August 18, 2025 • 18 mins
Falcons Final Whistle is back! Will McFadden and Tori McElhaney sat down after Atlanta's second preseason game to introduce a new format for the show and share their thoughts on Falcons-Titans. They go through the offensive and defensive players who impressed, and those who still have work to do to make the roster. They also share their thoughts on whether the Falcons should play their starters in the final preseason game and more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Dirty birds. What's up and welcome back to Final Whistle.
It is our first final whistle of the twenty twenty
five season. The Falcons have wrapped up their second preseason
game just about an hour ago against the Tennessee Titans.
They were on the wrong side twenty three to twenty.
But I'm here with Tory mclaney to break down all
the action. We're going to go through a little bit
of a new format this year for a Falcons final whistle.
(00:22):
We've got four quarters, four minutes each. We're going to
keep the clock, a whistle's gonna blow, and when the
whistle blows, we got to move on. So toy you
ready for it?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
As someone who's super long winded, I don't know if
I'm ready, But we're going to try it out.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
We're going to see, we're about to find out. So
I'm going to start the clock all right right now
for our first quarter, and we're going to talk about
the offense. It was, you know, I think overall a
little bit of an underwhelming certainly first half for the offense.
Second half you got more explosive plays. Were there any
guys you really felt stood out tonight offensively? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
So there are two guys, and they stood out for
different reasons. For starters, Nathan Carter, I thought I had
a fantastic day. Even when the offensive line struggled, I
think to block and that was something that continued over
from last Friday into this Friday. But I thought Nathan
Carter did a really, really solid job. This is somebody
who has a chance to step up with Carlos Washington
(01:17):
working through a hamstring injury, and I think he's done that.
I think it's gonna be really difficult on this Falcons
front office and coaches to make the decision about what
they're gonna do with potentially that third running back spot.
Do you keep someone like Carlos Washington who's been here
and been a good body for you for a couple
of years now, or do you go with this young guy. No,
(01:38):
you haven't seen Carlos Washington, but you just saw Nathan
Carter explode for a what forty some odd yard touchdown today.
So I think that's one A. One B is the
opposite reason. I really liked Nathan Carter because you saw
a lot of him, and I thought I liked what
we saw from him. David Steals the fifth is so
(01:58):
when we did not see b on that very very
first series, and I think that's actually indicative of his
place on this roster. He is somebody who is taking
some first team reps over the course of joint practice,
over the course of this past week, and he's somebody
who I think there is an argument to be made
that the Falcons could carry seven receivers on the fifty
(02:22):
three man roster this year, which to me is like
a little mind boggling. But considering we did not see
much of David Sills the fifth hardly at all tonight,
I think it's indicative of where he kind of falls
in the pecking order.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Interesting, Yeah, I mean you certainly like this time of year.
There's a lot of gamesmanship that happens, right with guys
who play and who don't play. We didn't see Casey
Washington out there, but I think that's a pretty clear
sign of how they feel. So you're right online with
David Sills, maybe they do say, hey, we've seen enough,
even if it's in the first quarter. Somebody who we
saw kind of throughout the game a wide receiver was
(02:55):
Chris Blair. I thought he had a really solid second
preseason game. He's been really solid. I think all of camp.
I mean, like he's consistently found a rhythm with any
quarterback that's throwing the ball. He's got the size, he's
got kind of the physical tools. It was awesome to
see him get that fifty two yard touchdown out there tonight.
But was there anybody that you feel, you know, maybe
was a little lackluster out there.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I thought Easton Stick had a little bit of a
slow start. I thought that the inner so the first
interception that he threw was was tough, and then the
second one that actually got erased because of offsetting penalties,
I thought that one was a bit worse. He was
on the run and trying to scramble and make something
happen and just throw it.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Feels like he didn't see the guy.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah, So I thought, considering how good he was, how
almost mistake free he was last Friday night, we kind
of got off to a very different start with him
this time around. I thought that he came back in
the second half when he got the chance in the
third quarter and did some nice things. The Chris Blair,
he had a scramble a quarterback keeper that were.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Like, oh, that was nice to getting deepd to guys.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I know it's great. So I thought that it was
a little bit like h like touch and go for him,
but not to the point where I think that it
changes my view on carrying three quarterbacks on this fifty
three men roster, especially if you think that Kirk Cousins
is a traitable asset.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah, I mean, I think he is a unique little
wrinkle into all that really quickly because we're up against
the clock. I do think the interior interior of the
second offensive line still as an area that you're probably
looking at and focusing on. I'll be really curious to
see if they bring in anybody like out of the
roster this upcoming week like they did last week, because
you know, I still don't know if it was a
(04:37):
great game for those guys, even with the long touchdown run.
So yep, oh, there's our first whistle. All right, We're
gonna go right on into our second quarter, which is
defensive players. So Tory, same exercise. Ye, who do you
think stood out on the defensive side of the ball tonight?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
He is someone I've talked about from the start of
training camp, through the first preseason game, through all of
joint practices, and now he showed up in a big
way against the Tennessee Titans on Friday night, and that
was Neatron Brooks.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yes, he had.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
An interception tonight, but I was honestly ready and willing
to talk about him regardless of kind of any big
plays that he was to make tonight, because of the
nature of how quickly he's moving up the fifty three
man roster. He's someone who I believe I wrote about
over the course of the week, that being someone who
is taking some first team defensive reps during joint practice,
(05:31):
kind of simulating what we talked about in the podcast
last last time on you know whatever, the last day
of the joint practices, Yeah, Wednesday, whatever day it is, circle,
We don't know. It's still training camp, it's still the preseason.
Days are meaningless at this point. But I do think
that he has cemented himself not only on the fifty
three man roster, but as potentially the first outside corner
(05:54):
off the bench. And I think to go, I know
we're going to get into this kind of in the
fourth quarter of this podcast. But there are some people
who I think should be worried that Neutron Brooks is
skyrocketing up this depth chart and the way that he is,
I mean, he's making plays and he's somebody that Cayden
Ellis even called out unprompted as being this like perfect
(06:18):
example of Jeff Ulbrick's defensive mantra of heartmind fest And
I think that that's indicative of what we're seeing in
the plays that he's making, and I think the passion
that he's playing with. I've really enjoyed watching him all
preseason long, So he's somebody who I think you couldn't
miss tonight.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah. I think the only nitpick that I had with
his game, which was otherwise like perfect, was a mistackle
on the touchdown run that Tennessee had there in the
fourth quarter. But other than that, I know he was perfect,
and he was nails all week long, and joint practices
in one on ones like he was giving Tennessee wide
receivers fits out there, and I mean he is so
much fun to watch. So yeah, I hope he is
(06:57):
kind of ultimately that six man off the bench that
you know remains to be seeing how much they're going
to need him. But he has certainly earned his way,
I think, into a key reserve role somebody else who
like has been doing their best, but I just don't
know if they're going to be crowded out of the position.
Is Lahale London. I know he has been just doing
every He was a great player and joint practices in
(07:18):
one on ones like he was giving Tennessee's offensive line
fits and out there again tonight, I kind of noticed
him either eating up bodies pushing back the pile like
he is just a really solid strong dude in the
middle there, and he would in another roster where there's
not so many big, strong dudes I think on the
interior have a clearer shot at the roster. Well.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Something that I know you and I have talked about
not being recorded, but the fact that you look back
two years ago and in Ryan Nilsen's system, which is
very a similar attacking style, and Lakale Lonnon actually got
quite a bit of run after Grady Jarrett was injured
and suffered hits season ending knee injury, and I thought
he did well then, I thought he was impact. So
(08:00):
now seeing him in this system, it's reminiscent of kind
of what we saw before. And speaking of injuries, somebody
who I wanted to add while we're talking about it
is Braylan Trice. We got to see him for the
first time in live game reps since his season ending
injury last year in Miami, and I think while we
probably didn't hear his name called too terribly much in
(08:23):
terms of just like sheer pass rush, I think that
he did some nice things in the run game and
he had one play alongside Morgan Fox that I thought
was really nice.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, which one tackle for a loss.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
So I thought he it was just nice to see
him out there and get his feet wet a little bit,
in the same way I felt that way about DeMarco
Hellem's last Friday.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, yeah, you really do feel both of those guys
kind of their presence back in the lineup. Even though
Braylan didn't kind of make a play out there, he
was somebody that I was watching and yeah, you thought, oh,
there's the other whistle. All right, We're moving right along
with a third third quarter. Here we go. So this
is not anything to do with this preseason game. It's
going to do with our final preseason game. Do you
(09:06):
want to see the starters like we haven't. We haven't
seen Michael PENNOCKX junior. We haven't even seen Kirk Cousins.
You know, we haven't seen Drake London. You want to
see them for a series? Two doesn't matter to.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
You, it does. I think that I have been over
the course of my career. I'm kind of a big
like anti playing starters in the preseason. I've always been
that way. I feel like these are professionals, they don't
need to go out and play. But because of how
much I felt like this interior defensive line has benefited
(09:35):
from playing together and feeling their rotation now, I feel
like the offense could benefit from that as well. And
I think that I would like to see at least
one or two series out of Michael PENNOCKX and just
kind of him getting the feel of a truly dirty
pocket thinking on the fly. You know we yes, you
saw him do all of those things in three games
(09:56):
last season at the end, but a lot of time past,
a lot of things are different, even if personnel is
pretty much the same. I would just like to see
him go out and sling it a little bit, doesn't
have to be a lot, but I would like to
see it. And then on top of that, I would
like to see Kirk Cousins I honestly, if the Falcons,
and this is just me talking, but if the Falcons
(10:18):
are looking to move on from Kirk Cousins eventually, I
think that teams across the league need to see what
I think we've seen in training camp that Kirk is healthy,
he's ready to go, He's making pretty good decisions. I mean,
he stood out to me that fors No the second
day of joint practices when things were so heated with
(10:40):
Michael Pennix in the first team offense, and you know,
coaches had to get the first team offense and defense
off the field, like get him off the field, cool
him down. And Kirk comes out there and he goes
three for three. He's just kind of picking apart Tennessee's
second team defense. I thought that it would be nice
if other teams saw that as well. Exact in the
(11:03):
case scenario hypothetical that in a couple of weeks someone
loses a starting quarterback and they're looking for a guy
who can come in and lead an offense like Atlanta
Terry Fanner should be like, hey, we have somebody like
because I do think that you have something viable in
East and Stick as a backup quarterback. Even though what
(11:25):
I said about the first half being a little wonky
for him today, I still liked what I saw his
response in the second half. I liked how he started
out last week. Like so, I think for all of
those reasons, I would like to see a little bit
of run for some of these guys that we have
not seen at all over the course of the preseason.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
You make valid points, thank you. I don't want to
see a single one of them out there.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
See, we had to have like Devil's Advocate, we had
to have a little bit And normally I'm right there
with you. I really normally am What's.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
What's the most important thing that could happen in a preseason,
good or bad.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I think that you can have some good looks that ultimately.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Do they matter a drip if the player involved in
them gets hurt and is missing time in the regular shoes.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
But I feel like you run that risk week one by.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Sure, But that's not a risk. That's not a risk
I'm gonna run if I'm not playing my guys in
the preseason. I would rather it a risk in the
regular season, when the wins and losses matter at the
end of the year. That is a risk that you
have to take. Right, but this time of year, the
way the practices are set up now and the way
that the Falcons have run their practice, Michael Pennock has
seen some dirty pockets. They're just not like the dirtiest
(12:34):
pockets where he is going to be clipped, taken out,
done something like that. But the pressure is still real.
You can feel the pressure without feeling the hits, right,
And I think that's kind of what the Falcons are
going for. And sure, I'll be right here in front
of you ready to eat my words in week one
or two if if there's like thirteen points each game
from the offense and they look a little sluggish, But
right now, I think I just philosophically believe that more
(12:56):
harm can be done than good at this time of year.
If you if you lose a starter, like I mean,
it just sets you back so much. And I know
we're all so impatient. We're ready to see him and
we want to like but you know what would be
worse is if we see him and then we don't
get to see him again. And maybe I'm just scarred
by the two thousand and three preseason and Michael Vick,
but I just don't want to see any of my
(13:16):
favorite players get hurt, right, I want to see him
out there. So that's where we're at. That's the whistle
once again. Man, it just keeps cutting me off. Toy,
you have to be the one to talk in this
fourth quarter. When the whistle goes off, it cannot be
making once again. So that is our challenge. On to
the fourth quarter we go. We'll talk about the third
and final preseason game here, which players are fighting for
a roster spot next Friday.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
So it's actually I think players that we haven't seen,
who have not been healthy. I don't know what's going
to become of Clark Phillips, the third has a rib injury.
We have not seen him. I don't know what's going
to become of Carlos Washington. He has a hamstring injury.
We haven't seen him. Storm Norton, we haven't seen him
all of training camp or the preseason.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And these are all guys that have been around exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
These are people who were well on the fifty three
man last year. And you know, as we're talking about tackles,
I'm actually a bit concerned about the offensive tackle depth
in Atlanta right now based on what happened tonight against
the Tennessee Titans in that first half. I you know,
(14:17):
I'll lay kind of the groundwork here and maybe I
will just proceed to talk for the next four minutes.
But what was really interesting is Elijah Wilkinson has been
playing mostly in the interior for majority of the training camp.
In the first preseason game, they moved him to left
tackle today and you know, of course opposite on right
(14:39):
tackle is Jack Nelson. Penalties were eating those two guys
up yep on Friday night, and it wasn't like you know,
with Jack Nelson. It was a couple holding penalties that
called back some plays for Elijah Wilkinson. It was some
false starts. So it felt like in that first half,
anytime the offense took a step in the right direction,
(14:59):
something happened with the tackles that brought it back.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
They were like third and sixteen a few times, and
I literally was like, it's kind of only because of
the offensive line, right, yeah, like they're just moving the
wrong direction.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
And that I have concern. I cause for concern. This
is not the first time we've talked about the second
team offensive line. We talked about them after the game
last week and how kind of concerned we were with
the fact that there was no run game established. Now
tonight against the Titans a little bit more, a little
bit more, I mean, you saw it be a little
(15:30):
bit more explosive and they.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Bron sixty three yards carries.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah, and again he probably would have had another one
had just that holding call on. I believe Dylan Drummond
not not happened, which was which a little question. But
I do think that considering we do not know the
timeline or the timetable for Storm Norton's return, literally on
August thirteenth this past week, which I that's Wednesday. I
know that because that was the day that Taylor Swift
(15:55):
went on new hips and had a come. Time is
meaningless in the preseason less unless Taylor Swi does something.
But on Wednesday, Rahe Morris was specifically asked about Storn
Norton and he said, hopefully we're hopefully he's on track,
Hopefully we're getting him back. But I don't know that
was a direct quote. He did not know what the
timeline for Storn Norton. Well, yeah, you feel good about
(16:16):
Kayla McGarry, who shaved his head. By the way, doesn't
have long locks anymore, and you feel good about Jake Matthews. Me,
but exactly. But what about what happens if Storm Norton
can't go right? Who do you feel confident in? Elijah Wilkinson?
Do you feel confident in Jack Nelson? I personally, with
the performance tonight, I'm concerned. And I know what's really
(16:40):
funny about all of this is we for so long
have been talking all off season about the depth behind
Ryan Noozle at center. And I still am a bit
concerned about the depth behind Ryan Noodle at center. But
now you're throwing in the tackles as well and throwing
them into the conversation. And that's why I'm a bit
(17:01):
concerned with where this offensive line depth is right now.
So next week, huge week, I think for offensive line depth.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
You think they'll make any moves?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yes, I do. I think you could see some moves
made this week. I definitely think you'll see some moves
made after a fifty three cut down when some other
players fall off of other rosters.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
The other thing, and we're getting close to the clock,
so hot potatoing at real fast a wide receiver, you know,
I know with Casey Washington stepping up remains to be
seen where they have DJ Shark and those guys in
the mix. But you have a lot of play David Sills,
Nick Nash, Chris Blair, Dylan Drummond. Like, that's a lot
of players competing for that six spot.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Put them all on the practice squad.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Just stash the practice squad.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
The practice squad.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
That is the whistle. That is the fourth quarter. We
are done. I think we came out on top tonight, Tori.
I think we won this one. Four quarters in the
books and we won them.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
All, honestly, really punchy. I really like it. Yeah, hopefully
hopefully this gets you jazzed on your morning commute.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Let us know if you guys like this format. Yeah, again,
it's a new it's a new feel for both of us.
To four minutes is pretty fast. I think we'll get
the hang of it as we go. But yeah, we
just want to punch you in and out, fast paced, moving,
hit all the stuff and get you on home. So
with that we will we'll wrap up. Next we will
have a fifty three man roster kind of prediction episode.
(18:19):
I believe we've got that coming Wednesday, So be on
the lookout for that. Outside of that Falcons Audible coming
again this week and we will see you on all
those shows. So toy, you got anything else before we
get out of here.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Oh, let's get out of here. I'm tired. I'm ready
to get to some regular season played, Deck Gummett.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
There we go, Dad Gummet. Let's get on out of here.
So thank you guys so much. We'll see you next time.
Dirty birds. What's up and welcome back to Final Whistle.
It is our first final whistle of the twenty twenty
five season. The Falcons have wrapped up their second preseason
game just about an hour ago against the Tennessee Titans.
They were on the wrong side twenty three to twenty.
But I'm here with Tory mclaney to break down all
the action. We're going to go through a little bit
of a new format this year for a Falcons final whistle.
(00:22):
We've got four quarters, four minutes each. We're going to
keep the clock, a whistle's gonna blow, and when the
whistle blows, we got to move on. So toy you
ready for it?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
As someone who's super long winded, I don't know if
I'm ready, But we're going to try it out.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
We're going to see, we're about to find out. So
I'm going to start the clock all right right now
for our first quarter, and we're going to talk about
the offense. It was, you know, I think overall a
little bit of an underwhelming certainly first half for the offense.
Second half you got more explosive plays. Were there any
guys you really felt stood out tonight offensively? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
So there are two guys, and they stood out for
different reasons. For starters, Nathan Carter, I thought I had
a fantastic day. Even when the offensive line struggled, I
think to block and that was something that continued over
from last Friday into this Friday. But I thought Nathan
Carter did a really, really solid job. This is somebody
who has a chance to step up with Carlos Washington
(01:17):
working through a hamstring injury, and I think he's done that.
I think it's gonna be really difficult on this Falcons
front office and coaches to make the decision about what
they're gonna do with potentially that third running back spot.
Do you keep someone like Carlos Washington who's been here
and been a good body for you for a couple
of years now, or do you go with this young guy. No,
(01:38):
you haven't seen Carlos Washington, but you just saw Nathan
Carter explode for a what forty some odd yard touchdown today.
So I think that's one A. One B is the
opposite reason. I really liked Nathan Carter because you saw
a lot of him, and I thought I liked what
we saw from him. David Steals the fifth is so
(01:58):
when we did not see b on that very very
first series, and I think that's actually indicative of his
place on this roster. He is somebody who is taking
some first team reps over the course of joint practice,
over the course of this past week, and he's somebody
who I think there is an argument to be made
that the Falcons could carry seven receivers on the fifty
(02:22):
three man roster this year, which to me is like
a little mind boggling. But considering we did not see
much of David Sills the fifth hardly at all tonight,
I think it's indicative of where he kind of falls
in the pecking order.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Interesting, Yeah, I mean you certainly like this time of year.
There's a lot of gamesmanship that happens, right with guys
who play and who don't play. We didn't see Casey
Washington out there, but I think that's a pretty clear
sign of how they feel. So you're right online with
David Sills, maybe they do say, hey, we've seen enough,
even if it's in the first quarter. Somebody who we
saw kind of throughout the game a wide receiver was
(02:55):
Chris Blair. I thought he had a really solid second
preseason game. He's been really solid. I think all of camp.
I mean, like he's consistently found a rhythm with any
quarterback that's throwing the ball. He's got the size, he's
got kind of the physical tools. It was awesome to
see him get that fifty two yard touchdown out there tonight.
But was there anybody that you feel, you know, maybe
was a little lackluster out there.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I thought Easton Stick had a little bit of a
slow start. I thought that the inner so the first
interception that he threw was was tough, and then the
second one that actually got erased because of offsetting penalties,
I thought that one was a bit worse. He was
on the run and trying to scramble and make something
happen and just throw it.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Feels like he didn't see the guy.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah, So I thought, considering how good he was, how
almost mistake free he was last Friday night, we kind
of got off to a very different start with him
this time around. I thought that he came back in
the second half when he got the chance in the
third quarter and did some nice things. The Chris Blair,
he had a scramble a quarterback keeper that were.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Like, oh, that was nice to getting deepd to guys.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I know it's great. So I thought that it was
a little bit like h like touch and go for him,
but not to the point where I think that it
changes my view on carrying three quarterbacks on this fifty
three men roster, especially if you think that Kirk Cousins
is a traitable asset.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah, I mean, I think he is a unique little
wrinkle into all that really quickly because we're up against
the clock. I do think the interior interior of the
second offensive line still as an area that you're probably
looking at and focusing on. I'll be really curious to
see if they bring in anybody like out of the
roster this upcoming week like they did last week, because
you know, I still don't know if it was a
(04:37):
great game for those guys, even with the long touchdown run.
So yep, oh, there's our first whistle. All right, We're
gonna go right on into our second quarter, which is
defensive players. So Tory, same exercise. Ye, who do you
think stood out on the defensive side of the ball tonight?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
He is someone I've talked about from the start of
training camp, through the first preseason game, through all of
joint practices, and now he showed up in a big
way against the Tennessee Titans on Friday night, and that
was Neatron Brooks.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yes, he had.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
An interception tonight, but I was honestly ready and willing
to talk about him regardless of kind of any big
plays that he was to make tonight, because of the
nature of how quickly he's moving up the fifty three
man roster. He's someone who I believe I wrote about
over the course of the week, that being someone who
is taking some first team defensive reps during joint practice,
(05:31):
kind of simulating what we talked about in the podcast
last last time on you know whatever, the last day
of the joint practices, Yeah, Wednesday, whatever day it is, circle,
We don't know. It's still training camp, it's still the preseason.
Days are meaningless at this point. But I do think
that he has cemented himself not only on the fifty
three man roster, but as potentially the first outside corner
(05:54):
off the bench. And I think to go, I know
we're going to get into this kind of in the
fourth quarter of this podcast. But there are some people
who I think should be worried that Neutron Brooks is
skyrocketing up this depth chart and the way that he is,
I mean, he's making plays and he's somebody that Cayden
Ellis even called out unprompted as being this like perfect
(06:18):
example of Jeff Ulbrick's defensive mantra of heartmind fest And
I think that that's indicative of what we're seeing in
the plays that he's making, and I think the passion
that he's playing with. I've really enjoyed watching him all
preseason long, So he's somebody who I think you couldn't
miss tonight.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah. I think the only nitpick that I had with
his game, which was otherwise like perfect, was a mistackle
on the touchdown run that Tennessee had there in the
fourth quarter. But other than that, I know he was perfect,
and he was nails all week long, and joint practices
in one on ones like he was giving Tennessee wide
receivers fits out there, and I mean he is so
much fun to watch. So yeah, I hope he is
(06:57):
kind of ultimately that six man off the bench that
you know remains to be seeing how much they're going
to need him. But he has certainly earned his way,
I think, into a key reserve role somebody else who
like has been doing their best, but I just don't
know if they're going to be crowded out of the position.
Is Lahale London. I know he has been just doing
every He was a great player and joint practices in
(07:18):
one on ones like he was giving Tennessee's offensive line
fits and out there again tonight, I kind of noticed
him either eating up bodies pushing back the pile like
he is just a really solid strong dude in the
middle there, and he would in another roster where there's
not so many big, strong dudes I think on the
interior have a clearer shot at the roster. Well.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Something that I know you and I have talked about
not being recorded, but the fact that you look back
two years ago and in Ryan Nilsen's system, which is
very a similar attacking style, and Lakale Lonnon actually got
quite a bit of run after Grady Jarrett was injured
and suffered hits season ending knee injury, and I thought
he did well then, I thought he was impact. So
(08:00):
now seeing him in this system, it's reminiscent of kind
of what we saw before. And speaking of injuries, somebody
who I wanted to add while we're talking about it
is Braylan Trice. We got to see him for the
first time in live game reps since his season ending
injury last year in Miami, and I think while we
probably didn't hear his name called too terribly much in
(08:23):
terms of just like sheer pass rush, I think that
he did some nice things in the run game and
he had one play alongside Morgan Fox that I thought
was really nice.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, which one tackle for a loss.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
So I thought he it was just nice to see
him out there and get his feet wet a little bit,
in the same way I felt that way about DeMarco
Hellem's last Friday.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, yeah, you really do feel both of those guys
kind of their presence back in the lineup. Even though
Braylan didn't kind of make a play out there, he
was somebody that I was watching and yeah, you thought, oh,
there's the other whistle. All right, We're moving right along
with a third third quarter. Here we go. So this
is not anything to do with this preseason game. It's
going to do with our final preseason game. Do you
(09:06):
want to see the starters like we haven't. We haven't
seen Michael PENNOCKX junior. We haven't even seen Kirk Cousins.
You know, we haven't seen Drake London. You want to
see them for a series? Two doesn't matter to.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
You, it does. I think that I have been over
the course of my career. I'm kind of a big
like anti playing starters in the preseason. I've always been
that way. I feel like these are professionals, they don't
need to go out and play. But because of how
much I felt like this interior defensive line has benefited
(09:35):
from playing together and feeling their rotation now, I feel
like the offense could benefit from that as well. And
I think that I would like to see at least
one or two series out of Michael PENNOCKX and just
kind of him getting the feel of a truly dirty
pocket thinking on the fly. You know we yes, you
saw him do all of those things in three games
(09:56):
last season at the end, but a lot of time past,
a lot of things are different, even if personnel is
pretty much the same. I would just like to see
him go out and sling it a little bit, doesn't
have to be a lot, but I would like to
see it. And then on top of that, I would
like to see Kirk Cousins I honestly, if the Falcons,
and this is just me talking, but if the Falcons
(10:18):
are looking to move on from Kirk Cousins eventually, I
think that teams across the league need to see what
I think we've seen in training camp that Kirk is healthy,
he's ready to go, He's making pretty good decisions. I mean,
he stood out to me that fors No the second
day of joint practices when things were so heated with
(10:40):
Michael Pennix in the first team offense, and you know,
coaches had to get the first team offense and defense
off the field, like get him off the field, cool
him down. And Kirk comes out there and he goes
three for three. He's just kind of picking apart Tennessee's
second team defense. I thought that it would be nice
if other teams saw that as well. Exact in the
(11:03):
case scenario hypothetical that in a couple of weeks someone
loses a starting quarterback and they're looking for a guy
who can come in and lead an offense like Atlanta
Terry Fanner should be like, hey, we have somebody like
because I do think that you have something viable in
East and Stick as a backup quarterback. Even though what
(11:25):
I said about the first half being a little wonky
for him today, I still liked what I saw his
response in the second half. I liked how he started
out last week. Like so, I think for all of
those reasons, I would like to see a little bit
of run for some of these guys that we have
not seen at all over the course of the preseason.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
You make valid points, thank you. I don't want to
see a single one of them out there.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
See, we had to have like Devil's Advocate, we had
to have a little bit And normally I'm right there
with you. I really normally am What's.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
What's the most important thing that could happen in a preseason,
good or bad.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I think that you can have some good looks that ultimately.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Do they matter a drip if the player involved in
them gets hurt and is missing time in the regular shoes.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
But I feel like you run that risk week one by.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Sure, But that's not a risk. That's not a risk
I'm gonna run if I'm not playing my guys in
the preseason. I would rather it a risk in the
regular season, when the wins and losses matter at the
end of the year. That is a risk that you
have to take. Right, but this time of year, the
way the practices are set up now and the way
that the Falcons have run their practice, Michael Pennock has
seen some dirty pockets. They're just not like the dirtiest
(12:34):
pockets where he is going to be clipped, taken out,
done something like that. But the pressure is still real.
You can feel the pressure without feeling the hits, right,
And I think that's kind of what the Falcons are
going for. And sure, I'll be right here in front
of you ready to eat my words in week one
or two if if there's like thirteen points each game
from the offense and they look a little sluggish, But
right now, I think I just philosophically believe that more
(12:56):
harm can be done than good at this time of year.
If you if you lose a starter, like I mean,
it just sets you back so much. And I know
we're all so impatient. We're ready to see him and
we want to like but you know what would be
worse is if we see him and then we don't
get to see him again. And maybe I'm just scarred
by the two thousand and three preseason and Michael Vick,
but I just don't want to see any of my
(13:16):
favorite players get hurt, right, I want to see him
out there. So that's where we're at. That's the whistle
once again. Man, it just keeps cutting me off. Toy,
you have to be the one to talk in this
fourth quarter. When the whistle goes off, it cannot be
making once again. So that is our challenge. On to
the fourth quarter we go. We'll talk about the third
and final preseason game here, which players are fighting for
a roster spot next Friday.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
So it's actually I think players that we haven't seen,
who have not been healthy. I don't know what's going
to become of Clark Phillips, the third has a rib injury.
We have not seen him. I don't know what's going
to become of Carlos Washington. He has a hamstring injury.
We haven't seen him. Storm Norton, we haven't seen him
all of training camp or the preseason.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And these are all guys that have been around exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
These are people who were well on the fifty three
man last year. And you know, as we're talking about tackles,
I'm actually a bit concerned about the offensive tackle depth
in Atlanta right now based on what happened tonight against
the Tennessee Titans in that first half. I you know,
(14:17):
I'll lay kind of the groundwork here and maybe I
will just proceed to talk for the next four minutes.
But what was really interesting is Elijah Wilkinson has been
playing mostly in the interior for majority of the training camp.
In the first preseason game, they moved him to left
tackle today and you know, of course opposite on right
(14:39):
tackle is Jack Nelson. Penalties were eating those two guys
up yep on Friday night, and it wasn't like you know,
with Jack Nelson. It was a couple holding penalties that
called back some plays for Elijah Wilkinson. It was some
false starts. So it felt like in that first half,
anytime the offense took a step in the right direction,
(14:59):
something happened with the tackles that brought it back.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
They were like third and sixteen a few times, and
I literally was like, it's kind of only because of
the offensive line, right, yeah, like they're just moving the
wrong direction.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
And that I have concern. I cause for concern. This
is not the first time we've talked about the second
team offensive line. We talked about them after the game
last week and how kind of concerned we were with
the fact that there was no run game established. Now
tonight against the Titans a little bit more, a little
bit more, I mean, you saw it be a little
(15:30):
bit more explosive and they.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Bron sixty three yards carries.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah, and again he probably would have had another one
had just that holding call on. I believe Dylan Drummond
not not happened, which was which a little question. But
I do think that considering we do not know the
timeline or the timetable for Storm Norton's return, literally on
August thirteenth this past week, which I that's Wednesday. I
know that because that was the day that Taylor Swift
(15:55):
went on new hips and had a come. Time is
meaningless in the preseason less unless Taylor Swi does something.
But on Wednesday, Rahe Morris was specifically asked about Storn
Norton and he said, hopefully we're hopefully he's on track,
Hopefully we're getting him back. But I don't know that
was a direct quote. He did not know what the
timeline for Storn Norton. Well, yeah, you feel good about
(16:16):
Kayla McGarry, who shaved his head. By the way, doesn't
have long locks anymore, and you feel good about Jake Matthews. Me,
but exactly. But what about what happens if Storm Norton
can't go right? Who do you feel confident in? Elijah Wilkinson?
Do you feel confident in Jack Nelson? I personally, with
the performance tonight, I'm concerned. And I know what's really
(16:40):
funny about all of this is we for so long
have been talking all off season about the depth behind
Ryan Noozle at center. And I still am a bit
concerned about the depth behind Ryan Noodle at center. But
now you're throwing in the tackles as well and throwing
them into the conversation. And that's why I'm a bit
(17:01):
concerned with where this offensive line depth is right now.
So next week, huge week, I think for offensive line depth.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
You think they'll make any moves?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yes, I do. I think you could see some moves
made this week. I definitely think you'll see some moves
made after a fifty three cut down when some other
players fall off of other rosters.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
The other thing, and we're getting close to the clock,
so hot potatoing at real fast a wide receiver, you know,
I know with Casey Washington stepping up remains to be
seen where they have DJ Shark and those guys in
the mix. But you have a lot of play David Sills,
Nick Nash, Chris Blair, Dylan Drummond. Like, that's a lot
of players competing for that six spot.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Put them all on the practice squad.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Just stash the practice squad.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
The practice squad.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
That is the whistle. That is the fourth quarter. We
are done. I think we came out on top tonight, Tori.
I think we won this one. Four quarters in the
books and we won them.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
All, honestly, really punchy. I really like it. Yeah, hopefully
hopefully this gets you jazzed on your morning commute.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Let us know if you guys like this format. Yeah, again,
it's a new it's a new feel for both of us.
To four minutes is pretty fast. I think we'll get
the hang of it as we go. But yeah, we
just want to punch you in and out, fast paced, moving,
hit all the stuff and get you on home. So
with that we will we'll wrap up. Next we will
have a fifty three man roster kind of prediction episode.
(18:19):
I believe we've got that coming Wednesday, So be on
the lookout for that. Outside of that Falcons Audible coming
again this week and we will see you on all
those shows. So toy, you got anything else before we
get out of here.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Oh, let's get out of here. I'm tired. I'm ready
to get to some regular season played, Deck Gummett.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
There we go, Dad Gummet. Let's get on out of here.
So thank you guys so much. We'll see you next time.
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