Learning from Atlanta's first preseason game + joint practices with Titans | Falcons Audible Podcast
August 12, 2025 • 32 mins
Derek, Dave & DJ are back to break down everything they saw from the Atlanta Falcons in their first preseason game vs the Detroit Lions. From rookies like James Pearce Jr. and Jalon Walker to familiar names like Demarcco Hellams and Ruke Orhorhoro, the guys examine everyone's performance from Friday's game and what the team needs to improve in preseason week 2. They also share their insights from joint practices with the Tennessee Titans and how valuable those reps are for the players who won't play in Friday's game.
0:00 - Intro
0:58 - Morice Norris injury
4:47 - NFL Preseason Week 1
8:00 - Falcons vs Lions Takeaways
15:50 - Joint practices with Tennessee
24:20 - Preseason game 2 vs Titans
30:44 - Outro
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fast, free delivery from the home Depot makes your projects
hassle free. Forget something you need, Visit home depot dot
com or the home Depot app for free delivery on
millions of products, including same day and next day options.
Get delivery at the speed you need only at the
home Depot. How doers get more done? Order select in
(00:21):
stock items by four pm, subject to availability. Welcome Welcome,
Welcome back to the Falcons Autoward presented by A D
and T.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
That's DJ Chacles.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
He always gives the shout out to everybody that's watching,
and if you're not watching and you're listening, he's still
giving you a shout out. This is Dave Archer right here,
and I'm Derek Rackley. We are fresh off of the
first preseason game, we are fresh off the first joint
practice with the Tennessee Titans, and we are ready to
give some fresh perspectives on everything that is going on
(00:52):
with the Atlanta Falcons. Before we get into the minutia
all the updates, I think it's important that we say
how grateful we are that Maurice Norris from the Lions
is good. He is healthy, He's going to be in
concussion protocol they're going to take it easy with him
for the next ten to fourteen days. But anybody that
watched or saw some of the clips from the Falcons
(01:13):
preseason game, I don't know about you guys, but the
first thing I thought about was, hopefully this is not
another Dark Tomorrow Hamlin situation.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
But it was.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
It was pretty scary there for a little while. Just
we don't have to go into detail, but just kind
of initial thoughts as you guys saw everything unfold there
on the field.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah, I was calling the game on the radio with
Wes Durham, and so you're, you know, you're just gotten
into the fourth quarter and you start thinking about who's
going to play and who you're looking forward to seeing,
and boom, this happens, and then immediately football goes out
of your mind, and which is essentially what happened with
Raheem Morris and Dan Campbell. They said, hey, you know
and Dan. I saw Dan's comments postgame about how class
(01:52):
he Raheem was and how Raheem said Hey, let's not hey,
you want to let's shut this down.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Let's let's let's.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Think about him and his family, and and that's what
they did. And I thought that it was really cool
the way they handle it.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah. Shock.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Even after the game, it was a very concerned and
somber Raheem Morris when he was asked questions and he
you know, was very short, basically saying that this was
all about him and his family didn't really want to
entertain any questions about football. And it was probably one
of the shortest and sweetest and while sweetest probably not
the right word brief press conferences that he's had because
(02:26):
it wasn't about what happened in the game. They can
talk about what happened in the game afterwards and meetings
and everything else. It was all about whether or not
Maurice Norris was okay. And by the way, on social
media Maurice said, I'm all good man, don't stress it.
Appreciate all the check ins in love And as I mentioned,
they're going to take it nice and slow with him
for the next ten to fourteen days and just kind
of assess his health and his situation before he gets back.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
On the phone.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Yeah, you know, similar to what Arts just talked about.
For me, my mom went went directly to the perspective
part of it. And for so long, I used to say,
for so long. But when people watched a game, they
look at it and they say, you know what, these
are guys that are playing a tough, physical game. They
make a lot of money, but you forget about these guys.
You got families, You forget about these guys have real emotions.
(03:09):
And you can see it from both sides. I mean,
both teams come together, praying in the middle of the field.
You talk about the both hey coaches coming together. You
always hear the word brotherhood. When you're in the National
Football League as we were, you know that it's a brotherhood,
not just within your team, but it's a fraternity to
play in this league, and it goes a long way.
And you see a guy go down. You always want
(03:31):
to fight and compete hard, but you never want to
see a guy injured in that kind of manner. And
he puts different perspective I think on the game and
also on players that you know what, Yeah, these guys
play a really physical game. They're playing at the delete level,
but you never want to see a guy go through
what Morris and Orts had to go through or DeMar Hamlin,
because it's way bigger than football once you get done
(03:52):
with it.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
And I was fortunate to obviously be in the locker
room right after the game and normally talk to Raheem
on the radio and for Fox excuse me, And this
was not just something for TV. That was what he
told his team when Raheem brought the team together, he
talked exactly about what you just said and how everybody
(04:13):
let's make sure that we have one solid mind going
towards him and his family. And then Vijeon Robinson got
in and gave the postgame prayer and he said the
same thing in the prayer too, So that was not
some kind of, you know, put on TV thing or
something like that.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
That's exactly how.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
They felt class ACKed by both organizations and doing the
right thing in that moment, which was thinking about his
family and his personal safety and health moving forward. So
we are happy that he is good to go and
we look forward to seeing him back out on the
football field when the time is ready for him. All right,
let's go ahead and change gears here. Talk about the preseason.
The first week of the preseason in the books and guys,
(04:51):
before we dive into the Atlanta Falcons, was there anything
from any of the other teams or any of the
other storylines or players that kind of stuck out to
you from the week that you were maybe paying attention to.
Was it a Shador Sanders, Was it a Travis Hunter?
Was it anybody else from around the league that kind
of Oh, I want to see how he did, or oh,
I'm interested how that team fared in their first preseason game.
(05:13):
Anything come to your mind.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Arch I think that.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
I gravitated towards the quarterback situation. Shock. I mean, I
think there's a lot of young quarterbacks that were getting
a chance to play. Whether it's JJ McCarthy in his
second training camp after being injured in Minnesota. We're going
to see him in week two, relive that National Championship
game of a couple of years ago with Pennix and McCarthy.
But just the talk and the conversation about the maturity
(05:37):
of these young players. We saw some guys step up
last year, you know, to the like of Jayden Daniels
and some that stepped up as young quarterbacks. We're hoping
our guy has a chance to do that too. So
I thought just the conversation around those guys should do,
or Sanders, how well he played? Cam Ward? Who were
seeing this week cam Ward had two drives, he had
one touchdown driving there where he had five of eight
(05:58):
hit Calvin Ridley two or three times in the Just
was cool to hear them talk about the maturity level
of the quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
And what about Travis Hunter getting his first action on
both sides of the ball in the preseason game, albeit
small sample size, but eighteen total snaps. I think it
was ten on offense, eight on defense. A lot of
people curious shock on whether or not that whole experiment
is gonna work him playing both ways in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yeah, I think that's still something that's gonna be in
the works, I should say, because I just like you
mentioned limited sample size that he had in that ballgame,
But I think it's going to be something that people
pay attention to because you just don't see it at
this level, and you see it in college a couple
of times maybe, but you don't see it at this
level with the elite players that are at this league.
And you don't know if a guy can do that
(06:41):
at that kind of level for seventeen ball games. So
you know, it's gonna be interesting to see how much
they you know, they use him. Is he used sixty
forty on offensees he used fifty to fifty is it,
you know, throwing situation, whatever it may be. It'll be
able to see what they do with Travis. But I
think he's gonna be a big part of the conversation
all year long about what do they do with the
guy who you know wants to do both?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Can he do both?
Speaker 1 (07:04):
The NFL is a game where the most physically gifted
players in the world excel. But what I don't think
a lot of people realize is the mental capacity it
takes to perform in the NFL in one side of
the ball. Okay, think about all the stuff that you
guys had to absorb and then things that had to
(07:26):
just happen in real time in the snap of a
finger two or three seconds, right, And then to think
you had to do all that for the defensive side
of the ball as well, Right, So there's so much
that goes into it from a mental perspective. I'm not
saying that he can't do it, but that's gonna be
so hard because that's where you gain your edge in
the NFL, is can you do all the small minute
(07:46):
details better than everybody else? Because guess what, everybody at
this level is great. They are fast, they are physical,
they are strong, they can make plays. It's how do
you gain an edge up here? So let's talk a
little bit about the falcon in their first preseason game,
of course, against the Lions. DJ want to come right
back to you, what kind of stuck out to you
as far as some things that you were looking for
(08:08):
that kind of popped off the field or popped off
the page, if you will, from some performances in that game.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
I think number one, I wanted to see what this
defense was capable of. Obviously you're not gonna have all
the cast and characters you got out there, but you
can see the what the culture, what the vibe would
look like. And Rick talks about the ball is oxygen.
We talked about it last week. We talked about what
they want to do, and I thought we saw that
that was evident, Like they took the ball away a
(08:34):
couple of times, it got to the quarterback. Guys were
flying around, Guys were punching the ball out, and you
could tell that's just not something that's preached in the
meeting rooms. That's something that just preached on the practice field.
They took it from there to the actual game, and
I thought that was really cool to see. It stuck
out to me. You know when you watch a Brandon
Dorlan's kind of retrace your steps and come back and
you know, run down hitting hooker and hit comes. You know,
(08:56):
Josh Woods to punch it out and he comes, you know,
de offered to scoop it like.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
It's a total team effort. Everybody flying to the football.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
And you don't get that if you don't get it
done out here in the practice fielding you're doing these things,
you're talking about it, you're repetent. So it was good
to see some of those guys flying around making plays
and trying to, you know, have an influence. And I
think Josh Woods is a great kind of example of
why I love preseason because he may be a guy
that now Falcons fans are paying attention to now, like
(09:24):
this dude was everywhere. This dude was making tackles all
over the field. He was forcing fummos, he was you know,
he led the team in tackles. It's a name that
really didn't stick out when you first started and came
to camp, but now he's a guy that you saw
in week one like we saw last year when we
saw DeMarco Halem's like, yeah, we knew he drafted them,
but when you watch him play, that's a different story.
And you watch Josh Woods sitting in the middle of
that defense and he's flying around making plays on special teams,
(09:46):
you're like, Okay, I want to see more of this dude.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
So I was.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
I was excited to see kind of the outlying image
of what this defense could look like and the kind
of things that you know they're wanting to do. Obviously
they were very vanilla and what they wanted to do.
I won't go show you a lot of stuff from
a defensive coordinator scheme wise, but you love to see
the way the guys played and it gives you kind
of a picture of what when the starters get in
(10:10):
what's expected.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah, Arch a lot of defense from Shock and his observations.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
What did you think?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Yeah, I would echo a lot of that stuff from
a defensive perspective, just attitude, how fast they wanted to play.
DeMarco Hellms is a guy that embodies what Elbrick wants
to be, and he dropped the hammer a couple of
times early on. By the way, I thought the call
was completely ridiculous on him. But I thought Helms kind
of maybe established a tempo on the field early on,
(10:38):
so that was fun to see. So I'll switch it
over to the other side of the ball. I was
not pleased with our inability to run the football. I
thought that that was alarming, that there were some opportunities
there that frankly, we just didn't get people blocked up front,
didn't do it the right way. I think the young
backs are trying to run, but there just wasn't a
lot of places to go. On the other hand, I
(10:59):
thought Easton Stick played extremely well. I thought he did
a really good job of keeping his poise. I thought
that the receiving group that he played with, whether it
was Sills or Drumming or Blair or Nash or Skinner,
all those guys made plays, and I thought they did
a really good job of attacking the football. He made
a throw to Sills early on that extended to drive
(11:19):
or Sills is running an over route and the ball's
a little bit late. You know, he's like the third read.
He gets to him a little bit late, and the
defender is close enough where he can undercut it. Sills
attack the football. He lost ground back to the quarterback
to attack the ball, secure the catch, first down, move
the chains. Those kind of things stuck out to me
from an offensive standpoint, but need to run the football better.
(11:40):
But I do think that when you start thinking about it,
I know Eastern Stick. We hope Eastern Stick didn't have
to play, and you don't know what's going to happen.
Potentially with Kirk Cousins. You have no idea what's going
on there, with the injuries around the league, and maybe
there's a trade. You don't all that conversation that comes out.
I think you pretty feel pretty confident about Eastern Stick
if you had to play him in a game. The
dude gets up in there and go.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yeah, pretty good first performance from him in a Falcons
uniform going out there this year and performing. I want
to say his numbers were eighty three percent completion rate
through the first half, which was pretty impressive, and he
did what he had to do. What like you talked
about the eleven carries twenty two yards in the run game,
they weren't able to count on that element, and so
Easton Stick Zach Robinson said, Okay, well let's go through
(12:21):
the air. Let's get some work and let's see if
we can move the football in that manner, and they
were able to do it. One thing I wanted to
ask you guys about defense is we did get a
chance to see for the first time a little Jalen
Walker and James Pierce on opposite sides, and those two
guys not necessarily filling up the stat sheet. But I
think you could maybe say, and we know that there's
not a lot of game planning that goes into two preseason,
(12:41):
but maybe you say that the focus from the outside
was on those two guys, which maybe that opened up
some of those opportunities for a guy like Brandon Dorles
to make some plays inside.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Yeah, no doubt about it. You look at the interior,
you know that the defensive line. That's a big topic
of conversation is who's gonna feel the void of a
greater Jerry Are She were looking forward to seeing ruker
r in there as well.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
He played Dorle's play.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Uh. Where you talk about the two guys on the outside, obviously,
I think there were moments where you know, they were
still trying to fill out what this NFL speed, what
the physicality was gonna be like, because there were times
you can watch him say well, it looks like he
may have got ing up on this play. You're like,
oh man, he could have did something else. But there
are other times be like, Okay, here's both guys really
closing the edge. Here's a play where James PRIs is
(13:24):
really turning the corner forcing the quarterback up in the pocket.
There's a really good play. The Falcons actually have it
on their on their on their on their on their
X where you know you see jeling walker, guy comes
up trying to block him inside, he keeps his head inside,
fights off another guy and makes the tackle, falls inside
on the play, or he keeps leverage on the play.
(13:45):
Those are little details that they turn on the tape
and say, you know what, you played it right. You
talk about some of the minute details when you're watching
a guy or playing. Those are the things that coaches
look for, and as fans you look for the statue stuff,
all did he get his sack?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Tackle for lost?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
All that kind of stuff is good, But in these
moments where they're getting their first start, they're getting their
first chance to play this level, you want to see
them do those small things correctly. And I think there
were times where both guys had opportunities to rush the
passer and you could see him get some pressure there.
I saw James Bridges had a couple pressures in the
ball game. Jayler's still trying to figure a couple of
things out with the speed of it, and you know
(14:18):
how to go against you know certain guys.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
But they're both gonna learn, man, They're both still young.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
They're going through the process and we'll see how they
get better from week one to week two.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
It was evident there right at the end of the
half where you got a glimpse of the future. Pierce
on one edge, Walker on the other edge, Dorless in
a rower row inside and they were rushing a four
man pass rush. Hard rushes to the outside by both
those guys. Shoved Kyle Allen up in the pocket and
he tries to get by and Dorles strips the ball out.
Then now they fell on it and got it back.
(14:49):
That ended the half. But you got a four man
pass rush from the guys, the last four guys you've
drafted in the draft to play on the defensive line.
I thought that was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
A lot of focus on the new face. But before
we end up moving on, I did want to mention
Arnold A. Bakati as well. I thought he was active
in the game, and I believe he was the one
that ended up getting the red zone force fumble, which
is huge. Like once the opposing offense is driving down
the field and they get in the red zone and
not only do you get a stop, but you get
a turnover. That's huge. And he's another one of those
(15:20):
guys where it's like, can he have a breakout season
to where he ends up and then all of a sudden,
you got this rotation of pass rushers that can get
in there. So he showed he flashed a little bit
to me on some of the plays that he made
on the defensive side of the ball. So continue to
see all those guys that's one preseason game this year
under their belt. How much better do they get now
that they know, Okay, this is the speed of the NFL.
(15:43):
This is what I have to do. I got locked
up a couple of times.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
How do I.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Adjust the next time? So, speaking of a just it's
now into the next week of the preseason, and as
we mentioned, the Falcons are hosting joint practices with the
Tennessee Titans this week, so we talked a little bit
about cam Ward and his performance last week. But we
got a brand new team on the Falcons headquarters fields
and you guys got a chance to go out and
(16:06):
watch this first practice. So Arch, let me start with
you and say what did you see out there from
these joint practices, because it was everything from one on
ones to a whole lot of teamwork, you know, and
it's good versus good. It's different scheme, which is what
Jeff Ulbrick said after practice today. When you get to
see a different scheme, that's the value and having these
joint practices. What did you see that stuck out this morning?
Speaker 3 (16:27):
I thought it was a defensive day by both defenses,
and just in my opinion, I'm a shock what your
thoughts were. But it looked like both defenses were kind
of controlling the line of scrimmage and both were able
to get pressure on the quarterback. I thought that there
were some errant throws by both quarterbacks. I'm talking about
Penix and Ward. I'm talking about the number one guys
in particular. So I thought that the defense has had
(16:49):
some of theday. And I also thought that real time
adjustments to routes because certain one of the things you
get out of joint practice, and we talked about it,
is you're going to see a different scheme, You're going
to see a different way of playing things. And so
now my routes a lot of our routes in an offense,
as you guys both know a just based on what
I'm seeing, whether I'm sitting it down in a zone
(17:10):
or whether I'm playing leverage and breaking away from man coverage,
and teams play him differently and Tennessee plays differently defensively
than we do, and so that's what that's what's value.
Now you're getting real time information and real time adjustments
on the move, and I didn't think we did a
couple of those things very well. So there's that information,
(17:30):
that knowledge that you log back in. As far as
taking the football away, shock A continued. Took the ball
away from from Tennessee. I think what three four times today? Again,
I didn't see us throw did we throw a pick?
I don't think we threw any interceptions. So it took
care of the football. So you win that battle three
zero four zero. You're gonna like what you find out
at the end. Usually in those situations. But I do
(17:51):
think I felt like it was more of a defensive
day by both teams than it was offense.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
By the way, if you didn't get a chance to
see it, Dave along with Taylor Vismore did a show
this morning and kind of briefing what was gonna happen
in the joint practices, and they also got a chance
to show a little bit of the actual one on
ones that happened. So if you didn't get a chance
to see it, go back and take a look at it.
You can see Drake London getting to go some u
some one on one, a j Terrell with a great
couple of matchups against Calvin Ridley in this morning's practice.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
You want to see some.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Actual action, go back and take a look at that.
Shock what's stuck out to you from the joint practice
this morning.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
I think the biggest thing is the communications that you
have to have between I think you know your offensive line,
quarterbacks and receivers seeing it on the same page and
ours talked about there were a couple of this is
where you know things didn't work out the way you
wanted to, And I got a couple examples. There was
one took a playing team offense where it was Falcon's
(18:43):
first team offense going against the Titans first team defense,
and they give a look and looks like they got
double a Gapps and they bring pressure off one side
and Pennings had to throw it away. Two three plays later,
they give the exact same look, but this time they
bail out of it, and Penning hits very ravy cloud
on a corner route and you know, they go from
it looks like, oh, they're bringing pressure to they're playing
(19:05):
cover too, And you can see the communication between Pennix
and the offensive line talking about pointing guys out. But
then there's also the communication that you don't have with
are receivers. But they also got to be on the
same page at the same time as oh, it looks
like it's man coverage. It looks like that guy's price,
but on the staff of the football he bails, corner goes,
you know, into cover two. You have to safety over
the top, and the ball is out right in between
(19:27):
the corner and the safety and you got a big
time completion. That's the little thing that you get from
these joint practices that's maybe a little bit different from
when you're going to gainst your own team because you
know what they gonna do. You know what certain looks
look like, but now you get a different look. Now
the offensive line that's communicate differently with the quarterback with
tight ends with the backs. I saw Algir pick up
(19:48):
a nice blitz then blizz period and then the situations
of practice is what I like to in a game.
You have to kind of adapt to what's happening in
the game out here. The coaches can dictate those situations.
There were a couple of times where hey, Falcons jumped
off Rod's like thirty fifteen, let's back it up, or
they get a couple of yards are at thirty six
(20:08):
here we go thirty sixteen. You can kind of simulate
what you want to see, which helps you give a look,
and then you can go through the process of how
you go through it all. So I love the details
in which that you watch things just happening, and then
you watch maybe a mistake like ours talks about, and
then you can see a couple of days later, you
overcome something that maybe hurt you a few plays ago,
(20:29):
and you're adapting, you communicating, and you.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Get through it.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
So some of those small things for me stuck out
that you know offensively you overcome some things, but then
also think that you got to work on which helps.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
You as you get ready for week one.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Yeah, there's a lot of collaboration that goes into these
practices between the head coaches and the coordinators saying, hey,
what do we want to get here? What do we
want to work on? It is controlled, uh, but I
think it's also good to note for anybody that hasn't
paid attention to joint practices before, but they have actual
officiating staffs, like real officials that are on the field
that are officiating these plays, this competition, if you will,
(21:04):
just like it's games, so they can get work and
then also so the players and the coaches can have
a realistic depiction of was this guy offsides? Was that holding?
Was this a penalty? And how do you end up
adjusting off of that? So we know that there's value
into facing another team, another set of bodies. But arch
(21:24):
is the importance specifically for the starters, because again I
don't think Raheem Morris has made him mentioned as far
as what's going to happen this week, although my guess
is going to be a lot of the same as
what we saw last week. Meaning not a lot of
the starters are going to play, But this is where
the starters do get their work. That's where a lot
of this value comes in.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Correct. Yeah, I don't think there's any question rack. The
more times you can you can rep at a heightened
adrenaline situation, a heightened competition situation without getting your guys
banged up. And that's the beauty of this is it
is controlled around the quarterback, and it is controlled tackling
guys to the ground. To a certain extent, we still
(22:03):
see some guys get a little over zealous, and you
still get guys drugged to the ground from time to
time because it's not our guy, that's their guy, so
I'm gonna tackle their guy. For the most part, the
two teams treat each other the way they're supposed to,
and you want to take care of one another. But
the unscripted looks that Shock was talking about, where you know,
you got to adjust your route based on coverage, and
(22:23):
this leverage is different than what I see from our guys,
so I'm supposed to continue out instead of sitting the
route down. Just all the little things that come from that,
there's tremendous value and all that, but yeah, the starters
probably aren't gonna play. So where do I get as
close to team, close to game type reps as I
can Other than for the quarterback, I think it's pretty
(22:44):
close to full speed when you.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Agree, yeah, I agree. I mean it's it's tackling guys, right.
It's fun to watch.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
It because it feels like game kind of speed out
there because you're going to get somebody different. And we
were standing on them sideline and they had a team
period and you hear berzermon come, he's yapping, he's into it.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I'm talking about he is like lit, he is talking
about they don't want this, they can't feel it. This
guy ain't made a play.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
And you can tell that there's a different kind of
juice and energy about it when you see somebody else
and you're going against him of your balance, So like this.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Is a little bit it feels a little bit different.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
But it's still controlled in fact that you take care
of each other, but it's still hid into a sense
of we can get some real quality work because of
the speed that you're going at.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
I mean, you kind of know after you've gone against
the same players, right, Like if you're an offensive lineman. Right,
you're talking about burs aroun. You go, you're going up
against the same I don't know, let's call it twelve
defensive linemen for the last three weeks. You know what
their tendencies are, right, Like, this guy's a power guy.
This guy's his speed quickness, this guy likes to use
a swim move, he likes to grab and rip.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
But then all of a sudden, you get these new
jerseys in and guess what, it gets a lot more
like the regular season. You don't necessarily know what their
best move is. And that's when you got to get
back to your own technique, and you got to execute
your technique, and you got to be able to work
and control your one eleventh.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Right.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
I know, it's one thing that you talk about a lot,
and so it gets back to the fundamentals of what
football is like every single week in the season when
you get new bodies in there that have strengths, that
have weaknesses, and you've got to prepare properly for it.
So that's what you get with some of these preseason
joint practices. All right, let's kind of shift gears and
talk about second game in the preseason arch I'm going
to go to you and I'm going to ask what position,
(24:27):
group or what areas do you want to see the
most growth in this week after what you saw on
the field last week and maybe what you've seen in
practice a little bit that needs to take the next
step forward in week two.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Yeah, it's easy for me. Rak You got to run
the football. You got to be able to get off
the ball and run the football. And I know that
we've got a group, a front five, first five. They
think we feel pretty comfortable. I saw news Will play
a great deal last year, so you're not overly worried
about the fact that Dolman is not your main center.
News Will played eight games at last year, I think
six games the year before that, so he's played a
(24:58):
lot of football. Make you feel good about the starting five.
I'm not sure about the rest of it now. Who's
the backup center. Who's who's going to slide into that storm.
Norton's been a little banged up. We haven't seen him
at the swing tackle. I thought it was an indoctrination
in the National Football League. Quite frankly, for Jack Nelson,
I thought he had some moments there where he had
some good solid moments, but there was some moments. Hey,
(25:21):
we're not in Kansas anymore or Wisconsin anymore where you know,
so there was guys coming off the edge. So there
is that you know, you exponentially think to see make
him better next week. But you got to be able
to run the football, you know, And I think that
that's something that I think Dwayne Ledford in an offensive
line group will be concentrating on.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
When it comes to offensive line, generally, fellas on an
active roster, you're going to keep somewhere from eight to
ten players, and then you know with the expansion of
the practice squad, there'll be a couple more guys down
there that you have additional bodies. But generally you're looking
for eight to ten, right we probably know who five
to six are going to be, so DJ they're looking
or that other two to three guys doesn't have to
(26:02):
be offensive line for you. But what area of the
game or what players are you looking for this week
to make the biggest impact.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
I want to see the receivers can continue with what
we saw last week. Art mentioned by four or five
guys who you know showed up in that ball game,
and we know you look up and you say, hey,
my man, Dylan Drummond had eight targets, had eight catches.
Look at Chris Blair had three targets, had three catches. Uh,
they were accessible to the quarterback. They made plays when
they had to. Uh. Youre talking about Nash adapting to
(26:30):
the football and you know, ball behind him snagging a
cuffew ball. I want to see him do that again
and again. See you saw it in week one? Can
you do it again in week two? And I think
that speaks volumes to a staff, to the coaches who
are evaluating you, that you know what, this guy can
do this consistently over time.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
And I think that matters the.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Most is Okay, you think about in the season, you
go in and you're that fifth six, sometimes maybe seven
receiver and a guy goes down and you're thrown into
this opportunity.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Are you ready for it?
Speaker 4 (27:01):
Can you go out and you know in that moment
where you get the opportunity to make a play, can
you be the guy that makes that play with the
limited ref that you get?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
And I think you.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Saw a lot of guys making a case for themselves
to you know, be that guy.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
But there's gonna be some opportunities in this ball game?
Can you do that?
Speaker 4 (27:17):
And we've seen plenty of times where a guy has
a really good Week one, but can he show up
in Week two? And we're gonna be a lot of
guys in that spot who are have an opportunity to
go do that.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Can they do it again?
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Specifically, there's a position I'm wondering if you guys have
one position in mind. Mine is going to continue to
be the competition that's going on at the nickel position
with the offord, with Billy Bowman, Mike Ford, Clark. Phillips
has banged up right now, so Clark is kind of
eliminated from that for now, not saying he's eliminated from
(27:49):
the team, but he's not able to be on the
field and compete. I'll be interested to see from a
one position, specific the nickel spot, because all those guys
are gonna play, who begins to solidify maybe take the
reins of that, because I think you can start to
feel Hughes and Terrell on the outside, and you know,
obviously Jesse's not going anywhere. It looks like Fuller and
(28:11):
Wats are kind of rotating in their helms. Just threw
his hat in the ring and said, wait, don't forget
about me. I want to be on the field as well.
But I don't know that you initially feel that way
about the nickel spot. I think that D's had a
pretty good training camp. But Billy made a couple of
plays in special teams in the game, got a chance
to play some nickel. Mike Ford is it as a
guy that's going to play special teams for you, but
he's capable playing corner and nickel. I'll be interested see
(28:33):
how that plays out.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Long About you guys, yeah, I mean you talked about
offensive line, you talked to run game, nickel wide receivers.
I'm looking at again, still one of the biggest focuses
in the offseason, and that's going to be the defensive front.
And it's going to be pass rushed because I think
we saw some really positive things that came out of
the first game. But we all know and you kind
of alluded to it from the first to the second game.
(28:56):
In order to be good in the NFL, it's consistency.
So can you do it in the first game, and
then do it in the second game, and then do
it in the third game, and then come back and
do it when live bullets are flowing in week one
all the way through week eighteen in the season, because
that's what the really good teams do. But my eyes
are still going to be on that defensive front. And
I'm not going to just say edge rushers. I'm going
to talk about that defensive front because Dorles was active,
(29:18):
you mentioned Ruke, and we saw the rookie draft picks
in there. I want to see, is it a little
bit better this week? Did they still find a way
to take the football away to rake the ball out?
Are they getting off of blocks aggressively? Are they getting
around the corner to make the quarterback feel uncomfortable? These
are all areas where I feel like Atlanta has not
quite excelled in the last couple of years and why
(29:40):
they've invested so many assets to that position group. I
want to see the consistency from week one to week two.
Can that defensive line continue to produce?
Speaker 4 (29:49):
And I'll add a little extra to in reck and
we're talking about these joint practices. We're over there watching
today and there were several instances where ken Ward had
nothing or he had to try to escape the pipe
and you see pressure coming, you see different looks from
that that defensive front, and they're showing the ability to
maybe get to the quarterback and push that pocket, especially
with a guy who can move like a cam Ward.
(30:10):
And there were instants today where you're like, Okay, that
looks good. I like the way the pressure is coming
now you're forcing on the back end. Or there was
times where he may have had a little time and
the back end had had straps on him and you're like, Okay,
that looks good too. So putting it all together, I
think goes hand and in what you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
All right, Well, so we talked about run game, we
talked about nickel position, we talked about wide receivers, we
talked about defensive front. Hey, let us know what you're
looking for in week two of the preseason, or maybe
it's the joint practices this week and you want the
guys to let you know how that ended up shaking out.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
On the field.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Let us know, maybe down in the comments or reach
out to us and let us know what you got
your eyes on this week. Let's going to wrap it
up for the Falcons Audible presented by AT and T.
This week, we'll be back all three of us will
be at the game this week, so we'll have one, two,
three sets of eyes on everything that's going on down
on the field, and we will come back to report
on you next week. And we'll also start maybe getting
into conversations of roster cutdowns. Will be coming down in
(31:06):
a couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Right.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
That means we're getting closer to what the actual team
is going to look like, and the regular season is
just around the corner.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
I know.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Everybody can't wait. Thanks so much for joining us, everybody
that shock you got anything for him before we leave.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Hey, we did not plan to what the same shirts today.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
There was no conversation about it.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Arch had a great comment. I'm not gonna use but
it was really funny.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
But uh, you throw me under the bus. No, no,
it was I got the old school logo on. I
see that in a new school logo, So I got
both covered.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Old school new school player. That's what we call. You
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
I'd so much want to get I can't. Thanks so
much for joining us, everybody.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
We'll be back next week.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
This is the Falcons Otto presented by at a T.
Take care everybody
Fast, free delivery from the home Depot makes your projects
hassle free. Forget something you need, Visit home depot dot
com or the home Depot app for free delivery on
millions of products, including same day and next day options.
Get delivery at the speed you need only at the
home Depot. How doers get more done? Order select in
(00:21):
stock items by four pm, subject to availability. Welcome Welcome,
Welcome back to the Falcons Autoward presented by A D
and T.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
That's DJ Chacles.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
He always gives the shout out to everybody that's watching,
and if you're not watching and you're listening, he's still
giving you a shout out. This is Dave Archer right here,
and I'm Derek Rackley. We are fresh off of the
first preseason game, we are fresh off the first joint
practice with the Tennessee Titans, and we are ready to
give some fresh perspectives on everything that is going on
(00:52):
with the Atlanta Falcons. Before we get into the minutia
all the updates, I think it's important that we say
how grateful we are that Maurice Norris from the Lions
is good. He is healthy, He's going to be in
concussion protocol they're going to take it easy with him
for the next ten to fourteen days. But anybody that
watched or saw some of the clips from the Falcons
(01:13):
preseason game, I don't know about you guys, but the
first thing I thought about was, hopefully this is not
another Dark Tomorrow Hamlin situation.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
But it was.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
It was pretty scary there for a little while. Just
we don't have to go into detail, but just kind
of initial thoughts as you guys saw everything unfold there
on the field.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah, I was calling the game on the radio with
Wes Durham, and so you're, you know, you're just gotten
into the fourth quarter and you start thinking about who's
going to play and who you're looking forward to seeing,
and boom, this happens, and then immediately football goes out
of your mind, and which is essentially what happened with
Raheem Morris and Dan Campbell. They said, hey, you know
and Dan. I saw Dan's comments postgame about how class
(01:52):
he Raheem was and how Raheem said Hey, let's not hey,
you want to let's shut this down.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Let's let's let's.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Think about him and his family, and and that's what
they did. And I thought that it was really cool
the way they handle it.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah. Shock.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Even after the game, it was a very concerned and
somber Raheem Morris when he was asked questions and he
you know, was very short, basically saying that this was
all about him and his family didn't really want to
entertain any questions about football. And it was probably one
of the shortest and sweetest and while sweetest probably not
the right word brief press conferences that he's had because
(02:26):
it wasn't about what happened in the game. They can
talk about what happened in the game afterwards and meetings
and everything else. It was all about whether or not
Maurice Norris was okay. And by the way, on social
media Maurice said, I'm all good man, don't stress it.
Appreciate all the check ins in love And as I mentioned,
they're going to take it nice and slow with him
for the next ten to fourteen days and just kind
of assess his health and his situation before he gets back.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
On the phone.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Yeah, you know, similar to what Arts just talked about.
For me, my mom went went directly to the perspective
part of it. And for so long, I used to say,
for so long. But when people watched a game, they
look at it and they say, you know what, these
are guys that are playing a tough, physical game. They
make a lot of money, but you forget about these guys.
You got families, You forget about these guys have real emotions.
(03:09):
And you can see it from both sides. I mean,
both teams come together, praying in the middle of the field.
You talk about the both hey coaches coming together. You
always hear the word brotherhood. When you're in the National
Football League as we were, you know that it's a brotherhood,
not just within your team, but it's a fraternity to
play in this league, and it goes a long way.
And you see a guy go down. You always want
(03:31):
to fight and compete hard, but you never want to
see a guy injured in that kind of manner. And
he puts different perspective I think on the game and
also on players that you know what, Yeah, these guys
play a really physical game. They're playing at the delete level,
but you never want to see a guy go through
what Morris and Orts had to go through or DeMar Hamlin,
because it's way bigger than football once you get done
(03:52):
with it.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
And I was fortunate to obviously be in the locker
room right after the game and normally talk to Raheem
on the radio and for Fox excuse me, And this
was not just something for TV. That was what he
told his team when Raheem brought the team together, he
talked exactly about what you just said and how everybody
(04:13):
let's make sure that we have one solid mind going
towards him and his family. And then Vijeon Robinson got
in and gave the postgame prayer and he said the
same thing in the prayer too, So that was not
some kind of, you know, put on TV thing or
something like that.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
That's exactly how.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
They felt class ACKed by both organizations and doing the
right thing in that moment, which was thinking about his
family and his personal safety and health moving forward. So
we are happy that he is good to go and
we look forward to seeing him back out on the
football field when the time is ready for him. All right,
let's go ahead and change gears here. Talk about the preseason.
The first week of the preseason in the books and guys,
(04:51):
before we dive into the Atlanta Falcons, was there anything
from any of the other teams or any of the
other storylines or players that kind of stuck out to
you from the week that you were maybe paying attention to.
Was it a Shador Sanders, Was it a Travis Hunter?
Was it anybody else from around the league that kind
of Oh, I want to see how he did, or oh,
I'm interested how that team fared in their first preseason game.
(05:13):
Anything come to your mind.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Arch I think that.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
I gravitated towards the quarterback situation. Shock. I mean, I
think there's a lot of young quarterbacks that were getting
a chance to play. Whether it's JJ McCarthy in his
second training camp after being injured in Minnesota. We're going
to see him in week two, relive that National Championship
game of a couple of years ago with Pennix and McCarthy.
But just the talk and the conversation about the maturity
(05:37):
of these young players. We saw some guys step up
last year, you know, to the like of Jayden Daniels
and some that stepped up as young quarterbacks. We're hoping
our guy has a chance to do that too. So
I thought just the conversation around those guys should do,
or Sanders, how well he played? Cam Ward? Who were
seeing this week cam Ward had two drives, he had
one touchdown driving there where he had five of eight
(05:58):
hit Calvin Ridley two or three times in the Just
was cool to hear them talk about the maturity level
of the quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
And what about Travis Hunter getting his first action on
both sides of the ball in the preseason game, albeit
small sample size, but eighteen total snaps. I think it
was ten on offense, eight on defense. A lot of
people curious shock on whether or not that whole experiment
is gonna work him playing both ways in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yeah, I think that's still something that's gonna be in
the works, I should say, because I just like you
mentioned limited sample size that he had in that ballgame,
But I think it's going to be something that people
pay attention to because you just don't see it at
this level, and you see it in college a couple
of times maybe, but you don't see it at this
level with the elite players that are at this league.
And you don't know if a guy can do that
(06:41):
at that kind of level for seventeen ball games. So
you know, it's gonna be interesting to see how much
they you know, they use him. Is he used sixty
forty on offensees he used fifty to fifty is it,
you know, throwing situation, whatever it may be. It'll be
able to see what they do with Travis. But I
think he's gonna be a big part of the conversation
all year long about what do they do with the
guy who you know wants to do both?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Can he do both?
Speaker 1 (07:04):
The NFL is a game where the most physically gifted
players in the world excel. But what I don't think
a lot of people realize is the mental capacity it
takes to perform in the NFL in one side of
the ball. Okay, think about all the stuff that you
guys had to absorb and then things that had to
(07:26):
just happen in real time in the snap of a
finger two or three seconds, right, And then to think
you had to do all that for the defensive side
of the ball as well, Right, So there's so much
that goes into it from a mental perspective. I'm not
saying that he can't do it, but that's gonna be
so hard because that's where you gain your edge in
the NFL, is can you do all the small minute
(07:46):
details better than everybody else? Because guess what, everybody at
this level is great. They are fast, they are physical,
they are strong, they can make plays. It's how do
you gain an edge up here? So let's talk a
little bit about the falcon in their first preseason game,
of course, against the Lions. DJ want to come right
back to you, what kind of stuck out to you
as far as some things that you were looking for
(08:08):
that kind of popped off the field or popped off
the page, if you will, from some performances in that game.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
I think number one, I wanted to see what this
defense was capable of. Obviously you're not gonna have all
the cast and characters you got out there, but you
can see the what the culture, what the vibe would
look like. And Rick talks about the ball is oxygen.
We talked about it last week. We talked about what
they want to do, and I thought we saw that
that was evident, Like they took the ball away a
(08:34):
couple of times, it got to the quarterback. Guys were
flying around, Guys were punching the ball out, and you
could tell that's just not something that's preached in the
meeting rooms. That's something that just preached on the practice field.
They took it from there to the actual game, and
I thought that was really cool to see. It stuck
out to me. You know when you watch a Brandon
Dorlan's kind of retrace your steps and come back and
you know, run down hitting hooker and hit comes. You know,
(08:56):
Josh Woods to punch it out and he comes, you know,
de offered to scoop it like.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
It's a total team effort. Everybody flying to the football.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
And you don't get that if you don't get it
done out here in the practice fielding you're doing these things,
you're talking about it, you're repetent. So it was good
to see some of those guys flying around making plays
and trying to, you know, have an influence. And I
think Josh Woods is a great kind of example of
why I love preseason because he may be a guy
that now Falcons fans are paying attention to now, like
(09:24):
this dude was everywhere. This dude was making tackles all
over the field. He was forcing fummos, he was you know,
he led the team in tackles. It's a name that
really didn't stick out when you first started and came
to camp, but now he's a guy that you saw
in week one like we saw last year when we
saw DeMarco Halem's like, yeah, we knew he drafted them,
but when you watch him play, that's a different story.
And you watch Josh Woods sitting in the middle of
that defense and he's flying around making plays on special teams,
(09:46):
you're like, Okay, I want to see more of this dude.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
So I was.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
I was excited to see kind of the outlying image
of what this defense could look like and the kind
of things that you know they're wanting to do. Obviously
they were very vanilla and what they wanted to do.
I won't go show you a lot of stuff from
a defensive coordinator scheme wise, but you love to see
the way the guys played and it gives you kind
of a picture of what when the starters get in
(10:10):
what's expected.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah, Arch a lot of defense from Shock and his observations.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
What did you think?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Yeah, I would echo a lot of that stuff from
a defensive perspective, just attitude, how fast they wanted to play.
DeMarco Hellms is a guy that embodies what Elbrick wants
to be, and he dropped the hammer a couple of
times early on. By the way, I thought the call
was completely ridiculous on him. But I thought Helms kind
of maybe established a tempo on the field early on,
(10:38):
so that was fun to see. So I'll switch it
over to the other side of the ball. I was
not pleased with our inability to run the football. I
thought that that was alarming, that there were some opportunities
there that frankly, we just didn't get people blocked up front,
didn't do it the right way. I think the young
backs are trying to run, but there just wasn't a
lot of places to go. On the other hand, I
(10:59):
thought Easton Stick played extremely well. I thought he did
a really good job of keeping his poise. I thought
that the receiving group that he played with, whether it
was Sills or Drumming or Blair or Nash or Skinner,
all those guys made plays, and I thought they did
a really good job of attacking the football. He made
a throw to Sills early on that extended to drive
(11:19):
or Sills is running an over route and the ball's
a little bit late. You know, he's like the third read.
He gets to him a little bit late, and the
defender is close enough where he can undercut it. Sills
attack the football. He lost ground back to the quarterback
to attack the ball, secure the catch, first down, move
the chains. Those kind of things stuck out to me
from an offensive standpoint, but need to run the football better.
(11:40):
But I do think that when you start thinking about it,
I know Eastern Stick. We hope Eastern Stick didn't have
to play, and you don't know what's going to happen.
Potentially with Kirk Cousins. You have no idea what's going
on there, with the injuries around the league, and maybe
there's a trade. You don't all that conversation that comes out.
I think you pretty feel pretty confident about Eastern Stick
if you had to play him in a game. The
dude gets up in there and go.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yeah, pretty good first performance from him in a Falcons
uniform going out there this year and performing. I want
to say his numbers were eighty three percent completion rate
through the first half, which was pretty impressive, and he
did what he had to do. What like you talked
about the eleven carries twenty two yards in the run game,
they weren't able to count on that element, and so
Easton Stick Zach Robinson said, Okay, well let's go through
(12:21):
the air. Let's get some work and let's see if
we can move the football in that manner, and they
were able to do it. One thing I wanted to
ask you guys about defense is we did get a
chance to see for the first time a little Jalen
Walker and James Pierce on opposite sides, and those two
guys not necessarily filling up the stat sheet. But I
think you could maybe say, and we know that there's
not a lot of game planning that goes into two preseason,
(12:41):
but maybe you say that the focus from the outside
was on those two guys, which maybe that opened up
some of those opportunities for a guy like Brandon Dorles
to make some plays inside.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Yeah, no doubt about it. You look at the interior,
you know that the defensive line. That's a big topic
of conversation is who's gonna feel the void of a
greater Jerry Are She were looking forward to seeing ruker
r in there as well.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
He played Dorle's play.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Uh. Where you talk about the two guys on the outside, obviously,
I think there were moments where you know, they were
still trying to fill out what this NFL speed, what
the physicality was gonna be like, because there were times
you can watch him say well, it looks like he
may have got ing up on this play. You're like,
oh man, he could have did something else. But there
are other times be like, Okay, here's both guys really
closing the edge. Here's a play where James PRIs is
(13:24):
really turning the corner forcing the quarterback up in the pocket.
There's a really good play. The Falcons actually have it
on their on their on their on their on their
X where you know you see jeling walker, guy comes
up trying to block him inside, he keeps his head inside,
fights off another guy and makes the tackle, falls inside
on the play, or he keeps leverage on the play.
(13:45):
Those are little details that they turn on the tape
and say, you know what, you played it right. You
talk about some of the minute details when you're watching
a guy or playing. Those are the things that coaches
look for, and as fans you look for the statue stuff,
all did he get his sack?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Tackle for lost?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
All that kind of stuff is good, But in these
moments where they're getting their first start, they're getting their
first chance to play this level, you want to see
them do those small things correctly. And I think there
were times where both guys had opportunities to rush the
passer and you could see him get some pressure there.
I saw James Bridges had a couple pressures in the
ball game. Jayler's still trying to figure a couple of
things out with the speed of it, and you know
(14:18):
how to go against you know certain guys.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
But they're both gonna learn, man, They're both still young.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
They're going through the process and we'll see how they
get better from week one to week two.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
It was evident there right at the end of the
half where you got a glimpse of the future. Pierce
on one edge, Walker on the other edge, Dorless in
a rower row inside and they were rushing a four
man pass rush. Hard rushes to the outside by both
those guys. Shoved Kyle Allen up in the pocket and
he tries to get by and Dorles strips the ball out.
Then now they fell on it and got it back.
(14:49):
That ended the half. But you got a four man
pass rush from the guys, the last four guys you've
drafted in the draft to play on the defensive line.
I thought that was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
A lot of focus on the new face. But before
we end up moving on, I did want to mention
Arnold A. Bakati as well. I thought he was active
in the game, and I believe he was the one
that ended up getting the red zone force fumble, which
is huge. Like once the opposing offense is driving down
the field and they get in the red zone and
not only do you get a stop, but you get
a turnover. That's huge. And he's another one of those
(15:20):
guys where it's like, can he have a breakout season
to where he ends up and then all of a sudden,
you got this rotation of pass rushers that can get
in there. So he showed he flashed a little bit
to me on some of the plays that he made
on the defensive side of the ball. So continue to
see all those guys that's one preseason game this year
under their belt. How much better do they get now
that they know, Okay, this is the speed of the NFL.
(15:43):
This is what I have to do. I got locked
up a couple of times.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
How do I.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Adjust the next time? So, speaking of a just it's
now into the next week of the preseason, and as
we mentioned, the Falcons are hosting joint practices with the
Tennessee Titans this week, so we talked a little bit
about cam Ward and his performance last week. But we
got a brand new team on the Falcons headquarters fields
and you guys got a chance to go out and
(16:06):
watch this first practice. So Arch, let me start with
you and say what did you see out there from
these joint practices, because it was everything from one on
ones to a whole lot of teamwork, you know, and
it's good versus good. It's different scheme, which is what
Jeff Ulbrick said after practice today. When you get to
see a different scheme, that's the value and having these
joint practices. What did you see that stuck out this morning?
Speaker 3 (16:27):
I thought it was a defensive day by both defenses,
and just in my opinion, I'm a shock what your
thoughts were. But it looked like both defenses were kind
of controlling the line of scrimmage and both were able
to get pressure on the quarterback. I thought that there
were some errant throws by both quarterbacks. I'm talking about
Penix and Ward. I'm talking about the number one guys
in particular. So I thought that the defense has had
(16:49):
some of theday. And I also thought that real time
adjustments to routes because certain one of the things you
get out of joint practice, and we talked about it,
is you're going to see a different scheme, You're going
to see a different way of playing things. And so
now my routes a lot of our routes in an offense,
as you guys both know a just based on what
I'm seeing, whether I'm sitting it down in a zone
(17:10):
or whether I'm playing leverage and breaking away from man coverage,
and teams play him differently and Tennessee plays differently defensively
than we do, and so that's what that's what's value.
Now you're getting real time information and real time adjustments
on the move, and I didn't think we did a
couple of those things very well. So there's that information,
(17:30):
that knowledge that you log back in. As far as
taking the football away, shock A continued. Took the ball
away from from Tennessee. I think what three four times today? Again,
I didn't see us throw did we throw a pick?
I don't think we threw any interceptions. So it took
care of the football. So you win that battle three
zero four zero. You're gonna like what you find out
at the end. Usually in those situations. But I do
(17:51):
think I felt like it was more of a defensive
day by both teams than it was offense.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
By the way, if you didn't get a chance to
see it, Dave along with Taylor Vismore did a show
this morning and kind of briefing what was gonna happen
in the joint practices, and they also got a chance
to show a little bit of the actual one on
ones that happened. So if you didn't get a chance
to see it, go back and take a look at it.
You can see Drake London getting to go some u
some one on one, a j Terrell with a great
couple of matchups against Calvin Ridley in this morning's practice.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
You want to see some.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Actual action, go back and take a look at that.
Shock what's stuck out to you from the joint practice
this morning.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
I think the biggest thing is the communications that you
have to have between I think you know your offensive line,
quarterbacks and receivers seeing it on the same page and
ours talked about there were a couple of this is
where you know things didn't work out the way you
wanted to, And I got a couple examples. There was
one took a playing team offense where it was Falcon's
(18:43):
first team offense going against the Titans first team defense,
and they give a look and looks like they got
double a Gapps and they bring pressure off one side
and Pennings had to throw it away. Two three plays later,
they give the exact same look, but this time they
bail out of it, and Penning hits very ravy cloud
on a corner route and you know, they go from
it looks like, oh, they're bringing pressure to they're playing
(19:05):
cover too, And you can see the communication between Pennix
and the offensive line talking about pointing guys out. But
then there's also the communication that you don't have with
are receivers. But they also got to be on the
same page at the same time as oh, it looks
like it's man coverage. It looks like that guy's price,
but on the staff of the football he bails, corner goes,
you know, into cover two. You have to safety over
the top, and the ball is out right in between
(19:27):
the corner and the safety and you got a big
time completion. That's the little thing that you get from
these joint practices that's maybe a little bit different from
when you're going to gainst your own team because you
know what they gonna do. You know what certain looks
look like, but now you get a different look. Now
the offensive line that's communicate differently with the quarterback with
tight ends with the backs. I saw Algir pick up
(19:48):
a nice blitz then blizz period and then the situations
of practice is what I like to in a game.
You have to kind of adapt to what's happening in
the game out here. The coaches can dictate those situations.
There were a couple of times where hey, Falcons jumped
off Rod's like thirty fifteen, let's back it up, or
they get a couple of yards are at thirty six
(20:08):
here we go thirty sixteen. You can kind of simulate
what you want to see, which helps you give a look,
and then you can go through the process of how
you go through it all. So I love the details
in which that you watch things just happening, and then
you watch maybe a mistake like ours talks about, and
then you can see a couple of days later, you
overcome something that maybe hurt you a few plays ago,
(20:29):
and you're adapting, you communicating, and you.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Get through it.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
So some of those small things for me stuck out
that you know offensively you overcome some things, but then
also think that you got to work on which helps.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
You as you get ready for week one.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Yeah, there's a lot of collaboration that goes into these
practices between the head coaches and the coordinators saying, hey,
what do we want to get here? What do we
want to work on? It is controlled, uh, but I
think it's also good to note for anybody that hasn't
paid attention to joint practices before, but they have actual
officiating staffs, like real officials that are on the field
that are officiating these plays, this competition, if you will,
(21:04):
just like it's games, so they can get work and
then also so the players and the coaches can have
a realistic depiction of was this guy offsides? Was that holding?
Was this a penalty? And how do you end up
adjusting off of that? So we know that there's value
into facing another team, another set of bodies. But arch
(21:24):
is the importance specifically for the starters, because again I
don't think Raheem Morris has made him mentioned as far
as what's going to happen this week, although my guess
is going to be a lot of the same as
what we saw last week. Meaning not a lot of
the starters are going to play, But this is where
the starters do get their work. That's where a lot
of this value comes in.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Correct. Yeah, I don't think there's any question rack. The
more times you can you can rep at a heightened
adrenaline situation, a heightened competition situation without getting your guys
banged up. And that's the beauty of this is it
is controlled around the quarterback, and it is controlled tackling
guys to the ground. To a certain extent, we still
(22:03):
see some guys get a little over zealous, and you
still get guys drugged to the ground from time to
time because it's not our guy, that's their guy, so
I'm gonna tackle their guy. For the most part, the
two teams treat each other the way they're supposed to,
and you want to take care of one another. But
the unscripted looks that Shock was talking about, where you know,
you got to adjust your route based on coverage, and
(22:23):
this leverage is different than what I see from our guys,
so I'm supposed to continue out instead of sitting the
route down. Just all the little things that come from that,
there's tremendous value and all that, but yeah, the starters
probably aren't gonna play. So where do I get as
close to team, close to game type reps as I
can Other than for the quarterback, I think it's pretty
(22:44):
close to full speed when you.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Agree, yeah, I agree. I mean it's it's tackling guys, right.
It's fun to watch.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
It because it feels like game kind of speed out
there because you're going to get somebody different. And we
were standing on them sideline and they had a team
period and you hear berzermon come, he's yapping, he's into it.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I'm talking about he is like lit, he is talking
about they don't want this, they can't feel it. This
guy ain't made a play.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
And you can tell that there's a different kind of
juice and energy about it when you see somebody else
and you're going against him of your balance, So like this.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Is a little bit it feels a little bit different.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
But it's still controlled in fact that you take care
of each other, but it's still hid into a sense
of we can get some real quality work because of
the speed that you're going at.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
I mean, you kind of know after you've gone against
the same players, right, Like if you're an offensive lineman. Right,
you're talking about burs aroun. You go, you're going up
against the same I don't know, let's call it twelve
defensive linemen for the last three weeks. You know what
their tendencies are, right, Like, this guy's a power guy.
This guy's his speed quickness, this guy likes to use
a swim move, he likes to grab and rip.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
But then all of a sudden, you get these new
jerseys in and guess what, it gets a lot more
like the regular season. You don't necessarily know what their
best move is. And that's when you got to get
back to your own technique, and you got to execute
your technique, and you got to be able to work
and control your one eleventh.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Right.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
I know, it's one thing that you talk about a lot,
and so it gets back to the fundamentals of what
football is like every single week in the season when
you get new bodies in there that have strengths, that
have weaknesses, and you've got to prepare properly for it.
So that's what you get with some of these preseason
joint practices. All right, let's kind of shift gears and
talk about second game in the preseason arch I'm going
to go to you and I'm going to ask what position,
(24:27):
group or what areas do you want to see the
most growth in this week after what you saw on
the field last week and maybe what you've seen in
practice a little bit that needs to take the next
step forward in week two.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Yeah, it's easy for me. Rak You got to run
the football. You got to be able to get off
the ball and run the football. And I know that
we've got a group, a front five, first five. They
think we feel pretty comfortable. I saw news Will play
a great deal last year, so you're not overly worried
about the fact that Dolman is not your main center.
News Will played eight games at last year, I think
six games the year before that, so he's played a
(24:58):
lot of football. Make you feel good about the starting five.
I'm not sure about the rest of it now. Who's
the backup center. Who's who's going to slide into that storm.
Norton's been a little banged up. We haven't seen him
at the swing tackle. I thought it was an indoctrination
in the National Football League. Quite frankly, for Jack Nelson,
I thought he had some moments there where he had
some good solid moments, but there was some moments. Hey,
(25:21):
we're not in Kansas anymore or Wisconsin anymore where you know,
so there was guys coming off the edge. So there
is that you know, you exponentially think to see make
him better next week. But you got to be able
to run the football, you know, And I think that
that's something that I think Dwayne Ledford in an offensive
line group will be concentrating on.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
When it comes to offensive line, generally, fellas on an
active roster, you're going to keep somewhere from eight to
ten players, and then you know with the expansion of
the practice squad, there'll be a couple more guys down
there that you have additional bodies. But generally you're looking
for eight to ten, right we probably know who five
to six are going to be, so DJ they're looking
or that other two to three guys doesn't have to
(26:02):
be offensive line for you. But what area of the
game or what players are you looking for this week
to make the biggest impact.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
I want to see the receivers can continue with what
we saw last week. Art mentioned by four or five
guys who you know showed up in that ball game,
and we know you look up and you say, hey,
my man, Dylan Drummond had eight targets, had eight catches.
Look at Chris Blair had three targets, had three catches. Uh,
they were accessible to the quarterback. They made plays when
they had to. Uh. Youre talking about Nash adapting to
(26:30):
the football and you know, ball behind him snagging a
cuffew ball. I want to see him do that again
and again. See you saw it in week one? Can
you do it again in week two? And I think
that speaks volumes to a staff, to the coaches who
are evaluating you, that you know what, this guy can
do this consistently over time.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
And I think that matters the.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Most is Okay, you think about in the season, you
go in and you're that fifth six, sometimes maybe seven
receiver and a guy goes down and you're thrown into
this opportunity.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Are you ready for it?
Speaker 4 (27:01):
Can you go out and you know in that moment
where you get the opportunity to make a play, can
you be the guy that makes that play with the
limited ref that you get?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
And I think you.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Saw a lot of guys making a case for themselves
to you know, be that guy.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
But there's gonna be some opportunities in this ball game?
Can you do that?
Speaker 4 (27:17):
And we've seen plenty of times where a guy has
a really good Week one, but can he show up
in Week two? And we're gonna be a lot of
guys in that spot who are have an opportunity to
go do that.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Can they do it again?
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Specifically, there's a position I'm wondering if you guys have
one position in mind. Mine is going to continue to
be the competition that's going on at the nickel position
with the offord, with Billy Bowman, Mike Ford, Clark. Phillips
has banged up right now, so Clark is kind of
eliminated from that for now, not saying he's eliminated from
(27:49):
the team, but he's not able to be on the
field and compete. I'll be interested to see from a
one position, specific the nickel spot, because all those guys
are gonna play, who begins to solidify maybe take the
reins of that, because I think you can start to
feel Hughes and Terrell on the outside, and you know,
obviously Jesse's not going anywhere. It looks like Fuller and
(28:11):
Wats are kind of rotating in their helms. Just threw
his hat in the ring and said, wait, don't forget
about me. I want to be on the field as well.
But I don't know that you initially feel that way
about the nickel spot. I think that D's had a
pretty good training camp. But Billy made a couple of
plays in special teams in the game, got a chance
to play some nickel. Mike Ford is it as a
guy that's going to play special teams for you, but
he's capable playing corner and nickel. I'll be interested see
(28:33):
how that plays out.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Long About you guys, yeah, I mean you talked about
offensive line, you talked to run game, nickel wide receivers.
I'm looking at again, still one of the biggest focuses
in the offseason, and that's going to be the defensive front.
And it's going to be pass rushed because I think
we saw some really positive things that came out of
the first game. But we all know and you kind
of alluded to it from the first to the second game.
(28:56):
In order to be good in the NFL, it's consistency.
So can you do it in the first game, and
then do it in the second game, and then do
it in the third game, and then come back and
do it when live bullets are flowing in week one
all the way through week eighteen in the season, because
that's what the really good teams do. But my eyes
are still going to be on that defensive front. And
I'm not going to just say edge rushers. I'm going
to talk about that defensive front because Dorles was active,
(29:18):
you mentioned Ruke, and we saw the rookie draft picks
in there. I want to see, is it a little
bit better this week? Did they still find a way
to take the football away to rake the ball out?
Are they getting off of blocks aggressively? Are they getting
around the corner to make the quarterback feel uncomfortable? These
are all areas where I feel like Atlanta has not
quite excelled in the last couple of years and why
(29:40):
they've invested so many assets to that position group. I
want to see the consistency from week one to week two.
Can that defensive line continue to produce?
Speaker 4 (29:49):
And I'll add a little extra to in reck and
we're talking about these joint practices. We're over there watching
today and there were several instances where ken Ward had
nothing or he had to try to escape the pipe
and you see pressure coming, you see different looks from
that that defensive front, and they're showing the ability to
maybe get to the quarterback and push that pocket, especially
with a guy who can move like a cam Ward.
(30:10):
And there were instants today where you're like, Okay, that
looks good. I like the way the pressure is coming
now you're forcing on the back end. Or there was
times where he may have had a little time and
the back end had had straps on him and you're like, Okay,
that looks good too. So putting it all together, I
think goes hand and in what you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
All right, Well, so we talked about run game, we
talked about nickel position, we talked about wide receivers, we
talked about defensive front. Hey, let us know what you're
looking for in week two of the preseason, or maybe
it's the joint practices this week and you want the
guys to let you know how that ended up shaking out.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
On the field.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Let us know, maybe down in the comments or reach
out to us and let us know what you got
your eyes on this week. Let's going to wrap it
up for the Falcons Audible presented by AT and T.
This week, we'll be back all three of us will
be at the game this week, so we'll have one, two,
three sets of eyes on everything that's going on down
on the field, and we will come back to report
on you next week. And we'll also start maybe getting
into conversations of roster cutdowns. Will be coming down in
(31:06):
a couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Right.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
That means we're getting closer to what the actual team
is going to look like, and the regular season is
just around the corner.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
I know.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Everybody can't wait. Thanks so much for joining us, everybody
that shock you got anything for him before we leave.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Hey, we did not plan to what the same shirts today.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
There was no conversation about it.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Arch had a great comment. I'm not gonna use but
it was really funny.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
But uh, you throw me under the bus. No, no,
it was I got the old school logo on. I
see that in a new school logo, So I got
both covered.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Old school new school player. That's what we call. You
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
I'd so much want to get I can't. Thanks so
much for joining us, everybody.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
We'll be back next week.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
This is the Falcons Otto presented by at a T.
Take care everybody
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!