Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder, Drake London and what we’ve learned in camp

Scott and Tori take a look back at what we learned from last week’s preseason game against Detroit, including a breakdown of Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder and expectations for him. Then they talk about what we need to see from the Falcons during an intense stretch that includes joint practices and a preseason game against the New York Jets.  Timecodes:  (00:02:08): Biggest takeaways from Lions preseason game (00:04:24): Reviewing Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder performances (00:14:15): On Drake London’s camp, injury and whether he needs to play in preseason (00:16:20): What we want to see from pass rush, Dean Pees evaluation (00:19:53): What we need to see from Falcons vs. Jets

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
What's up, everybody, and welcome to another edition of The
Falcon's Final Whistle podcast. I am Scott Bear and Tory
mclaney is joining me. In the weirdest way possible. We
are both sitting at Mercedes Benz Stadium after Monday's open practice.
I'm on one side of a massive press box, and

(00:32):
I can both see Tory in the zoom and I
can see her all the way across the press box.
We need enough distance where we can't hear each other,
but we're still essentially in the same room. Yeah, it's weird.
It is weird. And I said before we start recording,
I was like, I don't know if this is the

(00:52):
dumbest thing we've ever done or the smartest thing we've
ever done. And you said, and I quote, it's probably both,
and I tend to agree with that. Yeah, And really
what it is is it's this situation is built out
of laziness because I could have brought all the podcasts
equipment down there in a very heavy blue case and
I chose an easier trip from my car to the
stadium today. That's okay, that's fun, and we're gonna both

(01:16):
look back for a little bit and then look forward,
So back at what we learned in that Detroit Lions
game and what we still need to see heading into
a really important stretch where they have two joint practices
against the New York Jets followed by a Monday night
football game in August. If that's a thing, and it's
going to be important times for this team to kind

(01:40):
of come together and develop and build chemistry and show
steady progress and improvement as we march into what's going
to be a really intense stretch. Right, I just talked
about all that Jets competition, and then the next week
they're going to have joint practices against the Jags, and
then they're going to play the Jags, and then they're
gonna have to make some tough cuts. So before we

(02:01):
go all the way forward, let's go back a little bit.
Who stood out, Like what were your big takeaways from
that Lion's performance that the Falcons was it was probably
the most engaging preseason game that I've ever seen. Now
that's not a very high bar, but it was still
fun to watch. I know, I said, and I quote
that it was the most fun I've had covering a

(02:23):
preseason in maybe ever, Like I don't think I've ever
called a preseason game exciting, like truly, I don't think
I have. But that was a fun game. And I
know that there were some moments that the Falcons want
to work shop, there are some moments they want to
have back, But at the end of the day, they
put together a game that I just very much enjoyed watching,

(02:44):
which in and of itself is very difficult to do
in the preseason. But in terms of kind of my takeaways,
I think my biggest takeaway and it was something that
I wrote about the next day in terms of like
what we learned about this team, I really felt like
we learned into that this team is going to be physical.
And I say that in a number of different ways.

(03:05):
And I think when I look at this team, there
are going to be some games that are going to
be tough. And is physicality enough to win games or
lose them? I don't know. I don't know what the
record is going to be at the end of this
twenty twenty two season, but I feel confident in saying
that I do think that this team is going to
show up every Sunday or Thursday or whenever it is

(03:27):
that they're playing and they're going to play physical football,
and like I said, it's not something that I think
is going to make or break a season, but it
could be a maker and a marker of where this
organization is going in the future. So that's kind of
where I stuck my flag in terms of what we

(03:48):
learned in that game. A maker and a marker. That's
actually in the story too, And I love that line
so much that I screenshot at it, highlighted it, and
sent it back to you saying how awesome it was
because you said, chefs kiss, chefs kiss, because what One
that's beautifully written, and two I think it's that's it's
a perfect phrasing for what this team needs to be

(04:09):
to be competitive, right right that that that's how they're
going to um kind of make themselves earn respect and
that's going to be their trademark of how they're going
to go about getting wins. They're gonna be tough. And
it's weird when you talk about physicality and you talk
about tough that you're also talking about a quarterback, right, yes,

(04:30):
Yota for a preseason game where he's pretty in my opinion,
pretty much set as the Week one starter was going
hard was inviting contact, was not slighting, and was playing
aggressive football. Um. I thought that was a very interesting development.
I liked what Marcus did. I don't know if Arthur

(04:52):
did to answer that question. I don't think Arthur did,
because I did ask him after the game, and this
is how how the conversation went. I said, you know,
I think Arthur. I said, I think Marcus maybe put
his body on the line a little too much then
what you would want. And before I could even get
out of question, Arthur was going into a yeah, we

(05:14):
would like him to get down earlier, maybe not take
those hits that he took. But then he said, that's
just the guy who Marcus is. And I kind of
thought a lot about that. It's like, and then I
asked him. I was like, is that the physical type
of runner that everybody should expect Marcus to be? And
he's kind of like, yeah, this is just who Marcus is.
And even after the game when we were we're talking

(05:35):
to Marcus, Marcus like, yeah, he would. He laughed a
little bit about like not sliding or anything like that,
but then he was like, that's just kind of how
I play the game. And if it comes, if he
comes by it honestly, and that's how he does it.
That's how he does it. But maybe hold back a
little bit, a little bit in the first game of
the preseason. And I know this is week one of
the preseason that like they were talking about, but this

(05:57):
is a guy who has said several times this is
an opportunity he does not take lightly. This is the
chance to re establish himself. This is a chance for
Marcus to prove that Marcus is as good as he
and a lot of his supporters think that he can be.
Maybe he was just a little amped, even though it's
week one that this process has really started now. But

(06:18):
I like the way that he ran. There were a
couple of times trying to be armchair quarterback and looking
at the coaches film right, you can see there were
times where a LaMDA was open, where Kyle Pitts was open,
and he's running pretty quickly with it. So of course
you want to see him make plays downfield, but I
think his legs scared defenses or they at least have

(06:38):
to respect it. It opened up, in my opinion, some
rushing lanes for Quadria Allison. I shouldn't mention just since
we're letting everybody in here, but all of the lights
on Tory side of the press box just went off,
like total darkness. She's in total darkness, just being like
what is happening here? But you know what, We're just

(07:00):
gonna keep on rocking. This is uh, this is a podcast.
I wish I wish that this was like on video
because I think when the lights went out, like my
face was just instant terror, instantly like this is the end.
I'm dead. And I thought I was just gonna like
gloss over and moved beyond it. But then I like
I looked over both at the screen and then at you,

(07:23):
and I was like, oh my gosh, what is happening here. Nonetheless,
we're talking about Marks Mariota and I. You know, I
think for all those reasons, he's really excited about it.
Of course, I think Arthur Smith would like him to slide,
maybe check one more read or progression or something like that.
But he opens up lanes for the Falcon ran the
ball really well and that yeah, d he was two

(07:44):
for two. They moved the ball seamlessly. They held on
to the ball for nine minutes twenty seven seconds. It's
like an offensive coordinator's dream. I think that there were
lots of positives to take from it. Then you look
at Desmond Ritter. Right if you just looked at the
box score and you didn't watch the game, you'd be like,
that guy did not have a good day, right Right then,
Charles London, the quarterbacks coach, and head coach Arthur Smith,

(08:06):
took the podium on Sunday and practice said, hey, this
guy is more accurate than you think he is. When
you listen to what both coaches said. When you talk
to Desmond Ritter after the game, when you watched him
score at the end of the half, score at the
end of the game with a go ahead touchdown on
fourth and nine, he's rolling out and scrambling for his life.
What do you make overall of what we saw from Desmond.

(08:31):
I think it was funny because when all of that
was happening and they got the ball back, you know,
with about two minutes left in the game. I don't
know if it was you or if it was me.
I think it was you that said, gosh, he's just
a gamer, and he just wins and talking about Desmond
and then he goes and he has, you know, the

(08:52):
tosses up a game winning touchdown, Like there's something about
this guy that when the moment is there, he's there.
And I do think that with Desmond Ritter, it's one
of those things where he I think very much understands
what he wants to do and why he wants to
do it, and at some point the physical part of it,

(09:13):
maybe the inaccuracies of what we're talking about, at some point,
I think that's going to click too, And because I
do think that we are seeing him understand where he
wants to go and why he wants to go there.
And Arthur Smith has said a couple of times how
plea and Charles London too, how pleased they are with
his understanding of the playbook. So to me, when I

(09:34):
think about Desmond Ritter, it's like we're not talking about
the number eight overall pick. The expectation when I think
of Desmond Ritter is not to be ready to go
week one of the season and have an entire offense
rely on him. That's not what he is. He's a
number seventy four overall pick out of Cincinnati that won
a ton of games, that has some of those really

(09:55):
good and tangible like leadership qualities and the football IQ
that I I think can take him really far. But
this is gonna be a long term vision that we're
going to see enacted for Desmond Ritter. I'm not super
worried about like, oh, he's inaccurate here, he's inaccurate there.
If this is again the number eight overall pick, maybe

(10:16):
it's I have a different point of view. But then
the number seventy four overall pick, if that makes sense. No,
as you were saying that, I'm sitting here thinking that
Troy Anderson was the number fifty eight overall pick, and
nobody expects him to start his first year and everybody
coxpects him to be brought along. And now we're talking
about a third round pick at seventy four, and I
think a lot of that is because he was the

(10:38):
second quarterback taken, and quarterback is obviously like, these are
guys that you know and you watched a lot on
college football Saturdays, and you're right, the expectations are different
and they're probably a bit unfair right now. I hate
to use Arthur Smith's words too much here, but it's
like he talks about these long term visions, and it's
clear that they have one for him. I talked to

(10:59):
him for a long time. On Sunday, he did, and
I was really one enlightened as I normally am talking
to him, but he seemed very cognizant of what he
did well and what he didn't do well. He was
very honest in his assessments of performing well in the
moment and where he made mistakes. And he's just such

(11:20):
a conscientious dude and a conscientious think total side note here, right,
I'm talking to him forever. I'm holding my notebook and
I have a roster in like one finger and it
drops and he's like in the middle of like what
he was doing in the fourth quarter to help score
that final touchdown, and I dropped my paper and he
stopped and he reached down and he grabbed it and

(11:41):
he handed it back to me and he said, here
you go, man, and I said thank you, and then
he just kept going. He just, you know, one of
those guys. I think he just gets it. So, Yes,
there is a lot of work to do. Yes, I
think he's he needs to improve on accuracy and time
and all those things. But we're talking about him being

(12:02):
two weeks into training camp here, right, Yes, yeah, yeah,
and I think, like to be completely honest. It's to
think that he's going to be ready to go immediately
two weeks into camp, I think is very very unrealistic
if we are talking about where Desmond Ritter is in
his career that you hope is going to be a

(12:24):
very long and prosperous career. Like I just don't want
people to get ahead of themselves in thinking that, like
Desmond Ritter is the savior of the Falcons now that
Matt Ryan's no longer here. I don't look at it
that way. And I think to put that weight on
a guy's shoulders like Desmond Ritter is relatively unfair, right.
And you'll see some people who they watched him orchestrate

(12:47):
that comeback and they'll just feel the emotion of the moment,
even if it was in the preseason, and think, well,
it's start them right now, he's ready. No, No, none
of those things are true. That they have a guy
that can come in and start and has hungry as
you can get to prove and establish himself. And we'll
see how it ultimately works out down the road. This
offense is going to look different. It just will. I

(13:09):
don't think that's a bad thing. This is one of
those offenses that like between the quarterbacks and the running backs,
Like I mean, they could have what thirty five carries
a game or something. It's very very possible. And Arthur
Smith can do some fun things with guys who can
run the football. So, and that goes back to the
physicality thing. I think it's been encouraging to see Caleb

(13:31):
McGarry didn't get his fifth year option picked up. I
thought running to the right side of the offensive line
with Lindstrom and Caleb, I thought was very effective. Yes,
you know, Matt Hennessey, while not always great, I feel
like he's showing up a little more. Here's the thing,
Matt Hennessey was not bad in run blocking last year.
I think people I think people overlooked at like, yeah,

(13:53):
pass blocking was a little iffy, but he was actually
relatively okay in run blocking if you look at his
like PFF scores, which I know is not the end
all be all, but he had a good run blocking grade.
I think people forget that. So I think that this
offense is going to look different. I think, you know,
that's gonna create opportunities for crowd pits and Drake London

(14:13):
down the line. This wasn't on our script, but I
just mentioned Drake London. We saw him make a well,
a very impressive twenty four yard catch and run. He
ran a great route, he caught it Marcus through a
great ball, he turned up field, he was physical upfield,
and then he obviously has this knee injury that Arthur
Smith is saying is not of concern to them long term.

(14:36):
There's no guarantee that he's going to play again in
the preseason. I don't know. I don't know. I think
he needs to play anymore, right, it's just start giving
him healthy for September. Yeah, I definitely go easy with
him there. Yeah, I do too. I mean, it's not
I don't know. I'm I'm also very like I don't
feel like I need to see him, like I know.

(14:57):
It was funny because I did a five player to
watch story before we went into Friday Friday's game in Detroit,
and I didn't put Dreg London on there at all,
and someone asked me, like, how can you not put
Dreg London in there? And I was like, I really
don't need to see him, Like I really feel like
I've seen enough in the course of the last two weeks.
I feel like I have a pretty good idea of

(15:18):
how Arthur Smith wants to use him. I feel like
I have a pretty good idea of where he slots
in and kind of what the expectation for him should be.
I don't need to see him in a preseason game
to feel like I know where he can be during
the season. Yeah, and I think I think that's a
great assessment playing starts in the preseason. I know lots
of fans and people have different feelings about it. It

(15:41):
scares the Dickens, considering what we what we just saw
with Zach Wilson. It should scare every head coach in
the league, in my opinion. But I also understand Arthur's
take that, like you can't get in your car every
day being worried about a car accent, even though it's possible.

(16:01):
But nonetheless, you know, as we move forward now towards
this towards this difficult stretch or not difficult, but it
could be a really important stretch, right Um, you look
at the pass rush and it's impossible to evaluate, you know,
any one player on twelve snaps or something like that.
But I think this pass rush, these these outside linebackers

(16:24):
are so young, right yeah. Um, and Lorenzo Carter had
five sacks, but he's only had five sacks, right that
there's a lot that these guys have to establish. Um.
What did you take from Dan P's press conference about
kind of what he thought about the Lions game and
maybe where he thinks that he meets that this defense
needs to get better. Yeah? So I thought what Dan

(16:44):
said was very interesting. And you know, I love talking
to Dane. So anytime there's Dan Yeah, anytime that there
is a Dean peace Price commerence time there and I
have like my ears dialed up to eleven um. But
he was asked, you know, what was his evaluation of
Friday's game? And I thought what he said was very

(17:04):
very interesting. I thought it was something that every fan
should here and I'm paraphrasing here, I definitely recommend you
go back and listen to what he actually said, but
paracrazing here. He was talking about how, yeah, that first
drive where the defense looked like they got man handled
by the Lions offense, the first string both sides like.
He was like, yeah, yeah, no, I didn't like that.

(17:26):
I didn't like that first drive. He was like, but
the good thing about that drive was is he was like,
we came over to the sideline as a defense as
a unit, and we made adjustments, and then you go
back out and for the remainder of the game the Lions.
So before in that first drive they were running the
ball for over five yards a carry. They were averaging

(17:49):
over five yards to carry. You come back, you make adjustments,
and then from that point on, Dean was like, they
averaged three point one yards a carry instead. So I
think like before everybody gets like really in their head
and thinking that this is absolutely horrible and the defense
guy absolutely just crushed by this Lions offense. I don't
necessarily think that's the case. We saw these guys for

(18:12):
a drive, we did not see them any time after that.
And I don't feel like it's talk about being fair
realistic unrealistic. Like I feel like it's unrealistic to be like,
this defense is horrible because they gave up a touchdown
in the first week of the preseason to the Lions.
And so I and I thought the way that Dean

(18:34):
articulated it and kind of used the example of the
Lions run game and brought in statistics, I thought that
made so much sense. He's like, we came back and
we made adjustments as a staff, as a unit, and
we changed it. And that's what you that's what good
teams do. Yeah, I asked, I know we're talking about defense,

(18:57):
but I asked d Alfred and I asked as a
ridder a couple different people about the value of the
first preseason game tape. And it's a real kind of
progress report about where you are and where you need
to go. And heading into this Jets week, I'm really
excited to see one on ones, you know, like, let
it should be, let it get physical, let's edge russures

(19:17):
against tight ends and against offensive tackles. New York is
not without talent. I got Quinn and Williams over there.
They've got some guys who can move up front, and
I can't wait to see those types of things. I
want to see the wide receivers and some of these
other guys like Brian Edwards kind of go heads up

(19:40):
against some of these Jets players, and I think that's
going to be key. Here's the thing about joint practices.
I think we find out more about the team that
we cover during joint practice than we ever do in
a preseason game. I one thousand percent felt that last year,
and I guarantee you I'm going to feel that after

(20:01):
New York and after the Jags come to Atlanta, because
you do you talk about like getting chippy and seeing
some one on ones and really getting to gauge where
each individual person on this Falcons team is in comparison
to somebody else on another team, and that I know
that sounds super simple, but that sometimes is something that
you don't You don't see in training camp. You're seeing

(20:23):
very scripted, regimented practices that no one is going one
hundred percent in. I guarantee you when aj Terrell aligns
up with whoever on Jets team, like they're going to
be going one hundred percent even in a one on one,
because there is just that innate sense of competition when
you do have someone in a different color jersey than you.

(20:45):
That I know that some of that sounds elementary, but
it really does. From a mindset standpoint, I really do
think that you learn more in joint practices than you
do in the preseason games. Yeah. Yeah, Even going back
to last year's Dolphins practices, I felt like I learned
more about the team in those two days than I
did at any other point, and Kyle Pits was fantastic then,

(21:08):
and you know, I think it's going to be an
important and good stretched. Arthur Smith obviously thinks they're important
because he's scheduled two joint practice sessions with the Jets
coming up and then the Jaguars on the other side.
So I think, look, we all want to see these
rookies develop and continue to make progress. We want to
see people stand out. Tory and I just put a

(21:29):
fifty three man roster projection. I think after watching the
joint practices, we're going to feel more confident in our
decisions or really be able to kind of fine tune
kind of what we're seeing. So definitely keep an eye
on Atlanta Falcons dot com for tons of dispatches from
Florham Park. I think that's where the Jets practice question

(21:51):
mark mark, which is always a good thing to throw
out there on a pod as an uncertain thing, but
nonetheless stay tuned for that. Will obviously have another podcast
next Tuesday. Aston Edmonds is out for a couple of
podcasts here, but he'll be back for the Jaguars game
in no time. So do your thing, man rate reviews,
subscribe all that fun stuff, and thank you guys so

(22:13):
much for following along. We'll talk to you again next week.