September 5, 2025 • 31 mins
Welcome to the Friday Five, the Falcons Friday show centered around five and fun! Will McFadden, Tori McElhaney and Terrin Waack kick off the show by reintroducing themselves to the listeners and then giving their 5 biggest "things" for the Falcons in 2025.
0:00 - Intro & Welcome to the Friday Five
2:11 - Five things about us
11:30 - Five big things about 2025
30:00 - Outro & Final 5-word predictions
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On the couch with her hood up like this.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I don't let the grass do the talking, which isn't
like actual grass talking.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
That doesn't sound good.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Happy Friday Falcons fans, and welcome to our new show.
It is called The Friday Five. I'm Will McFadden. I'm
joined Tory mc laney and Taron Walk who were holding
up fives at me, which is awesome. I love it.
We're getting in the spirit and what this show really
is is our attempt to have a little bit more
fun heading into the football weekend. So each show we're
(00:32):
going to incorporate some element of five into the rundown.
That's really just kind of it. Did we just choose
five because of the alliteration, Tory?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I think we did. I don't really actually remember how
we landed on this. I just remember there was at
one point where I was like, we have to end
every episode like with a joint high five?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
And did we did have that?
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Like we had that at.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Some point in the early iteration of this show. I
was like, we need to like do something with high fives.
But we're still learning, we're still trying to figure out
what this show really is.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yeah, I mean one week we may have five topics.
The next week, we may have five trivia questions and
are spurs throughout shoot one show. We may all be
replaced by five year olds. I don't know. We haven't
thought through it all that much. That would be great,
though that let's put that.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
On the idea doc. We do have an idea doc
on you know enough five year olds?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I don't I'm getting close.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
That is true.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Will would know the most kids. Yeah, that doesn't sound good.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
All right, move right along. So that is the spirit
we are bringing to this new show and we're excited
to start this journey with you all. If you have
any recommendations or feedback for the show, leave comments wherever
you can, whether you want to do that on Spotify, YouTube,
hit us up on social, et cetera. And on today's episode,
we're going to share our five biggest things for the
twenty twenty five season. Now, I guess a running pattern
(01:50):
already for this is that biggest Things is a little
bit nebulous, right, So for some it could be lessons
we learned from last year that we're keeping in mind.
It could be the things we need to see from
the team this year. So you know, let's just go
ahead and get right on into it. But before we
get to the football, I want to start with a
little bit of personal. I want to get to know
(02:12):
my two lovely co hosts here, and we're going to
start with Terrean. So Taran, I want five adjectives, words,
phrases to describe you.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Okay, that's not one of them.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I want to all of them right there.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I want to preface this by saying I took it
upon myself to be like, what are Terran's five going
to be? And I want to say I got really close.
So I want you to know that.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
There's one curveball.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
There is one curve ball, and I'm curious why I
save the curveball for save the curveball for last.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Okay, So word number one is Nascar. Am I supposed
to describe or give a reason why I just roll?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Keep going?
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Surin what I don't.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Know that of Thailand? There are six locations. I've been
to five.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
It's a restaurant. It's a restaurant, right typhood ty t Martini?
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Who is having some tonight?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Is it only in Thailand than Okay, just to Thailand.
Visit five of the six restaurants America base gotcha? Okay,
so a small thie chain, yes in America?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yes, Okay, Spotty cow all hail the best beer to
exist Reality TV because we know I'm a huge fan.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
And my last one is Stitch.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Okay, that's the one that I have a question about
because for those that don't know, Taran loves the movie Cars,
similar to Will's son, I am Taren and I used.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
To live heard the two sides of the ven diagram
for the five year old.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Taran and I used to live together, and I knew
that she would be like missing home or like going
through something because I would walk into our living room
and she would be on the couch with her hood
up like this, like so, watching cars, and I knew
that she was going through something. If that was okay.
So the fact that Stitches on here threw me off completely.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I like, I couldn't do cars because I also had
Nascar on there, and because you predicted cars, and because
Will made me think if I said cars that people
are gonna think I'm a car junkie, which they still
might because I said Nascar.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
But it's fine, Stitch.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
You're super into Stitches.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
If you google not Google.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
If you search Stitch in the gifts on your phone,
all of them are just me like as a person,
Like that's just like my spirit Animal's interesting. There's like
the sad Stitch, there's the dancing Stitch, there's the angry Stitch.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
I relate to Stitch.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Did you see the live action?
Speaker 4 (04:37):
No?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Sorry? What was your what was your kind of like sad?
I feel good movie that you turn on?
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Oh man, when I was younger, at any point when okay,
so back right now, what's your go to?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
It's a bad day, it's maybe it's rainy outside.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
Up.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I love a good wrong comment for every like Valentine's Day,
for basically like my entire life. I would watch Letters
to Juliet. I love that movie. It is one of
or She's the Man, She's the Man. Letters to Juliet
my probably my two favorite movies. Just when I'm feeling
(05:19):
a certain type of way, those are my two go
tos that make me feel better.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Mine was always this is stupid. But also, you know,
the biggest like millennial boy thing of me is forgetting
Sarah Marshall. For whatever reason, there was something about just
seeing like a schmuck go to Hawaii, being down on
the dumps that I related to where I was like,
I too, am having a bad day Jason Siegel, and
I wish I was in a while.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
With fifty first dates.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Yeah, that's a good one too. Yeah, Adam Sandler's having
a moment. Anyway, we're all back the rails, yes, so
let's go ahead and bring it on back. I will
share my five first one is cooking pretty good. Cook
Ali benefits on our anniversaries and her birthday.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Is that the only time you cook for her?
Speaker 1 (06:00):
No?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I actually cook. I actually cook dinner.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
Like most nights you listened to two days though, this day, well,
those are the days where I really really like push myself.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Ironically, we were having kind of the kickoff cookies today
and I tried my hand at baking cookies yesterday and
it did not go well. So I'm not a baker.
I'm I'm a cooker. Cooker right, culinary arts only.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Here's a word for that.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
There you go, cooking chef's cinema. That's my second word here,
all right. I'm a big fan of movies. You know,
when you when you're sports twenty four to seven, you
need to kind of relax and take your mind away
from it all. So movies are really my kind of
comfort food when I want to chill out. I'm really
smooth when nobody's watching, right, So if nobody's looking at me,
I'm gonna, like, you know, the kind of things where like, hey,
(06:47):
I got some trash and I'm like gonna shoot in
the trash can from like fifteen feet away, like an
impressively far, like I'm gonna make that every single time,
and then like the minute that I'm just like, DoD
anybody see that thing, It's like, no, what are you
talking about? So I always just have to kind of
brag about these little random things that nobody else would
care about except for me.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
See, we can't believe you. We're just sitting here like
m hm sure.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Yeah, well there you go, there you go. So nobody
will ever nobody will ever know animal lover, you know,
bring me your dogs, bring me your cats, bring me
your hedgehogs. I love them all. And then data is
my last word, because that is is what Liam currently
calls me now, and I love it. Not McCullough, not
not McCullough now. My son also starts with an mc though,
(07:31):
so you know Liam mc tory Tory MC.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Okay, So for Will's cooking, I am actually the anti cooking.
I hate cooking. Why anything? I hate Like, I'm not
good at it. I can make scrambled eggs, I can
make cereal, and that is about it. I struggle in
the kitchen. I don't have the patience for it. I
(07:59):
also in hell my food. So like, if I cook,
it takes such a long time and then I eat
it in zero point two seconds and then I'm like
I did all of that for nothing.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
It's true, she does not cook.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
I hate it.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
You threw me under the bus being roommates. Yeah, you
never had groceries.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
It was always like pre made meals, yeah, or uber
eat or uberes.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Do you consider making cereal cooking? No, it's combining. Yeah,
it's like not even making anything.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
But at least she bought groceries.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
That okay, because she doesn't even do that.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I don't even do Yeah I have. I have not
gone to a grocery store to get anything besides like
wine and a prepackaged meal in months. I just don't
like it. I don't have time for it. I feel
like I can use my time elsewhere.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Wow. That was a very revealing. First first word for this.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
One's not so.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
My second phrase word is not surprising. I'm pro Taylor
Swift just as a human and a person and her music.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I love her.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
She's my girl. Can't wait to go to that wedding.
I will be a bridesmaid. So number three podcasts, but
specifically podcasts about murder. I love crime junkie. I love
anatomy of murder like I love true crime podcasts, specifically
when there's a murder and the murderer is found out.
(09:15):
I think clusing, like one of my favorite games as
a kid, really has really yeah, really has transformed into
my adulthood.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
So they're not a fan of unsolved murders, correct.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I don't like a cold case. I like those solved murder.
I like being able to wrap it up in one
fail swoop.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
She knows the murder is not out there, then exactly, I.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Know the murderers hot Okay. So I My fourth thing
is I despise wildcat formation. I have despised wildcat formation
for much of my adult life. I'm not a fan
of it. I think it's predictable and I don't think
it really works. I know that there are people out
there that could pull up ten different plays out of
Wildcat formation that have worked and have scorn touchdowns I e.
(09:53):
The University of Georgia circ. Twenty seventeen. However, I will
never like it poibot period, the.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I mean the Wildcat Like how many running backs right
now are are still or receivers right? Mohmtsanu was kind
of the last one I think here to do that.
Like we've seen Drake from time to time, but is
the Wildcats? Is it still coming to get you?
Speaker 1 (10:14):
I mean not as much as it was I think
five six years ago, and definitely not in the professional landscape.
I think it was more of like a college type
of look and something that they would like to throw in.
But there for a while, Uga did it too much
and I hated every moment of it. I literally would
see them set up and.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Was Isaiah was it Isaiah Mackenzie?
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Yeah, Nicole Hardman or both of Bokay Yeah? And then
Sony Michelle like him.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
A couple times I thought that was gonna be your
fifth thing.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
No, my fifth thing is love's a good frozen marg
for Taco Tuesday. There's nothing that really gets me going
quite like a frozen margarita after a long day at
work over some tacos and cheese.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I love cheese.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
What's your favorite type of cheese?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Oh? Boy, my favorite scooda to quote she's the man.
Bring it back.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
It's like, what are the five biggest cheeses in America?
We had that whole debate and that was amazing.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Not again, yeah, what were they? No, it said cities.
It didn't say cheese.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
It was not the five types of cheeses.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Yeah, the five.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Most cheeses was said, but the question of the day
was the five top cities with this, somebody miss that's funny.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
All right, let's go ahead and get to the season.
Let's get some football here. So the Falcons are gonna
play their their season opener against Tampa Bay Buccaneers one
pm on Sunday. Be sure to check out our kickoff,
our pregame show one hour beforehand on YouTube. Taylor Vismore
Derek Rackley do an amazing job with that. But this
(11:48):
is gonna be less about Sunday's game, more about the season,
and Sunday's game obviously plays a very big part in
all of that, maybe even a bigger part than in
some recent years, given who the opponent's gonna be so Tori,
why don't you go through kind of your five and
then we're gonna pick one or two to to really
kind of dig into and touch on a little bit further.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Yeah, So number one, stay a step ahead of Tampa
Bay at all times because I think, I mean, as
we all know, Tampa Bay has been very much a
team that's been out in front of the division for
years at this point. So you have to stay a
step ahead of them throughout the season's entirety in my opinion.
Number two, rethink the way we think about Kyle Pitts,
(12:33):
and if you want to touch on that later, I'll elaborate. Yeah.
Number three, the old cliche about a dynamic run game
being a young quarterback's best friend. Yeah, we're gonna need
that to be true in Atlanta. I think just because
Michael Pennix can throw the snot out of the ball,
I don't think that you have to You don't, You shouldn't.
You should not get away from your bread.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
And butter as an offense and bread and butter in
one sentence. That's a tough that's a tough look.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Number four, I said, get after the MFN quarterback. This
is a pass rush that needs to come alive and
hasn't come alive in years. And they've pumped a lot
of resources into this defense in order for that to
be the case. And finally Number five put some respect
behind this roster. And I say that because there are
a lot of individual pieces that are praised nationally but
(13:23):
never the team as a whole. And of course it's
because like they're not winning games, they're winning seven, they're
going seven to ten or whatever the case might be,
very in the middle of the road, mediocre.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
For lack of a better word.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
But as we've talked about on this podcast, there are
a lot of individual players who are have these big
accolades and are nationally known. So like, change the narrative,
Like this team has the individual pieces to be great,
so be great. Change that narrative about how things are
looked at around here.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
I do want to go back to Kyle Pitchers. I
knew you what, but I want to start kind of
continuing that thought that you just gave us, because I
wonder how much, like offensively, I think a little bit
of an identity has been building through the draft. Right,
we have heard nationally friends like Robert Mays, you know,
Steve Wish, everybody like that saying, hey, they've got a young,
up and coming offense with great skill players. You got
(14:14):
to find that quarterback. But you've got an offense play
with cohesive, like we know that piece of it. Defensively,
the kind of pingponging back and forth between styles and coordinators,
even though some of these faces now have been around
for a little bit of time, like of course Ajate's werell,
but even Jesse Bates, Kaden Ellis we got some familiarity with.
I just wonder nationally if it's that kind of lack
of an identity of a playing style on that side
(14:36):
of the ball has played into that a little bit.
And I kind of think Jeff Ulbrick is maybe one
of the perfect coordinators to bring in here to immediately
implement a style and a way of playing toy. Do
you expect to see that early right out of the
gates in Week one, is like kind of that new
style defensively? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I do, because I also think that you saw it
in the preseason, like I felt like that very first
game against Detroit, you felt that attack style front. This
is something that you know we've been talking about at
nauseum all off season is like who they were going
to be and how they're going to dictate their own
terms and not play a passive defense. And to your
point about, like, let's be real, Jesse Bates has been
(15:13):
here for three years. He has had three different defensive coordinators.
You think about the guys who were drafted for Arnold
Ebaghetti has had a different coordinator pretty much every single
year he has been in Atlanta, Like, it's really difficult.
I know you're in the professional ranks, but to your point, like,
it is difficult to establish an identity when the head
(15:34):
of the snake is constantly changing. And it's I don't
blame the players or the like strategy of like drafting
certain guys. I think it has been just there has
been no consistency defensively and it makes it really hard
to put your feet down into anything if the ground
(15:55):
is constantly moving out from under you. So for all
of those reasons, like I do think that, like it's
a big the onus is really on Jeff Albrick to
like really truly hone in on who this defense is
because you've got to identify a identity of who you
are very quickly considering how much change has happened, how
(16:16):
many new faces that you have. So I think for him, like,
in order to get the best out of these guys,
it's like they've got to come out very early and
know exactly who they are and what exactly they're being
asked to do.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Yeah, I think you've got to adopt that personality and
show it early on. But you mentioned consistency, Taran. A
player that's going to need to show more consistency this
year is Kyle Pitts? Right? And Tory said, we need
to kind of maybe change the way that we think
about Kyle Pitts. I'm curious, how do you think about
Kyle Pitts going into his fifth year here in Atlanta?
(16:48):
What is your view of him in this offense where
there are a lot of these young skill players kind
of vying for the ball.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I remember you and I have had this conversation before
on the podcast where I have said, and I still
stand by this, I don't think it's realistic to expect
the rookie numbers out of Kyle Pitts.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Would it be great? Yes?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Can you do that year after year at his position?
It is very, very difficult and so I agree with
Toy that you have to change your mindset and expectations
when it comes to him, because I know we looked
at the yardage and the totals he had been like,
oh my gosh, we want this. When you look at
his touchdown totals, I believe I don't have his numbers
right in front of me, but those have increased year
(17:31):
over years.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
It's one, two, three, four, Yeah right.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
It's just hone it on that emphasize that make him
a scoring machine rather than just a yardage picker.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Upper.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, I love that. So now, Toy, I want to
see what you meant by how should we now think
about Kyle Pitts.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
It goes exactly to what Tarin is saying, Like I
think that everybody is talking about trying to recreate Kyle Pits,
the rookie feene on that he was, and it's like,
I don't think that is where this organization is anymore.
This offense is not anywhere near what it was when
he came into this organization. Like you think back to
that time, Julio Jones was not here, Calvin Ridley was
(18:14):
going through stuff that Calvin Ridley was going through, and
he was not on the field. So you're and you
did not have Jon Robinson, you did not have Tyler Algier. Yes,
you still had Matt Ryan, but who was who were
Matt Ryan's weapons at the time. And also, let's be real,
I think Russell Gage also got hurt for a period
during that season.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Was Kyle Pitts, Yes, and that was.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Kind of it. That was kind of all you had
to work with. So of course Kyle Pitts is getting
a big chunk of the targets. Now let's fast forward
to where the team is now. You have Darnell Mooney,
you have Jon Robinson, Tyler Aljier, like Drake London. You
have these targets that.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
There we go, we hit five, let's get a sound effect, Jared,
But no, it's so much excit. Let's do a counter terror.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
So I say all of that that, like, there are
a lot of mouths to feed, And I think I
don't foresee this huge uptick in targets for Kyle Pits
in twenty twenty five. I kind of see it being
similar to what it was last year, where it's like, okay,
maybe you get like four or five and you got
to make the most of those four or five. And
to Terrence's point about what Kyle Pits is, the reason
(19:29):
people valued him so high in the draft when he
was coming out was because everybody was saying, he's such
a mismatch in the red zone. He is such a
mismatch in the red zone. You throw it up and
it's a fifty to fifty bond and he's coming down
with it like almost in the same vein of you
talking about Drake London. Well, that hasn't manifested. So that,
to Terrence point is where the where we need to
(19:52):
focus in on Kyle Pits and who he is and
what he can provide this team, not necessarily him having
ten targets in a game and having one hundred and
fifty receiving yards like that's that's not it.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Yeah, It's about kind of that efficiency of usage. It's like,
what are where can you find value because the role
has changed, the situation has changed, the offense has changed, frankly,
and it figure out where you are adding the most
value in any given game plan. And that's what I
think kind of the tight end position is almost definitionally
with the way that they do everything. So Tory, you
(20:25):
want to give us a real quick recap of your
five Just bang bang bang.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Bang man mang. Stay a step ahead of Tampa at
all times. Rethink the way that we think about Kyle Pitt.
The old cliche about a dynamic running game being a
quarterback's best friend is true for this team and has
to be true for this team. Get after the mother quarterback.
Put some respect behind this roster. Despite there being a
lot of individual pieces that get national attention, changed the
narrative to make it a team wide endeavor.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
That last one was setting one breath. I did it.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
It's so great. Pretty soon we'll be able to nail
those in under five seconds. Yeah, so that's something to
work towards. All right, I'm going to go through my
and then you guys maybe identify one or two that
you want to lean in on. Number one is learn
how to win in different ways. I think this season
that's going to be crucial for you to reach the postseason.
Number two, at least two new standouts on standout players
on defense need to emerge. Number three Weeks eight through
(21:17):
thirteen are the most important games this season for Atlanta.
Number four, well, the kicking game remain a concern, and
Number five week seventeen against the Rams is going to
be huge.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
So the one that I want to kind of hoe
in on a little bit is you said at least
two new standout players on defense need to emerge. Do
you have kind of a list of the running group
that you're like, if these guys emerged, it means that
we're talking about this defense differently.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Yes, I do. I think Brandon Dorles is one of
the guys on that list, but you could also grow
row like, I'll take one of those two guys. Zach
Harrison is another young defensive lineman. Obviously, if one of
the Ed rushers, James Pierce or Jalen Walker, those guys,
but Divine Diablo is a player, he would be on
my short list. If I was going to pick two,
it would probably be it would probably be Brandon Door
(22:07):
listen to Divine Diablo. But I think the fact that
you can rattle off a few of these candidates is
why I think that there's a good chance this happens.
And also, you know, I think the Falcons need those
guys to step up because those are a lot of
new faces on this defense who are going to be
playing significant roles.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
My question is why the Rams.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Why the Rams?
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Yeah, your last one. Why Week seventeen is going to
be huge?
Speaker 3 (22:32):
So a couple of reasons. I'm so glad you asked
this term. First off, let's think back to Week seventeen
last year. That was a little game against Washington prime
time with a lot of stakes on the line, you know, frankly,
and so I kind of feel like the season is
going to be taking a similar shape, and the Rams
(22:54):
to me are a team where if you look at
the NFC West, I really expect San Francisco to have
bounce back. You I think Seattle is going to be good.
So the Rams could be in that mix for the
wild card spot. Atlanta could be right there too, So
a late season game with also some draft implications because
if Atlanta is a playoff team, who has that first
(23:15):
round pick next year? Los Angeles, right, So that changes
a lot of the calculus. So I think there's a
lot going to be at stake for the Rams one
way or another, whether they're in the playoffs or not,
because of the draft implications. And then I just kind
of think that the way that this schedule is going
to be shaping up, that Week seventeen could be a
meaningful week for Atlanta if they are in the playoff hunt.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Oh I fascinating. All right, give us your five really
quickly again for the people, and then we'll move on
to Tarran.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
All right. Number one, learn how to win in different ways.
Number two at least two new standout players on defense
need to emerge. Number three. Weeks eight through thirteen are
the most important for Atlanta this season. Number four will
the kicking game remain a concern? Number five Week seventeen
against the Rams is going to be huge. All right, Tarn,
(24:01):
you're year five.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
I'm just kidding, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Number one, actions speak louder than words, which they know
with this whole quote move in silence end quote, slogan
that has been preached as of late.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Do you want to explain the move in silence kind
of quote a little bit?
Speaker 2 (24:17):
This is how I interpret it, at least because no
one has actually explained it. But it's more so that
they're not gonna say they're gonna be good. They're not
gonna say they're gonna make the playoffs. They're not gonna
say they're gonna win the Super Bowl. They're gonna show it,
like they keep saying, leave it on the grass. Let
the grass do the talking, yeah, which isn't like actual
grass talking. It's their play is going to show that
this is a winning team. Like their actions will show
(24:39):
this as a winning team, not their words.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
That's how I interpret it. So they're moving in silence.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
That's that's how I interpret it as well.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
I was like, no one's actually defined it, and so
we're gonna go with what I think. Number two win
in week one, enough said. Number three also enough said,
win the NFC South. It has been since two thoy
seventeen that the Falcons have made the playoffs. The drought's
gotta go water the field. I don't like that analogy.
(25:07):
I'm sorry I did it. Number four Michael Pennock Junior
living up to the hype that has been building since
Week sixteen last year. I think people are putting a
lot of stock in those three games, and I can
understand why, but I think that's also putting pressure on
such a young quarterback to live up to these expectations
that are coming out of just three games. So I
(25:29):
want to see that in a full season, not just
three games, not just the first half of the season,
an entire season.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
He shows us who he.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Is, and that might not be immediate, it might be later,
so a different week seventeen kind of feeling yep.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
Then number five. Remain healthy.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
It's important every season, but with a week five by
and the final two thirds of the.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Season are going to be long and grueling, and.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
As Will said, weeks eight through thirteen, I agree, are
going to be really tough, and so getting through the
first half or not even first half, first third of
the season, which is tough on its own, getting through
the middle third, which features an international game, which is
gonna be tough also physically, yeah, and then going to
the final third when it kind of matters the most,
(26:17):
that final push into the playoffs. So this season, I think,
more than most, staying healthy is key.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
I want to dig in on the Michael Pennocks expectations
a little bit more because I agree with you, I think,
and I'm guilty of it as well. As those three
games were awesome from Michael Pennix, and I do think
that doing it for seventeen games is a different beast.
And I've been asked a lot over the last couple
of weeks, like what do you expect to see from
this offense? From Michael Pennox out there week one, and frankly,
(26:46):
I kind of don't know what to expect, Like I
think we did see some of that over those final
three games, but this is gonna be new offense. It
is a whole new year. He's now done training camps
as a starter, So kind of what's the mindset you're
going into the season these first four games, Like are
you going to practice some patients with Michael Pennix even
though we saw kind of what it really can look
like of those three games, or do you need to
(27:08):
see him kind of hit the ground running now that
he's had this ramp up period into the season and
he's taken all these reps as the starter, Like, where
do you fall on.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
That I would practice patients? I would love to say
hit the ground running, especially since we're saying the first
part of the season is rather tough. But he's only
in his second year and I do think it is
going to be a completely different look than last year.
Maybe not totally, but they have a playbook now surrounding
(27:36):
Michael Pennox Junior, whereas last year the playbook was surrounding
Kirk Cousins and then they switched it or they adapted
it to Michael. This is a completely different ballgame essentially,
and so seeing how that plays out will be interesting.
And I'd rather see simplicity and clean.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Clean, cleanliness. And that's not how I.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Like it, but like play to start is key, Like
let him get comfortable and then throw the snot out
of the ball.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
There you go, Hey, what about you? Sorry?
Speaker 1 (28:09):
I think for me it's you invested a number eight
overall pick in Michael Penis Junior when you did knowing
you had Kirk Cousins on the roster. Like I, I
also get the like patient approach of it, but I'm
not really feeling very patient.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Let me see something out of number Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
I think ultimately for the Falcons to get where they
want to go, you're gonna need a lot for Michael
Pennocks Junior. And I think that is he's a He's
in as good of a situation as I think I
would argue. There are a lot of quarterbacks that My
big thing about this is that, sorry now I'm about
to get on a soapbux so Bob, there are I've
(28:50):
always said a quarterback's early success in his career is
indicative of the pieces around him, and the stability of
the offensive plan around him. Michael Pennocks has the most
stability I would argue of hardly anybody else in the league,
considering how many returners he has in front of him
(29:10):
and that he's throwing to. He has one of the
most dynamic running backs in the league and Bajon Robinson
to help him out as a secondary part of this
offensive attack. So for those reasons, it's like, we should
see some dynamic play early, we should see them putting
up points, we should see all of that. And if
we don't, then I'm concerned because I think that you
(29:31):
do not draft Michael Pennock's number eight overall when you
already have a multimillion dollar quarterback who's been a VET
in this league for thirteen years sitting there, if you
do not have conviction that he can come in and
play for you well and take your team to the
next level. I want to see the time is now
for that next level. Kyle Pitts is on the fifth
year of his contract, Drake London will be playing on
(29:55):
the fifth year next year, but Jon Robinson's rookie year
is running out or halfway through it. Time for this
offense and the investment you made and all of these
offensive players is now. It's not in the future. It
is twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Well, twenty twenty five kicks off on Sunday one pm
against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Again, please check out the
pregame show one hour before kickoff on the YouTube channel.
A few more things though, if you want to check
out Atlanta Falcons dot com, we had our season kickoff
video just getting you a hype for the season. Writ
large go up on the site Thursday. You can follow
(30:29):
along on any Darnell Mooney injury news, any team injury
news for both Atlanta and Tampa Bay with the injury
reports that go out each afternoon. And then we had
a roundtable discussion kicking off the season with Tory, Taylor,
Arch and Shock. So if you're a fan of kind
of the Network, you're gonna see some of your favorite
faces there as well. Before we get out of here, though,
(30:51):
I just want a five word prediction from both of
y'all on Sunday's game. So Tory five words predicting Sunday's.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Game make Baker Mayfield's life difficult. It's not really a
prediction as much as it is go and freaking do it.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
There you go, manifest it.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
I don't think mine's a prediction either, just like a
statement that needs to be done set the tone for season.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
I couldn't put the in there, all right.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Mine is watch out for Jesse Bates Good, it's in
a big game for number three. All right. Well, thank
you guys so much for tuning in for the very
first Friday five. Whether you watch it on YouTube, whether
you heard it on your favorite podcast platform, we appreciate you.
Be on the lookout for a final whistle coming brand
early Monday morning. It will be recapping this season opener.
You will hear from Tory and I breaking it all down.
(31:41):
Four quarters of action. So excited, let's go or we
will see you all then. Until then, take care,
On the couch with her hood up like this.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I don't let the grass do the talking, which isn't
like actual grass talking.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
That doesn't sound good.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Happy Friday Falcons fans, and welcome to our new show.
It is called The Friday Five. I'm Will McFadden. I'm
joined Tory mc laney and Taron Walk who were holding
up fives at me, which is awesome. I love it.
We're getting in the spirit and what this show really
is is our attempt to have a little bit more
fun heading into the football weekend. So each show we're
(00:32):
going to incorporate some element of five into the rundown.
That's really just kind of it. Did we just choose
five because of the alliteration, Tory?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I think we did. I don't really actually remember how
we landed on this. I just remember there was at
one point where I was like, we have to end
every episode like with a joint high five?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
And did we did have that?
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Like we had that at.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Some point in the early iteration of this show. I
was like, we need to like do something with high fives.
But we're still learning, we're still trying to figure out
what this show really is.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yeah, I mean one week we may have five topics.
The next week, we may have five trivia questions and
are spurs throughout shoot one show. We may all be
replaced by five year olds. I don't know. We haven't
thought through it all that much. That would be great,
though that let's put that.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
On the idea doc. We do have an idea doc
on you know enough five year olds?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I don't I'm getting close.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
That is true.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Will would know the most kids. Yeah, that doesn't sound good.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
All right, move right along. So that is the spirit
we are bringing to this new show and we're excited
to start this journey with you all. If you have
any recommendations or feedback for the show, leave comments wherever
you can, whether you want to do that on Spotify, YouTube,
hit us up on social, et cetera. And on today's episode,
we're going to share our five biggest things for the
twenty twenty five season. Now, I guess a running pattern
(01:50):
already for this is that biggest Things is a little
bit nebulous, right, So for some it could be lessons
we learned from last year that we're keeping in mind.
It could be the things we need to see from
the team this year. So you know, let's just go
ahead and get right on into it. But before we
get to the football, I want to start with a
little bit of personal. I want to get to know
(02:12):
my two lovely co hosts here, and we're going to
start with Terrean. So Taran, I want five adjectives, words,
phrases to describe you.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Okay, that's not one of them.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I want to all of them right there.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I want to preface this by saying I took it
upon myself to be like, what are Terran's five going
to be? And I want to say I got really close.
So I want you to know that.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
There's one curveball.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
There is one curve ball, and I'm curious why I
save the curveball for save the curveball for last.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Okay, So word number one is Nascar. Am I supposed
to describe or give a reason why I just roll?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Keep going?
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Surin what I don't.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Know that of Thailand? There are six locations. I've been
to five.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
It's a restaurant. It's a restaurant, right typhood ty t Martini?
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Who is having some tonight?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Is it only in Thailand than Okay, just to Thailand.
Visit five of the six restaurants America base gotcha? Okay,
so a small thie chain, yes in America?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yes, Okay, Spotty cow all hail the best beer to
exist Reality TV because we know I'm a huge fan.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
And my last one is Stitch.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Okay, that's the one that I have a question about
because for those that don't know, Taran loves the movie Cars,
similar to Will's son, I am Taren and I used.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
To live heard the two sides of the ven diagram
for the five year old.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Taran and I used to live together, and I knew
that she would be like missing home or like going
through something because I would walk into our living room
and she would be on the couch with her hood
up like this, like so, watching cars, and I knew
that she was going through something. If that was okay.
So the fact that Stitches on here threw me off completely.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I like, I couldn't do cars because I also had
Nascar on there, and because you predicted cars, and because
Will made me think if I said cars that people
are gonna think I'm a car junkie, which they still
might because I said Nascar.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
But it's fine, Stitch.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
You're super into Stitches.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
If you google not Google.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
If you search Stitch in the gifts on your phone,
all of them are just me like as a person,
Like that's just like my spirit Animal's interesting. There's like
the sad Stitch, there's the dancing Stitch, there's the angry Stitch.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
I relate to Stitch.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Did you see the live action?
Speaker 4 (04:37):
No?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Sorry? What was your what was your kind of like sad?
I feel good movie that you turn on?
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Oh man, when I was younger, at any point when okay,
so back right now, what's your go to?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
It's a bad day, it's maybe it's rainy outside.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
Up.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I love a good wrong comment for every like Valentine's Day,
for basically like my entire life. I would watch Letters
to Juliet. I love that movie. It is one of
or She's the Man, She's the Man. Letters to Juliet
my probably my two favorite movies. Just when I'm feeling
(05:19):
a certain type of way, those are my two go
tos that make me feel better.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Mine was always this is stupid. But also, you know,
the biggest like millennial boy thing of me is forgetting
Sarah Marshall. For whatever reason, there was something about just
seeing like a schmuck go to Hawaii, being down on
the dumps that I related to where I was like,
I too, am having a bad day Jason Siegel, and
I wish I was in a while.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
With fifty first dates.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Yeah, that's a good one too. Yeah, Adam Sandler's having
a moment. Anyway, we're all back the rails, yes, so
let's go ahead and bring it on back. I will
share my five first one is cooking pretty good. Cook
Ali benefits on our anniversaries and her birthday.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Is that the only time you cook for her?
Speaker 1 (06:00):
No?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I actually cook. I actually cook dinner.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
Like most nights you listened to two days though, this day, well,
those are the days where I really really like push myself.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Ironically, we were having kind of the kickoff cookies today
and I tried my hand at baking cookies yesterday and
it did not go well. So I'm not a baker.
I'm I'm a cooker. Cooker right, culinary arts only.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Here's a word for that.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
There you go, cooking chef's cinema. That's my second word here,
all right. I'm a big fan of movies. You know,
when you when you're sports twenty four to seven, you
need to kind of relax and take your mind away
from it all. So movies are really my kind of
comfort food when I want to chill out. I'm really
smooth when nobody's watching, right, So if nobody's looking at me,
I'm gonna, like, you know, the kind of things where like, hey,
(06:47):
I got some trash and I'm like gonna shoot in
the trash can from like fifteen feet away, like an
impressively far, like I'm gonna make that every single time,
and then like the minute that I'm just like, DoD
anybody see that thing, It's like, no, what are you
talking about? So I always just have to kind of
brag about these little random things that nobody else would
care about except for me.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
See, we can't believe you. We're just sitting here like
m hm sure.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Yeah, well there you go, there you go. So nobody
will ever nobody will ever know animal lover, you know,
bring me your dogs, bring me your cats, bring me
your hedgehogs. I love them all. And then data is
my last word, because that is is what Liam currently
calls me now, and I love it. Not McCullough, not
not McCullough now. My son also starts with an mc though,
(07:31):
so you know Liam mc tory Tory MC.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Okay, So for Will's cooking, I am actually the anti cooking.
I hate cooking. Why anything? I hate Like, I'm not
good at it. I can make scrambled eggs, I can
make cereal, and that is about it. I struggle in
the kitchen. I don't have the patience for it. I
(07:59):
also in hell my food. So like, if I cook,
it takes such a long time and then I eat
it in zero point two seconds and then I'm like
I did all of that for nothing.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
It's true, she does not cook.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
I hate it.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
You threw me under the bus being roommates. Yeah, you
never had groceries.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
It was always like pre made meals, yeah, or uber
eat or uberes.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Do you consider making cereal cooking? No, it's combining. Yeah,
it's like not even making anything.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
But at least she bought groceries.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
That okay, because she doesn't even do that.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I don't even do Yeah I have. I have not
gone to a grocery store to get anything besides like
wine and a prepackaged meal in months. I just don't
like it. I don't have time for it. I feel
like I can use my time elsewhere.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Wow. That was a very revealing. First first word for this.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
One's not so.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
My second phrase word is not surprising. I'm pro Taylor
Swift just as a human and a person and her music.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I love her.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
She's my girl. Can't wait to go to that wedding.
I will be a bridesmaid. So number three podcasts, but
specifically podcasts about murder. I love crime junkie. I love
anatomy of murder like I love true crime podcasts, specifically
when there's a murder and the murderer is found out.
(09:15):
I think clusing, like one of my favorite games as
a kid, really has really yeah, really has transformed into
my adulthood.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
So they're not a fan of unsolved murders, correct.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I don't like a cold case. I like those solved murder.
I like being able to wrap it up in one
fail swoop.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
She knows the murder is not out there, then exactly, I.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Know the murderers hot Okay. So I My fourth thing
is I despise wildcat formation. I have despised wildcat formation
for much of my adult life. I'm not a fan
of it. I think it's predictable and I don't think
it really works. I know that there are people out
there that could pull up ten different plays out of
Wildcat formation that have worked and have scorn touchdowns I e.
(09:53):
The University of Georgia circ. Twenty seventeen. However, I will
never like it poibot period, the.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I mean the Wildcat Like how many running backs right
now are are still or receivers right? Mohmtsanu was kind
of the last one I think here to do that.
Like we've seen Drake from time to time, but is
the Wildcats? Is it still coming to get you?
Speaker 1 (10:14):
I mean not as much as it was I think
five six years ago, and definitely not in the professional landscape.
I think it was more of like a college type
of look and something that they would like to throw in.
But there for a while, Uga did it too much
and I hated every moment of it. I literally would
see them set up and.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Was Isaiah was it Isaiah Mackenzie?
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Yeah, Nicole Hardman or both of Bokay Yeah? And then
Sony Michelle like him.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
A couple times I thought that was gonna be your
fifth thing.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
No, my fifth thing is love's a good frozen marg
for Taco Tuesday. There's nothing that really gets me going
quite like a frozen margarita after a long day at
work over some tacos and cheese.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I love cheese.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
What's your favorite type of cheese?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Oh? Boy, my favorite scooda to quote she's the man.
Bring it back.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
It's like, what are the five biggest cheeses in America?
We had that whole debate and that was amazing.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Not again, yeah, what were they? No, it said cities.
It didn't say cheese.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
It was not the five types of cheeses.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Yeah, the five.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Most cheeses was said, but the question of the day
was the five top cities with this, somebody miss that's funny.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
All right, let's go ahead and get to the season.
Let's get some football here. So the Falcons are gonna
play their their season opener against Tampa Bay Buccaneers one
pm on Sunday. Be sure to check out our kickoff,
our pregame show one hour beforehand on YouTube. Taylor Vismore
Derek Rackley do an amazing job with that. But this
(11:48):
is gonna be less about Sunday's game, more about the season,
and Sunday's game obviously plays a very big part in
all of that, maybe even a bigger part than in
some recent years, given who the opponent's gonna be so Tori,
why don't you go through kind of your five and
then we're gonna pick one or two to to really
kind of dig into and touch on a little bit further.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Yeah, So number one, stay a step ahead of Tampa
Bay at all times because I think, I mean, as
we all know, Tampa Bay has been very much a
team that's been out in front of the division for
years at this point. So you have to stay a
step ahead of them throughout the season's entirety in my opinion.
Number two, rethink the way we think about Kyle Pitts,
(12:33):
and if you want to touch on that later, I'll elaborate. Yeah.
Number three, the old cliche about a dynamic run game
being a young quarterback's best friend. Yeah, we're gonna need
that to be true in Atlanta. I think just because
Michael Pennix can throw the snot out of the ball,
I don't think that you have to You don't, You shouldn't.
You should not get away from your bread.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
And butter as an offense and bread and butter in
one sentence. That's a tough that's a tough look.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Number four, I said, get after the MFN quarterback. This
is a pass rush that needs to come alive and
hasn't come alive in years. And they've pumped a lot
of resources into this defense in order for that to
be the case. And finally Number five put some respect
behind this roster. And I say that because there are
a lot of individual pieces that are praised nationally but
(13:23):
never the team as a whole. And of course it's
because like they're not winning games, they're winning seven, they're
going seven to ten or whatever the case might be,
very in the middle of the road, mediocre.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
For lack of a better word.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
But as we've talked about on this podcast, there are
a lot of individual players who are have these big
accolades and are nationally known. So like, change the narrative,
Like this team has the individual pieces to be great,
so be great. Change that narrative about how things are
looked at around here.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
I do want to go back to Kyle Pitchers. I
knew you what, but I want to start kind of
continuing that thought that you just gave us, because I
wonder how much, like offensively, I think a little bit
of an identity has been building through the draft. Right,
we have heard nationally friends like Robert Mays, you know,
Steve Wish, everybody like that saying, hey, they've got a young,
up and coming offense with great skill players. You got
(14:14):
to find that quarterback. But you've got an offense play
with cohesive, like we know that piece of it. Defensively,
the kind of pingponging back and forth between styles and coordinators,
even though some of these faces now have been around
for a little bit of time, like of course Ajate's werell,
but even Jesse Bates, Kaden Ellis we got some familiarity with.
I just wonder nationally if it's that kind of lack
of an identity of a playing style on that side
(14:36):
of the ball has played into that a little bit.
And I kind of think Jeff Ulbrick is maybe one
of the perfect coordinators to bring in here to immediately
implement a style and a way of playing toy. Do
you expect to see that early right out of the
gates in Week one, is like kind of that new
style defensively? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I do, because I also think that you saw it
in the preseason, like I felt like that very first
game against Detroit, you felt that attack style front. This
is something that you know we've been talking about at
nauseum all off season is like who they were going
to be and how they're going to dictate their own
terms and not play a passive defense. And to your
point about, like, let's be real, Jesse Bates has been
(15:13):
here for three years. He has had three different defensive coordinators.
You think about the guys who were drafted for Arnold
Ebaghetti has had a different coordinator pretty much every single
year he has been in Atlanta, Like, it's really difficult.
I know you're in the professional ranks, but to your point, like,
it is difficult to establish an identity when the head
(15:34):
of the snake is constantly changing. And it's I don't
blame the players or the like strategy of like drafting
certain guys. I think it has been just there has
been no consistency defensively and it makes it really hard
to put your feet down into anything if the ground
(15:55):
is constantly moving out from under you. So for all
of those reasons, like I do think that, like it's
a big the onus is really on Jeff Albrick to
like really truly hone in on who this defense is
because you've got to identify a identity of who you
are very quickly considering how much change has happened, how
(16:16):
many new faces that you have. So I think for him, like,
in order to get the best out of these guys,
it's like they've got to come out very early and
know exactly who they are and what exactly they're being
asked to do.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Yeah, I think you've got to adopt that personality and
show it early on. But you mentioned consistency, Taran. A
player that's going to need to show more consistency this
year is Kyle Pitts? Right? And Tory said, we need
to kind of maybe change the way that we think
about Kyle Pitts. I'm curious, how do you think about
Kyle Pitts going into his fifth year here in Atlanta?
(16:48):
What is your view of him in this offense where
there are a lot of these young skill players kind
of vying for the ball.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I remember you and I have had this conversation before
on the podcast where I have said, and I still
stand by this, I don't think it's realistic to expect
the rookie numbers out of Kyle Pitts.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Would it be great? Yes?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Can you do that year after year at his position?
It is very, very difficult and so I agree with
Toy that you have to change your mindset and expectations
when it comes to him, because I know we looked
at the yardage and the totals he had been like,
oh my gosh, we want this. When you look at
his touchdown totals, I believe I don't have his numbers
right in front of me, but those have increased year
(17:31):
over years.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
It's one, two, three, four, Yeah right.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
It's just hone it on that emphasize that make him
a scoring machine rather than just a yardage picker.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Upper.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, I love that. So now, Toy, I want to
see what you meant by how should we now think
about Kyle Pitts.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
It goes exactly to what Tarin is saying, Like I
think that everybody is talking about trying to recreate Kyle Pits,
the rookie feene on that he was, and it's like,
I don't think that is where this organization is anymore.
This offense is not anywhere near what it was when
he came into this organization. Like you think back to
that time, Julio Jones was not here, Calvin Ridley was
(18:14):
going through stuff that Calvin Ridley was going through, and
he was not on the field. So you're and you
did not have Jon Robinson, you did not have Tyler Algier. Yes,
you still had Matt Ryan, but who was who were
Matt Ryan's weapons at the time. And also, let's be real,
I think Russell Gage also got hurt for a period
during that season.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Was Kyle Pitts, Yes, and that was.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Kind of it. That was kind of all you had
to work with. So of course Kyle Pitts is getting
a big chunk of the targets. Now let's fast forward
to where the team is now. You have Darnell Mooney,
you have Jon Robinson, Tyler Aljier, like Drake London. You
have these targets that.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
There we go, we hit five, let's get a sound effect, Jared,
But no, it's so much excit. Let's do a counter terror.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
So I say all of that that, like, there are
a lot of mouths to feed, And I think I
don't foresee this huge uptick in targets for Kyle Pits
in twenty twenty five. I kind of see it being
similar to what it was last year, where it's like, okay,
maybe you get like four or five and you got
to make the most of those four or five. And
to Terrence's point about what Kyle Pits is, the reason
(19:29):
people valued him so high in the draft when he
was coming out was because everybody was saying, he's such
a mismatch in the red zone. He is such a
mismatch in the red zone. You throw it up and
it's a fifty to fifty bond and he's coming down
with it like almost in the same vein of you
talking about Drake London. Well, that hasn't manifested. So that,
to Terrence point is where the where we need to
(19:52):
focus in on Kyle Pits and who he is and
what he can provide this team, not necessarily him having
ten targets in a game and having one hundred and
fifty receiving yards like that's that's not it.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Yeah, It's about kind of that efficiency of usage. It's like,
what are where can you find value because the role
has changed, the situation has changed, the offense has changed, frankly,
and it figure out where you are adding the most
value in any given game plan. And that's what I
think kind of the tight end position is almost definitionally
with the way that they do everything. So Tory, you
(20:25):
want to give us a real quick recap of your
five Just bang bang bang.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Bang man mang. Stay a step ahead of Tampa at
all times. Rethink the way that we think about Kyle Pitt.
The old cliche about a dynamic running game being a
quarterback's best friend is true for this team and has
to be true for this team. Get after the mother quarterback.
Put some respect behind this roster. Despite there being a
lot of individual pieces that get national attention, changed the
narrative to make it a team wide endeavor.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
That last one was setting one breath. I did it.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
It's so great. Pretty soon we'll be able to nail
those in under five seconds. Yeah, so that's something to
work towards. All right, I'm going to go through my
and then you guys maybe identify one or two that
you want to lean in on. Number one is learn
how to win in different ways. I think this season
that's going to be crucial for you to reach the postseason.
Number two, at least two new standouts on standout players
on defense need to emerge. Number three Weeks eight through
(21:17):
thirteen are the most important games this season for Atlanta.
Number four, well, the kicking game remain a concern, and
Number five week seventeen against the Rams is going to
be huge.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
So the one that I want to kind of hoe
in on a little bit is you said at least
two new standout players on defense need to emerge. Do
you have kind of a list of the running group
that you're like, if these guys emerged, it means that
we're talking about this defense differently.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Yes, I do. I think Brandon Dorles is one of
the guys on that list, but you could also grow
row like, I'll take one of those two guys. Zach
Harrison is another young defensive lineman. Obviously, if one of
the Ed rushers, James Pierce or Jalen Walker, those guys,
but Divine Diablo is a player, he would be on
my short list. If I was going to pick two,
it would probably be it would probably be Brandon Door
(22:07):
listen to Divine Diablo. But I think the fact that
you can rattle off a few of these candidates is
why I think that there's a good chance this happens.
And also, you know, I think the Falcons need those
guys to step up because those are a lot of
new faces on this defense who are going to be
playing significant roles.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
My question is why the Rams.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Why the Rams?
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Yeah, your last one. Why Week seventeen is going to
be huge?
Speaker 3 (22:32):
So a couple of reasons. I'm so glad you asked
this term. First off, let's think back to Week seventeen
last year. That was a little game against Washington prime
time with a lot of stakes on the line, you know, frankly,
and so I kind of feel like the season is
going to be taking a similar shape, and the Rams
(22:54):
to me are a team where if you look at
the NFC West, I really expect San Francisco to have
bounce back. You I think Seattle is going to be good.
So the Rams could be in that mix for the
wild card spot. Atlanta could be right there too, So
a late season game with also some draft implications because
if Atlanta is a playoff team, who has that first
(23:15):
round pick next year? Los Angeles, right, So that changes
a lot of the calculus. So I think there's a
lot going to be at stake for the Rams one
way or another, whether they're in the playoffs or not,
because of the draft implications. And then I just kind
of think that the way that this schedule is going
to be shaping up, that Week seventeen could be a
meaningful week for Atlanta if they are in the playoff hunt.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Oh I fascinating. All right, give us your five really
quickly again for the people, and then we'll move on
to Tarran.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
All right. Number one, learn how to win in different ways.
Number two at least two new standout players on defense
need to emerge. Number three. Weeks eight through thirteen are
the most important for Atlanta this season. Number four will
the kicking game remain a concern? Number five Week seventeen
against the Rams is going to be huge. All right, Tarn,
(24:01):
you're year five.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
I'm just kidding, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Number one, actions speak louder than words, which they know
with this whole quote move in silence end quote, slogan
that has been preached as of late.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Do you want to explain the move in silence kind
of quote a little bit?
Speaker 2 (24:17):
This is how I interpret it, at least because no
one has actually explained it. But it's more so that
they're not gonna say they're gonna be good. They're not
gonna say they're gonna make the playoffs. They're not gonna
say they're gonna win the Super Bowl. They're gonna show it,
like they keep saying, leave it on the grass. Let
the grass do the talking, yeah, which isn't like actual
grass talking. It's their play is going to show that
this is a winning team. Like their actions will show
(24:39):
this as a winning team, not their words.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
That's how I interpret it. So they're moving in silence.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
That's that's how I interpret it as well.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
I was like, no one's actually defined it, and so
we're gonna go with what I think. Number two win
in week one, enough said. Number three also enough said,
win the NFC South. It has been since two thoy
seventeen that the Falcons have made the playoffs. The drought's
gotta go water the field. I don't like that analogy.
(25:07):
I'm sorry I did it. Number four Michael Pennock Junior
living up to the hype that has been building since
Week sixteen last year. I think people are putting a
lot of stock in those three games, and I can
understand why, but I think that's also putting pressure on
such a young quarterback to live up to these expectations
that are coming out of just three games. So I
(25:29):
want to see that in a full season, not just
three games, not just the first half of the season,
an entire season.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
He shows us who he.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Is, and that might not be immediate, it might be later,
so a different week seventeen kind of feeling yep.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
Then number five. Remain healthy.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
It's important every season, but with a week five by
and the final two thirds of the.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Season are going to be long and grueling, and.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
As Will said, weeks eight through thirteen, I agree, are
going to be really tough, and so getting through the
first half or not even first half, first third of
the season, which is tough on its own, getting through
the middle third, which features an international game, which is
gonna be tough also physically, yeah, and then going to
the final third when it kind of matters the most,
(26:17):
that final push into the playoffs. So this season, I think,
more than most, staying healthy is key.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
I want to dig in on the Michael Pennocks expectations
a little bit more because I agree with you, I think,
and I'm guilty of it as well. As those three
games were awesome from Michael Pennix, and I do think
that doing it for seventeen games is a different beast.
And I've been asked a lot over the last couple
of weeks, like what do you expect to see from
this offense? From Michael Pennox out there week one, and frankly,
(26:46):
I kind of don't know what to expect, Like I
think we did see some of that over those final
three games, but this is gonna be new offense. It
is a whole new year. He's now done training camps
as a starter, So kind of what's the mindset you're
going into the season these first four games, Like are
you going to practice some patients with Michael Pennix even
though we saw kind of what it really can look
like of those three games, or do you need to
(27:08):
see him kind of hit the ground running now that
he's had this ramp up period into the season and
he's taken all these reps as the starter, Like, where
do you fall on.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
That I would practice patients? I would love to say
hit the ground running, especially since we're saying the first
part of the season is rather tough. But he's only
in his second year and I do think it is
going to be a completely different look than last year.
Maybe not totally, but they have a playbook now surrounding
(27:36):
Michael Pennox Junior, whereas last year the playbook was surrounding
Kirk Cousins and then they switched it or they adapted
it to Michael. This is a completely different ballgame essentially,
and so seeing how that plays out will be interesting.
And I'd rather see simplicity and clean.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Clean, cleanliness. And that's not how I.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Like it, but like play to start is key, Like
let him get comfortable and then throw the snot out
of the ball.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
There you go, Hey, what about you? Sorry?
Speaker 1 (28:09):
I think for me it's you invested a number eight
overall pick in Michael Penis Junior when you did knowing
you had Kirk Cousins on the roster. Like I, I
also get the like patient approach of it, but I'm
not really feeling very patient.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Let me see something out of number Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
I think ultimately for the Falcons to get where they
want to go, you're gonna need a lot for Michael
Pennocks Junior. And I think that is he's a He's
in as good of a situation as I think I
would argue. There are a lot of quarterbacks that My
big thing about this is that, sorry now I'm about
to get on a soapbux so Bob, there are I've
(28:50):
always said a quarterback's early success in his career is
indicative of the pieces around him, and the stability of
the offensive plan around him. Michael Pennocks has the most
stability I would argue of hardly anybody else in the league,
considering how many returners he has in front of him
(29:10):
and that he's throwing to. He has one of the
most dynamic running backs in the league and Bajon Robinson
to help him out as a secondary part of this
offensive attack. So for those reasons, it's like, we should
see some dynamic play early, we should see them putting
up points, we should see all of that. And if
we don't, then I'm concerned because I think that you
(29:31):
do not draft Michael Pennock's number eight overall when you
already have a multimillion dollar quarterback who's been a VET
in this league for thirteen years sitting there, if you
do not have conviction that he can come in and
play for you well and take your team to the
next level. I want to see the time is now
for that next level. Kyle Pitts is on the fifth
year of his contract, Drake London will be playing on
(29:55):
the fifth year next year, but Jon Robinson's rookie year
is running out or halfway through it. Time for this
offense and the investment you made and all of these
offensive players is now. It's not in the future. It
is twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Well, twenty twenty five kicks off on Sunday one pm
against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Again, please check out the
pregame show one hour before kickoff on the YouTube channel.
A few more things though, if you want to check
out Atlanta Falcons dot com, we had our season kickoff
video just getting you a hype for the season. Writ
large go up on the site Thursday. You can follow
(30:29):
along on any Darnell Mooney injury news, any team injury
news for both Atlanta and Tampa Bay with the injury
reports that go out each afternoon. And then we had
a roundtable discussion kicking off the season with Tory, Taylor,
Arch and Shock. So if you're a fan of kind
of the Network, you're gonna see some of your favorite
faces there as well. Before we get out of here, though,
(30:51):
I just want a five word prediction from both of
y'all on Sunday's game. So Tory five words predicting Sunday's.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Game make Baker Mayfield's life difficult. It's not really a
prediction as much as it is go and freaking do it.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
There you go, manifest it.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
I don't think mine's a prediction either, just like a
statement that needs to be done set the tone for season.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
I couldn't put the in there, all right.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Mine is watch out for Jesse Bates Good, it's in
a big game for number three. All right. Well, thank
you guys so much for tuning in for the very
first Friday five. Whether you watch it on YouTube, whether
you heard it on your favorite podcast platform, we appreciate you.
Be on the lookout for a final whistle coming brand
early Monday morning. It will be recapping this season opener.
You will hear from Tory and I breaking it all down.
(31:41):
Four quarters of action. So excited, let's go or we
will see you all then. Until then, take care,
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