August 15, 2025 • 20 mins
NFL legend Chris Long joins the show to preview the Atlanta Falcons' 2025 season. He shares his thoughts on Michael Penix Jr. and why it's so hard to tackle Bijan Robinson, as well as why Leonard Floyd is the perfect addition to this new look Falcons defense. Finally, he plays a little adjective roulette with Will McFadden to decide how best to describe the 2025 Atlanta Falcons.
0:00 - Intro & Matt Ryan
4:00 - Expectations in Atlanta
6:10 - Penix & the offense
10:15 - Falcons defense & Jeff Ulbrich
16:30 - Adjective roulette & Outro
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Got Chris Long here with the green Light pod, former
honestly legend on the field, two times Super Bowl champion. Chris,
thank you for joining me. How you doing, man, I'm
great man.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
This is a super welcome in place and got to
watch practice. Team looks looks good, Man, looks really good.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Yeah it was.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
It was a little rainy out. There was a little
bit of a dreary day, but otherwise, you know, I
thought the energy intensity was pretty good.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
A little secret is the players. Well, I don't want
to speak for ablem but definitely the big guys. We
like being outside, not on the on the turf, we
like being on the grass. And the fact that there's
not one hundred degrees in camp. We like a rainy day.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
So it's been more mild this training camp than I
can ever remember. Like, we've had a couple of days
where legitimately people have worn some Sweatshirts's crazy, that's great.
We're trying to get We're trying to get these young
men ready for the keys, for the long days and
mother natures. That's why it was down. Yeah, you know,
I've got so much that I want to ask you,
(00:54):
in particular because you kind of overlap my main years
as a as a football youth, growing up and loving
the sport. So honestly, like going right back to your
draft class two thousand and eight, Matt Ryan changed the
direction of the Falcons franchise. They did, Do you have
any good Matt Ryan stories for me?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, honestly, I just acc guy. Me and Matt like
didn't get to play BC because they were on the
other side of the division. But I remember rooting like
for Matt like hell in college because they were playing
Virginia Tech, which is our arrival. We could never beat him,
but I was like, maybe Matt can beat him in
the AC Championship. So I just remember, you know, being
(01:33):
in my apartment in two thousand and seven, screaming my
lungs out for Matt Ryan, you know, like to beat
Tech and pulling for him, and just getting to know
him a little bit through the draft. You know, back
in the day. Back in the day, we used to
go to Radio City Music Hall. It wasn't like, you know,
draft wasn't a different city every year, And I don't
(01:54):
know how it is now. I'm sure the guys get
to know each other, but we spent a lot of
time myself, you know, Glen Dorsey, Vernon Goldston.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Matt, Matt, Ryan, Jake, long.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Number of guys that were there that that year, and
Matt always struck me as just a solid person man.
And now fast forward we play against each other in
Super Bowl, and then after that anyone.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
And then number one? How dare you?
Speaker 3 (02:20):
How dare you?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I have a laptop, so you've got to I was
looking at Tim Robinson sticker, which I love, and I
got a bunch of stickers.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
I have one sticker.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
That's got the damn chemera And by the way, he's
one of my producers here. Aidan's a Pats fan, so
you need to I don't even know why you're in here.
And then uh, I have a sticker that has the
score the forty one thirty three or whatever it is.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
No, that's the other Super Bowl. What was it? Twenty
eight three?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yep, and uh And somebody was like, damn, You're not
going to Atlanta with that sticker. So I had to
get a posted note sharp e go Falcons. I got
that stuck on top while I'm in the building today.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Oh no, okay, well that's that's don't let anybody else
I'm not yet, and they have to burn.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
This section exact and then and then the next Matt
Ryan thing is full circle. My brother works at CBS
now Kyle and gets see Matt all the time because
he's up there with Matt on you know, in New
York and he's on different show, but sees him a lot.
And I just I got the utmost respect for Matt
and he's a fantastic person who's a fantastic football player.
(03:22):
And I know they love him here and they should
because he was awesome. And I always say, like, I
know he didn't get the ring, but I felt like
he did everything he could have.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
To deliver a super Bowl here.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And you know, now you got another chapter that's wide open,
and you know you hear players openly talking about those aspirations.
That means you've got a program that has high hopes.
And I think there's some talented guys on this team.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, that's a great, a great way to kind of
transition into this, which is what do you make of
a team that in training camp that hasn't been the
playoffs in six seasons talking about, Yeah, we got super
Bowl aspirations, we want to go win it all, Like
we believe that they were right there. Did do you
buy into that or is it a little bit of
you not to prove it to some degree first?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
No, because you don't.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
You you don't have to prove it first because nothing
before the year you win the Super Bowl matters. You know,
it does matter. It's experiential, like if you have guys
in your team that accrew a bunch of seasons under
the same culture whatever like that stuff the building. Yeah,
it is important. Yeah, but like you know, you hear
the Eagles talk about this this year and they've said
(04:33):
the right things, like it's a new team. You know,
people frame it as this team won a Super Bowl
last year. No, that team's there's no more. Yeah, when
that team's done, that team's done. It's a new team.
And so everybody's starting from zero. And uh, I think
for these guys, you know, especially the offensive guys who
last year were really scared to deal with, Like, they
(04:57):
got to have high hopes and if some of these
young players on this defense can play well, then you
can get in the dance. And when you're in the dance,
anything can happen. I've been through that with the Eagles.
I mean, we got in with a backup quarterback and
I don't like that term because it sounds pejorative, but
Nick Foles in the backup, but he was the backup quarterback.
(05:19):
And for us to go on that run, like you
just never know what happens. And you guys, for Michael
Pennix to get experienced last year at the end of
the season rather than trot out for the first game
against Tampa dealing with Todd Bowles first start ever this year,
that's a big thing. So they got a lot going
for him. And you don't want to be one of
these teams that and I spent most of my career
(05:40):
on these teams. The ones I'm talking about are the
ones that almost have tricked themselves into thinking they have
a shot. You know, this is not one of those teams,
you know, So I think it's exciting.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yeah, something you've talked about on your show before is
you kind of can't lie to yourself for a lot
of the guys in the locker room, like they know
you kind of know what you're working with. And is
there something that Michael Pennix specifically and kind of the
first stretch, They've got four important games right out before
that week five by is there something he can show
you in those four games where you're like, all right, no,
(06:16):
like they do have a legitimate reason this offense is
going to be good and we take them seriously.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I'm excited to see, you know, what comes off of
having a quarterback who's a little bit more mobile than
Kirk was. Obviously Kirk, you know, at this stage in
his career and with the injuries that he was battling
through valiantly, you know, you couldn't do certain things and
so you know, could you see more play action, could
you move the pocket more, get him off platform. I
think there's adjustments with having a lefty quarterback. I mean,
(06:42):
down to the ball looks different coming off his hands,
So you know, you want to see guys get on
the same page. But he made some big time throws
last year in those I mean, you get two overtime
games in your three starts. It's like, I really think
you're going to look back and say, hey, I'm glad
that not glad it happened that way, but that it
happened because this for him is like, hey, you can
(07:03):
hit the ground running. I mean you start with Tampa
and division game, that's a big deal to play a
division opponent the first week of the season, albeit a
team that I think is going to be very good
with a lot of pieces in the second you know,
the secondary, they're trying to improve, the rushers they've added,
so it'll be a big test. You get him at home.
What I want to see from Michael Pennix is it
(07:24):
just make the layups, you know, Like I think there
was a couple throws where and he tell you this,
I'm sure where he's like, hey, I just got to
hit the target there.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
The big time throws, the hard stuff, the ceiling stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I see it. And I'd rather see a guy make
those big throws. Then hey, he makes all the layups,
but he can't. He's not a game changer with his arm.
And he made some big throws in big spots last
year down the stretch in games that are for the playoffs,
and so I just hope he picks that up and
rolls with it. I want to see the offense make
(07:58):
those little tweaks to maximize what you can do.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, and well, last thing on the offense, and then
I definitely want to get to some defense. Yeah, yes,
but you mentioned Michael Turner was one of the toughest
ball carriers to bring down back in your.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Day bowling ball.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Would you rather be going up against a bowling ball,
actually a bowling ball of razor blades, as our own
Dave Archer coined him Tyler Lgier last year. I think
that fits for Michael Turner as well. Yeah, would you
rather go up against that? Or a player like Jean
Robinson who you know.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Rather, I'd rather play the player that I'm going to touch,
like Bjon, Like there's a chance you don't even get
a hand on him.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
He makes angles look like they're not there. You think
you have an angle, you don't. The cuts are the
way he cuts allows people. What it does is like
it's not just hard in a vacuum to tackle him,
but like you're approaching him.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
And it's in your head.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, you're like, hey, I gotta break down here. Is
he about to spin back behind me? Or is he
going to stick his foot in the ground? And so
I'd rather Although I have the utmost respect for the
guys that are like the Frank Gores of the world,
I'd rather and you see Frank Gore twice a year,
but like I'd rather have a shot than play like
(09:16):
when I used to play like Chris Johnson or somebody
like that. I remember one time I look so stupid
chasing Chris Johnson, Like I thought I had an angle
and that angle worked on anybody else, but it doesn't
work on him. And Bijon. Bijan has the right. We
were talking about it earlier, me and him. He's so cool,
he's great, he's there. So he's just like, yeah, he's
(09:38):
like a monk.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
He is like a monk.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
But but but but he's just one of those guys
that can make those It's like Saquon, you know, we
were talking about Saquon, some of the similarities in how
they play. He not only can make that violent jump
cut behind the line of scrimmage, but he can also
he can also eat up your angle at the second level.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
It's like, there's guys that hurt your and there's guys
that hurt your pride, and he'd rather take yeah, the
guy that hurts her body.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
But he does both.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Yeah, he can kind of do both. So nice guy.
But he runs hard. Yeah, that's how he wanted.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Well, they Atlanta wants their defensive lineman be doing a
lot of hard running in this season, they're gonna be rotating,
They're going to be flying off of the ball. What
do you think about their two new additions in Jalen
Walker and James Pierson, Actually Leonard Floyd, you know, to
say this.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
I got a lot of respect for Leonard Floyd.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
There's just guys that, you know, playing in a smaller
market myself and you know, I would count myself as
a little underrated, but Leonard Floyd is one of the
most underrated edge guys of our generation. And I think
a lot of his because when he played in Chicago,
he didn't come out like Gangbusters, where you know, it's
(10:50):
all of a sudden, it's double digits every year closet.
But he it's a hard position to pick up in
the NFL, and things have to a lot of things
have to go right around you. Like, I just think
he's he's a hell of a rusher, and I think
having a vet in the room helps a lot. You know,
when I went to Philly, you know, I was on
the back end of my career, but you know I
(11:10):
could still rush. But my one of my biggest proudest,
you know, things that I did there was probably bring
the young guys along. You know, if you asked a
young guy like, hey, what was Chris about, Like he
gave me confidence or he taught me this. So it
taught me that, like Leonard Floyd's going to make plays here,
(11:31):
but he's also going to bring the guys along, And
not only is that good for this team, but like
if James Pearce turns into the next stud ten years
down the line, he'll still be talking about Leonard Floyd
and the effect he had on him. So I just
I got a lot of respect for him, and I think,
(11:53):
you know, Walker Pierce, it's so hard to be expected
a lot of as a young rusher, you know, because
they're just going to look at the bottom line, Hey,
how many sacks?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
How many this?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
I want to see those guys just disrupt and play
on the other side of the line of scrimmage. And uh,
they seem like the kind of guys who are going
to play hard. You know, that's all you can control.
And I hear Pierces he's he's he's prickly. I like that,
and so you just want to see him play with
that edge and you don't for you didn't forget him,
(12:23):
but like it was like Raheem said earlier to me,
he said, and don't forget Trice. I was like, I
haven't because because when a guy.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
You know, he looked great last training camp.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
He looked good out there to you know today, until
you see a guy in person, you know really what
he looks like, and uh, he looked good, and so uh,
you know, all of a sudden you got optionality there
where it's like, hey, you know, even if one of
them is not ready this year and everybody's on different timelines,
somebody's going to be ready to step up. And you
know you have a high floor player in Floyd and
(12:56):
Ibikite too, who I met in Vegas to the Sack
Summit and he had a really nice year last year.
So this guy's not falling. It's always it's always closer
to turning around than you think. And Russian coverage work together. Yes,
so that that's huge. I mean, you know, and I say,
over this pass rush drought, how many years was the
(13:18):
coverage not up to part And we're looking at the
rushers and saying so as a former rusher, I just
say like, hey, it's a team game. You want to see,
you know, the Billy Bowman's of the world step up
and play well for y'all this year. Little pieces like
that can make a big difference for the rushers too.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah, I know it is. It does all have to
tie together, and it hasn't been where it needs to be.
And so yeah, you've got a lot that you're thrown
at the wall, and I do think a lot of
it's going to stick. And yeah, we saw a turnaround
late last year where last like eight weeks, nine weeks
of the season, they had the second most sacks in
the league behind Dallas.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
And it's great.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
And the less you have to the less you have
to scheme sacks up, the more you can say, hey,
my force better than you're four that's when you're really cooking.
And and I think Jeff albreak seems like the type
of guy that keeps it simple enough for guys up front,
So hey, go hunt Man. And and I'm also a
big fan of Jeff Albricks, so I'm excited to see
(14:13):
his defense play.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
You talked about in the NFC South preview kind of
keeping it simple for young rusher, right, and you had
spags on your career and that. Yeah, so like how
Jeff Ulbrick's approach of coming in. Hey, we're going to simplify.
We want you guys to play fast out on the field,
Like do you think that's going to have a quick
early return and we're going to see that payoff.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Everybody's different. There's some players that think too much, if
some players don't think enough, and there's nothing wrong with
either one. But it's about calibrating each player to fit
your system and so that they can still play fast.
Like the last thing you want is guys out there
tiptone or trying to diagnose things as they're coming out
of their stance. And you know, I think learning how
(14:54):
to watch film, learning what to look for to the
point where you're not overthinking things. You just hang your
hat on a couple of keys and you can hit
it and get it. And you know, I played in
schemes like that. I played in complicated schemes. I just
prefer not because I can't. I can't digest the other schemes.
It's more, it's like playing defensive line is about running
(15:15):
down hill and running into stuff. I mean, like it
is about causing car accidents, and it's about resetting the
line of scrimmage. And you know, I'm the type that
wants to play blocks, but I think also encouraging the
young players that are like, hey, you're gonna make mistakes sometimes,
and there's more than one way to do it.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
You don't have to be a robot out here. You know.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
For instance, we say you're not reached until the ballcarrier
crosses your face. Things like that, where you know you're
setting an edge. But if you're just trying to be
outside the ball carrier or outside the tackle, you're you're
gonna you're gonna give ground, Like go reset that thing,
play at three yards deep in the backfield and make
that running back bubble and if he bubbles two three yards,
(15:58):
then your support players need to come down and knock
it down because you're making their lives easier. So I
don't know how they run their defense exactly, but that's
how I would coach a young player to, like, hey,
don't take the fast out of your game.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
You know what I mean, Yeah, do it do it
with intentionality, do it fast.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Yeah, you know your rules, and pick your spots, like, hey,
if the game's on the line, maybe not a good
time to backdoor this block. But sometimes like you got
to make a play and you don't want to get
coached out of making a play.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
For sure. That was amazing. I have one last little
thing for you. You said in that preview you're feeling cagy.
I do feel CAZy about the Atlanta falcons. We're gonna
try to get you out of that cave. So open
the cage. Yeah, where the falcons fly, you go the
bird cage. We're going going right on in. So I
wrote down some adjectives that I'm going to try to
pin you down on. Starting maybe not so great, and
(16:49):
we'll go to coach great podcaster speak exactly right. We're
putting words in your mouth. So let's start with and
you tell us which one you feel you feel best,
a bottle with a bad one and then a good one,
and we'll work our way towards the middle.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Oh, inept is inept is. Inept is like unserious. It's
like it's like.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
There's an allusion to there's no hope there, like you know,
like inept is like we just don't have anything good.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
We had to start a baseline then, all right, So
now the other side a force of natures. It's even
going to be a force of nature.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I don't know of any team in the NFL this
year that I'm sure about being a force in nature.
You know who became a force in nature last year
was the Eagles, and y'all played them earlier in the season.
You see how much teams can change. Well, and not
to say it was they stunk because you beat them,
but I'm saying, like that defense, you'll marched up and
down the field. It takes time to be You can
become a force in nature in a calendar year, just
(17:44):
like they did.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Force in nature. I don't know about that.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
We'll see hurricane season comes a little bit later in
the calendar. All right, bumbling, this is going to be
a bumbling team.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
You know, I don't use that word a lot.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
What is bumbling mean? Just stumbling and stumbling?
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah, I think it's only ever sandwiched between rumbling and
stuff that's like sloppy to me, Like bumbling is like sloppy.
You see you here, like Tuba's kind of in the
background sounds Yeah, that's not good.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
All right.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Unstoppable, it's gonna unstoppable team.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
It's a little bit.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Below offensively at times, they might be unstoppable. Okay, so
we're getting we're getting close.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
If teams can't cover cover, you know, Drake, and if
teams can't stop the run, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Is this going to be a storm Trooper team where
it's like they've got the veneer of like, all right,
look out, that guy could do so, but then missing
shots left and right, banging their heads against you know.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
No, I mean I could see them being a Stormtrooper
type team with the run game. You know, when I
think of Stormtroopers, I think are methodical. Okay, the death
March they're just walking down.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah yeah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
They play that at some college games.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Good, so it's in the public.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah, okay, maybe the young people they don't know what
we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Are they gonna be a Are they gonna be electric?
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah, they're gonna be electric. Okay, yeah, I can think
of it. I think about this offense as being a
little bit electric. And you know, when you add the
and this isn't taken away anything from Kirk, but where
he was physically last year, you just couldn't do certain things.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Like we talked about earlier. Yeah, yeah, we're close to electric. Okay,
all right, what about cheeky? It's gonna be a cheeky team?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
No, because I think about cheeky teams as being like
a little bit under manned and like they're slick.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Yeah, you know, I think y'all got the pieces.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Okay, so competent, yeah for sure, place to land competent
electric somewhere in there.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Well, you gotta be competent if you want to be electric.
You gotta you gotta walk before you you know, run,
and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Okay, last one then for you must watch, this is
gonna be a must watch team.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I think they are going to be. You know, I
know y'all have some primetime games this year. I got
here the Buffalo and there's some big games. So that
to me, as you are a little bit must watch
a lot of the Falcons games that I've seen are fun,
and Falcons fans will tell you because I love Atlanta
sports fans are so they're very self aware and they
(20:11):
also have a healthy cynicism. But it's kind of like
if you there's no there's no bad Atlanta sports game.
They're all interesting, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
That's that's why we're so cynical because we've seen the mountaintop,
we've seen what and it's kind of like, you.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Know, I know, must watch well this this.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Is a must listen podcast. I really appreciate you you
joining me and honestly, please go check out the green
Light podcast. It is one of the ways that I've
gotten smarter about football.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
I appreciate it started with you.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
And yeah, it's been cool to see like your your
growth and journeys podcast are so congrats. Thanks man, another
thing you've accomplished it again, thank you so much for joining.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Well.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I hope we come back man. Yeah, thanks a lot.
Thanks
Got Chris Long here with the green Light pod, former
honestly legend on the field, two times Super Bowl champion. Chris,
thank you for joining me. How you doing, man, I'm
great man.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
This is a super welcome in place and got to
watch practice. Team looks looks good, Man, looks really good.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Yeah it was.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
It was a little rainy out. There was a little
bit of a dreary day, but otherwise, you know, I
thought the energy intensity was pretty good.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
A little secret is the players. Well, I don't want
to speak for ablem but definitely the big guys. We
like being outside, not on the on the turf, we
like being on the grass. And the fact that there's
not one hundred degrees in camp. We like a rainy day.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
So it's been more mild this training camp than I
can ever remember. Like, we've had a couple of days
where legitimately people have worn some Sweatshirts's crazy, that's great.
We're trying to get We're trying to get these young
men ready for the keys, for the long days and
mother natures. That's why it was down. Yeah, you know,
I've got so much that I want to ask you,
(00:54):
in particular because you kind of overlap my main years
as a as a football youth, growing up and loving
the sport. So honestly, like going right back to your
draft class two thousand and eight, Matt Ryan changed the
direction of the Falcons franchise. They did, Do you have
any good Matt Ryan stories for me?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, honestly, I just acc guy. Me and Matt like
didn't get to play BC because they were on the
other side of the division. But I remember rooting like
for Matt like hell in college because they were playing
Virginia Tech, which is our arrival. We could never beat him,
but I was like, maybe Matt can beat him in
the AC Championship. So I just remember, you know, being
(01:33):
in my apartment in two thousand and seven, screaming my
lungs out for Matt Ryan, you know, like to beat
Tech and pulling for him, and just getting to know
him a little bit through the draft. You know, back
in the day. Back in the day, we used to
go to Radio City Music Hall. It wasn't like, you know,
draft wasn't a different city every year, And I don't
(01:54):
know how it is now. I'm sure the guys get
to know each other, but we spent a lot of
time myself, you know, Glen Dorsey, Vernon Goldston.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Matt, Matt, Ryan, Jake, long.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Number of guys that were there that that year, and
Matt always struck me as just a solid person man.
And now fast forward we play against each other in
Super Bowl, and then after that anyone.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
And then number one? How dare you?
Speaker 3 (02:20):
How dare you?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I have a laptop, so you've got to I was
looking at Tim Robinson sticker, which I love, and I
got a bunch of stickers.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
I have one sticker.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
That's got the damn chemera And by the way, he's
one of my producers here. Aidan's a Pats fan, so
you need to I don't even know why you're in here.
And then uh, I have a sticker that has the
score the forty one thirty three or whatever it is.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
No, that's the other Super Bowl. What was it? Twenty
eight three?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yep, and uh And somebody was like, damn, You're not
going to Atlanta with that sticker. So I had to
get a posted note sharp e go Falcons. I got
that stuck on top while I'm in the building today.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Oh no, okay, well that's that's don't let anybody else
I'm not yet, and they have to burn.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
This section exact and then and then the next Matt
Ryan thing is full circle. My brother works at CBS
now Kyle and gets see Matt all the time because
he's up there with Matt on you know, in New
York and he's on different show, but sees him a lot.
And I just I got the utmost respect for Matt
and he's a fantastic person who's a fantastic football player.
(03:22):
And I know they love him here and they should
because he was awesome. And I always say, like, I
know he didn't get the ring, but I felt like
he did everything he could have.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
To deliver a super Bowl here.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And you know, now you got another chapter that's wide open,
and you know you hear players openly talking about those aspirations.
That means you've got a program that has high hopes.
And I think there's some talented guys on this team.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, that's a great, a great way to kind of
transition into this, which is what do you make of
a team that in training camp that hasn't been the
playoffs in six seasons talking about, Yeah, we got super
Bowl aspirations, we want to go win it all, Like
we believe that they were right there. Did do you
buy into that or is it a little bit of
you not to prove it to some degree first?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
No, because you don't.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
You you don't have to prove it first because nothing
before the year you win the Super Bowl matters. You know,
it does matter. It's experiential, like if you have guys
in your team that accrew a bunch of seasons under
the same culture whatever like that stuff the building. Yeah,
it is important. Yeah, but like you know, you hear
the Eagles talk about this this year and they've said
(04:33):
the right things, like it's a new team. You know,
people frame it as this team won a Super Bowl
last year. No, that team's there's no more. Yeah, when
that team's done, that team's done. It's a new team.
And so everybody's starting from zero. And uh, I think
for these guys, you know, especially the offensive guys who
last year were really scared to deal with, Like, they
(04:57):
got to have high hopes and if some of these
young players on this defense can play well, then you
can get in the dance. And when you're in the dance,
anything can happen. I've been through that with the Eagles.
I mean, we got in with a backup quarterback and
I don't like that term because it sounds pejorative, but
Nick Foles in the backup, but he was the backup quarterback.
(05:19):
And for us to go on that run, like you
just never know what happens. And you guys, for Michael
Pennix to get experienced last year at the end of
the season rather than trot out for the first game
against Tampa dealing with Todd Bowles first start ever this year,
that's a big thing. So they got a lot going
for him. And you don't want to be one of
these teams that and I spent most of my career
(05:40):
on these teams. The ones I'm talking about are the
ones that almost have tricked themselves into thinking they have
a shot. You know, this is not one of those teams,
you know, So I think it's exciting.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yeah, something you've talked about on your show before is
you kind of can't lie to yourself for a lot
of the guys in the locker room, like they know
you kind of know what you're working with. And is
there something that Michael Pennix specifically and kind of the
first stretch, They've got four important games right out before
that week five by is there something he can show
you in those four games where you're like, all right, no,
(06:16):
like they do have a legitimate reason this offense is
going to be good and we take them seriously.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I'm excited to see, you know, what comes off of
having a quarterback who's a little bit more mobile than
Kirk was. Obviously Kirk, you know, at this stage in
his career and with the injuries that he was battling
through valiantly, you know, you couldn't do certain things and
so you know, could you see more play action, could
you move the pocket more, get him off platform. I
think there's adjustments with having a lefty quarterback. I mean,
(06:42):
down to the ball looks different coming off his hands,
So you know, you want to see guys get on
the same page. But he made some big time throws
last year in those I mean, you get two overtime
games in your three starts. It's like, I really think
you're going to look back and say, hey, I'm glad
that not glad it happened that way, but that it
happened because this for him is like, hey, you can
(07:03):
hit the ground running. I mean you start with Tampa
and division game, that's a big deal to play a
division opponent the first week of the season, albeit a
team that I think is going to be very good
with a lot of pieces in the second you know,
the secondary, they're trying to improve, the rushers they've added,
so it'll be a big test. You get him at home.
What I want to see from Michael Pennix is it
(07:24):
just make the layups, you know, Like I think there
was a couple throws where and he tell you this,
I'm sure where he's like, hey, I just got to
hit the target there.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
The big time throws, the hard stuff, the ceiling stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I see it. And I'd rather see a guy make
those big throws. Then hey, he makes all the layups,
but he can't. He's not a game changer with his arm.
And he made some big throws in big spots last
year down the stretch in games that are for the playoffs,
and so I just hope he picks that up and
rolls with it. I want to see the offense make
(07:58):
those little tweaks to maximize what you can do.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, and well, last thing on the offense, and then
I definitely want to get to some defense. Yeah, yes,
but you mentioned Michael Turner was one of the toughest
ball carriers to bring down back in your.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Day bowling ball.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Would you rather be going up against a bowling ball,
actually a bowling ball of razor blades, as our own
Dave Archer coined him Tyler Lgier last year. I think
that fits for Michael Turner as well. Yeah, would you
rather go up against that? Or a player like Jean
Robinson who you know.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Rather, I'd rather play the player that I'm going to touch,
like Bjon, Like there's a chance you don't even get
a hand on him.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
He makes angles look like they're not there. You think
you have an angle, you don't. The cuts are the
way he cuts allows people. What it does is like
it's not just hard in a vacuum to tackle him,
but like you're approaching him.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
And it's in your head.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, you're like, hey, I gotta break down here. Is
he about to spin back behind me? Or is he
going to stick his foot in the ground? And so
I'd rather Although I have the utmost respect for the
guys that are like the Frank Gores of the world,
I'd rather and you see Frank Gore twice a year,
but like I'd rather have a shot than play like
(09:16):
when I used to play like Chris Johnson or somebody
like that. I remember one time I look so stupid
chasing Chris Johnson, Like I thought I had an angle
and that angle worked on anybody else, but it doesn't
work on him. And Bijon. Bijan has the right. We
were talking about it earlier, me and him. He's so cool,
he's great, he's there. So he's just like, yeah, he's
(09:38):
like a monk.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
He is like a monk.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
But but but but he's just one of those guys
that can make those It's like Saquon, you know, we
were talking about Saquon, some of the similarities in how
they play. He not only can make that violent jump
cut behind the line of scrimmage, but he can also
he can also eat up your angle at the second level.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
It's like, there's guys that hurt your and there's guys
that hurt your pride, and he'd rather take yeah, the
guy that hurts her body.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
But he does both.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Yeah, he can kind of do both. So nice guy.
But he runs hard. Yeah, that's how he wanted.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Well, they Atlanta wants their defensive lineman be doing a
lot of hard running in this season, they're gonna be rotating,
They're going to be flying off of the ball. What
do you think about their two new additions in Jalen
Walker and James Pierson, Actually Leonard Floyd, you know, to
say this.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
I got a lot of respect for Leonard Floyd.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
There's just guys that, you know, playing in a smaller
market myself and you know, I would count myself as
a little underrated, but Leonard Floyd is one of the
most underrated edge guys of our generation. And I think
a lot of his because when he played in Chicago,
he didn't come out like Gangbusters, where you know, it's
(10:50):
all of a sudden, it's double digits every year closet.
But he it's a hard position to pick up in
the NFL, and things have to a lot of things
have to go right around you. Like, I just think
he's he's a hell of a rusher, and I think
having a vet in the room helps a lot. You know,
when I went to Philly, you know, I was on
the back end of my career, but you know I
(11:10):
could still rush. But my one of my biggest proudest,
you know, things that I did there was probably bring
the young guys along. You know, if you asked a
young guy like, hey, what was Chris about, Like he
gave me confidence or he taught me this. So it
taught me that, like Leonard Floyd's going to make plays here,
(11:31):
but he's also going to bring the guys along, And
not only is that good for this team, but like
if James Pearce turns into the next stud ten years
down the line, he'll still be talking about Leonard Floyd
and the effect he had on him. So I just
I got a lot of respect for him, and I think,
(11:53):
you know, Walker Pierce, it's so hard to be expected
a lot of as a young rusher, you know, because
they're just going to look at the bottom line, Hey,
how many sacks?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
How many this?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
I want to see those guys just disrupt and play
on the other side of the line of scrimmage. And uh,
they seem like the kind of guys who are going
to play hard. You know, that's all you can control.
And I hear Pierces he's he's he's prickly. I like that,
and so you just want to see him play with
that edge and you don't for you didn't forget him,
(12:23):
but like it was like Raheem said earlier to me,
he said, and don't forget Trice. I was like, I
haven't because because when a guy.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
You know, he looked great last training camp.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
He looked good out there to you know today, until
you see a guy in person, you know really what
he looks like, and uh, he looked good, and so uh,
you know, all of a sudden you got optionality there
where it's like, hey, you know, even if one of
them is not ready this year and everybody's on different timelines,
somebody's going to be ready to step up. And you
know you have a high floor player in Floyd and
(12:56):
Ibikite too, who I met in Vegas to the Sack
Summit and he had a really nice year last year.
So this guy's not falling. It's always it's always closer
to turning around than you think. And Russian coverage work together. Yes,
so that that's huge. I mean, you know, and I say,
over this pass rush drought, how many years was the
(13:18):
coverage not up to part And we're looking at the
rushers and saying so as a former rusher, I just
say like, hey, it's a team game. You want to see,
you know, the Billy Bowman's of the world step up
and play well for y'all this year. Little pieces like
that can make a big difference for the rushers too.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah, I know it is. It does all have to
tie together, and it hasn't been where it needs to be.
And so yeah, you've got a lot that you're thrown
at the wall, and I do think a lot of
it's going to stick. And yeah, we saw a turnaround
late last year where last like eight weeks, nine weeks
of the season, they had the second most sacks in
the league behind Dallas.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
And it's great.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
And the less you have to the less you have
to scheme sacks up, the more you can say, hey,
my force better than you're four that's when you're really cooking.
And and I think Jeff albreak seems like the type
of guy that keeps it simple enough for guys up front,
So hey, go hunt Man. And and I'm also a
big fan of Jeff Albricks, so I'm excited to see
(14:13):
his defense play.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
You talked about in the NFC South preview kind of
keeping it simple for young rusher, right, and you had
spags on your career and that. Yeah, so like how
Jeff Ulbrick's approach of coming in. Hey, we're going to simplify.
We want you guys to play fast out on the field,
Like do you think that's going to have a quick
early return and we're going to see that payoff.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Everybody's different. There's some players that think too much, if
some players don't think enough, and there's nothing wrong with
either one. But it's about calibrating each player to fit
your system and so that they can still play fast.
Like the last thing you want is guys out there
tiptone or trying to diagnose things as they're coming out
of their stance. And you know, I think learning how
(14:54):
to watch film, learning what to look for to the
point where you're not overthinking things. You just hang your
hat on a couple of keys and you can hit
it and get it. And you know, I played in
schemes like that. I played in complicated schemes. I just
prefer not because I can't. I can't digest the other schemes.
It's more, it's like playing defensive line is about running
(15:15):
down hill and running into stuff. I mean, like it
is about causing car accidents, and it's about resetting the
line of scrimmage. And you know, I'm the type that
wants to play blocks, but I think also encouraging the
young players that are like, hey, you're gonna make mistakes sometimes,
and there's more than one way to do it.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
You don't have to be a robot out here. You know.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
For instance, we say you're not reached until the ballcarrier
crosses your face. Things like that, where you know you're
setting an edge. But if you're just trying to be
outside the ball carrier or outside the tackle, you're you're
gonna you're gonna give ground, Like go reset that thing,
play at three yards deep in the backfield and make
that running back bubble and if he bubbles two three yards,
(15:58):
then your support players need to come down and knock
it down because you're making their lives easier. So I
don't know how they run their defense exactly, but that's
how I would coach a young player to, like, hey,
don't take the fast out of your game.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
You know what I mean, Yeah, do it do it
with intentionality, do it fast.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Yeah, you know your rules, and pick your spots, like, hey,
if the game's on the line, maybe not a good
time to backdoor this block. But sometimes like you got
to make a play and you don't want to get
coached out of making a play.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
For sure. That was amazing. I have one last little
thing for you. You said in that preview you're feeling cagy.
I do feel CAZy about the Atlanta falcons. We're gonna
try to get you out of that cave. So open
the cage. Yeah, where the falcons fly, you go the
bird cage. We're going going right on in. So I
wrote down some adjectives that I'm going to try to
pin you down on. Starting maybe not so great, and
(16:49):
we'll go to coach great podcaster speak exactly right. We're
putting words in your mouth. So let's start with and
you tell us which one you feel you feel best,
a bottle with a bad one and then a good one,
and we'll work our way towards the middle.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Oh, inept is inept is. Inept is like unserious. It's
like it's like.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
There's an allusion to there's no hope there, like you know,
like inept is like we just don't have anything good.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
We had to start a baseline then, all right, So
now the other side a force of natures. It's even
going to be a force of nature.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I don't know of any team in the NFL this
year that I'm sure about being a force in nature.
You know who became a force in nature last year
was the Eagles, and y'all played them earlier in the season.
You see how much teams can change. Well, and not
to say it was they stunk because you beat them,
but I'm saying, like that defense, you'll marched up and
down the field. It takes time to be You can
become a force in nature in a calendar year, just
(17:44):
like they did.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Force in nature. I don't know about that.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
We'll see hurricane season comes a little bit later in
the calendar. All right, bumbling, this is going to be
a bumbling team.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
You know, I don't use that word a lot.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
What is bumbling mean? Just stumbling and stumbling?
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah, I think it's only ever sandwiched between rumbling and
stuff that's like sloppy to me, Like bumbling is like sloppy.
You see you here, like Tuba's kind of in the
background sounds Yeah, that's not good.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
All right.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Unstoppable, it's gonna unstoppable team.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
It's a little bit.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Below offensively at times, they might be unstoppable. Okay, so
we're getting we're getting close.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
If teams can't cover cover, you know, Drake, and if
teams can't stop the run, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Is this going to be a storm Trooper team where
it's like they've got the veneer of like, all right,
look out, that guy could do so, but then missing
shots left and right, banging their heads against you know.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
No, I mean I could see them being a Stormtrooper
type team with the run game. You know, when I
think of Stormtroopers, I think are methodical. Okay, the death
March they're just walking down.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah yeah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
They play that at some college games.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Good, so it's in the public.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah, okay, maybe the young people they don't know what
we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Are they gonna be a Are they gonna be electric?
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah, they're gonna be electric. Okay, yeah, I can think
of it. I think about this offense as being a
little bit electric. And you know, when you add the
and this isn't taken away anything from Kirk, but where
he was physically last year, you just couldn't do certain things.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Like we talked about earlier. Yeah, yeah, we're close to electric. Okay,
all right, what about cheeky? It's gonna be a cheeky team?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
No, because I think about cheeky teams as being like
a little bit under manned and like they're slick.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Yeah, you know, I think y'all got the pieces.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Okay, so competent, yeah for sure, place to land competent
electric somewhere in there.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Well, you gotta be competent if you want to be electric.
You gotta you gotta walk before you you know, run,
and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Okay, last one then for you must watch, this is
gonna be a must watch team.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I think they are going to be. You know, I
know y'all have some primetime games this year. I got
here the Buffalo and there's some big games. So that
to me, as you are a little bit must watch
a lot of the Falcons games that I've seen are fun,
and Falcons fans will tell you because I love Atlanta
sports fans are so they're very self aware and they
(20:11):
also have a healthy cynicism. But it's kind of like
if you there's no there's no bad Atlanta sports game.
They're all interesting, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
That's that's why we're so cynical because we've seen the mountaintop,
we've seen what and it's kind of like, you.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Know, I know, must watch well this this.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Is a must listen podcast. I really appreciate you you
joining me and honestly, please go check out the green
Light podcast. It is one of the ways that I've
gotten smarter about football.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
I appreciate it started with you.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
And yeah, it's been cool to see like your your
growth and journeys podcast are so congrats. Thanks man, another
thing you've accomplished it again, thank you so much for joining.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Well.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I hope we come back man. Yeah, thanks a lot.
Thanks
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