December 16, 2025 • 45 mins
Derek, Dave and D.J. break down the Atlanta Falcons 29-28 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night football. Before getting into how the Falcons pulled off the win, they review their “The Falcons will win IF…” keys from last week. Then, they discuss the penalties, playmaking developments and standout performances from players like Kyle Pitts Sr. To end the episode the guys look ahead to the upcoming matchup against the Arizona Cardinals and give their keys to a win.
0:00 - Intro
1:13 - Grading last week’s keys
8:06 - Fighting through penalties
11:23 - Playmaking & Kirk Cousins balling out
17:10 - Kyle Pitts Sr., David Sills & other stars
30:54 - Looking ahead to Arizona
36:46 - Keys to the game
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:28):
Got he's into?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Is like to start break?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (00:34):
I can get chills a little bit thinking about what
these two guys can do.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
We are back on the Falcons Audible presented by AT
and T. And I know it's been a long time
since the Falcons were on the football field. You might
be taking this in on a Wednesday, when it's our
normal day that we're released. And shoot, fellas, that was almost.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
A week ago.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
We were all talking before we came on the air
here that we kind of had to refresh our memory
of what happened in that game. It seems like it
was so long ago. However, it was a twenty nine
to twenty eight comeback victory for the Atlanta Falcons on
the road against divisional opponent Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So, Fellows,
let's go ahead and let's dive into this one. Let's
start off how we've been doing the last few weeks
(01:14):
on revisiting what we talked about is kind of our keys,
if you will, all right, and I'll start it off.
Mine was a special team's win. And if you've been
paying attention to the Falcons recently, it's been an issue
for them and something that I felt like not only
did when I say win, didn't necessarily mean that they
had to have a game winning field goal, which they
(01:35):
ended up having, but just not get beat in that
phase of the game. And I think, Fellows, the only
thing you could kind of really say is, yeah, zan
Gonzoalz did have a ball that didn't make it to
the landing zone, which ended up giving up some favorable
field position, but outside of that, no big returns and
game winning field goal, which is something Atlanta has been
desperate to get throughout the course of the season. So
(01:57):
I think you should you would say that key ended
up work.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
What's a grade?
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Then?
Speaker 1 (02:02):
My grade is an as?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, Okay, I like that.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
If we're giving out letter grades, a minus helped contribute
to a win and obviously, game winning field goal will
help that happen. Shot, complimentary play out on the perimeter.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Summarize that one for us.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I mean, it's pretty selfic planneatory, you know what I'm saying.
Other guys out there other than the main key guys
making plays, because last few weeks we've seen maybe one
guy on offense, maybe just Bijon, maybe just Kyle, have
a significant part of the ball game. And then you
look up and obviously the two main characters had their
big game, But then you look up, David seals six
(02:40):
catches for seventy eight yards, Mooney had a couple of catches,
Warner had a couple of catches.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So I thought there were other guys.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Who contributed to the game and were a big part
of giving us give us a win. So yeah, I
think that was a part of the game planning. You
play well to a certain extent with complimentary guys. So yeah,
I'm gonna give the guys a You make dramatic plays,
but they were enough plays to have you get a win. Uh,
I'm gonna go B plus.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
B plus we got a minus, we got a B plus.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Well, no, I think you're undergrading yourself on that I
thought that that was a key part of the game.
If David Stills catches the go route. Yes, he's over
one hundred, you know, I mean not even talking about
a walk off me.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
He was in my brain, but I couldn't pat myself
on the back too much. You know what I'm saying
that I know you would have struck me down, so
I had to go a little.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Mod you completely under soldiers. Shock.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
How about let's go.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
And give an assister Ryan Noossel news. I know on
the perimeter, my man was playing eighteen nineteen Gars down field.
Go get that recovery on the on the mistake by
Darnell Mooney to drop it. But man, that.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
News was did something on that power because I don't
know how he got that ball back.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Three pay Jersey the ground more.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Oh my goodness, there's.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
A picture that was taking it in noosles, not even
in the frame, and there's six Creamsickle jerseys around the football.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
And of course you know they got darn Old Moody
wound up like a little like a noodle or something
like that. Unbelievable man came out of I have.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
No idea, but great for him, all right, arch limit
the run game was yours and this is this is
actually termed incorrectly limit the running.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Backs ability to affect the game and so run game
obviously the major part of that Bucky Irving Rashad White
two guys they like to get the football, two guys
they liked to have in the game at the same time.
And you did limit the run game just eighty eight
yards on the ground. They did not. They were not
able to invest in the run game as much because
I thought Atlanta shut it down and they were getting
(04:48):
some plays by none other than Mike Evans, so why
not go that direction. But here was the other piece
of it that I mentioned was those two guys. They
like to throw those guys the ball. Remember when we
talked about going into the game their screen game to
a Shod White and Bucky Irving. Those two guys had
two catches for seventeen yards in the game, so all
all told just over one hundred yards, but twenty four
(05:10):
touches by Irving and and uh Rashod White and then
had about one hundred and five yards of offense.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
So that's part about that too.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
That did mention they got five sacks, but Baker Mayfield
one rushing yard.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Good call, Yeah, but and Bake didn't get out. They
get out and run it, run the ball. And so
as far as mine go, I can't, I can't. I
thought shock completely underrated it. Would you give yourself a
BT plus yea.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
The verge to catch that by seals you get your
ninety but you knows.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Are created to get that.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
They Yeah, but I thought that. Okay, I thought it
was better than that. I think it, and I'll give
myself a beat that. If you're a V plus, I
gotta go being. No, there's better, hard greater, man hard.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Greater, So you're gonna be I'll go be Okay, Yeah,
I mean I thought they did a pretty good job
limiting the expel plays and everything.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Well we didn't. We didn't well to the backs, yeah, yeah, yeah.
As it turns out, Mike Evans decided to come back
and come back in fashion, didn't he? My goodness, there
was wasn' a whole lot of rusts there was there.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
It's like I'm thinking, I'm thinking, all right, what is
he gonna get like fifteen twenty plays or something. I mean,
he's just posted people up going up over the top,
playing with I mean telling you that, dude is special work.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
I went and told Kobe Bryant comes in for for
my cues, and Kobe's gonna be a good player. Kobe
was a three time All Big twelve defender at Kansas
and had like thirteen career interceptions as a Jayhawk, but
he hadn't gotten to play very much. And so he's
in there and he's playing and to draw Mike Evans,
who who has what eleven consecutive one thousand yards and
(06:49):
just give me my goodness. I thought he did a
really good job of fighting. He had him. He made
a really big tackle down in a red zone about
the five yard line. Really did a good job there.
But I went and I can't win in sigm in
the locker room after the game, and he was sitting there,
I don't know if he was texting somebody who's he
looked a little bit wildered. I said, dude, I mean,
that's this NFL. Now you're you're good, You'll be okay,
you know, and I know some of his other guys
(07:10):
that talked. I said, you just drew one of probably
one of the drive toughest receivers you could have drawn.
At six foot five, a guy that has the confidence
that that dude has and what he's done. I said, man,
that was a great indoctrination in the game. You're gonna
be better for it. He says, I appreciate it, man,
And so he was good. But uh man, that was
a that was a tough it was. It was humbling.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
But I mean, I mean sure Mike Evans too is
probably looking across the line and he's probably licking his lips.
I mean, that's he's thinking he's gonna draw a J.
Terrell all the time, whatever the case may be. But
you know, that's that's what happens when you draw one
of the best. That's you know, I would say in
the last two decades. You know, he might go down
as one of the best to play in this league
when it's all said and done. But that's just the
(07:52):
type of player that he is.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
And it was.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
It was a tough night for Kobe Bryant. So those
are grades on how are our keys did? And I
think that would contribute to the reason why Atlanta ended
up winning that game. However, it wasn't necessarily the prettiest one. Guys,
you think about them. All the penalties set a franchise
record in penalties in this game. Arch, that's another one
of those departments where generally you have that many penalties,
(08:16):
you're not winning many football games. I put it in
the same category as turnovers, right, you end up getting
walloped in the turnover margin, Like, the chances of winning
games are very slim. So I gotta give a lot
of credit for Atlanta continuing to fight, because even through
the end of the third quarter, this was not looking
like a good result was coming out of this thing.
So I'm gonna ask you, Arch, keeping in mind the
(08:39):
penalties and as the as the clock changed from the
third to the fourth quarter, what was the feeling like
in that building?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:47):
I think that the well, the feeling obviously it's a
Tampa buildings, so they felt good. They're in their throwback
jerseys and you know, the the likes of you know,
James Wilder and Jimmy god Giles and all those guys.
Doug Williams, we're ringing in their heads, I guess a
little bit. But yeah, there was an extreme confidence I
think that Tampa, and especially when they got that score
(09:08):
to go at twenty eight, you know, Bejond Fumbles of
football deep in your own territory on on the little
angle route, and they punched that in all of a sudden,
you look up, you're down twenty at fourteen, and it
was what third to fourteen, thirteen and a half or
fourteen and a half you had the lead, and so
things flipped pretty quickly. So it was not a very
good third quarter for the Falcons. But you know, the penalties,
(09:33):
you don't get me going on the careful you're talking about.
You're talking about two of the of the five or
six least penalized teams in the National Football League. Going
into that game, Tampa was averaging five point five penalties
per game. Atlanta was averaging five point six penalties per game.
Atlanta I think had three games this year where they
(09:55):
had eight penalties. That was they're high. So you could,
you know, decipher that any way you want to. Or
one team's got nineteen penalties and one has four. There's
only been three times in NFL history where two teams
where they had that much of a differential fifteen penalties
between him. One was in nineteen forty four and the
(10:18):
other this same crew did the game.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Ah, there's a correlation.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Well, I'm not you guys, I'm not saying anything about it.
You know, you guys can do. He's just I'm just
giving you the status.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Only is giving information.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
I'm giving you the status. It's just that, in all honesty,
was ridiculous. Okay. Aj Terrell had five penalties in the
first thirteen games of the year. He had five in
that game. Okay, So either we got a bunch of
guys in the first thirteen games were blind or I
(10:53):
don't know what was going on, but that there's just
that's too big a disparity that has That's something it
has to be looked at. Now, did the Falcons commit fouls, absolutely,
but were there fouls on the other side as well.
I think we saw all some i mean cousins get
hit in the face, and we had guy we had
a guy drugged down in the back of the end zone.
There were a number of things happened in it. And
I'm getting way too deep in the weeds here on
(11:14):
the on the penalty thing. But that was ridiculous. That's
that was embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Yeah, let's you know, I was thinking about this this morning, guys,
and I'm on social media as much as you know
everybody else is, and it's easy to poke fingers and
make fun when an organization is losing and they always
want to go to the head coach. And I saw
some stuff out there where people were trying to make
fun of Raheem Morris because in his press of conferences
(11:40):
talking about we got to make a play, we just
didn't make any plays, and there was some jokes about it.
And what I started thinking about it is I was like, Okay,
if you want to make the jokes, that's fine. However,
when there is a game that happens, when guys go
out and they make those plays, you and I you
guys know it. Like we've been in the building, We've
(12:01):
been on teams, we've been in the locker room, we've
watched Tate before. You know when plays are being made
and when plays are not being made. And he's right,
there was a lot of games this year where plays
were not being made. But I think when you have
a game like this last week, when plays were made,
that's what Raheem Morris is talking about. When field goals
(12:21):
are made to win football games, when interceptions are made
to turn the momentum around, when receivers, well, I shall
I call it tight ends step up and rise to
the challenge and make play after play, When David Sills
makes a desperation catch when they needed one, when Kirk
Cousins showed up and played his absolute tail off and
made plays, right, So you want to sit there and
(12:43):
joke about, well, all he does is say, we didn't
make a play. We got to make a play. We've
got to make a play. Guess what fellas They made
plays against the Buccaneers. And that's what it's all about.
And I don't want to sidetrack this conversation, but this weekend,
I've got a game where I'm doing New England at Baltimore,
and I'm reading the press conference of Mike Rabel from
their game this past weekend. And you know what he
said in his press conference over and over and over,
(13:06):
we didn't make enough place and the other guy did
talking about Josh Allen, Right, So guess what. That's the
nature of the National Football League. Like players in groups
of players, you either make the plays to win football
games or you don't. Okay, and there was games this
year where Atlanta did not make enough. But arch let's
talk about Kirk Cousins a little bit because he's had
(13:27):
a tough go all Right, he's had a tough go
for call it the last calendar year, maybe year and
a half, whatever the time period you want to look at,
But there could have been all kinds of reasons for
him not to have a great performance. Not only did
he play well, he absolutely bawled his face off when
he didn't have his number one receiver out there and
still was surgical in this game. How impressed were you
(13:48):
from his performance?
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Yeah, I've really been impressed with him for the last
several weeks. Rack We've talked about his ability to get
the ball out, and I think that there's something to
building the com especially if your offensive line. If the
if you don't turn around, your quarterback's not laying on
his back behind you, the ball's out, somebody's making a play.
So I think that his decision making has been off
(14:10):
the charts. Has there been there? There's been some moments
where he's missed some guys, but every quarterback does that.
But I thought in this game, in particular, obviously the
synergy between he and Kyle Pitts. I mean, we can
obviously dive into what Kyle's done in a moment, because
I thought there were some really special things that he
did that were next level deals that he did as
(14:30):
a as a receiver. But just the let's just take
the last drive if you will, you know you get
the He gets pressure in his face on second and
twenty eight, tries to hit Mooney on the bang at post.
He doesn't get it to him because he has pressure
in his face, can't get it to him. Now it's
third and twenty eight. So thought process as a quarterback,
(14:51):
I'm unless something opens wide open, I'm not shoving the
ball down the field. I need to give myself a
chance to convert on fourth, so I needed to get
a piece of it back and preferably half of it,
two thirds of it back. He hits Kyle in the
right flat and Kyle makes a guy miss and goes
gets him fourteen. That's a play that people will just
(15:14):
throw away and forget about. Huge play, Huge play by
Kyle to make the defender miss, but to get Kyle
the ball in time for him to give it, give
him a chance to do something, makes the guy miss,
goes and gets you fourteen. All right, now you've got
the shot the hole shot on cover two to Sils.
(15:34):
But Sills's adjustment to understand just sit in the hole,
don't keep running, sit it down, and when he lets
the ball go, Sills is probably not where he needs
to be, and to get it over the underneath the fender,
because remember the corner's thinking, I just can't I can't
give anything up behind me. I can give up something
in front of me, but I gotta be able to
(15:55):
tackle it. So he's still losing ground. He's still going
going up the field to drop that over the top
of him. Sills climb the ladder and make the catch
to put you essentially in field goal range. And then
at the end finds Mooney in the left flat and
Darnell has the wherewithal to understand we don't have any timeouts,
so he catches the football and goes wide. He probably
(16:18):
could have gotten another ten yards to the inside, but
he went wide and got you about seven and got
out of bounds. Now you're not in a rush. You
can do whatever you want to. I just thought the
execution to what you're talking about, players making plays, their
quarterback directing traffic and getting it to guys and them
having to make the proper play key in a key
(16:39):
moment of the game. That's the kind of execution herehem's
been talking about, and that's what wins you football games.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Yeah, Kirk cousins two hundred and ninety fourth touchdown pass
now ties Carson Palmer for fifteenth all time in career
touchdown passes, and his one and fifty eight passing yards
against the Buccaneers over the last two years most any
single team over the last two years. So Kirk Cousins
continuing to find ways to get it done. Now, those
(17:07):
three touchdowns that got him to two hundred and ninety
four shock ended up coming courtesy of one Kyle Pitts
and a guy that we've been talking about the entire season,
especially once Drake London ended up going down, needing him
to be that guy. And last Thursday night he stepped
and he stepped up and he was that guy for Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Are talking about some of the things that happens within
routes that maybe the colon fan, maybe people who watch
a game don't even see. And for a guy to
play the tight end position and to be two hundred
and fifty plus but to be able to run routes
like a receiver gives him opportunities that he had in
that ballgame. Obviously, the couple with one couple down the sideline.
(17:54):
He uses you know, David Seals. They run a sam
bezing a traditional which you call cover three. Got a
safe in the middle, the corner outside and Seals takes
the as the post takes the corner out of a
little bit but off the shop of the football. You
can see Kyle hesitated a little bit, get right behind Seals,
get a little vertical, and then he kind of sifts
his way right down the numbers and eases his way
(18:16):
kind of towards and it stays away from that corner
that could just fall off. Kirk does a good job
of layering it outside to give him a chance to
stay away from that particular corner. And then you talk
about the Shalla cross. Looks like he's wide open. They're
trying to talk about it. They're trying to you see
come in the motion the guy talking about it and
Soto moving and table line streams get vertical and then
(18:36):
drets across. By the time it's too late, they can't
pick him up. He'd runs away from coverage. Small things
that the line of scrimmage help him win routes, and
for a guy his size, there was a play on
third and seven guy in Kirk's face, Kirk's having a
bail away man coverage over the middle, Kirk, and then
my man Kyle uses his body to come down with
(18:57):
a big boy catch.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
I'm talking about stretching up, having to elevate above and
go get.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
The football on third and seven, which is like Hughes
player to keep that drive going and he comes down
with it. Those are the type of players you expect
number eight to make when you're drafted. In my top
ten pick, these are the type of These are the
type of matchups you know he can go out and win.
He continue to be the go to guy, obviously, and
you look at the stat sheet, he had eleven catches
(19:22):
right your twelve targets. That tells you every time the
football is coming his way, guess what, either he coming
down with it or at one time you didn't make
the catch. So you love the fact that your big
time playmaker steps up in the ball game. I heard
him talk to Archie after the ball game about not
having his number one guy, and he said, yeah, when
that guy goes down, I knew I had to step up.
It's kind of like the old adage you guys talked
(19:44):
about last week of I Want the Football and when
he was talking to you Arch, he had to look
in his eye like, yeah, throw me the ball. I'm
the dude that's gonna step up and be the guy
for you when you need me when our number one
guy is down. And you can see the confidence building
over the last few weeks and he continues to play
at a high level and be that guy that I
know the Falcons you know, draft him to be and
(20:07):
Raheem can have nothing but glowing things to say about
him and how he said it was inspiring to see
him go out and play in the manner that he played,
And so yeah, kudos a cow, but also kudos the
Kirk as you guys just talked about giving him those
opportunities but also putting him in places where he can
go and be successful going to get the football.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Kyle Pitts eleven catches, one hundred and sixty six yards,
three touchdowns, all career highs for him. The one hundred
and sixty six yards most receiving yards by a tight
end National Football League this season. But even more impressive
was his I saved this after I saw it after
the game. His one hundred and fifty yards and three touchdowns,
(20:45):
first tight end to have both of those since Shannon
Sharp in nineteen ninety six. Just think about how long
ago that was now, right, so pretty impressive his performance
that he was able to put together. And Arch I
just want to I want to tee you back up
with this because we've mentioned a couple of times, whether
(21:06):
it was last week, David Sills, last week of the
week before, missing one of the catches on the final drive,
a chance to be able to move the ball down
the field, misses the touchdown in this game, but however,
comes back and he makes that play on fourth down.
That was a difference maker, right, I mean they obviously
they don't win this game. To me, that's a testament
to him not letting the past effect the future. And
(21:28):
I just wanted to give you a moment to talk
about like how important it is and how big of
a moment that was for him in his career to
kind of just like exhale a little bit, like, yes,
I can make not only can I make plays, but
I can make plays when my team desperately needed it.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
Yeah, it gives him He's been a guy that had
an incredible career in college at West Virginia in two seasons.
His last two seasons of West Virginia had thirty five touchdowns.
I mean, it's unbelievable. The guy, the numbers he put
up as a mountaineer, and he's kind of it's kind
of been tough to find his treading here or you know,
(22:04):
find his footing here in the National Football League. He's
been a couple of places. Obviously won his job here
in training camp to be a guy that was going
to be part of the six receivers or seven receivers
you have available. And now all of a sudden, with
Drake London's injury, he's been forced into come and be
kind of be in that big other receiver opposite Kyle,
and so he had to make some complimentary plays and
(22:27):
you felt I started kind of feeling some kind of
way when he dropped the touchdown. He has a walk
in touchdown and drops the pass. And to Rack's point,
I think, if you're going to play at this level,
we're all going to have failures. It's how do you
respond to those failures? What do you do when adversity hits?
How do you handle it? Do you get up off
the deck, Are you over cowering on the bench. Are
(22:50):
you worried about that catch so now you don't make
the next catch? You know you're here all the time.
Don't let that play beat the beat you on this play.
And David didn't do that. And we talk about and
certainly should talk about the catch he makes the whole
catch I talked about on fourth and fourteen along the
sidelines to set up Zane Gonzales for essentially a field
goal opportunity. But don't forget the play the other play
(23:12):
that's helped set up the touchdown prior to where they're
running a fake screen left side and Sills widens, Sills
widens to block and then runs a post off. It
was a great design by Zach Robinson that makes it
look like they're gonna throw a quick screen with two
guys in front, and he comes off of it and
runs a little bang it post to the inside, sticks
(23:33):
him in traffic, makes the catch, punches it inside the
ten yard line. He ended up would he end up
having a six catches seventy eight yards could add over
one hundred yards that he caught the one pass, But
he caught enough passes and made enough of a difference,
like Shack was talking about the periphery guys, the perimeter guys.
Who else is going to step up other than Kyle
(23:54):
pitt So I thought that David Sills showed what kind
of professional he is. And he certainly to me told
me that, hey, that's a guy I'd like to have
on my team if I need him, you know. And
so the one other thing about Kyle Pitts, and when
you talk to you, you know, such a great job
of talking about the things that he did. The maturity
(24:14):
that he continues to come with is his aggressiveness, his anger.
He needs to play with the play the game angry,
and he's played the game angry the last three weeks.
He's got twenty six receptions in his last three games,
and he's been that go to guy. He's run a
lot of Drake's ro out certainly, but he ran arount
and you know the one I'm talking about shock We
(24:35):
motioned over into a tight bunch, look right side, and
we need a conversion and he's running the option route
and he leases up the field. And so his idea
of understanding where leverage was he just he does a
Travis Kelsey. He doesn't even run around. He just runs
up the field and just kind of turns and goes
to the sideline, and Kirk is right on the same
(24:56):
page with him. I talked to him about that. I mean,
that's those are the kind of things if you go
back and you look at Travis Kelcey and Patrick Mahomes,
he doesn't even run routes. He'll just run up and
get in the middle of the field and and it
was the feel of the game to me. Kyle has
gone back to who he was as a rookie, where
he's aggressive and probably playing more angry now than he
(25:17):
was then, but he's expecting the football and his growth
as a player and understanding what people are trying to
do coverage wise off the charts. So that was I
just wanted to add that to what what Shock had
already said about him. The guy played you hope that
that's the way he plays all the time. Now, the
big question for the fan is, how do you incorporate
(25:37):
when Drake comes back. There's a good chance Drake plays
this week, how do you incorporate those two guys back
in because you have to have those you know what
you're going to get from Drake. You need to have
that Kyle Pitts on the field. That's that angry throw
me the ball guy like you talked about.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Well, I want to add one last thing to what
ours just talked about. With obviously David Seals in that
particular route that he caught. If you watch the Falcons,
you've watched him run that screen to Bejeon a lot
of times. Got Kyle come in motion, looks like he's
gonna block the corner that's over top of Bjon and
you throw it to Bjon, he goes out, He makes
you seven eight yards or whatever it may be. And
(26:14):
they've also ran Hey faking the Bjon And then you
got Kyle run the wheel right down the side. Ours
talked about the professionalism, and I think the professionalism for
David Seals was this ball I know is going to
be because they're faking it to those two guys. But
I have to do my job first, which is delayed, stalk, stalk,
and then I got to get into that little voided area.
(26:35):
I thought he did such a good job of not
going fast, not trying.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
To you know what.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
I know. I'm getting his football, so I'm excited, and
I don't do what I need to do other guys
sell it and I try to go fast and you
rush it and all of a sudden that safety is
sitting there because you didn't sell it good enough. He
did sech a good job was selling it, doing his
part of that particular play which allowed him to get
the ball.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
And you remember that's after the big drop.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
So in my mind, I'm like, you know what, I
got an opportunity to make a play, So you don't
rush it. You go through what you're opposed to, and
the professional part of David Seals come through with a
big time play and even though you have that drop,
you come back. That's what your teammates remember, is you
having that resilient nature about you to be able to
come back and make a play when your number is called,
(27:19):
and that's Xrop calling your number. Now calling Jean, not
calling Kyle. He's calling your number and to go make
a play.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
So Kirk Cousins with his thirty second game winning drive
since he entered the league in twenty twelve. That's the
fourth most among quarterbacks in that span. I also want
to make sure that we give a shout out to
Jon Robinson. He is the one that you could say
if there is a model of consistency on this team.
It's Jon Robinson. He ends up with twenty seven touches
for one hundred and seventy five yards in this game.
(27:49):
And it's whatever you need out of him. You need
running game, you need physicality, you need quickness, you need shake,
you need receiver out of the backfield, you need whatever
it is, He's gonna be able to give it to you.
And he does that week in and week out. And
how he continues to play at this level, I think
the average fan, you're spoiled. Let me just say that,
because it is not as easy as he makes it look.
(28:11):
I've said this over the years when I used to
watch Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning and Tom Brady like
watching those guys on Sunday and think that that is
just normal, Like it is abnormal. They make it look
so much easier than it actually is. And I think
Jean Robinson is now in that conversation. Last thing I
wanted to say about the game, guys, the Alfred with
a huge pick in the game and James Pierce Junior
(28:33):
again getting the sack. Is at seven straight games now
with a sack. I believe is that the correct number
six six or sex six straight games with a sack.
He continues to show up every single week getting after
the quarterback, and it's impressive to see his continued growth.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Yeah, you've got guys. You now have ten players with
two plus sacks on the team. You have five players
with four plus sacks, and fifteen players at least one
sack on this team. They now have forty eight sacks,
which ties for second all time in Falcon history, chasing
the team that I think it was the ninety eight
team or a nice they went to the Super Bowl
(29:10):
fifty five sacks, Chuck Smith and that crew. So that's
certainly within within range. And give Jeff Oldbrick a ton
of credit. Realizing we talked a little bit about Kobe
Bryant and Kobe playing that corner spot to the wide side.
Remember what happens is Hughes plays wide side of the
field and AJ's the boundary corner, and they didn't want
to have to switch AJ over on Mike cues every snap.
(29:34):
So Kobe's playing the wide side of the field. So
they changed, they changed up coverage and they ran some
three buzz and they played played cover three behind it
to give Kobe the ability to lose ground and get back,
but they buzzed the offered out underneath the play and
he almost got to one earlier in the game. But
(29:56):
great call by Jeff Ulbrich there having an understanding, hey,
they're going to try to touch that white side of
the field, and obviously the athleticism of Ded to go
up and get the football. I mean, he went up
the ladder to go get that. But it's a call
play call defense to buzz him underneath the outside breaking
route to that the wide side of the field. So
I give Oldbrick a lot of credit. You know, he's
(30:17):
designing and calling up a lot of these pressure looks
and stuff. That was just a zone coverage look that
he called up to try to get offered out underneath
that route, and it was the perfect call.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Yeah, we did. We probably gave the majority of the
attention on the show to the offensive side, and that's
no disrespect to the defense. I think it's sometimes it's
just the weeks. We've talked a lot about defense because
they've been the more consistent unit for a lot of
these games, and particularly the losses that Atlanta has.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
Ended up having.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
But I think when there's performances like the offense had
when you needed it. You got to make sure that
we emphasized that, talk about it, and ship those guys
they're kudos. So it was a great win for Atlanta
to go on the road divisional when you don't have
anything at stake other than professionalism, pride, and wanting to
play your one of your division rivals hard. They were
able to do that. So from a division rival to
(31:06):
outside of the division, staying in the conference but heading
out to play another bird team, a little bird on
birding action Arizona Cardinals, and this Arizona Cardinals guys, that's
gonna look a lot different than the team that you
might have expected coming into the season. They got Jacoby
Brissett playing quarterback, now wide receivers, banged up, Trey McBride
(31:26):
the tight end is having a phenomenal year for them.
Michael Wilson's been stepping up after the injuries that they've
had on the outside. But arch to kind of walk
us through what Atlanta's going to see in a three
and eleven Cardinals team that is actually only one in
six at home this year.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Well, this is a team that's played nine one score games.
They've only won two of them, and a lot of
those one score games are similar opponents that we've seen.
They've played one score with the forty nine Ers, one
with the Seattle Seahawks. One. You know, they've played very
close with a lot of really good football teams. I
think the Denver they and they might even have played
Denver this year it was a one score game. But
(32:03):
nine one score games have only been able to come
on top in two of them. They've been run on
the last two weeks. The Rams really lit them up
in the run game, and then this last weekend Houston
ran for about one hundred and forty five yards on
I think the Rams ran for almost two hundred and
fifty yards on them two weeks ago, so they've been
touched up in the run game. It's a team that
(32:24):
has twenty five sacks. Eleven of those are from Josh Swet,
so you better make sure you get a hat on
Josh Swtt off the edge. They have had their quarterback,
Jacoby Brissett and others Kyler Murray and whoever else has
played quarterback has been sacked forty seven times on the year.
So get ready. You got a chance to maybe go
hunt and eat that way. They've been able to take
the ball away. They've taken the ball away as much
(32:46):
as we have. And it's one of those teams. Kind
of one of those weird, weird scenarios shock in that
when you start looking at playoff teams a lot that
a lot of times at plus minus. You talk about
it all the time, the plus minus is weren't supposed
to be your plus whatever. You look at Chicago, they're
like plus seventeen. They're at the top of the of
the match of the of that stat. But if you
(33:06):
go down through it, it's almost all playoff teams. Atlanta
plus one in the giveaway takeaway. I think it's the
only sub five hundred team there. Arizona just fell below that.
I think they're minus one. But they're in pretty good,
pretty good stead there as well. But they've got some
they've got some solid players on their side of the ball.
One obviously Josh Wett, Buddha Baker. Anybody's remembers this this
(33:28):
team or you know this team defensively, Buddha Baker. They're
challenged offensively. So don't get don't fall into the McBride sandwich.
If you will give a little give a little shout
out to McDonald's there the McBride sandwich. Just make sure
we don't get that shock.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Without going too deep back into Tampa, I want to
ask you this question is what can Atlanta take from
their performance last week on Thursday Night football? What's the
Without getting into key here like this is not a key,
I'm saying, what facet of last Thursday Nights win against
Tampa do you want to see carry over into this
Arizona game.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
I think it's the one thing that we've talked about
the last six or seven weeks is your abilly to finish.
And you found a way to finish this last ballgame
and you talk about the nineteen penalties, you're talking about
being able to get five sacks, you talk about Kyle
Pitts having a big day. All those things within the
game were big. You've had those moments throughout the year
(34:26):
as well, where guys have showed up and made big
plays defensive, had games where you had five six sacks
and you still find a way to lose the ball game.
But I thought being able to finish a ball game,
Archie went through that last drive and the execution that
comes with being able to finish a drive like that,
but also go finish it and go win the ballgame.
And I think that's big in this league. Just talked
about a team that's three and eleven, but they've been
(34:49):
in all these one score ball games and you talk
about being able to finish a ball game. The Falcons
have been in plenty of those ball games as well,
but haven't been able to finish. The one thing I
take away from last week is you found a way
to go win the ball game at.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
The end when you needed to and go finish it.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
So if you go in the locker room of the
ball game and you feel good about the way you
came out with a win, you got to point to
the fourth quarter of that ball game. And you always
talk about the moment in the ballgame went in the
middle of late All that kind of stuff matters. But
it's a reason we talked fourth quarter when we start
(35:25):
talking this ballgame, because that's what really mattered. That's what mattered.
Majority of the season. The Falcons had been in you
know what, ten to twelve of these ball games and
just haven't maybe finished a lot of them. That game,
you found a way to go win and finish the
ball game at the end. Why execution on both sides.
Your defense gave you an opportunity to go and go
do it again with the offers. Pick you go down,
you execute, you go do that. So I think finishing
(35:48):
the ball game is gonna be huge.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
You know, you made a great point shock because you
think about the teams and I'm gonna even you know,
I'm on a show here with two quarterbacks, you guys,
and I think about the last what do you want
to call it? Five seven years? The quarterbacks and the
teams that continue to fight for four quarters, sixty minutes
and never believe that they're out of it. Are the
(36:12):
teams that come to my mind are the Ravens, the Bills,
and the Chiefs. And because those three teams have quarterbacks
that are ultimate competitors and they never feel like they're
out of the game, and to your point shock, they
play for four quarters and they finish. And just again,
I'm thinking about the Bills last week, like they were
getting ran out the gym by the Patriots, and what
(36:35):
did Josh Allen say, hold a drink? Yeah, okay, he
came out. And so that's the difference in the NFL.
Is like even when you find yourself behind, you got
to find a way to finish. So I'm glad that
you ended up throwing that out. So, fellows, let's get
into our keys for this week. It can be something
that you saw last week. It could be something that
you think is important. It could be something that you're
exploiting because it's a weakness for the Arizona Cardinals. And
(36:58):
I'm gonna talk about I'm gonna go first here, give
you as another second to think about it. But we
talk a lot of times, specifically with this Atlanta offense,
about staying on schedule right, cannot get backed up. It's
gonna make things ultimately more difficult. I'm gonna flip that over,
and I'm gonna say for the defense to make Arizona
play off schedule, because you talked about their inability to
(37:19):
get away from some of the pass rush. So what
happens when you get people off schedule is they get predictable.
They got to throw the football. That's when you can
pin your ears back and that's when you can get
after the quarterback. So I'm gonna say for the defense,
the key is to get Arizona off schedule, whether that's
by your behalf right, because you get a tackle for loss,
you get a sack on first down, or maybe it's
(37:41):
you get a gift and there's a penalty on the offense,
but then you make them pay for the penalty. Right,
keep them backed up behind the change and let's see
what happens. Let's see how good this offense is against
the way that Atlanta this year can get after the
quarterback if they're off schedule, if they've got second and seventeen,
if they got third and twelve. I like Atlanta's chances
with what they can do from a pass rush perspective
(38:03):
this year, if they can force those so get them
off schedule with the chains arch, what's yours?
Speaker 4 (38:08):
Yeah, I mean, there's so many different places to go.
That's a great one. If you go back and you
look at the Texan game. They lost to the Texans
forty to twenty this weekend. Their offense had been on
the field, had not been on the field yet, and
they were down ten to nothing. Arizona went down the
Houston went down the field, scored a touchdown, kicked off,
(38:28):
they fumbled the kickoff, Arizona recovered it, or I mean
Houston recovered it. Arizona. Give them credit, they bowed their
back defensively and forced a field goal, but by the
time their offense was on the field, they were down ten.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (38:40):
They went three and out. The next series. All three
plays were negative plays like you're talking about. They punted,
Houston went down the field and scored a touchdown. They
were down seventeen to nothing. They touched the ball one time.
That's where I would like to try to take them mentally,
and it's along the same lines of what you're talking about.
Can you get them feeling like, uh oh, here, here's another,
(39:02):
here's another one of those scenarios. Talked about nine one
score games. They've only won two of them. You know,
let's not make it a one score game. They've been
and we've had it happen to us a couple of
times as well, but they've been blown out in about
four games, and most recently last week, Houston took them
out and beat them up pretty good. So I would say,
and I know fast art goes away so necessary, I
(39:24):
can't necessarily be it. The thing I'll fall into is
a little bit along the same lines you're talking about.
Don't let McBride be the guy that beats you, okay,
because they really don't have a lot of other options.
It's strange because if you look at them on the
outside and you looked at us on the outside, you say, wow,
these are two very similar teams. Got their backup quarterback playing. Now,
(39:45):
we're much better in the backfield than they are. There
were much more sound, but they're depending on their tight
end to play all make all these plays, which is
what Atlanta's been doing. So I would say, don't let
me Bride beat you, and let's see if we can,
you know, make them feel like they were in last
week's game.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Arch I was I was thinking when that was your
initial thought was give them DejaVu.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Yeah, give them de ja vu?
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Like, uh oh, here we go again. All right, shock
what you got for us?
Speaker 3 (40:14):
It's unbelievable. Uh if you're if you're listening, you won't
be able to see this. But I'm gonna show people
who are actually who may be watching. You could seal
my eye my pad here it says you zooming right there,
limit make Bride.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
I don't think they can see it because you probably
can't see it.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Yeah for sure, but it was a good attempt. And
then we go we're going to zooming right.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
There, right there, we go, hold on limit, make bride
right there, Look at the last three games. Look at
look at these numbers right here. I was gonna set
it up by saying, arch what what did you say?
Speaker 4 (40:45):
That's the same by the way, that's the same notebook
he had in seventh grade.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
By the way, he want you to know. See how
many how many catches cow piss head?
Speaker 3 (40:54):
Last three games twenty six right, last last three games
twenty five catches thirty one. So my brain has to
go elsewhere now, No, no, no, it's cool. It's cool
for me. I'll jump on the other side. You guys,
you know, did a really swell job or crushed me at.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
The end right day, I thought he was gone.
Speaker 4 (41:16):
This is just a revier. Let shot go first.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
No, no, it's all good. It's all good. It's all good.
I think.
Speaker 3 (41:23):
For me, I'm gonna say, continue consistent play with your guys,
like like Kyle Pitts, bej rops. Continue to feed those guys,
because I think you can get away from teams knowing, Okay,
we're gonna try to get beese on the ball. We're
gonna get cattterball we're gonna get these guys plays. I say,
continue to feed your horses because they have gotten you here.
(41:46):
They put you in position to win ball games. So
continue to feed the guys that got you here. In
the last three weeks has been number eight, it's been
number seven all year. But continue to feed your horses, man,
and they'll take you to where you need to be.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
All right, there you go, folks.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
So there's are keys to the game by your falcons
audible crew.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
Here.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
I started off with defense needs to keep Arizona off schedule.
Arch gave us a couple. I nicknamed one of them.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
I gave them name.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
You give them deja vu of what's happened throughout the
course of the season. Make them say, oh, here we
go again. But also don't let Trey McBride beat you.
Speaker 4 (42:20):
I'm glad.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
I'm glad you killed Arch account because if it was me,
he would have shocked how many of you gonna give us.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
So I'm glad that you went this and he gave
us a couple.
Speaker 4 (42:30):
So write this. Let shot go first.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
Next, it was a great okay, great minds thinking like
that's all I'm saying, that's.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Fine, And I feel like I'm good with that. But
then you thinking on your feet and saying playmakers need
to stay consistent, continued to feed the beast, Right, is that?
What is that we're going with?
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Feed the horses, Feed the horses, feed.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Up birds, give them. Yeah, feed the birds. You got horses,
then you went to birds. That's a completely different meal,
by the right.
Speaker 4 (43:03):
I like the falcon over a over a car. Cardinals
are really neat bird and all that kind of stuff.
It's not a bird of prey.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
Here's what I would say.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
The cardinals logo is cute, like the falcon's logo looks fierce.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 4 (43:18):
All right, we need that.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
We need fierce, fierce falcons. Folks. Hope you enjoyed it,
and I hope you enjoy all the content we bring
you all season long. I feel like this crew gives it.
Speaker 4 (43:29):
To you a little bit differently.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
You got three former players here that can actually walk
through what happened in the game, but the more of
the nuances as to why it worked out or why
it didn't work out, And we feel like that's one
of the things that we bring to the table and
hopefully you guys all enjoy that.
Speaker 4 (43:43):
As well.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
Remember us to follow us on all your podcast apps
and like, comment, subscribe, review all of those things.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
I know voting was up.
Speaker 4 (44:00):
No I'm not.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
I mean I can't.
Speaker 4 (44:02):
I can't get over that wall. That the wall they
make them climb over.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
Look, we saw Philip Rivers came back. Philip Rivers came back.
Speaker 4 (44:11):
I'm just saying, dude, you don't think that I wasn't
out and to call throwing not only you come back
they how bad my boy looked though, when he slipped
on the logo.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
Building trying to get up, trying to get back down.
He's old, I'm getting down.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (44:27):
Hold on, all.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Right, we're not here to talk about but sometimes we've
got to give all the news are going around the league.
Wrap it up here Falcon's Audible, presented by AT and T.
We'll be back here in about a week to wrap
up a massive, massive game. Well, first of all, we'll
wrap up the Cardinals game, but then we're going to
have a preview of what's going to happen on Monday
Night football as Matthew Stafford.
Speaker 4 (44:48):
Former.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
Dog, and the l A Rams in town to play
the Falcons. Many people think that the l A Rams
one of the best teams in the league right now,
although they need to get a little bit of injury
news last week right now, Yes, you know, so, that's
what's on the docket. But first things first. Arizona Cardinals.
All right, I hope you guys joined the show. Let's
gonna wrap it up.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
That CJ.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Shockley, Dave Artchner, I'm Derek Rackley.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
That is the that's the old school of it.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
It's still fierce. There's only two pages left on his pad.
By the way, I'm Derek Rackley. Thanks for joining us. Everybody,
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Speaker 2 (00:28):
Got he's into?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Is like to start break?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (00:34):
I can get chills a little bit thinking about what
these two guys can do.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
We are back on the Falcons Audible presented by AT
and T. And I know it's been a long time
since the Falcons were on the football field. You might
be taking this in on a Wednesday, when it's our
normal day that we're released. And shoot, fellas, that was almost.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
A week ago.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
We were all talking before we came on the air
here that we kind of had to refresh our memory
of what happened in that game. It seems like it
was so long ago. However, it was a twenty nine
to twenty eight comeback victory for the Atlanta Falcons on
the road against divisional opponent Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So, Fellows,
let's go ahead and let's dive into this one. Let's
start off how we've been doing the last few weeks
(01:14):
on revisiting what we talked about is kind of our keys,
if you will, all right, and I'll start it off.
Mine was a special team's win. And if you've been
paying attention to the Falcons recently, it's been an issue
for them and something that I felt like not only
did when I say win, didn't necessarily mean that they
had to have a game winning field goal, which they
(01:35):
ended up having, but just not get beat in that
phase of the game. And I think, Fellows, the only
thing you could kind of really say is, yeah, zan
Gonzoalz did have a ball that didn't make it to
the landing zone, which ended up giving up some favorable
field position, but outside of that, no big returns and
game winning field goal, which is something Atlanta has been
desperate to get throughout the course of the season. So
(01:57):
I think you should you would say that key ended
up work.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
What's a grade?
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Then?
Speaker 1 (02:02):
My grade is an as?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, Okay, I like that.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
If we're giving out letter grades, a minus helped contribute
to a win and obviously, game winning field goal will
help that happen. Shot, complimentary play out on the perimeter.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Summarize that one for us.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I mean, it's pretty selfic planneatory, you know what I'm saying.
Other guys out there other than the main key guys
making plays, because last few weeks we've seen maybe one
guy on offense, maybe just Bijon, maybe just Kyle, have
a significant part of the ball game. And then you
look up and obviously the two main characters had their
big game, But then you look up, David seals six
(02:40):
catches for seventy eight yards, Mooney had a couple of catches,
Warner had a couple of catches.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So I thought there were other guys.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Who contributed to the game and were a big part
of giving us give us a win. So yeah, I
think that was a part of the game planning. You
play well to a certain extent with complimentary guys. So yeah,
I'm gonna give the guys a You make dramatic plays,
but they were enough plays to have you get a win. Uh,
I'm gonna go B plus.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
B plus we got a minus, we got a B plus.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Well, no, I think you're undergrading yourself on that I
thought that that was a key part of the game.
If David Stills catches the go route. Yes, he's over
one hundred, you know, I mean not even talking about
a walk off me.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
He was in my brain, but I couldn't pat myself
on the back too much. You know what I'm saying
that I know you would have struck me down, so
I had to go a little.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Mod you completely under soldiers. Shock.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
How about let's go.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
And give an assister Ryan Noossel news. I know on
the perimeter, my man was playing eighteen nineteen Gars down field.
Go get that recovery on the on the mistake by
Darnell Mooney to drop it. But man, that.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
News was did something on that power because I don't
know how he got that ball back.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Three pay Jersey the ground more.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Oh my goodness, there's.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
A picture that was taking it in noosles, not even
in the frame, and there's six Creamsickle jerseys around the football.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
And of course you know they got darn Old Moody
wound up like a little like a noodle or something
like that. Unbelievable man came out of I have.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
No idea, but great for him, all right, arch limit
the run game was yours and this is this is
actually termed incorrectly limit the running.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Backs ability to affect the game and so run game
obviously the major part of that Bucky Irving Rashad White
two guys they like to get the football, two guys
they liked to have in the game at the same time.
And you did limit the run game just eighty eight
yards on the ground. They did not. They were not
able to invest in the run game as much because
I thought Atlanta shut it down and they were getting
(04:48):
some plays by none other than Mike Evans, so why
not go that direction. But here was the other piece
of it that I mentioned was those two guys. They
like to throw those guys the ball. Remember when we
talked about going into the game their screen game to
a Shod White and Bucky Irving. Those two guys had
two catches for seventeen yards in the game, so all
all told just over one hundred yards, but twenty four
(05:10):
touches by Irving and and uh Rashod White and then
had about one hundred and five yards of offense.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
So that's part about that too.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
That did mention they got five sacks, but Baker Mayfield
one rushing yard.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Good call, Yeah, but and Bake didn't get out. They
get out and run it, run the ball. And so
as far as mine go, I can't, I can't. I
thought shock completely underrated it. Would you give yourself a
BT plus yea.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
The verge to catch that by seals you get your
ninety but you knows.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Are created to get that.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
They Yeah, but I thought that. Okay, I thought it
was better than that. I think it, and I'll give
myself a beat that. If you're a V plus, I
gotta go being. No, there's better, hard greater, man hard.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Greater, So you're gonna be I'll go be Okay, Yeah,
I mean I thought they did a pretty good job
limiting the expel plays and everything.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Well we didn't. We didn't well to the backs, yeah, yeah, yeah.
As it turns out, Mike Evans decided to come back
and come back in fashion, didn't he? My goodness, there
was wasn' a whole lot of rusts there was there.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
It's like I'm thinking, I'm thinking, all right, what is
he gonna get like fifteen twenty plays or something. I mean,
he's just posted people up going up over the top,
playing with I mean telling you that, dude is special work.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
I went and told Kobe Bryant comes in for for
my cues, and Kobe's gonna be a good player. Kobe
was a three time All Big twelve defender at Kansas
and had like thirteen career interceptions as a Jayhawk, but
he hadn't gotten to play very much. And so he's
in there and he's playing and to draw Mike Evans,
who who has what eleven consecutive one thousand yards and
(06:49):
just give me my goodness. I thought he did a
really good job of fighting. He had him. He made
a really big tackle down in a red zone about
the five yard line. Really did a good job there.
But I went and I can't win in sigm in
the locker room after the game, and he was sitting there,
I don't know if he was texting somebody who's he
looked a little bit wildered. I said, dude, I mean,
that's this NFL. Now you're you're good, You'll be okay,
you know, and I know some of his other guys
(07:10):
that talked. I said, you just drew one of probably
one of the drive toughest receivers you could have drawn.
At six foot five, a guy that has the confidence
that that dude has and what he's done. I said, man,
that was a great indoctrination in the game. You're gonna
be better for it. He says, I appreciate it, man,
And so he was good. But uh man, that was
a that was a tough it was. It was humbling.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
But I mean, I mean sure Mike Evans too is
probably looking across the line and he's probably licking his lips.
I mean, that's he's thinking he's gonna draw a J.
Terrell all the time, whatever the case may be. But
you know, that's that's what happens when you draw one
of the best. That's you know, I would say in
the last two decades. You know, he might go down
as one of the best to play in this league
when it's all said and done. But that's just the
(07:52):
type of player that he is.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
And it was.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
It was a tough night for Kobe Bryant. So those
are grades on how are our keys did? And I
think that would contribute to the reason why Atlanta ended
up winning that game. However, it wasn't necessarily the prettiest one. Guys,
you think about them. All the penalties set a franchise
record in penalties in this game. Arch, that's another one
of those departments where generally you have that many penalties,
(08:16):
you're not winning many football games. I put it in
the same category as turnovers, right, you end up getting
walloped in the turnover margin, Like, the chances of winning
games are very slim. So I gotta give a lot
of credit for Atlanta continuing to fight, because even through
the end of the third quarter, this was not looking
like a good result was coming out of this thing.
So I'm gonna ask you, Arch, keeping in mind the
(08:39):
penalties and as the as the clock changed from the
third to the fourth quarter, what was the feeling like
in that building?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:47):
I think that the well, the feeling obviously it's a
Tampa buildings, so they felt good. They're in their throwback
jerseys and you know, the the likes of you know,
James Wilder and Jimmy god Giles and all those guys.
Doug Williams, we're ringing in their heads, I guess a
little bit. But yeah, there was an extreme confidence I
think that Tampa, and especially when they got that score
(09:08):
to go at twenty eight, you know, Bejond Fumbles of
football deep in your own territory on on the little
angle route, and they punched that in all of a sudden,
you look up, you're down twenty at fourteen, and it
was what third to fourteen, thirteen and a half or
fourteen and a half you had the lead, and so
things flipped pretty quickly. So it was not a very
good third quarter for the Falcons. But you know, the penalties,
(09:33):
you don't get me going on the careful you're talking about.
You're talking about two of the of the five or
six least penalized teams in the National Football League. Going
into that game, Tampa was averaging five point five penalties
per game. Atlanta was averaging five point six penalties per game.
Atlanta I think had three games this year where they
(09:55):
had eight penalties. That was they're high. So you could,
you know, decipher that any way you want to. Or
one team's got nineteen penalties and one has four. There's
only been three times in NFL history where two teams
where they had that much of a differential fifteen penalties
between him. One was in nineteen forty four and the
(10:18):
other this same crew did the game.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Ah, there's a correlation.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Well, I'm not you guys, I'm not saying anything about it.
You know, you guys can do. He's just I'm just
giving you the status.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Only is giving information.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
I'm giving you the status. It's just that, in all honesty,
was ridiculous. Okay. Aj Terrell had five penalties in the
first thirteen games of the year. He had five in
that game. Okay, So either we got a bunch of
guys in the first thirteen games were blind or I
(10:53):
don't know what was going on, but that there's just
that's too big a disparity that has That's something it
has to be looked at. Now, did the Falcons commit fouls, absolutely,
but were there fouls on the other side as well.
I think we saw all some i mean cousins get
hit in the face, and we had guy we had
a guy drugged down in the back of the end zone.
There were a number of things happened in it. And
I'm getting way too deep in the weeds here on
(11:14):
the on the penalty thing. But that was ridiculous. That's
that was embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Yeah, let's you know, I was thinking about this this morning, guys,
and I'm on social media as much as you know
everybody else is, and it's easy to poke fingers and
make fun when an organization is losing and they always
want to go to the head coach. And I saw
some stuff out there where people were trying to make
fun of Raheem Morris because in his press of conferences
(11:40):
talking about we got to make a play, we just
didn't make any plays, and there was some jokes about it.
And what I started thinking about it is I was like, Okay,
if you want to make the jokes, that's fine. However,
when there is a game that happens, when guys go
out and they make those plays, you and I you
guys know it. Like we've been in the building, We've
(12:01):
been on teams, we've been in the locker room, we've
watched Tate before. You know when plays are being made
and when plays are not being made. And he's right,
there was a lot of games this year where plays
were not being made. But I think when you have
a game like this last week, when plays were made,
that's what Raheem Morris is talking about. When field goals
(12:21):
are made to win football games, when interceptions are made
to turn the momentum around, when receivers, well, I shall
I call it tight ends step up and rise to
the challenge and make play after play, When David Sills
makes a desperation catch when they needed one, when Kirk
Cousins showed up and played his absolute tail off and
made plays, right, So you want to sit there and
(12:43):
joke about, well, all he does is say, we didn't
make a play. We got to make a play. We've
got to make a play. Guess what fellas They made
plays against the Buccaneers. And that's what it's all about.
And I don't want to sidetrack this conversation, but this weekend,
I've got a game where I'm doing New England at Baltimore,
and I'm reading the press conference of Mike Rabel from
their game this past weekend. And you know what he
said in his press conference over and over and over,
(13:06):
we didn't make enough place and the other guy did
talking about Josh Allen, Right, So guess what. That's the
nature of the National Football League. Like players in groups
of players, you either make the plays to win football
games or you don't. Okay, and there was games this
year where Atlanta did not make enough. But arch let's
talk about Kirk Cousins a little bit because he's had
(13:27):
a tough go all Right, he's had a tough go
for call it the last calendar year, maybe year and
a half, whatever the time period you want to look at,
But there could have been all kinds of reasons for
him not to have a great performance. Not only did
he play well, he absolutely bawled his face off when
he didn't have his number one receiver out there and
still was surgical in this game. How impressed were you
(13:48):
from his performance?
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Yeah, I've really been impressed with him for the last
several weeks. Rack We've talked about his ability to get
the ball out, and I think that there's something to
building the com especially if your offensive line. If the
if you don't turn around, your quarterback's not laying on
his back behind you, the ball's out, somebody's making a play.
So I think that his decision making has been off
(14:10):
the charts. Has there been there? There's been some moments
where he's missed some guys, but every quarterback does that.
But I thought in this game, in particular, obviously the
synergy between he and Kyle Pitts. I mean, we can
obviously dive into what Kyle's done in a moment, because
I thought there were some really special things that he
did that were next level deals that he did as
(14:30):
a as a receiver. But just the let's just take
the last drive if you will, you know you get
the He gets pressure in his face on second and
twenty eight, tries to hit Mooney on the bang at post.
He doesn't get it to him because he has pressure
in his face, can't get it to him. Now it's
third and twenty eight. So thought process as a quarterback,
(14:51):
I'm unless something opens wide open, I'm not shoving the
ball down the field. I need to give myself a
chance to convert on fourth, so I needed to get
a piece of it back and preferably half of it,
two thirds of it back. He hits Kyle in the
right flat and Kyle makes a guy miss and goes
gets him fourteen. That's a play that people will just
(15:14):
throw away and forget about. Huge play, Huge play by
Kyle to make the defender miss, but to get Kyle
the ball in time for him to give it, give
him a chance to do something, makes the guy miss,
goes and gets you fourteen. All right, now you've got
the shot the hole shot on cover two to Sils.
(15:34):
But Sills's adjustment to understand just sit in the hole,
don't keep running, sit it down, and when he lets
the ball go, Sills is probably not where he needs
to be, and to get it over the underneath the fender,
because remember the corner's thinking, I just can't I can't
give anything up behind me. I can give up something
in front of me, but I gotta be able to
(15:55):
tackle it. So he's still losing ground. He's still going
going up the field to drop that over the top
of him. Sills climb the ladder and make the catch
to put you essentially in field goal range. And then
at the end finds Mooney in the left flat and
Darnell has the wherewithal to understand we don't have any timeouts,
so he catches the football and goes wide. He probably
(16:18):
could have gotten another ten yards to the inside, but
he went wide and got you about seven and got
out of bounds. Now you're not in a rush. You
can do whatever you want to. I just thought the
execution to what you're talking about, players making plays, their
quarterback directing traffic and getting it to guys and them
having to make the proper play key in a key
(16:39):
moment of the game. That's the kind of execution herehem's
been talking about, and that's what wins you football games.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Yeah, Kirk cousins two hundred and ninety fourth touchdown pass
now ties Carson Palmer for fifteenth all time in career
touchdown passes, and his one and fifty eight passing yards
against the Buccaneers over the last two years most any
single team over the last two years. So Kirk Cousins
continuing to find ways to get it done. Now, those
(17:07):
three touchdowns that got him to two hundred and ninety
four shock ended up coming courtesy of one Kyle Pitts
and a guy that we've been talking about the entire season,
especially once Drake London ended up going down, needing him
to be that guy. And last Thursday night he stepped
and he stepped up and he was that guy for Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Are talking about some of the things that happens within
routes that maybe the colon fan, maybe people who watch
a game don't even see. And for a guy to
play the tight end position and to be two hundred
and fifty plus but to be able to run routes
like a receiver gives him opportunities that he had in
that ballgame. Obviously, the couple with one couple down the sideline.
(17:54):
He uses you know, David Seals. They run a sam
bezing a traditional which you call cover three. Got a
safe in the middle, the corner outside and Seals takes
the as the post takes the corner out of a
little bit but off the shop of the football. You
can see Kyle hesitated a little bit, get right behind Seals,
get a little vertical, and then he kind of sifts
his way right down the numbers and eases his way
(18:16):
kind of towards and it stays away from that corner
that could just fall off. Kirk does a good job
of layering it outside to give him a chance to
stay away from that particular corner. And then you talk
about the Shalla cross. Looks like he's wide open. They're
trying to talk about it. They're trying to you see
come in the motion the guy talking about it and
Soto moving and table line streams get vertical and then
(18:36):
drets across. By the time it's too late, they can't
pick him up. He'd runs away from coverage. Small things
that the line of scrimmage help him win routes, and
for a guy his size, there was a play on
third and seven guy in Kirk's face, Kirk's having a
bail away man coverage over the middle, Kirk, and then
my man Kyle uses his body to come down with
(18:57):
a big boy catch.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
I'm talking about stretching up, having to elevate above and
go get.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
The football on third and seven, which is like Hughes
player to keep that drive going and he comes down
with it. Those are the type of players you expect
number eight to make when you're drafted. In my top
ten pick, these are the type of These are the
type of matchups you know he can go out and win.
He continue to be the go to guy, obviously, and
you look at the stat sheet, he had eleven catches
(19:22):
right your twelve targets. That tells you every time the
football is coming his way, guess what, either he coming
down with it or at one time you didn't make
the catch. So you love the fact that your big
time playmaker steps up in the ball game. I heard
him talk to Archie after the ball game about not
having his number one guy, and he said, yeah, when
that guy goes down, I knew I had to step up.
It's kind of like the old adage you guys talked
(19:44):
about last week of I Want the Football and when
he was talking to you Arch, he had to look
in his eye like, yeah, throw me the ball. I'm
the dude that's gonna step up and be the guy
for you when you need me when our number one
guy is down. And you can see the confidence building
over the last few weeks and he continues to play
at a high level and be that guy that I
know the Falcons you know, draft him to be and
(20:07):
Raheem can have nothing but glowing things to say about
him and how he said it was inspiring to see
him go out and play in the manner that he played,
And so yeah, kudos a cow, but also kudos the
Kirk as you guys just talked about giving him those
opportunities but also putting him in places where he can
go and be successful going to get the football.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Kyle Pitts eleven catches, one hundred and sixty six yards,
three touchdowns, all career highs for him. The one hundred
and sixty six yards most receiving yards by a tight
end National Football League this season. But even more impressive
was his I saved this after I saw it after
the game. His one hundred and fifty yards and three touchdowns,
(20:45):
first tight end to have both of those since Shannon
Sharp in nineteen ninety six. Just think about how long
ago that was now, right, so pretty impressive his performance
that he was able to put together. And Arch I
just want to I want to tee you back up
with this because we've mentioned a couple of times, whether
(21:06):
it was last week, David Sills, last week of the
week before, missing one of the catches on the final drive,
a chance to be able to move the ball down
the field, misses the touchdown in this game, but however,
comes back and he makes that play on fourth down.
That was a difference maker, right, I mean they obviously
they don't win this game. To me, that's a testament
to him not letting the past effect the future. And
(21:28):
I just wanted to give you a moment to talk
about like how important it is and how big of
a moment that was for him in his career to
kind of just like exhale a little bit, like, yes,
I can make not only can I make plays, but
I can make plays when my team desperately needed it.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
Yeah, it gives him He's been a guy that had
an incredible career in college at West Virginia in two seasons.
His last two seasons of West Virginia had thirty five touchdowns.
I mean, it's unbelievable. The guy, the numbers he put
up as a mountaineer, and he's kind of it's kind
of been tough to find his treading here or you know,
(22:04):
find his footing here in the National Football League. He's
been a couple of places. Obviously won his job here
in training camp to be a guy that was going
to be part of the six receivers or seven receivers
you have available. And now all of a sudden, with
Drake London's injury, he's been forced into come and be
kind of be in that big other receiver opposite Kyle,
and so he had to make some complimentary plays and
(22:27):
you felt I started kind of feeling some kind of
way when he dropped the touchdown. He has a walk
in touchdown and drops the pass. And to Rack's point,
I think, if you're going to play at this level,
we're all going to have failures. It's how do you
respond to those failures? What do you do when adversity hits?
How do you handle it? Do you get up off
the deck, Are you over cowering on the bench. Are
(22:50):
you worried about that catch so now you don't make
the next catch? You know you're here all the time.
Don't let that play beat the beat you on this play.
And David didn't do that. And we talk about and
certainly should talk about the catch he makes the whole
catch I talked about on fourth and fourteen along the
sidelines to set up Zane Gonzales for essentially a field
goal opportunity. But don't forget the play the other play
(23:12):
that's helped set up the touchdown prior to where they're
running a fake screen left side and Sills widens, Sills
widens to block and then runs a post off. It
was a great design by Zach Robinson that makes it
look like they're gonna throw a quick screen with two
guys in front, and he comes off of it and
runs a little bang it post to the inside, sticks
(23:33):
him in traffic, makes the catch, punches it inside the
ten yard line. He ended up would he end up
having a six catches seventy eight yards could add over
one hundred yards that he caught the one pass, But
he caught enough passes and made enough of a difference,
like Shack was talking about the periphery guys, the perimeter guys.
Who else is going to step up other than Kyle
(23:54):
pitt So I thought that David Sills showed what kind
of professional he is. And he certainly to me told
me that, hey, that's a guy I'd like to have
on my team if I need him, you know. And
so the one other thing about Kyle Pitts, and when
you talk to you, you know, such a great job
of talking about the things that he did. The maturity
(24:14):
that he continues to come with is his aggressiveness, his anger.
He needs to play with the play the game angry,
and he's played the game angry the last three weeks.
He's got twenty six receptions in his last three games,
and he's been that go to guy. He's run a
lot of Drake's ro out certainly, but he ran arount
and you know the one I'm talking about shock We
(24:35):
motioned over into a tight bunch, look right side, and
we need a conversion and he's running the option route
and he leases up the field. And so his idea
of understanding where leverage was he just he does a
Travis Kelsey. He doesn't even run around. He just runs
up the field and just kind of turns and goes
to the sideline, and Kirk is right on the same
(24:56):
page with him. I talked to him about that. I mean,
that's those are the kind of things if you go
back and you look at Travis Kelcey and Patrick Mahomes,
he doesn't even run routes. He'll just run up and
get in the middle of the field and and it
was the feel of the game to me. Kyle has
gone back to who he was as a rookie, where
he's aggressive and probably playing more angry now than he
(25:17):
was then, but he's expecting the football and his growth
as a player and understanding what people are trying to
do coverage wise off the charts. So that was I
just wanted to add that to what what Shock had
already said about him. The guy played you hope that
that's the way he plays all the time. Now, the
big question for the fan is, how do you incorporate
(25:37):
when Drake comes back. There's a good chance Drake plays
this week, how do you incorporate those two guys back
in because you have to have those you know what
you're going to get from Drake. You need to have
that Kyle Pitts on the field. That's that angry throw
me the ball guy like you talked about.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Well, I want to add one last thing to what
ours just talked about. With obviously David Seals in that
particular route that he caught. If you watch the Falcons,
you've watched him run that screen to Bejeon a lot
of times. Got Kyle come in motion, looks like he's
gonna block the corner that's over top of Bjon and
you throw it to Bjon, he goes out, He makes
you seven eight yards or whatever it may be. And
(26:14):
they've also ran Hey faking the Bjon And then you
got Kyle run the wheel right down the side. Ours
talked about the professionalism, and I think the professionalism for
David Seals was this ball I know is going to
be because they're faking it to those two guys. But
I have to do my job first, which is delayed, stalk, stalk,
and then I got to get into that little voided area.
(26:35):
I thought he did such a good job of not
going fast, not trying.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
To you know what.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
I know. I'm getting his football, so I'm excited, and
I don't do what I need to do other guys
sell it and I try to go fast and you
rush it and all of a sudden that safety is
sitting there because you didn't sell it good enough. He
did sech a good job was selling it, doing his
part of that particular play which allowed him to get
the ball.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
And you remember that's after the big drop.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
So in my mind, I'm like, you know what, I
got an opportunity to make a play, So you don't
rush it. You go through what you're opposed to, and
the professional part of David Seals come through with a
big time play and even though you have that drop,
you come back. That's what your teammates remember, is you
having that resilient nature about you to be able to
come back and make a play when your number is called,
(27:19):
and that's Xrop calling your number. Now calling Jean, not
calling Kyle. He's calling your number and to go make
a play.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
So Kirk Cousins with his thirty second game winning drive
since he entered the league in twenty twelve. That's the
fourth most among quarterbacks in that span. I also want
to make sure that we give a shout out to
Jon Robinson. He is the one that you could say
if there is a model of consistency on this team.
It's Jon Robinson. He ends up with twenty seven touches
for one hundred and seventy five yards in this game.
(27:49):
And it's whatever you need out of him. You need
running game, you need physicality, you need quickness, you need shake,
you need receiver out of the backfield, you need whatever
it is, He's gonna be able to give it to you.
And he does that week in and week out. And
how he continues to play at this level, I think
the average fan, you're spoiled. Let me just say that,
because it is not as easy as he makes it look.
(28:11):
I've said this over the years when I used to
watch Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning and Tom Brady like
watching those guys on Sunday and think that that is
just normal, Like it is abnormal. They make it look
so much easier than it actually is. And I think
Jean Robinson is now in that conversation. Last thing I
wanted to say about the game, guys, the Alfred with
a huge pick in the game and James Pierce Junior
(28:33):
again getting the sack. Is at seven straight games now
with a sack. I believe is that the correct number
six six or sex six straight games with a sack.
He continues to show up every single week getting after
the quarterback, and it's impressive to see his continued growth.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Yeah, you've got guys. You now have ten players with
two plus sacks on the team. You have five players
with four plus sacks, and fifteen players at least one
sack on this team. They now have forty eight sacks,
which ties for second all time in Falcon history, chasing
the team that I think it was the ninety eight
team or a nice they went to the Super Bowl
(29:10):
fifty five sacks, Chuck Smith and that crew. So that's
certainly within within range. And give Jeff Oldbrick a ton
of credit. Realizing we talked a little bit about Kobe
Bryant and Kobe playing that corner spot to the wide side.
Remember what happens is Hughes plays wide side of the
field and AJ's the boundary corner, and they didn't want
to have to switch AJ over on Mike cues every snap.
(29:34):
So Kobe's playing the wide side of the field. So
they changed, they changed up coverage and they ran some
three buzz and they played played cover three behind it
to give Kobe the ability to lose ground and get back,
but they buzzed the offered out underneath the play and
he almost got to one earlier in the game. But
(29:56):
great call by Jeff Ulbrich there having an understanding, hey,
they're going to try to touch that white side of
the field, and obviously the athleticism of Ded to go
up and get the football. I mean, he went up
the ladder to go get that. But it's a call
play call defense to buzz him underneath the outside breaking
route to that the wide side of the field. So
I give Oldbrick a lot of credit. You know, he's
(30:17):
designing and calling up a lot of these pressure looks
and stuff. That was just a zone coverage look that
he called up to try to get offered out underneath
that route, and it was the perfect call.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Yeah, we did. We probably gave the majority of the
attention on the show to the offensive side, and that's
no disrespect to the defense. I think it's sometimes it's
just the weeks. We've talked a lot about defense because
they've been the more consistent unit for a lot of
these games, and particularly the losses that Atlanta has.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
Ended up having.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
But I think when there's performances like the offense had
when you needed it. You got to make sure that
we emphasized that, talk about it, and ship those guys
they're kudos. So it was a great win for Atlanta
to go on the road divisional when you don't have
anything at stake other than professionalism, pride, and wanting to
play your one of your division rivals hard. They were
able to do that. So from a division rival to
(31:06):
outside of the division, staying in the conference but heading
out to play another bird team, a little bird on
birding action Arizona Cardinals, and this Arizona Cardinals guys, that's
gonna look a lot different than the team that you
might have expected coming into the season. They got Jacoby
Brissett playing quarterback, now wide receivers, banged up, Trey McBride
(31:26):
the tight end is having a phenomenal year for them.
Michael Wilson's been stepping up after the injuries that they've
had on the outside. But arch to kind of walk
us through what Atlanta's going to see in a three
and eleven Cardinals team that is actually only one in
six at home this year.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Well, this is a team that's played nine one score games.
They've only won two of them, and a lot of
those one score games are similar opponents that we've seen.
They've played one score with the forty nine Ers, one
with the Seattle Seahawks. One. You know, they've played very
close with a lot of really good football teams. I
think the Denver they and they might even have played
Denver this year it was a one score game. But
(32:03):
nine one score games have only been able to come
on top in two of them. They've been run on
the last two weeks. The Rams really lit them up
in the run game, and then this last weekend Houston
ran for about one hundred and forty five yards on
I think the Rams ran for almost two hundred and
fifty yards on them two weeks ago, so they've been
touched up in the run game. It's a team that
(32:24):
has twenty five sacks. Eleven of those are from Josh Swet,
so you better make sure you get a hat on
Josh Swtt off the edge. They have had their quarterback,
Jacoby Brissett and others Kyler Murray and whoever else has
played quarterback has been sacked forty seven times on the year.
So get ready. You got a chance to maybe go
hunt and eat that way. They've been able to take
the ball away. They've taken the ball away as much
(32:46):
as we have. And it's one of those teams. Kind
of one of those weird, weird scenarios shock in that
when you start looking at playoff teams a lot that
a lot of times at plus minus. You talk about
it all the time, the plus minus is weren't supposed
to be your plus whatever. You look at Chicago, they're
like plus seventeen. They're at the top of the of
the match of the of that stat. But if you
(33:06):
go down through it, it's almost all playoff teams. Atlanta
plus one in the giveaway takeaway. I think it's the
only sub five hundred team there. Arizona just fell below that.
I think they're minus one. But they're in pretty good,
pretty good stead there as well. But they've got some
they've got some solid players on their side of the ball.
One obviously Josh Wett, Buddha Baker. Anybody's remembers this this
(33:28):
team or you know this team defensively, Buddha Baker. They're
challenged offensively. So don't get don't fall into the McBride sandwich.
If you will give a little give a little shout
out to McDonald's there the McBride sandwich. Just make sure
we don't get that shock.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Without going too deep back into Tampa, I want to
ask you this question is what can Atlanta take from
their performance last week on Thursday Night football? What's the
Without getting into key here like this is not a key,
I'm saying, what facet of last Thursday Nights win against
Tampa do you want to see carry over into this
Arizona game.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
I think it's the one thing that we've talked about
the last six or seven weeks is your abilly to finish.
And you found a way to finish this last ballgame
and you talk about the nineteen penalties, you're talking about
being able to get five sacks, you talk about Kyle
Pitts having a big day. All those things within the
game were big. You've had those moments throughout the year
(34:26):
as well, where guys have showed up and made big
plays defensive, had games where you had five six sacks
and you still find a way to lose the ball game.
But I thought being able to finish a ball game,
Archie went through that last drive and the execution that
comes with being able to finish a drive like that,
but also go finish it and go win the ballgame.
And I think that's big in this league. Just talked
about a team that's three and eleven, but they've been
(34:49):
in all these one score ball games and you talk
about being able to finish a ball game. The Falcons
have been in plenty of those ball games as well,
but haven't been able to finish. The one thing I
take away from last week is you found a way
to go win the ball game at.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
The end when you needed to and go finish it.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
So if you go in the locker room of the
ball game and you feel good about the way you
came out with a win, you got to point to
the fourth quarter of that ball game. And you always
talk about the moment in the ballgame went in the
middle of late All that kind of stuff matters. But
it's a reason we talked fourth quarter when we start
(35:25):
talking this ballgame, because that's what really mattered. That's what mattered.
Majority of the season. The Falcons had been in you
know what, ten to twelve of these ball games and
just haven't maybe finished a lot of them. That game,
you found a way to go win and finish the
ball game at the end. Why execution on both sides.
Your defense gave you an opportunity to go and go
do it again with the offers. Pick you go down,
you execute, you go do that. So I think finishing
(35:48):
the ball game is gonna be huge.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
You know, you made a great point shock because you
think about the teams and I'm gonna even you know,
I'm on a show here with two quarterbacks, you guys,
and I think about the last what do you want
to call it? Five seven years? The quarterbacks and the
teams that continue to fight for four quarters, sixty minutes
and never believe that they're out of it. Are the
(36:12):
teams that come to my mind are the Ravens, the Bills,
and the Chiefs. And because those three teams have quarterbacks
that are ultimate competitors and they never feel like they're
out of the game, and to your point shock, they
play for four quarters and they finish. And just again,
I'm thinking about the Bills last week, like they were
getting ran out the gym by the Patriots, and what
(36:35):
did Josh Allen say, hold a drink? Yeah, okay, he
came out. And so that's the difference in the NFL.
Is like even when you find yourself behind, you got
to find a way to finish. So I'm glad that
you ended up throwing that out. So, fellows, let's get
into our keys for this week. It can be something
that you saw last week. It could be something that
you think is important. It could be something that you're
exploiting because it's a weakness for the Arizona Cardinals. And
(36:58):
I'm gonna talk about I'm gonna go first here, give
you as another second to think about it. But we
talk a lot of times, specifically with this Atlanta offense,
about staying on schedule right, cannot get backed up. It's
gonna make things ultimately more difficult. I'm gonna flip that over,
and I'm gonna say for the defense to make Arizona
play off schedule, because you talked about their inability to
(37:19):
get away from some of the pass rush. So what
happens when you get people off schedule is they get predictable.
They got to throw the football. That's when you can
pin your ears back and that's when you can get
after the quarterback. So I'm gonna say for the defense,
the key is to get Arizona off schedule, whether that's
by your behalf right, because you get a tackle for loss,
you get a sack on first down, or maybe it's
(37:41):
you get a gift and there's a penalty on the offense,
but then you make them pay for the penalty. Right,
keep them backed up behind the change and let's see
what happens. Let's see how good this offense is against
the way that Atlanta this year can get after the
quarterback if they're off schedule, if they've got second and seventeen,
if they got third and twelve. I like Atlanta's chances
with what they can do from a pass rush perspective
(38:03):
this year, if they can force those so get them
off schedule with the chains arch, what's yours?
Speaker 4 (38:08):
Yeah, I mean, there's so many different places to go.
That's a great one. If you go back and you
look at the Texan game. They lost to the Texans
forty to twenty this weekend. Their offense had been on
the field, had not been on the field yet, and
they were down ten to nothing. Arizona went down the
Houston went down the field, scored a touchdown, kicked off,
(38:28):
they fumbled the kickoff, Arizona recovered it, or I mean
Houston recovered it. Arizona. Give them credit, they bowed their
back defensively and forced a field goal, but by the
time their offense was on the field, they were down ten.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (38:40):
They went three and out. The next series. All three
plays were negative plays like you're talking about. They punted,
Houston went down the field and scored a touchdown. They
were down seventeen to nothing. They touched the ball one time.
That's where I would like to try to take them mentally,
and it's along the same lines of what you're talking about.
Can you get them feeling like, uh oh, here, here's another,
(39:02):
here's another one of those scenarios. Talked about nine one
score games. They've only won two of them. You know,
let's not make it a one score game. They've been
and we've had it happen to us a couple of
times as well, but they've been blown out in about
four games, and most recently last week, Houston took them
out and beat them up pretty good. So I would say,
and I know fast art goes away so necessary, I
(39:24):
can't necessarily be it. The thing I'll fall into is
a little bit along the same lines you're talking about.
Don't let McBride be the guy that beats you, okay,
because they really don't have a lot of other options.
It's strange because if you look at them on the
outside and you looked at us on the outside, you say, wow,
these are two very similar teams. Got their backup quarterback playing. Now,
(39:45):
we're much better in the backfield than they are. There
were much more sound, but they're depending on their tight
end to play all make all these plays, which is
what Atlanta's been doing. So I would say, don't let
me Bride beat you, and let's see if we can,
you know, make them feel like they were in last
week's game.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Arch I was I was thinking when that was your
initial thought was give them DejaVu.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Yeah, give them de ja vu?
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Like, uh oh, here we go again. All right, shock
what you got for us?
Speaker 3 (40:14):
It's unbelievable. Uh if you're if you're listening, you won't
be able to see this. But I'm gonna show people
who are actually who may be watching. You could seal
my eye my pad here it says you zooming right there,
limit make Bride.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
I don't think they can see it because you probably
can't see it.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Yeah for sure, but it was a good attempt. And
then we go we're going to zooming right.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
There, right there, we go, hold on limit, make bride
right there, Look at the last three games. Look at
look at these numbers right here. I was gonna set
it up by saying, arch what what did you say?
Speaker 4 (40:45):
That's the same by the way, that's the same notebook
he had in seventh grade.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
By the way, he want you to know. See how
many how many catches cow piss head?
Speaker 3 (40:54):
Last three games twenty six right, last last three games
twenty five catches thirty one. So my brain has to
go elsewhere now, No, no, no, it's cool. It's cool
for me. I'll jump on the other side. You guys,
you know, did a really swell job or crushed me at.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
The end right day, I thought he was gone.
Speaker 4 (41:16):
This is just a revier. Let shot go first.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
No, no, it's all good. It's all good. It's all good.
I think.
Speaker 3 (41:23):
For me, I'm gonna say, continue consistent play with your guys,
like like Kyle Pitts, bej rops. Continue to feed those guys,
because I think you can get away from teams knowing, Okay,
we're gonna try to get beese on the ball. We're
gonna get cattterball we're gonna get these guys plays. I say,
continue to feed your horses because they have gotten you here.
(41:46):
They put you in position to win ball games. So
continue to feed the guys that got you here. In
the last three weeks has been number eight, it's been
number seven all year. But continue to feed your horses, man,
and they'll take you to where you need to be.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
All right, there you go, folks.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
So there's are keys to the game by your falcons
audible crew.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
Here.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
I started off with defense needs to keep Arizona off schedule.
Arch gave us a couple. I nicknamed one of them.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
I gave them name.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
You give them deja vu of what's happened throughout the
course of the season. Make them say, oh, here we
go again. But also don't let Trey McBride beat you.
Speaker 4 (42:20):
I'm glad.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
I'm glad you killed Arch account because if it was me,
he would have shocked how many of you gonna give us.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
So I'm glad that you went this and he gave
us a couple.
Speaker 4 (42:30):
So write this. Let shot go first.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
Next, it was a great okay, great minds thinking like
that's all I'm saying, that's.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Fine, And I feel like I'm good with that. But
then you thinking on your feet and saying playmakers need
to stay consistent, continued to feed the beast, Right, is that?
What is that we're going with?
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Feed the horses, Feed the horses, feed.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Up birds, give them. Yeah, feed the birds. You got horses,
then you went to birds. That's a completely different meal,
by the right.
Speaker 4 (43:03):
I like the falcon over a over a car. Cardinals
are really neat bird and all that kind of stuff.
It's not a bird of prey.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
Here's what I would say.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
The cardinals logo is cute, like the falcon's logo looks fierce.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 4 (43:18):
All right, we need that.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
We need fierce, fierce falcons. Folks. Hope you enjoyed it,
and I hope you enjoy all the content we bring
you all season long. I feel like this crew gives it.
Speaker 4 (43:29):
To you a little bit differently.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
You got three former players here that can actually walk
through what happened in the game, but the more of
the nuances as to why it worked out or why
it didn't work out, And we feel like that's one
of the things that we bring to the table and
hopefully you guys all enjoy that.
Speaker 4 (43:43):
As well.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
Remember us to follow us on all your podcast apps
and like, comment, subscribe, review all of those things.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
I know voting was up.
Speaker 4 (44:00):
No I'm not.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
I mean I can't.
Speaker 4 (44:02):
I can't get over that wall. That the wall they
make them climb over.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
Look, we saw Philip Rivers came back. Philip Rivers came back.
Speaker 4 (44:11):
I'm just saying, dude, you don't think that I wasn't
out and to call throwing not only you come back
they how bad my boy looked though, when he slipped
on the logo.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
Building trying to get up, trying to get back down.
He's old, I'm getting down.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (44:27):
Hold on, all.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Right, we're not here to talk about but sometimes we've
got to give all the news are going around the league.
Wrap it up here Falcon's Audible, presented by AT and T.
We'll be back here in about a week to wrap
up a massive, massive game. Well, first of all, we'll
wrap up the Cardinals game, but then we're going to
have a preview of what's going to happen on Monday
Night football as Matthew Stafford.
Speaker 4 (44:48):
Former.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
Dog, and the l A Rams in town to play
the Falcons. Many people think that the l A Rams
one of the best teams in the league right now,
although they need to get a little bit of injury
news last week right now, Yes, you know, so, that's
what's on the docket. But first things first. Arizona Cardinals.
All right, I hope you guys joined the show. Let's
gonna wrap it up.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
That CJ.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Shockley, Dave Artchner, I'm Derek Rackley.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
That is the that's the old school of it.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
It's still fierce. There's only two pages left on his pad.
By the way, I'm Derek Rackley. Thanks for joining us. Everybody,
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