October 17, 2025 • 30 mins
From one primetime game to another! The Falcons are gearing up for a Sunday night showdown with the San Francisco 49ers, and the crew is back to get you ready for kickoff. Will McFadden, Tori McElhaney, and Terrin Waack break down everything from why the game means so much this week to what the Falcons need to prepare for given the 49ers laundry list of injuries.
0:00 - Intro
0:50 - Question of the day
2:00 - NFC South update
6:00 - Examining the 49ers last game
15:00 - San Fran injury report
20:35 - Bijan McCaffrey connection
22:30 - Art of the Juke
29:43 - Outro
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Oh my gosh, those short.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
Weeks got me like club And that was Calendar Corner,
brought to you by Calendar Stive. Falcons fans, what's up
and welcome back to another episode of Friday five. I'm
your Oswell McFadden, joined by Tory mclaney and Tarren Walk.
We are coming off of an incredible, exciting, exhilarating all
of the adjectives. I think I used incredible one hundred
(00:26):
times in the Falcons final whistle, so I'm gonna refrain
from doing that again for Falcons final whistle. But an
amazing win against the Buffalo Bills. Another big primetime game
on the docket against the San Francisco forty nine ers,
and so this show is going to share with you
the five things you need to know going into that matchup.
But up top, as we are gonna do from time
(00:49):
to time, here we want to talk about the social
question that you can check out on TikTok for the
Atlanta Falcons account. Players are asked a random question each
day they provide their answers. So our random question is,
if you could only eat one meal, Tory for the
rest of your life, what would you choose?
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I think pizza is a really easy one. Like I
could eat pizza at any time of the dinner, but
it would be like meal pizza and ice cream because
I can eat ice cream at any time.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Do you want an appetizer?
Speaker 4 (01:19):
I could do an appetizer as well. Yeah, maybe maybe
to get some green in like a caesar.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
This says one meal, not a three course meal.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
All right, my meals have appetizers.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
What are we doing? All right? I choose Golden Corral.
I get the buffet and wine.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Apparently we're eating full meals here.
Speaker 5 (01:37):
I would go do serin of Thailand and I would
get the crab angels to start with the coconut soup
with tofu as my app Then I would get the
Penang curry with steam tofu, not the go to fried tofu.
And for dessert a Thai tea martini, Tai tea martini.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Oh, I love that. I would just go with like
a simple breakfast sampler right on. Some egs. I want,
like some pancakes.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I want some bacon.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yeah, like I'm just gonna I will eat that. I
pretty much do eat every single day. So that will
do it for our social question of the day. We
are now going to turn to a quick overview of
the NFC South. We are third of the way through
the season. It's always kind of trippy how they've they've
changed the number of weeks. It's always hard to catch up.
But third of the way through the season, Taren, you
got an update for us on the NFC South and
(02:18):
outstacks up?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yes to no.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
In surprise, the Buccaneers are in the lead. They have
a five and one record overall, and they're one and
zero division. That divisional win obviously came over the Falcons
in week one. Then you have the Falcons in second,
who are three and two overall, zero and two in
the division, followed by the Panthers who are three and
three overall, one and o in the division. That one
win did come against the Falcons also in week three.
(02:42):
Then you have the Saints who are one in five
and have not played a divisional game, and there are
no NFC South matchups in week seven. So the Falcons
are the only team that I've played more than one
divisional game.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Good lord.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Yeah, well, and sometimes it do be like that, Toy.
Is this how you expected the division to kind of
be shaping out.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
A little bit?
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yeah, I think that we knew that the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers were the team to beat, but not just that.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I think what we've learned.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Over the first six weeks of the season is that
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are actually legit contenders. They are
not just the team to beat in the NFC South,
they're the team to beat overall.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
I know that there are a lot of power.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Rankings going into this week, week seven that had the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the number one ranked team in
all of pro football. So I really think that the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and I've said this before, but they're
the ones that are setting the pace for the NFC
and the NFC South. But what's interesting about that is
that they're not blowing people out of the water. I know,
(03:41):
they just beat the San Francisco forty nine ers, which
we're going to get into that game in a little bit,
but they just beat them what was at thirty nineteen
and which that is honestly their largest margin of victory
through the first six weeks of the season. And what's
funny is is like everything else is by one point two.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Point three and the march wasn't that large.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
The whole game and the whole Yeah, exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
It wasn't until the very yeah, yeah, So what's I mean,
it's kind of the Baker mayfieldness of it all. They
they're doing enough to win every single game there that
they're playing. They are taking what I think is like
these moments in time that can kind of change the
pace of a game, and they're capitalizing on those moments.
(04:27):
They kind of have this like clutch gene that you
always feel like one team always has every single year.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I feel like it's the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right now.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
I feel like if you looked up clutch gen Yeah,
like Baker Mayfield's face right now would be the main
thing that comes up. Because that's a great point. But
you know, Taran, we knew Tampa Bay was always gonna
kind of be in the mix for the NFC South Carolina,
I gotta I gotta be honest, Like they're not a
team I necessarily saw coming or at least sticking around
for as long as they have. They beat Carolina, but
do you think Carolina, or they beat Atlanta, but do
(04:55):
you think Carolina is here to stay the rest of
the season, or do you think they may fade back
to the pack.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
Can all their games be played at Bank of America Stadium?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
True?
Speaker 2 (05:03):
They win everyone there, aren't they undefeated at home?
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I believe.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I think that's where like the craziest Yeah, like.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
With like historic rushing numbers. Rico Dawbell looks like Todd
Gurley circa two thousand and like sixteen or whatever. It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
I wouldn't underestimate them. I mean, which all happens. If
you do.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
Exactly, if you somehow are able to take that home
mojo onto the road mojo, then they might be an
actual contender in the NFC South two and five.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Yeah, there they They I think are very close to
just being like, all right, well, we'll see the next season. Saints,
they've been tight in some of those games. And Spencer
Rattler actually, like it's totally understandable if you haven't been
paying attention to the Saints, but he has been playing
pretty well.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
The fighting Spencer Rattlers.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, the Rattler Snakes are are doing doing a little
bit down there. They got to take some hillback they
you know, big times down in New Orleans for them. Uh,
let's let's move on to the forty nine and the
Bucks played the forty nine ers this week. As you mentioned,
they continued winning thirty nineteen. But Taren, what stood out
to you the most about kind of this game once
(06:09):
you started digging into it, about you know what the
Bucks were able to do?
Speaker 5 (06:14):
Gosh, there were three key stats that I pulled. The
forty nine Ers were seven out of sixteen on third down. No, boy, no,
they had nine penalties for sixty five yards, which was
way more than I think the Buccaneers had six. And
then they lost two turnovers compared to the Buccaneers zero
and it was two interceptions from mac Jones. One turned
(06:35):
into a touchdown and one turned into a field goal.
So again, as we talked about last year, last year,
last week with the Bills, they had three turnovers and
it turned into ten points and they only lost by
what was it at one point, that was so far
long ago, it was a.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Year ago, and then it was a whole year.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
And now you have a team granted thirty nineteen. Even
if those ten points are taken back, it's a one
point game, but still it's a lot feel different if
those turnovers don't happen. You always feel different if turnovers
don't happen. So I think those are the three areas
that the Falcons can capitalize on, like turning the ball over, well,
not them.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Forcing turnover, winning.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
The turnover margin, getting them off the field on third
down yep. And then you can't really force them into penalties,
but make sure.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
You play clean. So if they don't, they're the ones
losing that battle too.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Hey, if they line Felipe Franks up in the quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
He's as good as Aaron Rodgers is getting people to jump.
The turnover margin is a great point. The forty nine
ers are plus one and the turnover margin in their
wins minus six in their losses. Right, So if you
can force a couple of turnovers, you got a pretty
good chance. And I mean it was really the late
turnover tory right in that game that sealed it kind
of for the Bucks. They missed field goal. We're able
(07:49):
to come back and capitalize and get the field goal.
But otherwise, Tampa Bay and Atlanta are different teams, very
different teams. Atlanta doesn't have a Baker Mayfield, but Tampa right,
Bay doesn't have a Bajon Robbins right yet, right, So
what can we pull out of Tampa Bay's kind of
blueprint performance against San Francisco and use.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
So I read a lot, I watched a lie and
I think the main thing and I don't want this
to sound cliche, because I genuinely believe it. But to me,
when it comes to what the Falcons can learn from
what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers it did against the San
Francisco forty nine ers, is that the game in the trenches,
that's where it's gonna be one. But I think that's
exactly where the Falcons should want it to be one
(08:30):
is at the line of scrimmage. So I'll start kind
of with what I learned about the way that the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive line played the offensive line for
the San Francisco forty nine ers. They struggled to run
the ball, which with Christian McCaffrey is not something that
I think anyone is used to. It was the blocking
up front was a bit like like Christian McCaffrey was
(08:52):
getting hit kind of one yard into his run. He
had seventeen carries for fifty four yards in totals. The
San Francis Go forty nine ers only had sixty seven
total rushing yards. Matt Jones was sacked I believe six times.
Like this defensive front for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers really
made things difficult for the forty nine ers up front.
(09:14):
Now switching on the other side and talking about kind
of what Tampa did offensively by comparison, it really wasn't
a fantastic day for Tampa Bay running backs. But that's
really not why I thought that Tampa Bay's front was
playing well. It was actually based on that Baker had
so much I felt like Baker had so much time
(09:37):
in the pocket to throw. I felt like he was
kept very clean.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Tristan Wurf's played great in this game.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
I thought to do you know, there were a lot
of explosive plays within this game for Tampa Bay through
the air Specifically, I actually went back and I looked
at it. For every single Tampa Bay player who caught
a pass from Baker, they had at least one explosive,
so fifteen plus yards at least one. And I think
they had six or seven different guys who caught a
(10:07):
pass from Baker Mayfield, all of which had an explosive,
every single one. So you're happy, like Baker was able
to move the ball in these big chunks and supplementary
run game kind of helped him out. Baker scrambled a
few times, as we've known him to do, but I
think like that to me is indicative of what the
front was doing protecting Baker, because as we talked about previously,
(10:30):
you need time in the pocket in order for those
routes to develop downfield. Yep, and he was protected and
he was accurate within those deep ball throws. Like, so
I think that's those are the two areas where ultimately,
as I was looking back, I was like, that's if
you're the Falcons, winning up front is the game you want,
but also the game that we just saw the Tampa
(10:51):
Bay Buccaneers win because.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Of Okay, so yeah, I sticking here for a second
because you kind of have made me wonder about something
that we haven't yet seen from Atlanta's offense we really expected,
which was kind of this vertical element, right, And if
Christian McCaffrey, I'm looking next gen stats minus eighteen yards
rushing over expectation, so that would be a normal running
back in a similar situation. He got eighteen fewer yards.
(11:14):
So yeah, Tampa Bay's defense was locked or San Franz,
Tampa Bay's defense was locked in against the run. But
I kind of think that Atlanta can really have a
lot of success against you know, San Francisco's defense through
the air deep. What did you learn about that when
you were looking in a matchup.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Yeah, I think that it was It all has to
do kind of with that downfield accuracy of which I
felt like Baker had. I felt like he had a
very good understanding of where his open receivers were going
to be was going to be, and with Michael PENNOCKX,
that's something that even when he was going back to
that Carolina game that he even Michael Pennocks was even like,
you know, I have to hit my open guys. I
(11:52):
have to hit my open receivers. And we saw him
do that against the Washington Commanders. We definitely saw him
do that in the first half against the Buffalo Bills.
And I think that this is a really good opportunity
seeing what Baker Mayfield was able to do against this
secondary for the forty nine ers that that was open
for him, that was available to him. So what can
Michael Pinnox do with that opportunity is something I'm curious
(12:15):
to see if that ends up.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Being in the game.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Plan, but also understanding that you still have Bjon Robinson. Sure,
so you hand the ball off and he's somehow getting
fifteen yards of popla. So it's the trade off of
kind of like pick your poison, which is exactly again
where the Falcons want to be like they want you
if you're going to load the box, they want to
be able to let Michael Pinox's arm loose. If you're
not going to, they're going to hand the ball off
to Bajon Robinson, Tyler Algier and have them do what
(12:39):
they do best.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Absolutely, Territory mentioned the trenches and kind of I think
Atlanta's defense is going to be real well primed in
this game to kind of slow down Christian McCaffrey. They
were very good against James Cook and the game script's
helped there. But flipping the other side, Jake Matthews, he
is left the game at before a halftime, didn't come back,
is dealing with an ankle in what's kind of the
(13:01):
latest on him.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
I actually came straight from open practice to this podcast
room and noticed that Jake Matthews was not out there.
Today is Thursday, and yesterday Wednesday's estimated injury report said
he was not a participant.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
You don't see that from him because.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Normally if you see anything, it says rest day, veteran
rest day, not injury related. But I'm curious more so
about tomorrow's game report Fridays when this episode will come out.
This will come out in the morning, so the game
report will come out in the afternoon.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
But he's had one hundred and eighty three consecutive show.
I know.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
I wrote an entire thousand plus words story about how
he is mister consistent even if he doesn't take a
single practice nap. I would not be the least bit
surprised if he takes the field on Sunday. But if
he doesn't and somehow someway, that streak comes to an end.
Everyone was very happy with how Michael Jarell played. Darrell
(13:58):
himself said he felt comfortable. It took a minute for
him to get warmed up and like in the moment.
But when I was talking to Chris Lynstrom yesterday in
the locker room, he was saying, I mean, it's tough.
It was the two minute drill before halftime that he
has to come out in pass Pro and he held
his own and drill has a history of being a
(14:18):
proven backup in this league. So it's not like you're
putting someone who hasn't played significant professional reps into Jake
Matthew's shoes. But what was funny in the locker room
after the game on Monday. I asked Jurell, like, were
those big shoes to fill? Like could you tell they
were big shoes to fill? And he's like, yeah, you know,
(14:40):
everyone out there is like, who's this guy filming in
nineties not ninety seventy shoes?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Like it was a little it was a little pressure there.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
But yeah, no, I mean it's literally like impossible to
imagine a Falcons offensive line without Jake Matthews in it.
It's weird because he has been in it for one
hundred and eighty three straight games. So tearing the Falcons
are going to be the only team though, dealing with
with the injury situation. What is the latest on the
forty nine ers and there are many many injuries that
they're dealing with.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
Go to the forty nine ers website click injury report, No, go.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
To our website and click injury report.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yes, do that too. Go to all the NFL team's
website websites.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
And you'll notice the forty nine ers is the longest
injury report out there. There are eighteen roll yes, yeah,
oh my gosh, no, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
And I was like doing the mental math.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
I was like, eighteen plus eighteen is thirty six plus
eighteen and then I lost it. So I was like,
so it's about a third of their fifty three man
roster is on the injury report.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
But I know you don't care exactly about the numbers.
You want to know.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Who and maybe just the biggest names.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Brock Party first of all is TBD. I'm curious to
see what the injury report Wednesday says, whether or not
he's practicing.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, because he was limited on Wednesday.
Speaker 5 (15:53):
Yeah, yeah, today's Wednesday Thursday.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Oh my gosh. Those short weeks got me like.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
What And that was corner brought to you by Calendars.
Speaker 5 (16:04):
Okay, anyways, well let's start with those who are officially out.
Nick Bosa has been out, Fred Warner is now out
because he had that season ending ankle injury last week.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Rock Purdy and Ricky pearsall are TBD.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
They said they might practice this week and we'll see
like how that goes. But returning to practice this week
where was for sure George Kittle and Jordan Watkins. But
that's four big names on the offense alone. I mean,
you're missing two huge names for sure on the defense,
and then there's still everyone else on that list. I
mean Mac Jones is also limited this week, so you
(16:45):
have both of your quarterbacks limited. It's a tough one.
So I not to cut you off.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
I do think that this is going to be a
very interesting week for Atlanta to face San Francisco because
of all the injuries you just named, but also mainly
because of.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
The pieces that they could get back.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
And I think that there are a lot of variants
that we could see from this forty nine ers offense
based on how these guys are progressing through practice.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
That's challenging if you're Jeff Ulbrick right of.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Preparing for this, Yeah, because there is a difference, let's
be real, between brock Party and mac Jones, even though
mac Jones has been holding his own and winning games
for that organization. But getting George Kittle back, Ricky back,
like you know, Rickaye like maybe it is one of
those things where I feel like Christian McCaffrey over the
last few weeks has had to carry a big load,
(17:36):
whether it be catching the ball out of the backfield,
running the ball, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
But to extend a hearty thanks on behalf of my
fantasy team for that, Christian, thank you so much man.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
But they've had to rely so much.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
I think on him that now if you see that
Brock Party can potentially come back, you think that George
Kittle can potentially come back, that changes the offensive scope
of who the forty nine ers are and what they're
doing in Kyle Shanahan's offense.
Speaker 5 (18:03):
Literally asked Jesse Bates about that today, where it's like
you're basically preparing for two different offenses, Like, yeah, as
you said, Rock Party offense is different than a Mac
Jones offense.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
But then Jesse's like, no, you're not. He didn't say
it like.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
That, but you're preparing for Kyle Shane I hate exactly.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
He's like, it's they're gonna do the same things, just
the people are different and the talent level is definitely different.
He did say, though, I George Kittle is out there,
you know they're gonna want to get the ball to
George Kittle.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
And George Kittle is gonna want to get the ball.
Will did Jeff Obrick yesterday talk about what did he
kind of talk about in terms of like what the
game plan is for for the Falcons defense?
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Yeah, you know, like understandably, he was asked a lot
about kind of just like the Excellence on on Monday Night,
but there was a little bit of the question specifically
about the quarterbacks towards the end there, and he said
that there's not a ton of difference with brock Party
and mac Jones, Like generally, you're gonna kind of envision
the Shanahan type of quarterback, where like you'd run a
(19:01):
lot of bootleg, you run a lot of play action,
you kind of point and shoot and just hit the
receiver when they're open. However, when I was watching the
Tampa Bay game, I did get the sense that the
mac Jones could be a little bit more susceptible to
maybe some of the disguises in coverage that Atlanta also
really likes to run. You're talking a lot at Like
I was a little bit floored by the who was
a Dawson Knox that caught the touchdown for Buffalo because
(19:24):
it was a really well designed and beautiful kind of
concept that I think they just lucked into the perfect
play on but Jesse is in. They disguise it as
like a cover four it first and then which is
four deep quarters that you're covering there, and then Jesse
rolls into essentially a cover one robber, which is one
safety comes down in the middle of the field to
take an inbreaking route away and Josh Allen makes a
(19:44):
great throw. So I would expect to see a lot
of that against San Francisco, And I do think that
if mac Jones is in there, you could see a
few more turnovers which are gonna be key on Sunday
as opposed to brock Party. So that's where I think
that the difference between those two guys, even though Jeff
Ulbrick is going to they're the same because again that's
how they should approach it. It could be a big deal
out there.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
The biggest thing too, that I think Jeff Olbert talked
about was like covering Christian McCaffrey. He's I think he
made the comment he was like, everyone's gonna have to
cover him at some point. Every Yeah, everyone's going to
be on him at some point. Everyone's gonna have to
look him in the eye and tackle him at some
point because that's how the forty nine ers use him.
It's similar to Bajon. He is kind of the engine
of what the forty nine ers do and want to do,
(20:24):
so I think.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
That is how we move forward.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
Thinking about this San Francisco forty nine Ers team as well.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
Did you just say Bajeon and Christian are alike and
I'm definitely stealing Will's transition?
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Go for it.
Speaker 6 (20:37):
But I was like, oh, this is a perfect way
to set it up. You said that, though, right, I
did say that, Yes, well they are, Oh you know,
I'm say And this stems back to.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
Last off season when Raheem Morris flat out told the
media during the off season that the Falcons want to
utilize Bajean Robinson just like the forty nine ers utilize
Christian McCaffrey, and then Bajon doubled down on it.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Fast forward a year and.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
Bajon and Christian spent a month together training in the
off season in California, and at that point, Bijon said,
he taught me a whole bunch of nuanced moves that
I got to learn on the field, and I did
the same with him. Could you imagine being a part
of that conversation.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
It would be great, Like I would love to be
a fly on the wall in there.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
Oh yeah, it'd be fascinating, Like how are they comparing moves?
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Like I just want to know them.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
But anyways, that yeah, oh, and I do have a
stat to go with it. Oh yeah, Christian and Bajon
are the only two players in the NFL who have
had at least one hundred yards.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
From scrimmage in every single game this season.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Impressive.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Okay, now I'm done.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
That is crazy, And yeah, I mean Christian. Christian has
been an amazing wide receiver this season as well for
the forty nine ers, So that's kind of what Brick
was getting at as well. It's like they're going to
figure out any possible way to get him the ball,
and if he's running a route, he's probably getting the
ball as well, and if they're handing it off to him,
he's obviously getting the ball. So he is one of
the best in the league for a long time going.
Bijon is on a totally different level this year. It's
(22:04):
kind of like last year was a breakout year, his
rookie year was a breakout year, and this is somehow
again a breakout year for Bajean Robinson. He's on pace
i'd believe to set the all time record in yards
from scrimmage and just the way he does it looks
so smooth and effortless, toy like, what how does Beijan do? This?
Speaker 1 (22:22):
So funny that you ask.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
So Now on Atlanta Falcons dot com and Atlanta Falcons
YouTube you can actually see a project that we have
been working on since I think we pitched it back
in December of last year. We sat down with Bajon
and some people in the Falcons organization in April May.
We've been researching, doing all this different stuff myself and
(22:44):
Genny Ross, who's the editor for the feature, and it's
called Art of the Duke, and it is kind of
a passion project for what Bajon does, like what his
passion is as as a runner and what he embodied
as the modern example of how to use the juke
(23:06):
and how to be elusive as a runner and how
to make people miss. And so this project is twofold.
It is a video feature which really dives into the
artwork of it and what makes him so special in
the ruf cam videos. And we actually sat down with
Bejon for like thirty minutes and went through all of
these different clips of him juking people out and why
(23:29):
he did what he did and what he was looking
at and how he made it work. And then my
editorial feature, which would also be able to read on
Atlanta Falcons dot com is it should thank you, thank you,
But it is kind of a look into the art,
the science, and the psychology of what he's doing. Because
Jon Robinson is actually as nice of a guy as
he is, he is a master manipulator on the field
(23:52):
against these defensive guys. I mean, I go through this
whole thing about like fighter pilot decision making technique, how
much ground force Bajon is taking on his body when
he goes from twenty miles an hour to zero to
change the direction and make a move.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Like I am really like sports science stuff.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
It is.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, if you used to watch that show back in
the day, like.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Rip John, Yeah, like it was.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
That was kind of what I was going for when
we even pitched this back in Decembers, Like I want
it to be very sports science y. So what makes
Bejon so special and so different than anybody else playing
football right now? And I'm so excited for this project
and I really would love you guys to check it out,
both the written and the video feature.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Did you get into his recovery of it all?
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Like how he recovers from the forces he's putting into
his body.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
So not necessarily the recovery of it because his What
is funny is talking to some of our.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Strength and conditioning staff, They're like, he's actually a very
rare athlete in the way that his ankle joints, knee joints,
hit joints, the flexibility of which he has in his body.
Like They're like, he's this really enigma of a physical
athlete because he can take on so much force, he
can hit such a significant miles per hour he like
(25:10):
with his breakaway speed, and he has this like contact
balance that is something that to a certain extent you
can't really teach.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Well.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
It's kind of like how Michael Phelps was just like
perfectly somehow engineered to be in a swimming like swim. Yes, yeah,
no doubt, he's like as good as he is because
it's like, oh, these three differences between like a normal
human body quote unquote and like his body are like
these perfectly aligned areas to help him move quickly in water. Yes, yeah,
it's what.
Speaker 5 (25:39):
Drake London said in the postgame locker room on Monday,
straight up being like some humans are just built born
as athletes. But John Robinson he was talking about.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
Yes literally, and then he also added, you know what
he does is art. I think someone said it's poetry
in motion, Like there are just so you can wax
poetic about what John Robinson does on the football field,
and we had the chance to do that with this project.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Yeah. It's really truly an amazing story feature. Go check
it out. Bijan is the best doing it in the
NFL right now, and this is an incredible look at
how and how the Falcons are benefiting from it. So
they now have one more opportunity, I think, to make
a statement. Right, they were on the national spotlight against
(26:25):
Buffalo and kind of open I think the NFL world's
eyes to just what they can be. On Sunday, they
have a chance to kind of like right, maybe the
last maybe wrong that they had, which was hey, you
did it against Minnesota and then where was that against Carolina?
Good point, Yes, and coming off that Buffalo win, it's
as high as I've felt this fan base in a
long time. I need to see the team keep that
(26:48):
same energy on Sunday. So Taren, how do they go
about doing that? What have you heard from players and
coaches and what's kind of the vibe in the building.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
I mean, it's a question I've posed to multiple players
where you can't avoid the fact that the situations right
now are very similar to weeks two and three, big
prime time win, road game, big prime time win road game.
How do you make sure you don't have what happened
in Carolina happened in San Francisco? And the resounding response
(27:18):
comes down to mainly two things. Each week is its
own week and lesson learned. Kind of like they talk
about how that Carolina game was an anomaly and just
throw it out the window and things like that.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
But I don't know that they necessarily have.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
I think they remember because it's you don't want it
to happen again. They even if they said they had
a great week of prep something mentally might have not
been there because they're like, you learn from a loss,
and you learn from a win.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
I think it's really interesting too, and I believe it
was Michael Pennix who said that said this, this week
and he because he was asked that exact question and
he made the comment, he was like, you know, you.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Throw that out, that's not who we all are are.
The same thing.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Zach Robinson talked about it like that wasn't who we are.
We didn't put our best foot forward, like it's an anomaly.
Like everyone has said that, ye about that Carolina game.
I think this is the opportunity going out to San
Francisco to prove that right, like to prove once and
for all that that Carolina game was not who you were.
(28:22):
It was a flash in the pan of uh whatever.
That's not even like that's what that's what it was,
and it's not going to happen again in the same
kind of context of what it would happened in Carolina.
I think that is where you currently sit right now.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Is Okay.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
They've been saying that all week long, they've been saying
it since it happened. You throw it out, you throw stones,
you it's an anomaly, blah blah blah. But you gotta
show us that in San Francisco to make us believe
what you're saying, Like actions speak louder than words. The
whole ciche about that and honestly too, if anything, do
(29:04):
it to stay in step with the Bucks, because if
they keep winning, the Falcons.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Have to as well.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Absolutely, and San Francisco looks like they are going to
be right there in the thick the wild card rais.
There's a lot of reasons why a win on Sunday
night is going to be very important, but chief among
them is that this is the next thing that Atlanta
really needs to prove right, because the good teams, they
don't just not lose back to back games. Take that, Bills,
maybe you're not a good team because we did it
to you, but boy, they keep winning streaks going and
(29:34):
they don't ebb and flow right. They keep that level
high and they stick it to every single team and
they bring it each and every week. So thank you
guys so much for checking out this week's Friday five.
I hope we brought it. This is a reminder to
check out art of the juke. You can find it
on Atlanta Falcons dot com on all of our social channels.
Will be sharing it out so you won't have to
(29:54):
look very far, but please share it with everybody who
is a Falcons fan in your life or just in
always incredible once in a generation type of athletes, because
that's all or great human beings. Because everyone was like, yeah,
just share with everybody. We would really appreciated anything else
that you guys want to say before we get out
of here.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
I fell coming up the stairs on the way in here.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
I love that. Man. We should have led with that.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I just remembered.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Is you okay?
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah, I'm fine.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
All right, Well let's go ahead and end on that note.
But be sure to check out the pregame show an
hour before kickoff on Sunday night until next week. Everybody,
take care
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Oh my gosh, those short.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
Weeks got me like club And that was Calendar Corner,
brought to you by Calendar Stive. Falcons fans, what's up
and welcome back to another episode of Friday five. I'm
your Oswell McFadden, joined by Tory mclaney and Tarren Walk.
We are coming off of an incredible, exciting, exhilarating all
of the adjectives. I think I used incredible one hundred
(00:26):
times in the Falcons final whistle, so I'm gonna refrain
from doing that again for Falcons final whistle. But an
amazing win against the Buffalo Bills. Another big primetime game
on the docket against the San Francisco forty nine ers,
and so this show is going to share with you
the five things you need to know going into that matchup.
But up top, as we are gonna do from time
(00:49):
to time, here we want to talk about the social
question that you can check out on TikTok for the
Atlanta Falcons account. Players are asked a random question each
day they provide their answers. So our random question is,
if you could only eat one meal, Tory for the
rest of your life, what would you choose?
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I think pizza is a really easy one. Like I
could eat pizza at any time of the dinner, but
it would be like meal pizza and ice cream because
I can eat ice cream at any time.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Do you want an appetizer?
Speaker 4 (01:19):
I could do an appetizer as well. Yeah, maybe maybe
to get some green in like a caesar.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
This says one meal, not a three course meal.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
All right, my meals have appetizers.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
What are we doing? All right? I choose Golden Corral.
I get the buffet and wine.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Apparently we're eating full meals here.
Speaker 5 (01:37):
I would go do serin of Thailand and I would
get the crab angels to start with the coconut soup
with tofu as my app Then I would get the
Penang curry with steam tofu, not the go to fried tofu.
And for dessert a Thai tea martini, Tai tea martini.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Oh, I love that. I would just go with like
a simple breakfast sampler right on. Some egs. I want,
like some pancakes.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I want some bacon.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yeah, like I'm just gonna I will eat that. I
pretty much do eat every single day. So that will
do it for our social question of the day. We
are now going to turn to a quick overview of
the NFC South. We are third of the way through
the season. It's always kind of trippy how they've they've
changed the number of weeks. It's always hard to catch up.
But third of the way through the season, Taren, you
got an update for us on the NFC South and
(02:18):
outstacks up?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yes to no.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
In surprise, the Buccaneers are in the lead. They have
a five and one record overall, and they're one and
zero division. That divisional win obviously came over the Falcons
in week one. Then you have the Falcons in second,
who are three and two overall, zero and two in
the division, followed by the Panthers who are three and
three overall, one and o in the division. That one
win did come against the Falcons also in week three.
(02:42):
Then you have the Saints who are one in five
and have not played a divisional game, and there are
no NFC South matchups in week seven. So the Falcons
are the only team that I've played more than one
divisional game.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Good lord.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Yeah, well, and sometimes it do be like that, Toy.
Is this how you expected the division to kind of
be shaping out.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
A little bit?
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yeah, I think that we knew that the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers were the team to beat, but not just that.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I think what we've learned.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Over the first six weeks of the season is that
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are actually legit contenders. They are
not just the team to beat in the NFC South,
they're the team to beat overall.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
I know that there are a lot of power.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Rankings going into this week, week seven that had the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the number one ranked team in
all of pro football. So I really think that the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and I've said this before, but they're
the ones that are setting the pace for the NFC
and the NFC South. But what's interesting about that is
that they're not blowing people out of the water. I know,
(03:41):
they just beat the San Francisco forty nine ers, which
we're going to get into that game in a little bit,
but they just beat them what was at thirty nineteen
and which that is honestly their largest margin of victory
through the first six weeks of the season. And what's
funny is is like everything else is by one point two.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Point three and the march wasn't that large.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
The whole game and the whole Yeah, exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
It wasn't until the very yeah, yeah, So what's I mean,
it's kind of the Baker mayfieldness of it all. They
they're doing enough to win every single game there that
they're playing. They are taking what I think is like
these moments in time that can kind of change the
pace of a game, and they're capitalizing on those moments.
(04:27):
They kind of have this like clutch gene that you
always feel like one team always has every single year.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I feel like it's the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right now.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
I feel like if you looked up clutch gen Yeah,
like Baker Mayfield's face right now would be the main
thing that comes up. Because that's a great point. But
you know, Taran, we knew Tampa Bay was always gonna
kind of be in the mix for the NFC South Carolina,
I gotta I gotta be honest, Like they're not a
team I necessarily saw coming or at least sticking around
for as long as they have. They beat Carolina, but
do you think Carolina, or they beat Atlanta, but do
(04:55):
you think Carolina is here to stay the rest of
the season, or do you think they may fade back
to the pack.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
Can all their games be played at Bank of America Stadium?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
True?
Speaker 2 (05:03):
They win everyone there, aren't they undefeated at home?
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I believe.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I think that's where like the craziest Yeah, like.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
With like historic rushing numbers. Rico Dawbell looks like Todd
Gurley circa two thousand and like sixteen or whatever. It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
I wouldn't underestimate them. I mean, which all happens. If
you do.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
Exactly, if you somehow are able to take that home
mojo onto the road mojo, then they might be an
actual contender in the NFC South two and five.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Yeah, there they They I think are very close to
just being like, all right, well, we'll see the next season. Saints,
they've been tight in some of those games. And Spencer
Rattler actually, like it's totally understandable if you haven't been
paying attention to the Saints, but he has been playing
pretty well.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
The fighting Spencer Rattlers.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, the Rattler Snakes are are doing doing a little
bit down there. They got to take some hillback they
you know, big times down in New Orleans for them. Uh,
let's let's move on to the forty nine and the
Bucks played the forty nine ers this week. As you mentioned,
they continued winning thirty nineteen. But Taren, what stood out
to you the most about kind of this game once
(06:09):
you started digging into it, about you know what the
Bucks were able to do?
Speaker 5 (06:14):
Gosh, there were three key stats that I pulled. The
forty nine Ers were seven out of sixteen on third down. No, boy, no,
they had nine penalties for sixty five yards, which was
way more than I think the Buccaneers had six. And
then they lost two turnovers compared to the Buccaneers zero
and it was two interceptions from mac Jones. One turned
(06:35):
into a touchdown and one turned into a field goal.
So again, as we talked about last year, last year,
last week with the Bills, they had three turnovers and
it turned into ten points and they only lost by
what was it at one point, that was so far
long ago, it was a.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Year ago, and then it was a whole year.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
And now you have a team granted thirty nineteen. Even
if those ten points are taken back, it's a one
point game, but still it's a lot feel different if
those turnovers don't happen. You always feel different if turnovers
don't happen. So I think those are the three areas
that the Falcons can capitalize on, like turning the ball over, well,
not them.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Forcing turnover, winning.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
The turnover margin, getting them off the field on third
down yep. And then you can't really force them into penalties,
but make sure.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
You play clean. So if they don't, they're the ones
losing that battle too.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Hey, if they line Felipe Franks up in the quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
He's as good as Aaron Rodgers is getting people to jump.
The turnover margin is a great point. The forty nine
ers are plus one and the turnover margin in their
wins minus six in their losses. Right, So if you
can force a couple of turnovers, you got a pretty
good chance. And I mean it was really the late
turnover tory right in that game that sealed it kind
of for the Bucks. They missed field goal. We're able
(07:49):
to come back and capitalize and get the field goal.
But otherwise, Tampa Bay and Atlanta are different teams, very
different teams. Atlanta doesn't have a Baker Mayfield, but Tampa right,
Bay doesn't have a Bajon Robbins right yet, right, So
what can we pull out of Tampa Bay's kind of
blueprint performance against San Francisco and use.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
So I read a lot, I watched a lie and
I think the main thing and I don't want this
to sound cliche, because I genuinely believe it. But to me,
when it comes to what the Falcons can learn from
what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers it did against the San
Francisco forty nine ers, is that the game in the trenches,
that's where it's gonna be one. But I think that's
exactly where the Falcons should want it to be one
(08:30):
is at the line of scrimmage. So I'll start kind
of with what I learned about the way that the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive line played the offensive line for
the San Francisco forty nine ers. They struggled to run
the ball, which with Christian McCaffrey is not something that
I think anyone is used to. It was the blocking
up front was a bit like like Christian McCaffrey was
(08:52):
getting hit kind of one yard into his run. He
had seventeen carries for fifty four yards in totals. The
San Francis Go forty nine ers only had sixty seven
total rushing yards. Matt Jones was sacked I believe six times.
Like this defensive front for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers really
made things difficult for the forty nine ers up front.
(09:14):
Now switching on the other side and talking about kind
of what Tampa did offensively by comparison, it really wasn't
a fantastic day for Tampa Bay running backs. But that's
really not why I thought that Tampa Bay's front was
playing well. It was actually based on that Baker had
so much I felt like Baker had so much time
(09:37):
in the pocket to throw. I felt like he was
kept very clean.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Tristan Wurf's played great in this game.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
I thought to do you know, there were a lot
of explosive plays within this game for Tampa Bay through
the air Specifically, I actually went back and I looked
at it. For every single Tampa Bay player who caught
a pass from Baker, they had at least one explosive,
so fifteen plus yards at least one. And I think
they had six or seven different guys who caught a
(10:07):
pass from Baker Mayfield, all of which had an explosive,
every single one. So you're happy, like Baker was able
to move the ball in these big chunks and supplementary
run game kind of helped him out. Baker scrambled a
few times, as we've known him to do, but I
think like that to me is indicative of what the
front was doing protecting Baker, because as we talked about previously,
(10:30):
you need time in the pocket in order for those
routes to develop downfield. Yep, and he was protected and
he was accurate within those deep ball throws. Like, so
I think that's those are the two areas where ultimately,
as I was looking back, I was like, that's if
you're the Falcons, winning up front is the game you want,
but also the game that we just saw the Tampa
(10:51):
Bay Buccaneers win because.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Of Okay, so yeah, I sticking here for a second
because you kind of have made me wonder about something
that we haven't yet seen from Atlanta's offense we really expected,
which was kind of this vertical element, right, And if
Christian McCaffrey, I'm looking next gen stats minus eighteen yards
rushing over expectation, so that would be a normal running
back in a similar situation. He got eighteen fewer yards.
(11:14):
So yeah, Tampa Bay's defense was locked or San Franz,
Tampa Bay's defense was locked in against the run. But
I kind of think that Atlanta can really have a
lot of success against you know, San Francisco's defense through
the air deep. What did you learn about that when
you were looking in a matchup.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Yeah, I think that it was It all has to
do kind of with that downfield accuracy of which I
felt like Baker had. I felt like he had a
very good understanding of where his open receivers were going
to be was going to be, and with Michael PENNOCKX,
that's something that even when he was going back to
that Carolina game that he even Michael Pennocks was even like,
you know, I have to hit my open guys. I
(11:52):
have to hit my open receivers. And we saw him
do that against the Washington Commanders. We definitely saw him
do that in the first half against the Buffalo Bills.
And I think that this is a really good opportunity
seeing what Baker Mayfield was able to do against this
secondary for the forty nine ers that that was open
for him, that was available to him. So what can
Michael Pinnox do with that opportunity is something I'm curious
(12:15):
to see if that ends up.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Being in the game.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Plan, but also understanding that you still have Bjon Robinson. Sure,
so you hand the ball off and he's somehow getting
fifteen yards of popla. So it's the trade off of
kind of like pick your poison, which is exactly again
where the Falcons want to be like they want you
if you're going to load the box, they want to
be able to let Michael Pinox's arm loose. If you're
not going to, they're going to hand the ball off
to Bajon Robinson, Tyler Algier and have them do what
(12:39):
they do best.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Absolutely, Territory mentioned the trenches and kind of I think
Atlanta's defense is going to be real well primed in
this game to kind of slow down Christian McCaffrey. They
were very good against James Cook and the game script's
helped there. But flipping the other side, Jake Matthews, he
is left the game at before a halftime, didn't come back,
is dealing with an ankle in what's kind of the
(13:01):
latest on him.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
I actually came straight from open practice to this podcast
room and noticed that Jake Matthews was not out there.
Today is Thursday, and yesterday Wednesday's estimated injury report said
he was not a participant.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
You don't see that from him because.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Normally if you see anything, it says rest day, veteran
rest day, not injury related. But I'm curious more so
about tomorrow's game report Fridays when this episode will come out.
This will come out in the morning, so the game
report will come out in the afternoon.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
But he's had one hundred and eighty three consecutive show.
I know.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
I wrote an entire thousand plus words story about how
he is mister consistent even if he doesn't take a
single practice nap. I would not be the least bit
surprised if he takes the field on Sunday. But if
he doesn't and somehow someway, that streak comes to an end.
Everyone was very happy with how Michael Jarell played. Darrell
(13:58):
himself said he felt comfortable. It took a minute for
him to get warmed up and like in the moment.
But when I was talking to Chris Lynstrom yesterday in
the locker room, he was saying, I mean, it's tough.
It was the two minute drill before halftime that he
has to come out in pass Pro and he held
his own and drill has a history of being a
(14:18):
proven backup in this league. So it's not like you're
putting someone who hasn't played significant professional reps into Jake
Matthew's shoes. But what was funny in the locker room
after the game on Monday. I asked Jurell, like, were
those big shoes to fill? Like could you tell they
were big shoes to fill? And he's like, yeah, you know,
(14:40):
everyone out there is like, who's this guy filming in
nineties not ninety seventy shoes?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Like it was a little it was a little pressure there.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
But yeah, no, I mean it's literally like impossible to
imagine a Falcons offensive line without Jake Matthews in it.
It's weird because he has been in it for one
hundred and eighty three straight games. So tearing the Falcons
are going to be the only team though, dealing with
with the injury situation. What is the latest on the
forty nine ers and there are many many injuries that
they're dealing with.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
Go to the forty nine ers website click injury report, No, go.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
To our website and click injury report.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yes, do that too. Go to all the NFL team's
website websites.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
And you'll notice the forty nine ers is the longest
injury report out there. There are eighteen roll yes, yeah,
oh my gosh, no, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
And I was like doing the mental math.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
I was like, eighteen plus eighteen is thirty six plus
eighteen and then I lost it. So I was like,
so it's about a third of their fifty three man
roster is on the injury report.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
But I know you don't care exactly about the numbers.
You want to know.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Who and maybe just the biggest names.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Brock Party first of all is TBD. I'm curious to
see what the injury report Wednesday says, whether or not
he's practicing.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, because he was limited on Wednesday.
Speaker 5 (15:53):
Yeah, yeah, today's Wednesday Thursday.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Oh my gosh. Those short weeks got me like.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
What And that was corner brought to you by Calendars.
Speaker 5 (16:04):
Okay, anyways, well let's start with those who are officially out.
Nick Bosa has been out, Fred Warner is now out
because he had that season ending ankle injury last week.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Rock Purdy and Ricky pearsall are TBD.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
They said they might practice this week and we'll see
like how that goes. But returning to practice this week
where was for sure George Kittle and Jordan Watkins. But
that's four big names on the offense alone. I mean,
you're missing two huge names for sure on the defense,
and then there's still everyone else on that list. I
mean Mac Jones is also limited this week, so you
(16:45):
have both of your quarterbacks limited. It's a tough one.
So I not to cut you off.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
I do think that this is going to be a
very interesting week for Atlanta to face San Francisco because
of all the injuries you just named, but also mainly
because of.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
The pieces that they could get back.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
And I think that there are a lot of variants
that we could see from this forty nine ers offense
based on how these guys are progressing through practice.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
That's challenging if you're Jeff Ulbrick right of.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Preparing for this, Yeah, because there is a difference, let's
be real, between brock Party and mac Jones, even though
mac Jones has been holding his own and winning games
for that organization. But getting George Kittle back, Ricky back,
like you know, Rickaye like maybe it is one of
those things where I feel like Christian McCaffrey over the
last few weeks has had to carry a big load,
(17:36):
whether it be catching the ball out of the backfield,
running the ball, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
But to extend a hearty thanks on behalf of my
fantasy team for that, Christian, thank you so much man.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
But they've had to rely so much.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
I think on him that now if you see that
Brock Party can potentially come back, you think that George
Kittle can potentially come back, that changes the offensive scope
of who the forty nine ers are and what they're
doing in Kyle Shanahan's offense.
Speaker 5 (18:03):
Literally asked Jesse Bates about that today, where it's like
you're basically preparing for two different offenses, Like, yeah, as
you said, Rock Party offense is different than a Mac
Jones offense.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
But then Jesse's like, no, you're not. He didn't say
it like.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
That, but you're preparing for Kyle Shane I hate exactly.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
He's like, it's they're gonna do the same things, just
the people are different and the talent level is definitely different.
He did say, though, I George Kittle is out there,
you know they're gonna want to get the ball to
George Kittle.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
And George Kittle is gonna want to get the ball.
Will did Jeff Obrick yesterday talk about what did he
kind of talk about in terms of like what the
game plan is for for the Falcons defense?
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Yeah, you know, like understandably, he was asked a lot
about kind of just like the Excellence on on Monday Night,
but there was a little bit of the question specifically
about the quarterbacks towards the end there, and he said
that there's not a ton of difference with brock Party
and mac Jones, Like generally, you're gonna kind of envision
the Shanahan type of quarterback, where like you'd run a
(19:01):
lot of bootleg, you run a lot of play action,
you kind of point and shoot and just hit the
receiver when they're open. However, when I was watching the
Tampa Bay game, I did get the sense that the
mac Jones could be a little bit more susceptible to
maybe some of the disguises in coverage that Atlanta also
really likes to run. You're talking a lot at Like
I was a little bit floored by the who was
a Dawson Knox that caught the touchdown for Buffalo because
(19:24):
it was a really well designed and beautiful kind of
concept that I think they just lucked into the perfect
play on but Jesse is in. They disguise it as
like a cover four it first and then which is
four deep quarters that you're covering there, and then Jesse
rolls into essentially a cover one robber, which is one
safety comes down in the middle of the field to
take an inbreaking route away and Josh Allen makes a
(19:44):
great throw. So I would expect to see a lot
of that against San Francisco, And I do think that
if mac Jones is in there, you could see a
few more turnovers which are gonna be key on Sunday
as opposed to brock Party. So that's where I think
that the difference between those two guys, even though Jeff
Ulbrick is going to they're the same because again that's
how they should approach it. It could be a big deal
out there.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
The biggest thing too, that I think Jeff Olbert talked
about was like covering Christian McCaffrey. He's I think he
made the comment he was like, everyone's gonna have to
cover him at some point. Every Yeah, everyone's going to
be on him at some point. Everyone's gonna have to
look him in the eye and tackle him at some
point because that's how the forty nine ers use him.
It's similar to Bajon. He is kind of the engine
of what the forty nine ers do and want to do,
(20:24):
so I think.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
That is how we move forward.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
Thinking about this San Francisco forty nine Ers team as well.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
Did you just say Bajeon and Christian are alike and
I'm definitely stealing Will's transition?
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Go for it.
Speaker 6 (20:37):
But I was like, oh, this is a perfect way
to set it up. You said that, though, right, I
did say that, Yes, well they are, Oh you know,
I'm say And this stems back to.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
Last off season when Raheem Morris flat out told the
media during the off season that the Falcons want to
utilize Bajean Robinson just like the forty nine ers utilize
Christian McCaffrey, and then Bajon doubled down on it.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Fast forward a year and.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
Bajon and Christian spent a month together training in the
off season in California, and at that point, Bijon said,
he taught me a whole bunch of nuanced moves that
I got to learn on the field, and I did
the same with him. Could you imagine being a part
of that conversation.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
It would be great, Like I would love to be
a fly on the wall in there.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
Oh yeah, it'd be fascinating, Like how are they comparing moves?
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Like I just want to know them.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
But anyways, that yeah, oh, and I do have a
stat to go with it. Oh yeah, Christian and Bajon
are the only two players in the NFL who have
had at least one hundred yards.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
From scrimmage in every single game this season.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Impressive.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Okay, now I'm done.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
That is crazy, And yeah, I mean Christian. Christian has
been an amazing wide receiver this season as well for
the forty nine ers, So that's kind of what Brick
was getting at as well. It's like they're going to
figure out any possible way to get him the ball,
and if he's running a route, he's probably getting the
ball as well, and if they're handing it off to him,
he's obviously getting the ball. So he is one of
the best in the league for a long time going.
Bijon is on a totally different level this year. It's
(22:04):
kind of like last year was a breakout year, his
rookie year was a breakout year, and this is somehow
again a breakout year for Bajean Robinson. He's on pace
i'd believe to set the all time record in yards
from scrimmage and just the way he does it looks
so smooth and effortless, toy like, what how does Beijan do? This?
Speaker 1 (22:22):
So funny that you ask.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
So Now on Atlanta Falcons dot com and Atlanta Falcons
YouTube you can actually see a project that we have
been working on since I think we pitched it back
in December of last year. We sat down with Bajon
and some people in the Falcons organization in April May.
We've been researching, doing all this different stuff myself and
(22:44):
Genny Ross, who's the editor for the feature, and it's
called Art of the Duke, and it is kind of
a passion project for what Bajon does, like what his
passion is as as a runner and what he embodied
as the modern example of how to use the juke
(23:06):
and how to be elusive as a runner and how
to make people miss. And so this project is twofold.
It is a video feature which really dives into the
artwork of it and what makes him so special in
the ruf cam videos. And we actually sat down with
Bejon for like thirty minutes and went through all of
these different clips of him juking people out and why
(23:29):
he did what he did and what he was looking
at and how he made it work. And then my
editorial feature, which would also be able to read on
Atlanta Falcons dot com is it should thank you, thank you,
But it is kind of a look into the art,
the science, and the psychology of what he's doing. Because
Jon Robinson is actually as nice of a guy as
he is, he is a master manipulator on the field
(23:52):
against these defensive guys. I mean, I go through this
whole thing about like fighter pilot decision making technique, how
much ground force Bajon is taking on his body when
he goes from twenty miles an hour to zero to
change the direction and make a move.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Like I am really like sports science stuff.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
It is.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, if you used to watch that show back in
the day, like.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Rip John, Yeah, like it was.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
That was kind of what I was going for when
we even pitched this back in Decembers, Like I want
it to be very sports science y. So what makes
Bejon so special and so different than anybody else playing
football right now? And I'm so excited for this project
and I really would love you guys to check it out,
both the written and the video feature.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Did you get into his recovery of it all?
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Like how he recovers from the forces he's putting into
his body.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
So not necessarily the recovery of it because his What
is funny is talking to some of our.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Strength and conditioning staff, They're like, he's actually a very
rare athlete in the way that his ankle joints, knee joints,
hit joints, the flexibility of which he has in his body.
Like They're like, he's this really enigma of a physical
athlete because he can take on so much force, he
can hit such a significant miles per hour he like
(25:10):
with his breakaway speed, and he has this like contact
balance that is something that to a certain extent you
can't really teach.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Well.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
It's kind of like how Michael Phelps was just like
perfectly somehow engineered to be in a swimming like swim. Yes, yeah,
no doubt, he's like as good as he is because
it's like, oh, these three differences between like a normal
human body quote unquote and like his body are like
these perfectly aligned areas to help him move quickly in water. Yes, yeah,
it's what.
Speaker 5 (25:39):
Drake London said in the postgame locker room on Monday,
straight up being like some humans are just built born
as athletes. But John Robinson he was talking about.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
Yes literally, and then he also added, you know what
he does is art. I think someone said it's poetry
in motion, Like there are just so you can wax
poetic about what John Robinson does on the football field,
and we had the chance to do that with this project.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Yeah. It's really truly an amazing story feature. Go check
it out. Bijan is the best doing it in the
NFL right now, and this is an incredible look at
how and how the Falcons are benefiting from it. So
they now have one more opportunity, I think, to make
a statement. Right, they were on the national spotlight against
(26:25):
Buffalo and kind of open I think the NFL world's
eyes to just what they can be. On Sunday, they
have a chance to kind of like right, maybe the
last maybe wrong that they had, which was hey, you
did it against Minnesota and then where was that against Carolina?
Good point, Yes, and coming off that Buffalo win, it's
as high as I've felt this fan base in a
long time. I need to see the team keep that
(26:48):
same energy on Sunday. So Taren, how do they go
about doing that? What have you heard from players and
coaches and what's kind of the vibe in the building.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
I mean, it's a question I've posed to multiple players
where you can't avoid the fact that the situations right
now are very similar to weeks two and three, big
prime time win, road game, big prime time win road game.
How do you make sure you don't have what happened
in Carolina happened in San Francisco? And the resounding response
(27:18):
comes down to mainly two things. Each week is its
own week and lesson learned. Kind of like they talk
about how that Carolina game was an anomaly and just
throw it out the window and things like that.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
But I don't know that they necessarily have.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
I think they remember because it's you don't want it
to happen again. They even if they said they had
a great week of prep something mentally might have not
been there because they're like, you learn from a loss,
and you learn from a win.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
I think it's really interesting too, and I believe it
was Michael Pennix who said that said this, this week
and he because he was asked that exact question and
he made the comment, he was like, you know, you.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Throw that out, that's not who we all are are.
The same thing.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Zach Robinson talked about it like that wasn't who we are.
We didn't put our best foot forward, like it's an anomaly.
Like everyone has said that, ye about that Carolina game.
I think this is the opportunity going out to San
Francisco to prove that right, like to prove once and
for all that that Carolina game was not who you were.
(28:22):
It was a flash in the pan of uh whatever.
That's not even like that's what that's what it was,
and it's not going to happen again in the same
kind of context of what it would happened in Carolina.
I think that is where you currently sit right now.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Is Okay.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
They've been saying that all week long, they've been saying
it since it happened. You throw it out, you throw stones,
you it's an anomaly, blah blah blah. But you gotta
show us that in San Francisco to make us believe
what you're saying, Like actions speak louder than words. The
whole ciche about that and honestly too, if anything, do
(29:04):
it to stay in step with the Bucks, because if
they keep winning, the Falcons.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Have to as well.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Absolutely, and San Francisco looks like they are going to
be right there in the thick the wild card rais.
There's a lot of reasons why a win on Sunday
night is going to be very important, but chief among
them is that this is the next thing that Atlanta
really needs to prove right, because the good teams, they
don't just not lose back to back games. Take that, Bills,
maybe you're not a good team because we did it
to you, but boy, they keep winning streaks going and
(29:34):
they don't ebb and flow right. They keep that level
high and they stick it to every single team and
they bring it each and every week. So thank you
guys so much for checking out this week's Friday five.
I hope we brought it. This is a reminder to
check out art of the juke. You can find it
on Atlanta Falcons dot com on all of our social channels.
Will be sharing it out so you won't have to
(29:54):
look very far, but please share it with everybody who
is a Falcons fan in your life or just in
always incredible once in a generation type of athletes, because
that's all or great human beings. Because everyone was like, yeah,
just share with everybody. We would really appreciated anything else
that you guys want to say before we get out
of here.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
I fell coming up the stairs on the way in here.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
I love that. Man. We should have led with that.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I just remembered.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Is you okay?
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah, I'm fine.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
All right, Well let's go ahead and end on that note.
But be sure to check out the pregame show an
hour before kickoff on Sunday night until next week. Everybody,
take care
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