October 14, 2025 • 29 mins
The Atlanta Falcons defeated the Buffalo Bills 24-14 in an electric prime-time game that put the NFL on notice. Will McFadden and Tori McElhaney explain how the Falcons were able to corral Josh Allen and the Bills' high-powered offense and why Bijan Robinson is the best running back in the league. With their performance on Monday night, Atlanta has kicked down the door to the NFC contender conversation and stepped right in.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mile two.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
He's on the slip.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Falcons fans, welcome back to final whistle. We have an
incredible show for you today. We have an incredible game
to talk about. It is eleven fifty three PM as
I am here with Tory mclaney overlooking the beautiful Mercedes
Benz Stadium field all decked out for the throwback game,
and man, we have an incredible uh performance by this
(00:37):
Atlanta Falcons football team to talk about, don't we, Tory?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We sure do.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Honestly, I can't even talk right now because it was
one of those games that I do believe that this
could potentially be a game that we can look back
on and point to as the moment where you maybe
feel like the Falcons put almost everything together.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yeah, it did. It really felt like a complete performance.
You know, there were a couple of moments right where
you felt it could get hairy, but that's it. That's
like the only complaint you can have in a twenty
four to fourteen win against a team that a lot
of people coming into the year were picking to be
a Super Bowl champion, if not, you know, contenders, and
they led twenty one to seven at halftime. I mean,
(01:19):
I guess when one of your all time franchise greats
is nicknamed Primetime, you're destined to be very good when
the lights when the sun goes down. They're eight and
one on Monday Night Football since twenty fifteen and crazy.
I can't imagine many looked better than this one did tonight.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
I mean I can't think of very many. I mean
outside of you know, recency bias being the Philadelphia game
last week and Week two, and we know what that
Philadelphia Eagles team ended up being. And I think that
this performance tonight is going to be something that a
lot of people talk about, not just for the Falcons,
(01:54):
but for where things go in terms of power rankings
and who's looking at who and who's looking over their
shoulder as games come down to the wire later on
down the season. I mean, this is a big I
know the Bills are an AFC opponent, but like this
is to your point, like this is a Super Bowl contender,
this is a playoff team. The Falcons came out and
made a statement on Monday Night Football and in primetime.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yeah, I mean, they didn't just look like they belong
on the same field as the Bills. They looked like
they were the better team on the same field as
the Bills for much of this game, So we're going
to get into all of the action. For those of
you who are joining Final Whistle for the first time,
first off, welcome, hell glad to have you. We are
going to go four quarters, six minutes each, brief halftime
in the middle, and each quarter kind of focus on
(02:39):
a different aspects of this game. So right up at
the top, toy I mentioned eight to one on Monday
Night football. They've played really well I think in primetime
games another one tonight. If you're a member of the
national audience tuning in, what was kind of your main takeaway?
I think about this Falcons team and maybe how they're
different to where they fall in the NFL hierarchy.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So something that I've kind of been toying around with
the course of the last honestly two years, is I
keep saying the Falcons have pieces in place to be
elite and to be a team that the national.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Zeitgeist can talk about.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
And I you know, you have Jhon Robinson, Drake lenn
and Michael Panics, Jesse Bates, A J. Trell like you
have so many of these individual pieces that we've been
talking about for a lot of the last two three
years and how much they were doing in terms of
where they were ranking individually. The problem though, was is,
for at least a little bit, the Falcons very rarely
(03:34):
played in primetime there for a while, went a couple
of years where I think they only had one or
two primetime slots that they were playing.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Yeah, and a Thursday Night came out.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Exactly, so you had that, and then coupled with the
fact that, let's be real, they weren't winning games when
they were in kind of these moments where they could
take the NFC South last year and run with it
and outpace the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Then they start losing those games, and you.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Know, you teams that the Josh Allens of the world
and the Justin Jefferson's of the world, like some of
these upper echelon of players that you're constantly talking about,
Drake Londonjon Robinson, they're in that conversation with a Christian McCaffrey.
The problem, though, is is the national perspective hasn't really
been there. Everybody and their brother wants to take bajon
(04:23):
number one or number two overall in their fantasy league,
but they couldn't tell you hardly anything about the Atlanta
Falcons outside of Bajon. I think tonight was a moment
in time where, yes, Bjon Robinson is gonna get all
the headlines, of course he should. But what the entire
collective group, especially the defense, what they were able to
(04:44):
do tonight, I think just ultimately takes the national perspective
and they're like, oh, wait, no, the Falcons have a
good team, not just good pieces. They have a good
group around these individual pieces that are making all the headlines.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Yeah, that's really well said. It's kind of like the
cohesive group is really coming together in the sum is
greater than the individual parts, even though the individual parts
are so fantastic. But yeah, when you look at some
of the numbers, like the Bills came in and their offense,
like they never punted. They were always ending in a
touchdown or a field goal try. Very rarely did the
(05:19):
punter come out on the field came out six times tonight.
The Bills were two of nine on third down, They
were held under three hundred yards. Like, this is an
offense that is a juggernaut. Has put up thirty points
against multiple teams this season and they average just over
five yards of play, Like this was a truly suffocating
defense defensive performance, but ultimately the way that they fed
(05:42):
off of each other, the way that the offense picked
up the defense, the defense picked up the offense, and
when they were rolling, I mean, they looked as good
as any team really I've seen this season across the NFL.
So did this performance kind of change or reset your
overall expectations for kind of what the foul could do? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I think so because you going into this. I know.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I sat down for a round table at the beginning
of this week actually with Taylor Vismore, d J Shockley,
Dave Archer, and we were kind of talking and Taylor
presented the question of like what do you expect from
this team?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
And I said, I was like, we don't really have
that much to go off of just yet.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
We have just four games.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
We're just four games into this thing. And I was like,
I feel like the team that played against the Washington
Commanders in Week four was not the team that lost
to the Carolina Panthers thirty to zero. Like I said
this before we started recording, but it feels like the
farther and farther we get from that Carolina Panthers game,
the more and more it does feel like an outlier
in terms of performance. Like we now know that the
(06:40):
Tampa Bay Buccaneers are legit contenders. This is a team
that you know they're winning. Baker Mayfield is doing some
really great things for that offense, and I think that
looking back at that game, they were a few plays
here and there from ultimately probably winning that game. And
so I do think that as I'm looking at where
(07:01):
this team is right now, you see kind of the
top end of what they could be.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Of course, it's like goes back to what Michael PENICKX
was saying, where you know, you have the first half
and everything good that it was, and then things taper.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Off in the second half. But that's why you have
this defense.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
That's why you pumped the money you did and the
resources you did into this defense. Because they went out
and they showed that it's not just a number one
defense because they didn't play and they had their bye
week in Week five. No, this is a number one
defense that took the number one offense toe to toe,
and I say even you know, surpassed what I think
(07:39):
many even probably gave them credit for going into this game.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, I mean it's the defense. Like it's October, right,
so it's a fitting time for a baseball analogy. But
like carrying an ace pitcher into the postseason, you just
kind of feel so good about regardless of what your
maybe bats are going to be doing that day. Hey,
if he's on the mound, it's probably gonna be like
one nothing either way, right, And having an offense. If
(08:05):
you're an offense and you're kind of hit a roll,
as happens in a game, right the third quarter, teams
go make adjustments. What you did for the first half
might not necessarily work. But when your defense is then
able to kind of like put the clamps on and
just hold water right there until you can find that
groove and get things clicking again, I do think is
necessary to be a successful team for the long term,
(08:28):
and I think it's a little bit different than what
we have seen from the Falcons in recent years.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Well yeah, because yeah, I mean the Falcons are up
to what fourteen fifteen sacks this year, like this season
through five games. It's the most that they've had through
five games since two thousand and five, twenty years ago,
two decades ago, the Falcons have not done this, so
I feel like they're doing things.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
That like Grady Jackson, like Ed Jasper on those teams, Sheatrick, Kearney,
Brady Smith, let's go. Yeah, those were incredible defenses with
Mike and all that, but this this feels like it
could be even better than maybe that group was. So
that is our first whistle. We're gonna move on, and
I want to put a pin in the defense for
(09:11):
coming back to it. But how can we not talk
more about Bajon Robins.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I know we've been waiting for that.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, it's honestly, we've been kind of like holding it in,
holding it in. We'll no longer tory Bejeon Robinson two
hundred and thirty eight yards from scrimmage, which frustrates me
a little bit because it's one yard shy of the
highest mark so far this season, which Rico Daddle did yesterday. Yeah,
two days ago. I guess in current listener time, one
hundred and seventy yards on the ground matched his career high.
(09:35):
I mean, there are a lot of accolades we can
shower on Jhon Robinson, but I'll just put it to
you straight, like, should we consider him the best running
back in the NFL right now.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yes we should, because no one else is doing what
Bajon Robinson's doing right now, point blank period. I mean,
even when we're talking about Saquon Barkley, Jamir Gibbs, Christian McCaffrey.
I really do think that in the coming years, whether
it's whatever Bajon's you know, next contract looks like, I
(10:05):
don't know what it's gonna look like.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
I imagine it's.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Gonna be absolutely massive. But you think about when Bajon
Robinson was drafted number eight overall by the Falcons. At
that point in time, the running back as a position
was in this very odd state, very low state, where
the value of a running back was very very low.
You had many saying that the value of a running
(10:29):
back is going down. You had many saying that, well,
why not just pick up a guy in the fifth
round and you know, hope for the best. And I
mean the Falcons had one have one currently right now
in Taller Algier, who could be a number one back
at a few different places across the league. But I
say all that to say that what Bajon Robinson has done,
along with some of those other guys that I have
named has been a needle mover for what the running
(10:53):
back position is and what the valuation of the running
back position is moving forward. So I think that when
you think about running backs in the league right now,
how can you not put Bajon Robinson at number one
after this performance? After everything he's done over the first
five games of this season. I mean every single I
think you tweeted this, every single time the ball is
(11:15):
putting Bajon's hands, you just kind of feel like something's
gonna happen. Yeah, And how many players can you say
that about? Not very many, not to the level of
how much Bajon Robinson is used in this offense and
how often he is getting positive gains to the tune
of what we saw tonight an eighty one yard rushing touchdown.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, I like, first off, that play was incredible because
I can't wait to if you want to, if you
can pull this up while I'm talking, I wonder what
his miles per hour were on that play, because to
my eye, that was the fastest I've ever seen him move,
you know, and he had a brief stumble there, but
like he picked up that speed and you could tell
he's not gonna get tracked down from behind, But I agree.
(12:00):
I mean, he's like he's the poster child for the
modern NFL running back, right, somebody who has taken the
mantle a little bit from Christian McCaffrey's still out there
doing it himself, right, So the mantle is maybe shared
by those two guys. But I was kind of coming
into this game thinking about like, Josh Allen is almost
like Lebron, right. I think Jon's like Steph Curry. You know,
it's kind of like, as the quarterback, you are just
(12:22):
the central figure in any game. You're gonna be touching
the ball. You dominate it like you are the guy.
But like Bajon is just kind of I think the
player that all the kids want to emulate. Like he's
the coolest player in the NFL right now. The way
he runs, the way he kind of carries the ball
to I don't know how he didn't fumble a couple
of times out there. Hold on to that rock, Bajon,
but he's just like everything about him is so exciting
(12:43):
at this point in time.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
It's so funny too that you bring up Steph Curry,
because Bajon actually brought up Steph Curry in his postgame
press or where he was talking about how you know
Steph Curry has a three point shooter and being one
of the most elite shooters in the NBA it has
been for a very long time. But he kind of
made the comment where at some point Steph Curry said, like,
I really start getting into a groove and it almost
(13:05):
feels like the basket gets bigger and bigger and bigger,
to the point of where it's like I can't miss
because it looks so big to me. He was like,
that's how I feel running behind this offensive line sometimes
when things really get going. He was like, you just
feel like there's more space, there's more room to work,
And I mean they did. And what's so funny about
Jean is he really doesn't need that much space to
(13:26):
work sometimes, Like he can make guys move and he's
so elusive. And I'm so excited that you know, I'm
not jumping the gun on this, but there is a
project that we're working on that we have been working
on since April about what makes Bajon Robinson so so
special and it can't.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Come out a better time.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
So make sure you're checking out Atlanta Falcons dot Com
our YouTube page as we go through this week, because
there's something that we've been cooking up in the lab
for a little bit, specifically about what makes bon so
special and I've got to your point miles per hour
and ground four and how much ground force like generates
(14:03):
and what makes him so special something called the loop,
which I'm so excited for you.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Yeah, it was a uh that's my new favorite word.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
It's a split second decision making loop that was generated
by the Air Force in the late nineteen seventies to
know what with pilots.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
My father in law gave me a book about this
exact about the guy that came up with that. I'm
gonna have to go read. Man. I should I should
have given you that book. You should have.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I mean, who knew that studying Bajon Robinson and what
makes him so special is going to leave me to
Air Force fider pilots, literal.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Fighter pilots are trained to see things in emotion fast
as Bajean Robinson can do that exactly. That's the coolest
thing I've ever learned ever.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yes, yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Take a tune to everybody, because we have some fun
stuff about Bajon that's coming in a Heck, I'm sure
there are going to be seventy thousand roof clips of
what Bajan's doing. And honestly, I could sit here and
list for the next thirty minutes all of the accolades
that Bajon had in this one single game, but I'm
not going to, cause you can go look at that
(15:06):
on Atlanta Falcons dot Com right now.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yes, Bajeon has just a huge array of crazy stats
from this game, and Tory has an excellent piece up
on all of them, so please go check that out
and shout out to to Drake Lennon who had an
awesome game tonight as well. The offensive line I thought
played really well. Yeah, I mean Mike calarl Jeer started
it off with the touchdown run.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, Michael think about it too, like Michael Jarrett Jerrel
and Elijah Wilkinson stepping up it as the tackles for
this team. Like, I mean, we don't know what's gonna
happen with Jake Matthews. I'm sure we'll know more about
it in the coming days, but he left with an
ankle injury, and you had somebody who had to step in,
and I thought that he did fairly well for himself.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Yeah, you didn't really miss a beat. All right. There
is our second whistle so quick halftime to tell you
about a really cool stat brought to you by our
presenting sponsor, Microsoft co Pilot, which helped us put together
this incredible podcast outline. The Falcons blitz Josh Allen on
fifty five point nine percent of his dropbacks. That's not hot,
highest blitz rate that Josh Allen has faced since Week
(16:10):
eight of the twenty twenty one season. He was only
drafted in twenty eighteen, you know, so people learned pretty quickly,
we don't want to blitz this guy because he's gonna
burn you. He buys time outside of the pocket, which
he did in this game. And I thought the biggest
difference toy was the Falcons did an incredible job in
the secondary of plastering on receiver. Something Ajterrell told me
(16:30):
after the game was a real emphasis for that unit.
So I thought the combination of a blitz heavy approach
really being on your front foot and attacking while also
on the back end just sticking like glue to the
guy you're assigned to, that was a pretty successful strategy
for them out there.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I thought so too. I mean, should we just go
ahead and start talking about this defense.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Yeah, let's go ahead and get into our third quarter.
So that was our halftime presented by Microsoft Copilot. Here
we go a third quarter. Let's talk a little bit
about that defense. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I'm so excited to talk about this defense.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And I want to start off by sharing this anecdote
from Bajean Robinson when we were kind of asking him
postgame about what this defense did, and he made the
comment he was like, I really thought during the summer,
during training camp.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
OTAs all of it.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
He was like, I thought I was tripping because I
couldn't really get anything going against this defense. And he
was like, I felt like they were always just one
step ahead, and we're playing very very well and making
things very difficult on us. And I asked Michael Pennix,
did you feel the same way, and Mike was like, yeah,
day one, I felt the pressure was on because they
(17:39):
were bringing a completely different type of energy. And so
I say that to say that Bajon said, ultimately, like
the toughest competition he's seen is against this defense, and.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
So it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
So now seeing that kind of come to fruition and
poor Bajon was like, I'm just so glad that it
wasn't me. It's like this defense is legit, Like I
wasn't tripping. This is a really really good stout defense
and they are playing kind of lights out right now.
I know, I said the stats of what their sack
totals are so far through the first five games of
(18:09):
the season, but coming into this game, the Bills had
only had I just talking about, you you know, them punting.
I believe the Bills only had two three and outs
going into this game on Monday night against the Falcons,
and they forced three or four three and outs over
the course of this game. It just felt like more
(18:32):
than we've seen Josh Allen in a very long time
look uncomfortable, Like how many times did he even barely
miss some of these like shovel passes or you know,
tossing it up on a scrambled play Like I just
felt like when you looked at what the defense was
able to do, even though they gave up kind of
a couple more explosives than what they want to. Again,
(18:55):
this is Josh Allen. This is the raigning MVP. You
knew he was gonna have his yards it was all
about limiting how detrimental those were and give credit where
credit is due. I mean, this Falcons defense showed again.
I say it like what I said off the top,
that like they're they're truly a number one defense in
this league. It's not just oh, how the Falcons get
(19:17):
up at there at the top defensively, No, they deserve
to be there. And this was the performance that I
think put the league on notice that this defense is legit.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah, it may have been the loudest statement of the
night was from this defense. And you know we mentioned
kind of the pressuring and the drop back. Josh Allen
still got his, but they got three sacks. Four sacks,
I believe is maybe what he finished with. He was
pressured on nine of the nineteen blitzes. Again, I thought
the communication on the back end allowed for a lot
(19:48):
of that to happen. When I'll be honest, when Josh
Palmer catches that first play forty five yards down the field,
that there was a little bit of me like, oh,
all right, this is gonna be the offensive shootout that
maybe we predicted. But that was it. That was kind
of the biggest play I felt like for the Bills
all night long. And that is such a credit I
think to their ability to respond, their ability to kind
of like it didn't matter who was making a play
(20:09):
at any one given time, they were all going to
make plays and everybody was stepping up. So is it
time that we kind of officially retire conversation about past
Atlanta defense, Like I don't want to hear any more
about how they have no pass rush and the Falcons
haven't had they do now. This is a very different
Atlanta Falcons defense.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
I completely agree with that, and I think they've shown
us that through five games. And you know, when we
are sitting here going over stats that haven't been manifesting
for this defense since.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
The early two twenty years, like.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
In twenty years and two decades, Like, something different is
brewing in Atlanta with this defense, and you have to
give credit to I think like Jeff Olbrick and kind
of how he has these guys playing and.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
You feel a little vindicated. I do. When he was
hired and we're all you and I were like, hey,
we know Jeff Olbert, you know what he's capable of,
the type of person he is. I feel great, I too,
how it's happened to.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
I mean I do too, because I think for you
and I, we were here when Brick was here that
first time around with Raheem, with Dan Quinn and everything,
and I remember even then, like when he was the
interim defensive coordinator.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I felt like he got it.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
I felt like if I was a player, I would
want to play for somebody like that.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
The destruction of that staff. Like I was first off,
I was like, man, I do like DQ. I'm sad
to see him go, like bring it. But I was like,
I think Jeff Ulbrick is an outstanding assistant coach and
a coordinator, and I was sad to see him going,
I'm glad he's back.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yeah, and I think he's just getting the most out
of the guys. But what's so funny, And this is
something that I wrote earlier, honestly earlier Monday, was about
Jeff Ulbrick kind of saying like, yeah, we're the number
one defense, and yeah, everything's good, and the numbers are
great and the stats are great, and I look at
stats just same as you, but there's so much more
left for this defense and kind of constantly moving the
(21:58):
goalpost for this defense to.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Be the carrots right in front of her right to.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Be even better than what we've even seen them to be,
and a.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Part of that is pressure. So he was like, I
don't want to be a pressure team. I don't want
to be a blitzing team. I want to be able
to win up front. But what they did tonight against
Josh Allen and him being pressured as much as he was,
I mean, I think that's a testament to even what
they're trying to do when they're not trying to do it,
you know.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
No, absolutely, And that was a spot on Jeff ulbrick impersonation.
Thank you, Thank you. So we've talked a lot about
what went well, and I'm not about to bring up
anything that didn't go well because frankly, there wasn't a
lot that didn't go well for the Falcons on Monday night.
But I do want to take you back to the
end of the first half. Seven seconds left, Drake lund
and catch the slant. Looks like he's gonna make it
(22:44):
twenty eight to seven. Instead steps out of the one
yard line, and I remember being like, all right, file
that one away. Yeah, these games get tight. Is the
NFL in the third quart of Bills come out on offense?
March down the field, score a touchdown. It's the easiest
it had looked for them. Kind of all night. Falcons
get the ball back, five plays, eight yards, punt the
ball right back, and it was kind of in that
(23:04):
moment where you know, I'm sure there were some Falcons
fans watching, going, man, Buffalo is about to tie this.
We're gonna have a whole new ball game. All of that,
and even though there were a couple of defensive holding
penalties that kind of took some momentum away, you always
felt like the Falcons responded after those moments of adversity
with their defense. David On Yamada came right back with
(23:24):
a sack, they force a turnover on a fourth down,
fourth and two in complete pass. That moment right there
where it felt like the game was starting to kind
of maybe tilt back in the direction of Buffalo after
all of the moments where you think back to Tampa
in Week one, right, that was a game where I
felt like they were the better team. They started out
really hot and the game kind of slipped away from him.
(23:45):
For that not to happen tonight and for them to
answer the bell a few different times defensively and then
ultimately kind of string together those long drives on offense
and milk the clock. Like, how much did that change
your perception? Not the national law in perception, but what
this Falcon kind of identity can be and how they
can overcome moments of adversity.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I mean, freaking finally right, Like, I think the best
way I can put it is, I've been covering this
team for five years, six years now, and the amount
of times that I have seen the Falcons be the
better team for three quarters and five minutes, but then
something happens in the final ten minutes of a game
(24:26):
that leave you with a sour taste in your mouth
because they couldn't ultimately finish. Yep, And that's happened a lot.
It's been a marker and a monocure. We talk about
national perspective, that's kind of been true in those moments,
like the Falcons have found a way to lose instead
of finding a way to win. And I actually thought
it was really funny our friends over at the Falcoholic
(24:48):
I don't know who tweeted this out, but I made
a note to I sent it to myself because I
thought it was very indicative of how the fan base
feels about the organization and what they've seen and kind
of what they come to know, and they tweeted and
it's around the time that you're.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Talking about where the offense isn't.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Really doing that much, like the Bills come out and
score very early in the second half, and it's this
is way too familiar. At some point, the Falcons have
to assure us that we don't have to expect the worst.
And I think that is the sentiment, like and that
is the Falcons specifically, this defense put the team on
(25:29):
its back and said, you know what, we're not going
to be what everyone assumes us to be. We're going
to put the reigning MVP on notice a little bit
and keep them uncomfortable to the point where we're causing
three nouns, to the point where we're getting them off
the field and we're making their punt team run out here,
like regardless of what the offense was doing, which you know,
(25:50):
for bits and spurts, it wasn't a lot there. I
think like that's that's what changed for me in terms
of narratives and everything like that. Now you gotta do
it again, you gotta do it over and over and
over again so that you don't feel like you're reverting
back to old habits, whether or not their old habits
or you know, whatever the case may be. But I
do think that this was a very good step in
(26:13):
the right direction, and you gotta go and do it again.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Yeah. Maybe maybe My favorite play of the entire night
was what was it like, fourth and one down here
in the red zone right before I think the Falcons
scored kind of their their go ahead or kick the
field goal, yeah, to go up by two scores, and
they got them to jump. I don't know what they had,
but it felt like they had something kind of up
their sleeve in that moment that they were saving for
(26:38):
that exact moment, and I'm just like.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
It was the Felipe Franks play.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Well, well that was that was another fourth that was
in the first quarter. They they gotta they kind of
the encroachment.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
But when they got them to jump, well, it was.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Felipe coming back again. Okay, maybe that got obscured so
they came back to the well yes, yeah, wow, I
loved Okay. So yeah, just there's like the little nuances,
the little vantages, the small details. The Falcons felt like
they were the better team in that area as well,
and that hasn't always been the case in these games.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Also, let's talk too about that play that James First
junior made on that really important what was at fourth
and three at midfield, and it was a very key
moment and you know he sniffs.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Even bawled out today.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Yeah, even if Josh Allen doesn't kind of like fumble
the ball a little bit, like he had that sniffed
out ready to go. Yeah, there was there was no
that play was getting blown up whether anything whatever.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Happened to the ball. There was such a cat and
mouse game on both sides going on, Like there were
multiple times where the Bills offense we're making checks and everything,
and then I watched specifically like AJ Trel and Jesse
Bates kind of like AJ pulled Jesse over and told
him something and then that was the play that think
that they got the sack on. So it was like
just games within games within games. And when you have
a football team executing it as high a level as
(27:52):
Atlanta was tonight, going up against a team as good
as Buffalo with that kind of coaching, cat mount Man, Yeah,
that's so much fun. This game was a blast to watch.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
It really was, and even when things were kind of
going a little bit like I don't know which way,
Like you know how I feel about defense. I love
watching good defenses play. I think defensive wins championships. Like
I am a full firm believer. I feel like I
see the game through a defensive lens, and I seeing
what this defense did in that second half when the offense.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Wasn't really giving them all that much. I think again
just goes to show that the Falcons defense is legit.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
The defense is legit. That is our final whistle. Thank
you guys so much for listening to Falcons final whistle today.
We had just so much fun. So we left so
much on the cutting room for No, we didn't even.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Talk about the fact that the Falcons have the number
one total defense and they also are ranked number one
or number two in total offense in the league.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
They're the number one rushing team in the league.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Like we're talking about this team in the scope of
putting up numbers that are the best in the league.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah, that's I mean, Drake London had another really good
game even without darn Ol Mooney and Ray Ray McLoud
out there. Like that's what's exciting too, is the Falcons
have not really even been fully healthy to start this season.
There at three and two, and it feels like their
best football may still be ahead of them. So they're
coming out of the bye week red hot. They got
another big game against the San Francisco forty nine ers,
(29:19):
going to take to the road on that one, and
that's another really good team. You got to bring it
for that one.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
An NFC matchup, so another primetime matchup as well.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah, exactly, but let's hope the Falcons show up like
they did in this one, the primetime darlings so far
this season. But thank you again so much for listening
to Falcons Final Whistle presented by Microsoft co pilot for
Tory Knacklaney. I am Will mcfabney and we will see
you next time.
Mile two.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
He's on the slip.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Falcons fans, welcome back to final whistle. We have an
incredible show for you today. We have an incredible game
to talk about. It is eleven fifty three PM as
I am here with Tory mclaney overlooking the beautiful Mercedes
Benz Stadium field all decked out for the throwback game,
and man, we have an incredible uh performance by this
(00:37):
Atlanta Falcons football team to talk about, don't we, Tory?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We sure do.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Honestly, I can't even talk right now because it was
one of those games that I do believe that this
could potentially be a game that we can look back
on and point to as the moment where you maybe
feel like the Falcons put almost everything together.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yeah, it did. It really felt like a complete performance.
You know, there were a couple of moments right where
you felt it could get hairy, but that's it. That's
like the only complaint you can have in a twenty
four to fourteen win against a team that a lot
of people coming into the year were picking to be
a Super Bowl champion, if not, you know, contenders, and
they led twenty one to seven at halftime. I mean,
(01:19):
I guess when one of your all time franchise greats
is nicknamed Primetime, you're destined to be very good when
the lights when the sun goes down. They're eight and
one on Monday Night Football since twenty fifteen and crazy.
I can't imagine many looked better than this one did tonight.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
I mean I can't think of very many. I mean
outside of you know, recency bias being the Philadelphia game
last week and Week two, and we know what that
Philadelphia Eagles team ended up being. And I think that
this performance tonight is going to be something that a
lot of people talk about, not just for the Falcons,
(01:54):
but for where things go in terms of power rankings
and who's looking at who and who's looking over their
shoulder as games come down to the wire later on
down the season. I mean, this is a big I
know the Bills are an AFC opponent, but like this
is to your point, like this is a Super Bowl contender,
this is a playoff team. The Falcons came out and
made a statement on Monday Night Football and in primetime.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yeah, I mean, they didn't just look like they belong
on the same field as the Bills. They looked like
they were the better team on the same field as
the Bills for much of this game, So we're going
to get into all of the action. For those of
you who are joining Final Whistle for the first time,
first off, welcome, hell glad to have you. We are
going to go four quarters, six minutes each, brief halftime
in the middle, and each quarter kind of focus on
(02:39):
a different aspects of this game. So right up at
the top, toy I mentioned eight to one on Monday
Night football. They've played really well I think in primetime
games another one tonight. If you're a member of the
national audience tuning in, what was kind of your main takeaway?
I think about this Falcons team and maybe how they're
different to where they fall in the NFL hierarchy.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So something that I've kind of been toying around with
the course of the last honestly two years, is I
keep saying the Falcons have pieces in place to be
elite and to be a team that the national.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Zeitgeist can talk about.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
And I you know, you have Jhon Robinson, Drake lenn
and Michael Panics, Jesse Bates, A J. Trell like you
have so many of these individual pieces that we've been
talking about for a lot of the last two three
years and how much they were doing in terms of
where they were ranking individually. The problem though, was is,
for at least a little bit, the Falcons very rarely
(03:34):
played in primetime there for a while, went a couple
of years where I think they only had one or
two primetime slots that they were playing.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Yeah, and a Thursday Night came out.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Exactly, so you had that, and then coupled with the
fact that, let's be real, they weren't winning games when
they were in kind of these moments where they could
take the NFC South last year and run with it
and outpace the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Then they start losing those games, and you.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Know, you teams that the Josh Allens of the world
and the Justin Jefferson's of the world, like some of
these upper echelon of players that you're constantly talking about,
Drake Londonjon Robinson, they're in that conversation with a Christian McCaffrey.
The problem, though, is is the national perspective hasn't really
been there. Everybody and their brother wants to take bajon
(04:23):
number one or number two overall in their fantasy league,
but they couldn't tell you hardly anything about the Atlanta
Falcons outside of Bajon. I think tonight was a moment
in time where, yes, Bjon Robinson is gonna get all
the headlines, of course he should. But what the entire
collective group, especially the defense, what they were able to
(04:44):
do tonight, I think just ultimately takes the national perspective
and they're like, oh, wait, no, the Falcons have a
good team, not just good pieces. They have a good
group around these individual pieces that are making all the headlines.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Yeah, that's really well said. It's kind of like the
cohesive group is really coming together in the sum is
greater than the individual parts, even though the individual parts
are so fantastic. But yeah, when you look at some
of the numbers, like the Bills came in and their offense,
like they never punted. They were always ending in a
touchdown or a field goal try. Very rarely did the
(05:19):
punter come out on the field came out six times tonight.
The Bills were two of nine on third down, They
were held under three hundred yards. Like, this is an
offense that is a juggernaut. Has put up thirty points
against multiple teams this season and they average just over
five yards of play, Like this was a truly suffocating
defense defensive performance, but ultimately the way that they fed
(05:42):
off of each other, the way that the offense picked
up the defense, the defense picked up the offense, and
when they were rolling, I mean, they looked as good
as any team really I've seen this season across the NFL.
So did this performance kind of change or reset your
overall expectations for kind of what the foul could do? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I think so because you going into this. I know.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I sat down for a round table at the beginning
of this week actually with Taylor Vismore, d J Shockley,
Dave Archer, and we were kind of talking and Taylor
presented the question of like what do you expect from
this team?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
And I said, I was like, we don't really have
that much to go off of just yet.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
We have just four games.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
We're just four games into this thing. And I was like,
I feel like the team that played against the Washington
Commanders in Week four was not the team that lost
to the Carolina Panthers thirty to zero. Like I said
this before we started recording, but it feels like the
farther and farther we get from that Carolina Panthers game,
the more and more it does feel like an outlier
in terms of performance. Like we now know that the
(06:40):
Tampa Bay Buccaneers are legit contenders. This is a team
that you know they're winning. Baker Mayfield is doing some
really great things for that offense, and I think that
looking back at that game, they were a few plays
here and there from ultimately probably winning that game. And
so I do think that as I'm looking at where
(07:01):
this team is right now, you see kind of the
top end of what they could be.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Of course, it's like goes back to what Michael PENICKX
was saying, where you know, you have the first half
and everything good that it was, and then things taper.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Off in the second half. But that's why you have
this defense.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
That's why you pumped the money you did and the
resources you did into this defense. Because they went out
and they showed that it's not just a number one
defense because they didn't play and they had their bye
week in Week five. No, this is a number one
defense that took the number one offense toe to toe,
and I say even you know, surpassed what I think
(07:39):
many even probably gave them credit for going into this game.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, I mean it's the defense. Like it's October, right,
so it's a fitting time for a baseball analogy. But
like carrying an ace pitcher into the postseason, you just
kind of feel so good about regardless of what your
maybe bats are going to be doing that day. Hey,
if he's on the mound, it's probably gonna be like
one nothing either way, right, And having an offense. If
(08:05):
you're an offense and you're kind of hit a roll,
as happens in a game, right the third quarter, teams
go make adjustments. What you did for the first half
might not necessarily work. But when your defense is then
able to kind of like put the clamps on and
just hold water right there until you can find that
groove and get things clicking again, I do think is
necessary to be a successful team for the long term,
(08:28):
and I think it's a little bit different than what
we have seen from the Falcons in recent years.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Well yeah, because yeah, I mean the Falcons are up
to what fourteen fifteen sacks this year, like this season
through five games. It's the most that they've had through
five games since two thousand and five, twenty years ago,
two decades ago, the Falcons have not done this, so
I feel like they're doing things.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
That like Grady Jackson, like Ed Jasper on those teams, Sheatrick, Kearney,
Brady Smith, let's go. Yeah, those were incredible defenses with
Mike and all that, but this this feels like it
could be even better than maybe that group was. So
that is our first whistle. We're gonna move on, and
I want to put a pin in the defense for
(09:11):
coming back to it. But how can we not talk
more about Bajon Robins.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I know we've been waiting for that.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, it's honestly, we've been kind of like holding it in,
holding it in. We'll no longer tory Bejeon Robinson two
hundred and thirty eight yards from scrimmage, which frustrates me
a little bit because it's one yard shy of the
highest mark so far this season, which Rico Daddle did yesterday. Yeah,
two days ago. I guess in current listener time, one
hundred and seventy yards on the ground matched his career high.
(09:35):
I mean, there are a lot of accolades we can
shower on Jhon Robinson, but I'll just put it to
you straight, like, should we consider him the best running
back in the NFL right now.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yes we should, because no one else is doing what
Bajon Robinson's doing right now, point blank period. I mean,
even when we're talking about Saquon Barkley, Jamir Gibbs, Christian McCaffrey.
I really do think that in the coming years, whether
it's whatever Bajon's you know, next contract looks like, I
(10:05):
don't know what it's gonna look like.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
I imagine it's.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Gonna be absolutely massive. But you think about when Bajon
Robinson was drafted number eight overall by the Falcons. At
that point in time, the running back as a position
was in this very odd state, very low state, where
the value of a running back was very very low.
You had many saying that the value of a running
(10:29):
back is going down. You had many saying that, well,
why not just pick up a guy in the fifth
round and you know, hope for the best. And I
mean the Falcons had one have one currently right now
in Taller Algier, who could be a number one back
at a few different places across the league. But I
say all that to say that what Bajon Robinson has done,
along with some of those other guys that I have
named has been a needle mover for what the running
(10:53):
back position is and what the valuation of the running
back position is moving forward. So I think that when
you think about running backs in the league right now,
how can you not put Bajon Robinson at number one
after this performance? After everything he's done over the first
five games of this season. I mean every single I
think you tweeted this, every single time the ball is
(11:15):
putting Bajon's hands, you just kind of feel like something's
gonna happen. Yeah, And how many players can you say
that about? Not very many, not to the level of
how much Bajon Robinson is used in this offense and
how often he is getting positive gains to the tune
of what we saw tonight an eighty one yard rushing touchdown.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, I like, first off, that play was incredible because
I can't wait to if you want to, if you
can pull this up while I'm talking, I wonder what
his miles per hour were on that play, because to
my eye, that was the fastest I've ever seen him move,
you know, and he had a brief stumble there, but
like he picked up that speed and you could tell
he's not gonna get tracked down from behind, But I agree.
(12:00):
I mean, he's like he's the poster child for the
modern NFL running back, right, somebody who has taken the
mantle a little bit from Christian McCaffrey's still out there
doing it himself, right, So the mantle is maybe shared
by those two guys. But I was kind of coming
into this game thinking about like, Josh Allen is almost
like Lebron, right. I think Jon's like Steph Curry. You know,
it's kind of like, as the quarterback, you are just
(12:22):
the central figure in any game. You're gonna be touching
the ball. You dominate it like you are the guy.
But like Bajon is just kind of I think the
player that all the kids want to emulate. Like he's
the coolest player in the NFL right now. The way
he runs, the way he kind of carries the ball
to I don't know how he didn't fumble a couple
of times out there. Hold on to that rock, Bajon,
but he's just like everything about him is so exciting
(12:43):
at this point in time.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
It's so funny too that you bring up Steph Curry,
because Bajon actually brought up Steph Curry in his postgame
press or where he was talking about how you know
Steph Curry has a three point shooter and being one
of the most elite shooters in the NBA it has
been for a very long time. But he kind of
made the comment where at some point Steph Curry said, like,
I really start getting into a groove and it almost
(13:05):
feels like the basket gets bigger and bigger and bigger,
to the point of where it's like I can't miss
because it looks so big to me. He was like,
that's how I feel running behind this offensive line sometimes
when things really get going. He was like, you just
feel like there's more space, there's more room to work,
And I mean they did. And what's so funny about
Jean is he really doesn't need that much space to
(13:26):
work sometimes, Like he can make guys move and he's
so elusive. And I'm so excited that you know, I'm
not jumping the gun on this, but there is a
project that we're working on that we have been working
on since April about what makes Bajon Robinson so so
special and it can't.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Come out a better time.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
So make sure you're checking out Atlanta Falcons dot Com
our YouTube page as we go through this week, because
there's something that we've been cooking up in the lab
for a little bit, specifically about what makes bon so
special and I've got to your point miles per hour
and ground four and how much ground force like generates
(14:03):
and what makes him so special something called the loop,
which I'm so excited for you.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Yeah, it was a uh that's my new favorite word.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
It's a split second decision making loop that was generated
by the Air Force in the late nineteen seventies to
know what with pilots.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
My father in law gave me a book about this
exact about the guy that came up with that. I'm
gonna have to go read. Man. I should I should
have given you that book. You should have.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I mean, who knew that studying Bajon Robinson and what
makes him so special is going to leave me to
Air Force fider pilots, literal.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Fighter pilots are trained to see things in emotion fast
as Bajean Robinson can do that exactly. That's the coolest
thing I've ever learned ever.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yes, yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Take a tune to everybody, because we have some fun
stuff about Bajon that's coming in a Heck, I'm sure
there are going to be seventy thousand roof clips of
what Bajan's doing. And honestly, I could sit here and
list for the next thirty minutes all of the accolades
that Bajon had in this one single game, but I'm
not going to, cause you can go look at that
(15:06):
on Atlanta Falcons dot Com right now.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yes, Bajeon has just a huge array of crazy stats
from this game, and Tory has an excellent piece up
on all of them, so please go check that out
and shout out to to Drake Lennon who had an
awesome game tonight as well. The offensive line I thought
played really well. Yeah, I mean Mike calarl Jeer started
it off with the touchdown run.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, Michael think about it too, like Michael Jarrett Jerrel
and Elijah Wilkinson stepping up it as the tackles for
this team. Like, I mean, we don't know what's gonna
happen with Jake Matthews. I'm sure we'll know more about
it in the coming days, but he left with an
ankle injury, and you had somebody who had to step in,
and I thought that he did fairly well for himself.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Yeah, you didn't really miss a beat. All right. There
is our second whistle so quick halftime to tell you
about a really cool stat brought to you by our
presenting sponsor, Microsoft co Pilot, which helped us put together
this incredible podcast outline. The Falcons blitz Josh Allen on
fifty five point nine percent of his dropbacks. That's not hot,
highest blitz rate that Josh Allen has faced since Week
(16:10):
eight of the twenty twenty one season. He was only
drafted in twenty eighteen, you know, so people learned pretty quickly,
we don't want to blitz this guy because he's gonna
burn you. He buys time outside of the pocket, which
he did in this game. And I thought the biggest
difference toy was the Falcons did an incredible job in
the secondary of plastering on receiver. Something Ajterrell told me
(16:30):
after the game was a real emphasis for that unit.
So I thought the combination of a blitz heavy approach
really being on your front foot and attacking while also
on the back end just sticking like glue to the
guy you're assigned to, that was a pretty successful strategy
for them out there.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I thought so too. I mean, should we just go
ahead and start talking about this defense.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Yeah, let's go ahead and get into our third quarter.
So that was our halftime presented by Microsoft Copilot. Here
we go a third quarter. Let's talk a little bit
about that defense. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I'm so excited to talk about this defense.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And I want to start off by sharing this anecdote
from Bajean Robinson when we were kind of asking him
postgame about what this defense did, and he made the
comment he was like, I really thought during the summer,
during training camp.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
OTAs all of it.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
He was like, I thought I was tripping because I
couldn't really get anything going against this defense. And he
was like, I felt like they were always just one
step ahead, and we're playing very very well and making
things very difficult on us. And I asked Michael Pennix,
did you feel the same way, and Mike was like, yeah,
day one, I felt the pressure was on because they
(17:39):
were bringing a completely different type of energy. And so
I say that to say that Bajon said, ultimately, like
the toughest competition he's seen is against this defense, and.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
So it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
So now seeing that kind of come to fruition and
poor Bajon was like, I'm just so glad that it
wasn't me. It's like this defense is legit, Like I
wasn't tripping. This is a really really good stout defense
and they are playing kind of lights out right now.
I know, I said the stats of what their sack
totals are so far through the first five games of
(18:09):
the season, but coming into this game, the Bills had
only had I just talking about, you you know, them punting.
I believe the Bills only had two three and outs
going into this game on Monday night against the Falcons,
and they forced three or four three and outs over
the course of this game. It just felt like more
(18:32):
than we've seen Josh Allen in a very long time
look uncomfortable, Like how many times did he even barely
miss some of these like shovel passes or you know,
tossing it up on a scrambled play Like I just
felt like when you looked at what the defense was
able to do, even though they gave up kind of
a couple more explosives than what they want to. Again,
(18:55):
this is Josh Allen. This is the raigning MVP. You
knew he was gonna have his yards it was all
about limiting how detrimental those were and give credit where
credit is due. I mean, this Falcons defense showed again.
I say it like what I said off the top,
that like they're they're truly a number one defense in
this league. It's not just oh, how the Falcons get
(19:17):
up at there at the top defensively, No, they deserve
to be there. And this was the performance that I
think put the league on notice that this defense is legit.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah, it may have been the loudest statement of the
night was from this defense. And you know we mentioned
kind of the pressuring and the drop back. Josh Allen
still got his, but they got three sacks. Four sacks,
I believe is maybe what he finished with. He was
pressured on nine of the nineteen blitzes. Again, I thought
the communication on the back end allowed for a lot
(19:48):
of that to happen. When I'll be honest, when Josh
Palmer catches that first play forty five yards down the field,
that there was a little bit of me like, oh,
all right, this is gonna be the offensive shootout that
maybe we predicted. But that was it. That was kind
of the biggest play I felt like for the Bills
all night long. And that is such a credit I
think to their ability to respond, their ability to kind
of like it didn't matter who was making a play
(20:09):
at any one given time, they were all going to
make plays and everybody was stepping up. So is it
time that we kind of officially retire conversation about past
Atlanta defense, Like I don't want to hear any more
about how they have no pass rush and the Falcons
haven't had they do now. This is a very different
Atlanta Falcons defense.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
I completely agree with that, and I think they've shown
us that through five games. And you know, when we
are sitting here going over stats that haven't been manifesting
for this defense since.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
The early two twenty years, like.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
In twenty years and two decades, Like, something different is
brewing in Atlanta with this defense, and you have to
give credit to I think like Jeff Olbrick and kind
of how he has these guys playing and.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
You feel a little vindicated. I do. When he was
hired and we're all you and I were like, hey,
we know Jeff Olbert, you know what he's capable of,
the type of person he is. I feel great, I too,
how it's happened to.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
I mean I do too, because I think for you
and I, we were here when Brick was here that
first time around with Raheem, with Dan Quinn and everything,
and I remember even then, like when he was the
interim defensive coordinator.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I felt like he got it.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
I felt like if I was a player, I would
want to play for somebody like that.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
The destruction of that staff. Like I was first off,
I was like, man, I do like DQ. I'm sad
to see him go, like bring it. But I was like,
I think Jeff Ulbrick is an outstanding assistant coach and
a coordinator, and I was sad to see him going,
I'm glad he's back.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yeah, and I think he's just getting the most out
of the guys. But what's so funny, And this is
something that I wrote earlier, honestly earlier Monday, was about
Jeff Ulbrick kind of saying like, yeah, we're the number
one defense, and yeah, everything's good, and the numbers are
great and the stats are great, and I look at
stats just same as you, but there's so much more
left for this defense and kind of constantly moving the
(21:58):
goalpost for this defense to.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Be the carrots right in front of her right to.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Be even better than what we've even seen them to be,
and a.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Part of that is pressure. So he was like, I
don't want to be a pressure team. I don't want
to be a blitzing team. I want to be able
to win up front. But what they did tonight against
Josh Allen and him being pressured as much as he was,
I mean, I think that's a testament to even what
they're trying to do when they're not trying to do it,
you know.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
No, absolutely, And that was a spot on Jeff ulbrick impersonation.
Thank you, Thank you. So we've talked a lot about
what went well, and I'm not about to bring up
anything that didn't go well because frankly, there wasn't a
lot that didn't go well for the Falcons on Monday night.
But I do want to take you back to the
end of the first half. Seven seconds left, Drake lund
and catch the slant. Looks like he's gonna make it
(22:44):
twenty eight to seven. Instead steps out of the one
yard line, and I remember being like, all right, file
that one away. Yeah, these games get tight. Is the
NFL in the third quart of Bills come out on offense?
March down the field, score a touchdown. It's the easiest
it had looked for them. Kind of all night. Falcons
get the ball back, five plays, eight yards, punt the
ball right back, and it was kind of in that
(23:04):
moment where you know, I'm sure there were some Falcons
fans watching, going, man, Buffalo is about to tie this.
We're gonna have a whole new ball game. All of that,
and even though there were a couple of defensive holding
penalties that kind of took some momentum away, you always
felt like the Falcons responded after those moments of adversity
with their defense. David On Yamada came right back with
(23:24):
a sack, they force a turnover on a fourth down,
fourth and two in complete pass. That moment right there
where it felt like the game was starting to kind
of maybe tilt back in the direction of Buffalo after
all of the moments where you think back to Tampa
in Week one, right, that was a game where I
felt like they were the better team. They started out
really hot and the game kind of slipped away from him.
(23:45):
For that not to happen tonight and for them to
answer the bell a few different times defensively and then
ultimately kind of string together those long drives on offense
and milk the clock. Like, how much did that change
your perception? Not the national law in perception, but what
this Falcon kind of identity can be and how they
can overcome moments of adversity.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I mean, freaking finally right, Like, I think the best
way I can put it is, I've been covering this
team for five years, six years now, and the amount
of times that I have seen the Falcons be the
better team for three quarters and five minutes, but then
something happens in the final ten minutes of a game
(24:26):
that leave you with a sour taste in your mouth
because they couldn't ultimately finish. Yep, And that's happened a lot.
It's been a marker and a monocure. We talk about
national perspective, that's kind of been true in those moments,
like the Falcons have found a way to lose instead
of finding a way to win. And I actually thought
it was really funny our friends over at the Falcoholic
(24:48):
I don't know who tweeted this out, but I made
a note to I sent it to myself because I
thought it was very indicative of how the fan base
feels about the organization and what they've seen and kind
of what they come to know, and they tweeted and
it's around the time that you're.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Talking about where the offense isn't.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Really doing that much, like the Bills come out and
score very early in the second half, and it's this
is way too familiar. At some point, the Falcons have
to assure us that we don't have to expect the worst.
And I think that is the sentiment, like and that
is the Falcons specifically, this defense put the team on
(25:29):
its back and said, you know what, we're not going
to be what everyone assumes us to be. We're going
to put the reigning MVP on notice a little bit
and keep them uncomfortable to the point where we're causing
three nouns, to the point where we're getting them off
the field and we're making their punt team run out here,
like regardless of what the offense was doing, which you know,
(25:50):
for bits and spurts, it wasn't a lot there. I
think like that's that's what changed for me in terms
of narratives and everything like that. Now you gotta do
it again, you gotta do it over and over and
over again so that you don't feel like you're reverting
back to old habits, whether or not their old habits
or you know, whatever the case may be. But I
do think that this was a very good step in
(26:13):
the right direction, and you gotta go and do it again.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Yeah. Maybe maybe My favorite play of the entire night
was what was it like, fourth and one down here
in the red zone right before I think the Falcons
scored kind of their their go ahead or kick the
field goal, yeah, to go up by two scores, and
they got them to jump. I don't know what they had,
but it felt like they had something kind of up
their sleeve in that moment that they were saving for
(26:38):
that exact moment, and I'm just like.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
It was the Felipe Franks play.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Well, well that was that was another fourth that was
in the first quarter. They they gotta they kind of
the encroachment.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
But when they got them to jump, well, it was.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Felipe coming back again. Okay, maybe that got obscured so
they came back to the well yes, yeah, wow, I
loved Okay. So yeah, just there's like the little nuances,
the little vantages, the small details. The Falcons felt like
they were the better team in that area as well,
and that hasn't always been the case in these games.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Also, let's talk too about that play that James First
junior made on that really important what was at fourth
and three at midfield, and it was a very key
moment and you know he sniffs.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Even bawled out today.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Yeah, even if Josh Allen doesn't kind of like fumble
the ball a little bit, like he had that sniffed
out ready to go. Yeah, there was there was no
that play was getting blown up whether anything whatever.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Happened to the ball. There was such a cat and
mouse game on both sides going on, Like there were
multiple times where the Bills offense we're making checks and everything,
and then I watched specifically like AJ Trel and Jesse
Bates kind of like AJ pulled Jesse over and told
him something and then that was the play that think
that they got the sack on. So it was like
just games within games within games. And when you have
a football team executing it as high a level as
(27:52):
Atlanta was tonight, going up against a team as good
as Buffalo with that kind of coaching, cat mount Man, Yeah,
that's so much fun. This game was a blast to watch.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
It really was, and even when things were kind of
going a little bit like I don't know which way,
Like you know how I feel about defense. I love
watching good defenses play. I think defensive wins championships. Like
I am a full firm believer. I feel like I
see the game through a defensive lens, and I seeing
what this defense did in that second half when the offense.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Wasn't really giving them all that much. I think again
just goes to show that the Falcons defense is legit.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
The defense is legit. That is our final whistle. Thank
you guys so much for listening to Falcons final whistle today.
We had just so much fun. So we left so
much on the cutting room for No, we didn't even.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Talk about the fact that the Falcons have the number
one total defense and they also are ranked number one
or number two in total offense in the league.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
They're the number one rushing team in the league.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Like we're talking about this team in the scope of
putting up numbers that are the best in the league.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah, that's I mean, Drake London had another really good
game even without darn Ol Mooney and Ray Ray McLoud
out there. Like that's what's exciting too, is the Falcons
have not really even been fully healthy to start this season.
There at three and two, and it feels like their
best football may still be ahead of them. So they're
coming out of the bye week red hot. They got
another big game against the San Francisco forty nine ers,
(29:19):
going to take to the road on that one, and
that's another really good team. You got to bring it
for that one.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
An NFC matchup, so another primetime matchup as well.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah, exactly, but let's hope the Falcons show up like
they did in this one, the primetime darlings so far
this season. But thank you again so much for listening
to Falcons Final Whistle presented by Microsoft co pilot for
Tory Knacklaney. I am Will mcfabney and we will see
you next time.
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