January 10, 2025 • 48 mins
It's time for the First Annual Final Whistles! The crew hands out their own post-season awards for the Atlanta Falcons 2024 football season, including Biggest What-If, Unsung Hero, and Highlight of the Year. In addition, they also break down what General Manager Terry Fontenot had to say in his postseason press conference and what it means for the Atlanta Falcons' offseason.
0:00 - Intro
0:21 - Tori named National Sports Media Association Georgia Sportswriter of the Year
4:30 - Biggest takeaway from Terry Fontenot’s press conference
13:02 - First Annual “Final Whistles”
13:22 - Most entertaining game of the season
17:15 - Favorite player to talk about
21:24 - Biggest what-if moment
25:55 - Expectation that never manifested
28:42 - Unsung hero of the team
31:56 - Standout stat of the year
34:54 - Newcomer of the year
37:33 - Highlight of the year
43:57 - Main thing to address this offseason
45:11 - I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed
47:22 - Outro
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Dirty Birds. What's up? And welcome to another edition, a
special edition of Falcons Final Whistle, presented by Zaxby's I'm
your host Will McFadden. I am joined as always by
Tory mclaney and sarn Walk. We are gonna give out
some awards today, but honestly, the biggest award given out
this week was to our very own Tory mclaney. Tory
was named National Sports Media Association Georgia Sports Writer of
(00:22):
the Year. That is a mouthful, but it is a
mouthful for a big award. The first woman to ever
win this award and it's been going what since like
nineteen fifty nine. Yeah, yeah, crazy, congratulations, Thank.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
You, Thank you, first woman from the state of Georgia
to win, and first team affiliated person to win. It's
not I'm like really emotional about it. I was like
when I found out, I was kind of like crying
on and off, like pretty much all day long because.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
You keep saying that, but I haven't seen you cry yet,
and I want you to just start bawling if you could,
right now on the pipe, right now, just weeping on
my crap.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I don't have to handle tears content. We're doing it
for the content, but no, I it's kind of just
like incredibly validating one because I didn't even think that
I could be nominated for this award, let alone win it.
And the fact that i'm it's not lost on me
that I'm the first woman from the state to be
(01:16):
recognized in this way. I know I've said this at
multiple junctions, but it feels like just a really good
time for me to say that for women in sports,
like you deserve to have a seat at the table,
and not just one seat at the table, but many
seats at the table, as many seats as there are.
You deserve to take up space, and doors deserve to
(01:40):
be open for you because you deserve to be in
the room where things are happening. And I hope that
this as much as what an accomplishment I feel like
for myself and as happy I am for myself, I
also think that it matters greatly to the next generation
of female reporters that are coming up as well, that
they can now see that a woman can can do
(02:01):
this as well. Sorry I'm about to start crying, but
like I really, I really am super grateful and super thankful,
and yeah, I don't really know what to say, I've
heard from so many people, and if I haven't like
reached back out or I haven't like liked your Twitter
message or anything like that, I've seen everything and it
has been truly very very special, especially in the wake
(02:24):
of losing my Mamma back in October. The fact that
I was awarded this award two days before her birthday
was Yeah, it was incredibly special, I think for me
and my family as well. So thank you, guys, Thank everybody.
I just want to thank everybody for I know it
wasn't like a voting award like for people who are listening,
(02:45):
but I am super thankful for the Falcons fan base
for trusting me with your news and respecting what I
have to say.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Yeah, that's awesome. Again, Congratulations, It's been an incredible year, right,
Like I joined halfway through, but even being somebody who
followed you for a long time and was aware of
everything going on with this organization, I had immense respect
for everything that you kind of like held together through
a coaching change, through a tumultuous off season that involved
a quarterback being brought in twice, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
And retiring another one. Like I think that's what people
the funniest thing is when people ask us, like, what
do you do in the off season everything, and I
wish like that's the thing is like I think people
don't necessarily Especially last off season, it was like, Okay,
we went through a coaching search, new coaching hires, free agency,
got Kirk Cousins, Darnel Mooney retired, Matt Ryan retired, and
(03:40):
was putting the Ring of Honor.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
We did.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
All of this stuff for the draft and OTAs and
training camp and all. Amongst all of that, we're working
on Grady Jarrett a ten year documentary. Tarren's working on
a big bajon project. We're hiring Will.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Like there off about the office, There.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Was nothing off about what we did in twenty twenty four.
And I'm just so proud of the work that we
did collectively as a unit as much as I am
just myself as well.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
And see that That is a great sales pitch for
why everybody should stay tuned into this podcast throughout the
off season because it is very busy and we will
be covering all of it. Free agency, the draft. Hopefully
it's not as hectic is the one you just described,
but it's going to be important and So we're going
to start before we get to our final whistles, which
are going to be some season long awards and a
(04:27):
good bit of fun, We're going to start with the
importance of this offseason and tarn We heard from general
manager Terry Fontina today about kind of his mindset on
the twenty twenty four season and the road ahead. What
was one of your biggest takeaways.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
I think the thing that stood out to me most
was how he handled answering questions when it came to
these big off season signings of veterans, because he did
it and like I'm talking about Matthew Judon, Justin Simmons,
even Kirk Cousins, because he did all that with the
hope that it was a win now mentality. Not the
hope that was the plan. It was a win now
(05:03):
mentality with the twenty twenty four roster, and you didn't
see that, and he acknowledged that that was the thought
process behind all those guys, which makes me curious about
how they're going to handle twenty twenty five, especially with
those such as Matthew and Justin who were on one
year deals, Like do you bring them back even though
they didn't do necessarily what you wanted in twenty twenty four.
(05:25):
Do you keep a win now mentality even though say,
like your offense is super young. I think you have
to keep the win now mentality. But do you go
about it differently than bringing in veterans thinking that they're
the solution, because in my mind, sometimes a veteran can
just be a band aid when you need to fully
heal the wound.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, and I mean you previously covered the Falcon's biggest
foe in New Orleans, and I think there is really
few organizations as emblematic as a doubling down on the
win now mentality over the last decade or so. Then
New Orleans, Right, they went from Drew Brees, but they said, hey,
let's keep a rolling, We're keeping the band together, and
they really tried to push it down and you know,
now maybe they're they're trickling out now. So we'll see
(06:04):
what the Falcons ultimately do this offseason. But yeah, they've
got pieces that you like going into the year, so
I do think they want to keep this thing going
and obviously get into the playoffs. Tory, what was one
of your biggest.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Takeways It had to do with the Kirk Cousins of
it all, and the decision that the organization has to
make about what Kirk cousins future is in Atlanta and
if there is a future in Atlanta, And that was
the one thing that I think because of the nature
of the contract that he was dealt ninety million dollars
guaranteed for four years to two years is what Terry
(06:35):
said was fully guaranteed. And then also the reconciliation of
the fact that that was a move that was cited
in a tampering violation, So you lose a fifth round
draft pick, and now you're sitting there paying your backup
quarterback essentially having a cap hit in twenty twenty five
or forty million dollars, and that's a tough pill to
(06:56):
swallow when the overarching plan and the overarching thought process
was that Kirk Cousins was going to be the starter
in Atlanta. And to Terry Fano's point, giving the organization
high level quarterback play for two seasons and then you
can bring Michael Pennox in, that didn't happen, and so
he has to stand up there and take the heat
(07:18):
for that as the general manager. And everything that he
said I thought was very interesting because it was all
a question of like, what do you do with Kirk Cousins.
That's the question. The crux of it is, you made
the decision, you did, You did what you did. Now
here you are. Kirk Cousins started fourteen games. You're going
with Michael Pennocks moving forward? What are you going to
do with Kirk Cousins who has three years left on
(07:40):
this deal? And Terry Fano essentially said that he's going
to stay on the roster and he is going to
be the backup to Michael Pennocks junior. There were reports
right when the switch was made in mid December that
the Falcons were going to cut kirk Cousins before his
ten million dollar roster bonus went into effect the first
of March in the league year, the.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
New league year. That's Saturday after the move was made
Tuesday night, right.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yeah, so it's very quickly that like there were national
reports of being like, oh, this is what they're going
to do. The divorce is coming. That was kind of
the prevailing message, and Terry Fanner said there was no
validity to those reports. The Falcons see themselves feeling comfortable enough,
and that was the word he used comfortable with keeping
Kirk Cousins on the roster and adds the backup to
Michael PENNOCKX Junior. And in essence, I think this still
(08:30):
leaves the door open for a trade. The Kirk Cousins
does have a no trade clause in his contract, but
that can always be waived by Kirk Cousins and his camp.
But to Terry's point, when he was asked about whether
or not you were going to feel he was going
to field calls for trade offers for Kirk Cousins, he said, plainly,
Kirk's agent, Kirk, his family, us, the other team, all
(08:54):
of these There's so many layers to it, and you
have to everybody has to be good with it, because
otherwise it's not going to happen if you can't get
everybody to agree. And so that takes the power out
of the Falcon's hands and puts it into Kirk's hands.
But that's the nature of this contract.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Well, and that's kind of the case. Yeah, it was
always that way, right, because I do think that proclamation
did a really key thing. It said to all the
teams in the rest of around the rest of the league,
if you're the Browns, for you're the Jets, if you're
the Raiders and you're looking for a quarterback, hey, you
got to go through us. And we have to then
work with Kirk about maybe potentially working out of trade,
(09:31):
but we're not going to release him. We're totally happy
with him staying on this roster. So if he wants
to be a starter somewhere else, then maybe you got
to look at that no trade clause a little bit differently.
And if you're another team looking come get him, He's
not just going to hit the market anytime soon, right,
So I do think that was an important message to send.
And to your point about the cost, it is a
little bit of the position itself, right, Like that is
(09:54):
the going rate of having a good quarterback room. It
stinks that he is the backup and you're spending that
money on that, but he's, you know, arguably the best
backup in the league outside of maybe a situation in
like like Pittsburgh where you kind of have maybe two
one bs instead of you know, clear one A and
the hope is that Michael Pennox will be that moving
forward for Atlanta. Mine was pretty plain and simple. I
(10:16):
thought Terry from the jump was like, look, we didn't
win enough games. We're very clear. I did the mail
bag this morning, which you guys can read on Atlanta
Fulkins dot com, and a lot of questions about like
the frustration from this fan base. Rightfully, so is is
at a very high level. And it was clear in
both Raheem Morris and Terry Fona's press conference that they
(10:36):
get it. They understand. Hey, look, we came into this
with our own expectations. We're frustrated and pissed off too.
I thought Raheem Morris after the game on Sunday was
about his frank and just laid it bare as I've
ever seen him, right, And he is an upbeat guy
by nature, but he'll call a spade a spade, and
he did on Sunday, And so that was I think
(10:57):
refreshing to hear. Now. Whether or not it truly set
in for the fans and they and they take it
to heart and they buy it, you know, is another thing.
But I did think it was important for him to
say I can sit up here and say whatever whatever
I want to say, but like that doesn't matter. The
results have to speak for themselves. So that's the mindset.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yeah, what gets me is It brings me back to
the beginning of the season where they said the same thing.
Yeah right, we can talk all this positivity all we want,
but the results need to do it. And here we
are months later and it's the same phrasing.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
But that's that's what makes this sport so on the
one hand compelling and on the other hand so frustrating
at times. Right, is because every well intentioned plan, to
your point, they went all in this offseason and kind
of a win now mindset, and you didn't get the
return from kind of the three key veteran guys that
you would have expected to get the returns from. I mean,
if there were three players going into September that you
(11:52):
were like, who are you banking on, it would have
been Kirk Cousins, Justin Simmons and Matthew Judon is the
new newcomers and.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
They're the all pros. They're the prohole like, they're the
ones with the history and the experience.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
So excited when Justin Simmons came here, I was like,
this is incredible. Right, And again that's not to say
you had a bad season and I want to get
ahead of our awards here and maybe it's a good
way to just segue right into that. But yeah, it
just kind of didn't all come out the way you
thought it would.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Cannon Ball was a really small splash exactly right.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
You know, you gave you your best jump. You were
high in the air, everything was poised, and.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I think it splashed signings and it's like it was
more of a pencil dive.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
A transition. There we go. Today's episode of Falcons Final
Whistle is brought to you by Zaxby's. And after a
long game, when I'm tired and I need to refuel,
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to perfection chicken fingers. They hit the spot every time.
Get yours with seasoned crinkle fries, a nice drink in
(12:53):
whichever of their twelve signature sauces you're feeling at the moment,
but it always hits just right. So next time you
need to refuel, go get yourself some Zaxby's. So let's
let's do h We'll start out with and these are
our final whistles, our first annual Final Whistles. Just a
good little way to go through the season and relive
some some favorite moments, maybe some down moments talk about
(13:15):
some guys. One last time, so most entertaining game of
the season, Teraren will start with you week.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Two, the twenty two to twenty one win against the Eagles.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
I also have Philly Week two.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
There we go.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
It was the one. It was the most exciting game.
I was really really close to doing Washington a couple
of weeks ago, but I ended up landing on Philly
because of what that final one one hundred and thirty
three seconds like of the game, the last minute of the.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Game three, I think that's what it was. I've been
thinking about you going back a.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Minute in thirty nine seconds. The Falcons were down twenty
one to fifteen. As you'll remember, they had six plays
for seventy yards and one minute in five seconds with
the Kirk Cousins seven yard touchdown to Drake glunn In,
the Eagles had thirty four seconds to pull ahead to
like re win the game essentially exactly, and knowing that
Eagles offense, especially like with Jail DeVante Smith Saquon Barkley,
(14:14):
thirty four seconds was a lot for them. But instead
Jalen Hurts tried to throw deep ball to Devonte Smith
and instead found Jesse Bates for that game clinching interception,
And I think just the timing of the game too
made it much more exciting because the Falcons were coming
off that loss to the Steelers and former head coach
Arthur Smith. So to come in and beat the Eagles
(14:36):
on the road in prime time in such a crazy environment,
I like, yeah, one of my favorite stadiums just to
like experience a game in general, and so that one
was definitely the most entertaining it was.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I mean, I think for it was the moment where
you felt like everything that I felt like we had
been talking about up to that point was like coming
to fruition. This is a team that's going to be competitive.
This is a team that's going to find a way
to win, that's gonna will itself to a win. This
is a team that has the veteran experience of Kirk Cousins,
who's going to be able to lead the team.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Your star players are making big plays.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Yeah, It's like there were so many moments in that
game where I was like, this is it. This is
where things are turning, things are different, and it's kind of
funny and also a little bit sad to think back
to that. What I felt, I think in that day
and what I now feel months and months later.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
We're picking our most entertaining game in week two, when
everyone says your best football should be played in December's
that's fair.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
You know what I was doing during your most entertaining game,
I was sleeping because I was in Italy.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Oh that is true.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I remember waking up at like two am my time
and looking at the score and I think it was
like six to three going into halftime, and I was like, oh,
that's good. I'm going to go to bed now, and
so yeah, so I just woke back up and everybody
it was, you know, obviously seeing the final score, I
was like, hey, that's great going to Capri. So like
(15:54):
I'll celebrate when we get back. Yeah, we'll.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
We'll probably had it better than it was a great week.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
For all of us. What I'm saying mine is a
little bit different. It's the Thursday night win against Tampa Bay.
I just think from start to finish. Obviously, that's the
game where Kirk sets the all time single game passing
record for the Falcons. Cadaryl Hodge has that incredible walk
off touchdown where like I'll still remember exactly his play
unfolding from my see in the press box, and it's
like he caught the ball and then a defender spun
(16:20):
him around a little bit and then he like just
got let go at the perfect angle to split the
defense and race to the end zone. Then him getting
like held up like Newt Rockney and carried off the field.
It was. It was just such a fun game from
start to finish, defensively, offensively, young Waiku making some big
kicks in that one. So it's it was just I
think a great time all around. The primetime games this
(16:41):
year were ultimately really fun for Atlanta. I mean you
mentioned Washington like that was another one there. There was
a good slate of primetime games, and I think the
Falcons buying large lived up to kind of the moment
in a lot of those they didn't always win.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
But no, you make a good point because even the
Kansas City game in Week three, like that was a
good game, a close game. And the only one that
I would be like was the Monday Night against the Raiders.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yes, that was that was tough.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
That was just tough football, regardless of.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
How there were some like fun losses, and fun is
maybe the wrong word. That was a lackluster win. Yeah,
Tory will stay with you. Who was your favorite player
to talk about this year?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
So it's funny because Will almost said that this award
was going to be the Cayden Ellis Award because of
how often I talked about Kayden Ellis this year, because
I did didn't miss a chance, didn't miss a chance
to talk about Kayden Ellis or brag about Kayden Ellis
or talk about the usage of Caden Ellis. And I
stand by that. Here we are at the end of
the season, we're wrapping up the twenty twenty four season,
(17:39):
putting a nice little bow on it. Well maybe not nice,
but we're putting a bow on it. And I I'm
just really happy that kind of what I said back
in training camp before the season started, about how important
I thought Cayden Ellis was to this defense and how
fun yeah the usage of him could be, and how
interesting and how unlike anything else you're doing with off
(18:00):
ball linebackers. Like I I was really happy.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
That it turned out this is like your apple stock,
like ahead of the curve, and then now you're just
like reaping in the benefits everybody's talking.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
About, and everybody's talking about Kay and Allison his usage,
and I was like, where were we all in June
like when I first brought this up. So nice, pat
on my back.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
A second pat on your back today, big day for
Roll Tour, Ye Cadaryl Hodge. Okay, because pro bowler, first
time in his career, first of all, but he just
had such to go back to. He had a lot
of cannonballs that actually splashed to stick with an analogy
that I just made up on the way, No, I
don't know about coined. And because you had what the
(18:46):
two blocked punts essentially, I know one wasn't technically blocked,
but we'll give it to him on this podcast.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
You had the.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Muff punt recovered for a touchdown and then you had
that walk off touchdown that you already described in overtime.
And this is somebody who normally wouldn't get any flowers
because he's not a starter. You have Drake London and
Darnell Mooney starting at wide receiver and that's Kadero's position normally,
but he has to make a name for himself on
special teams. And he said it himself once that he's
(19:15):
like I'll die by every play, like I'm going to
give it my all, and you see that from him,
and it's nice to see someone who works so hard
and doesn't take a single snap for granted actually shine yeah,
and like see it all pay off and be very
grateful for it and not really asking for more, just
making the most out of each opportunity.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
No, I really do think you've felt that energy every
single time he was out there on the field. And
I can't remember if he was involved in one of these,
but I think he was. Like they had like three
or four prevented fake punts this year, which we always
just like gloss over when we're talking about special teams,
but a lot of times on like fourth and two
teams ran a fake punt and the Falcons sniffed out
every single one, which is kind of crazy, and I
(19:56):
think he had a hand in at least one of those.
So big year for Daryl Hodge. Big year four be
Jean Robinson And that is my pick finished. I believe,
third in rushing yards, fourth and overall yards from scrimmage,
tied for seventh with Sakwon Barkley. In touchdowns this year,
he had fifteen. You know, I gotta say, like coming
into the season or into training camp when everybody was
talking about the Christian McCaffrey type of role. I was like,
(20:17):
all right, but can he be that workhorse running back
who gets thirty carries a game? You know? Can he
be Michael Turner esque? And they're very different body types,
Like Bijan is not slight, but he's he's smaller than
your typical like rocked up, like give me the football
and let me just go to town on the inside, and
like he did it and then some He was such
(20:38):
a huge facet of this offense every single game and
in different ways, you know, Like I thought, actually in
the Washington game, I went into that being like they're
going to attack the outsides off tackle, and they kind
of the first two drives like random right up the middle,
and I was like, this is ingenious. It reminded me
almost have Warred done back in the day, where it's
like you don't expect somebody of his size to be
as effective in between the guards like that, and his
(21:01):
just vision, his smoothness, like every part of it. The
number of times he just like walked into the end
zone from the two yard line and just everybody was
kind of like chasing him. And then he made him miss,
like the Tampa Bay guy who just he stopped and
let him run right past. He was like, excuse me, sir, Yeah,
after you, I'll score. I'll wait. Bajan was kind of
like to me, a defining player of the season this year.
(21:24):
Now we've got our biggest what if moment and you
mentioned the Kansas City game. My biggest what if moment
is what if they made that fourth down conversion against
Kansas City? Great, because I do think they would have
scored a touchdown there. Yeah, and if they had, you know,
I don't It's hard to say the season would have
turned out differently because that's Week three, but you would
have gotten another win. I do think that would have
(21:45):
instilled a lot of confidence. The team was successful early on,
but imagine if you're seven and two at that point,
right And I'm sure there are some moments that we're
about to get to where maybe it would have played
a bigger role for the second half of the season.
But I just kind of feel like that Eagles game
and kind of what you were saying about the feeling
of the team at the time, you doubled down on that.
You get another big win against Patrick Mahomes going forward
(22:08):
on fourth down, the aggressiveness pays off, who knows. So
that was that was kind of my moment. But what
do you have toy.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
The non time out after the Darnell Mooney catch at
the end of the Washington game, to your people are
just cheering now to your point of you don't know,
kind of like as the season goes on, you don't
really know how things are going to shake out divisional
standings at that point in time against Washington. If the
(22:36):
Falcons were to win that game, they would have, I
do believe won the NFC South. And the fact that
it was so close to the point that we're having
to talk about a timeout that was not called after
that Darnell Mooney catch which put them at midfield and
they couldn't get to the point of being able to
kick a field goal that they felt good about and
(22:59):
had to go to overtime and ultimately lost that game
on prime time with all the playoff implications on the line.
That's that's my biggest what if moment? If you call
that time out, does it put you in a better
position to win that game and kick a field goal
to win it?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah? I think it's one of the key what ifs
of the entire season. Yeah, Taren, what's yours?
Speaker 3 (23:22):
So I hate what ifs personally because like, I don't
like necessarily looking back and wanting to change things, because
I believe everything happens for a reason. I don't know,
But because I've been prompted the question, I can't and
this will explain why I don't know how I feel
about what ifs. What if they had played Michael Pennix
Junior earlier because you can see in real time the
(23:44):
connections he was building with his receivers. You could see
him learning in real time, like from his own mistakes,
and I just kind of wanted to see like one
or two more games out of him, Like had they
made the playoffs, what would he have done? And So
if I think back, if they had started him earlier,
would those connections have built more? Would they have been more?
Would they have been stronger during the Washington game for example,
(24:07):
when the stakes were on the line. But at the
same time, if you did that when right and you
can't take away Kirk tober So it's kind of like
they did the best. They put him in at the
best spot that they thought they could have but what
if I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
That's the thing, right is there's a little bit of
a revisionist history when people are asking that specific question
is why didn't they go to Michael Pennox. But if
you go through the timeline, yeah, it makes sense. Right.
The Saints game was the first time after that Kirk
tober where it was like weird, but also that was
a kicking thing yep.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
And there was a brand new head coach there. Yeah,
interim head.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Coach, right, so you always get that that the interim
coach bounce. And then Denver was just like everybody was
having a bad day that day. Come back out of
the bye week. Then it's the Chargers, all right, that's
a real issue with Kirk, all right. That was that
was a hey, we got to be better here, but
then you going to Minnesota, you're not gonna put Michael
pennockx in in that environment. Also given the Kirk of
(25:04):
it all in that return.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Also to the point like I wrote about this, like
you needed to give Kirk the opportunity to write the
ship himself. And so the one like if we're starting
at the Chargers game, yep, and the interceptions that he
threw and Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
You say bounce back, bounce back, and that's what.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
You talk about going into Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
You have a bad game in Minnesota. You threw that
late pick right that was then becoming again like a
troubling concern. But by and large, like they were it
was twenty one to twenty one at one point, and
like going into the second half, and they were in that.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Game, yeah, until they weren't.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Until they weren't. And so then it was Vegas and
that was where you should roll over this team. And
rahiem Mora said, we felt good about all aspects of
that game outside of the quarterback position. And then they
make that move. So again, I would have loved to
see Michael Penix Junior two more so because I I
just think the guys got it.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yeah, it's just selfish reasons more so than logistical reasons, exactly.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
All right, So let's go to the expectation that never manifested.
So this was a preseason expectation that just never came
to fruition for one reason or another.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Toy Kyle Pits breakout year, good one. I really thought
going into this year, this is a guy who's fully healthy.
He has gotten his fifth year option picked up. He
has a quarterback who at the time was one of
the most accurate guys in the game, and you expected
the production to look more like it did his rookie year,
(26:26):
and it just didn't really happen. And there were a
lot of games where we were kind of left sitting
there being like, where's Kyle Pitts and what is he doing?
And where is he and how are they involving him?
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, you even saw flashes of it early, Yeah, they did. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
And then you see like the touchdown from Michael Pennix
to Kyle pits at the end of the Washington game,
and so you see it, you saw him, But did
you see him as out there? Yeah, but did you
see him enough? I don't think so, not for a
number four overall pick. I said this time and time again.
I thought in the last three games of the season,
Drake Glendon, Jean Robinson and Michael Pinnix Junior played up
(27:03):
to the level of their draft pick.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
I don't know if I can say the same thing
for Kyle Pitts in a year where he really really
needed to.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
I think it's entirely fair. Yea, yeah, that's a good
way to.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Put it tern mine short and sweet with a winning record,
I mean, seventh consecutive losing season, seventh consecutive season where
you did not make the playoffs. You only had one
more win than the past three years, and the past
three years felt completely different, I feel like than this season,
and so it'll only pull off like a slight advantage
(27:33):
over the past three I don't know. That's where I
was like, this is, to use Terry Fontina's words, disappointing.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah, that's that's where even though the season finale wouldn't
have mattered in a playoff sense, it makes the feeling
when not right now necessarily, but three months from now, Yeah,
next season when you're looking back, like just nine and
eight feels better obviously. So mine is involves Justin Simmons.
I thought you would be a difference make her. And
it's not to say he played poorly, like he had
(28:03):
his moments. He picked off Patrick Mahomes against Kansas City.
I think he finished with two interceptions this year. Like
he was a starter pretty much about the entire season
unless you know when he was in the lineup. But
I just he wasn't to that level that I fully
expected and that he had shown in Denver. So yeah,
he does have a game wait ordrobe.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
The house end of the season.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Yeah, I shout out to the Gentleman's Playbook. Who is
there the people who dress him?
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Well, if you want to address me, we can get
you as a sponsor on this podcast, right, Yeah, hit
me up.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Gentlemen's Final Whistle brought to you by the Gentleman's Playbook.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Oh God, I'm gonna I'm so excited.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
For me, Ladies Playbook.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
All right, so let's now do unsung hero of the
team Tarren will start with you.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
J D Bertrand really yeah, because he was a fifth
round draft pick, he played more and more games than
any other rookie. I think he was in such a
strong position group when you talk about Kaden Ellis, Troy Anderson,
and Nate Lanman, that he could just be a sponge
and absorb it and learn from all of them, especially
(29:09):
when all three of them are so different with their
skill sets, that JD can kind of just become Captain
America and the and take the best out of all
of them, if you want to keep with the nickname.
And I don't know, I just think he stepped up
when needed because Troy Anderson wasn't completely healthy, Nate Lanman
dealt with injuries, Kaden Ellis was healthy all season long.
But to throw JD in there with someone like Kaden Ellis,
(29:33):
I feel like he stepped up to the plate.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Yeah, that's a that's a great pick because I do
think his presence late in the year helped the defense
when it was evolving a little bit after the bye week.
So he got toy.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Charlie Warner, Okay, as someone who y'all know, I love
some old school let's put our nose in the ground
and let's just run over some people. I don't think
that's the saying, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Whatever the Grindstone has. Yeah, yeah, so that.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
But I I do not overlook Charlie Warner's role in
the run game and what he was able to do
as an extension of the offensive line, and that's what
they call him. And I really appreciate kind of this
old school nature of which he plays the position with
and how he just loves the role that he has
(30:22):
carved out for himself, and the fact that, like when
Bajon got over a thousand rushing yards, it was the
offensive line and they pulled Charlie into the photos like
you're a part of this too, And I just loved
watching you play, and I loved being able to break
down film and watch the All twenty two and seeing
how much of a difference he made in Bajon and
(30:44):
Tyler getting to the next level.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Yeah, it reminds me of when, like, you know, an
offensive lineman comes down, they designate him as an eligible receiver.
Charlie Warner is like an eligible receiver who's designated as
an offensive lineman. Yeah, so that's a that's a great call.
And I think the success Jean had and Tyler too,
like that owes a lot to Charlie. Mine is somebody
who was a starter throughout the year but just didn't
get I think the recognition relative to his play. And
(31:07):
that's Mike Cues, you know, A j Trell had, in
my opinion, just as good of a year as he
did in his second season when he was a second
team All Pro and they were throwing at Mike Cues
a lot. They were throwing a d offered a lot,
and I think Mike Hughes handled it really really well.
He you know, the end of the season maybe wasn't
as strong as as like the first three quarters of it.
(31:29):
But again, he was somebody when we look back at
training camp in preseason and talked all about who is
going to be that number two corner and the Clark
Phillips Mike Ces battle. He just took that job and
ran with it, and he shut down a few really
good passing games in addition to Jesse Simmons or Justin Simmons. Esse,
(31:49):
this is just worth ending the way we started. Let's
go baby, all right, So let's now do a Terran
favorite over here. A standout stats walk a word, guys.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Don't call me a nerd. I it's not even that
like nuanced of a stat So I am a little
bit like, oh, I should have done better. But in
just his second season, Jean Robinson broke into the top
ten in rushing because he has twenty four hundred and
thirty two career yards. Now that puts me at number ten.
What makes this so interesting is Tyler Algier is eleven
(32:24):
with twenty three hundred and sixty two career yards and
Tyler came in with seven hundred and forty two yards
on Bajon. Yeah, I head of Bajeon and Bejon was
like surpass.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
So those are the career all time rushing yard career.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
And so like Bajon's already in the top ten in
year two, Tyler's in the top eleven because of Bajon
and year three. But I just think it's crazy that Bajeon,
even though Tyler had such a head start statistically, was
able to pass him.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
That It is crazy. It's something I didn't even realize
when I tweeted that Tyler had moved into the top ten.
It was like, actually, Bajon's in there now and Tyler's eleven.
It's like that was so not on my radar because
that's honestly how incredible it is. So Tori, what is yours?
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I'm gonna stick with actually a Bajon status that's crazy.
That just goes to show like what type of season
he had. But my Bajon stats stand out staut of
the year that he led the league in miss tackles
force was that what you had? What I just like,
I couldn't not pick that one because I've talked on
(33:31):
this podcast so much about how special of talent that
I feel like Jean Robinson is and the way he
plays and how I don't understand it. It's almost like
alien esque to a certain extent, and no one else
can really do what he does and it's very special.
And I thought that stat, as much as any stat,
shows you that aspect of his game, how he can
(33:52):
make these split second moves and decisions and almost in
his anticipation is off the charts. Again, one of one
type player.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
There was a play in that Carolina game in the
season finale that where they were right on the goal
line and he kind of gets it and everybody is
where he is heading, and I was just like, he's
not going to break through, and then he just kind
of like again, manipulates his speed so well to let
everything unclutter in front of him, and then when he
notices there's my gap, Yeah, boom, he hits the accelerator
(34:22):
and goes like he doesn't have that elite top end speed.
But if you look at the number of plays, I
don't have this stat directly in front of me, but
it's a next gen stat, and I believe he is,
if not number one, in the top three of number
of times he has hit like fifteen plus miles per
hour at the line of scrimmage. Like his acceleration is
underrated when we talk about kind of his overall speed,
(34:44):
and that is I think a huge part of it,
in addition to that lateral agility that he has any
credits Alan iverson too so big Big Bigan year and
it needed to be. But now we're going to go
to a newcomer to the team, our Newcomer of the
Year award. I'll go first. I've got and I'm would
be surprised if nobody else has him. Darnell Mooney. I
also darnild There we go.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Yeah, three for three.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Yeah, that's our first match match match.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
It's a there we go, triple triple match game set match.
There we go. We'll figure it out. He it's so
frustrating that he finished shy of a thousand yards right,
like that's ok. Th one.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
I was like to run a ten yard out route
and just throw.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
On Charlie Warner's back and let him run down the
field and catch the ball, like take.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
The kick off at the twenty yard line and said,
give him a ten yard pass. Then you're basically where
you were going to start. Anyways, if it was a touchback,
were screaming with the other team.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
I was so upset when I saw that he was
on the inactive's list, and I was just like no,
Like I was so mad, because like eight yards.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Michael Pennock Junior even said beforehand in the week leading
up to that game, was like, I'll get that for him.
I do think it wasn't given the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
I do think that it had to have been something
seriously wrong with his shoulder he popped up in the
middle of.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
The because you know he would have like if he
could have, he would have played. Yeah, like.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Upsetting, But his.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Chemistry with Kirk Cousins was one of the early highlights
of the year, just him like kind of breaking out
in a way that I don't think people expected here
in Atlanta, Like, yeah, everybody thought he was going to
come in and be an upgrade at the number two
receiver position, but there were plenty of games where he
was your number one receiver and that's you know, no
slight to Drake. They both finished with like over one
hundred yards I think a few different times this season,
(36:32):
and like, I'll never forget that pass against Tampa Bay
where Kirk was just kind of like yolo and threw
it up to Darnell in triple coverage and he came
down with it, and it was like, man, this guy
he was abut to prove something. You could tell that
in training camp and he did and it's it was
really exciting, I think to see Darnell Mooney in a
Falcon's uniform. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
One more thing about Darnell. If you are listening and
you followed my advice at the beginning of the year
when we were doing kind of our preseason predictions, and
I say, Darnell Mooney's gonna be impactful, He's gonna get
some yards, and you picked him up on your fantasy team,
You're welcome. You owe me a drink. If if that
(37:11):
is the case, if I'm talking to someone out there,
I feel like someone had to have.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
You're like, it's like mad money in here. She's just
like bye low on darn Ell Mooney. Low get in
on Caden Ellis while you.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Can Charlie Warner Gang Gang like. I have the people
who I love like and I they they loved me back.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
You know, it's a love story. Just say say yes.
All right, So let's go to a highlight of the year. Tori.
We'll go right back to you.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Here's the thing hear me out on this Kirk Toober
and I think that Kirktober is the highlight of the
year because that was the most fun I had covering
this team in a very, very, very long time. It
was electric what they were able to do against Tampa Bay.
It was I mean, putting the wins together, put the
(38:00):
performance together that they did, the fact that Kirk Cousins
broke Matt Ryan's record on the night that Matt Ryan
was inducted to the Ring of Armory. It was Kirktober
and then like Kirk coming into the press conference and
talking about swag surfing and having the beanie on and
being like walk into your trap, to take over your trap.
Like there were so many things that happened in the
month of October where I was just like, really I
(38:22):
felt the connection between the fan base and the team
for the first time in a really long time. And
it's also a highlight because it was like that's how
good it could have been, Like that was that was it?
Like that was what you wanted, that was what the
Falcons envisioned, And it was this like like flash in
the pan of.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
It was his Icarus moment.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
It was he played close to the sun. And I
just also just the like significant downward spiral after that.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Well, but that's why, that's why it was the timeline
of everybody saying they should have gone to Michael Pennix.
It's because of your coming off of that. Yeah, like Kirktober,
well right, and you just got gets October.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
He had the pass leading he was the leader in
passing yards in the month of October, like I don't.
It was so it was so fun for me personally
covering the team, Like the locker room was fun. Guys
were having a good time like and then it just
went downhill and again flew too close to some. But
it will remain a highlight of I think the twenty
(39:28):
twenty four season. When I think of the twenty twenty
four season, I will think of one Kirktober and how
crazy those games were and how much fun it was
covering this team, but also the ramifications of Kirktober in
the month of November.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
There you go, Taren, what about you?
Speaker 3 (39:43):
I'm gonna go with the defensive turnaround after the bye
week where they went from what was it, ten sacks
in eleven games before the bye, but sixteen sacks and
six games after the bye. Forget about Carolina is its sixteen.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
I think it was twenty one. Yeah, h there.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Yeah, depends when Omna's story ran, because that's right.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
I believe it ran. I think it ran before or
after or before that Giants game, yeah, or maybe Washington. Yeah,
maybe it was sixteen and four games, but they had
the most in the league through the five games heading
into the final week of the Sea.
Speaker 3 (40:18):
She had the numbers already for me. I added Carolina,
which was nothing, and I was like, well, this is it. Okay,
So there were two games after this story ran, but anyways,
it was a great turnaround, and I just like they
kept crediting self scouting, self scouting. I'm like, what did
you see? Like explain it to me and Jimmy like wouldn't.
But it's just it's such a mad turnaround that, like
(40:40):
I questioned sometimes, like the defense took the bye and
made the most out of it. What did the offense
do during the bye? It is hypothetical, hypothetical, and like
I feel like a no answer is also the best answer.
The silence smoke of a crickets.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Yeah, no, for real, And I'll tell you what they
did differently, going back to my uh Tory mcelhaney Award
favorite player to talk about Kate Nellis.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
But that's defense.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Yeah, yeah, the defense did that, you said, like, and
you said.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
The offense no, when you said yeah, yeah, Like I'm
answering the question of, like, what.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
Did the get one of these moments and seas?
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Yeah, no, I I was answering the question of, like
what did the DVNSE students. They had more elaborate blitzes.
They used Kate Nellis in a really fun, cool way,
as they should have from the runnering it was, and
they were just winning their win on once up front.
Let's be honest. Sometimes it's just as simple as that.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Okay, you guys didn't actually pick highlights. Mine is a
single play highlight, and it is Kyle Pitt's fourth down
catch from Michael Pennock JUNR that sent essentially the game
in overtime, and he did not know was.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
The first touchdown pass of Michael Penick.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Tried to just beat that ball into the stands and
gets running after it, like yeah, Fortunately it didn't make
it all the way there, so he got Michael Penix
got to keep that ball. Good for him, I think again,
it was just one of the hopefully many highlights that
he will provide in the Falcons uniform, but on fourth
down to see him just rip that ball in there.
(42:15):
DJ Shockley had a great breakdown of the play on
a film review recently, so go check that out. But
it's it was just such a great kind of moment
on the road in that environment, and you saw the
proof of concepts with all the arm strength and he
threw it over the middle, which we needed to see
and we saw it. So it was a big moment
for both of them.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Honorable mentioned the Michael Pennocks touchdown against the Panthers in
eighteen where he laid out to the front pylon.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
He kept that.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
Ball too, Yeah, I think I would.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Yeah, it was very Our social team put together a
photo of Michael Vick doing that almost same exact thing,
and the picture of Michael Penick's doing it, and I
was like, all right, this is what we're to your point, like,
this is what you're gonna see, hope in the years
to come.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Yeah. Julio also had a similar diving play in that
exact end zone at that exact pilot, So you know,
big moments from our big stars in Falcon's history.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
Well, was really sweet on the last day of the
locker room and whatnot, like clean out day. Pennix did
a kind of like closing interview and he had the
rushing touchdown ball in his arm, and then he had
something else that I can't remember, another touchdown. I think
the point is multiple people are like, do you want
to put it down? He's like no, no, no, and
then Matt Haley from Comms is like, do you want
(43:29):
me to hold it? He's like no, Like these are
way too specially, so he's like holding him and like
cradling the ball throughout the entire interview, and he was
just happy, like not happy about how this season ended,
but like talking about those highlighted moments, you could see
a genuine smile on his face. It means a lot,
especially with what's to come.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
And where he came from the journey to the NFL
right knee injuries, like going to Washington and making that
situation work. So we've got two left and we are
already a little bit over time, so we're going to
make this quick. The main thing to address this offseason,
Taren will go with you first.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
Kirk Cousins and his expensive contract is what I wrote down.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Okay, Yeah, I think we heard from Terry on that front,
and you know, remains to be seen, but that's a
great one. Mine is the number two corner spot. My
cues is set to be a free agent, so is
d offered. So you know, is that a potential area
they look in the draft if you feel better about
your pass rush. I don't know, but that's a spot
that's going to see a lot of action given the
way that AJ Trell has played.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
I also said cornerback opposite AJ Trerell, could you bring
Mike cu'es back? I think you could. I think that
the thought could be there to bring him back on
a shortened contract and then also think about drafting somebody
or going out and getting somebody else in free agency.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
The first time making is Kirk's cousins contract though, because money.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
My thing is is that I when it comes to
the corner, when it comes to the cornerback position, I've
been saying since A. J. Trell got here that he
needs a running mate. He needs someone.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
Try Jeff o'couta has been here, see Hayward's been I.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Know he has had a different running mate for every
single year that he's been here. And I'm I'm ready
to see sinstability over and if that's my cues, it's
my cues. I'll be okay with that. If it's someone
that they drafted's someone that they.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Draft, I love it all right. So last one is
I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed. This is you know again,
the title says it all. You just wanted maybe a
little bit more and you didn't get it.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
So Toy, the Falcons didn't outrun the South. It was
the one thing. It was their rallying cry. It was
the thing that they said that they wanted to do
and that was their goal of twenty twenty four and
they did not do it. And that's I'm not mad.
I'm just disappointed.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
They did what I did in the Crispy Kream five
K in twenty fourteen and Athens, Georgia just hot out
of the gates and then Win died in the back house.
There you go, Tarin, what you got?
Speaker 2 (45:47):
I did?
Speaker 3 (45:47):
Troy Anderson, okay, because injuries just plagued his entire season,
and not just.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
In an entire season, his whole career so far.
Speaker 3 (45:56):
I was getting there and so like this year, you
were hoping he was gonna have he was going to
be healthy because last year he spent all of it
on IR and then he had a really strong rookie season,
So you're kind of like looking back to that year
one wanting to see that again. But even in the
middle of the season where they didn't put him on IR,
it's just like he missed so many games and you
kind of wonder, like, what would the defense look like
(46:18):
if he was healthy, because when he was out there,
he was a difference maker.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
Yeah, if he was healthy, NFC Defensive Player of the
Week against the Saints and then I are the next
and it's it's really tough, but yeah, he's tantalizing for sure.
Mine is Kirk Cousins. You know, I get it, right, Like,
coming off of an injury, that's in a tough spot,
and everybody you know has maintained he was healthy that
that didn't play a role, but kind of you get
where maybe the mindset was pushing so hard this offseason
(46:45):
to get back to prove it and then to have
it kind of start trending down and being able to
pull out of it or not being able to pull
out of it. I just I kind of feel for him,
So I can't be mad because I just could put
myself in those shoes. It's got to be really tough
and really hard, and I think he handled it very well.
I think his press conference is something I'll never forget
(47:06):
after Michael Pennix was named the starter and going out
and having to kind of face the media like that,
I thought he handled it really really well. He has
done what he said he would do and be a
great backup to Michael Pennox. So you know, I think
that Kirk Cousins the person is still very high in
my estimation, even if the player left me a little
bit disappointed this year. But hopefully this podcast did not
leave you disappointed, dear listener. And that is a segue
(47:28):
of all segues. Let's go. So that will do it
for this episode of Falcons Final Whistle. But there is
a lot more to come during the off season, so
stay tuned. Don't know exactly when the next one will be,
but we will have a schedule pretty soon and we
will let everybody know, So follow us on on social media.
I'm at Will McFadden.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
At Underscore, maclheiney, there you go at tarn Walk Beautiful.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
So that will do it for us today. Thank you guys,
again and we will see you next time.
Dirty Birds. What's up? And welcome to another edition, a
special edition of Falcons Final Whistle, presented by Zaxby's I'm
your host Will McFadden. I am joined as always by
Tory mclaney and sarn Walk. We are gonna give out
some awards today, but honestly, the biggest award given out
this week was to our very own Tory mclaney. Tory
was named National Sports Media Association Georgia Sports Writer of
(00:22):
the Year. That is a mouthful, but it is a
mouthful for a big award. The first woman to ever
win this award and it's been going what since like
nineteen fifty nine. Yeah, yeah, crazy, congratulations, Thank.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
You, Thank you, first woman from the state of Georgia
to win, and first team affiliated person to win. It's
not I'm like really emotional about it. I was like
when I found out, I was kind of like crying
on and off, like pretty much all day long because.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
You keep saying that, but I haven't seen you cry yet,
and I want you to just start bawling if you could,
right now on the pipe, right now, just weeping on
my crap.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I don't have to handle tears content. We're doing it
for the content, but no, I it's kind of just
like incredibly validating one because I didn't even think that
I could be nominated for this award, let alone win it.
And the fact that i'm it's not lost on me
that I'm the first woman from the state to be
(01:16):
recognized in this way. I know I've said this at
multiple junctions, but it feels like just a really good
time for me to say that for women in sports,
like you deserve to have a seat at the table,
and not just one seat at the table, but many
seats at the table, as many seats as there are.
You deserve to take up space, and doors deserve to
(01:40):
be open for you because you deserve to be in
the room where things are happening. And I hope that
this as much as what an accomplishment I feel like
for myself and as happy I am for myself, I
also think that it matters greatly to the next generation
of female reporters that are coming up as well, that
they can now see that a woman can can do
(02:01):
this as well. Sorry I'm about to start crying, but
like I really, I really am super grateful and super thankful,
and yeah, I don't really know what to say, I've
heard from so many people, and if I haven't like
reached back out or I haven't like liked your Twitter
message or anything like that, I've seen everything and it
has been truly very very special, especially in the wake
(02:24):
of losing my Mamma back in October. The fact that
I was awarded this award two days before her birthday
was Yeah, it was incredibly special, I think for me
and my family as well. So thank you, guys, Thank everybody.
I just want to thank everybody for I know it
wasn't like a voting award like for people who are listening,
(02:45):
but I am super thankful for the Falcons fan base
for trusting me with your news and respecting what I
have to say.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Yeah, that's awesome. Again, Congratulations, It's been an incredible year, right,
Like I joined halfway through, but even being somebody who
followed you for a long time and was aware of
everything going on with this organization, I had immense respect
for everything that you kind of like held together through
a coaching change, through a tumultuous off season that involved
a quarterback being brought in twice, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
And retiring another one. Like I think that's what people
the funniest thing is when people ask us, like, what
do you do in the off season everything, and I
wish like that's the thing is like I think people
don't necessarily Especially last off season, it was like, Okay,
we went through a coaching search, new coaching hires, free agency,
got Kirk Cousins, Darnel Mooney retired, Matt Ryan retired, and
(03:40):
was putting the Ring of Honor.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
We did.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
All of this stuff for the draft and OTAs and
training camp and all. Amongst all of that, we're working
on Grady Jarrett a ten year documentary. Tarren's working on
a big bajon project. We're hiring Will.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Like there off about the office, There.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Was nothing off about what we did in twenty twenty four.
And I'm just so proud of the work that we
did collectively as a unit as much as I am
just myself as well.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
And see that That is a great sales pitch for
why everybody should stay tuned into this podcast throughout the
off season because it is very busy and we will
be covering all of it. Free agency, the draft. Hopefully
it's not as hectic is the one you just described,
but it's going to be important and So we're going
to start before we get to our final whistles, which
are going to be some season long awards and a
(04:27):
good bit of fun, We're going to start with the
importance of this offseason and tarn We heard from general
manager Terry Fontina today about kind of his mindset on
the twenty twenty four season and the road ahead. What
was one of your biggest takeaways.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
I think the thing that stood out to me most
was how he handled answering questions when it came to
these big off season signings of veterans, because he did
it and like I'm talking about Matthew Judon, Justin Simmons,
even Kirk Cousins, because he did all that with the
hope that it was a win now mentality. Not the
hope that was the plan. It was a win now
(05:03):
mentality with the twenty twenty four roster, and you didn't
see that, and he acknowledged that that was the thought
process behind all those guys, which makes me curious about
how they're going to handle twenty twenty five, especially with
those such as Matthew and Justin who were on one
year deals, Like do you bring them back even though
they didn't do necessarily what you wanted in twenty twenty four.
(05:25):
Do you keep a win now mentality even though say,
like your offense is super young. I think you have
to keep the win now mentality. But do you go
about it differently than bringing in veterans thinking that they're
the solution, because in my mind, sometimes a veteran can
just be a band aid when you need to fully
heal the wound.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, and I mean you previously covered the Falcon's biggest
foe in New Orleans, and I think there is really
few organizations as emblematic as a doubling down on the
win now mentality over the last decade or so. Then
New Orleans, Right, they went from Drew Brees, but they said, hey,
let's keep a rolling, We're keeping the band together, and
they really tried to push it down and you know,
now maybe they're they're trickling out now. So we'll see
(06:04):
what the Falcons ultimately do this offseason. But yeah, they've
got pieces that you like going into the year, so
I do think they want to keep this thing going
and obviously get into the playoffs. Tory, what was one
of your biggest.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Takeways It had to do with the Kirk Cousins of
it all, and the decision that the organization has to
make about what Kirk cousins future is in Atlanta and
if there is a future in Atlanta, And that was
the one thing that I think because of the nature
of the contract that he was dealt ninety million dollars
guaranteed for four years to two years is what Terry
(06:35):
said was fully guaranteed. And then also the reconciliation of
the fact that that was a move that was cited
in a tampering violation, So you lose a fifth round
draft pick, and now you're sitting there paying your backup
quarterback essentially having a cap hit in twenty twenty five
or forty million dollars, and that's a tough pill to
(06:56):
swallow when the overarching plan and the overarching thought process
was that Kirk Cousins was going to be the starter
in Atlanta. And to Terry Fano's point, giving the organization
high level quarterback play for two seasons and then you
can bring Michael Pennox in, that didn't happen, and so
he has to stand up there and take the heat
(07:18):
for that as the general manager. And everything that he
said I thought was very interesting because it was all
a question of like, what do you do with Kirk Cousins.
That's the question. The crux of it is, you made
the decision, you did, You did what you did. Now
here you are. Kirk Cousins started fourteen games. You're going
with Michael Pennocks moving forward? What are you going to
do with Kirk Cousins who has three years left on
(07:40):
this deal? And Terry Fano essentially said that he's going
to stay on the roster and he is going to
be the backup to Michael Pennocks junior. There were reports
right when the switch was made in mid December that
the Falcons were going to cut kirk Cousins before his
ten million dollar roster bonus went into effect the first
of March in the league year, the.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
New league year. That's Saturday after the move was made
Tuesday night, right.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yeah, so it's very quickly that like there were national
reports of being like, oh, this is what they're going
to do. The divorce is coming. That was kind of
the prevailing message, and Terry Fanner said there was no
validity to those reports. The Falcons see themselves feeling comfortable enough,
and that was the word he used comfortable with keeping
Kirk Cousins on the roster and adds the backup to
Michael PENNOCKX Junior. And in essence, I think this still
(08:30):
leaves the door open for a trade. The Kirk Cousins
does have a no trade clause in his contract, but
that can always be waived by Kirk Cousins and his camp.
But to Terry's point, when he was asked about whether
or not you were going to feel he was going
to field calls for trade offers for Kirk Cousins, he said, plainly,
Kirk's agent, Kirk, his family, us, the other team, all
(08:54):
of these There's so many layers to it, and you
have to everybody has to be good with it, because
otherwise it's not going to happen if you can't get
everybody to agree. And so that takes the power out
of the Falcon's hands and puts it into Kirk's hands.
But that's the nature of this contract.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Well, and that's kind of the case. Yeah, it was
always that way, right, because I do think that proclamation
did a really key thing. It said to all the
teams in the rest of around the rest of the league,
if you're the Browns, for you're the Jets, if you're
the Raiders and you're looking for a quarterback, hey, you
got to go through us. And we have to then
work with Kirk about maybe potentially working out of trade,
(09:31):
but we're not going to release him. We're totally happy
with him staying on this roster. So if he wants
to be a starter somewhere else, then maybe you got
to look at that no trade clause a little bit differently.
And if you're another team looking come get him, He's
not just going to hit the market anytime soon, right,
So I do think that was an important message to send.
And to your point about the cost, it is a
little bit of the position itself, right, Like that is
(09:54):
the going rate of having a good quarterback room. It
stinks that he is the backup and you're spending that
money on that, but he's, you know, arguably the best
backup in the league outside of maybe a situation in
like like Pittsburgh where you kind of have maybe two
one bs instead of you know, clear one A and
the hope is that Michael Pennox will be that moving
forward for Atlanta. Mine was pretty plain and simple. I
(10:16):
thought Terry from the jump was like, look, we didn't
win enough games. We're very clear. I did the mail
bag this morning, which you guys can read on Atlanta
Fulkins dot com, and a lot of questions about like
the frustration from this fan base. Rightfully, so is is
at a very high level. And it was clear in
both Raheem Morris and Terry Fona's press conference that they
(10:36):
get it. They understand. Hey, look, we came into this
with our own expectations. We're frustrated and pissed off too.
I thought Raheem Morris after the game on Sunday was
about his frank and just laid it bare as I've
ever seen him, right, And he is an upbeat guy
by nature, but he'll call a spade a spade, and
he did on Sunday, And so that was I think
(10:57):
refreshing to hear. Now. Whether or not it truly set
in for the fans and they and they take it
to heart and they buy it, you know, is another thing.
But I did think it was important for him to
say I can sit up here and say whatever whatever
I want to say, but like that doesn't matter. The
results have to speak for themselves. So that's the mindset.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yeah, what gets me is It brings me back to
the beginning of the season where they said the same thing.
Yeah right, we can talk all this positivity all we want,
but the results need to do it. And here we
are months later and it's the same phrasing.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
But that's that's what makes this sport so on the
one hand compelling and on the other hand so frustrating
at times. Right, is because every well intentioned plan, to
your point, they went all in this offseason and kind
of a win now mindset, and you didn't get the
return from kind of the three key veteran guys that
you would have expected to get the returns from. I mean,
if there were three players going into September that you
(11:52):
were like, who are you banking on, it would have
been Kirk Cousins, Justin Simmons and Matthew Judon is the
new newcomers and.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
They're the all pros. They're the prohole like, they're the
ones with the history and the experience.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
So excited when Justin Simmons came here, I was like,
this is incredible. Right, And again that's not to say
you had a bad season and I want to get
ahead of our awards here and maybe it's a good
way to just segue right into that. But yeah, it
just kind of didn't all come out the way you
thought it would.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Cannon Ball was a really small splash exactly right.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
You know, you gave you your best jump. You were
high in the air, everything was poised, and.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I think it splashed signings and it's like it was
more of a pencil dive.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
A transition. There we go. Today's episode of Falcons Final
Whistle is brought to you by Zaxby's. And after a
long game, when I'm tired and I need to refuel,
I turned to his zax Pies, their marinated, handbreaded fried
to perfection chicken fingers. They hit the spot every time.
Get yours with seasoned crinkle fries, a nice drink in
(12:53):
whichever of their twelve signature sauces you're feeling at the moment,
but it always hits just right. So next time you
need to refuel, go get yourself some Zaxby's. So let's
let's do h We'll start out with and these are
our final whistles, our first annual Final Whistles. Just a
good little way to go through the season and relive
some some favorite moments, maybe some down moments talk about
(13:15):
some guys. One last time, so most entertaining game of
the season, Teraren will start with you week.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Two, the twenty two to twenty one win against the Eagles.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
I also have Philly Week two.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
There we go.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
It was the one. It was the most exciting game.
I was really really close to doing Washington a couple
of weeks ago, but I ended up landing on Philly
because of what that final one one hundred and thirty
three seconds like of the game, the last minute of the.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Game three, I think that's what it was. I've been
thinking about you going back a.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Minute in thirty nine seconds. The Falcons were down twenty
one to fifteen. As you'll remember, they had six plays
for seventy yards and one minute in five seconds with
the Kirk Cousins seven yard touchdown to Drake glunn In,
the Eagles had thirty four seconds to pull ahead to
like re win the game essentially exactly, and knowing that
Eagles offense, especially like with Jail DeVante Smith Saquon Barkley,
(14:14):
thirty four seconds was a lot for them. But instead
Jalen Hurts tried to throw deep ball to Devonte Smith
and instead found Jesse Bates for that game clinching interception,
And I think just the timing of the game too
made it much more exciting because the Falcons were coming
off that loss to the Steelers and former head coach
Arthur Smith. So to come in and beat the Eagles
(14:36):
on the road in prime time in such a crazy environment,
I like, yeah, one of my favorite stadiums just to
like experience a game in general, and so that one
was definitely the most entertaining it was.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I mean, I think for it was the moment where
you felt like everything that I felt like we had
been talking about up to that point was like coming
to fruition. This is a team that's going to be competitive.
This is a team that's going to find a way
to win, that's gonna will itself to a win. This
is a team that has the veteran experience of Kirk Cousins,
who's going to be able to lead the team.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Your star players are making big plays.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Yeah, It's like there were so many moments in that
game where I was like, this is it. This is
where things are turning, things are different, and it's kind of
funny and also a little bit sad to think back
to that. What I felt, I think in that day
and what I now feel months and months later.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
We're picking our most entertaining game in week two, when
everyone says your best football should be played in December's
that's fair.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
You know what I was doing during your most entertaining game,
I was sleeping because I was in Italy.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Oh that is true.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I remember waking up at like two am my time
and looking at the score and I think it was
like six to three going into halftime, and I was like, oh,
that's good. I'm going to go to bed now, and
so yeah, so I just woke back up and everybody
it was, you know, obviously seeing the final score, I
was like, hey, that's great going to Capri. So like
(15:54):
I'll celebrate when we get back. Yeah, we'll.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
We'll probably had it better than it was a great week.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
For all of us. What I'm saying mine is a
little bit different. It's the Thursday night win against Tampa Bay.
I just think from start to finish. Obviously, that's the
game where Kirk sets the all time single game passing
record for the Falcons. Cadaryl Hodge has that incredible walk
off touchdown where like I'll still remember exactly his play
unfolding from my see in the press box, and it's
like he caught the ball and then a defender spun
(16:20):
him around a little bit and then he like just
got let go at the perfect angle to split the
defense and race to the end zone. Then him getting
like held up like Newt Rockney and carried off the field.
It was. It was just such a fun game from
start to finish, defensively, offensively, young Waiku making some big
kicks in that one. So it's it was just I
think a great time all around. The primetime games this
(16:41):
year were ultimately really fun for Atlanta. I mean you
mentioned Washington like that was another one there. There was
a good slate of primetime games, and I think the
Falcons buying large lived up to kind of the moment
in a lot of those they didn't always win.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
But no, you make a good point because even the
Kansas City game in Week three, like that was a
good game, a close game. And the only one that
I would be like was the Monday Night against the Raiders.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yes, that was that was tough.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
That was just tough football, regardless of.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
How there were some like fun losses, and fun is
maybe the wrong word. That was a lackluster win. Yeah,
Tory will stay with you. Who was your favorite player
to talk about this year?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
So it's funny because Will almost said that this award
was going to be the Cayden Ellis Award because of
how often I talked about Kayden Ellis this year, because
I did didn't miss a chance, didn't miss a chance
to talk about Kayden Ellis or brag about Kayden Ellis
or talk about the usage of Caden Ellis. And I
stand by that. Here we are at the end of
the season, we're wrapping up the twenty twenty four season,
(17:39):
putting a nice little bow on it. Well maybe not nice,
but we're putting a bow on it. And I I'm
just really happy that kind of what I said back
in training camp before the season started, about how important
I thought Cayden Ellis was to this defense and how
fun yeah the usage of him could be, and how
interesting and how unlike anything else you're doing with off
(18:00):
ball linebackers. Like I I was really happy.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
That it turned out this is like your apple stock,
like ahead of the curve, and then now you're just
like reaping in the benefits everybody's talking.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
About, and everybody's talking about Kay and Allison his usage,
and I was like, where were we all in June
like when I first brought this up. So nice, pat
on my back.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
A second pat on your back today, big day for
Roll Tour, Ye Cadaryl Hodge. Okay, because pro bowler, first
time in his career, first of all, but he just
had such to go back to. He had a lot
of cannonballs that actually splashed to stick with an analogy
that I just made up on the way, No, I
don't know about coined. And because you had what the
(18:46):
two blocked punts essentially, I know one wasn't technically blocked,
but we'll give it to him on this podcast.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
You had the.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Muff punt recovered for a touchdown and then you had
that walk off touchdown that you already described in overtime.
And this is somebody who normally wouldn't get any flowers
because he's not a starter. You have Drake London and
Darnell Mooney starting at wide receiver and that's Kadero's position normally,
but he has to make a name for himself on
special teams. And he said it himself once that he's
(19:15):
like I'll die by every play, like I'm going to
give it my all, and you see that from him,
and it's nice to see someone who works so hard
and doesn't take a single snap for granted actually shine yeah,
and like see it all pay off and be very
grateful for it and not really asking for more, just
making the most out of each opportunity.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
No, I really do think you've felt that energy every
single time he was out there on the field. And
I can't remember if he was involved in one of these,
but I think he was. Like they had like three
or four prevented fake punts this year, which we always
just like gloss over when we're talking about special teams,
but a lot of times on like fourth and two
teams ran a fake punt and the Falcons sniffed out
every single one, which is kind of crazy, and I
(19:56):
think he had a hand in at least one of those.
So big year for Daryl Hodge. Big year four be
Jean Robinson And that is my pick finished. I believe,
third in rushing yards, fourth and overall yards from scrimmage,
tied for seventh with Sakwon Barkley. In touchdowns this year,
he had fifteen. You know, I gotta say, like coming
into the season or into training camp when everybody was
talking about the Christian McCaffrey type of role. I was like,
(20:17):
all right, but can he be that workhorse running back
who gets thirty carries a game? You know? Can he
be Michael Turner esque? And they're very different body types,
Like Bijan is not slight, but he's he's smaller than
your typical like rocked up, like give me the football
and let me just go to town on the inside, and
like he did it and then some He was such
(20:38):
a huge facet of this offense every single game and
in different ways, you know, Like I thought, actually in
the Washington game, I went into that being like they're
going to attack the outsides off tackle, and they kind
of the first two drives like random right up the middle,
and I was like, this is ingenious. It reminded me
almost have Warred done back in the day, where it's
like you don't expect somebody of his size to be
as effective in between the guards like that, and his
(21:01):
just vision, his smoothness, like every part of it. The
number of times he just like walked into the end
zone from the two yard line and just everybody was
kind of like chasing him. And then he made him miss,
like the Tampa Bay guy who just he stopped and
let him run right past. He was like, excuse me, sir, Yeah,
after you, I'll score. I'll wait. Bajan was kind of
like to me, a defining player of the season this year.
(21:24):
Now we've got our biggest what if moment and you
mentioned the Kansas City game. My biggest what if moment
is what if they made that fourth down conversion against
Kansas City? Great, because I do think they would have
scored a touchdown there. Yeah, and if they had, you know,
I don't It's hard to say the season would have
turned out differently because that's Week three, but you would
have gotten another win. I do think that would have
(21:45):
instilled a lot of confidence. The team was successful early on,
but imagine if you're seven and two at that point,
right And I'm sure there are some moments that we're
about to get to where maybe it would have played
a bigger role for the second half of the season.
But I just kind of feel like that Eagles game
and kind of what you were saying about the feeling
of the team at the time, you doubled down on that.
You get another big win against Patrick Mahomes going forward
(22:08):
on fourth down, the aggressiveness pays off, who knows. So
that was that was kind of my moment. But what
do you have toy.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
The non time out after the Darnell Mooney catch at
the end of the Washington game, to your people are
just cheering now to your point of you don't know,
kind of like as the season goes on, you don't
really know how things are going to shake out divisional
standings at that point in time against Washington. If the
(22:36):
Falcons were to win that game, they would have, I
do believe won the NFC South. And the fact that
it was so close to the point that we're having
to talk about a timeout that was not called after
that Darnell Mooney catch which put them at midfield and
they couldn't get to the point of being able to
kick a field goal that they felt good about and
(22:59):
had to go to overtime and ultimately lost that game
on prime time with all the playoff implications on the line.
That's that's my biggest what if moment? If you call
that time out, does it put you in a better
position to win that game and kick a field goal
to win it?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah? I think it's one of the key what ifs
of the entire season. Yeah, Taren, what's yours?
Speaker 3 (23:22):
So I hate what ifs personally because like, I don't
like necessarily looking back and wanting to change things, because
I believe everything happens for a reason. I don't know,
But because I've been prompted the question, I can't and
this will explain why I don't know how I feel
about what ifs. What if they had played Michael Pennix
Junior earlier because you can see in real time the
(23:44):
connections he was building with his receivers. You could see
him learning in real time, like from his own mistakes,
and I just kind of wanted to see like one
or two more games out of him, Like had they
made the playoffs, what would he have done? And So
if I think back, if they had started him earlier,
would those connections have built more? Would they have been more?
Would they have been stronger during the Washington game for example,
(24:07):
when the stakes were on the line. But at the
same time, if you did that when right and you
can't take away Kirk tober So it's kind of like
they did the best. They put him in at the
best spot that they thought they could have but what
if I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
That's the thing, right is there's a little bit of
a revisionist history when people are asking that specific question
is why didn't they go to Michael Pennox. But if
you go through the timeline, yeah, it makes sense. Right.
The Saints game was the first time after that Kirk
tober where it was like weird, but also that was
a kicking thing yep.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
And there was a brand new head coach there. Yeah,
interim head.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Coach, right, so you always get that that the interim
coach bounce. And then Denver was just like everybody was
having a bad day that day. Come back out of
the bye week. Then it's the Chargers, all right, that's
a real issue with Kirk, all right. That was that
was a hey, we got to be better here, but
then you going to Minnesota, you're not gonna put Michael
pennockx in in that environment. Also given the Kirk of
(25:04):
it all in that return.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Also to the point like I wrote about this, like
you needed to give Kirk the opportunity to write the
ship himself. And so the one like if we're starting
at the Chargers game, yep, and the interceptions that he
threw and Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
You say bounce back, bounce back, and that's what.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
You talk about going into Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
You have a bad game in Minnesota. You threw that
late pick right that was then becoming again like a
troubling concern. But by and large, like they were it
was twenty one to twenty one at one point, and
like going into the second half, and they were in that.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Game, yeah, until they weren't.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Until they weren't. And so then it was Vegas and
that was where you should roll over this team. And
rahiem Mora said, we felt good about all aspects of
that game outside of the quarterback position. And then they
make that move. So again, I would have loved to
see Michael Penix Junior two more so because I I
just think the guys got it.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yeah, it's just selfish reasons more so than logistical reasons, exactly.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
All right, So let's go to the expectation that never manifested.
So this was a preseason expectation that just never came
to fruition for one reason or another.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Toy Kyle Pits breakout year, good one. I really thought
going into this year, this is a guy who's fully healthy.
He has gotten his fifth year option picked up. He
has a quarterback who at the time was one of
the most accurate guys in the game, and you expected
the production to look more like it did his rookie year,
(26:26):
and it just didn't really happen. And there were a
lot of games where we were kind of left sitting
there being like, where's Kyle Pitts and what is he doing?
And where is he and how are they involving him?
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, you even saw flashes of it early, Yeah, they did. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
And then you see like the touchdown from Michael Pennix
to Kyle pits at the end of the Washington game,
and so you see it, you saw him, But did
you see him as out there? Yeah, but did you
see him enough? I don't think so, not for a
number four overall pick. I said this time and time again.
I thought in the last three games of the season,
Drake Glendon, Jean Robinson and Michael Pinnix Junior played up
(27:03):
to the level of their draft pick.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
I don't know if I can say the same thing
for Kyle Pitts in a year where he really really
needed to.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
I think it's entirely fair. Yea, yeah, that's a good
way to.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Put it tern mine short and sweet with a winning record,
I mean, seventh consecutive losing season, seventh consecutive season where
you did not make the playoffs. You only had one
more win than the past three years, and the past
three years felt completely different, I feel like than this season,
and so it'll only pull off like a slight advantage
(27:33):
over the past three I don't know. That's where I
was like, this is, to use Terry Fontina's words, disappointing.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah, that's that's where even though the season finale wouldn't
have mattered in a playoff sense, it makes the feeling
when not right now necessarily, but three months from now, Yeah,
next season when you're looking back, like just nine and
eight feels better obviously. So mine is involves Justin Simmons.
I thought you would be a difference make her. And
it's not to say he played poorly, like he had
(28:03):
his moments. He picked off Patrick Mahomes against Kansas City.
I think he finished with two interceptions this year. Like
he was a starter pretty much about the entire season
unless you know when he was in the lineup. But
I just he wasn't to that level that I fully
expected and that he had shown in Denver. So yeah,
he does have a game wait ordrobe.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
The house end of the season.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Yeah, I shout out to the Gentleman's Playbook. Who is
there the people who dress him?
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Well, if you want to address me, we can get
you as a sponsor on this podcast, right, Yeah, hit
me up.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Gentlemen's Final Whistle brought to you by the Gentleman's Playbook.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Oh God, I'm gonna I'm so excited.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
For me, Ladies Playbook.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
All right, so let's now do unsung hero of the
team Tarren will start with you.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
J D Bertrand really yeah, because he was a fifth
round draft pick, he played more and more games than
any other rookie. I think he was in such a
strong position group when you talk about Kaden Ellis, Troy Anderson,
and Nate Lanman, that he could just be a sponge
and absorb it and learn from all of them, especially
(29:09):
when all three of them are so different with their
skill sets, that JD can kind of just become Captain
America and the and take the best out of all
of them, if you want to keep with the nickname.
And I don't know, I just think he stepped up
when needed because Troy Anderson wasn't completely healthy, Nate Lanman
dealt with injuries, Kaden Ellis was healthy all season long.
But to throw JD in there with someone like Kaden Ellis,
(29:33):
I feel like he stepped up to the plate.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Yeah, that's a that's a great pick because I do
think his presence late in the year helped the defense
when it was evolving a little bit after the bye week.
So he got toy.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Charlie Warner, Okay, as someone who y'all know, I love
some old school let's put our nose in the ground
and let's just run over some people. I don't think
that's the saying, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Whatever the Grindstone has. Yeah, yeah, so that.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
But I I do not overlook Charlie Warner's role in
the run game and what he was able to do
as an extension of the offensive line, and that's what
they call him. And I really appreciate kind of this
old school nature of which he plays the position with
and how he just loves the role that he has
(30:22):
carved out for himself, and the fact that, like when
Bajon got over a thousand rushing yards, it was the
offensive line and they pulled Charlie into the photos like
you're a part of this too, And I just loved
watching you play, and I loved being able to break
down film and watch the All twenty two and seeing
how much of a difference he made in Bajon and
(30:44):
Tyler getting to the next level.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Yeah, it reminds me of when, like, you know, an
offensive lineman comes down, they designate him as an eligible receiver.
Charlie Warner is like an eligible receiver who's designated as
an offensive lineman. Yeah, so that's a that's a great call.
And I think the success Jean had and Tyler too,
like that owes a lot to Charlie. Mine is somebody
who was a starter throughout the year but just didn't
get I think the recognition relative to his play. And
(31:07):
that's Mike Cues, you know, A j Trell had, in
my opinion, just as good of a year as he
did in his second season when he was a second
team All Pro and they were throwing at Mike Cues
a lot. They were throwing a d offered a lot,
and I think Mike Hughes handled it really really well.
He you know, the end of the season maybe wasn't
as strong as as like the first three quarters of it.
(31:29):
But again, he was somebody when we look back at
training camp in preseason and talked all about who is
going to be that number two corner and the Clark
Phillips Mike Ces battle. He just took that job and
ran with it, and he shut down a few really
good passing games in addition to Jesse Simmons or Justin Simmons. Esse,
(31:49):
this is just worth ending the way we started. Let's
go baby, all right, So let's now do a Terran
favorite over here. A standout stats walk a word, guys.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Don't call me a nerd. I it's not even that
like nuanced of a stat So I am a little
bit like, oh, I should have done better. But in
just his second season, Jean Robinson broke into the top
ten in rushing because he has twenty four hundred and
thirty two career yards. Now that puts me at number ten.
What makes this so interesting is Tyler Algier is eleven
(32:24):
with twenty three hundred and sixty two career yards and
Tyler came in with seven hundred and forty two yards
on Bajon. Yeah, I head of Bajeon and Bejon was
like surpass.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
So those are the career all time rushing yard career.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
And so like Bajon's already in the top ten in
year two, Tyler's in the top eleven because of Bajon
and year three. But I just think it's crazy that Bajeon,
even though Tyler had such a head start statistically, was
able to pass him.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
That It is crazy. It's something I didn't even realize
when I tweeted that Tyler had moved into the top ten.
It was like, actually, Bajon's in there now and Tyler's eleven.
It's like that was so not on my radar because
that's honestly how incredible it is. So Tori, what is yours?
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I'm gonna stick with actually a Bajon status that's crazy.
That just goes to show like what type of season
he had. But my Bajon stats stand out staut of
the year that he led the league in miss tackles
force was that what you had? What I just like,
I couldn't not pick that one because I've talked on
(33:31):
this podcast so much about how special of talent that
I feel like Jean Robinson is and the way he
plays and how I don't understand it. It's almost like
alien esque to a certain extent, and no one else
can really do what he does and it's very special.
And I thought that stat, as much as any stat,
shows you that aspect of his game, how he can
(33:52):
make these split second moves and decisions and almost in
his anticipation is off the charts. Again, one of one
type player.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
There was a play in that Carolina game in the
season finale that where they were right on the goal
line and he kind of gets it and everybody is
where he is heading, and I was just like, he's
not going to break through, and then he just kind
of like again, manipulates his speed so well to let
everything unclutter in front of him, and then when he
notices there's my gap, Yeah, boom, he hits the accelerator
(34:22):
and goes like he doesn't have that elite top end speed.
But if you look at the number of plays, I
don't have this stat directly in front of me, but
it's a next gen stat, and I believe he is,
if not number one, in the top three of number
of times he has hit like fifteen plus miles per
hour at the line of scrimmage. Like his acceleration is
underrated when we talk about kind of his overall speed,
(34:44):
and that is I think a huge part of it,
in addition to that lateral agility that he has any
credits Alan iverson too so big Big Bigan year and
it needed to be. But now we're going to go
to a newcomer to the team, our Newcomer of the
Year award. I'll go first. I've got and I'm would
be surprised if nobody else has him. Darnell Mooney. I
also darnild There we go.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Yeah, three for three.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Yeah, that's our first match match match.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
It's a there we go, triple triple match game set match.
There we go. We'll figure it out. He it's so
frustrating that he finished shy of a thousand yards right,
like that's ok. Th one.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
I was like to run a ten yard out route
and just throw.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
On Charlie Warner's back and let him run down the
field and catch the ball, like take.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
The kick off at the twenty yard line and said,
give him a ten yard pass. Then you're basically where
you were going to start. Anyways, if it was a touchback,
were screaming with the other team.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
I was so upset when I saw that he was
on the inactive's list, and I was just like no,
Like I was so mad, because like eight yards.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Michael Pennock Junior even said beforehand in the week leading
up to that game, was like, I'll get that for him.
I do think it wasn't given the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
I do think that it had to have been something
seriously wrong with his shoulder he popped up in the
middle of.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
The because you know he would have like if he
could have, he would have played. Yeah, like.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Upsetting, But his.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Chemistry with Kirk Cousins was one of the early highlights
of the year, just him like kind of breaking out
in a way that I don't think people expected here
in Atlanta, Like, yeah, everybody thought he was going to
come in and be an upgrade at the number two
receiver position, but there were plenty of games where he
was your number one receiver and that's you know, no
slight to Drake. They both finished with like over one
hundred yards I think a few different times this season,
(36:32):
and like, I'll never forget that pass against Tampa Bay
where Kirk was just kind of like yolo and threw
it up to Darnell in triple coverage and he came
down with it, and it was like, man, this guy
he was abut to prove something. You could tell that
in training camp and he did and it's it was
really exciting, I think to see Darnell Mooney in a
Falcon's uniform. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
One more thing about Darnell. If you are listening and
you followed my advice at the beginning of the year
when we were doing kind of our preseason predictions, and
I say, Darnell Mooney's gonna be impactful, He's gonna get
some yards, and you picked him up on your fantasy team,
You're welcome. You owe me a drink. If if that
(37:11):
is the case, if I'm talking to someone out there,
I feel like someone had to have.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
You're like, it's like mad money in here. She's just
like bye low on darn Ell Mooney. Low get in
on Caden Ellis while you.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Can Charlie Warner Gang Gang like. I have the people
who I love like and I they they loved me back.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
You know, it's a love story. Just say say yes.
All right, So let's go to a highlight of the year. Tori.
We'll go right back to you.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Here's the thing hear me out on this Kirk Toober
and I think that Kirktober is the highlight of the
year because that was the most fun I had covering
this team in a very, very, very long time. It
was electric what they were able to do against Tampa Bay.
It was I mean, putting the wins together, put the
(38:00):
performance together that they did, the fact that Kirk Cousins
broke Matt Ryan's record on the night that Matt Ryan
was inducted to the Ring of Armory. It was Kirktober
and then like Kirk coming into the press conference and
talking about swag surfing and having the beanie on and
being like walk into your trap, to take over your trap.
Like there were so many things that happened in the
month of October where I was just like, really I
(38:22):
felt the connection between the fan base and the team
for the first time in a really long time. And
it's also a highlight because it was like that's how
good it could have been, Like that was that was it?
Like that was what you wanted, that was what the
Falcons envisioned, And it was this like like flash in
the pan of.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
It was his Icarus moment.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
It was he played close to the sun. And I
just also just the like significant downward spiral after that.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Well, but that's why, that's why it was the timeline
of everybody saying they should have gone to Michael Pennix.
It's because of your coming off of that. Yeah, like Kirktober,
well right, and you just got gets October.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
He had the pass leading he was the leader in
passing yards in the month of October, like I don't.
It was so it was so fun for me personally
covering the team, Like the locker room was fun. Guys
were having a good time like and then it just
went downhill and again flew too close to some. But
it will remain a highlight of I think the twenty
(39:28):
twenty four season. When I think of the twenty twenty
four season, I will think of one Kirktober and how
crazy those games were and how much fun it was
covering this team, but also the ramifications of Kirktober in
the month of November.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
There you go, Taren, what about you?
Speaker 3 (39:43):
I'm gonna go with the defensive turnaround after the bye
week where they went from what was it, ten sacks
in eleven games before the bye, but sixteen sacks and
six games after the bye. Forget about Carolina is its sixteen.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
I think it was twenty one. Yeah, h there.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Yeah, depends when Omna's story ran, because that's right.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
I believe it ran. I think it ran before or
after or before that Giants game, yeah, or maybe Washington. Yeah,
maybe it was sixteen and four games, but they had
the most in the league through the five games heading
into the final week of the Sea.
Speaker 3 (40:18):
She had the numbers already for me. I added Carolina,
which was nothing, and I was like, well, this is it. Okay,
So there were two games after this story ran, but anyways,
it was a great turnaround, and I just like they
kept crediting self scouting, self scouting. I'm like, what did
you see? Like explain it to me and Jimmy like wouldn't.
But it's just it's such a mad turnaround that, like
(40:40):
I questioned sometimes, like the defense took the bye and
made the most out of it. What did the offense
do during the bye? It is hypothetical, hypothetical, and like
I feel like a no answer is also the best answer.
The silence smoke of a crickets.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Yeah, no, for real, And I'll tell you what they
did differently, going back to my uh Tory mcelhaney Award
favorite player to talk about Kate Nellis.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
But that's defense.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Yeah, yeah, the defense did that, you said, like, and
you said.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
The offense no, when you said yeah, yeah, Like I'm
answering the question of, like, what.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
Did the get one of these moments and seas?
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Yeah, no, I I was answering the question of, like
what did the DVNSE students. They had more elaborate blitzes.
They used Kate Nellis in a really fun, cool way,
as they should have from the runnering it was, and
they were just winning their win on once up front.
Let's be honest. Sometimes it's just as simple as that.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Okay, you guys didn't actually pick highlights. Mine is a
single play highlight, and it is Kyle Pitt's fourth down
catch from Michael Pennock JUNR that sent essentially the game
in overtime, and he did not know was.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
The first touchdown pass of Michael Penick.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Tried to just beat that ball into the stands and
gets running after it, like yeah, Fortunately it didn't make
it all the way there, so he got Michael Penix
got to keep that ball. Good for him, I think again,
it was just one of the hopefully many highlights that
he will provide in the Falcons uniform, but on fourth
down to see him just rip that ball in there.
(42:15):
DJ Shockley had a great breakdown of the play on
a film review recently, so go check that out. But
it's it was just such a great kind of moment
on the road in that environment, and you saw the
proof of concepts with all the arm strength and he
threw it over the middle, which we needed to see
and we saw it. So it was a big moment
for both of them.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Honorable mentioned the Michael Pennocks touchdown against the Panthers in
eighteen where he laid out to the front pylon.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
He kept that.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
Ball too, Yeah, I think I would.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Yeah, it was very Our social team put together a
photo of Michael Vick doing that almost same exact thing,
and the picture of Michael Penick's doing it, and I
was like, all right, this is what we're to your point, like,
this is what you're gonna see, hope in the years
to come.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Yeah. Julio also had a similar diving play in that
exact end zone at that exact pilot, So you know,
big moments from our big stars in Falcon's history.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
Well, was really sweet on the last day of the
locker room and whatnot, like clean out day. Pennix did
a kind of like closing interview and he had the
rushing touchdown ball in his arm, and then he had
something else that I can't remember, another touchdown. I think
the point is multiple people are like, do you want
to put it down? He's like no, no, no, and
then Matt Haley from Comms is like, do you want
(43:29):
me to hold it? He's like no, Like these are
way too specially, so he's like holding him and like
cradling the ball throughout the entire interview, and he was
just happy, like not happy about how this season ended,
but like talking about those highlighted moments, you could see
a genuine smile on his face. It means a lot,
especially with what's to come.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
And where he came from the journey to the NFL
right knee injuries, like going to Washington and making that
situation work. So we've got two left and we are
already a little bit over time, so we're going to
make this quick. The main thing to address this offseason,
Taren will go with you first.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
Kirk Cousins and his expensive contract is what I wrote down.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Okay, Yeah, I think we heard from Terry on that front,
and you know, remains to be seen, but that's a
great one. Mine is the number two corner spot. My
cues is set to be a free agent, so is
d offered. So you know, is that a potential area
they look in the draft if you feel better about
your pass rush. I don't know, but that's a spot
that's going to see a lot of action given the
way that AJ Trell has played.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
I also said cornerback opposite AJ Trerell, could you bring
Mike cu'es back? I think you could. I think that
the thought could be there to bring him back on
a shortened contract and then also think about drafting somebody
or going out and getting somebody else in free agency.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
The first time making is Kirk's cousins contract though, because money.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
My thing is is that I when it comes to
the corner, when it comes to the cornerback position, I've
been saying since A. J. Trell got here that he
needs a running mate. He needs someone.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
Try Jeff o'couta has been here, see Hayward's been I.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Know he has had a different running mate for every
single year that he's been here. And I'm I'm ready
to see sinstability over and if that's my cues, it's
my cues. I'll be okay with that. If it's someone
that they drafted's someone that they.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Draft, I love it all right. So last one is
I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed. This is you know again,
the title says it all. You just wanted maybe a
little bit more and you didn't get it.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
So Toy, the Falcons didn't outrun the South. It was
the one thing. It was their rallying cry. It was
the thing that they said that they wanted to do
and that was their goal of twenty twenty four and
they did not do it. And that's I'm not mad.
I'm just disappointed.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
They did what I did in the Crispy Kream five
K in twenty fourteen and Athens, Georgia just hot out
of the gates and then Win died in the back house.
There you go, Tarin, what you got?
Speaker 2 (45:47):
I did?
Speaker 3 (45:47):
Troy Anderson, okay, because injuries just plagued his entire season,
and not just.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
In an entire season, his whole career so far.
Speaker 3 (45:56):
I was getting there and so like this year, you
were hoping he was gonna have he was going to
be healthy because last year he spent all of it
on IR and then he had a really strong rookie season,
So you're kind of like looking back to that year
one wanting to see that again. But even in the
middle of the season where they didn't put him on IR,
it's just like he missed so many games and you
kind of wonder, like, what would the defense look like
(46:18):
if he was healthy, because when he was out there,
he was a difference maker.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
Yeah, if he was healthy, NFC Defensive Player of the
Week against the Saints and then I are the next
and it's it's really tough, but yeah, he's tantalizing for sure.
Mine is Kirk Cousins. You know, I get it, right, Like,
coming off of an injury, that's in a tough spot,
and everybody you know has maintained he was healthy that
that didn't play a role, but kind of you get
where maybe the mindset was pushing so hard this offseason
(46:45):
to get back to prove it and then to have
it kind of start trending down and being able to
pull out of it or not being able to pull
out of it. I just I kind of feel for him,
So I can't be mad because I just could put
myself in those shoes. It's got to be really tough
and really hard, and I think he handled it very well.
I think his press conference is something I'll never forget
(47:06):
after Michael Pennix was named the starter and going out
and having to kind of face the media like that,
I thought he handled it really really well. He has
done what he said he would do and be a
great backup to Michael Pennox. So you know, I think
that Kirk Cousins the person is still very high in
my estimation, even if the player left me a little
bit disappointed this year. But hopefully this podcast did not
leave you disappointed, dear listener. And that is a segue
(47:28):
of all segues. Let's go. So that will do it
for this episode of Falcons Final Whistle. But there is
a lot more to come during the off season, so
stay tuned. Don't know exactly when the next one will be,
but we will have a schedule pretty soon and we
will let everybody know, So follow us on on social media.
I'm at Will McFadden.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
At Underscore, maclheiney, there you go at tarn Walk Beautiful.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
So that will do it for us today. Thank you guys,
again and we will see you next time.
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