ahead.
Now all they need is the Bucks to lose one
(02:19):
game and the Falcons to win three winnable games. But
it may be too little, too late, but this just
had to happen.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
For the Falcons at this point.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Yeah, yeah, I guess we'll touch on first why the
Falcons needed to make this change, and then I even
want to ask you then we'll move to full on.
Michael Pennix, does this change the you know how you
feel about the draft, pick et cetera, et cetera. But
why the Falcons needed to make this change? Man? You
talked about them operating out of the pistol thirty six
and a half percent of their snaps this year. That's
the fourth highest in the NFL that they've been operating
(02:50):
out of the pistol. And we're going to talk maybe
a good amount, a good amount about the Big Bay
branch of offense. That's what Zach Robinson is a kind
of off that Sean McVay branch. I am sure that
this offense wants to operate under center and utilize play
action and we see what they're doing with these outside
zone runs with Jon Robinson. You can't do that with
(03:12):
Kirk Cousins's inability to move this year. And I think
that's probably something that I don't know when Cousins kind
of fully came back it started to practice, but I'm
sure that's something that maybe the team was shocked by that,
Oh shit, we're not going to be able to run
the offense that maybe we fully want this year because
we have a quarterback that legitimately can't move. Cousins not
(03:32):
being able to move and take play action rollouts, it's
taken play action rollouts completely out of the offense. Forget
even the outside zone stuff. Only eleven outs like play
action rollouts this year for Kirk Cousins. That's the lowest
the team has had since twenty seventeen Big Ben, who
also couldn't move. You know, Kirk Cousins has also been
like demand in play action, but it's just been totally
(03:53):
taken away from this offense because he can't move. And
he even saw against the Raider game and our producer
Connor was talking to him on the way in today.
He's a Raider fan, was watching that game and Kirk
Cousins on these outside zones can't even get the ball
out there to these running backs when they're operating out
of pistol, so it's even tough for him to get
the ball out there. So there's a lot of other
(04:13):
reasons why, you know, Kirk Cousins not being able to
use his legs of driving the ball in. He is
the fourth highest tight window throw rate this year. I
think a lot of that has to do with the
the lack of quote unquote arm strength, because he can't
put his legs into a lot of these throws, and
because the offense can be so predictable, predictable. So yeah,
that's they they needed to make this move. And a
(04:34):
lot of it is just because Kirk Cousins literally literally
cannot move.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yeah, and again it's not because of who Kirk Cousins
was in Washington or Minnesota. It's coming off of the
achilles injury. He's just he's not the same. It's showed
up earlier in the year and they found and again
they still like have yard they still have a lot
of yards, even you know, not the Falcons game, We're
only at one hundred or so yards.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
But like even.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
In these higher interception games, Kirk has thrown for yards.
His mind is still there, and they have the ween
yards per game, and I think they have offensive the
offensive play calling is is better, but it just hasn't
gotten the shine because of Kirk Cousins' limitations. Like all
that stuff is there. It's just I just worried that
it is too. I mean, they went one in four
and I understand making this decisions not easy because the
(05:16):
investment they made into him, which we're going to talk
about that when we talk about the decisions with you know,
bringing in Kirk and Penix and all this, but you know,
one in one touchdown, nine interceptions, and you go and
watch the interceptions because interceptions can be a lying stat
at times. You remember like the year Dak led to
the league in interceptions a couple of years ago. It's like, okay,
but he's never he's never done that before, and like
(05:38):
five of these were tipped up and it was a
low year for interceptions total in the NFL. With this,
every almost every single interception was just god awful, ugly
right where it's just he's popping a football up, he's
throwing into triple coverage. It was just really bad stuff
and you didn't have the touchdowns to go with it
with the only one. I think he limited the run game,
obviously limited the pass game. You just had to this
(06:00):
justin Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, like guys like Drake London are coming out of
their brakes before Kirk is even set and is fully
dropped before he's done with his dropback.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
So again, I don't I want to kind of get
to the Michael Pennock's part of this. Let's do it
now now, the.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Let's talk about the draft decision. How about that?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah, And it's not necessarily that Michael Pennox, I feel like,
is going to add this huge dynamic as a quarterback.
But what he's simply going to do is he's going
to open up the playbook more because he he is
a capable moving quarterback. And even though he's not a
mobile quarterback, he's a capable moving quarterback that I think
some of the core identity things that that Atlanta Falcons
(06:42):
offense wants to do, they're going to be able to
do it a lot more now, and I think they're
going to maybe be able to do it better because
it's not Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah, we're not going into it now now you know,
now we're not you know, run in and gun in
and we're making throws on the run and screen like
that's not going to be added with Michael Penicks game,
which we'll talk about. What you It's just like there
were so many limitations because of the Kirk, the Kirk injury,
and then we know Penix can make you know, uh,
you know, basically almost almost all the throws. You know,
(07:10):
he's got this strong arm. So do you want to
talk about Michael Pennis in general as a player before
we talk about the the decision to sign Kirk and
then draft Michael Pennock for the Falcons.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Well, let's I want to. I want to let's start
at the beginning. Let's not quit and Tarantino this and
work our way backwards. Let's I want to hear your
thoughts because it was on this show and you had
a you had a clip that did well after the
draft about the decision to draft Michael Pennix. Now, obviously
none none of us really knew, and obviously the Falcons
didn't freaking know just how physically limited Kirk Cousins would
(07:43):
be this year. So now that we know, and now
that we agree with this decision with three games left
for them to bring up Michael Penix into the mix,
does that change the way that you view the draft pick, Bobby.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
No, because we we we talked about it in that draft.
Body even talk about it on the off season, especially
with some guests. Is that I think, no matter what
way you paint this, the Falcons messed up somewhere along
the line, and not just a little mess up, but
had a major mess up because Kirk Cousins wasn't on
their team. They signed Kirk Cousins, they invested in this.
(08:16):
There's been this like media spin won by the you know,
the bought for you know insiders like man, they are prepared.
And then you also have the people who are just
so over infatuated, like, oh, just quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, quarterback,
you know, just take take shots.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Just draft for quarterback every year type of people. Those
people like it.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
You gave Kirk Cousins a four year, one hundred eighty
million dollar contract. You weren't forced to do that. You
also weren't forced to pay You didn't have to do
that to have Michael Pennock sit for a little bit.
If that was your plan right right, Like you could
have signed a different quarterback and also let Michael Pennick
sit for a little bit. You know, Russell Wilson was
out there, you could have made the trade for Justin Again,
(08:57):
not guys that are that have you know have you
know that are going to be killing, you know, changing
the world. But at the same time, neither is Kirk Cousins.
You're benching him, you know. But the difference is those
guys aren't gonna cost you four hundred four years, one
hundred and eighty million dollars. Now, obviously it's not all guaranteed,
but it's basically a two year deal.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
They have a.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Sixty five if they cut him, which I don't know
if anyone's gonna trade for him. They have a sixty
five million dollar dead cap next year, sixty five million
dollar dead cap like that, That to me is they
screwed up terribly on this quarterback contract, terribly. Okay, So
that's why the whole Michael Pennick's like, oh, well, it
(09:37):
may work out in the end, Like, yeah, Michael Pennix
ends up good, It may work out in the end.
Guess what would have worked out in the end, regardless
Michael Penix.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Then you didn't.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Again, you were not sitting on a team that Kirk
Cousin's been their QB for a long time, and they
went out and signed him as a win now move
and he can't win now for them.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Yeah, I think the decision to draft Michael Pennix looks better,
but what looks exponentially worse is signing Kirk Cousins. Where
now Kirk Cousins is going to go down in NFL
history as the most expensive bridge quarterback ever. Like that,
that's what this is. I don't want net now seeing
(10:18):
what Kirk Cousins says, and this doesn't. I still think
this is very bad process by the Atlanta Falcons.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
It is they should have just signed some use that
money elsewhere, signed a bridge saying that actual bridge quarterback,
and drafted Michael Pennix. Right, So again you have everyone
spending it like, ah, Falcons don't look so crazy after all.
It's like, yes they do. They just fucking spent They're
gonna They're gonna spend ninety million dollars on a guy
who started fourteen games for.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Them, And now my opinion's flipped. Whereas their draft day,
I'm like well, why are you drafting Michael Pennocks when
you sign Kirk Cousins. Now my opinion's flipped where it's like, well,
why did you sign why did you sign Kirk Cousins?
And you know what mix it even worse, Bobby, is
that this costed them a fifth round pick because they
tampered with Kirk Cousins and over a quarter million dollars
in fines, which I guarantee they don't fuck and care
about the fines. But you know, this costs it up
(11:02):
a fifth round draft pick as well because they tampered
with Kirk Cousins, because they really because that's how bad
they wanted to sign him.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, that's how bad they want to sign him. That
he signed the minute free agency star to Justin and
they didn't bring him in for a workout to see
how he was doing physically.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
I don't even know if he was cleared.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
That's no, he wasn't.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
But still, like you could have gotten a idea somewhat
of an idea, like they didn't they they couldn't have
given him a physical or anything like that. Like I
don't know, maybe that's a reach on my point, but
just like again, like if you listen to our Draft day,
you know, our first round recap pod. It's like it is,
it's very stupid. It's very stupid for the Falcons to
(11:38):
sign Kirk Cousins and then draft Michael Pennix. Okay, you
do one or the other. That was always the argument
against the Falcons. Do one or the other. And you're
putting yourself like and at myth Kirk Cousins. You didn't
tell Kirk that you were going to even think about
doing this. You know he was bothered after the draft
on like, you just created a mess. And you know what,
(12:00):
if they drafted a bridge quarterback or signed an actual
bridge quarterback, they would have they could have went to
Michael Pennix a little earlier and maybe even gotten into
the playoffs because they basically had a walk in when
the Falcon and the Bucks got all injured and then
Kirk Cousins has this stretch and they lose four straight games.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Yeah, and we knew that schedule. I mean, coming into
the here, we knew that. You know, we knew this
Falcon schedule was just an absolute cake walk this year.
Number one, because you're playing in the NFC South, Like
Number two, they did just have a kick.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Now the Falcons know they screwed up is because they
played them this long into it, right, because like, oh
we can't, we can't just bench this investment. Like this
was tough for them because they this was not their
plan at all. So again, Michael Pennox maybe end up
looking great. And we looked back at it and it's
like a, well, yeah, we wasted a ton of money
and could have brought in this free agent, but and
(12:48):
then we got our franchise quarterback. St We're happy. That's
all fine and dandy. But that's never the argument against
the Falcons.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Like, right, get it.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I feel like a lot of times whenever a team
does get the And again, I don't think Pennix is
going to be this. I think he can look good
in this offense at times, but I just I don't
look at the Falcons. I'm like, man, look at these
geniuses thinking ten steps. No, this is not Jordan Love
on the Packers, isn't This is not the same situation
(13:15):
at all.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
No, they cost themselves a lot a lot of money
and now they are in a situation where they are praying,
they are praying that a team will take on Kirk Cousins'
twenty seven and a half million dollar base salary next year,
and then I think the Falcons would only need to eat,
would only would only need to eat like thirty thirty
some million, thirty seven and a half million next year,
(13:38):
and then and then luck then if they're lucky, they
have no twenty twenty six dead cap and they just
have to eat almost forty million the next year. So
I mean, they better hope that a team wants to
take that on. And then you're only going to get
a six round.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Draft pick back.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
You're getting a Day three draft pick back for Kirk Cousins. So, Bobby,
before we talk about what Michael Pennix can bring to
the table, since I think that's the really beef of
this conversation, can I talk to you about something?
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Talk to me about something.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
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Speaker 2 (15:03):
I had a I had a thought that I want
to talk about.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
So Dan Pastick.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
People are listening to the Dan Patrick on the feed
in the show I want, I want to get something
national justin. Uh, that has to do with us, all right,
But let's talk about the the Michael Pennix of of
it all. Because at the end of the day, they're
they're just making a change of quarterback. So I'll be
honest as a So we are New York Giants fans,
(15:27):
and so we have the pulse of the team. From
the Giants fan point of view, it's like, let's see
who they passed on with Michael Pennix. From my point
of view, I'm like, let's see Zach Robinson without the
most limited quarterback of all time. But let's talk about
Michael Pennix as a player justin. You know, we did
a lot of work on him. You know, we you know,
did our full quarterback draft previews last year. There's a
lot we interviewed him in Mobile, Alabama. He was the best.
(15:49):
He looked like the best quarterback down there with bow Nicks.
He can read defenses. He sees the rotations that like
defenses use and has good recall to come back to
a play and you know he sees something a defense
that like got him on something.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
You know, he's got.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
A strong arm, right, It's not this crazy you know,
Josh Allen type arm.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
But he has a strong arm.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
He's fairly accurate with a clean pocket, and he's aggressive,
you know, throw the ball deep twenty one percent of
the time. And another thing that can be his good
a good thing and a bad thing for him is
he's not gonna take sacks. He will get rid of
the ball if he whether it's just hey, my internal
clalk is up. Let's throw this ball with whatever I
(16:31):
got to the best option or throw the ball away.
But that can also harm him, right he throws, especially
when there is real pressure and not just like a
play is kind of you know, falling apart. He'll throw
the ball in harm's way. You know, he had eleven
interceptions in fifteen games last year, nine of fifteen games
with an interception. And when pressured, he will panic and
(16:52):
they act. It's not just like decision making. The accuracy
suffers greatly when he's pressured because he doesn't have the career.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Part to his game.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
There's just no creation outside the pocket with his legs.
That being said, though, I think this is a great
fit for somebody from the Sean McVay Tree and Zach
Robinson with this running game with these weapons, because despite
the fact that Kirk has been limited, you know, Kirk
has thrown for thirty five hundred yards this year.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
You know, they're six and.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Passing yards, they're twelfth in rushing yards, they're ninth, and
yards per play, they're seventh and yards per drive. You know,
at one point this year, Darnell Mooney was fourth and
receiving in the NFL. Like at like week nine, he
was fourth in the NFL and receiving yards. Whenever we
did our mid season All Pro I was like, oh
my god, Darnell Mooney is up here and Drake London
was right behind him. This is a good spot. It
(17:43):
kind of reminds me of like maybe we could see
what happened with Jared Goff early with the rams, where
it's a little bit telling him where it is running
play action. They'll be able to do that more if
they face a team that's going to pressure him like
crazy and get after him and Discott's coverages the same
the way the Michigan did last year in the National Championship. Yeah,
it'll be a mess, but I think he's getting into
(18:06):
a pretty nice situation. This is why we love the Falcons.
You know this year with the quarterback and having to
play the Giants who have almost every starting dB is
injured except for like they're probably won their worst starters
in Jason Pinnock. The Commanders, who, despite their success this year,
lack a lot of talent on defense, and then the
Carolina Panthers, the worst passing defense in the NFL. Like
(18:30):
this is a nice landing spot for Michael Pennix to
start his career.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Yeah. Absolutely, that offensive line is still holding up pretty
well in you know, true pass set grades and stuff
like that. We know the we know the talent that
they have there. I love Drake London for this offense
and this quarterback in particular. Drake London I think is
up there in terms of contested catch guys that can
go up and get it, like with with a George Pickens.
(18:54):
Darnold Mooney somehow has like four yards per reception more
than Drake London. I hope that changes.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I hope Drake kind of.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Like that dynamic where London's their main guy and Mooney
is looking he's gonna get those big plays Like you
see that with a lot of teams where they have
their number one who's their go to guy and then
their number two is the guy who's gonna average fifteen
yards per catch.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah yeah, uh you know. And you you talked about
Penis limiting sacks in college, which that was very true.
I have I have that same note. What I think
Penix is going to bring this is again what Cousins
did not bring. And this is what makes Penix different
of you know, you're not going to see the plays
like Lamar and Josh Allen and Mahomes where we're running
around and extending plays like that. But I would say,
(19:37):
you know the ceiling and what you want to strive
for is Michael Penix can be a guy like maybe
like a Joe Burrow where you can extend plays within
inside the pocket. I don't think he's going to be
doing that outside the pocket and making guys miss and
extending plays that way. But that is a guy that
can extend plays inside the pocket, and that's gonna have
to be a key for him in the NFL. Can
he stay calm, canny, stay cool, Kenny, stay collected in
(20:00):
the NFL. In the NFL doing that and even on
place where he's holding the ball for longer than two
and a half seconds, his pressure to sack rate was
still impressively low, where it's like, hey, you look like
a guy like Kayleb Williams. Where you hold on to
the ball for longer than two and a half seconds.
What in the world is gonna happen? What are you
going to do with the ball? That's been a little
bit of an issue this year, right where Michael PENNOCKX
in college was not an issue for him.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Yeah, his issue is the issues Like there's a guy
like Josh Allen who like, oh, is pressure of the
sack rate is great and he's creating big plays out
of it. With Pennix, it's more of like, all right,
we're just gonna throw it or or trying or try
and throw it away to avoid that sack, which is good.
You don't want to avoid those sacks, but that's where
it gets in harm's way.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
So listen. I think this is a good.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Spot for any young quarterback or you know, I guess
Michael Penox isn't the youngest guy, but any rookie quarterback.
The Falcons I think are a very nice offensive structure.
I'm really I think Zach Robinson can get a head
coaching gig off. These next three games. You know, I'm
someone who loves the Sean McVay tree. You saw hires
like Matt Lafleur and Kevin O'Connell get bocked in the moment,
(21:04):
and guess where they're at right now, you know, with
the top combined five losses on the year or whatever,
maybe combined you know, yeah, combined five losses on the year.
So I think he can get I think this is
a really good offense that was just like man Kirk
Cousins can't do anything now Pennick's long term I still
(21:25):
you know, I didn't view him as someone that was
worthy of the eighth overall pick. I view him as
someone like when shit breaks down, it's it'd be one
thing if like, hey, you had some turnovers in those moments,
but the accuracy suffers when he's under pressure. You know,
go back and watch that Michion game. You don't want
to judge a guy off one game, but when they
when the when there's pressure and the picture on defense
(21:48):
is not clear, that the accuracy suffers. Like even the
preseason game he played was pretty good. You saw some
good moments in there, m but you like, see if
I can even find my notes I went and watched
every furrow from that one when we did on it,
and it was like, man, the actor's seat, Like he's
missed on like half of these.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
These furrows.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
If I can find my notes, I actually charted it
from that preseason game, but yeah, justin go ahead say
something while I find these notes.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah, yeah, and confident that might and Michael Penix's arm.
But the one thing that I wanted to add that
I'm a little hesitant on is the quick game. You know,
I think we're gonna see him sling it. We're gonna
see him sling it to Mooney, We're gonna see him, Hey,
even get Kyle Pitts involved. We're gonna see him sling
it to Drake London. But the one thing that I
have a little bit of a question on is a
lot of the quick game at Washington was short passes
(22:37):
and screens to the outside, but utilizing the middle of
the field and attacking all three levels of the field.
That's something that you kind of need to do with
the NFL. That's not really what he did at Washington.
I feel like a lot of it was towards the
sideline when it's short, and then if it's long again,
you're attacking the sideline, you're going deep, you're going vertical
in that grub offense. Just think of how many big
plays was like, you know Michael Pennis, and this is
(22:59):
good on him. You're the arm talent, you're showing the accuracy,
but it was kind of just giving his top three
wide receivers, you know, particularly Polk and you know Romo Dunesa,
just giving them almost contested catch opportunities.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Which the Falcons have.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Washington was right, and they can replicate that for sure,
and they could replicate these quick little passes to you
have these weapons, you have guys that are good with
yards after the catch, so that is something that you
can replicate. And in terms of Bobby's point about pressure,
I think if there's ever a situation or if there's
a game or a scheme that the Falcons feel like
there's gonna be a team that's going to bring pressure,
you know, maybe even the Giants, Like the Giants have
(23:33):
a decent pass rush still, you know, heading into the Sunday,
I could very much see play action rollouts and getting
him away from the pressure. And that's an answer to
how can we get this guy throwing from a clean space,
play action rollouts is the way to go, and again
they could not do that with Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Again, it's very similar to what the Rams did with
Jared Goff, who had similar issues where it's like, when
it's clean and the reads there, he's got it. When
they're pressure, it breaks down. But like you know my
preseason like that nine for six teen, one hundred and
four yard game, Like here's my note, miss deep shot
on third down, but good read of safety, rotation, corner,
a little too wide, deep ball versus cover three. Guy
(24:09):
gets beat, nice ball, ball sailed on an out route
move linebacker with a pump to hit dig over the middle,
miss deep on an alert good stick flat to get
third and goal at the one, then miss the fade,
missed the checkdown flat behind the guy a third down
almost interception on. So like we didn't see him light
the world up on fire in those most but even
though you do see good stuff. So three years from now,
(24:32):
am I gonna be like, man, look at this.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
With Michael Pennix to be one hundred percent real, But
I think this is a great opportunity for him in
these last three games and I think the Falcons are
a pretty good offensive situation as being that's been held
back significantly by Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Yeah, I mean, if anything, we can, maybe we could
even wrap this up by giving a little bit of
a preview. What what do we expect this Sunday, Bobby
going up against our New York Football Giant and what
is a completely decimated defense? And if the Falcons are smart,
Michael Pennix isn't throwing the ball more than sixteen seventeen
times this game because they should just run the damn ball.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Well, here's the issues.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
The Giants have started playing run defense very heavily since
they lost Exter Lawrence, and their dbs are like a
lot of their touchdowns that the Ravens had were like
their corners just playing the run way too heavy and
guys getting behind them. So I think they can they
I think Penics have a big they They're starting corners
were in this most recent game where two guys who
(25:33):
weren't on the roster last week, and then Isaiah Simmons
who's a linebacker.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
That's that's what their starting corner group was.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
And then a bad a bad safety duo and Dane
Belton and Jason Pinnock or some people call him Justin Pinnock.
By the way, go if you're listening to this from
the go, check out the first twelve minutes of our
podcast talking Giants. That's a little more Nationals. That's shocking, shocking.
It's gonna be our most listened to episode ever because
of how shocking the Giants are, how dumb they are.
(26:02):
But let me say this, if he struggles against this
Giants team, Like, you don't want to judge a guy
off his first game, good or bad. Right, We've seen
the good where you have the Will Levis's, Daniel Jones,
Marcus Mariotas who lighted up in their first game and
then look at them now. But I'll be disappointed if
(26:22):
Michael Pennicky doesn't light up this Giants offense.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Again.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
I don't need him to throw the ball thirty times,
but he should be averaging eight to ten yards per attempt. Yeah,
you know, hitting passes over the middle and have a
touchdown or two.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Yeah, I agree with that.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
But I'm excited for I'm just excited for the Falcons
offense to be able to run without just extreme limitations
at the quarterbacks, which is what they were dealing with.
Like it hurt every aspect of that offense. Having Kirk
Cousins that quarterback, You know, yes, and it's not because
of who Kirk Cousins has been in his career, right,
if Kirk Cousins is not injured. Yes, their limitations Kirk
(26:57):
kirk Cousins not a great quarterback, sure, but he's a
pretty damn good quarterback. But when you have those physical limitations,
it's just hard to do it. And I still think
they did pretty damn well considering all of that. Justin
do you have anything else on this before we head out?
Speaker 3 (27:12):
No, nothing else.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
This is a fun episode.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Get the fucking dive deep on a thirty minutes on
just one subject. How about that. We appreciate you, guys.
We will see you on Friday. Until then, that is
football today.
Hosts And Creators
Todd "Fritzy" Fritz
Dan Patrick
Patrick "Seton" O'Connor
Paul Pabst
Marvin Prince
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