September 8, 2025 • 28 mins
Falcons Final Whistle is back for the 2025 season! Will McFadden and Tori McElhaney share their instant reactions to the Falcons dropping their season opener to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-20. The loss raised questions about Atlanta's run game and the kicking situation, but it also provided reasons to believe the pass rush can be better and that Michael Penix Jr. is the answer at quarterback. Will and Tori discuss all of that and more in this episode!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wild Ti to the He's on a slip exactly what's up,
y'all and welcome to Falcons final whistle. We are sitting here,
I am with Tory mclaney overlooking the field at Mercedes
(00:22):
Benz Stadium where the Atlanta Falcons dropped their season opener
twenty three to twenty to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And
Tory this game had a little bit of everything.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Just a little bit of everything, And honestly, I think
Raheem Morris said it best at his postgame press conference
when he was like typical Tampa Bay Atlanta Falcons game,
coming down to the wire. I feel like the last
what six years, honestly, every single one, something crazy has happened,
and this one is just like all the rest, And
(00:53):
I think you kind of do leave with a little
bit of a bad taste in your mouth after this one.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Though. Yeah, it's it's hard to say otherwise, but you're right.
Even games between these two teams, when it feels like
they're not going to come down to the wire, they
usually find a way to come down to the wire.
So when the Falcons were, you know, in the midst
of a ninety yard drive that took six minutes and
featured many different official reviews and potential challenges and things
like that. I was just sitting there like, Yep, this
(01:20):
is exactly how we all figured it was going to play.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, I was like, well, NFL's officially back. There were
what like three or four challenges. Yeah, there were so
many reviews. Everything was all up in the air, and
then the Falcons you know, almost can't punch it in
on the half yard line, and then Michael PENNOCKX Junior
just decides to take things even.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
That was dramatic.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I mean the whole the whole game, from start to finish.
There was something to talk about, and I know we
need to talk.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
About a lot of it. Oh yeah, we're going to
get into it. And for as a brief reminder for
those who are maybe tuning in for the first time
this season, we've got a little bit of a different
format to Falcons final whistle this year, Tory and I
are going to have four quarters of action. Each quarter
is going to take six minutes. When these six minutes
are over, you will hear that whistle sound and that
means that we have to move on to the next quarter.
(02:06):
No matter what we are talking about at that time. So, tour,
are you ready to start the timer?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I'm so ready. I have a lot to say.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
All right, well, let's go ahead and get into it
our first quarter. I want to talk about the proper
way to react to this game. Do you think the
fair responses is overreacting or underreacting? And which side of
the fence do you fall on?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Oh, I'm absolutely overreacting, which, honestly, maybe it's even like
maybe the fans are listening right now and they're like, no,
that's the exact way to react.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I think a lot of them do feel that way.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Probably, and honestly, I'm with them. I'm very much in
camp overreacting, because I think there were a lot of
especially offensively, I think there were a lot of glaring issues.
Outside of that very first drive where you saw but
Jean Robinson take it fifty yards to the house, there
was a lot of inconsistencies by way of this offense,
whether it be penalties that just got them off track
(02:56):
in a few drives, or honestly, and this was the
big one for me, the fact that they were unable
to run the ball and run the ball consistently. And
I know we'll get more into that, but I think
just overall the offensive woes. I've been watching a lot
of Wednesday on Netflix, so woe is like in my brain, yeah,
(03:19):
all of it. And I felt it in this game
because the whole time I was sitting there and it
was like, this is not the offense that has been
advertised to us over the course of the off season.
In the preseason, Michael Pennings Junior said during training camp
that this offense has the capabilities to be one of
the best in the league. And I did not see
(03:41):
that offense performing to that level, or, let's be quite honest,
even close to that level against this Tampa Bay defense
in Week one. And I know that, like the under
I know you're gonna come at me and be like.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Oh little week one, but it's like, but no.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
The expectation for this offense was better than what they
did today. And I can give you seven different examples
all about it. But I know that we're on a
time crunch here, but like, that's kind of how I feel.
I just feel like what we saw today offensively was
not up to par.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I think that's totally fair, and I think the Falcons
would agree with you, right. I saw a next Gen
stat after the game that said Michael Pennix was oh
for seven on passes of fifteen or more areas in
this game.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
It's crazy for two reasons. The fact that he didn't
connect on anyment in the fact that he only threw
seven I know.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Because that's the thing, is like, that's the bread and
butter of why you have Michael Pennis's because of that
killer arm strength and somebody who's going to test you,
test defenses down the field. And the fact that, like
I mean, I was even confused as to why there
were so many screenplays throughout this game, Like I was,
so we're just talking about the passing game overall. That
stat being oh for seven And to your point, the
(04:57):
twofold nature of that, the fact that he didn't connect
on and also the fact that there were only seven
is to me like indicative of like, this is not
at all what I thought this offense was going to be.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, but it's also part of the reason why II
leen on the underreaction side. And yes, I'm a natural
optimist and it's usually like it's it's the one optimistic
thing about me, honestly, is like I'm so just like
we'll get him next time. Guys, don't worry about it.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Well, when it comes to football, you're you see the
glass truly half full.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
It's okay. I wish I could just transport that to
some but it's when we think back to last year
in that Steelers game and how different that offense turned
out to be from really what we saw for the
rest of the year. And so yeah, I look at
this and and I do expect to see more of
that style of football. But what I don't expect is
the over seven on downfield balls. I expect Drake you know,
(05:49):
we'll see where everything went to his shoulder, But he
wasn't out there at that that last like fourth quarter
final desperation thing. I would expect him.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
No, don't know Mooney either, Like you're talking about two
of your top your top two pass catcher, yes, and
Darnell Mooney and Drake London not being out on the
field for at least a portion. For Darnelle Mooney, he
wasn't active at all today. For Drake London, he left.
I think it was like halfway through the fourth quarter,
maybe a little bit beyond that.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I think it was maybe I think it was right
before Michael Pennox's touchdown. I think it was the play
right before that he kind of jogged off the field
and Daryl came on for him. I watched it all happen,
and it was just like, man, where's Drake going? But
for those reasons, you know, Like I think what was
really frustrating about this one is that some of the
same issues that were in place last year with the
(06:36):
kicking game, with some of the you know, like questionable
just late game, all right, are we taking a time out?
Are we going to clock?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Ye?
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Things like that, which are really hard and it's tough,
but it's also part of the job. And so I
think a lot of people would look and say, like, man,
we we just kind of ended a game in very
similar fashion to maybe the Washington game or maybe you
know some of those like late losses are at the
end of the year. Yeah, And it's so I understand
why people are like, we're signing up for a season
of this. I just don't think we are. And so
(07:02):
I think it's gonna get better. And Sampall was a
very good team coming into this, and we all expect
him to be. So that's why I'm a little bit underreacting.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I mean, I'm but I'm also gonna put like continue
to poke on this overreacting for the kicking game, like
I don't think is fair, like right, Like, I wrote
an entire story after the game. It's up on Atlanta
Falcons dot Com right now, going through basically Young Waiku's
entire career, but mainly focusing on the last two years especially,
and a lot of his misses have come in the
(07:31):
last two years. I have a full breakdown that you
can look at. And it's unfortunate because to something that
some that Jake Matthews said in the locker room post
game was that, hey, he's won a lot of games
for this organization, He's had a lot of big moments
for this organization. But honestly, over the course of this
forty five yard miss, the fact that he dinked in
(07:52):
a thirty six yard or coupled with all of the
misses last year, it goes from being like a, Okay,
you were worried about his help last year, is that
that's not what you're worried about now.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
No, absolutely, and there's our whistle. So we'll move on,
but we'll come back to that. We'll put a penning
in this in the kicking game our second quarter. All right,
So let's keep talking a little bit about Michael PENNOCKX junior.
He makes his first start in Week one, and I
thought he looked buy a large pretty good out there, Tori.
What'd you see from him? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I thought he did too. I thought he handled the
pressure moments pretty well. I mean, as we're talking about
like calm, cool collecting, I think there were still a
few moments where you saw that he's still trying to
work out with receivers, like what he wants from a receiver.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
There was kind of a scramble drill where he was
rolling out to his left and both Drake and Ray Ray,
I think we're kind of running down and after the play,
you never really saw like the hey come back where
quarterback sometimes like motions with his arm roll. I didn't
see that, But after the play I kind of saw
Mike like gesturing to Ray like, hey come back. So
those are the little nuances that, yeah, you can make
(09:05):
the argument like that's maybe what the preseason is also
for and practice and stuff like that, but you iron
out those wrinkles out here in week one.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, I think overall, like I'm not sitting here. Kind
of to me, the problem amongst the offense like didn't necessarily,
like fully stem from Michael Pinnix. I had an issue
with a couple of play calls. I had an issue
with not being able to run the ball. I had
an issue with the fact that, like Vita Vea, they
couldn't figure out a way to block. Yeah, there were
(09:34):
just some issues that happened around Michael PENNOCKX that I
think made it to where some false starts that made
it to where like he couldn't even truly get into
a flow. And I think that for seven on those
deep balls kind of speaks to that. And when it
comes to Michael Pinnocks though, I mean he's a gamer,
and I will say that, like even in kind of
the mess of the offense from time to time, the
(09:57):
fact that you saw him essentially like what I said
at the t he took the game, put it in
his hands when things weren't working, and it worked out
for Atlanta. I'm talking about that final drive to get
in the end zone, and I mean he's laying his
body out on the line, he's stretching out trying to
get a first down. Then again stretching out to get
a touchdown, and it's like when the team really needed him,
(10:18):
he put him on his back, and I can appreciate that.
I think there are still a lot of steps to
be taken for him, but that is this is only
his fourth start in the league, and I'm okay with
kind of seeing some of the miscues if you can
work them out in another month.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, I thought that that diving touchdown from Michael Pennix.
First off, the guy loves diving touchdowns, particularly in that
end zone, the one we're overlooking right now, and Tory
I was fortunate enough. It's the single greatest sports play
that I've ever seen in person in my life. It
was in two thousand and four in December. We were
playing the Carolina Panthers. I believe it was a Saturday
(11:00):
night game because it was one of those like very
like week sixteen or seventeen, kind of late in the
year when they mix it up a little bit, and
late in the fourth quarter, fourth down, Michael Vick takes off.
I think it was like a six or seven yard
run for a touchdown. He dives and they replay it
for what seems like an hour, like so long it
was you could hear a pin drop in the Georgia
Dome at the time, and he was in and it
(11:22):
just reminded me a little bit of that play where
it was kind of like, man, the ball just barely
gets across. You got a look. Was his knee down,
was his forearm down? No peace, somehow hovers and levitates
and he gets it across. It was a little bit
of a mini magic moment there from Michael Pennix Junior.
But it was great to see that he does have
that flare for some improvisation, even if that's not the
number one thing that we would attribute his game.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
To right exactly. I mean, he's an athletic guy, and
I think people forget that, Like everyone wants to talk
about his electric arm, but this is a guy who
could take He loves the physicality of the game. He's
not afraid to get out there and move around a
little bit. And you know, honestly, I think once I'm
kind of like breaking down this game, even if I'm
looking at the past, he connected on a few really
good balls. But then there's also the counter to that,
(12:06):
which is what you knew was the case with Michael
Pennocks coming out as there is that level of inaccuracy.
And I think about that third and one very early
on in the game where he tried to hit Drake
London for a big gain and there's and that to
me is like, again, I don't fault Michael PENNICKX for
wanting to do that. I think that probably was the
play call. I don't know, but again I don't know
(12:27):
if he changed it at the line or whatever the
case may be. But like in that moment, I'm like,
get the yard. Yeah, at that point it was seven
to three, Like, let's not try to, you know, really
launch it downfield for a potential fifty to fifty ball.
That's a low percentile ball. Like, get the yard, keep
the chains moving.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
I think that's indicative at all of I mean, we
saw them go for a lot of like fourth and
one opportunities, but to middling success. Now it does seem
like Tampa Bay's front was something maybe the Falcons wanted
to avoid in this game, and we saw how it
bore out on the ground. Like you want to we
got maybe a minute left, you want to talk about
the ground game? All?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yeah, I think the fact that we're sitting here talking
about the Falcons only have sixty nine total yards on
twenty eight attempts, which is an average of two point
five yards per carry. Like that is so unheard of
from this team.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
I didn't know Kayleb mcgarey was that good.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah. I mean, how many times did they even run
it down the right side?
Speaker 1 (13:25):
A lot? Not a lot?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
And I think that speaks to maybe a lack of
confidence on the right side at this point, without Caleb
McGarry not saying, well, lack of reps correct exactly like
they did run it behind Matthew Bergron and Jake Matthews
a bit more than I think even what we saw
last year. But I think for when it comes to
the run game, like we haven't seen in numbers like
this but maybe once or twice in two years.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
So the fact that they come out in this game
with Jean Robinson, Tyler Algier, all of these offensive linemen
and knowing that Michael PENNOCKX is a downflow threat and
they only get sixty nine yards or two point five
I've averaged, that's.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Worrisome, absolutely, and I again I think that this is
something that they will get course corrected pretty quickly here.
But you don't want to come out of the gates
saying your bread and butter is the.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Run game, and then you only put sixteen nineves.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
And then having that performance. So all right, that is
the whistle. We are going to take a quick halftime
break to tell you about an awesome stat that was
loaded up for us by Microsoft co Pilot, and it
has to do with Michael Pennox Junior, who now has
back to back starts with a rushing touchdown in the
same end zone as we just talked about. He had
one in Week eighteen last year, and he is now
(14:35):
the third Falcons quarterback with at least one rushing touchdown
in consecutive starts. The other two to do that Matt
Ryan in twenty eleven and Michael Vick did it twice
in two thousand and two. So Mike Pennix, welcome to
some pretty extraordinary company for you there, and thank you
to Microsoft Copilot for the help with that stat. Let's
(14:55):
move on to the third quarter. Tory, Let's talk a
little bit about the defense Jeff Oulbrick has and saying
he wanted to feel a different energy out there. He
wanted them to kind of set the tone for the
season what kind of tone did they set well.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Early, I mean it was you were pumped up if
you were watching this defense, Yeah, you were what they
were able to do in those first couple of series
and causing a three and out, causing another three and out,
like really disrupting things. I thought Xavier Watts was. I know,
we haven't really been talking about him a whole whole lot.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
He has kind of like slotted under the radar in
terms of the rookies. Yes, and I know we've we've
classic Exavier.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Classic Exavier. For tho, I wish people knew him more,
but because like that is exactly where he wants to be.
He wants to be not even seen or heard.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
He does. He's like he's the Eme epitome of moving silence.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
He really is. But he I mean, he quietly won
the starting role opposite Jesse Bates, and I think that
he had some moments where I was like, ah, yeah,
they got something in him. He almost had a couple
of interceptions, like he was so so close on a
couple honestly, and I think that like that changes the game.
(16:06):
If he gets his hands on those balls, that changes
the game. I mean the fact that there were no turnovers?
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, I want to Can we pull out for one second?
Is that kind of like if you're if you're a
head coach or you know, you're the like we get
one of those? This game is different and they had
five or six opportunities. I mean, again it team under
under reaction over here, but like it kind of feels like,
man one of those, right, and we're talking about a
(16:31):
different outcomes. So week one, you got seventeen more of
these play or sixteen more of these plays, so like
maybe you get one of those in the future.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah, I know, I mean, I guess I go back
to talking about like something that even West Durham talked
about with us on the preseason or the training camp
podcast that we did, where he was like, they gotta
do two things. Gotta win the turnover margin and they
got to stop the run. And I think that they
really didn't do either of those things today and they
lost the game. You know, like they had they struggled
(16:59):
from time to time stopping the run, which that was
something that going into this season. I know you and
I both kind of talked about It's like is there
a tradeoff here where you're getting after the quarterback? But
that maybe equates to leaking in the run game, and
I think that even not even that, like the leaking
of Baker Mayfield, this game played a huge role in
(17:20):
Tampa Bay moving the chains. I think at one point
in the early fourth quarter, Baker Mayfield had forty yards
on the ground in Atlanta's offense in total had forty.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yards on the ground or he was their leading rusher.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
But like, and I think, like that goes to I mean,
it goes to pass rush, but it also goes to
like stopping these leaky plays, these leaky moments, And I
do kind of sit here and I'm like, I liked
what I saw from the defense in spurts. And again,
if they go out and they get one turnover, if
(17:53):
Xavier Wats gets his hand on one of those balls,
if Ajterrell gets his hand on the ball, if they
punch a ball out, like if anything like that happens,
maybe I feel a little bit different. But it was
just a little bit of like, Okay, they had their moments,
but their the moments weren't big enough to sustain the
problems that the offense was having.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
It's well said, yeah, it's kind of like you need
one of those impacts plays right, and Jesse Bates usually
has come through with those time and again. A Jates
Rell made a nice pick against Tampa Bay last year
to really help them kind of late now, and so
you're right, like seeing the defense make one of those
types of game changing plays would have been nice. But
by and large, I don't have that much of an
issue with how the defense played today, and neither like I.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Feel like I'm nitpicking, you know, That's how I feel
about the defense. I thought that they played well. They
played pretty similar to kind of what I thought they
were going to be. I will say that I loved
watching Divine Diablo play today.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
He was great.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
He was so fun to watch. I think we and
I even tweeted this like he.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Was heavenly he was, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Or if you were Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Hellish, Yeah he was hell. I don't know, yeah, but.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
No, Divine Diablo. I think we've been talking so much
over the course of the off season about the versatility
of Kye Nellis and the versatility of Jalen Walker. We
haven't been talking about the versatility Divine Diabolo, and I
would argue that he had the most versatile usage today
against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and was the most effective
in that versatility. I mean he was dropping back into coverage,
(19:17):
getting some hands on the ball, he was coming after
Baker Mayfield and pass rush. He made some good run
stopping plays. Like I liked what I saw from Divine Diabolo,
and I also thought that especially early on, they were
making Baker Mayfield uncomfortable. And it's why I think you
saw Tampa Bay come out with this slow start.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
It's just like when there.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Wasn't this like big huge momentum swing for the defense,
it just made it really difficult for I think honestly,
and then you give up a big play with a
minute left to go, and it's kind of just like
demoralizing that.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
That was kind of I think there were a couple
of things defensively that you would like see cleaned up
er Obviously the scrambles from Baker which kind of came
against man coverage and everybody had their backs. Then the
left a wide open thing. Some of the deep touchdowns, right, like,
not a great day for my cues. Got to pick
it up, got to clean up moving forward. But by
and large, like I thought, the pass rush was pretty effective.
(20:11):
Next Gen Stats had a stat here where nine different
defenders for Atlanta generated at least one pressure and three
guys had at least four pressures, including Divine Diablo Ye,
this was his first career game with four pressures, which
is awesome. Rukeroro and James Pierce Junior got four pressures today,
So that's that's a huge benefit, right, Like we're leaving
(20:31):
last season being like man pass rush once again number
one thing for the offseason, and it's just week one.
Not gonna say it's been fixed, but I do think
you saw the pass rush give the secondary those opportunities
to create the turnovers. Yes, they didn't create the turnovers,
but if I have to imagine something will continue and
track throughout the season, it's maybe that part of the equation,
(20:52):
and then you hope that the after the equals sign,
it's equals one turnover.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I'll say this, like, I know it's not one to
one or Apple's oranges or whatever of saying is, but
like I feel better about the defense's Week one performance
and what it could build up to more than I
do the offenses week one performance.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Yes, I think that's a totally fair spot to end up.
And so let's head on to our fourth quarter, and
this is going to be talking a little bit about
what we need to see get cleaned up before their
Week two massive matchup, which is another big one on
the road in one of the toughest places, if not
maybe the toughest place to play in the NFL in Minnesota. So, Tory,
(21:28):
what's one of the things you need to see them
get kind of cleaned up?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Well, first off, it has to be figuring out the
run game. I cannot stress enough how much. And it
goes back actually to something I said in our Friday
five podcast where I was like, a young quarterback's best
friend is a consistent run game. And tonight today, this Sunday,
(21:51):
the Falcons were not consistently running the ball. They were
struggling to run the ball. I believe the longest run
today was a twelve yard or from Michael Pennix and
it was just like scramble like honestly, the fact that
like Jeon Robinson only averaged two yards per carry on
the ground, Tyler Algier two point four yards per carry,
(22:13):
I mean it. And I think I even asked Rahim
Morris this question after the game. I was like, you know,
how do you what do you do about this like,
I like this offensive line. It didn't seem like there
were many holes for Bajon Robinson or Tyler Algier to
run through or even like it just seemed like they
(22:33):
were getting hit at the point, like their point of
contact was right at the line of scrimmage. And when
that happens, it's like it even someone as elusive as
Bjeon Robinson, even someone as bowling ball esque as Tyler Algier,
if you have two guys meeting you at the line
of scrimmage, there's not a whole lot you can do.
And I think that happened too often in this game.
(22:55):
So asking Rahim Morris about it, and he's like, you know,
especially with the backs that we have, we've got to
figure out ways to get the ball moving on the
ground because ultimately that opens things up for Michael PENNOCKX
in the past game, especially if you consider that, Look,
we don't know what's gonna happen with Darnell Mooney or
Drake London at this point. Both of them are working
(23:17):
through these shoulder injuries that we really don't know the
full extent of. And if you're not going to have
your top two pass catchers in those guys. Yeah, there
are gonna be other guys stepping in, but for what
those two guys have been for this organization in the
last year, to not have them on the field with
Michael Pennox like that just puts a lot of pressure elsewhere,
(23:39):
and you can alleviate some of that pressure if the
run game can get going, And that to me is like,
more than anything else, that was my biggest concern today.
Is Like I went into today being like, Okay, they'll
get their yards on the ground, that's not something you
have to worry about. But then I walk away from
it being like, no, I'm a bit concerned about the
lack of being able to run the ball consistently here.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, it just seemed like the line of scrimmage was
really muddled and like woah, just yeah, like there were
a lot of bodies down there.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
It was very clocked.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Thank you, that's the word I was looking for. Yeah,
you know sometimes like in the middle of a podcasts
you're like, oh, what's that word? Then you get that
look on your face and you just saw it from me.
So thank you for stepping in there. But I would
be really curious to go maybe this is a good
project for us tomorrow or Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Is absolutely my plan for nine to thirty tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
There you go, Let's let's look at like, so there's
a stat yards before contacts, right, Let's look at the
yards before contact last season and what Atlanta averaged, and
let's see what they did today, because I do think
like this is where the loss of Kayla McGarry really hurts,
because their bread and butter really is that outside zone
to the right. Yes, and so if you're if you're
gonna be down a guard or a center or something,
maybe you can mitigate that a little bit and you
(24:46):
you're still able to gain the edge and kind of
create that wall down the sideline. But they they kind
of weren't doing that.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
At all, didn't do it any It was I can't.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
I mean without yeah the film classic coach answer over here,
but I know.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
But seriously, like I'm sitting here trying to think.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
And record, there was a lot of if they're running
to the right, it was a lot of like a gap,
a gap, B gap, but mostly a gap stuff. And
here's where it's really hurtful too, is like if you're
thinking about they were running a lot of rollouts and
stuff early on. Imagine a stretchtone to your right going
behind Kleb with a play action boot to your left.
Like that's kind of setting it up perfectly for both
elements of your offense, and at least in this game,
(25:22):
they didn't have that. So we'll see if they make
any tweaks there. But I think now is the right
time to bring it back to the kicking game and
maybe we'll wrap it up on like that's an aspect
that we do have to get cleaned up sooner rather
than later, because this is the NFL, and more often
than not, you're gonna have a game come right down
to the wire and it's gonna be a one possession game.
I saw Cincinnati beat Cleveland by one point today, Right,
(25:44):
that's a game that you would have never ever thought
those two teams are going to be that tight. But
that's what this leak is. And so you have to
have somebody that you can trust with beyond a shadow
of a doubt. We're going out there, we're making this
and forever that has been Young Waiku, And so I
understand why Raheem Morris wants to see that from him
again because he's seen it for such a long time,
(26:05):
but you know, at the end of the day, this
is a results oriented business and you're zero to one. Yeah,
partially because of that.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
And I said this in my story postgame. It's like, Okay,
you go back to what Raheem Moore said during training
camp when he was talking about the competition between Young
Wayku and Linny Creek, and he kind of alluded to
the fact that they're really like, yes, there's a competition,
but it's Young Wayku's race to win. And he just said,
KU's got some emotional bank accounts with me, and I'll
just leave it at that. That's all well and good,
(26:34):
And I understand the emotional bank accounts to have about
Young waykup like what Jake Matthew says.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
I've gotten account opened up with him, right.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
But the problem with having an emotional bank account is
if it's not being replenished with new checks being cash,
where's that cup credit, where's the coup credit? There is
no coup credit at this point right now, if we're
going on, we're in the hole right now. Over the
course of last year and then now this evening with
a miss from forty four yards, which is again to
Raym's point, that's a kick you should make. That is
(27:03):
a that is one you should make. And at this league,
in this level, in these situations, that's why you get
paid the money you do. And I know that, Like
I try not to be like super super hard on
especially kickers, because of the nature of their jobs. A. J.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Terrell put it really well. He was like, it's literally
either just good or bad. Right, there's no great, there's
no man I messed up, but the ball went somebody
somewhere else this place, so thank god it didn't come
to me. There's no like I missed my block, but
somebody else got it because.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
They were They're like, it's so difficult to like really
truly like even like hold kickers accountable because it feels
sometimes icky. But ultimately, for Atlanta, the facts are what
they are, and you don't feel the confidence that this
check is going to be cashed moving forward, and that's
the issue.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Absolutely, And there's only only one way to get that
confidence back, and it's to go out there and make
the kicks. So we will be tracking this throughout the week,
what is up with with Atlanta's kicking game, the run
game and z But that is all we've got for
you today from Mercedes Benz Stadium, a twenty three to
twenty lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. For Tory mclaney,
I'm Will McFadden. We will see you all next time.
(28:12):
Take care,
Wild Ti to the He's on a slip exactly what's up,
y'all and welcome to Falcons final whistle. We are sitting here,
I am with Tory mclaney overlooking the field at Mercedes
(00:22):
Benz Stadium where the Atlanta Falcons dropped their season opener
twenty three to twenty to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And
Tory this game had a little bit of everything.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Just a little bit of everything, And honestly, I think
Raheem Morris said it best at his postgame press conference
when he was like typical Tampa Bay Atlanta Falcons game,
coming down to the wire. I feel like the last
what six years, honestly, every single one, something crazy has happened,
and this one is just like all the rest, And
(00:53):
I think you kind of do leave with a little
bit of a bad taste in your mouth after this one.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Though. Yeah, it's it's hard to say otherwise, but you're right.
Even games between these two teams, when it feels like
they're not going to come down to the wire, they
usually find a way to come down to the wire.
So when the Falcons were, you know, in the midst
of a ninety yard drive that took six minutes and
featured many different official reviews and potential challenges and things
like that. I was just sitting there like, Yep, this
(01:20):
is exactly how we all figured it was going to play.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, I was like, well, NFL's officially back. There were
what like three or four challenges. Yeah, there were so
many reviews. Everything was all up in the air, and
then the Falcons you know, almost can't punch it in
on the half yard line, and then Michael PENNOCKX Junior
just decides to take things even.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
That was dramatic.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I mean the whole the whole game, from start to finish.
There was something to talk about, and I know we
need to talk.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
About a lot of it. Oh yeah, we're going to
get into it. And for as a brief reminder for
those who are maybe tuning in for the first time
this season, we've got a little bit of a different
format to Falcons final whistle this year, Tory and I
are going to have four quarters of action. Each quarter
is going to take six minutes. When these six minutes
are over, you will hear that whistle sound and that
means that we have to move on to the next quarter.
(02:06):
No matter what we are talking about at that time. So, tour,
are you ready to start the timer?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I'm so ready. I have a lot to say.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
All right, well, let's go ahead and get into it
our first quarter. I want to talk about the proper
way to react to this game. Do you think the
fair responses is overreacting or underreacting? And which side of
the fence do you fall on?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Oh, I'm absolutely overreacting, which, honestly, maybe it's even like
maybe the fans are listening right now and they're like, no,
that's the exact way to react.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I think a lot of them do feel that way.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Probably, and honestly, I'm with them. I'm very much in
camp overreacting, because I think there were a lot of
especially offensively, I think there were a lot of glaring issues.
Outside of that very first drive where you saw but
Jean Robinson take it fifty yards to the house, there
was a lot of inconsistencies by way of this offense,
whether it be penalties that just got them off track
(02:56):
in a few drives, or honestly, and this was the
big one for me, the fact that they were unable
to run the ball and run the ball consistently. And
I know we'll get more into that, but I think
just overall the offensive woes. I've been watching a lot
of Wednesday on Netflix, so woe is like in my brain, yeah,
(03:19):
all of it. And I felt it in this game
because the whole time I was sitting there and it
was like, this is not the offense that has been
advertised to us over the course of the off season.
In the preseason, Michael Pennings Junior said during training camp
that this offense has the capabilities to be one of
the best in the league. And I did not see
(03:41):
that offense performing to that level, or, let's be quite honest,
even close to that level against this Tampa Bay defense
in Week one. And I know that, like the under
I know you're gonna come at me and be like.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Oh little week one, but it's like, but no.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
The expectation for this offense was better than what they
did today. And I can give you seven different examples
all about it. But I know that we're on a
time crunch here, but like, that's kind of how I feel.
I just feel like what we saw today offensively was
not up to par.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I think that's totally fair, and I think the Falcons
would agree with you, right. I saw a next Gen
stat after the game that said Michael Pennix was oh
for seven on passes of fifteen or more areas in
this game.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
It's crazy for two reasons. The fact that he didn't
connect on anyment in the fact that he only threw
seven I know.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Because that's the thing, is like, that's the bread and
butter of why you have Michael Pennis's because of that
killer arm strength and somebody who's going to test you,
test defenses down the field. And the fact that, like
I mean, I was even confused as to why there
were so many screenplays throughout this game, Like I was,
so we're just talking about the passing game overall. That
stat being oh for seven And to your point, the
(04:57):
twofold nature of that, the fact that he didn't connect
on and also the fact that there were only seven
is to me like indicative of like, this is not
at all what I thought this offense was going to be.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, but it's also part of the reason why II
leen on the underreaction side. And yes, I'm a natural
optimist and it's usually like it's it's the one optimistic
thing about me, honestly, is like I'm so just like
we'll get him next time. Guys, don't worry about it.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Well, when it comes to football, you're you see the
glass truly half full.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
It's okay. I wish I could just transport that to
some but it's when we think back to last year
in that Steelers game and how different that offense turned
out to be from really what we saw for the
rest of the year. And so yeah, I look at
this and and I do expect to see more of
that style of football. But what I don't expect is
the over seven on downfield balls. I expect Drake you know,
(05:49):
we'll see where everything went to his shoulder, But he
wasn't out there at that that last like fourth quarter
final desperation thing. I would expect him.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
No, don't know Mooney either, Like you're talking about two
of your top your top two pass catcher, yes, and
Darnell Mooney and Drake London not being out on the
field for at least a portion. For Darnelle Mooney, he
wasn't active at all today. For Drake London, he left.
I think it was like halfway through the fourth quarter,
maybe a little bit beyond that.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I think it was maybe I think it was right
before Michael Pennox's touchdown. I think it was the play
right before that he kind of jogged off the field
and Daryl came on for him. I watched it all happen,
and it was just like, man, where's Drake going? But
for those reasons, you know, Like I think what was
really frustrating about this one is that some of the
same issues that were in place last year with the
(06:36):
kicking game, with some of the you know, like questionable
just late game, all right, are we taking a time out?
Are we going to clock?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Ye?
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Things like that, which are really hard and it's tough,
but it's also part of the job. And so I
think a lot of people would look and say, like, man,
we we just kind of ended a game in very
similar fashion to maybe the Washington game or maybe you
know some of those like late losses are at the
end of the year. Yeah, And it's so I understand
why people are like, we're signing up for a season
of this. I just don't think we are. And so
(07:02):
I think it's gonna get better. And Sampall was a
very good team coming into this, and we all expect
him to be. So that's why I'm a little bit underreacting.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I mean, I'm but I'm also gonna put like continue
to poke on this overreacting for the kicking game, like
I don't think is fair, like right, Like, I wrote
an entire story after the game. It's up on Atlanta
Falcons dot Com right now, going through basically Young Waiku's
entire career, but mainly focusing on the last two years especially,
and a lot of his misses have come in the
(07:31):
last two years. I have a full breakdown that you
can look at. And it's unfortunate because to something that
some that Jake Matthews said in the locker room post
game was that, hey, he's won a lot of games
for this organization, He's had a lot of big moments
for this organization. But honestly, over the course of this
forty five yard miss, the fact that he dinked in
(07:52):
a thirty six yard or coupled with all of the
misses last year, it goes from being like a, Okay,
you were worried about his help last year, is that
that's not what you're worried about now.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
No, absolutely, and there's our whistle. So we'll move on,
but we'll come back to that. We'll put a penning
in this in the kicking game our second quarter. All right,
So let's keep talking a little bit about Michael PENNOCKX junior.
He makes his first start in Week one, and I
thought he looked buy a large pretty good out there, Tori.
What'd you see from him? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I thought he did too. I thought he handled the
pressure moments pretty well. I mean, as we're talking about
like calm, cool collecting, I think there were still a
few moments where you saw that he's still trying to
work out with receivers, like what he wants from a receiver.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
There was kind of a scramble drill where he was
rolling out to his left and both Drake and Ray Ray,
I think we're kind of running down and after the play,
you never really saw like the hey come back where
quarterback sometimes like motions with his arm roll. I didn't
see that, But after the play I kind of saw
Mike like gesturing to Ray like, hey come back. So
those are the little nuances that, yeah, you can make
(09:05):
the argument like that's maybe what the preseason is also
for and practice and stuff like that, but you iron
out those wrinkles out here in week one.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, I think overall, like I'm not sitting here. Kind
of to me, the problem amongst the offense like didn't necessarily,
like fully stem from Michael Pinnix. I had an issue
with a couple of play calls. I had an issue
with not being able to run the ball. I had
an issue with the fact that, like Vita Vea, they
couldn't figure out a way to block. Yeah, there were
(09:34):
just some issues that happened around Michael PENNOCKX that I
think made it to where some false starts that made
it to where like he couldn't even truly get into
a flow. And I think that for seven on those
deep balls kind of speaks to that. And when it
comes to Michael Pinnocks though, I mean he's a gamer,
and I will say that, like even in kind of
the mess of the offense from time to time, the
(09:57):
fact that you saw him essentially like what I said
at the t he took the game, put it in
his hands when things weren't working, and it worked out
for Atlanta. I'm talking about that final drive to get
in the end zone, and I mean he's laying his
body out on the line, he's stretching out trying to
get a first down. Then again stretching out to get
a touchdown, and it's like when the team really needed him,
(10:18):
he put him on his back, and I can appreciate that.
I think there are still a lot of steps to
be taken for him, but that is this is only
his fourth start in the league, and I'm okay with
kind of seeing some of the miscues if you can
work them out in another month.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, I thought that that diving touchdown from Michael Pennix.
First off, the guy loves diving touchdowns, particularly in that
end zone, the one we're overlooking right now, and Tory
I was fortunate enough. It's the single greatest sports play
that I've ever seen in person in my life. It
was in two thousand and four in December. We were
playing the Carolina Panthers. I believe it was a Saturday
(11:00):
night game because it was one of those like very
like week sixteen or seventeen, kind of late in the
year when they mix it up a little bit, and
late in the fourth quarter, fourth down, Michael Vick takes off.
I think it was like a six or seven yard
run for a touchdown. He dives and they replay it
for what seems like an hour, like so long it
was you could hear a pin drop in the Georgia
Dome at the time, and he was in and it
(11:22):
just reminded me a little bit of that play where
it was kind of like, man, the ball just barely
gets across. You got a look. Was his knee down,
was his forearm down? No peace, somehow hovers and levitates
and he gets it across. It was a little bit
of a mini magic moment there from Michael Pennix Junior.
But it was great to see that he does have
that flare for some improvisation, even if that's not the
number one thing that we would attribute his game.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
To right exactly. I mean, he's an athletic guy, and
I think people forget that, Like everyone wants to talk
about his electric arm, but this is a guy who
could take He loves the physicality of the game. He's
not afraid to get out there and move around a
little bit. And you know, honestly, I think once I'm
kind of like breaking down this game, even if I'm
looking at the past, he connected on a few really
good balls. But then there's also the counter to that,
(12:06):
which is what you knew was the case with Michael
Pennocks coming out as there is that level of inaccuracy.
And I think about that third and one very early
on in the game where he tried to hit Drake
London for a big gain and there's and that to
me is like, again, I don't fault Michael PENNICKX for
wanting to do that. I think that probably was the
play call. I don't know, but again I don't know
(12:27):
if he changed it at the line or whatever the
case may be. But like in that moment, I'm like,
get the yard. Yeah, at that point it was seven
to three, Like, let's not try to, you know, really
launch it downfield for a potential fifty to fifty ball.
That's a low percentile ball. Like, get the yard, keep
the chains moving.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
I think that's indicative at all of I mean, we
saw them go for a lot of like fourth and
one opportunities, but to middling success. Now it does seem
like Tampa Bay's front was something maybe the Falcons wanted
to avoid in this game, and we saw how it
bore out on the ground. Like you want to we
got maybe a minute left, you want to talk about
the ground game? All?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yeah, I think the fact that we're sitting here talking
about the Falcons only have sixty nine total yards on
twenty eight attempts, which is an average of two point
five yards per carry. Like that is so unheard of
from this team.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
I didn't know Kayleb mcgarey was that good.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah. I mean, how many times did they even run
it down the right side?
Speaker 1 (13:25):
A lot? Not a lot?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
And I think that speaks to maybe a lack of
confidence on the right side at this point, without Caleb
McGarry not saying, well, lack of reps correct exactly like
they did run it behind Matthew Bergron and Jake Matthews
a bit more than I think even what we saw
last year. But I think for when it comes to
the run game, like we haven't seen in numbers like
this but maybe once or twice in two years.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
So the fact that they come out in this game
with Jean Robinson, Tyler Algier, all of these offensive linemen
and knowing that Michael PENNOCKX is a downflow threat and
they only get sixty nine yards or two point five
I've averaged, that's.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Worrisome, absolutely, and I again I think that this is
something that they will get course corrected pretty quickly here.
But you don't want to come out of the gates
saying your bread and butter is the.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Run game, and then you only put sixteen nineves.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
And then having that performance. So all right, that is
the whistle. We are going to take a quick halftime
break to tell you about an awesome stat that was
loaded up for us by Microsoft co Pilot, and it
has to do with Michael Pennox Junior, who now has
back to back starts with a rushing touchdown in the
same end zone as we just talked about. He had
one in Week eighteen last year, and he is now
(14:35):
the third Falcons quarterback with at least one rushing touchdown
in consecutive starts. The other two to do that Matt
Ryan in twenty eleven and Michael Vick did it twice
in two thousand and two. So Mike Pennix, welcome to
some pretty extraordinary company for you there, and thank you
to Microsoft Copilot for the help with that stat. Let's
(14:55):
move on to the third quarter. Tory, Let's talk a
little bit about the defense Jeff Oulbrick has and saying
he wanted to feel a different energy out there. He
wanted them to kind of set the tone for the
season what kind of tone did they set well.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Early, I mean it was you were pumped up if
you were watching this defense, Yeah, you were what they
were able to do in those first couple of series
and causing a three and out, causing another three and out,
like really disrupting things. I thought Xavier Watts was. I know,
we haven't really been talking about him a whole whole lot.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
He has kind of like slotted under the radar in
terms of the rookies. Yes, and I know we've we've
classic Exavier.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Classic Exavier. For tho, I wish people knew him more,
but because like that is exactly where he wants to be.
He wants to be not even seen or heard.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
He does. He's like he's the Eme epitome of moving silence.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
He really is. But he I mean, he quietly won
the starting role opposite Jesse Bates, and I think that
he had some moments where I was like, ah, yeah,
they got something in him. He almost had a couple
of interceptions, like he was so so close on a
couple honestly, and I think that like that changes the game.
(16:06):
If he gets his hands on those balls, that changes
the game. I mean the fact that there were no turnovers?
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, I want to Can we pull out for one second?
Is that kind of like if you're if you're a
head coach or you know, you're the like we get
one of those? This game is different and they had
five or six opportunities. I mean, again it team under
under reaction over here, but like it kind of feels like,
man one of those, right, and we're talking about a
(16:31):
different outcomes. So week one, you got seventeen more of
these play or sixteen more of these plays, so like
maybe you get one of those in the future.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah, I know, I mean, I guess I go back
to talking about like something that even West Durham talked
about with us on the preseason or the training camp
podcast that we did, where he was like, they gotta
do two things. Gotta win the turnover margin and they
got to stop the run. And I think that they
really didn't do either of those things today and they
lost the game. You know, like they had they struggled
(16:59):
from time to time stopping the run, which that was
something that going into this season. I know you and
I both kind of talked about It's like is there
a tradeoff here where you're getting after the quarterback? But
that maybe equates to leaking in the run game, and
I think that even not even that, like the leaking
of Baker Mayfield, this game played a huge role in
(17:20):
Tampa Bay moving the chains. I think at one point
in the early fourth quarter, Baker Mayfield had forty yards
on the ground in Atlanta's offense in total had forty.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yards on the ground or he was their leading rusher.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
But like, and I think, like that goes to I mean,
it goes to pass rush, but it also goes to
like stopping these leaky plays, these leaky moments, And I
do kind of sit here and I'm like, I liked
what I saw from the defense in spurts. And again,
if they go out and they get one turnover, if
(17:53):
Xavier Wats gets his hand on one of those balls,
if Ajterrell gets his hand on the ball, if they
punch a ball out, like if anything like that happens,
maybe I feel a little bit different. But it was
just a little bit of like, Okay, they had their moments,
but their the moments weren't big enough to sustain the
problems that the offense was having.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
It's well said, yeah, it's kind of like you need
one of those impacts plays right, and Jesse Bates usually
has come through with those time and again. A Jates
Rell made a nice pick against Tampa Bay last year
to really help them kind of late now, and so
you're right, like seeing the defense make one of those
types of game changing plays would have been nice. But
by and large, I don't have that much of an
issue with how the defense played today, and neither like I.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Feel like I'm nitpicking, you know, That's how I feel
about the defense. I thought that they played well. They
played pretty similar to kind of what I thought they
were going to be. I will say that I loved
watching Divine Diablo play today.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
He was great.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
He was so fun to watch. I think we and
I even tweeted this like he.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Was heavenly he was, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Or if you were Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Hellish, Yeah he was hell. I don't know, yeah, but.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
No, Divine Diablo. I think we've been talking so much
over the course of the off season about the versatility
of Kye Nellis and the versatility of Jalen Walker. We
haven't been talking about the versatility Divine Diabolo, and I
would argue that he had the most versatile usage today
against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and was the most effective
in that versatility. I mean he was dropping back into coverage,
(19:17):
getting some hands on the ball, he was coming after
Baker Mayfield and pass rush. He made some good run
stopping plays. Like I liked what I saw from Divine Diabolo,
and I also thought that especially early on, they were
making Baker Mayfield uncomfortable. And it's why I think you
saw Tampa Bay come out with this slow start.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
It's just like when there.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Wasn't this like big huge momentum swing for the defense,
it just made it really difficult for I think honestly,
and then you give up a big play with a
minute left to go, and it's kind of just like
demoralizing that.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
That was kind of I think there were a couple
of things defensively that you would like see cleaned up
er Obviously the scrambles from Baker which kind of came
against man coverage and everybody had their backs. Then the
left a wide open thing. Some of the deep touchdowns, right, like,
not a great day for my cues. Got to pick
it up, got to clean up moving forward. But by
and large, like I thought, the pass rush was pretty effective.
(20:11):
Next Gen Stats had a stat here where nine different
defenders for Atlanta generated at least one pressure and three
guys had at least four pressures, including Divine Diablo Ye,
this was his first career game with four pressures, which
is awesome. Rukeroro and James Pierce Junior got four pressures today,
So that's that's a huge benefit, right, Like we're leaving
(20:31):
last season being like man pass rush once again number
one thing for the offseason, and it's just week one.
Not gonna say it's been fixed, but I do think
you saw the pass rush give the secondary those opportunities
to create the turnovers. Yes, they didn't create the turnovers,
but if I have to imagine something will continue and
track throughout the season, it's maybe that part of the equation,
(20:52):
and then you hope that the after the equals sign,
it's equals one turnover.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I'll say this, like, I know it's not one to
one or Apple's oranges or whatever of saying is, but
like I feel better about the defense's Week one performance
and what it could build up to more than I
do the offenses week one performance.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Yes, I think that's a totally fair spot to end up.
And so let's head on to our fourth quarter, and
this is going to be talking a little bit about
what we need to see get cleaned up before their
Week two massive matchup, which is another big one on
the road in one of the toughest places, if not
maybe the toughest place to play in the NFL in Minnesota. So, Tory,
(21:28):
what's one of the things you need to see them
get kind of cleaned up?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Well, first off, it has to be figuring out the
run game. I cannot stress enough how much. And it
goes back actually to something I said in our Friday
five podcast where I was like, a young quarterback's best
friend is a consistent run game. And tonight today, this Sunday,
(21:51):
the Falcons were not consistently running the ball. They were
struggling to run the ball. I believe the longest run
today was a twelve yard or from Michael Pennix and
it was just like scramble like honestly, the fact that
like Jeon Robinson only averaged two yards per carry on
the ground, Tyler Algier two point four yards per carry,
(22:13):
I mean it. And I think I even asked Rahim
Morris this question after the game. I was like, you know,
how do you what do you do about this like,
I like this offensive line. It didn't seem like there
were many holes for Bajon Robinson or Tyler Algier to
run through or even like it just seemed like they
(22:33):
were getting hit at the point, like their point of
contact was right at the line of scrimmage. And when
that happens, it's like it even someone as elusive as
Bjeon Robinson, even someone as bowling ball esque as Tyler Algier,
if you have two guys meeting you at the line
of scrimmage, there's not a whole lot you can do.
And I think that happened too often in this game.
(22:55):
So asking Rahim Morris about it, and he's like, you know,
especially with the backs that we have, we've got to
figure out ways to get the ball moving on the
ground because ultimately that opens things up for Michael PENNOCKX
in the past game, especially if you consider that, Look,
we don't know what's gonna happen with Darnell Mooney or
Drake London at this point. Both of them are working
(23:17):
through these shoulder injuries that we really don't know the
full extent of. And if you're not going to have
your top two pass catchers in those guys. Yeah, there
are gonna be other guys stepping in, but for what
those two guys have been for this organization in the
last year, to not have them on the field with
Michael Pennox like that just puts a lot of pressure elsewhere,
(23:39):
and you can alleviate some of that pressure if the
run game can get going, And that to me is like,
more than anything else, that was my biggest concern today.
Is Like I went into today being like, Okay, they'll
get their yards on the ground, that's not something you
have to worry about. But then I walk away from
it being like, no, I'm a bit concerned about the
lack of being able to run the ball consistently here.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, it just seemed like the line of scrimmage was
really muddled and like woah, just yeah, like there were
a lot of bodies down there.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
It was very clocked.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Thank you, that's the word I was looking for. Yeah,
you know sometimes like in the middle of a podcasts
you're like, oh, what's that word? Then you get that
look on your face and you just saw it from me.
So thank you for stepping in there. But I would
be really curious to go maybe this is a good
project for us tomorrow or Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Is absolutely my plan for nine to thirty tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
There you go, Let's let's look at like, so there's
a stat yards before contacts, right, Let's look at the
yards before contact last season and what Atlanta averaged, and
let's see what they did today, because I do think
like this is where the loss of Kayla McGarry really hurts,
because their bread and butter really is that outside zone
to the right. Yes, and so if you're if you're
gonna be down a guard or a center or something,
maybe you can mitigate that a little bit and you
(24:46):
you're still able to gain the edge and kind of
create that wall down the sideline. But they they kind
of weren't doing that.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
At all, didn't do it any It was I can't.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
I mean without yeah the film classic coach answer over here,
but I know.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
But seriously, like I'm sitting here trying to think.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
And record, there was a lot of if they're running
to the right, it was a lot of like a gap,
a gap, B gap, but mostly a gap stuff. And
here's where it's really hurtful too, is like if you're
thinking about they were running a lot of rollouts and
stuff early on. Imagine a stretchtone to your right going
behind Kleb with a play action boot to your left.
Like that's kind of setting it up perfectly for both
elements of your offense, and at least in this game,
(25:22):
they didn't have that. So we'll see if they make
any tweaks there. But I think now is the right
time to bring it back to the kicking game and
maybe we'll wrap it up on like that's an aspect
that we do have to get cleaned up sooner rather
than later, because this is the NFL, and more often
than not, you're gonna have a game come right down
to the wire and it's gonna be a one possession game.
I saw Cincinnati beat Cleveland by one point today, Right,
(25:44):
that's a game that you would have never ever thought
those two teams are going to be that tight. But
that's what this leak is. And so you have to
have somebody that you can trust with beyond a shadow
of a doubt. We're going out there, we're making this
and forever that has been Young Waiku, And so I
understand why Raheem Morris wants to see that from him
again because he's seen it for such a long time,
(26:05):
but you know, at the end of the day, this
is a results oriented business and you're zero to one. Yeah,
partially because of that.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
And I said this in my story postgame. It's like, Okay,
you go back to what Raheem Moore said during training
camp when he was talking about the competition between Young
Wayku and Linny Creek, and he kind of alluded to
the fact that they're really like, yes, there's a competition,
but it's Young Wayku's race to win. And he just said,
KU's got some emotional bank accounts with me, and I'll
just leave it at that. That's all well and good,
(26:34):
And I understand the emotional bank accounts to have about
Young waykup like what Jake Matthew says.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
I've gotten account opened up with him, right.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
But the problem with having an emotional bank account is
if it's not being replenished with new checks being cash,
where's that cup credit, where's the coup credit? There is
no coup credit at this point right now, if we're
going on, we're in the hole right now. Over the
course of last year and then now this evening with
a miss from forty four yards, which is again to
Raym's point, that's a kick you should make. That is
(27:03):
a that is one you should make. And at this league,
in this level, in these situations, that's why you get
paid the money you do. And I know that, Like
I try not to be like super super hard on
especially kickers, because of the nature of their jobs. A. J.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Terrell put it really well. He was like, it's literally
either just good or bad. Right, there's no great, there's
no man I messed up, but the ball went somebody
somewhere else this place, so thank god it didn't come
to me. There's no like I missed my block, but
somebody else got it because.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
They were They're like, it's so difficult to like really
truly like even like hold kickers accountable because it feels
sometimes icky. But ultimately, for Atlanta, the facts are what
they are, and you don't feel the confidence that this
check is going to be cashed moving forward, and that's
the issue.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Absolutely, And there's only only one way to get that
confidence back, and it's to go out there and make
the kicks. So we will be tracking this throughout the week,
what is up with with Atlanta's kicking game, the run
game and z But that is all we've got for
you today from Mercedes Benz Stadium, a twenty three to
twenty lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. For Tory mclaney,
I'm Will McFadden. We will see you all next time.
(28:12):
Take care,
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