November 28, 2025 • 40 mins
Terrin Waack, Tori, McElhaney, and Will McFadden celebrate Thanksgiving and the end of the Falcons' win streak, diving into what looked different vs the Saints including injuries to key players & an evolving offensive approach. They also look ahead to this week's matchup with the New York Jets and what fans look for to gauge the Falcons' growth.
VOTE FOR THE PRO BOWL HERE: http://atlantafalcons.com/PROBOWL
0:00 - Intro & Question of the Day
5:20 - Atlanta's injury situation
10:17 - Changes in the offense
23:36 - Ongoing defensive evolution
30:00 - NFC South playoff picture
34:45 - Success vs Jets
39:00 - Outro
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Terry Fonto's best draft. We'll stop when we're
all like, what what you are?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
They're not getting not getting cuter.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
It's I think we'd be like, I don't want to
be a blonde.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Happy Thanksgiving Falcons fans, welcome back to the Friday Five.
We hope everybody has grabbed a play the leftovers and
they've settled down to listen to a little bit of
Falcons talk heading into Sunday's game against the New York Jets.
But before we dive into today's show, a reminder that
Pro Bowl voting has commenced and the Falcons have a
lot of interesting candidates. Tarin and I were trying to
(00:34):
talk through some of that this morning about all right,
who conceivably could make it? Well, you can make your
voice heard on who you think shamik it. You can
go to Atlanta Falcons dot com backslash Pro Bowl to
vote for your favorite Falcons. You can also vote on
social using the hashtag, or you can check out this
QR code that we have on screen right now and
(00:55):
vote there. I have no idea if that's actually going
to fit into the window, So go check YouTube. Yeah,
I'm I'm going up here. I'm gonna go over here.
Let's see how many QR codes we can get on
the screen. Let's put one on front of a.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Ticket funds like the DVD sign Yes I.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Love that, Yes Jared, a movable QR screen. Let's go. So,
if you want to vote on the Pro Bowl or
the players that you think should make it, those are
all the ways that you can do so. But we're
gonna start now with our question of the Day, which
you guys can check out on the Atlanta Falcons TikTok
feed anytime you want to, So, Tori, you want to
queus hut. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
So it's a it's actually not a question, it's more
of like a can you do this thing? It's like
a it's a reflex game. So from what I've seen,
from what and what I've been told is essentially it's
one of those things where you have the polls and
you try and you don't know when they're going to drop,
and once they drop, you have to catch them. It's
kind of like what F one and NASCAR drivers use
(01:49):
to like hone in and yeah, hone in the reflexes.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
It's like you're catching like icicles. Yeah, same thing is
almost what it looks like or like wind chimes.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, so the question, and since we don't have the
game with us, we're not gonna play, but like who
on the team do we think had the best reflexes
or if you were to line them all up, like
who who would I think I have a good answer,
but I'll let shall go first.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I'm gonna go with Jake Matthews.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Really, I was wondering where would like offensive line, defensive
line fit into this.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I think about the fact that he has like so
much experience. He's also very like the word I want
to say is organic when it comes to his recovery.
That I feel like this type of game is something
he just has at home to like practice on and
then having a kid multiple kids too, that he's probably sharp.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, I mean, I feel like I feel like it's
probably a receiver or a defensive back. I'm gonna go, man,
I think I'm making this like just decision in real
time because it is I'm gonna say, like Mike cues,
you know, it's probably somebody off like the radar a
little bit, but has like stuck around in the league
for a long time. Veteran worked at a lot of
different spots, probably been exposed to a lot of different things,
(02:58):
and that, like cross training probably does just help your
handy coordination, your reflexes, reaction time, all of that stuff. So, yeah,
we got an offensive lineman and then we got a cornerback.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yeah, I was gonna go with this receiver as well,
because I think just like hand eye coordination, the quickness
of which they're making decisions in the air. But I
didn't feel very convicted in that answer. And so who
I did feel conviction on is Xavier Watts. And the
reason why I feel Xavier Watts is because something that
came up from Jesse Bates to Jerry Gray to people
(03:32):
at Notre Dame about Xavier Watts is his instincts and
a lot of your reflexes is your instincts taking over.
And so I think if there's someone like an Xavier
Watts who has this level of instinct about him, I
think it makes sense that would translate to the reflex game.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I wish we could see actually like who.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Like philibustering on another really good honorable mention Lenny Creek
because he's very very good at ping pong in the
locker room.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Okay, I was wondering. I had no idea where you're
going with that.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
I think the only like Bradley Pinion has beat him
at ping pong. Yeah, so that's that would be reflexive.
I mean that's only one hand.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Leo Jones was also a former ping pong You're in
the locker room.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And Jones played spike ball too all the time, which
is very reflex Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I love that. I love all those those fun little games.
So yeah, go check out the Falcon's TikTok account to
find out who won the reflex game. Actually, who do
you think among the three of us would win not
reflex game?
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I think I would win. I'm pretty confident. Yeah, I'm
pretty high black of yeah, dar instantly, yes, yeah. No.
Something we were saying before we started recording is my
dad used to have that like ball. I played softball
and I was a first baseman and my dad had
this ball with the little like nodules on it and
he would throw it like a pick and I wouldn't
(04:56):
know where the ball was going. So I feel I
feel pretty confident in my abilities.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Say, anytime that you guys go to the doctor's office
and you get your hearing checked right and They're like, Okay,
you're gonna hear a beep. When you hear a beep,
click the little mouse to let us know. I try
to click that thing so fast, so I'm always checking
my reflex. I'm pretty confident too.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
The last time I did that.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
All Right, Well, this podcast has already just taken so
many turns. Let's go ahead and look at the injury situation.
Right it's week thirteen in the NFL, so player injuries
are just a part of life when you kind of
get to this part of the calendar of the Falcons,
of course, not immune to that. Drake London missed this
past game. We'll get into kind of like what it
(05:36):
feels like his status for Sunday should be. But before
we kind of talk about the guys on the injury
report available for Sunday, not available for Sunday, let's just
kind of close the chapter on Michael Pennox Junior and
you know what he's been dealing with his knee tarying.
He got updates for us on that.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yes, on Wednesday during his weekly press conference for he
Morris did say that Michael PENNOCKX Junior had his surgery.
It was on Tuesday, yeah, that's yesterday and he said
it went well. Zach Robinson also said he texted him
after the surgery and said Pennick seems to be in
good spirit. So that's what you want to hear with
(06:12):
the quarterback of your future. We didn't get an update
on Billy Bowman Junior slipped our mind in the moment,
but he did tweet saying for surgery ever made the
Lord guide me built for whatever the journey begins. And
I don't think you're tweeting if you're if it didn't
go well. So that's a good sign, right, Like he
(06:32):
seems to have a good mindset about it, especially knowing
that it's his first is huge. But those are like
the two biggest names when it comes to seeding ending
and I are.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah for sure, So Drake and we should preface this.
It is Wednesday afternoon. We don't have the first injury
report of the week yet, so a lot of this
is just kind of maybe reading the tea leaves of
how things will go and based on just a couple
of press conferences. But what is the latest on London?
Do we expect to see him out there on Sunday?
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Again? On Wednesday morning, That was another update we got
from Raheem Morris. He said he's doubtful. He wouldn't like
concrete say that that's a no go.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I feel like you rarely see doubtful any like, even
though that's an official designation and it's always questionable.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
So I do the injury reports every single week, and
I don't even think I've seen more than two doubtfuls. Yeah,
and and I don't even think the Falcons have been
one of the two. I think that's been other teams
that have listed people as doubtful.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
He did say like or whatever the actual word lay
of the land law of whatever was like, I don't
know what the exact phrasing, but he admitted he didn't
know the exact wording for the injury report. But yeah,
so Drake London remains week to week. More said that
London is moving well, he looks good. He's happy that
(07:50):
the Falcons will get him back soon, but they're just
not sure how soon that is, So probably not Sunday
in New York aka New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, he did say that he doesn't think it'll be
this weekend. Yeah, he was like, as it stands right now,
it probably wouldn't be this weekend.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, so you know, like, given that, how do we
expect We saw what the offense could do without Drake. Obviously,
Darnell's connection with Kirk is has been strong. I mean,
do the Falcons need Drake in this game? How does
that meaningfully impact their offense? Like if he's not out.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
There, I don't think you have to have Drake London
in this game. I think if he needs another week,
you're in a position where you can give him another week,
and I would behoove them to do that. I think
they had a good thing going with Darnell Mooney, David Sills.
You had some guys stepping up, which was really nice.
I believe Kirk Cousins connected with seven different receivers over
(08:43):
the course of the win against the Saints, which is
one of those things that like is what you expected.
And I actually even said as I was prepping for
this podcast, it's like, if Drake London even did come back,
come back, I actually didn't think that it would look
like operationally, very different than what it looked like against
the Saints. I still think that the goal would be
spreading things out with with Kirk Cousins, like you still
(09:07):
would want to run the ball with Bajon and Tyler,
you still want to spread the ball out as much
as possible. Maybe it with Drake inserted back in, it's
not seven different receivers, because you know Drake would get
he would have a number of looks as the number
one option. But and also like just Drake in the
red zone changes things a little bit as well. But overall,
(09:29):
I don't necessarily feel that when it comes to Drake
London in the sense of going up against this Jets defense,
that you have to have his presence, when in reality,
it's like, if he's not one hundred percent, I wouldn't
want to throw him out there, knowing that you kind
of have bigger fish to fry down the road.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
And you have Darnell Mooney now, who's showing that he's
kind of back from the injuries he's dealt with, and
he and Kirk Cousins have a really strong connection. So
maybe they can build on that and Mooney do Mooney
things in this last stretch of the season.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Yeah, it'll be nice to if he can kind of
continue to pick up his play like he started last
weekend in New Orleans. Whenever Drake gets back right, It
probably won't meaningfully change the offense outside of maybe that
pass distribution chart, but I think it is fair to
kind of wonder if Kirk and inserting him at quarterback
change the offense. How it didn't change the offense, What
(10:23):
is the identity of the Falcons offense? Things like that,
y and Zach Robinson was asked a lot about that
on Wednesday. Raheem was asked a lot about it on
Monday by you Tory with a kind of under center
and play action, and it's just been really a topic
of discussion, so we should probably discuss it. But for
those you know under center, right, I think it's pretty obvious,
you're right up under center. Yeah, quarterback is right behind
(10:45):
the center. Pistol and shotgun are a little bit different, right,
So shotgun the quarterback is a little bit further back.
Usually the running back is right next to him, or
they don't have a running back at all and he's
spread out wide. Pistol is a little bit of a
hybrid look. Quarterback is you know, about five yards back.
Running back is another three yards or so behind him,
So you get some of that downhill look, you get
(11:06):
some of the extra play action that has allowed for
and more importantly, Zach Robinson feels that it kind of
creates that whole menu option for them with motions where
you can insert blockers. I think of Charlie Warner how
often he has kind of motioned over before the ball
is deaf and then like inserted off tackle or something
like that. So yeah, it's just like I'm setting up
(11:27):
this whole conversation because I want to get into what
we think about, like a how the Falcons looked with
Kirk Cousins yea under center literally a little bit more
than Michael Pennix has. And we saw the highest play
action usage rate this past Sunday by the Falcons. I
think it was like twenty nine percent. That's the biggest
of the season, yeah for them, And it was effective.
(11:49):
I thought that shot to Darnel Mooney obviously the highlights.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
So a couple check downs to Bajon that I think
worked really well.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Yeah, or he's been twitching to talk about this one.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
She has, so so let's let's go. Yeah, Tory, like,
why why do you think we've seen this discrepancy between
the two quarterbacks? Is there a discrepancy between the two quarterbacks?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
There is point blank. I think that you can't look
at what happened on Sunday against the Saints and say
that there isn't because of how drastic I felt like
the operation was. When it comes to this whole discussion
about pistol under cent or play action off of either.
I think actions speak louder than words in this situation,
but I think words can help us prove our point.
(12:27):
On Sunday after the game, where he Morris said point blank,
when Kirk Cousins came off of his torn achilles injury, quote,
he felt a little bit more comfortable and pistol. So
now that Kirk Cousins is quote back to what he's
been in the past, per Morris, the offensive play style
was put in place to quote accommodate Kirk. So we
know what Kirk Cousins has been, We know what his
(12:47):
history with kind of this under center play action has
been for him throughout his entire career. So my thought
process in this, and it was the reason why I
understood where everybody's questions were coming from in the wake
of this Saint's game, was that okay, So by the
same logic of Kirk Cousins not being fully confident and
(13:08):
comfortable coming off of the injury to be in anything
other than pistol shotgun. By that same logic, it brings
you to the question of whether or not Michael Michael
Pennox felt comfortable and confident enough doing so, because, let's
be honest, it's in this playbook, Like you just showed
us twenty nine percent of what Kirk Cousins did in
(13:29):
New Orleans, so there must be a reason that we're
not seeing it. So you confirmed that Kirk was not
comfortable doing so last year. Okay, then what is stopping
you from doing it with Michael Pennocks. Is it because
Michael Pennox is not yet comfortable in his own right
to be under center with that play action to the
extent it is. I definitely think people need to go
(13:50):
listen to Zach Robinson's press conference that just happened literally
an hour ago as we're sitting Wednesday, Wednesday. Yeah, Like
he was asked all these questions, and I think that
a big part of what he said, whether or not
you agree with it, is that the Falcons felt that
last year when they were up under center, that it
(14:10):
was one of their least effective plays like play action
under center was one of their least effective plays in
twenty twenty four. I think, like my thing with that,
in my response to that, and now I'm about to
get on a soapbox, is that the modern game you
have to have that as a wrinkle. You have to
figure out why it's not working. And let's be honest.
(14:33):
If you felt like in twenty twenty four that Kirk
Cousins was not healthy enough to do some play action
under center stuff, and you felt like maybe Michael Pennocks
was not as efficient or comfortable doing so, that needed
to have been more of a priority in Michael pennockx's
development in my opinion, because at a certain point you
have to develop Michael Pennocks in this wrinkle of the
(14:56):
game to get the full extent of what you need
to out of this offense.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I think that phrase right there, the full extent right
is there feels a little bit too much in one
direction with pistol right, And the balance is ultimately where
I think everything is most effective, because that is where
you don't have these tendencies like right now, the Falcons
have a very clear tendency with pistol right. So if
I'm a defense Okay, well that's what we got to
(15:20):
prepare for. And yeah, you feel like you guys can
run a lot of what you want to run out
of that, but you can also run a lot of
what you want to do under center. And to me,
it would just be one more element that a defense
would have to prepare for, which I'm big on, Like
how do you stress a team throughout Wednesday through Friday
when they're trying to implement everything like hours, There are
only so many hours in a day, So give them
(15:41):
as much stuff as they have to prepare for, and
it feels like you are leaving a little bit maybe
on the table there. That being said, and we talked
a little bit about this on Falcons Final Whistle is
like you just maybe look at how they came up
right when Michael Pennix junior was coming up through high
school and probably lower than that, Like it's a first game.
They're doing seven on seven, they're doing a lot of
(16:02):
the shotgun stuff. So I do truly wonder if just
the number of hours he has had Washington, he's in
shotgun like all over at the time.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, and I get that too, And my response to
that is kind of like, look at what the Rams
are doing. Like, look at if we're looking at the
Rams and what Matthew Stafford in particularly is doing running
their play action operation out from under center more than
any other quarterback in the league right now and having
the most success than any other quarterback in the league
(16:33):
doing so. The Rams lead and play action rate and
under center drop backs, Colts and Bears are up there too.
All of these teams are winning a lot of games.
All of these teams have really good offenses in place.
And who was the player comp for Michael Pannings junior
coming out of the NFL draft. Matthew Stafford. So, Matthew
Stafford is a true pocket passer. Matthew Stafford is somebody
(16:57):
who loves to sling it downfield. Matthew Stafford loves a
one on one with some of his receivers. Like, so,
if Matthew Stafford is the standard of what you need
Michael pinnockx to be, then I think this part of
the game, the under center play action stuff has to
develop absolutely.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yeah, I mean you mentioned Matthew Saffer. Like if you
look at just the usage of under center for quarterbacks
this season, like it is the it's the best offenses.
It's it's the Rams, it's Seattle, it's the Lions, it's
the Bears, you know, the forty nine Ers, Packers, Patriots, like, yeah,
down the list, right, So it is very clear that
at least maybe that is not there's not maybe a
(17:34):
causality there. Like I'm not saying that the best offenses
are the best offenses because they're running the most under center. However,
I think it illustrates the effectiveness of what some of
that under center usage does for you. And that is
just kind of where I think you're right, Like having
the player grow in that direction ultimately allows for more things.
(17:55):
And one of the most interesting things that I think
Zach said on Wednesday was last they didn't necessarily expect
them to be an eleven personnel team as much as
they were. They kind of thought it would be more
twelve personnel, one running back, two tight ends, which makes sense.
You've got Kyle Pitts, you got Charlie Warner, right, and
I think we did see some of that evolution where
maybe Kyle Pitts was out of the lineup or spread
(18:16):
out wide as kind of that big wide receiver. And
when you look at the Rams specifically, what they have
been doing so well this season and Seattle, frankly is
throwing the ball out of heavy looks, and we saw
the Falcons do that against the Saints, a lot of
thirteen personnel with effective play action behind it. So that
is where if you're gonna provide kind of like a
(18:36):
play action look which is inherently meant to fool a
defense in a thinking you're going to run the ball,
it is probably best done out of a look where
all of the other set dressing screams we're going to
run the ball, or under center, we have three tight
ends on the field and boom, there's a pass over
top right. And I just kind of think that to
the eye naturally, when a quarterback is in pistol which
(18:58):
looks like shotgun, just kind of think pass a little bit.
And the Falcons have been good at running the ball
out of pistol this season. Like the efficiency is there
and all of that. It's just been the passing game
hasn't seemed like there have been many easy completions or
easy explosive plays in the way the Frankly there were
on Sunday, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Listening to y'all, it's just kind of like The next
question that comes to mind is why do you think
that development hasn't been there or been done yet.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I think it's a great question, and I think it's
something that Zach Robinson Raheem Morris like kind of have
to answer to. And I think that what I ultimately
think about it is probably you know, I can't even
say it's accurate, you know, like I, what it looks
like from the outside looking in is that the Falcons
(19:47):
decided early on with Kirk Cousins that he was not
comfortable going under center. YEP, so they were say they
have and they have verbed them.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
For injury reason yeat injury reasons.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
So the operation, the install all of last year were
to account for that. Well, then you get to the
point at the end of the season where you bring
Mike in. How much of even any type of under
center work was Mike getting as the number two behind
Kirk Cousins win The operation itself was not going anywhere
close to being under center at a significant margin. So
(20:20):
then you move into this off season and you're like,
Michael Pennix is a young guy. We know what he
does well, we know that he wants to stretch the ball, downfield,
get it to the outside, all of those things. We
know he worked a lot last year in pistol and shotgun.
We know at Washington Shotgun that's what he wants to do,
that's what he feels comfortable with in his first year
as a starter. We're not gonna make it too complicated.
(20:42):
I think that, to me is what happened. Do I
think that's right or wrong? No one gives a crap
what I have to say about it. But I do
think moving forward, and that's why this is this conversation
that we're having right now. You've got to develop Mike
to feel more comfortable in under center play action looks.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
That would make sense that he is that he was
kind of learning what they were doing rather than everything
that he could be learning. Right, Yeah, he's going with
the playbook rather than the whole saga.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, and there you go.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Talking about the books earlier?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Is that four or five? But I and I think
it's also fair to point out too that like when
you're running a scout team offense, you're usually operating kind
of different offensive looks, not always like what the Falcons
are going to be running. And we knew that Kirk
got all of the first team reps pretty much last
year because it was his first year working with Drake
Lunnon and Kyle Pitts and Darnel Mooney and all of
those guys. And when you look at just the timeline
(21:36):
with which everything happened, when they kind of get in
here in the off season program in you know, May June,
all of that, you gotta start installing your offense, right.
You can't just wait for your quarterback to be fully healthy.
And he was healthy enough to get out there on
the field, so you say, all right, we're going to
start you back in shotgun and pistol like where you're
not having to put a lot of this strain on
(21:59):
your achille. And so I think from there, what do
we see in Pittsburgh right, A lot of the pistol.
They naturally kind of went back a little bit more
under center with Kirk once he started kind of getting healthier.
But then those final three games with Mike, it's not
like we were going into the offseason really really worried
about the offense. Right. They did really well, so you
could understand them saying, hey, look what we have here works.
(22:23):
What Mike did at Washington obviously got him to be
the number eight pick in the draft and the runner
up for the Heisman. So like it worked for him there,
let's just keep on doing it and now you're seeing
maybe where some of the deficiencies are or where you
lack some of those other areas that are beneficial.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
My last note on this and this is we can
kind of move forward from here, but it really is
now that Michael Pennox is coming off of his third
AICL reconstructive surgery in five years, right, it's five years
now that he is coming off of this. You're kind
of right back a little bit to where you were
last year. With last year with Kirk coming off of
a season ending Achilles injury. Obviously different ligaments, different parts
(23:03):
of the body, all those kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
But still the injury.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Very big injuries that have an effect on a quarterback's
mobility and comfortability in the pocket. So how much of
this conversation is even going to carry over into twenty
twenty six? Yeah, I mean this is something that we're
going to be talking about, I think for a while.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Definitely. Yep. So let's put a pin in that and
we will, I'm sure return to it many many times.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
With a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
But let's flip over and talk about the defense a
little bit. A note that we brought up on Falcons
final whistle was maybe this was the beginning of kind
of a new evolution for Atlanta's defense. The Falcons blitzed
at their lowest rate of the season, just over fifteen
percent against Tyler Schuck, but he faced a lot of pressure.
They got nineteen pressures in five sacks and only sending
(23:50):
four or fewer tarren Why is that important for Atlanta's
defense moving forward?
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Because you love going back to the receipts. In week six,
Jeff Olbrick said, I don't want to be a big
pressure team, and we were all like, what, but you are?
Speaker 2 (24:06):
You don't want to get this right?
Speaker 1 (24:08):
This is who you are.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Aren't they number one in blitzing at the time or
something like that. We were like.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
By a large margin, Like the offense was in pistol
by like a large margin, and the Falcons were blitzing
by like a large margin.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
And I'm like if that took me being like I
don't want to be a blonde, but you are. So
when Jeff said that, we were like, what do you mean?
And it's like I want us to rely on our
front four to win and do their thing and play
coverage behind it. He didn't. Right now, we're just not
quite there yet, are they there? Sunday it looked like it.
But I guess it's kind of just scene moving forward.
(24:42):
Whether they can repeat that performance and be the defense
that Jeff wanted. He wants to dye his hair, Yeah,
an interesting.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Man blonde head out, that'd be something.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
No.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I think that a part of this that I've kind
of been ruminating on for the last like four or
five days, is are we going to see it again?
Versus the Jets. I think that there were some deficiencies
along the Saints offensive line that maybe made this thought
of sending only four easier more execute You can execute
it at an easier right because of some of the
(25:15):
deficiencies with the Saints. You have a little bit of
a better offensive line. Against New York they have some
good tackles. Are you going to be able to do
it again? And I think to your point of like
the development of guys, I think that an interesting thought
that I want to put out there to the people
is that the Falcons have not been im people gestures
(25:37):
broadly to them, we the people. Is there a realm
where in the last four weeks without Divine Diablo that
it kind of forced guys along the Front seven particularly
to develop faster. And what I mean by that is
like without Divine Diablo, who you relied upon for a
lot of pressures and for a lot of a lot,
(26:00):
point blank, full stop, Like without him, did you have
to see guys like Rouke, Brandon Dorles, Jalen Walker, JPJ,
like all of those guys step up a little bit,
to the point of when Divine Diablo came back four
weeks later, you felt like, hey, we really don't have
to send Divine on a blitz in order to get home,
(26:21):
Like we have some guys up front who are winning.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Maybe that's the Bike Committee approach Jeff Ulrick was talking
about all this time.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Yeah, Well they rush as a unit like you can
see it, like Arnold Abakhetti or Leonard Floyd gets like
an inside push and then you have James Spears Junior
coming around behind him like that is as much as
that sack will go down as like James Spears Junior sack,
Like everything along that Front seven is all encompassing amongst
the individuals it's an organism, right.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
I was trying to go with like what you were saying,
how a lot of people stepped up when Divine was
gone because they had to, And I was like, maybe
that's the Bike Committee, But I don't think that landed.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Oh oh, I mean.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
The amalgamation of like, yeah, everything that he brings. I
do think if you just like, look, they have way
more dudes this year than I can like ever remember them.
How Like I remember when it was just tacking Vic Beasley, right,
and Adrian Claiborne is like the third man off the bench, right.
But they have slowly just been adding pieces so you
can rush in waves and instead of one player being
(27:22):
out there for forty snaps, instead you're seeing the benefit
of somebody who's out there for thirty snaps, twenty two snaps,
and they are just bringing it every single So it's
not a surprise that you have a game where it's
like Brandon Dorles r. Guerroro, Jalen Walker, James Peters, she,
like all of these guys are getting involved instead of
one player having four sacks.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Yeah. And I also think to that point, like all
of this is so indicative of acute development among these
young defenders.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
And you're saying acute development, not cute development. They're not
getting cuter.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
They're not getting cuter, acute like a cute rapid escalation of.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Development personality moments on the podcast, I don't even.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Know where to come in.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
No, so right now, this week, Jalen Walker leads all
rookies in sacks and force fumbles, James Fearce junior quarterback pressures.
Let's even throw in Xavier Watts with interceptions, because what's
happening on the back end effects what's happening in the
front seven. They're all rookies and the Falcons, the Falcons
have players rookies leading across the league in this category.
(28:26):
This is Terry font Knowa's best draft, full stop. I
have no no qualms, no, And as much as it
sucks that Billy Bowman Junior is going to be out
for the rest of the year, what you have in
Billy Bowman Junior is something really good as well. He
was doing some really really good things. It's unfortunate that
injuries piled up the way they did with him. But
some of these guys, I mean, this has a ripple effect.
(28:47):
I think beyond this year, this has a ripple effect.
I also think even in game planning, in what you
decide to do and what positions you put your defense in,
and whether or not you go for for things on
third and fourth down, all those things are topics of
conversation that starts with what this defense does by way
(29:08):
of getting after the quarterback.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Absolutely, and we're going to push here to topic four,
but I want to add one more note, as is
Just Stevens or Jess Stevens on our comms team was
pulling up kind of the pass rushers from the last
two years, right, because I think it's fair to say
Brandon Dorless and Ruku Row ro like are kind of
pseudo rookies last year.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I mean they were healthy scratches for majority of especially
Brandon Dorless majority of last season.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
And now he has He's got six acts this season,
which is tied for the most among players taken last
year and this year in the draft. So when you're
looking at guys like Latu Latsu, Jared Verse, all the
players that we were talking about in last year's draft, Yep,
Brandon Dorless is right there with him. Jalen Walker is
one behind those dudes. James Pierce Junior is one behind it.
So it's like this whole class of first and second
(29:56):
year defensive lineman has been simply amazing. So the Falcons
obviously got a much needed win on Sunday against the Saints.
It didn't really meaningfully, i think, change their playoff hopes
in any way, but keeps you alive, right, and so
then when you have a week in which you're the
only team in your division to win a game, okay,
(30:18):
maybe those those feelings get get hiding a little bit.
So really quickly, just want to run down kind of
the schedules for Tampa, Carolina and then Atlanta, because there's
one is not like the other. Unfortunately, I think Tampa
has kind of the easiest road left. They've got Arizona
this weekend, New Orleans, Atlanta, Carolina, Miami and then finishing
(30:40):
up again with Carolina. Right that, Atlanta's got at least
a chance there to get a game back on Tampa.
So that's good. But it seems like a pretty favorable
schedule for Tampa Carolina. Different story. They got the Rams,
then a merciful bye week right then you got the Saints,
the Bucks, Seattle and the Buck again, I mean Bucks, Seattle, Bucks,
(31:02):
that's a tough way to end it. Atlanta schedule real quick, Jets, Seahawks, Bucks, Cardinals, Rams, Saints,
so a kind of a mix of both there having
Seattle and obviously La with the Bucks. Those are going
to be your three big games left. But what are
kind of like the different permutations of how this could
play out? And do we feel looking at all of
(31:23):
that toy like, how do we feel about the Falcon chances?
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Yeah, it still doesn't look good. You've you've played yourself
into this position that you're in now where it doesn't
look good and it's going to take a lot for
it to look better. What is interesting is that right
now as it stands, Tampa Bay is on a slide,
and I think they've lost five of their last six
if I if I'm doing the math.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Right, I didn't scream grab that far back, but it's something.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
It's last three in a row for sure, And I
think even before then, it was it was a couple right.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Before, yeah, by couple right before that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
So, but that was all so their toughest stretch of
the season. They played the Bills, the Rams, the Patriots
like boom boom boom boom, lost all of those, so
you figure if you were gonna have some losses by
this Tampa Bay team, it was gonna come during that
stretch of games. And now you look at the rest
(32:19):
of their slate and it's like, well, they should arguably
probably beat a lot of these teams. And then you
look at Carolina and it's like, yes, they still have
the Rams, they still have the Seahawks. I feel like
the Falcons and the Carolina Panthers are probably pretty even
right now in terms of strength of schedule left. Unfortunately
for the Falcons because the Carolina Panthers own the tiebreaker
(32:41):
over them. And unless something happens with the Carolina Panthers
where they absolutely implode, and something happens with the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers where they absolutely implode. Like that's kind of
what I know, it's not great to talk about, but
that's kind of just where the Falcons find themselves right now.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Yeah, Taron taking it kind of a game at a
time approach, like how could Sunday further alter the playoff
picture for Atlanta and kind of their chances.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Right now this time of year, we're hearing the one
and O phrase a lot, like you just got to
go want to know. You just got to go want
to know. And that's all they can do if they
want to keep their playoff hopes alive. I mean, they're
hanging on. It went from less than one percent to
two percent, according to the New York Times simulator after
the win in New Orleans. You mess around with it,
(33:29):
it doesn't never get too high. Regard.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Don't think it can ever get above seventy six percent.
And that's if the Falcons completely went out.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Yeah, higher than I thought it would be.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
I don't think it's that high anymore.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
That high that was on Sunday where I looked at it,
so it may not be.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
But regardless, Like it's crazy to say that, because I
feel like with how the Bucks have been going, the
Panthers have been going, it's almost closer than it feels
when you look at the standings themselves. I mean, yep,
the Bucks are six and five, the Panthers are six
and six, the Falcons are four and seven, Saints are
two and nine.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Love it, love it, say it again.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Like Saints are two and nine.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Yes, the problem is is that the Falcons have only
beaten the Saints in NFC South play Like that's what
it is like, let's be real again, Like.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
They're three and one in the NFC, No. One in
three in NFC South. They wish they were three in
the NFC South. So even though the division itself looks
like it's kind of getting a tighter picture, it's a
little films developing.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Yeah, that's good. I like that.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
That was a lot better than the hair one.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
The picture is crystallizing. Yeah, so let's let's talk about
that one to know, right, what do you got to
do on Sunday to get a win against the Jets?
And last week we kind of played a fun game
about what do we need to see to feel like
this team is not just capable of breaking their five
game losing streak but actually like building maybe something moving
forward for the rest of the season. So kind of
(34:58):
keeping that it alive, Like what do we need to
see on Sunday against the Jets to feel like, Okay,
they took the first step against the Saints. Now they're
taking a little bit of a second step. Maybe ultimately
it all comes too little too late, but you would
like to feel better about this team as the season
kind of continues along. So what do they need to do?
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I think you need to come out fast start. I
think that you I would ideally like to see this
team have a lead, take a lead into halftime. I
don't think you have to, but I think it's it's
a good idea too, because of the issues that we've
seen them have in the third quarter, not being able
to score, not really being able to get off the field,
all of these things kind of bouncing off of one
another and in this bad spiral of third quarter play.
(35:40):
Because that's what we saw against the Saints. As you saw,
they got out to a good start, they were in
a good place going out coming out of halftime, and
then you let the Saints hang around and then you
get to the fourth quarter and oh look, it's a
one scorer game. So for me, it's like, don't allow
a team to hang around coming out of halftime, A
foot on the gas. If you're the Falcons in that
(36:03):
third quarter, let's see something different from you in that
third quarter. If I can see that, I would feel
more confident in what a win and what would constitute
a success for this Falcons team, because then at that
point it's you turn from just a win to a
convincing win to a decisive win.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
So following along that, like the Falcons have liked to
take the ball and start the ball if they win
the coin toss and just start on offense, would you
maybe want to see them change that strategy and defer
and say we'll take the ball in the second half
to try to maybe recreate some of that energy that
they've had at the start of games.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
This is potentially, but I don't really I'm not one
that really thinks that it matters all that. Yeah, I
really don't like. I really think that it's up to
you in the moment. Like if you go out and
your defense is playing well, and your defense has a
good stop in that very first drive of the second half,
and you come out offensively and you go down and
you score, Okay, I don't care when it happens.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Treke it a happy right, Yeah, all right, Taren, What
do you need to see?
Speaker 3 (37:00):
You know what I'm gonna say. They just need to win.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
That's why I like it is you're like just straight
cut to the bone. What matters at the end of
the day, get.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
That getting that win. I mean Rahee Morris has said
good teams pull out ugly wins. I don't like it
doesn't need to be perfect. It doesn't it is it
would it be nice if it was clean, Yes, But
at the end of the day, like the players say,
we have to go on and Oh what I realized
while you were talking though, is the Falcons maybe should
(37:31):
erase this issue they have with the number three third
quarter third downs. They kind of fixed the field goals
with three points. They only ran three plays in that
third period in New Orleans. Yeah, and I'm just like, oh, this.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Is a lot, Jesse Bates noted problem. Jesse Bates the
third Maybe that cancels it out.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
I think it does.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Is that why he's that number?
Speaker 1 (37:53):
I think so. One thing that I'll add to this
and this isn't necessarily like they have to do this
or like it's gonna be indicative of success or not,
is like, I do have some questions that I'm wanting
answered in this game. We've alluded to it throughout the podcast. Offensively,
it's what is the offensive game plan? And how much
are you going under center using play action off of that?
(38:13):
Like is that here to stay? Is that something that
they're gonna do with Kirk Cousins moving forward? It feels
like potentially they are, but we don't know for sure,
yet we only have one sample size of that when
game was sample size. And then defensively, it's can you
continue to win by only sending for yep? That is
one of those things that is Was that something that
they felt like they could take advantage of with the
New Orleans Saints or is this something that is gonna
(38:35):
again like play action under center, something that's here to stay.
Those are my two questions.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Basically, can you repeat what you just did?
Speaker 2 (38:42):
H boom? Yeah, it's like it's a one game sample size,
so like we're just really evaluating that one game, But
can you create a broader trend off of that?
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Stack the wins and stack the trends. Trends there, you go,
thank you for the word.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Of course words, that's what we do here. That's what
we do here, the trends, stack the views. Go check
us out on YouTube and download and like and subscribe
and share it to everybody. Got it? Got the plug
in there? What's up? Jared? Love me for that? All right?
Pro Bowl voting as a reminder, one more time is
open now, So go, whether you do it on social,
(39:17):
whether you do it on a landofalcons dot com, or
you check out our QR code, which I'll let Jared
put anywhere he wants to do right now, Ye, please go
do that everybody again. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving,
have a great Thanksgiving weekend. That's one of my favorite
parts about the holidays. It's on a Thursday, but it
feels like it just rolls right into the weekend. With
all the college football games on Friday, I know you
(39:38):
guys are going to be enjoying some of those in clean,
old fashion hate.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
I'm super pumped. Will be in Mercedes Been Stadium, all
the dogs and the Jackets.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
I'm tailgating, but I don't care who wins.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
All right, well, you know we got two dogs here,
so like, let's go.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Let's not forget the Iron Bowl.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
No, that's you, You're dear.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Iron is a big deal.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
All right, We're gonna get out of here for Tory
McLean and tarn Walk. I'm moman fattan. Thank you guys
so much for listening, and we will see you for
Falcons Final Whistle on Monday, Falcons Audible middle of the
week next week, and of course Friday five next time.
So see y all then,
This is Terry Fonto's best draft. We'll stop when we're
all like, what what you are?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
They're not getting not getting cuter.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
It's I think we'd be like, I don't want to
be a blonde.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Happy Thanksgiving Falcons fans, welcome back to the Friday Five.
We hope everybody has grabbed a play the leftovers and
they've settled down to listen to a little bit of
Falcons talk heading into Sunday's game against the New York Jets.
But before we dive into today's show, a reminder that
Pro Bowl voting has commenced and the Falcons have a
lot of interesting candidates. Tarin and I were trying to
(00:34):
talk through some of that this morning about all right,
who conceivably could make it? Well, you can make your
voice heard on who you think shamik it. You can
go to Atlanta Falcons dot com backslash Pro Bowl to
vote for your favorite Falcons. You can also vote on
social using the hashtag, or you can check out this
QR code that we have on screen right now and
(00:55):
vote there. I have no idea if that's actually going
to fit into the window, So go check YouTube. Yeah,
I'm I'm going up here. I'm gonna go over here.
Let's see how many QR codes we can get on
the screen. Let's put one on front of a.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Ticket funds like the DVD sign Yes I.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Love that, Yes Jared, a movable QR screen. Let's go. So,
if you want to vote on the Pro Bowl or
the players that you think should make it, those are
all the ways that you can do so. But we're
gonna start now with our question of the Day, which
you guys can check out on the Atlanta Falcons TikTok
feed anytime you want to, So, Tori, you want to
queus hut. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
So it's a it's actually not a question, it's more
of like a can you do this thing? It's like
a it's a reflex game. So from what I've seen,
from what and what I've been told is essentially it's
one of those things where you have the polls and
you try and you don't know when they're going to drop,
and once they drop, you have to catch them. It's
kind of like what F one and NASCAR drivers use
(01:49):
to like hone in and yeah, hone in the reflexes.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
It's like you're catching like icicles. Yeah, same thing is
almost what it looks like or like wind chimes.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, so the question, and since we don't have the
game with us, we're not gonna play, but like who
on the team do we think had the best reflexes
or if you were to line them all up, like
who who would I think I have a good answer,
but I'll let shall go first.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I'm gonna go with Jake Matthews.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Really, I was wondering where would like offensive line, defensive
line fit into this.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I think about the fact that he has like so
much experience. He's also very like the word I want
to say is organic when it comes to his recovery.
That I feel like this type of game is something
he just has at home to like practice on and
then having a kid multiple kids too, that he's probably sharp.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, I mean, I feel like I feel like it's
probably a receiver or a defensive back. I'm gonna go, man,
I think I'm making this like just decision in real
time because it is I'm gonna say, like Mike cues,
you know, it's probably somebody off like the radar a
little bit, but has like stuck around in the league
for a long time. Veteran worked at a lot of
different spots, probably been exposed to a lot of different things,
(02:58):
and that, like cross training probably does just help your
handy coordination, your reflexes, reaction time, all of that stuff. So, yeah,
we got an offensive lineman and then we got a cornerback.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yeah, I was gonna go with this receiver as well,
because I think just like hand eye coordination, the quickness
of which they're making decisions in the air. But I
didn't feel very convicted in that answer. And so who
I did feel conviction on is Xavier Watts. And the
reason why I feel Xavier Watts is because something that
came up from Jesse Bates to Jerry Gray to people
(03:32):
at Notre Dame about Xavier Watts is his instincts and
a lot of your reflexes is your instincts taking over.
And so I think if there's someone like an Xavier
Watts who has this level of instinct about him, I
think it makes sense that would translate to the reflex game.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I wish we could see actually like who.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Like philibustering on another really good honorable mention Lenny Creek
because he's very very good at ping pong in the
locker room.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Okay, I was wondering. I had no idea where you're
going with that.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
I think the only like Bradley Pinion has beat him
at ping pong. Yeah, so that's that would be reflexive.
I mean that's only one hand.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Leo Jones was also a former ping pong You're in
the locker room.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And Jones played spike ball too all the time, which
is very reflex Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I love that. I love all those those fun little games.
So yeah, go check out the Falcon's TikTok account to
find out who won the reflex game. Actually, who do
you think among the three of us would win not
reflex game?
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I think I would win. I'm pretty confident. Yeah, I'm
pretty high black of yeah, dar instantly, yes, yeah. No.
Something we were saying before we started recording is my
dad used to have that like ball. I played softball
and I was a first baseman and my dad had
this ball with the little like nodules on it and
he would throw it like a pick and I wouldn't
(04:56):
know where the ball was going. So I feel I
feel pretty confident in my abilities.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Say, anytime that you guys go to the doctor's office
and you get your hearing checked right and They're like, Okay,
you're gonna hear a beep. When you hear a beep,
click the little mouse to let us know. I try
to click that thing so fast, so I'm always checking
my reflex. I'm pretty confident too.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
The last time I did that.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
All Right, Well, this podcast has already just taken so
many turns. Let's go ahead and look at the injury situation.
Right it's week thirteen in the NFL, so player injuries
are just a part of life when you kind of
get to this part of the calendar of the Falcons,
of course, not immune to that. Drake London missed this
past game. We'll get into kind of like what it
(05:36):
feels like his status for Sunday should be. But before
we kind of talk about the guys on the injury
report available for Sunday, not available for Sunday, let's just
kind of close the chapter on Michael Pennox Junior and
you know what he's been dealing with his knee tarying.
He got updates for us on that.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yes, on Wednesday during his weekly press conference for he
Morris did say that Michael PENNOCKX Junior had his surgery.
It was on Tuesday, yeah, that's yesterday and he said
it went well. Zach Robinson also said he texted him
after the surgery and said Pennick seems to be in
good spirit. So that's what you want to hear with
(06:12):
the quarterback of your future. We didn't get an update
on Billy Bowman Junior slipped our mind in the moment,
but he did tweet saying for surgery ever made the
Lord guide me built for whatever the journey begins. And
I don't think you're tweeting if you're if it didn't
go well. So that's a good sign, right, Like he
(06:32):
seems to have a good mindset about it, especially knowing
that it's his first is huge. But those are like
the two biggest names when it comes to seeding ending
and I are.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah for sure, So Drake and we should preface this.
It is Wednesday afternoon. We don't have the first injury
report of the week yet, so a lot of this
is just kind of maybe reading the tea leaves of
how things will go and based on just a couple
of press conferences. But what is the latest on London?
Do we expect to see him out there on Sunday?
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Again? On Wednesday morning, That was another update we got
from Raheem Morris. He said he's doubtful. He wouldn't like
concrete say that that's a no go.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I feel like you rarely see doubtful any like, even
though that's an official designation and it's always questionable.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
So I do the injury reports every single week, and
I don't even think I've seen more than two doubtfuls. Yeah,
and and I don't even think the Falcons have been
one of the two. I think that's been other teams
that have listed people as doubtful.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
He did say like or whatever the actual word lay
of the land law of whatever was like, I don't
know what the exact phrasing, but he admitted he didn't
know the exact wording for the injury report. But yeah,
so Drake London remains week to week. More said that
London is moving well, he looks good. He's happy that
(07:50):
the Falcons will get him back soon, but they're just
not sure how soon that is, So probably not Sunday
in New York aka New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, he did say that he doesn't think it'll be
this weekend. Yeah, he was like, as it stands right now,
it probably wouldn't be this weekend.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, so you know, like, given that, how do we
expect We saw what the offense could do without Drake. Obviously,
Darnell's connection with Kirk is has been strong. I mean,
do the Falcons need Drake in this game? How does
that meaningfully impact their offense? Like if he's not out.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
There, I don't think you have to have Drake London
in this game. I think if he needs another week,
you're in a position where you can give him another week,
and I would behoove them to do that. I think
they had a good thing going with Darnell Mooney, David Sills.
You had some guys stepping up, which was really nice.
I believe Kirk Cousins connected with seven different receivers over
(08:43):
the course of the win against the Saints, which is
one of those things that like is what you expected.
And I actually even said as I was prepping for
this podcast, it's like, if Drake London even did come back,
come back, I actually didn't think that it would look
like operationally, very different than what it looked like against
the Saints. I still think that the goal would be
spreading things out with with Kirk Cousins, like you still
(09:07):
would want to run the ball with Bajon and Tyler,
you still want to spread the ball out as much
as possible. Maybe it with Drake inserted back in, it's
not seven different receivers, because you know Drake would get
he would have a number of looks as the number
one option. But and also like just Drake in the
red zone changes things a little bit as well. But overall,
(09:29):
I don't necessarily feel that when it comes to Drake
London in the sense of going up against this Jets defense,
that you have to have his presence, when in reality,
it's like, if he's not one hundred percent, I wouldn't
want to throw him out there, knowing that you kind
of have bigger fish to fry down the road.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
And you have Darnell Mooney now, who's showing that he's
kind of back from the injuries he's dealt with, and
he and Kirk Cousins have a really strong connection. So
maybe they can build on that and Mooney do Mooney
things in this last stretch of the season.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Yeah, it'll be nice to if he can kind of
continue to pick up his play like he started last
weekend in New Orleans. Whenever Drake gets back right, It
probably won't meaningfully change the offense outside of maybe that
pass distribution chart, but I think it is fair to
kind of wonder if Kirk and inserting him at quarterback
change the offense. How it didn't change the offense, What
(10:23):
is the identity of the Falcons offense? Things like that,
y and Zach Robinson was asked a lot about that
on Wednesday. Raheem was asked a lot about it on
Monday by you Tory with a kind of under center
and play action, and it's just been really a topic
of discussion, so we should probably discuss it. But for
those you know under center, right, I think it's pretty obvious,
you're right up under center. Yeah, quarterback is right behind
(10:45):
the center. Pistol and shotgun are a little bit different, right,
So shotgun the quarterback is a little bit further back.
Usually the running back is right next to him, or
they don't have a running back at all and he's
spread out wide. Pistol is a little bit of a
hybrid look. Quarterback is you know, about five yards back.
Running back is another three yards or so behind him,
So you get some of that downhill look, you get
(11:06):
some of the extra play action that has allowed for
and more importantly, Zach Robinson feels that it kind of
creates that whole menu option for them with motions where
you can insert blockers. I think of Charlie Warner how
often he has kind of motioned over before the ball
is deaf and then like inserted off tackle or something
like that. So yeah, it's just like I'm setting up
(11:27):
this whole conversation because I want to get into what
we think about, like a how the Falcons looked with
Kirk Cousins yea under center literally a little bit more
than Michael Pennix has. And we saw the highest play
action usage rate this past Sunday by the Falcons. I
think it was like twenty nine percent. That's the biggest
of the season, yeah for them, And it was effective.
(11:49):
I thought that shot to Darnel Mooney obviously the highlights.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
So a couple check downs to Bajon that I think
worked really well.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Yeah, or he's been twitching to talk about this one.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
She has, so so let's let's go. Yeah, Tory, like,
why why do you think we've seen this discrepancy between
the two quarterbacks? Is there a discrepancy between the two quarterbacks?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
There is point blank. I think that you can't look
at what happened on Sunday against the Saints and say
that there isn't because of how drastic I felt like
the operation was. When it comes to this whole discussion
about pistol under cent or play action off of either.
I think actions speak louder than words in this situation,
but I think words can help us prove our point.
(12:27):
On Sunday after the game, where he Morris said point blank,
when Kirk Cousins came off of his torn achilles injury, quote,
he felt a little bit more comfortable and pistol. So
now that Kirk Cousins is quote back to what he's
been in the past, per Morris, the offensive play style
was put in place to quote accommodate Kirk. So we
know what Kirk Cousins has been, We know what his
(12:47):
history with kind of this under center play action has
been for him throughout his entire career. So my thought
process in this, and it was the reason why I
understood where everybody's questions were coming from in the wake
of this Saint's game, was that okay, So by the
same logic of Kirk Cousins not being fully confident and
(13:08):
comfortable coming off of the injury to be in anything
other than pistol shotgun. By that same logic, it brings
you to the question of whether or not Michael Michael
Pennox felt comfortable and confident enough doing so, because, let's
be honest, it's in this playbook, Like you just showed
us twenty nine percent of what Kirk Cousins did in
(13:29):
New Orleans, so there must be a reason that we're
not seeing it. So you confirmed that Kirk was not
comfortable doing so last year. Okay, then what is stopping
you from doing it with Michael Pennocks. Is it because
Michael Pennox is not yet comfortable in his own right
to be under center with that play action to the
extent it is. I definitely think people need to go
(13:50):
listen to Zach Robinson's press conference that just happened literally
an hour ago as we're sitting Wednesday, Wednesday. Yeah, Like
he was asked all these questions, and I think that
a big part of what he said, whether or not
you agree with it, is that the Falcons felt that
last year when they were up under center, that it
(14:10):
was one of their least effective plays like play action
under center was one of their least effective plays in
twenty twenty four. I think, like my thing with that,
in my response to that, and now I'm about to
get on a soapbox, is that the modern game you
have to have that as a wrinkle. You have to
figure out why it's not working. And let's be honest.
(14:33):
If you felt like in twenty twenty four that Kirk
Cousins was not healthy enough to do some play action
under center stuff, and you felt like maybe Michael Pennocks
was not as efficient or comfortable doing so, that needed
to have been more of a priority in Michael pennockx's
development in my opinion, because at a certain point you
have to develop Michael Pennocks in this wrinkle of the
(14:56):
game to get the full extent of what you need
to out of this offense.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I think that phrase right there, the full extent right
is there feels a little bit too much in one
direction with pistol right, And the balance is ultimately where
I think everything is most effective, because that is where
you don't have these tendencies like right now, the Falcons
have a very clear tendency with pistol right. So if
I'm a defense Okay, well that's what we got to
(15:20):
prepare for. And yeah, you feel like you guys can
run a lot of what you want to run out
of that, but you can also run a lot of
what you want to do under center. And to me,
it would just be one more element that a defense
would have to prepare for, which I'm big on, Like
how do you stress a team throughout Wednesday through Friday
when they're trying to implement everything like hours, There are
only so many hours in a day, So give them
(15:41):
as much stuff as they have to prepare for, and
it feels like you are leaving a little bit maybe
on the table there. That being said, and we talked
a little bit about this on Falcons Final Whistle is
like you just maybe look at how they came up
right when Michael Pennix junior was coming up through high
school and probably lower than that, Like it's a first game.
They're doing seven on seven, they're doing a lot of
(16:02):
the shotgun stuff. So I do truly wonder if just
the number of hours he has had Washington, he's in
shotgun like all over at the time.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, and I get that too, And my response to
that is kind of like, look at what the Rams
are doing. Like, look at if we're looking at the
Rams and what Matthew Stafford in particularly is doing running
their play action operation out from under center more than
any other quarterback in the league right now and having
the most success than any other quarterback in the league
(16:33):
doing so. The Rams lead and play action rate and
under center drop backs, Colts and Bears are up there too.
All of these teams are winning a lot of games.
All of these teams have really good offenses in place.
And who was the player comp for Michael Pannings junior
coming out of the NFL draft. Matthew Stafford. So, Matthew
Stafford is a true pocket passer. Matthew Stafford is somebody
(16:57):
who loves to sling it downfield. Matthew Stafford loves a
one on one with some of his receivers. Like, so,
if Matthew Stafford is the standard of what you need
Michael pinnockx to be, then I think this part of
the game, the under center play action stuff has to
develop absolutely.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yeah, I mean you mentioned Matthew Saffer. Like if you
look at just the usage of under center for quarterbacks
this season, like it is the it's the best offenses.
It's it's the Rams, it's Seattle, it's the Lions, it's
the Bears, you know, the forty nine Ers, Packers, Patriots, like, yeah,
down the list, right, So it is very clear that
at least maybe that is not there's not maybe a
(17:34):
causality there. Like I'm not saying that the best offenses
are the best offenses because they're running the most under center. However,
I think it illustrates the effectiveness of what some of
that under center usage does for you. And that is
just kind of where I think you're right, Like having
the player grow in that direction ultimately allows for more things.
(17:55):
And one of the most interesting things that I think
Zach said on Wednesday was last they didn't necessarily expect
them to be an eleven personnel team as much as
they were. They kind of thought it would be more
twelve personnel, one running back, two tight ends, which makes sense.
You've got Kyle Pitts, you got Charlie Warner, right, and
I think we did see some of that evolution where
maybe Kyle Pitts was out of the lineup or spread
(18:16):
out wide as kind of that big wide receiver. And
when you look at the Rams specifically, what they have
been doing so well this season and Seattle, frankly is
throwing the ball out of heavy looks, and we saw
the Falcons do that against the Saints, a lot of
thirteen personnel with effective play action behind it. So that
is where if you're gonna provide kind of like a
(18:36):
play action look which is inherently meant to fool a
defense in a thinking you're going to run the ball,
it is probably best done out of a look where
all of the other set dressing screams we're going to
run the ball, or under center, we have three tight
ends on the field and boom, there's a pass over
top right. And I just kind of think that to
the eye naturally, when a quarterback is in pistol which
(18:58):
looks like shotgun, just kind of think pass a little bit.
And the Falcons have been good at running the ball
out of pistol this season. Like the efficiency is there
and all of that. It's just been the passing game
hasn't seemed like there have been many easy completions or
easy explosive plays in the way the Frankly there were
on Sunday, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Listening to y'all, it's just kind of like The next
question that comes to mind is why do you think
that development hasn't been there or been done yet.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I think it's a great question, and I think it's
something that Zach Robinson Raheem Morris like kind of have
to answer to. And I think that what I ultimately
think about it is probably you know, I can't even
say it's accurate, you know, like I, what it looks
like from the outside looking in is that the Falcons
(19:47):
decided early on with Kirk Cousins that he was not
comfortable going under center. YEP, so they were say they
have and they have verbed them.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
For injury reason yeat injury reasons.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
So the operation, the install all of last year were
to account for that. Well, then you get to the
point at the end of the season where you bring
Mike in. How much of even any type of under
center work was Mike getting as the number two behind
Kirk Cousins win The operation itself was not going anywhere
close to being under center at a significant margin. So
(20:20):
then you move into this off season and you're like,
Michael Pennix is a young guy. We know what he
does well, we know that he wants to stretch the ball, downfield,
get it to the outside, all of those things. We
know he worked a lot last year in pistol and shotgun.
We know at Washington Shotgun that's what he wants to do,
that's what he feels comfortable with in his first year
as a starter. We're not gonna make it too complicated.
(20:42):
I think that, to me is what happened. Do I
think that's right or wrong? No one gives a crap
what I have to say about it. But I do
think moving forward, and that's why this is this conversation
that we're having right now. You've got to develop Mike
to feel more comfortable in under center play action looks.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
That would make sense that he is that he was
kind of learning what they were doing rather than everything
that he could be learning. Right, Yeah, he's going with
the playbook rather than the whole saga.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, and there you go.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Talking about the books earlier?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Is that four or five? But I and I think
it's also fair to point out too that like when
you're running a scout team offense, you're usually operating kind
of different offensive looks, not always like what the Falcons
are going to be running. And we knew that Kirk
got all of the first team reps pretty much last
year because it was his first year working with Drake
Lunnon and Kyle Pitts and Darnel Mooney and all of
those guys. And when you look at just the timeline
(21:36):
with which everything happened, when they kind of get in
here in the off season program in you know, May June,
all of that, you gotta start installing your offense, right.
You can't just wait for your quarterback to be fully healthy.
And he was healthy enough to get out there on
the field, so you say, all right, we're going to
start you back in shotgun and pistol like where you're
not having to put a lot of this strain on
(21:59):
your achille. And so I think from there, what do
we see in Pittsburgh right, A lot of the pistol.
They naturally kind of went back a little bit more
under center with Kirk once he started kind of getting healthier.
But then those final three games with Mike, it's not
like we were going into the offseason really really worried
about the offense. Right. They did really well, so you
could understand them saying, hey, look what we have here works.
(22:23):
What Mike did at Washington obviously got him to be
the number eight pick in the draft and the runner
up for the Heisman. So like it worked for him there,
let's just keep on doing it and now you're seeing
maybe where some of the deficiencies are or where you
lack some of those other areas that are beneficial.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
My last note on this and this is we can
kind of move forward from here, but it really is
now that Michael Pennox is coming off of his third
AICL reconstructive surgery in five years, right, it's five years
now that he is coming off of this. You're kind
of right back a little bit to where you were
last year. With last year with Kirk coming off of
a season ending Achilles injury. Obviously different ligaments, different parts
(23:03):
of the body, all those kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
But still the injury.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Very big injuries that have an effect on a quarterback's
mobility and comfortability in the pocket. So how much of
this conversation is even going to carry over into twenty
twenty six? Yeah, I mean this is something that we're
going to be talking about, I think for a while.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Definitely. Yep. So let's put a pin in that and
we will, I'm sure return to it many many times.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
With a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
But let's flip over and talk about the defense a
little bit. A note that we brought up on Falcons
final whistle was maybe this was the beginning of kind
of a new evolution for Atlanta's defense. The Falcons blitzed
at their lowest rate of the season, just over fifteen
percent against Tyler Schuck, but he faced a lot of pressure.
They got nineteen pressures in five sacks and only sending
(23:50):
four or fewer tarren Why is that important for Atlanta's
defense moving forward?
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Because you love going back to the receipts. In week six,
Jeff Olbrick said, I don't want to be a big
pressure team, and we were all like, what, but you are?
Speaker 2 (24:06):
You don't want to get this right?
Speaker 1 (24:08):
This is who you are.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Aren't they number one in blitzing at the time or
something like that. We were like.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
By a large margin, Like the offense was in pistol
by like a large margin, and the Falcons were blitzing
by like a large margin.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
And I'm like if that took me being like I
don't want to be a blonde, but you are. So
when Jeff said that, we were like, what do you mean?
And it's like I want us to rely on our
front four to win and do their thing and play
coverage behind it. He didn't. Right now, we're just not
quite there yet, are they there? Sunday it looked like it.
But I guess it's kind of just scene moving forward.
(24:42):
Whether they can repeat that performance and be the defense
that Jeff wanted. He wants to dye his hair, Yeah,
an interesting.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Man blonde head out, that'd be something.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
No.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I think that a part of this that I've kind
of been ruminating on for the last like four or
five days, is are we going to see it again?
Versus the Jets. I think that there were some deficiencies
along the Saints offensive line that maybe made this thought
of sending only four easier more execute You can execute
it at an easier right because of some of the
(25:15):
deficiencies with the Saints. You have a little bit of
a better offensive line. Against New York they have some
good tackles. Are you going to be able to do
it again? And I think to your point of like
the development of guys, I think that an interesting thought
that I want to put out there to the people
is that the Falcons have not been im people gestures
(25:37):
broadly to them, we the people. Is there a realm
where in the last four weeks without Divine Diablo that
it kind of forced guys along the Front seven particularly
to develop faster. And what I mean by that is
like without Divine Diablo, who you relied upon for a
lot of pressures and for a lot of a lot,
(26:00):
point blank, full stop, Like without him, did you have
to see guys like Rouke, Brandon Dorles, Jalen Walker, JPJ,
like all of those guys step up a little bit,
to the point of when Divine Diablo came back four
weeks later, you felt like, hey, we really don't have
to send Divine on a blitz in order to get home,
(26:21):
Like we have some guys up front who are winning.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Maybe that's the Bike Committee approach Jeff Ulrick was talking
about all this time.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Yeah, Well they rush as a unit like you can
see it, like Arnold Abakhetti or Leonard Floyd gets like
an inside push and then you have James Spears Junior
coming around behind him like that is as much as
that sack will go down as like James Spears Junior sack,
Like everything along that Front seven is all encompassing amongst
the individuals it's an organism, right.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
I was trying to go with like what you were saying,
how a lot of people stepped up when Divine was
gone because they had to, And I was like, maybe
that's the Bike Committee, But I don't think that landed.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Oh oh, I mean.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
The amalgamation of like, yeah, everything that he brings. I
do think if you just like, look, they have way
more dudes this year than I can like ever remember them.
How Like I remember when it was just tacking Vic Beasley, right,
and Adrian Claiborne is like the third man off the bench, right.
But they have slowly just been adding pieces so you
can rush in waves and instead of one player being
(27:22):
out there for forty snaps, instead you're seeing the benefit
of somebody who's out there for thirty snaps, twenty two snaps,
and they are just bringing it every single So it's
not a surprise that you have a game where it's
like Brandon Dorles r. Guerroro, Jalen Walker, James Peters, she,
like all of these guys are getting involved instead of
one player having four sacks.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Yeah. And I also think to that point, like all
of this is so indicative of acute development among these
young defenders.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
And you're saying acute development, not cute development. They're not
getting cuter.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
They're not getting cuter, acute like a cute rapid escalation of.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Development personality moments on the podcast, I don't even.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Know where to come in.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
No, so right now, this week, Jalen Walker leads all
rookies in sacks and force fumbles, James Fearce junior quarterback pressures.
Let's even throw in Xavier Watts with interceptions, because what's
happening on the back end effects what's happening in the
front seven. They're all rookies and the Falcons, the Falcons
have players rookies leading across the league in this category.
(28:26):
This is Terry font Knowa's best draft, full stop. I
have no no qualms, no, And as much as it
sucks that Billy Bowman Junior is going to be out
for the rest of the year, what you have in
Billy Bowman Junior is something really good as well. He
was doing some really really good things. It's unfortunate that
injuries piled up the way they did with him. But
some of these guys, I mean, this has a ripple effect.
(28:47):
I think beyond this year, this has a ripple effect.
I also think even in game planning, in what you
decide to do and what positions you put your defense in,
and whether or not you go for for things on
third and fourth down, all those things are topics of
conversation that starts with what this defense does by way
(29:08):
of getting after the quarterback.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Absolutely, and we're going to push here to topic four,
but I want to add one more note, as is
Just Stevens or Jess Stevens on our comms team was
pulling up kind of the pass rushers from the last
two years, right, because I think it's fair to say
Brandon Dorless and Ruku Row ro like are kind of
pseudo rookies last year.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I mean they were healthy scratches for majority of especially
Brandon Dorless majority of last season.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
And now he has He's got six acts this season,
which is tied for the most among players taken last
year and this year in the draft. So when you're
looking at guys like Latu Latsu, Jared Verse, all the
players that we were talking about in last year's draft, Yep,
Brandon Dorless is right there with him. Jalen Walker is
one behind those dudes. James Pierce Junior is one behind it.
So it's like this whole class of first and second
(29:56):
year defensive lineman has been simply amazing. So the Falcons
obviously got a much needed win on Sunday against the Saints.
It didn't really meaningfully, i think, change their playoff hopes
in any way, but keeps you alive, right, and so
then when you have a week in which you're the
only team in your division to win a game, okay,
(30:18):
maybe those those feelings get get hiding a little bit.
So really quickly, just want to run down kind of
the schedules for Tampa, Carolina and then Atlanta, because there's
one is not like the other. Unfortunately, I think Tampa
has kind of the easiest road left. They've got Arizona
this weekend, New Orleans, Atlanta, Carolina, Miami and then finishing
(30:40):
up again with Carolina. Right that, Atlanta's got at least
a chance there to get a game back on Tampa.
So that's good. But it seems like a pretty favorable
schedule for Tampa Carolina. Different story. They got the Rams,
then a merciful bye week right then you got the Saints,
the Bucks, Seattle and the Buck again, I mean Bucks, Seattle, Bucks,
(31:02):
that's a tough way to end it. Atlanta schedule real quick, Jets, Seahawks, Bucks, Cardinals, Rams, Saints,
so a kind of a mix of both there having
Seattle and obviously La with the Bucks. Those are going
to be your three big games left. But what are
kind of like the different permutations of how this could
play out? And do we feel looking at all of
(31:23):
that toy like, how do we feel about the Falcon chances?
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Yeah, it still doesn't look good. You've you've played yourself
into this position that you're in now where it doesn't
look good and it's going to take a lot for
it to look better. What is interesting is that right
now as it stands, Tampa Bay is on a slide,
and I think they've lost five of their last six
if I if I'm doing the math.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Right, I didn't scream grab that far back, but it's something.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
It's last three in a row for sure, And I
think even before then, it was it was a couple right.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Before, yeah, by couple right before that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
So, but that was all so their toughest stretch of
the season. They played the Bills, the Rams, the Patriots
like boom boom boom boom, lost all of those, so
you figure if you were gonna have some losses by
this Tampa Bay team, it was gonna come during that
stretch of games. And now you look at the rest
(32:19):
of their slate and it's like, well, they should arguably
probably beat a lot of these teams. And then you
look at Carolina and it's like, yes, they still have
the Rams, they still have the Seahawks. I feel like
the Falcons and the Carolina Panthers are probably pretty even
right now in terms of strength of schedule left. Unfortunately
for the Falcons because the Carolina Panthers own the tiebreaker
(32:41):
over them. And unless something happens with the Carolina Panthers
where they absolutely implode, and something happens with the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers where they absolutely implode. Like that's kind of
what I know, it's not great to talk about, but
that's kind of just where the Falcons find themselves right now.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Yeah, Taron taking it kind of a game at a
time approach, like how could Sunday further alter the playoff
picture for Atlanta and kind of their chances.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Right now this time of year, we're hearing the one
and O phrase a lot, like you just got to
go want to know. You just got to go want
to know. And that's all they can do if they
want to keep their playoff hopes alive. I mean, they're
hanging on. It went from less than one percent to
two percent, according to the New York Times simulator after
the win in New Orleans. You mess around with it,
(33:29):
it doesn't never get too high. Regard.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Don't think it can ever get above seventy six percent.
And that's if the Falcons completely went out.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Yeah, higher than I thought it would be.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
I don't think it's that high anymore.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
That high that was on Sunday where I looked at it,
so it may not be.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
But regardless, Like it's crazy to say that, because I
feel like with how the Bucks have been going, the
Panthers have been going, it's almost closer than it feels
when you look at the standings themselves. I mean, yep,
the Bucks are six and five, the Panthers are six
and six, the Falcons are four and seven, Saints are
two and nine.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Love it, love it, say it again.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Like Saints are two and nine.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Yes, the problem is is that the Falcons have only
beaten the Saints in NFC South play Like that's what
it is like, let's be real again, Like.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
They're three and one in the NFC, No. One in
three in NFC South. They wish they were three in
the NFC South. So even though the division itself looks
like it's kind of getting a tighter picture, it's a
little films developing.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Yeah, that's good. I like that.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
That was a lot better than the hair one.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
The picture is crystallizing. Yeah, so let's let's talk about
that one to know, right, what do you got to
do on Sunday to get a win against the Jets?
And last week we kind of played a fun game
about what do we need to see to feel like
this team is not just capable of breaking their five
game losing streak but actually like building maybe something moving
forward for the rest of the season. So kind of
(34:58):
keeping that it alive, Like what do we need to
see on Sunday against the Jets to feel like, Okay,
they took the first step against the Saints. Now they're
taking a little bit of a second step. Maybe ultimately
it all comes too little too late, but you would
like to feel better about this team as the season
kind of continues along. So what do they need to do?
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I think you need to come out fast start. I
think that you I would ideally like to see this
team have a lead, take a lead into halftime. I
don't think you have to, but I think it's it's
a good idea too, because of the issues that we've
seen them have in the third quarter, not being able
to score, not really being able to get off the field,
all of these things kind of bouncing off of one
another and in this bad spiral of third quarter play.
(35:40):
Because that's what we saw against the Saints. As you saw,
they got out to a good start, they were in
a good place going out coming out of halftime, and
then you let the Saints hang around and then you
get to the fourth quarter and oh look, it's a
one scorer game. So for me, it's like, don't allow
a team to hang around coming out of halftime, A
foot on the gas. If you're the Falcons in that
(36:03):
third quarter, let's see something different from you in that
third quarter. If I can see that, I would feel
more confident in what a win and what would constitute
a success for this Falcons team, because then at that
point it's you turn from just a win to a
convincing win to a decisive win.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
So following along that, like the Falcons have liked to
take the ball and start the ball if they win
the coin toss and just start on offense, would you
maybe want to see them change that strategy and defer
and say we'll take the ball in the second half
to try to maybe recreate some of that energy that
they've had at the start of games.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
This is potentially, but I don't really I'm not one
that really thinks that it matters all that. Yeah, I
really don't like. I really think that it's up to
you in the moment. Like if you go out and
your defense is playing well, and your defense has a
good stop in that very first drive of the second half,
and you come out offensively and you go down and
you score, Okay, I don't care when it happens.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Treke it a happy right, Yeah, all right, Taren, What
do you need to see?
Speaker 3 (37:00):
You know what I'm gonna say. They just need to win.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
That's why I like it is you're like just straight
cut to the bone. What matters at the end of
the day, get.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
That getting that win. I mean Rahee Morris has said
good teams pull out ugly wins. I don't like it
doesn't need to be perfect. It doesn't it is it
would it be nice if it was clean, Yes, But
at the end of the day, like the players say,
we have to go on and Oh what I realized
while you were talking though, is the Falcons maybe should
(37:31):
erase this issue they have with the number three third
quarter third downs. They kind of fixed the field goals
with three points. They only ran three plays in that
third period in New Orleans. Yeah, and I'm just like, oh, this.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Is a lot, Jesse Bates noted problem. Jesse Bates the
third Maybe that cancels it out.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
I think it does.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Is that why he's that number?
Speaker 1 (37:53):
I think so. One thing that I'll add to this
and this isn't necessarily like they have to do this
or like it's gonna be indicative of success or not,
is like, I do have some questions that I'm wanting
answered in this game. We've alluded to it throughout the podcast. Offensively,
it's what is the offensive game plan? And how much
are you going under center using play action off of that?
(38:13):
Like is that here to stay? Is that something that
they're gonna do with Kirk Cousins moving forward? It feels
like potentially they are, but we don't know for sure,
yet we only have one sample size of that when
game was sample size. And then defensively, it's can you
continue to win by only sending for yep? That is
one of those things that is Was that something that
they felt like they could take advantage of with the
New Orleans Saints or is this something that is gonna
(38:35):
again like play action under center, something that's here to stay.
Those are my two questions.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Basically, can you repeat what you just did?
Speaker 2 (38:42):
H boom? Yeah, it's like it's a one game sample size,
so like we're just really evaluating that one game, But
can you create a broader trend off of that?
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Stack the wins and stack the trends. Trends there, you go,
thank you for the word.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Of course words, that's what we do here. That's what
we do here, the trends, stack the views. Go check
us out on YouTube and download and like and subscribe
and share it to everybody. Got it? Got the plug
in there? What's up? Jared? Love me for that? All right?
Pro Bowl voting as a reminder, one more time is
open now, So go, whether you do it on social,
(39:17):
whether you do it on a landofalcons dot com, or
you check out our QR code, which I'll let Jared
put anywhere he wants to do right now, Ye, please go
do that everybody again. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving,
have a great Thanksgiving weekend. That's one of my favorite
parts about the holidays. It's on a Thursday, but it
feels like it just rolls right into the weekend. With
all the college football games on Friday, I know you
(39:38):
guys are going to be enjoying some of those in clean,
old fashion hate.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
I'm super pumped. Will be in Mercedes Been Stadium, all
the dogs and the Jackets.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
I'm tailgating, but I don't care who wins.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
All right, well, you know we got two dogs here,
so like, let's go.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Let's not forget the Iron Bowl.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
No, that's you, You're dear.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Iron is a big deal.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
All right, We're gonna get out of here for Tory
McLean and tarn Walk. I'm moman fattan. Thank you guys
so much for listening, and we will see you for
Falcons Final Whistle on Monday, Falcons Audible middle of the
week next week, and of course Friday five next time.
So see y all then,
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