August 19, 2025 • 30 mins
Derek, Dave & DJ bring the energy to another episode of Falcons Audible, that starts with the crew getting pumped about the beginning of the college football season and what their alma maters can accomplish this year. Then they break down everything they've liked and disliked from the Atlanta Falcons' preseason play, including players that have stood out from the rest. They wrap things up by looking ahead to the 53-man roster and what the hardest decisions are going to be come cut-down time.
0:25 - Intro & College Football
6:00 - Standouts from preseason play
21:35 - Looking ahead to 53-man roster
29:21 - Outro
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:21):
stock items by four pm, subject to availability. The Falcons
Audible is back. The Trio of the Fellas. That's DJ Shock, Yes,
Dave Archer, I'm Derek Rackley. Two weeks of NFL preseason
action is in the books. We're knocking on the door
of preseason week three, but fellas until actually, let me
rewind before we get to preseason week three. We got
(00:42):
college football weekend. Hey, college football starting to seekend.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Don't say, don't say what week is it? No, don't
say it. Don't say what week it is?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Okay, it's it's the first week of.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
The good good Okay. I hate that week.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Cyclones of what this week?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, I got K State and we decided it's one.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Of the one of the depression. I want to hear
like the people talk where they're playing it. Can you
do that?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I can't. I'm not an iris. I can't, can you
locally Irishman?
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Yeah, cyclones taking on the gundens.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
This is my island. Yeah, k State U in Iowa State.
It's a one of the longtime rivalries, goes all the
way back to the Big twelve, a big big eight
when I was playing Iowa State Kansas State kind of
that obviously the heartland of the of the of the
country called Pharmageddon. You know, guy people showing up with pitchforks,
(01:38):
ands and stuff like that and beating each over the head. No,
they don't do that. But Iowa State travels extremely Okay
State travels well pretty pretty well too, But Iowa State
one of those teams that travels. I don't care what
the what the situation. Will we play in a parking lot,
uh in Lincoln, Nebraska or wherever. Iowa State's going to
have more fans and you can put put in the building.
(01:59):
And so a ton of i State fans have traveled
over Ireland. I've got some of my former players teammates,
they have traveled over their families to go to Ireland
and do that whole experience. They've got an alumni deal.
There's all sorts of stuff going on over there, but
pretty cool. Iowa State two really good tea, two top
twenty five teams shocked. This is just one of those. Hey, yeah,
let's throw a couple of teams over here. We've got
(02:19):
two teams that probably are going to vie for potentially
going to the Big twelve title games. Iowa State played
it last year. Yeah, you got Avery Johnson, the quarterback
at k State. You got rock O beck the quarterback
at Iowa Rocko Roco.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
That is a son of Anthony.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
The son of Anthony Becky.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
So how do you feel about this game? Do I
feel good about your clone walking at him?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Doublyland, that's actually pretty good.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
He's a meth hold on.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
How how does he feel about his clothes and wear?
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Doublin Ireland.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
He's a method actor, folks.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
He's very good.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I like I was stage chances. The problem is that
the Houston Texans has all the Iowa State receivers. There's
three i State receivers playing and playing for Houston. I'd
like to kind of grab those guys back for one game,
but no, Roco and uh his crew are going to
go out there. Avery Johnson alstandy players. So it should
be a good game.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yeah, I'm gonna be working this weekend, calling a game
in the It's not weak.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
You know what you said.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
It's the first week of the season, right, I got zero.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
State At're not saying with zero.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Apparently it's a curse word, arch, so away from it.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Zero respectful to Rack that he's working on a week zero.
Does that mean I'm not worth anything because I'm on
zero working week?
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I'm working work Kansas New Stadium.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Jayalen Daniels back for his thirty fifth season.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yes, correct, quarterback for Fresnel State.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Kurt Warner's kid.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Job.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
J Warner.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, started his career Temple and then he was at
Rice and now he's at Fresnel State.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yea, uh, sling it.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
You know one thing I found out lot, it's not
about j Warner third in the country last year and
attempts per game.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
So he gonna throw it around here slinging.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, but that means your plane flight is about four
hours down the road throwing it.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So I'll be working this weekend and then uh uja
not till next weekend.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Right now, not to the next weekend, Marshall the thundering Herd.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
But give us give us a little insight. The Dog
fans are a lot of Dog fans for the Falcon fans.
Give us a quick synopsis on the on the scrimmage
you had alumni weekend us a little bit about that.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
So Kirby does a great job of bringing former players
back where I know a lot of guys we want
to be still included in our own program. Kirby does
a great job of bringing those guys back. I think
he understands the importance of it. Alumni get to come
back watch a scrimmage because Curby don't allow a lot
of people to watch scrimmages. He don't a lot of
people in the stadium. A lot of great competition. This
team is very young. Uh, Curry mentioned to me a
(04:53):
couple weeks ago, fifty four percent of their team is
either first or second year guys. So there's gonna be
a lot of guys they depend on. Obviously, go stocked
is a big part of what they want to do. Uh,
They're gonna have to changed offensive a little bit to
fit what he does best. Got some stout running backs,
got an old line that's played a lot of ball defense.
It's gonna be where the interesting part comes in, because
that's where you're super young, five stars all over the place,
(05:16):
super talent. But we'll see if that defense comes along.
But knowing coach Smarten, coach shut, they're gonna get the
boy done.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Season number of what five in the country.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Five five five.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
You preface this by saying that there's a lot of
Georgia fans that are also Falcons fans. I'm sure that
watched his podcast as well. I'm working in the stadium
the last two weeks. You know, I don't have shot
because he's big time, he's doing television.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Come on, man, come on.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I have like multiple people that come up and they
are like, good job. We're shocked.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Come on, ain't nobody doing that?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Was that was pretty good?
Speaker 4 (05:49):
I appreciate job.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
All right. Look look, look, look, look look at here.
A lot of people that are listening to watching.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
This saying, is this Atlanta Falcons past or is this
some something else that these.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Guys were around hijacked this show.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Let's get it back on the train tracks here and
let's talk a little bit about the Atlanta Falcons. As
we mentioned, we wrapped up the second preseason game against
the Titans.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
I want to ask you guys, DJ Leman.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
To start with you, anything and meaning any portion of
the game or any person stand out to you as
you were up in the booth, Yeah, you were calling things. Yeah, action,
anything stand out to you from the action in week two?
Speaker 4 (06:25):
I think one thing that stood out to me and
I love to see it go from we talked about
last week. Go from week one to week two.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
And see the consistency was this.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Defense continue to get after the quarterback, but also take
the football away again. You took the ball away twice
in this game. I know the other one was on
special teams, but still you got an interception because of
a pressure by your rookie James Pearce Junior, come around
the edge, fortunate a little bit of air and throw.
If you haven't seen the interview Archie did with my
(06:56):
man Nate from Brooks Just it was an awesome interview
him breaking down that particular play and it tells you
how smart these guys are, right. It tells you how
these guys go through a process each and every play
of what they're thinking. And I just love what he
talked about. So the thing that still got to me
was this is absolutely going to be a defense that
that's written all over the walls in here. We talked
(07:18):
about the ball is oxygen. They want that football. We've
seen them in the last two ball games in the preseason.
They're going after, they're looking for, they're hunting, and you
got some dudes who can go get it. So I
think they had put the five three and out in
the ball game. That tells you this defense is you know,
getting to me the behind the change or playing style
defense and getting off the kid on third down, which
is something that was not a big thing last season.
(07:40):
So Takeaways Arts talked about it in our first time
when we came on here, about the turnover differential. This
is a team that wants to improve that and we
saw in the first two ball games. Taking the football
away is a big deal, giving it back to the offense.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I don't know about you guys, but you know, when
I start talking about being doing this podcast or being
at the games, a lot of people want to talk
to me general people out in the public. They say,
how are the Falcons going to be this year? I'm
sure you guys get that question all the time, right
And I always answer this question. I say, in the NFL,
if you want to win you got to have a quarterback,
and I think the Falcons have to improve on defense. Right,
it's got a pass rush taking the football away. So
(08:14):
you talked a little bit about a couple of those situations.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Arch.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Are you starting to see, even though minus a lot
of the starters, right, you got to take this with
a grain of salt, but without seeing a lot of
the starters, are you seeing a little bit of a
different feel, maybe even to Shock's point on the defensive
side of the ball, where Jeff Obrick is transitioning this
team to get more after the quarterback with the pass
rush and taking the football away. Are you starting to
feel that a little bit more?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, I think we all feel that the philosophy of
attack is coming out in the guys that are having
a chance to play. And you just mentioned that the
guys that will probably play two Sundays or three Sundays
from now aren't on the field yet for the most part.
But you do feel that there's a philosophy that's permeating
practice which the main guys are playing, and it's now
(09:02):
it's trickling down to the guys that are playing in
these preseason games that this is our style. We're getting
up the field, We're going to get after people, and
we're going to create havoc which is going to turn
forced turnovers for those situations. So I think that that
feeling is certainly permeating all the guys. When when you
start talking about a roster that has ninety guys on it,
you know, we're you know, have to do the math
(09:23):
pretty easy that there's a good number third of these
guys are not going to be on the team. So
but it's still trickling down to those players. So I
think that that's a good thing that they're absorbing because
these are guys that aren't getting a ton of reps
in practice that are their reps are coming in the game.
And if it's if you're feeling that from those guys, boy,
you really like maybe what you're probably going to get
from the guys that are going to play against Tampa
(09:45):
on that Sunday.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Speaking of reps guys, I mean, I always like to
talk about this because I've got two former quarterbacks here,
and one guy that got a lot of reps again
was Easton Stick, and he's in a situation where he's
competing for a roster spot, much like everybody is on
this roster. I mean, there's there is a handful of
guys we know are going to be on the team,
but he's competing for a roster spot, and he's in
a peculiar situation because he's probably competing for the third
(10:08):
But we still don't know exactly what could happen. Could
happen with Kirk Cousins in the future, again not trying
to speculate, however, extended time for him due to an
injury in the second half, But he's played a lot
of football, so you've seen two weeks of action. I
want to get the review from our former quarterbacks. What
did you see from me since stick this past week?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
I thought first game he looked really good. Obviously, had
only three incompletions in the ball game, had a touchdown,
let a two minute drive, all the things that you
want to see out of your quarterback.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
He did that.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Then come in the second game, he had at adversity
through an interception, had another interception that got called back.
So in that moment, we just said, Okay, here's an adversary.
How's this guy gonna respond? Is this guy going to
bounce back and play at a high level? I thought
he did that. So I love to see the two
variances of types of games that he had to play in,
and it gives you, I think, a Wordfhall that if
(10:59):
this guy needed to, this got could And I think
for Easter stick his only job is to make it
hard on them to not put him on a practice
squad or to they have to keep him, because, like
you said, you never know what's gonna have with Kirk Cousins.
But the end of the day, this is a guy
who's put some good stuff on tape. He's shown the
ability better run of offense, be efficient, move the football,
(11:21):
get him in the end zone, and take care of
it for the most part. So for a lot of teams,
you would love to have a guy like that who
can be your backup, who knowing if he comes in
a ballgame, he can lead you to where you need to.
So I think Easter has done a good enough job
to be a part of this fifty three man roster
set aside whatever happened with Kirk Cousins, I think he's
(11:41):
played well enough to have that look and have that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Dave, I think one of the things you look at
from a quarterbacks perspective especially in preseason games. Is what
is his ability to manage everything that's going on. Does
he get the play and does he communicate it to
the guys in the huddle, Do they get out of
the huddle to the line of scrimmage? Are we dealing
with play clock issues? How is he managing the offense?
To me, it doesn't look like there's been a whole
lot of hiccups in that you could try to dissect,
(12:08):
especially in the last game, some things that happen on
the field, but from a higher level perspective, front office
and coaching staff, you wanted to see how is he
managing the offense when he's in the game. Would you
agree that he's done a pretty good job of that?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, you're dead on Rack. I think that he's done
a really good job of getting guys lined up, getting
the play called, all the little administrative stuff you have
to do before the ball snapped, and then he takes
it to the next level as a quarterback. He's doing
a pretty good job with his pre snap looks and
then confirming once he gets into his drop is that
what I saw. If it wasn't what I saw, then
(12:40):
I need to adjust that. And then the thing that
I look to Shock is the ball's coming out on time.
Right now. He had a couple picked off in this
game you mentioned, I thought he got a little bit.
I don't know how to say this. The receiver didn't
run the route as crisply as you would have liked.
And you saw the double pump receiver was supposed to
hook up. He started to go so the flat stick
(13:01):
was going to turn it loose and then had to
reload it, and subsequently feet weren't right. He threw the
ball behind. So that's where you hope your quarterback. Okay,
the look was wrong, the receiver ran the wrong route.
Now I've got to minimize the damage. I can't maximize.
I can't let it turn into something really bad, which
it did. It turned into the worst possible thing, a
(13:21):
pick six. So that part of it you don't like.
But I think for the most part, leading leading around
all the things that we've seen in the two preseason games,
I like where he is and I would agree with
Shock that he's a guy that's shown that if you
needed him to step in for a guy that went
down in the game, or is he your backup if
you had to go that route? He's very capable of
(13:42):
being that guy and moving you offensively. The problem is
if you've got a math problem, guys, you've got a
math problem in that. Who are you going to keep
on this roster? I would tried to go through it
last night, and I could. I paired it down to
about sixty five guys, you know, and some of those
(14:02):
guys obviously will end up on the on the practice
roster because you get that, you get that bump with
the practice roster. But you've got to be able to
get them through waivers. And who can you get through
waivers to get back? Are they going to agree to
come back? Is Easton Stick one of those guys. So
it's really a very interesting problem. It's a good problem
to have because you've got guys that can play, yep,
but you're also gonna expose guys potentially to another roster
(14:26):
that you'd like to have on your team. You just can't.
You don't have enough room.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Well, and obviously one more opportunity for him in the
final preseason game to you know, and that's what they
always say, either make this roster or make one of
the other thirty one, because you know, if the player
is good enough and he feels like you can help
the team. Yeah, you want to keep him, but if
you mentioned if the math problem is not there at
the end of the day, you want the player to
have a chance to go play somewhere else and maybe
he's put to put enough on tape.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
To do that rack.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
You do an awesome job of hosting this Falcons audible,
But you're a guy who played in this league. You're
a guy who knows what it should look like. Who
has stood out to you because you you sit up
there to a high persed area as well, you can
see a lot of different things. You see the film,
you watch it as well. Who are some of the guys? Well,
maybe a guy has so kind of stuck out to you,
(15:11):
uh to you know, give the Falcons a little bit
of something to think about.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
One's interesting to me has been Dylan Drummond. He's been
one that obviously they've get gotten the ball into his
hands in the passing game. They've also let him run
it a little bit. And he's one of those. Again,
I start to think about the wide receiver position and
I'm like, how many spots are there?
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Right?
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Like, is he done enough to show or is this
a potential practice squad and then he's your guy that
gets you know, a potential elevation and then back down
because you obviously that's part of the end of the game. Now,
So I've looked there, I've really I'm really intrigued by
what's going to happen with the Marco Hellams because we've
got a really we've got a really stacked safety room
right now. But after the first game, watching him lay
(15:51):
wood to people out there was just like, that's the
physicality that you want to see. I'll be honest with you,
There's been some sloppy stuff that I didn't like. There's
been too many penalties going on, and I think that's
one area of preseason that frustrates you as a coach,
is you want to be able to stay. It's okay
if you have four penalties for thirty five yards, if
you have five for fifty or something like that, but
when you start getting into ten, six, eight, ten penalties
(16:13):
a game, you're working against yourself and that's that's going
to hurt you when you get into the regular season.
That's not singling out one individual person, but I know
that in meeting rooms that's something that's probably frustrating them
is we got to clean up our technique and our
concentration level to minimize these penalties. Because once you start
working behind the change in the National Football League, your
ability to get first downs in score points gets extremely difficult.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
So how important how important is it in your mind
when you've got core special teams guys that have shown
they can play defensively. And I'm going to point out
a couple guys. Josh Woods Okay, has shown the solid linebacker,
play core special teams guy, a special Teams captain esque
type player. Mike Ford, Yeah, the guy that plays plays
(16:59):
the nickel corner, but he's probably one of the best
gunners in the National Football League. And you pair him
with Cadaryl Hodge, who you double in there to take
away the punt return. DiAngelo Malone, who's shown that he
can play the edge, but also they've played him an
inside linebacker some trying to find that home for him. Defensively,
he led us in special teams tackles last year. So
(17:21):
where do you think the evaluation goes with those guys.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
It's extremely important because you mentioned a guy like Josh Woods,
who had such an outstanding first half against Detroit. I mean,
he was everywhere. He's making tackles all over the field.
But then you talk about his what is his contribution level?
What is his importance when you get to the regular season,
and I always think about Okay, kickoff, kickoff return has changed, right,
You're not seeing as much action there, But you know
(17:44):
what hasn't changed punt team.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Okay, so there's.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
No funky rules on punt where balls aren't getting returned,
and getting downfield and being able to make tackles on
punt team is still extremely important. And so if you've
got a guy like Josh Woods that can play your
guarter tackle position on punt team, and you feel confident
with his ability to go downfield, get off of blocks
at the line, and make plays, make tackles, then that
can earn you a roster spot, especially if he's shown
(18:11):
that if we get a rash of injuries in a game,
we can throw him in and not only can he
be serviceable, he can make some plays for us. So
that's an area where I think a lot of fans
may not understand. The evaluation process is the special teams
players like you might have a coach that comes out
and says I have to have this guy. He's that
important on punt team and on kickoff coverage.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
I have to have him.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And so he might he might be on the team
at the expense of somebody else, but it's that important
to the success of special teams as well.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
And you almost feel like that from a coaching staff
standpoint shock that they're they're trying. They know how important
Josh Woods is, they know how important Mike Ford is,
they are obviously realize how important maybe Dangelo Malone is.
That they're trying to make sure that they are that
guy that Hey, you know what, this guy's more than serviceable.
We can plug him in at the nickel. We can
(19:02):
put this guy an inside linebacker we needed to. Would
you agree with that? Oh?
Speaker 4 (19:06):
I mean a great example is Diegelo Malone. The first
game against Detroit, he played stand up linebacker. Second ball game,
he was back on the edge. It shows you, oh,
we got versus two that we can use this guy
in a couple of different spots along with that third
phase and special teams. That's absolutely gonna help us. How
about the third tight end teague and comes in first play,
gets a strip fat, I'm gonna get a strips fumble
(19:27):
on that special team to get the ball back. I
mean certain little things like that go a long way
for coaches when trying to decide where this guy can land.
But like you said, like you mentioned rack, if you
have the production, you have the ability better play multiple
spots and be a key contributor, that goes a long.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Way for Stat's kind of the sign you look for.
If you watch these preseason games, you're kind of trying
to find out, Okay, what am I looking for. I'm
looking at the third quarterback. I'm looking at maybe the
eighth to ninth receivers. But look at those pieces as
to those guys some name van guys that are playing
on defense or offense that are contributing in that area
and then obviously expanding out to what they do from
(20:05):
a special team standpoint, might give you a little view
into how the roster math goes because you're looking, Okay,
how many corners are we going to keep four? We
can beat five corners? Are we keeping three tight ends?
How many backs were keeping four backs? Find those guys
on special teams and are they contributing at a high
level there and then have that crossover to help on
offensive one.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Question to ask you, just because you're talking about the
numbers and what people. What Art is trying to get
you guys to understand is there's a certain number that
most teams take at a certain position. Let's just take
receiver for instance. I think we know who the top
four or five guys are in Casey Washington as the
fifth guy for this staff. Do they go into this
(20:47):
saying Jamal Agnew is a receiver or we count the
miss something else? Yeah, you just talked about our man,
you know, drumming making big plays. How close is the
margin between Chris Blair and Dylan drum You know what
I'm saying. We're talking about most teams usually keep about
six receivers. Uh, maybe you got to cup more on
you know, private squad over it. But that happens that
(21:09):
every single position, is what Archie's talking about. So you
got to do the math of which guys you think
could fit what your roster needs. And Arj mentioned it,
well you got to add another guy you had third
quarterback that maybe take away from maybe you can't have
another dB. So there's so many factors that go into
It's tough, and you know, I'm glad I ain't wrong there.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Well, I mean, you guys kind of alluded to it,
and I don't want to just completely fast forward past
the game this weekend, but we've got roster cut down
coming next week. And this is where a lot of
fans actually do get excited because now they start to realize, Okay,
who are the players that we can actually pull for
and who are the players that are going to help
us get to a division title, get into the postseason,
(21:51):
and make a run ultimately at a super Bowl championship.
And so I'm not going to ask you guys about
individual players. Let's talk about what's some of the most
intriguing position groups that you're gonna be looking at from
what you've seen in two games, knowing what's coming up
against Dallas, but this position group looks really intriguing. Where
your eyes are going to go next week DJ to
say who did they end up keeping?
Speaker 4 (22:13):
I think the number one spot for me is a
position that where this game has changed so much and
where you got to have this guy he has to
be a dude, And I think it's that nickel spot
you talk about d Alfer, who's played really well preseason.
Then also you got the young talented Billy Bowman junr
who you see raw and albra get excited about more
(22:33):
opportunity to gets to play. And both guys have played
pretty well. They've had moments in there. But I think
first that's where my eye is gonna go. Which guy
can flash? Can Billy be? Can he do enough to
surpass the offer who's played a lot in this league,
who's played a lot in the slot, who knows what
the receivers inside this division are like? And you got
this young rookie who talented of course, did a lot
(22:54):
in college, you know, has all the accolades, but is
he ready for that prime time of coming to the
National Football League and being that guy? Now it looks
the part for sure. You see Billy boy saying, you
know what, this guy can start. He can be in
the run game, he can be in the box. But
he also is four four two, He can run with
anybody too. So that nickel spot is so fascinating to me.
You got two very talented players in that spot vying
(23:17):
for it. Uh, you're talking about Mike Ford, who also
a guy who you know a part of that that
that kind of dilemma as well. Who's in there as well,
it's so many I think position bats like that, but
that one really intrigues me.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
All right, So he's got the nickel position on defense?
Speaker 3 (23:30):
What position? Which position? Group?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Kind of intrigues you as far as who are they
gonna end up keeping?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah, the intrigue. It might be the wrong word for
me in my group, but I wore my Trucker hat
for a reason.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Okay, here we go.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I mean I got the Trucker lit on. I need
mofens come on now, and I'm worried, guys, I'm worried.
I'll tell you Storm Norton has not played in the preseason.
He's been banged up. I think he's gonna be ready
for opening Day. He's your swing tackle. Probably played some
last year, did an outstand job. He's played in sixty
five games in his NFL career, started twenty two. So
(24:04):
you love the experience and he can play both sides,
or you love the versatility. But we just haven't gotten
enough going in the run game. Got a little something
going this last day. Nathan Carter showed a little something.
I thought Nathan Carter threw his hat in the ring
to be that third running back potentially on the roster
with his He had a nice little run in there
where he made a couple of moves, got a couple
of good blocks in the interior. I think Kyle Hinton
(24:26):
got up on the linebacker and he was able to
get in behind it and had that nice run for
a touchdown. He's got a little shake and a little
wiggle to him, which I like. I think Carlos Washington
is a guy. Unfortunately he has been banged up that
I thought this was going to be a huge camp
for him to put his foot forward as potentially being
a guy that they keep around because he's been here
for a little while. So I still think he might
(24:46):
get his opportunity. But it all boils down to the
guys up front. I'm concerned. I think there's been some
inconsistencies up front. I think there's been too much pressure
off the edge, and I don't know that we've pushed
people around enough in the in the front. Jovon Gwynn,
who started every game and played virtually every snap at center,
he didn't play right at the end. I think Hansen
(25:06):
got in. Jay Canson, the guy we signed in free agency,
got in and played a little center at the end
of the game. But Jovon's taken all the snaps, so
he's getting a lot of experience. He's only played in
two games as a Falcon. He played one game last
year and one game prior to that. So you're not
talking about Ryan Noosel sitting behind Drew Dolman. You're talking
about a guy you don't know about or hasn't played enough.
(25:28):
And then you've got a quarterback that's played three games
that's going to be standing behind him. So that's a
concern for me as far as directing traffic, being able
to call things out do things if you have to
go there, because we all know seventeen games battle of.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Nutrition, Yeah, that's one area that was a little frustrating
because there was a lot of penalties that came out
of that group in the first couple of games too,
and so that's kind of where my eyes were going
with the holding penalties and false starts and everything. So
that's got to be better. You have to be able
to win at the line of scrimmage, and you can
only win if you can stay on schedule and play
with good mcare hannicks and technique. You guys talked about
the run game and I don't want to take anything
(26:04):
away from Carter, but if you take away his touchdown,
they still only average two point eight yards of carry, right,
And I don't want to take it away because he
earned it, and the offensive line and the entire offense
did earn it. But it wasn't a dominating running performance
aside from one really good run.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
It has to be better.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
We know it will when you bring the two running
backs in that Atlanta has to work with.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Why. The thing it is cool about that though, is
explosive run. We've been kind of wait. Even though Vijeon
had a big year fourteen hird yards rushing and Tyler
got out and did some stuff, haven't seen the explosive
to the house type runs. I know that's something they've
talked about with Bijon and maybe even working on how
he makes moves and guys at the third level to
try to get free and take that home run shot.
(26:46):
He's capable of doing that as his Tyler, but it
was kind of neat to see even Tho those backup
guys in there to see the home run on the
run game, we haven't seen him.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Hopefully there are a lot more home runs real quick,
I'll just add mine is going to be the defensive front.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
That's the group that I want to look at.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Obviously you've got and it's almost like when I say
defensive front, I got to throw in the front seven
just because there's some new names and obviously Jalen Walker
is going to swing a little bit, Divine Diablo is
going to be in their new face. But then the
defensive line, right, Brayln Trice coming back from injury, Morgan
Fox coming over a row to row Harrison. I mean,
obviously the new guys, what is all that going to
(27:22):
look like, because again, there is a math situation here,
and they can only have so many guys, which ones
have done enough, even probably more so in camp practices
than it is in preseason games. Obviously that's still very important.
But I'm interested to see what that group is because
that group has to produce this year. I mean, it's
under the microscope. For surely you invested two first round
(27:44):
picks there. Hopefully those guys are able to help you
pay off. But it's not all on Jalen Walker and
James Pierce Junior. It's the entire group, along with the
front seven, the linebackers, behind them. But how can you
put more pressure on opposing offense? How can you put
more pressure on Baker Mayfield coming out the gate?
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Right?
Speaker 1 (28:00):
So what does that front look like when Roster Cutdown
comes and then who's ready to go out and right?
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Twenty five?
Speaker 4 (28:05):
I think that's a great call because we think about
a lot of people think about the edge rushers, and
that's what all the focus that has been about is
trying to get edge rushers and get around the corner.
But I think they have assembled a group of guys
in that front settment, like you mentioned, that can all
get to the quarterback. You're talking about kay Nallis is
a game wreckerd. When you're talking about rushing the passer
from his linebacker spot, you're bringing another athletic guy in
(28:27):
Devine de Vabolo who we've seen in practice. It's hard
for those guys to get to him on that second
level because of his speed. So you add obviously, you
know Leonard Floyd on the outside who's been doing it,
you know, five six years, eight plus sacks. I mean,
you got guys who have proven that they can get
to the quarterback. Now you add those other pieces to it.
Can those guys be that cohesive unit and can Ober
(28:49):
get the most out of those guys, because, like you mentioned,
it's go time for upfront. We've talked about it long enough.
You got guys in place now to go do it.
You want to see it happen.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, got to be disruptive, not just in the past
game of shocks, talking about we got to disrupt the
run game, no question about it. And you're you're dead
on shock when or rack when you start talking about
that group being disruptive in every phase of the game.
You know, Bucky Irvin's coming Week one. He had a
great year last year. Was a running back for Tampa
Bay Bucks. Sean White's on that team. They can run
the football now that used to be a team just
(29:18):
threw it. They can run it. You better get ready
to stop the run.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
All right.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
That's gonna wrap it up here. We've been here long enough.
I know when you kind of started on a little
college football tangent, but yeah, that's part of the collegeaele
love college and football, right, and the college football players
end up being your next wave in the National Football League.
Any So, Clone Clones, own deck, go ahead, give us the.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Close neck in Dublin Island.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
The best Irish accent you ever heard.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
I from Uja's finest ladies and gentlemen of the DJ
Shockley Right there, that's day's archer.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
I'm Derek Brackley.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
We'll be back next week to break down the final
preseason game and of course roster cut down right here
in the five Thoutible presented by AT and T.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Take care, everybody, h m hm
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(00:21):
stock items by four pm, subject to availability. The Falcons
Audible is back. The Trio of the Fellas. That's DJ Shock, Yes,
Dave Archer, I'm Derek Rackley. Two weeks of NFL preseason
action is in the books. We're knocking on the door
of preseason week three, but fellas until actually, let me
rewind before we get to preseason week three. We got
(00:42):
college football weekend. Hey, college football starting to seekend.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Don't say, don't say what week is it? No, don't
say it. Don't say what week it is?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Okay, it's it's the first week of.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
The good good Okay. I hate that week.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Cyclones of what this week?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, I got K State and we decided it's one.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Of the one of the depression. I want to hear
like the people talk where they're playing it. Can you
do that?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I can't. I'm not an iris. I can't, can you
locally Irishman?
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Yeah, cyclones taking on the gundens.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
This is my island. Yeah, k State U in Iowa State.
It's a one of the longtime rivalries, goes all the
way back to the Big twelve, a big big eight
when I was playing Iowa State Kansas State kind of
that obviously the heartland of the of the of the
country called Pharmageddon. You know, guy people showing up with pitchforks,
(01:38):
ands and stuff like that and beating each over the head. No,
they don't do that. But Iowa State travels extremely Okay
State travels well pretty pretty well too, But Iowa State
one of those teams that travels. I don't care what
the what the situation. Will we play in a parking lot,
uh in Lincoln, Nebraska or wherever. Iowa State's going to
have more fans and you can put put in the building.
(01:59):
And so a ton of i State fans have traveled
over Ireland. I've got some of my former players teammates,
they have traveled over their families to go to Ireland
and do that whole experience. They've got an alumni deal.
There's all sorts of stuff going on over there, but
pretty cool. Iowa State two really good tea, two top
twenty five teams shocked. This is just one of those. Hey, yeah,
let's throw a couple of teams over here. We've got
(02:19):
two teams that probably are going to vie for potentially
going to the Big twelve title games. Iowa State played
it last year. Yeah, you got Avery Johnson, the quarterback
at k State. You got rock O beck the quarterback
at Iowa Rocko Roco.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
That is a son of Anthony.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
The son of Anthony Becky.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
So how do you feel about this game? Do I
feel good about your clone walking at him?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Doublyland, that's actually pretty good.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
He's a meth hold on.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
How how does he feel about his clothes and wear?
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Doublin Ireland.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
He's a method actor, folks.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
He's very good.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I like I was stage chances. The problem is that
the Houston Texans has all the Iowa State receivers. There's
three i State receivers playing and playing for Houston. I'd
like to kind of grab those guys back for one game,
but no, Roco and uh his crew are going to
go out there. Avery Johnson alstandy players. So it should
be a good game.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yeah, I'm gonna be working this weekend, calling a game
in the It's not weak.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
You know what you said.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
It's the first week of the season, right, I got zero.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
State At're not saying with zero.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Apparently it's a curse word, arch, so away from it.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Zero respectful to Rack that he's working on a week zero.
Does that mean I'm not worth anything because I'm on
zero working week?
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I'm working work Kansas New Stadium.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Jayalen Daniels back for his thirty fifth season.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yes, correct, quarterback for Fresnel State.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Kurt Warner's kid.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Job.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
J Warner.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, started his career Temple and then he was at
Rice and now he's at Fresnel State.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yea, uh, sling it.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
You know one thing I found out lot, it's not
about j Warner third in the country last year and
attempts per game.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
So he gonna throw it around here slinging.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, but that means your plane flight is about four
hours down the road throwing it.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So I'll be working this weekend and then uh uja
not till next weekend.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Right now, not to the next weekend, Marshall the thundering Herd.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
But give us give us a little insight. The Dog
fans are a lot of Dog fans for the Falcon fans.
Give us a quick synopsis on the on the scrimmage
you had alumni weekend us a little bit about that.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
So Kirby does a great job of bringing former players
back where I know a lot of guys we want
to be still included in our own program. Kirby does
a great job of bringing those guys back. I think
he understands the importance of it. Alumni get to come
back watch a scrimmage because Curby don't allow a lot
of people to watch scrimmages. He don't a lot of
people in the stadium. A lot of great competition. This
team is very young. Uh, Curry mentioned to me a
(04:53):
couple weeks ago, fifty four percent of their team is
either first or second year guys. So there's gonna be
a lot of guys they depend on. Obviously, go stocked
is a big part of what they want to do. Uh,
They're gonna have to changed offensive a little bit to
fit what he does best. Got some stout running backs,
got an old line that's played a lot of ball defense.
It's gonna be where the interesting part comes in, because
that's where you're super young, five stars all over the place,
(05:16):
super talent. But we'll see if that defense comes along.
But knowing coach Smarten, coach shut, they're gonna get the
boy done.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Season number of what five in the country.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Five five five.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
You preface this by saying that there's a lot of
Georgia fans that are also Falcons fans. I'm sure that
watched his podcast as well. I'm working in the stadium
the last two weeks. You know, I don't have shot
because he's big time, he's doing television.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Come on, man, come on.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I have like multiple people that come up and they
are like, good job. We're shocked.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Come on, ain't nobody doing that?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Was that was pretty good?
Speaker 4 (05:49):
I appreciate job.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
All right. Look look, look, look, look look at here.
A lot of people that are listening to watching.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
This saying, is this Atlanta Falcons past or is this
some something else that these.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Guys were around hijacked this show.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Let's get it back on the train tracks here and
let's talk a little bit about the Atlanta Falcons. As
we mentioned, we wrapped up the second preseason game against
the Titans.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
I want to ask you guys, DJ Leman.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
To start with you, anything and meaning any portion of
the game or any person stand out to you as
you were up in the booth, Yeah, you were calling things. Yeah, action,
anything stand out to you from the action in week two?
Speaker 4 (06:25):
I think one thing that stood out to me and
I love to see it go from we talked about
last week. Go from week one to week two.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
And see the consistency was this.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Defense continue to get after the quarterback, but also take
the football away again. You took the ball away twice
in this game. I know the other one was on
special teams, but still you got an interception because of
a pressure by your rookie James Pearce Junior, come around
the edge, fortunate a little bit of air and throw.
If you haven't seen the interview Archie did with my
(06:56):
man Nate from Brooks Just it was an awesome interview
him breaking down that particular play and it tells you
how smart these guys are, right. It tells you how
these guys go through a process each and every play
of what they're thinking. And I just love what he
talked about. So the thing that still got to me
was this is absolutely going to be a defense that
that's written all over the walls in here. We talked
(07:18):
about the ball is oxygen. They want that football. We've
seen them in the last two ball games in the preseason.
They're going after, they're looking for, they're hunting, and you
got some dudes who can go get it. So I
think they had put the five three and out in
the ball game. That tells you this defense is you know,
getting to me the behind the change or playing style
defense and getting off the kid on third down, which
is something that was not a big thing last season.
(07:40):
So Takeaways Arts talked about it in our first time
when we came on here, about the turnover differential. This
is a team that wants to improve that and we
saw in the first two ball games. Taking the football
away is a big deal, giving it back to the offense.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I don't know about you guys, but you know, when
I start talking about being doing this podcast or being
at the games, a lot of people want to talk
to me general people out in the public. They say,
how are the Falcons going to be this year? I'm
sure you guys get that question all the time, right
And I always answer this question. I say, in the NFL,
if you want to win you got to have a quarterback,
and I think the Falcons have to improve on defense. Right,
it's got a pass rush taking the football away. So
(08:14):
you talked a little bit about a couple of those situations.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Arch.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Are you starting to see, even though minus a lot
of the starters, right, you got to take this with
a grain of salt, but without seeing a lot of
the starters, are you seeing a little bit of a
different feel, maybe even to Shock's point on the defensive
side of the ball, where Jeff Obrick is transitioning this
team to get more after the quarterback with the pass
rush and taking the football away. Are you starting to
feel that a little bit more?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, I think we all feel that the philosophy of
attack is coming out in the guys that are having
a chance to play. And you just mentioned that the
guys that will probably play two Sundays or three Sundays
from now aren't on the field yet for the most part.
But you do feel that there's a philosophy that's permeating
practice which the main guys are playing, and it's now
(09:02):
it's trickling down to the guys that are playing in
these preseason games that this is our style. We're getting
up the field, We're going to get after people, and
we're going to create havoc which is going to turn
forced turnovers for those situations. So I think that that
feeling is certainly permeating all the guys. When when you
start talking about a roster that has ninety guys on it,
you know, we're you know, have to do the math
(09:23):
pretty easy that there's a good number third of these
guys are not going to be on the team. So
but it's still trickling down to those players. So I
think that that's a good thing that they're absorbing because
these are guys that aren't getting a ton of reps
in practice that are their reps are coming in the game.
And if it's if you're feeling that from those guys, boy,
you really like maybe what you're probably going to get
from the guys that are going to play against Tampa
(09:45):
on that Sunday.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Speaking of reps guys, I mean, I always like to
talk about this because I've got two former quarterbacks here,
and one guy that got a lot of reps again
was Easton Stick, and he's in a situation where he's
competing for a roster spot, much like everybody is on
this roster. I mean, there's there is a handful of
guys we know are going to be on the team,
but he's competing for a roster spot, and he's in
a peculiar situation because he's probably competing for the third
(10:08):
But we still don't know exactly what could happen. Could
happen with Kirk Cousins in the future, again not trying
to speculate, however, extended time for him due to an
injury in the second half, But he's played a lot
of football, so you've seen two weeks of action. I
want to get the review from our former quarterbacks. What
did you see from me since stick this past week?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
I thought first game he looked really good. Obviously, had
only three incompletions in the ball game, had a touchdown,
let a two minute drive, all the things that you
want to see out of your quarterback.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
He did that.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Then come in the second game, he had at adversity
through an interception, had another interception that got called back.
So in that moment, we just said, Okay, here's an adversary.
How's this guy gonna respond? Is this guy going to
bounce back and play at a high level? I thought
he did that. So I love to see the two
variances of types of games that he had to play in,
and it gives you, I think, a Wordfhall that if
(10:59):
this guy needed to, this got could And I think
for Easter stick his only job is to make it
hard on them to not put him on a practice
squad or to they have to keep him, because, like
you said, you never know what's gonna have with Kirk Cousins.
But the end of the day, this is a guy
who's put some good stuff on tape. He's shown the
ability better run of offense, be efficient, move the football,
(11:21):
get him in the end zone, and take care of
it for the most part. So for a lot of teams,
you would love to have a guy like that who
can be your backup, who knowing if he comes in
a ballgame, he can lead you to where you need to.
So I think Easter has done a good enough job
to be a part of this fifty three man roster
set aside whatever happened with Kirk Cousins, I think he's
(11:41):
played well enough to have that look and have that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Dave, I think one of the things you look at
from a quarterbacks perspective especially in preseason games. Is what
is his ability to manage everything that's going on. Does
he get the play and does he communicate it to
the guys in the huddle, Do they get out of
the huddle to the line of scrimmage? Are we dealing
with play clock issues? How is he managing the offense?
To me, it doesn't look like there's been a whole
lot of hiccups in that you could try to dissect,
(12:08):
especially in the last game, some things that happen on
the field, but from a higher level perspective, front office
and coaching staff, you wanted to see how is he
managing the offense when he's in the game. Would you
agree that he's done a pretty good job of that?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, you're dead on Rack. I think that he's done
a really good job of getting guys lined up, getting
the play called, all the little administrative stuff you have
to do before the ball snapped, and then he takes
it to the next level as a quarterback. He's doing
a pretty good job with his pre snap looks and
then confirming once he gets into his drop is that
what I saw. If it wasn't what I saw, then
(12:40):
I need to adjust that. And then the thing that
I look to Shock is the ball's coming out on time.
Right now. He had a couple picked off in this
game you mentioned, I thought he got a little bit.
I don't know how to say this. The receiver didn't
run the route as crisply as you would have liked.
And you saw the double pump receiver was supposed to
hook up. He started to go so the flat stick
(13:01):
was going to turn it loose and then had to
reload it, and subsequently feet weren't right. He threw the
ball behind. So that's where you hope your quarterback. Okay,
the look was wrong, the receiver ran the wrong route.
Now I've got to minimize the damage. I can't maximize.
I can't let it turn into something really bad, which
it did. It turned into the worst possible thing, a
(13:21):
pick six. So that part of it you don't like.
But I think for the most part, leading leading around
all the things that we've seen in the two preseason games,
I like where he is and I would agree with
Shock that he's a guy that's shown that if you
needed him to step in for a guy that went
down in the game, or is he your backup if
you had to go that route? He's very capable of
(13:42):
being that guy and moving you offensively. The problem is
if you've got a math problem, guys, you've got a
math problem in that. Who are you going to keep
on this roster? I would tried to go through it
last night, and I could. I paired it down to
about sixty five guys, you know, and some of those
(14:02):
guys obviously will end up on the on the practice
roster because you get that, you get that bump with
the practice roster. But you've got to be able to
get them through waivers. And who can you get through
waivers to get back? Are they going to agree to
come back? Is Easton Stick one of those guys. So
it's really a very interesting problem. It's a good problem
to have because you've got guys that can play, yep,
but you're also gonna expose guys potentially to another roster
(14:26):
that you'd like to have on your team. You just can't.
You don't have enough room.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Well, and obviously one more opportunity for him in the
final preseason game to you know, and that's what they
always say, either make this roster or make one of
the other thirty one, because you know, if the player
is good enough and he feels like you can help
the team. Yeah, you want to keep him, but if
you mentioned if the math problem is not there at
the end of the day, you want the player to
have a chance to go play somewhere else and maybe
he's put to put enough on tape.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
To do that rack.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
You do an awesome job of hosting this Falcons audible,
But you're a guy who played in this league. You're
a guy who knows what it should look like. Who
has stood out to you because you you sit up
there to a high persed area as well, you can
see a lot of different things. You see the film,
you watch it as well. Who are some of the guys? Well,
maybe a guy has so kind of stuck out to you,
(15:11):
uh to you know, give the Falcons a little bit
of something to think about.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
One's interesting to me has been Dylan Drummond. He's been
one that obviously they've get gotten the ball into his
hands in the passing game. They've also let him run
it a little bit. And he's one of those. Again,
I start to think about the wide receiver position and
I'm like, how many spots are there?
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Right?
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Like, is he done enough to show or is this
a potential practice squad and then he's your guy that
gets you know, a potential elevation and then back down
because you obviously that's part of the end of the game. Now,
So I've looked there, I've really I'm really intrigued by
what's going to happen with the Marco Hellams because we've
got a really we've got a really stacked safety room
right now. But after the first game, watching him lay
(15:51):
wood to people out there was just like, that's the
physicality that you want to see. I'll be honest with you,
There's been some sloppy stuff that I didn't like. There's
been too many penalties going on, and I think that's
one area of preseason that frustrates you as a coach,
is you want to be able to stay. It's okay
if you have four penalties for thirty five yards, if
you have five for fifty or something like that, but
when you start getting into ten, six, eight, ten penalties
(16:13):
a game, you're working against yourself and that's that's going
to hurt you when you get into the regular season.
That's not singling out one individual person, but I know
that in meeting rooms that's something that's probably frustrating them
is we got to clean up our technique and our
concentration level to minimize these penalties. Because once you start
working behind the change in the National Football League, your
ability to get first downs in score points gets extremely difficult.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
So how important how important is it in your mind
when you've got core special teams guys that have shown
they can play defensively. And I'm going to point out
a couple guys. Josh Woods Okay, has shown the solid linebacker,
play core special teams guy, a special Teams captain esque
type player. Mike Ford, Yeah, the guy that plays plays
(16:59):
the nickel corner, but he's probably one of the best
gunners in the National Football League. And you pair him
with Cadaryl Hodge, who you double in there to take
away the punt return. DiAngelo Malone, who's shown that he
can play the edge, but also they've played him an
inside linebacker some trying to find that home for him. Defensively,
he led us in special teams tackles last year. So
(17:21):
where do you think the evaluation goes with those guys.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
It's extremely important because you mentioned a guy like Josh Woods,
who had such an outstanding first half against Detroit. I mean,
he was everywhere. He's making tackles all over the field.
But then you talk about his what is his contribution level?
What is his importance when you get to the regular season,
and I always think about Okay, kickoff, kickoff return has changed, right,
You're not seeing as much action there, But you know
(17:44):
what hasn't changed punt team.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Okay, so there's.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
No funky rules on punt where balls aren't getting returned,
and getting downfield and being able to make tackles on
punt team is still extremely important. And so if you've
got a guy like Josh Woods that can play your
guarter tackle position on punt team, and you feel confident
with his ability to go downfield, get off of blocks
at the line, and make plays, make tackles, then that
can earn you a roster spot, especially if he's shown
(18:11):
that if we get a rash of injuries in a game,
we can throw him in and not only can he
be serviceable, he can make some plays for us. So
that's an area where I think a lot of fans
may not understand. The evaluation process is the special teams
players like you might have a coach that comes out
and says I have to have this guy. He's that
important on punt team and on kickoff coverage.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
I have to have him.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And so he might he might be on the team
at the expense of somebody else, but it's that important
to the success of special teams as well.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
And you almost feel like that from a coaching staff
standpoint shock that they're they're trying. They know how important
Josh Woods is, they know how important Mike Ford is,
they are obviously realize how important maybe Dangelo Malone is.
That they're trying to make sure that they are that
guy that Hey, you know what, this guy's more than serviceable.
We can plug him in at the nickel. We can
(19:02):
put this guy an inside linebacker we needed to. Would
you agree with that? Oh?
Speaker 4 (19:06):
I mean a great example is Diegelo Malone. The first
game against Detroit, he played stand up linebacker. Second ball game,
he was back on the edge. It shows you, oh,
we got versus two that we can use this guy
in a couple of different spots along with that third
phase and special teams. That's absolutely gonna help us. How
about the third tight end teague and comes in first play,
gets a strip fat, I'm gonna get a strips fumble
(19:27):
on that special team to get the ball back. I
mean certain little things like that go a long way
for coaches when trying to decide where this guy can land.
But like you said, like you mentioned rack, if you
have the production, you have the ability better play multiple
spots and be a key contributor, that goes a long.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Way for Stat's kind of the sign you look for.
If you watch these preseason games, you're kind of trying
to find out, Okay, what am I looking for. I'm
looking at the third quarterback. I'm looking at maybe the
eighth to ninth receivers. But look at those pieces as
to those guys some name van guys that are playing
on defense or offense that are contributing in that area
and then obviously expanding out to what they do from
(20:05):
a special team standpoint, might give you a little view
into how the roster math goes because you're looking, Okay,
how many corners are we going to keep four? We
can beat five corners? Are we keeping three tight ends?
How many backs were keeping four backs? Find those guys
on special teams and are they contributing at a high
level there and then have that crossover to help on
offensive one.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Question to ask you, just because you're talking about the
numbers and what people. What Art is trying to get
you guys to understand is there's a certain number that
most teams take at a certain position. Let's just take
receiver for instance. I think we know who the top
four or five guys are in Casey Washington as the
fifth guy for this staff. Do they go into this
(20:47):
saying Jamal Agnew is a receiver or we count the
miss something else? Yeah, you just talked about our man,
you know, drumming making big plays. How close is the
margin between Chris Blair and Dylan drum You know what
I'm saying. We're talking about most teams usually keep about
six receivers. Uh, maybe you got to cup more on
you know, private squad over it. But that happens that
(21:09):
every single position, is what Archie's talking about. So you
got to do the math of which guys you think
could fit what your roster needs. And Arj mentioned it,
well you got to add another guy you had third
quarterback that maybe take away from maybe you can't have
another dB. So there's so many factors that go into
It's tough, and you know, I'm glad I ain't wrong there.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Well, I mean, you guys kind of alluded to it,
and I don't want to just completely fast forward past
the game this weekend, but we've got roster cut down
coming next week. And this is where a lot of
fans actually do get excited because now they start to realize, Okay,
who are the players that we can actually pull for
and who are the players that are going to help
us get to a division title, get into the postseason,
(21:51):
and make a run ultimately at a super Bowl championship.
And so I'm not going to ask you guys about
individual players. Let's talk about what's some of the most
intriguing position groups that you're gonna be looking at from
what you've seen in two games, knowing what's coming up
against Dallas, but this position group looks really intriguing. Where
your eyes are going to go next week DJ to
say who did they end up keeping?
Speaker 4 (22:13):
I think the number one spot for me is a
position that where this game has changed so much and
where you got to have this guy he has to
be a dude, And I think it's that nickel spot
you talk about d Alfer, who's played really well preseason.
Then also you got the young talented Billy Bowman junr
who you see raw and albra get excited about more
(22:33):
opportunity to gets to play. And both guys have played
pretty well. They've had moments in there. But I think
first that's where my eye is gonna go. Which guy
can flash? Can Billy be? Can he do enough to
surpass the offer who's played a lot in this league,
who's played a lot in the slot, who knows what
the receivers inside this division are like? And you got
this young rookie who talented of course, did a lot
(22:54):
in college, you know, has all the accolades, but is
he ready for that prime time of coming to the
National Football League and being that guy? Now it looks
the part for sure. You see Billy boy saying, you
know what, this guy can start. He can be in
the run game, he can be in the box. But
he also is four four two, He can run with
anybody too. So that nickel spot is so fascinating to me.
You got two very talented players in that spot vying
(23:17):
for it. Uh, you're talking about Mike Ford, who also
a guy who you know a part of that that
that kind of dilemma as well. Who's in there as well,
it's so many I think position bats like that, but
that one really intrigues me.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
All right, So he's got the nickel position on defense?
Speaker 3 (23:30):
What position? Which position? Group?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Kind of intrigues you as far as who are they
gonna end up keeping?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah, the intrigue. It might be the wrong word for
me in my group, but I wore my Trucker hat
for a reason.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Okay, here we go.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I mean I got the Trucker lit on. I need
mofens come on now, and I'm worried, guys, I'm worried.
I'll tell you Storm Norton has not played in the preseason.
He's been banged up. I think he's gonna be ready
for opening Day. He's your swing tackle. Probably played some
last year, did an outstand job. He's played in sixty
five games in his NFL career, started twenty two. So
(24:04):
you love the experience and he can play both sides,
or you love the versatility. But we just haven't gotten
enough going in the run game. Got a little something
going this last day. Nathan Carter showed a little something.
I thought Nathan Carter threw his hat in the ring
to be that third running back potentially on the roster
with his He had a nice little run in there
where he made a couple of moves, got a couple
of good blocks in the interior. I think Kyle Hinton
(24:26):
got up on the linebacker and he was able to
get in behind it and had that nice run for
a touchdown. He's got a little shake and a little
wiggle to him, which I like. I think Carlos Washington
is a guy. Unfortunately he has been banged up that
I thought this was going to be a huge camp
for him to put his foot forward as potentially being
a guy that they keep around because he's been here
for a little while. So I still think he might
(24:46):
get his opportunity. But it all boils down to the
guys up front. I'm concerned. I think there's been some
inconsistencies up front. I think there's been too much pressure
off the edge, and I don't know that we've pushed
people around enough in the in the front. Jovon Gwynn,
who started every game and played virtually every snap at center,
he didn't play right at the end. I think Hansen
(25:06):
got in. Jay Canson, the guy we signed in free agency,
got in and played a little center at the end
of the game. But Jovon's taken all the snaps, so
he's getting a lot of experience. He's only played in
two games as a Falcon. He played one game last
year and one game prior to that. So you're not
talking about Ryan Noosel sitting behind Drew Dolman. You're talking
about a guy you don't know about or hasn't played enough.
(25:28):
And then you've got a quarterback that's played three games
that's going to be standing behind him. So that's a
concern for me as far as directing traffic, being able
to call things out do things if you have to
go there, because we all know seventeen games battle of.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Nutrition, Yeah, that's one area that was a little frustrating
because there was a lot of penalties that came out
of that group in the first couple of games too,
and so that's kind of where my eyes were going
with the holding penalties and false starts and everything. So
that's got to be better. You have to be able
to win at the line of scrimmage, and you can
only win if you can stay on schedule and play
with good mcare hannicks and technique. You guys talked about
the run game and I don't want to take anything
(26:04):
away from Carter, but if you take away his touchdown,
they still only average two point eight yards of carry, right,
And I don't want to take it away because he
earned it, and the offensive line and the entire offense
did earn it. But it wasn't a dominating running performance
aside from one really good run.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
It has to be better.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
We know it will when you bring the two running
backs in that Atlanta has to work with.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Why. The thing it is cool about that though, is
explosive run. We've been kind of wait. Even though Vijeon
had a big year fourteen hird yards rushing and Tyler
got out and did some stuff, haven't seen the explosive
to the house type runs. I know that's something they've
talked about with Bijon and maybe even working on how
he makes moves and guys at the third level to
try to get free and take that home run shot.
(26:46):
He's capable of doing that as his Tyler, but it
was kind of neat to see even Tho those backup
guys in there to see the home run on the
run game, we haven't seen him.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Hopefully there are a lot more home runs real quick,
I'll just add mine is going to be the defensive front.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
That's the group that I want to look at.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Obviously you've got and it's almost like when I say
defensive front, I got to throw in the front seven
just because there's some new names and obviously Jalen Walker
is going to swing a little bit, Divine Diablo is
going to be in their new face. But then the
defensive line, right, Brayln Trice coming back from injury, Morgan
Fox coming over a row to row Harrison. I mean,
obviously the new guys, what is all that going to
(27:22):
look like, because again, there is a math situation here,
and they can only have so many guys, which ones
have done enough, even probably more so in camp practices
than it is in preseason games. Obviously that's still very important.
But I'm interested to see what that group is because
that group has to produce this year. I mean, it's
under the microscope. For surely you invested two first round
(27:44):
picks there. Hopefully those guys are able to help you
pay off. But it's not all on Jalen Walker and
James Pierce Junior. It's the entire group, along with the
front seven, the linebackers, behind them. But how can you
put more pressure on opposing offense? How can you put
more pressure on Baker Mayfield coming out the gate?
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Right?
Speaker 1 (28:00):
So what does that front look like when Roster Cutdown
comes and then who's ready to go out and right?
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Twenty five?
Speaker 4 (28:05):
I think that's a great call because we think about
a lot of people think about the edge rushers, and
that's what all the focus that has been about is
trying to get edge rushers and get around the corner.
But I think they have assembled a group of guys
in that front settment, like you mentioned, that can all
get to the quarterback. You're talking about kay Nallis is
a game wreckerd. When you're talking about rushing the passer
from his linebacker spot, you're bringing another athletic guy in
(28:27):
Devine de Vabolo who we've seen in practice. It's hard
for those guys to get to him on that second
level because of his speed. So you add obviously, you
know Leonard Floyd on the outside who's been doing it,
you know, five six years, eight plus sacks. I mean,
you got guys who have proven that they can get
to the quarterback. Now you add those other pieces to it.
Can those guys be that cohesive unit and can Ober
(28:49):
get the most out of those guys, because, like you mentioned,
it's go time for upfront. We've talked about it long enough.
You got guys in place now to go do it.
You want to see it happen.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, got to be disruptive, not just in the past
game of shocks, talking about we got to disrupt the
run game, no question about it. And you're you're dead
on shock when or rack when you start talking about
that group being disruptive in every phase of the game.
You know, Bucky Irvin's coming Week one. He had a
great year last year. Was a running back for Tampa
Bay Bucks. Sean White's on that team. They can run
the football now that used to be a team just
(29:18):
threw it. They can run it. You better get ready
to stop the run.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
All right.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
That's gonna wrap it up here. We've been here long enough.
I know when you kind of started on a little
college football tangent, but yeah, that's part of the collegeaele
love college and football, right, and the college football players
end up being your next wave in the National Football League.
Any So, Clone Clones, own deck, go ahead, give us the.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Close neck in Dublin Island.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
The best Irish accent you ever heard.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
I from Uja's finest ladies and gentlemen of the DJ
Shockley Right there, that's day's archer.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
I'm Derek Brackley.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
We'll be back next week to break down the final
preseason game and of course roster cut down right here
in the five Thoutible presented by AT and T.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Take care, everybody, h m hm
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