June 26, 2025 • 49 mins
Tori McElhaney joins Will McFadden to debate the top Atlanta Falcons players since 2000 by seeding 32 of them in a bracket and playing it out! From Bijan Robinson to Michael Vick and from Matt Ryan to Tony Gonzalez, they debate every matchup and choose a bracket champion!
0:00 - Intro
3:55 - First Round
30:50 - Second Round
37:59 - Quarterfinals
43:47 - Semifinals
46:10 - Championship
48:20 - Outro
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Dirty Birds. What's up? And welcome to the Atlanta Falcons
podcast Network. I'm your host, Will mcfad and I'm joined
as always by Tory Nick Laney and Tory. We're kind
of in the middle of summer. Yeah, so you know,
I kind of want to know what you're watching reading,
what are you doing to pass the time with A
with a little extra free time these days.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
So I'm catching up on all of my docuseries and documentaries.
I for those that don't know, I'm a bit of
a fixator, Like I fixate on things, and I ruminate
on things, and if I get on one topic, I
like have to know everything there is to know about it.
So right now, there's a documentary on Netflix about the
(00:40):
Titans submersible implosion, and there's also one that Discovery did. Yeah,
and I also so I watched both of those documentaries
in quick succession and was just like, well, how do
I feed this uh interest that I now have in
submersive submersible exploration and implosions. So now I'm currently watching
(01:01):
a docuseriies on the ar A San Juan, which was
an Argentinian submersiful to come back to us, Torry, come
back to us so far gone down this like rabbit hole.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
It's not even funny.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
But that's like when I have time on my hands,
I unfortunately turn into this like crazy person that has to.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Know everything there is to know about like one singular topic.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I cannot even bring myself to check those out because
I had I remember so vividly. I was on a
bachelor trip over the weekend that all of this took place,
and I was probably like a weirdo in the corner
this whole weekend just being like, what is up with
this vessel? Yeah, just where it is in the sea somewhere,
(01:45):
it's incredible. And I was like so just wrapped up
in my own anxiety of like imagining what that must be.
Like I can't bring myself to watch those documents. Are
they good or is it gonna make me like just diying?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
No, I actually think they're really good, because it did
kind of ease my anxiety a little bit, like because of.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
My anxiety that we know the ending of the book.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
But the thing is is, you know the like this
was such a preventable Oh, it so was accident. It
wasn't even an accident, like it it shouldn't have happened.
There shouldn't have been people on that freaking sub.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
So people are so confused right now about what podcast
they just tuned into. This is amazing.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
It wasn't this a Falcons podcast.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
It was.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
It's no longer it's not the Titan submersible.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yes it has. It has been hijacked by the Submersible conversation.
But let's get it back on track. Today. We're here
to have a little fun. We're going to talk about
the best players, uh, since two thousand for the Atlanta
Falcons an important distinction, an important distinction, and also I
want to make the distinction that we didn't think about
this all that hard. In fact, I came up with
(02:49):
the seating the brackets. I didn't even really see them
in any way. I was just kind of like, who
are some guys we want to talk about? I think
I would stand by we got thirty two players here,
you could quit. There's probably like six to eight players. Yeah,
you could slot them in there, right, And honestly, I
thought about two having kind of requirements in terms of
how long you needed to play, But then that would
(03:11):
have left us not able to talk about Jesse Bates.
But Jehan Robinson and I wanted to talk about them.
So again, I didn't really think all that hard about
this list, so neither should you. It's just an exercise
to talk about some players that we love. So you
want to build a go through a bracket together.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Let's go through a bracket.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I'm really excited about this because I originally I was
talking to producer Jared about this. Producer Jared before we started,
and he was like, you and Will actually have a
little bit of differing opinions on things. And I was
a little bit surprised by that because I thought we
were probably going to be like in sync on the
same page the whole time, and I was like, this
is going to be boring, but he was like, no,
y'all actually are probably going to go back and forth
(03:48):
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Good, let's fight, let's do it. Let's dig into it.
So our first our first matchup on the bracket is
a one versus a thirty two seed Matt Ryan. Brank rhymes,
I I have Matt Ryan moving on in this matchup.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Personally, Yeah, I'm not gonna lie spoilerer. Matt Ryan goes
pretty deep into the bracket.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
We're getting ahead of ourselves.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Sorry, but I know, but he I'm gonna tell you
all right now, I'm taking him far.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
He might be in line for a second round upset
for me. No, I'm just kidding, but we should talk
about Brent Grimes, who was like one of the most
I think unique players in Falcons history. His highlight was
the twenty ten season I remember distinctly, like that was
when Calvin Johnson was Megatron and he got the nickname
Optimist Crimes. Yeah, and I was in high school and
I just thought that was the coolest thing in the world.
(04:36):
It was like Megatron versus Optimus Grond And he actually
did pretty well that season. So Brent Grimes was a
fun player, but you know, ultimately didn't I think rise
to one of the all time rates. So we got
Matt Ryan moving on there. So onto our next matchup.
This one is gonna be fun.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
This one's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, We've got a sixteen seventeen matchup. But Jean Robinson
making it as the sixteen, which I thought was a
good spot to put him. Yeah, and DeVante Freeman at seventeen.
And some people might be mad at me for having
DeVante behind Bajon given that DeVante was here longer accomplished,
you know, more things like that. But again, Bajon is
(05:18):
right on the precipice of what could be a very
incredible career, right.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
And that's the thing is like, and we're having this
conversation early because it's one that we need to have early,
but it's like, what are the requirements that we need
to get?
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, like what are we looking for?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Because I feel like what I'm looking for maybe different
from what you look for because for me, I'm like, Okay,
are we going off of just like athlete athletic achievement,
like or are we talking about what they mean to
the team like within the confines of their role at
the time.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, Like what are these requirements?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
And then I think like from there, that's where you
go because if you're looking at just like sheer athlete, right.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
If it's like who's the most talented player, that's a
different discussion than the greatest player.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Right exactly. And so this is a bit like subjective
in that.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
But like so the way I'm looking at it is
almost if you're if you're gonna write the history of
the Atlanta Falcons, which player gets the bigger section and
That's where I think this conversation is so interesting with
these two players in particular because it's like, again, I
expect Bajon, when all of a sudden done, to have
it have a couple of pages I know in book.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
The problem though is is right now, as you're saying,
you're recording, I.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Can't put him ahead of Freeman.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, I personally, I'm like, if you're looking at DeVante
Freeman's overall career, which that's the thing is, like Bajon
doesn't have the luxury of us being able to talk
about a career. We have this hypothetical career and we
have a trajectory. But when you're looking at what Freeman did,
especially in twenty fifteen, in twenty sixteen, back to back
thousand yard seasons yep, twenty two rushing touchdowns, like this
(06:59):
is a This is a guy who in those two
years alone like mattered greatly to the overall operation of
that offense that went to a super Bowl, yeah, and
won a division championship. Like So for me, I, because
we're going off of actuality versus potential, I had to
(07:19):
put Freeman a bit higher than Bejon. That's not to
say that give Bjon another year and we're not talking
about Bajon surpassing him. But for right now, in this moment,
I couldn't push Bajon forward, despite the fact that I
think that Bajon's career it may look.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
A little bit better, a bit better.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah, I expect it to when all of a sudden done.
If for no other reason, then Devonte Freeman never had
a season kind of like the one Bajon did last
year exactly. So that's what you're getting at with in
terms of kind of a ceiling. It's Jean without without
a question. But again, he's only done it for two
years exactly. And when you look at what DeVante Freeman did,
he he had the two thousand yard seasons as well.
(08:01):
I wonder if if the twenty fifteen season had been
a successful one from a team perspective, they reached the playoffs,
do we remember his legacy a little bit differently? And actually,
I'm curious, like, what do you think DeVonta Freeman's legacy
at this point is amongst the Falcons fan base.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
That's a great question, because I think that there is
an appreciation for what he was in his prime, But
I think the prime felt a little bit short lived.
Like I feel like it was a very like flash
in the Pan, And if you remember the Flash, you're like, oh, like, yeah,
what an amazing piece of that roster during that.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Quecially rin for the Flash when they had Stephen Jackson
and they kind of have like Jerryus Norwood and Jaquiz
Roger and they didn't really have a central guy after
the War Done era, Yeah, and kind of the Michael
Michael Turner stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So like also you think about kind of what it
was after he left and as he kind of declined
and as he grew older, and and what it was
up until you got Tyler, al Jerry and Bejon. Like,
there was a period before and after DeVonta Freeman that
was a bit of a lull in terms of I mean, heck,
(09:08):
before Taller, Algier and Jon Robinson got in here, we
were talking about the Falcons not having a run game.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, it went and signed Todd Gurley to one year contract,
Youdo Smith, you know, Brian Hill, Quadria Allison, all those guys. Yeah,
it just didn't work. And that's kind of the way
they were right before Devontae Freeman joined the picture. So
if you remember kind of what he meant at that
period and then the flash. Yeah, you probably remember him
pretty fondly in that in that mix with like just
(09:33):
to tick below, worked on Michael Turner kind of in that,
in that Jamal Anderson in that realm, right, But you
have Devontae Freeman. Yeah, moving on, I do as well,
which is again, I think that's gonna maybe ruffle some feathers,
but we did this next year the year after that,
it could very well be yeah. Cool. So we're gonna
go on to our next one. This is a nine
(09:55):
to twenty four match up, our nine seed Grady Jarrett.
Our twenty four match up Matt Bryant, And honestly, he
was like the toughest player for me to slot. I
kind of did him last, and I was like, all right,
I'm plugging in here, Matt, because personally, I think he's
like a top ten Falcon player in terms of what
he means for the two thousands, just because of all
the game winning kicks and everything. But you know, some
(10:16):
people liked tait on kickers. So he's twenty four.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
So I have Grady moving forward, I do too, and
I think I'm a bit biased because of the story
of Grady jareded obviously, and how much time and effort
I put I've said this before, how much time and
effort I put into telling his story in the ten
years of what he meant. He was the heart and
soul of this defense for ten years.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
A full decade. And you know, with Matt Bryant, like
you appreciate.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Who he is, money Matt.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
He's money Matt.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
But if you're asking a casual fan on the street,
it's like, Grady Jared, Oh yeah, Grady Jared, he's that
kid from Conyers.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
You know, if Matt Bryant asked a fan on the
street about that, they wouldn't even know him. Matt Brian
was talking to him. So it's like and I for
that reason, we have right like the most unassuming I
love Matt right, but yes, I think I think Grady
Jared moves on. Matt, thank you for all you did
for this franchise, co some some of the most clutch kicks.
My dude. Yeah, it was amazing. But Grady Jared's moving on,
(11:13):
and so are we. The twenty five to eight seed matchup,
we have D'Angelo hall is our twenty five seed and
John Abraham. I think this one is pretty easy for
me as well.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yes, Abe, Abe, no doubt the franchise lander in sacks
like this is.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
He Whether he was bull rushing or spin moving or
right around the edge, he just sailed on through to
the next shout.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Out, Abe.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
I know he listens to the pod. If he doesn't
on the sentis to him, so he does listen to
the pod.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah. Any any words about D'Angelo Hall No, no, okay,
not really. He was a former first round pick, but uh,
the talent and the production wasn't here in Atlanta as
much as his overall career. Fine, he went up to
Washington did some things, but you know.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Well, especially when you're going.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Exactly Yeah. So next one in our bracket, we have
the five seed Roddy White up against the twenty eight
seed Todd Winer, who was the right tackle kind of
during the early years Michael vickiers and given the Michael
vick was a lefty right tackle actually being blindside. Ye,
so an important distinction there, and he was a great player.
(12:20):
I don't think he matched up to Roddy.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
White though, Nope, I don't think so either. This is
another one where I was like, oh, tough draw going
ugainst ROTI like, sorry, gotta move Roddy forward pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
There are a few more offensive linemen kind of from
the vic era though, and the run game that they
had those years was something that I do think is
getting a little bit lost time. We know Michael Vick,
but like worked on TJ. Duggett, the best rushing team
in the league for three straight years, So kudos to
the offensive lineman. They're not going to make the spoiler
alert the longest run here, but I want to kind
(12:52):
of give him.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I have a couple that I'm willing to fight for, so.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Okay, I love it. Foreshadowing there all right, our next
one in the bracket we have that this could be.
I'm curious. I'm curious.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
This one was tough. I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
I had a tough time with this eleven, our twelve
seed Patrick Kearney going up against the twenty one seed
Desmond true Font. So we got a cornerback, edge rusher
and round one.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
It was really difficult because I was going back and
forth as to who I really wanted to move forward,
and to this point, we hadn't really had an upset
in my opinion, Like there was no one who. I
was a bit like, like, so I actually have Desmond
true Font moving forward, and I haven't moving forward because
(13:37):
I felt like we had a lot we had we
didn't have any corners in the conversation yet.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
And I argue, and I really do feel like, if
you're gonna have one one corner that makes it out
of the first round, it had to be arguably the
best one to like to come out of Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
This is this is shameful. This is shameful. Sorry you
are doing Patrick Kearney. I know so dirty right now.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
But the thing is is, I was like, I'm trying
to think about this in March madness terms, like you
have to have a Cinderella.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Story true font.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Team win. No, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I can't allow. I can't allow, so it doesn't true mine.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
But if I will concede that to you, knowing that
my argument is.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Making Desmond Truefau Cinderella story.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Okay, that's been true Fau. So I was like, fully French,
now I love this true. It's crazy. Patrick Kearney had
like ten less sacks than John Abram, I know, and
he was if not for John Abraham, he would have
been the guy that we keep pointing back to to
be like that's the last great pass rusher the Falcons had,
(14:50):
But he kind of gets a little bit overshadowed just
because John Abraham was like a little bit better than
he was.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
And also like John Abraham, like I think Abe his
ascension was happening as Patrick Kearney was descending, Yeah, like
and or not even descending, but like he wasn't.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Like they he they never really overlapped in that way,
so they didn't really share kind of the number one
pass rushers on the same same side it was.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
But didn't he get hurt? And then Abe, that was
when Abe really like took.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Off Patrick Kearney. Yeah, in two thousand and six, he
he only played nine games, right, didn't he get carry? Yeah? Yeah,
yeah that he he got hurt that year And yeah,
in two thousand and six was when they made so
that's when they traded for John Abraham. Patrick Kearney's injury
is kind of what led John Abraham to come to Atlanta, right, sure.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
So that's that's why I think, like that's why AB's
whole thing like is kind of overshadowing his whole career,
overshadows what came before is because because it.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Was like literally just that we never even got a
chance to appreciate what was gone because it was never gone.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
It was never gone.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, that's a that's a great way to put it. Yeah, yep,
so that makes a lot of sense. But I have
Patrick Kearney personally.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Go ahead, there's fine, that's fine. I'll take that. All
respect to true who you know, I have, great guy. Yeah,
but I have a lot offenity.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
For Patrick Kearney.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
It's totally fine, cool, totally fine.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Will I'll let it, thank you so gracious. Today our next,
our next matchup, we have another cornerback, AJ Torell as
our thirteen seed going up against Algie Crumpler. My favorite
player is a kid.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Really Yeah yeah, so I actually also had Algie Crumpler,
like moving forward over a J. Trell three time pro bowler,
I think arguably the most notable tight end in the
pre Tony Gonzalez years of Atlanta, even like when you
think of tight ends in Atlanta, obviously Tony Gonzalez, who
will get to eventually, but Algie Crumbler, like I genuinely
(16:58):
thought that what he did in a system that didn't
really highlight him, like you're talking about the Michael Vick era.
You're talking about the run game that you were speaking
on earlier. You're not really talking about what he did.
And then you go back and you look at the
numbers and the consistency and you're in the three time
pro bowler like yeah, and you're like, wait a minute,
(17:18):
this guy was dang good.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
The best way to think about it, honestly, and it's
it's not the same comparison, but again, think of it
in these terms is Mahomes and Kelsey. He was ViXS,
not just like safety blanket, but just most trusted option.
It was the you mentioned, like they're not scheming Algae
crumpler up all that much. It was more like the
mind meld connection between he and the quarterback that allowed
(17:41):
him to be so successful. And he was easily Vic's
number one guy there kind of like during their entire
run together.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah, and I think that that matters because you have.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
To think about like it almost feels like the odds
were stacked against him, yep, because of you have Michael
Vick in the pocket. Why do you need a tight
end who's going out and catching anything?
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Like, why do you need that?
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Yeah, you got Mike have Mike run right.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
So I think for that reason he had to overcome,
Like I know, it's weird talking about like overcoming having
Michael Vick as your quarterback, but in this situation, like,
I think that's fair to say, and it's why I
think that what he did was so special, oh for sure.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And also given just how hard Michael Vick throws the ball,
Yeah like that. Yeah, it felt like people were not
able to hang on to a lot of Michael Vick's passes,
but algia Krumpler always was and that's why I loved him. Yeah.
Moving on to our next matchup, another tight end involved.
You brought him up Tony Gazales our four seed going
up against Drake Lunnon the twenty nine seed, which, honestly, like,
in hindsight, I'm like, why Strake Glunnon twenty nine and
(18:42):
jan is sixteen? That makes no sense at all. But
we did really think about it.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
We didn't think about it. We just did it.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Unfortunately for Drake. You know, this is one of the
tough straws in the first round. All respect to Drake,
one thousand yards like he's bona fide number one receiver
with again prime of his career ahead of him up.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Trajectory, ready to go, primed for a fantastic into his
Rooky contract, and then probably looking at a big contract
coming out of the Ricky deal.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
But absolutely we're not there yet. Sneaky like really fun
player to watch too. Yeah, I don't think. I don't
think around the league like he has our like we
get the benefit of watching him every Sunday and it
is a blast.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
A couple of weeks ago at Mandatory Mini Cam, Michael
Pinnix Junior was asked about Drake being underrated around the
league and he said, and I quote.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
He won't be after next year, so love it. Maybe
we revisit this.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
I don't think though that it's gonna be tough sledding
for him to usurp Tony Gonzalez though for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Same with this next matchup. We have Michael Vick, who
in my little notes I just wrote he's Michael Vick
right yep, as our number three seed and Jesse Bates
as the number thirty seed. Again, why is Jesse thirty?
Who knows he's only been here two years? If we're
looking career wise, this is actually a conversation, right is
this might not go the way that people would expect.
(19:59):
But for the Atlanta Falcons in the two thousands, it's
Michael Vick over Jesse Bates and.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
I'm so sorry, Jesse. That is a really tough, tough
first round draw. Maybe maybe if Jesse's another spot, we're
having a completely different conversation. But when you're going up
against Vick, it's sorry, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Can put me up against Patrick Kearney. All right, So
next one, we've got Tyson Klabow and Alex Mack another
offensive line at battle. Tyson Klabow was a really really
solid guard for the Matt Ryan kind of era early
on and the Michael Vick era, but Alex Mack also
very important.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
I would say, I would argue, and I think I've
said this before, like I thought that Alex Mack acquisition
was one that took the Falcons offense. It like gave
them a oomph that they were missing. And I know
that's kind of strange to say for a sinner, but
I don't think if you hear Matt Ryan talk about
Alex Mack like yeah, and for Matt Ryan Mack that
(21:00):
Ryan's always been like super vocal about the impact that
Alex Mack had on his career, which Matt Ryan is
a career like his is a Hall of Fame level career. Yeah,
and Alex Mack, I think is right there in the
conversation of what he's what Matt Ryan's success was, and
I think Matt Ryan would say that too.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
So for that reason, I'm moving Alex Mack forward.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Fortunately he's gonna have to go up against Michael Vick later,
but we'll get that to that point when we get there.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
All runs must end at some points, right, Yeah, but
we will go to another offensive line matchup. We got
Jake Matthews as our eleven seed, and we got Justin
Blaylock as our twenty two seed. Blaylock another like very
much in the vein of Tyson Claybow, very much in
the vein of Todd Winer, like a solid tackle for
a long time here in Atlanta. So it is Jake Matthews.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
I refuse to not let Jake Matthews get out.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Of the first round.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
He's like the Franchisees all time Ironman, literally one and
seventy four consecutive starts, knock on wood like this man.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
What he has been for Atlanta in terms of consistency
in terms of reliability, there is. I would argue there's.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
No one in the franchise outside of maybe Matt Ryan,
that touches that level of consistency.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah, I mean in the modern era for sure, if
you go back historically, like Mike ken is another tackle
who played for a really long time for Atlanta. But yeah,
we're talking about so so yeah, let's uh, let's keep
Jake's run going, yes, and keep that keep that streak alive.
(22:36):
So our next matchup in the bracket, we have Calvin
Ridley as the twenty seventh seed against Michael Turner as
the sixth seed. Another easy matchup, but an interesting discussion
because like the way that Calvin's again kind of like
career turned out I had I did not see coming
the way that, like his his third year was incredible.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, I think that you when you think about Calvin
Ridley and the first you know three to your point,
the first three years of Calvin Ridley's career, you're like,
this is a guy who's gonna put up Julio numbers.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
He's the next one.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
To Calvin.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
And then it didn't pan out, It didn't work out
that way. And then Drake arrived and it kind of
like Calvin Ridley became more of a side conversation than
the main exactly the main spotlight. And I think that's why.
I mean, I couldn't turn away Michael Turner when.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
He was the spotlight.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
He was the most career touchdowns in franchise history, most
rushing touchdowns in a single season in franchise history. Like
this was somebody to the point of what we're talking
about with the conversation around Devonte Freeman earlier, Like Michael
Turner was the epitome of a running back in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Absolutely for a very long time in the league, for
a couple of years exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
So for that reason, he's moving forward.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yes, I think like the fact that a real argument
was being made early in the Mount Ryan eras to like,
is Matt actually the most important part of this team,
this offense. A lot of people felt Michael Turner in
the ground game for the first few years when they
were making that run, it was really him and on
his shoulder. So yeah, he moves on. Even though Calvin
(24:20):
Ridley was super exciting, electric, he just the sang power
wasn't there and the responsibility, I would say probably wasn't there.
Next one, Wark Done as our seventh seed against Dion
Jones the twenty sixth seed.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Another tough first round matchup for the lower seed Deon Jones.
I'm super sorry Deon Jones, but it's work done.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Like he's a limited partner.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
So I feel like if we don't put him forward,
like he's gonna walk through the door and be like
you guys.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Work Did you know Deon Jones is still in the league. Yes,
I did last year I think for Buffalo, Yes.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
And I knew he was with Tampa for a.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Little bit Tampa. That's ye, with Buffalo, I think the
year before and then Tampa, yes, yes, so interesting. Yeah,
a lot of great memories with d.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
I loved watching don play. Nothing against him, it's just
when you're going up against Warwick.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Sorry about it, all right. Next one we got Keith
Brooking ten seed against Jonathan Babineau the twenty three seed.
This two kind of again like individuals.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
But yeah, I here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
I have Jonathan Babineau moving forward because I do not
think Jonathan Babino gets the love.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
That he deserves for the career that he had in Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I think everyone is always talking about like John Abraham,
you talk about Grady Jarrett, you're talking about he was
Grady Jarrett before Grady Jarrett. Yes, and I think that.
I mean, he spent all, what was it, twelve years
his entire career in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
He last year was twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Yeah, Like I just I had such an appreciation for
Jonathan Babino.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
And even though I only remember.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
The twilight years of like his career, I loved watching
him play, even if he wasn't playing to the love
of what he was earlier in his career.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
And I know that you're a big Keith Brooking guy,
and you talked, you talked, you talked about him a lot.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
So I just assumed, Okay, I've heard I've heard his
name out of your mouth a number of times.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
I had a bobblehead of his as a kid.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Yeah, okay, So I was just like assuming that I
was going to be your peg.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
But yeah, and I was willing to.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Fight for Jonathan Babino because I again, like just personally,
I love his story, I love his uh the way
that he played, I loved watching how he played, And
so for all of those reasons, I had him moving
forward which probably people would be like, that's a bit
of an upset, but personal choice, this is my bracket.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I'll give that to you honestly. Really, yeah, I think
it's I do want it to be known. I want
it on the record that that Tory is is the
driving engine between or behind Keith Brooking not making it
out of the first round. But Jonathan Bavenue is. If
there's anybody who's like as deserving as him for an
upset in the first round, I'd like to see it.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Yeah, I just think that he I feel like we
need to do right by Babs.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Let's do right, Let's do right by Babs, and let's
have him go into the second round.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
All right, this is this is another really fascinating, so
tough and then and we'll have to kind of speed
through the second round a little bit. But we wanted
to get some of the conversations about about these guys
who weren't moving on out of the way. This is
gonna be a crazy one. Fifteen seed Todd McClure going
up against eighteen seed Chris Linstrom.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yep, this one hurt my soul because Chris Linstrom is
I would argue the best guard I take it back.
The best offensive lineman to come through Atlanta ever, ever, ever, ever,
I believe, even though he is only what five years
(27:45):
into his career, I think that we are going to
be talking about Chris Linstrom for a very, very, very
long time. I don't think any offensive lineman has racked
up the awards and the consistent respect that Chris Linstrom
gains from other players around the league and other coaches
around the league. However, you put him against Todd McClure
(28:08):
like mud duck, mud duck, the guy who is in
the ring of honor, like I, this matchup physically hurt me,
and I don't I honestly, I put a question mark.
Jared was asking me like earlier. Producer Jared was asking
me earlier, like Corey, you have to make a decision,
who are you taking? And I was like, I really
(28:30):
don't know, So you you talk, you tell me, because
I don't want to make a decision.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
I have Todd McClure, Okay, I.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Also had Todd mclauury, but I didn't want Chris Lnstrom to.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Not I didn't want like, I don't think. I don't
think Chris is busting through that door to yell at
you right now. I think again, the way that we're
looking at a player like Pajan or a player like Drake,
this is to some degree a little bit of a
lifetime achievement award, right simply by nature of the exercise.
It's it's kind of who meant the most to the
(29:03):
Atlanta Falcons during the two thousands. Yeah, Todd McClure meant
just as much as Chris Linstrom for longer. And I
think that for that reason we got to give it
to Todd McClay.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
And again, when Bajon's career is done, when Chris Linstrom's
career is done, maybe we're having a completely different conversation.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
They're gonna be climbing right before.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Right now, it's fine, and we will put a pain.
We'll come back to it.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Breathe in for four seconds, fine, pause for four seconds,
breathe out for four seconds.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Reset, yep, all right, now go to the next one.
Because I can't do this anymore. I can't talk about.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Crys Linstrom not making it all right, This one will
be easy. Let's do Julio as our two seed against
Andy Levtree as our thirty one seed. And Andy that
may be low for Andy again, quality player, just the
time a time thing. It's Julio, It's Julio.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I'm so sorry again another Michael Vic Jesse Bates situation. Tough,
tough first round draw.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
I think Andy Leavittrie was actually the first gender reveal
that I saw out on the practice fields in Faberry Branch.
But I'm sure you've seen a couple in your day
as well. You know, we've seen a few. It's always sweet,
really nice for the family to exciting time. I think
his was the first interesting A little fun facts about
Andy Letree. You guys will always remember where you were
(30:22):
when you heard that. Let's move on to the to
the second round. So as a let's do a real
quick recap of the matchups that we've got going on
in round two. We've got Matt Ryan against DeVante Freeman.
We've got Grady Jarrett against John Abraham. We've got Roddy
White against Patrick Kearney. We've got Algie Crumpler against Tony
and Zalaz. We've got Michael Vick against Alex Mack. We've
(30:45):
got Jake Matthews against Michael Turner. Work done against Jonathan
Babinot and bringing it up with Todd McClure against Julio Jones. Yeah,
so let's dig in to Matt Ryan Devonte Freeman probably
the easiest of this entire second round.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Yeah, it's Matt.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Matt's may cool. So we talked a lot about DeVante earlier.
We'll move right along. Grady Jarrett and John Abraham. This okay,
this is crazy.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
The only reason. Here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
So John Abraham has the franchise, he's a franchise leader
in sex. Grady Jarrett franchise leader and quarterback hits. He
surpassed John Abraham is this past year.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Hold on, hold on.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
I did have a conversation when the day that Grady
Jarrett surpassed Abe in quarterback hits.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
I went down.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
I ran down and Abe was at the game, and
because he works with Maria Martin and they do some
stuff for eleven Alive together, and I was like, Grady
just passed you, and he goes, well, I think I
did it in one last year.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
So there's that. So for for.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
That reason, for that reason, that reason alone, and someone
will have to fact check me on that if if
he was even right about.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
That, do you bring to this.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
I do think that like the franchise leader in sas
has to move forward. I agree, as much as I
love Grady, as much as I love Grady's story, as
much as I still kind of personally wish Grady was
here and so but we have we have to give
it to Tape.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
The biggest X factor in maybe Grady's defense is what
he meant to the community. Yeah, a lot of the
kind of like extra curricular and tangible things that he
brought to the organization. You know, John Abraham amazing player
on the field and also still involved as you just
mentioned with Maria and kind of involved in the media
side of things. So like he also involved in the
extra curriculars. But to me, it is just kind of
(32:42):
by nature of the importance of the position. It's a
little bit of yeah about like doing it at edge
Rusher and us consistently talking about the fact that the
Falcons have not had somebody like John Abraham since John
Abraham to me just means a little bit more than again,
like mad respect for what Grady Jared is. Yeah, but hey,
we're we're deciding between two of the best here. Somebody's
(33:04):
got to disappointed, ye, John Abraham, We'll see you on
in the next round. So we got a five versus twelve,
Roddy White versus Patrick Kearney, knowing, knowing that you didn't
even want Pattison to begin with, you were ready to
kick him to the curb. I assume I know who
you got.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
Yeah, I got Roddy.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Okay, I have Roddy took great. I think that again.
Patrick Kearney is fascinating to me just because of the
way that nobody really talks about him anymore. He's kind
of a forgotten man, but he you know, he got
a little bit, a little bit of love here. That's
why I was like defended. I was like, no, the
way that you feel about Jonathan Babine. So I was like,
(33:39):
we're not gonna Yeah, we're not getting him. Sony next one.
This is this is quick too. Algae Crumpler, Tony Gonzalez.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Unfortunately for Algae Crumpler, like Tony Gonzalez, was the epitome
of the position at that time. When you think about
national perspective of the tight end position, you all time,
you can't overlook Tony Gonzales, and for that reason it
has to be him.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
His Pro Football Reference page in like the awards section
to the far right, is all just like AP Pro Bowl, AP,
Pro Bowl, AP AP, like it's insane every single year
except for like three. And it's not like he dropped
off in Atlanta, right, So it's not like he was
at the tail end of his career and he came
here and he was still putting up eight hundred yards
a season.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
When Matt Ryan retired and we did all the Matt
Ryan retirement stuff here in Atlanta, I got on the
phone with Tony and we were talking about his days
in ma Ryan he said, he's like, I wish more
than anything that I had more years with Matt Ryan.
I was and he said, I wish more than anything,
my biggest regret is that I did not have.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
The prime of my career.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Crazy he has. Ryan, Yeah, it's like, my guy, you
are basically like Jerry Rice at the tight end position,
and you're like man if I had been on Matt though,
and he.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Kind of said, he was like, that's not to diminish
anybody else that I played with. He was like, it
was just the connection I had with Matt was something
so special, and I think the connection Matt had with
a lot of players is pretty special. Matt Ryan helped
make players better. And I'm sorry that we're talking about
Matt Ryan while we're talking about Tony Gonzalez, but I
had to bring up that kind of anecdote because I
think it it shows kind of even more the potential
(35:19):
that there could have been.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Well, that was an early early clip that they used
to show really showed like Matt Ryan as either a
rookie or in a second year going up to the
bench to Tony and like yelling at him, getting in
his face, and it was like, oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Yep, and Tony was like mad respect he talked, Yeah,
he talked about that moment too.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
He was like, here's this kid from Boston College. Like,
but he was like he earned my.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Respects showing his moxie. Yeah, all right. Next one, we
got Michael Vick against Alex Mack.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Another tough draw. I'm so sorry, Alex Mack, but it's
Michael Vick.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
As Zazie Beats in the TV show Atlanta famously said,
it's Michael Vick.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
It's Michael Vick.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
So moving right along, Michael Vick. Next one, we got
Jake Matthews against Michael Turner. This is this is actually
tougher than I kind of expected it too.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
I kind of went back and forth about it a
couple of times. I think just name recognition though as
a falcon one out for me, which is why Michael
Turner is the one that I moved forward, because I
think that maybe it's by I think it's by nature
of the position, which is unfortunate. But I also am
(36:25):
a bit like what Michael Turner did for that offense,
not saying that Jake Matthews isn't currently doing that for
Atlanta right now, but I just think in terms of
like the history books, to your point is the I
think the blurb on Michael Turner is going to be
pretty lengthy.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Yeah, And for me it was a little bit of
we never have really talked about Jake Matthews as kind
of like that top three tackle in the NFL. He's
always consistently to me at top ten, yeah, guy, But
for a couple of years there, Michael Turner was like
the number running, if not two, if not one.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Right.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
So the peak, given that Michael Turner did have the
sustained success and was important to the team and all
of the things, was.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
In the National conversation.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
A bit more. Yeah, and fantasy football like it was
kind of right when the fantasy boom was happening and
he was like the best fantasy running back for a
couple of years.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
And I think too, It's like the thing with Jake
Matthews is like we're talking about Crystal Instrom and how
many accolades and how I think how high up he
is on all of these offensive line rankings. So it's
not like people aren't looking at the Falcons offensive line
and being like, oh, Jake Matthews is like, it's just
chrysal Instrom in the national conversation.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
So I think to that point, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
All right, Michael Turner, moving on. We got work done
against Jonathan Babino. It's work done.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
It's work done.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Okay, Jonathan, you made a great run.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Hey, I got you as far as I could, my guy,
I pushed it as far as I could.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Cool, Well, work done. You're on a run. Todd McClure.
Julio Jones, Julio Julio Jones. Yeah, we are onto the lead. Eight.
We got a Matt Ryan John Abraham matchup kicking us
off Matt Ryan. Do you think they ever let John Abraham,
you know, tackle Matt Ryan in practice? Just once? Just once,
(38:14):
just to no.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
It's one of those things like what like Matt would
never let anyone else throw to Julio, I'm sure would
never let a.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Don't touch me, don't no touch, no touch? All right, Yeah.
John Abraham was was incredible again, like so much fun
to watch. I wish he's a player that I wish
I had been able to see kind of now where
I would have had more appreciation. But at that point
in my life, I don't think I understood the nuances
of the game enough and so it was just like
sacks are great, yay. But now I want to go
(38:41):
back and I want to watch and enjoy because he
was just such a master at a lot of different things, agreed,
But his run ends here. We now have a maybe
the juiciest matchup of the whole thing. We got Roddy
White and Tony Gonzalez, a five to four matchup.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
This goes back to my conversation about Tony. I wish
Tony was in Atlanta longer. I wish Tony was in
Atlanta when he was at the peak of his career
and his powers and his youth even and.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
But I still have him going forward. I still have
him going.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Forward, I have Tony going beyond uh, Roddy.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
Tony going beyond Roddy. Wow, Okay, I have Roddy. And
this might be one where we need Producer Jared to
ultimately m on this because I don't know if I'm
willing to back down from Roddy again.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
I totally get it.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
I'm willing to concede Roddy, but I want to make
it known that, like I thought, Tony Gonzalez, like as
I was growing up, like was the epitome of like
past catcher and I loved watching him.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
Play and.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Right. And it's not like I didn't like that about Roddy.
It's just that like for contention for contentious sake.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Oh wow, okay it yeah, you want to read.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
It, Producer Jared, I'm gonna go for Tony Gonzalez. Growing up,
I knew who Tony Gonzalez was, but didn't really know.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Who Roddy White was.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
So from a national perspective, if like we're looking at it,
that's that's kind of his. And he said coming from
a from not a lifelong Falcons fan, yeah, like I
think that's a big part of it too, is like
probably a lot of Chiefs games though in Utah grown up, right,
Like I think Tony, what Tony was to the league
was different than what for sure what Roddy was to
(40:28):
the league.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
Okay, then let's I had one Roddy question for you then,
and we'll do it now because Tony is gonna move on.
Do you think what, like, how concerned are you if
we pull back ten fifteen years from now that kind
of what happened to Patrick Kearney.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Happens to Roddy. I do worry about that because of Julio.
I do worry about that because we are.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
Talking about Julio's career butting up against and kind of
on top of Roddy White.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
It is this John this Jonathan Abraham.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Bus to pass the baton in like real time.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Right, and it's it's a bit like, oh, what you
had you kind of forgot about because you continue to
have and then surpassed.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Yeah, there's no appreciation by absence.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
Right, Yeah, And so I think because of that, like
it does that's a great you.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Got to carry the banner for Roddy. I gotta we
gotta keep like streets. We gotta let the youths know,
let them know. Two times state champion wrestler. We got
to keep that little lower third alive. They ran it
every single time.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
As our resident gen Z Jared producer, Jared, I think
he's gen Z.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's firmly Yeah, he's a gen Z.
Don't let the beat fool you.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Yeah, he's a ninety nine kid.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
So he uh, he's the kids that we're trying to get.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
On the Roddy chain. All right, let's go Michael Vick,
Michael Turner, the two Michaels duking it out. This is
tough too.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
This is what's so difficult, And we're going to get
into this later if we move Michael Vick forward, because
I think the main part of the Michael Vick conversation
is that if you look at those teams outside of
like two thousand and four, they weren't like big time
playoff continuing.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
Miss twelve games I think in two thousand and three.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Yeah, So what you're talking about in terms of like
the impact on the team and the games that they
were winning is like.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
The Green Bay playoff wild card game. Yeah, And then
it's the two thousand and four season, and then it's
some of the individual accolades in six and seven, huh
not in six ye with like his rushing totals of
becoming the first thousand yard rushing court, like all of
that stuff. Yeah, but does that add up to win
(42:39):
Michael Turner and the importance that he had.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
Because the team was winning because of Michael Turner. Not
again not saying that they weren't winning because of Michael Vick,
but they weren't winning as much.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
But he was undoubtedly the focal point of that offense,
even more so than Michael Turner was to Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
I think, And I think because also of the cultural
impact and Michael Vick had in the app the remnants
of his play, and I think you talk about the
quarterback position, it diverged with Michael Vick, and because of that,
you can't can't put Michael Turner above him.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
I think if you're doing the Mount Rushmore of the
Atlanta Falcons, Michael Turner comes off before Michael Vick does
in the future, if at any point you're ever replacing it. Agreed, Yeah, Okay,
so Michael Vick is moving on. Sorry, Michael Turner, we
got work done. Julio Jones. I think Julio's got this one.
I do too. Yeah, I'd love to spend more time
talking about work done. We got to kind of move
(43:37):
on for times sake, but please go look the man up.
He was awesome. He was amazing. Like the genre reminds
me of him in some ways inside of the tackles specifically,
So give him a google, go watching YouTube clips. He
was great. We got our final two, Matt Ryan and
Tony Gonzalez.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
You don't have Tony Gonzalez without Matt Ryan.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Yeah, but you could also argue maybe you don't have
Matt Ryan without Tony Zala. I think the impartial or
the wisdom and stuff that he gave to him early
on was very valuable as well.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Yeah, but I'm but we're talking about Matt Ryan, the MVP.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
Matt Ryan. Oh I'm not. I'm not putting tonyzals over. Okay,
don't worry. Don't you worry.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
Matt Ryan to the championship as it should be.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Yep, number one in our brackets, number one in our hearts.
All right, next one we got oh, this is all time,
just cool showdown in Atlanta Falcons history. Michael Vick against
Julio Jones. You got Michael Vick. Wow? Really you got
Michael Vick.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
Yeah, because I'm you're so quarterback bias. I am, I
really am. I'm not even gonna lie.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
I think that Michael Vick just what he did for Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
Like in terms of when people think about the Atlanta Falcons,
you do you think about Matt Ryan, you think about
Michael Vick, and you do think about Julio Jones. And
I think that it was really hard to put Michael
Vick above it, above Julio, but it was because of
(45:10):
the continual impact of Michael.
Speaker 3 (45:13):
Vick on the game.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Wow, okay, so you his lasting impact is lasting legacy.
We've seen players like Julio before. We have really only
seen players like Michael Vick since maybe one other time
in Lamar. But like, yeah, that's true, but we are
seeing more types of those players because of Michael Vick,
and that it makes sense. Again, I like, Julio is
(45:37):
might be I'm a big Claude hum prepin, but like
he might be the most talented player to ever play
in a Falcon's uniform.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
Yes, yes, I agree, I.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
Mean something to me, But you want to go on
Michael Vick, I I do, okay, In of who you're
thinking Atlanta Falcons, of the two thousands. Yeah, we go
Michael Vick over Julio.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
You can't talk about the Falcons franchise without talking about
Michael Vick.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Hey, you can't make a bracket without breaking some eggs.
He of course, let's break some eggs. Let's put Michael
Vick on into the finals against Matt Ryan. Is quarterback
on Quarterback showdown here. I think I think it was
Matt Ryan's to lose. I don't think you lost it.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
I don't either. I don't think.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
I don't think there's anyone you can put against Matt
Ryan that I'm not picking.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
Matt Ryan team history.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
In team history, and I think it's almost poetic that
we got to Matt Ryan versus Michael Vick because of
everything that happened at the end of Michael Vick's years
in Atlanta and the absolute like weight on Matt Ryan's
shoulders to carry on the franchise and be the next
(46:49):
franchise quarterback after Michael Vick is one of the biggest
weights of any quarterback in any team history. I'm talking
any team across the league, and the fact that he
was able to have the career that he did, to
have the success that he did to have a Hall
of Fame level output in statistics and in every franchise
(47:10):
leader category.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
You can think of.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
Yep, it's Matt Ryan and what he meant to this
franchise over the years that he played for it is immeasurable.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
Couldn't have said it any better. I think the situation
he walked into only adds to that that luster of
what he ultimately did. And he did it at a
time when we talk about Michael Vick kind of setting
a blueprint. Nobody was starting as a rookie at that time.
He and Joe Flacco in two thousand and eight kind
of were the first since Peyton to do it. And
people were scared off because Peyton threw all those picks.
What's Matt Ryan do. He takes some of the playoffs
(47:44):
in his first year that was so incredible. So he
beats Brent Grimes, Devonte Freeman, John Abraham, Tony Gonzalez, and
Michael Vick to claim our champion of the best, most important,
however you want to describe it, just falcons of the
two thousands that we wanted to talk about out bracket.
Speaker 2 (48:01):
And I hope everybody was like, following along, we will
do different years, we'll do different all that stuff. Yeah,
because I I'm sure that people are like they don't
know what they're talking about. How could you leave this
person off? Or how could you move this person forward? Again,
this is just subjective. This is just our own thoughts
and feelings about this organization since two thousand and who
we remember, I guess like even for us like growing up.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
Yeah, and I would encourage everybody. I just used a
website called brackethq dot com. It'll make your bracket. Share
it with us if you want, let us know, uh,
share it on social media. DM US would love to
see how everybody else sees this all playing out, because
it was a really fun exercise and it's just honestly
fun to talk about some players that we don't get
a chance to chat about often. So thank you guys
(48:48):
so much for watching listening. Please continue to fall along
throughout the summer and lead up to training camp. We've
got a few more great piece of content on our
way for you, but in the meantime, training camp previews,
rolling all the positions, things like that, and we will
have you covered when the training camp begins. So for
Tory mclaney, I'm will McFadden and we'll see you guys
next time.
Dirty Birds. What's up? And welcome to the Atlanta Falcons
podcast Network. I'm your host, Will mcfad and I'm joined
as always by Tory Nick Laney and Tory. We're kind
of in the middle of summer. Yeah, so you know,
I kind of want to know what you're watching reading,
what are you doing to pass the time with A
with a little extra free time these days.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
So I'm catching up on all of my docuseries and documentaries.
I for those that don't know, I'm a bit of
a fixator, Like I fixate on things, and I ruminate
on things, and if I get on one topic, I
like have to know everything there is to know about it.
So right now, there's a documentary on Netflix about the
(00:40):
Titans submersible implosion, and there's also one that Discovery did. Yeah,
and I also so I watched both of those documentaries
in quick succession and was just like, well, how do
I feed this uh interest that I now have in
submersive submersible exploration and implosions. So now I'm currently watching
(01:01):
a docuseriies on the ar A San Juan, which was
an Argentinian submersiful to come back to us, Torry, come
back to us so far gone down this like rabbit hole.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
It's not even funny.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
But that's like when I have time on my hands,
I unfortunately turn into this like crazy person that has to.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Know everything there is to know about like one singular topic.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I cannot even bring myself to check those out because
I had I remember so vividly. I was on a
bachelor trip over the weekend that all of this took place,
and I was probably like a weirdo in the corner
this whole weekend just being like, what is up with
this vessel? Yeah, just where it is in the sea somewhere,
(01:45):
it's incredible. And I was like so just wrapped up
in my own anxiety of like imagining what that must be.
Like I can't bring myself to watch those documents. Are
they good or is it gonna make me like just diying?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
No, I actually think they're really good, because it did
kind of ease my anxiety a little bit, like because of.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
My anxiety that we know the ending of the book.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
But the thing is is, you know the like this
was such a preventable Oh, it so was accident. It
wasn't even an accident, like it it shouldn't have happened.
There shouldn't have been people on that freaking sub.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
So people are so confused right now about what podcast
they just tuned into. This is amazing.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
It wasn't this a Falcons podcast.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
It was.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
It's no longer it's not the Titan submersible.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yes it has. It has been hijacked by the Submersible conversation.
But let's get it back on track. Today. We're here
to have a little fun. We're going to talk about
the best players, uh, since two thousand for the Atlanta
Falcons an important distinction, an important distinction, and also I
want to make the distinction that we didn't think about
this all that hard. In fact, I came up with
(02:49):
the seating the brackets. I didn't even really see them
in any way. I was just kind of like, who
are some guys we want to talk about? I think
I would stand by we got thirty two players here,
you could quit. There's probably like six to eight players. Yeah,
you could slot them in there, right, And honestly, I
thought about two having kind of requirements in terms of
how long you needed to play, But then that would
(03:11):
have left us not able to talk about Jesse Bates.
But Jehan Robinson and I wanted to talk about them.
So again, I didn't really think all that hard about
this list, so neither should you. It's just an exercise
to talk about some players that we love. So you
want to build a go through a bracket together.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Let's go through a bracket.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I'm really excited about this because I originally I was
talking to producer Jared about this. Producer Jared before we started,
and he was like, you and Will actually have a
little bit of differing opinions on things. And I was
a little bit surprised by that because I thought we
were probably going to be like in sync on the
same page the whole time, and I was like, this
is going to be boring, but he was like, no,
y'all actually are probably going to go back and forth
(03:48):
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Good, let's fight, let's do it. Let's dig into it.
So our first our first matchup on the bracket is
a one versus a thirty two seed Matt Ryan. Brank rhymes,
I I have Matt Ryan moving on in this matchup.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Personally, Yeah, I'm not gonna lie spoilerer. Matt Ryan goes
pretty deep into the bracket.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
We're getting ahead of ourselves.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Sorry, but I know, but he I'm gonna tell you
all right now, I'm taking him far.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
He might be in line for a second round upset
for me. No, I'm just kidding, but we should talk
about Brent Grimes, who was like one of the most
I think unique players in Falcons history. His highlight was
the twenty ten season I remember distinctly, like that was
when Calvin Johnson was Megatron and he got the nickname
Optimist Crimes. Yeah, and I was in high school and
I just thought that was the coolest thing in the world.
(04:36):
It was like Megatron versus Optimus Grond And he actually
did pretty well that season. So Brent Grimes was a
fun player, but you know, ultimately didn't I think rise
to one of the all time rates. So we got
Matt Ryan moving on there. So onto our next matchup.
This one is gonna be fun.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
This one's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, We've got a sixteen seventeen matchup. But Jean Robinson
making it as the sixteen, which I thought was a
good spot to put him. Yeah, and DeVante Freeman at seventeen.
And some people might be mad at me for having
DeVante behind Bajon given that DeVante was here longer accomplished,
you know, more things like that. But again, Bajon is
(05:18):
right on the precipice of what could be a very
incredible career, right.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
And that's the thing is like, and we're having this
conversation early because it's one that we need to have early,
but it's like, what are the requirements that we need
to get?
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, like what are we looking for?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Because I feel like what I'm looking for maybe different
from what you look for because for me, I'm like, Okay,
are we going off of just like athlete athletic achievement,
like or are we talking about what they mean to
the team like within the confines of their role at
the time.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, Like what are these requirements?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
And then I think like from there, that's where you
go because if you're looking at just like sheer athlete, right.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
If it's like who's the most talented player, that's a
different discussion than the greatest player.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Right exactly. And so this is a bit like subjective
in that.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
But like so the way I'm looking at it is
almost if you're if you're gonna write the history of
the Atlanta Falcons, which player gets the bigger section and
That's where I think this conversation is so interesting with
these two players in particular because it's like, again, I
expect Bajon, when all of a sudden done, to have
it have a couple of pages I know in book.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
The problem though is is right now, as you're saying,
you're recording, I.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Can't put him ahead of Freeman.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, I personally, I'm like, if you're looking at DeVante
Freeman's overall career, which that's the thing is, like Bajon
doesn't have the luxury of us being able to talk
about a career. We have this hypothetical career and we
have a trajectory. But when you're looking at what Freeman did,
especially in twenty fifteen, in twenty sixteen, back to back
thousand yard seasons yep, twenty two rushing touchdowns, like this
(06:59):
is a This is a guy who in those two
years alone like mattered greatly to the overall operation of
that offense that went to a super Bowl, yeah, and
won a division championship. Like So for me, I, because
we're going off of actuality versus potential, I had to
(07:19):
put Freeman a bit higher than Bejon. That's not to
say that give Bjon another year and we're not talking
about Bajon surpassing him. But for right now, in this moment,
I couldn't push Bajon forward, despite the fact that I
think that Bajon's career it may look.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
A little bit better, a bit better.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah, I expect it to when all of a sudden done.
If for no other reason, then Devonte Freeman never had
a season kind of like the one Bajon did last
year exactly. So that's what you're getting at with in
terms of kind of a ceiling. It's Jean without without
a question. But again, he's only done it for two
years exactly. And when you look at what DeVante Freeman did,
he he had the two thousand yard seasons as well.
(08:01):
I wonder if if the twenty fifteen season had been
a successful one from a team perspective, they reached the playoffs,
do we remember his legacy a little bit differently? And actually,
I'm curious, like, what do you think DeVonta Freeman's legacy
at this point is amongst the Falcons fan base.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
That's a great question, because I think that there is
an appreciation for what he was in his prime, But
I think the prime felt a little bit short lived.
Like I feel like it was a very like flash
in the Pan, And if you remember the Flash, you're like, oh, like, yeah,
what an amazing piece of that roster during that.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Quecially rin for the Flash when they had Stephen Jackson
and they kind of have like Jerryus Norwood and Jaquiz
Roger and they didn't really have a central guy after
the War Done era, Yeah, and kind of the Michael
Michael Turner stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So like also you think about kind of what it
was after he left and as he kind of declined
and as he grew older, and and what it was
up until you got Tyler, al Jerry and Bejon. Like,
there was a period before and after DeVonta Freeman that
was a bit of a lull in terms of I mean, heck,
(09:08):
before Taller, Algier and Jon Robinson got in here, we
were talking about the Falcons not having a run game.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, it went and signed Todd Gurley to one year contract,
Youdo Smith, you know, Brian Hill, Quadria Allison, all those guys. Yeah,
it just didn't work. And that's kind of the way
they were right before Devontae Freeman joined the picture. So
if you remember kind of what he meant at that
period and then the flash. Yeah, you probably remember him
pretty fondly in that in that mix with like just
(09:33):
to tick below, worked on Michael Turner kind of in that,
in that Jamal Anderson in that realm, right, But you
have Devontae Freeman. Yeah, moving on, I do as well,
which is again, I think that's gonna maybe ruffle some feathers,
but we did this next year the year after that,
it could very well be yeah. Cool. So we're gonna
go on to our next one. This is a nine
(09:55):
to twenty four match up, our nine seed Grady Jarrett.
Our twenty four match up Matt Bryant, And honestly, he
was like the toughest player for me to slot. I
kind of did him last, and I was like, all right,
I'm plugging in here, Matt, because personally, I think he's
like a top ten Falcon player in terms of what
he means for the two thousands, just because of all
the game winning kicks and everything. But you know, some
(10:16):
people liked tait on kickers. So he's twenty four.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
So I have Grady moving forward, I do too, and
I think I'm a bit biased because of the story
of Grady jareded obviously, and how much time and effort
I put I've said this before, how much time and
effort I put into telling his story in the ten
years of what he meant. He was the heart and
soul of this defense for ten years.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
A full decade. And you know, with Matt Bryant, like
you appreciate.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Who he is, money Matt.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
He's money Matt.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
But if you're asking a casual fan on the street,
it's like, Grady Jared, Oh yeah, Grady Jared, he's that
kid from Conyers.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
You know, if Matt Bryant asked a fan on the
street about that, they wouldn't even know him. Matt Brian
was talking to him. So it's like and I for
that reason, we have right like the most unassuming I
love Matt right, but yes, I think I think Grady
Jared moves on. Matt, thank you for all you did
for this franchise, co some some of the most clutch kicks.
My dude. Yeah, it was amazing. But Grady Jared's moving on,
(11:13):
and so are we. The twenty five to eight seed matchup,
we have D'Angelo hall is our twenty five seed and
John Abraham. I think this one is pretty easy for
me as well.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yes, Abe, Abe, no doubt the franchise lander in sacks
like this is.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
He Whether he was bull rushing or spin moving or
right around the edge, he just sailed on through to
the next shout.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Out, Abe.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
I know he listens to the pod. If he doesn't
on the sentis to him, so he does listen to
the pod.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah. Any any words about D'Angelo Hall No, no, okay,
not really. He was a former first round pick, but uh,
the talent and the production wasn't here in Atlanta as
much as his overall career. Fine, he went up to
Washington did some things, but you know.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Well, especially when you're going.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Exactly Yeah. So next one in our bracket, we have
the five seed Roddy White up against the twenty eight
seed Todd Winer, who was the right tackle kind of
during the early years Michael vickiers and given the Michael
vick was a lefty right tackle actually being blindside. Ye,
so an important distinction there, and he was a great player.
(12:20):
I don't think he matched up to Roddy.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
White though, Nope, I don't think so either. This is
another one where I was like, oh, tough draw going
ugainst ROTI like, sorry, gotta move Roddy forward pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
There are a few more offensive linemen kind of from
the vic era though, and the run game that they
had those years was something that I do think is
getting a little bit lost time. We know Michael Vick,
but like worked on TJ. Duggett, the best rushing team
in the league for three straight years, So kudos to
the offensive lineman. They're not going to make the spoiler
alert the longest run here, but I want to kind
(12:52):
of give him.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I have a couple that I'm willing to fight for, so.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Okay, I love it. Foreshadowing there all right, our next
one in the bracket we have that this could be.
I'm curious. I'm curious.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
This one was tough. I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
I had a tough time with this eleven, our twelve
seed Patrick Kearney going up against the twenty one seed
Desmond true Font. So we got a cornerback, edge rusher
and round one.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
It was really difficult because I was going back and
forth as to who I really wanted to move forward,
and to this point, we hadn't really had an upset
in my opinion, Like there was no one who. I
was a bit like, like, so I actually have Desmond
true Font moving forward, and I haven't moving forward because
(13:37):
I felt like we had a lot we had we
didn't have any corners in the conversation yet.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
And I argue, and I really do feel like, if
you're gonna have one one corner that makes it out
of the first round, it had to be arguably the
best one to like to come out of Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
This is this is shameful. This is shameful. Sorry you
are doing Patrick Kearney. I know so dirty right now.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
But the thing is is, I was like, I'm trying
to think about this in March madness terms, like you
have to have a Cinderella.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Story true font.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Team win. No, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I can't allow. I can't allow, so it doesn't true mine.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
But if I will concede that to you, knowing that
my argument is.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Making Desmond Truefau Cinderella story.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Okay, that's been true Fau. So I was like, fully French,
now I love this true. It's crazy. Patrick Kearney had
like ten less sacks than John Abram, I know, and
he was if not for John Abraham, he would have
been the guy that we keep pointing back to to
be like that's the last great pass rusher the Falcons had,
(14:50):
But he kind of gets a little bit overshadowed just
because John Abraham was like a little bit better than
he was.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
And also like John Abraham, like I think Abe his
ascension was happening as Patrick Kearney was descending, Yeah, like
and or not even descending, but like he wasn't.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Like they he they never really overlapped in that way,
so they didn't really share kind of the number one
pass rushers on the same same side it was.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
But didn't he get hurt? And then Abe, that was
when Abe really like took.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Off Patrick Kearney. Yeah, in two thousand and six, he
he only played nine games, right, didn't he get carry? Yeah? Yeah,
yeah that he he got hurt that year And yeah,
in two thousand and six was when they made so
that's when they traded for John Abraham. Patrick Kearney's injury
is kind of what led John Abraham to come to Atlanta, right, sure.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
So that's that's why I think, like that's why AB's
whole thing like is kind of overshadowing his whole career,
overshadows what came before is because because it.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Was like literally just that we never even got a
chance to appreciate what was gone because it was never gone.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
It was never gone.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, that's a that's a great way to put it. Yeah, yep,
so that makes a lot of sense. But I have
Patrick Kearney personally.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Go ahead, there's fine, that's fine. I'll take that. All
respect to true who you know, I have, great guy. Yeah,
but I have a lot offenity.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
For Patrick Kearney.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
It's totally fine, cool, totally fine.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Will I'll let it, thank you so gracious. Today our next,
our next matchup, we have another cornerback, AJ Torell as
our thirteen seed going up against Algie Crumpler. My favorite
player is a kid.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Really Yeah yeah, so I actually also had Algie Crumpler,
like moving forward over a J. Trell three time pro bowler,
I think arguably the most notable tight end in the
pre Tony Gonzalez years of Atlanta, even like when you
think of tight ends in Atlanta, obviously Tony Gonzalez, who
will get to eventually, but Algie Crumbler, like I genuinely
(16:58):
thought that what he did in a system that didn't
really highlight him, like you're talking about the Michael Vick era.
You're talking about the run game that you were speaking
on earlier. You're not really talking about what he did.
And then you go back and you look at the
numbers and the consistency and you're in the three time
pro bowler like yeah, and you're like, wait a minute,
(17:18):
this guy was dang good.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
The best way to think about it, honestly, and it's
it's not the same comparison, but again, think of it
in these terms is Mahomes and Kelsey. He was ViXS,
not just like safety blanket, but just most trusted option.
It was the you mentioned, like they're not scheming Algae
crumpler up all that much. It was more like the
mind meld connection between he and the quarterback that allowed
(17:41):
him to be so successful. And he was easily Vic's
number one guy there kind of like during their entire
run together.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah, and I think that that matters because you have.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
To think about like it almost feels like the odds
were stacked against him, yep, because of you have Michael
Vick in the pocket. Why do you need a tight
end who's going out and catching anything?
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Like, why do you need that?
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Yeah, you got Mike have Mike run right.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
So I think for that reason he had to overcome,
Like I know, it's weird talking about like overcoming having
Michael Vick as your quarterback, but in this situation, like,
I think that's fair to say, and it's why I
think that what he did was so special, oh for sure.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And also given just how hard Michael Vick throws the ball,
Yeah like that. Yeah, it felt like people were not
able to hang on to a lot of Michael Vick's passes,
but algia Krumpler always was and that's why I loved him. Yeah.
Moving on to our next matchup, another tight end involved.
You brought him up Tony Gazales our four seed going
up against Drake Lunnon the twenty nine seed, which, honestly, like,
in hindsight, I'm like, why Strake Glunnon twenty nine and
(18:42):
jan is sixteen? That makes no sense at all. But
we did really think about it.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
We didn't think about it. We just did it.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Unfortunately for Drake. You know, this is one of the
tough straws in the first round. All respect to Drake,
one thousand yards like he's bona fide number one receiver
with again prime of his career ahead of him up.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Trajectory, ready to go, primed for a fantastic into his
Rooky contract, and then probably looking at a big contract
coming out of the Ricky deal.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
But absolutely we're not there yet. Sneaky like really fun
player to watch too. Yeah, I don't think. I don't
think around the league like he has our like we
get the benefit of watching him every Sunday and it
is a blast.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
A couple of weeks ago at Mandatory Mini Cam, Michael
Pinnix Junior was asked about Drake being underrated around the
league and he said, and I quote.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
He won't be after next year, so love it. Maybe
we revisit this.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
I don't think though that it's gonna be tough sledding
for him to usurp Tony Gonzalez though for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Same with this next matchup. We have Michael Vick, who
in my little notes I just wrote he's Michael Vick
right yep, as our number three seed and Jesse Bates
as the number thirty seed. Again, why is Jesse thirty?
Who knows he's only been here two years? If we're
looking career wise, this is actually a conversation, right is
this might not go the way that people would expect.
(19:59):
But for the Atlanta Falcons in the two thousands, it's
Michael Vick over Jesse Bates and.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
I'm so sorry, Jesse. That is a really tough, tough
first round draw. Maybe maybe if Jesse's another spot, we're
having a completely different conversation. But when you're going up
against Vick, it's sorry, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Can put me up against Patrick Kearney. All right, So
next one, we've got Tyson Klabow and Alex Mack another
offensive line at battle. Tyson Klabow was a really really
solid guard for the Matt Ryan kind of era early
on and the Michael Vick era, but Alex Mack also
very important.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
I would say, I would argue, and I think I've
said this before, like I thought that Alex Mack acquisition
was one that took the Falcons offense. It like gave
them a oomph that they were missing. And I know
that's kind of strange to say for a sinner, but
I don't think if you hear Matt Ryan talk about
Alex Mack like yeah, and for Matt Ryan Mack that
(21:00):
Ryan's always been like super vocal about the impact that
Alex Mack had on his career, which Matt Ryan is
a career like his is a Hall of Fame level career. Yeah,
and Alex Mack, I think is right there in the
conversation of what he's what Matt Ryan's success was, and
I think Matt Ryan would say that too.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
So for that reason, I'm moving Alex Mack forward.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Fortunately he's gonna have to go up against Michael Vick later,
but we'll get that to that point when we get there.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
All runs must end at some points, right, Yeah, but
we will go to another offensive line matchup. We got
Jake Matthews as our eleven seed, and we got Justin
Blaylock as our twenty two seed. Blaylock another like very
much in the vein of Tyson Claybow, very much in
the vein of Todd Winer, like a solid tackle for
a long time here in Atlanta. So it is Jake Matthews.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
I refuse to not let Jake Matthews get out.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Of the first round.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
He's like the Franchisees all time Ironman, literally one and
seventy four consecutive starts, knock on wood like this man.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
What he has been for Atlanta in terms of consistency
in terms of reliability, there is. I would argue there's.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
No one in the franchise outside of maybe Matt Ryan,
that touches that level of consistency.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah, I mean in the modern era for sure, if
you go back historically, like Mike ken is another tackle
who played for a really long time for Atlanta. But yeah,
we're talking about so so yeah, let's uh, let's keep
Jake's run going, yes, and keep that keep that streak alive.
(22:36):
So our next matchup in the bracket, we have Calvin
Ridley as the twenty seventh seed against Michael Turner as
the sixth seed. Another easy matchup, but an interesting discussion
because like the way that Calvin's again kind of like
career turned out I had I did not see coming
the way that, like his his third year was incredible.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, I think that you when you think about Calvin
Ridley and the first you know three to your point,
the first three years of Calvin Ridley's career, you're like,
this is a guy who's gonna put up Julio numbers.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
He's the next one.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
To Calvin.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
And then it didn't pan out, It didn't work out
that way. And then Drake arrived and it kind of
like Calvin Ridley became more of a side conversation than
the main exactly the main spotlight. And I think that's why.
I mean, I couldn't turn away Michael Turner when.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
He was the spotlight.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
He was the most career touchdowns in franchise history, most
rushing touchdowns in a single season in franchise history. Like
this was somebody to the point of what we're talking
about with the conversation around Devonte Freeman earlier, Like Michael
Turner was the epitome of a running back in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Absolutely for a very long time in the league, for
a couple of years exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
So for that reason, he's moving forward.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yes, I think like the fact that a real argument
was being made early in the Mount Ryan eras to like,
is Matt actually the most important part of this team,
this offense. A lot of people felt Michael Turner in
the ground game for the first few years when they
were making that run, it was really him and on
his shoulder. So yeah, he moves on. Even though Calvin
(24:20):
Ridley was super exciting, electric, he just the sang power
wasn't there and the responsibility, I would say probably wasn't there.
Next one, Wark Done as our seventh seed against Dion
Jones the twenty sixth seed.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Another tough first round matchup for the lower seed Deon Jones.
I'm super sorry Deon Jones, but it's work done.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Like he's a limited partner.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
So I feel like if we don't put him forward,
like he's gonna walk through the door and be like
you guys.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Work Did you know Deon Jones is still in the league. Yes,
I did last year I think for Buffalo, Yes.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
And I knew he was with Tampa for a.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Little bit Tampa. That's ye, with Buffalo, I think the
year before and then Tampa, yes, yes, so interesting. Yeah,
a lot of great memories with d.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
I loved watching don play. Nothing against him, it's just
when you're going up against Warwick.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Sorry about it, all right. Next one we got Keith
Brooking ten seed against Jonathan Babineau the twenty three seed.
This two kind of again like individuals.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
But yeah, I here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
I have Jonathan Babineau moving forward because I do not
think Jonathan Babino gets the love.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
That he deserves for the career that he had in Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I think everyone is always talking about like John Abraham,
you talk about Grady Jarrett, you're talking about he was
Grady Jarrett before Grady Jarrett. Yes, and I think that.
I mean, he spent all, what was it, twelve years
his entire career in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
He last year was twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Yeah, Like I just I had such an appreciation for
Jonathan Babino.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
And even though I only remember.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
The twilight years of like his career, I loved watching
him play, even if he wasn't playing to the love
of what he was earlier in his career.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
And I know that you're a big Keith Brooking guy,
and you talked, you talked, you talked about him a lot.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
So I just assumed, Okay, I've heard I've heard his
name out of your mouth a number of times.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
I had a bobblehead of his as a kid.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Yeah, okay, So I was just like assuming that I
was going to be your peg.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
But yeah, and I was willing to.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Fight for Jonathan Babino because I again, like just personally,
I love his story, I love his uh the way
that he played, I loved watching how he played, And
so for all of those reasons, I had him moving
forward which probably people would be like, that's a bit
of an upset, but personal choice, this is my bracket.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I'll give that to you honestly. Really, yeah, I think
it's I do want it to be known. I want
it on the record that that Tory is is the
driving engine between or behind Keith Brooking not making it
out of the first round. But Jonathan Bavenue is. If
there's anybody who's like as deserving as him for an
upset in the first round, I'd like to see it.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Yeah, I just think that he I feel like we
need to do right by Babs.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Let's do right, Let's do right by Babs, and let's
have him go into the second round.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
All right, this is this is another really fascinating, so
tough and then and we'll have to kind of speed
through the second round a little bit. But we wanted
to get some of the conversations about about these guys
who weren't moving on out of the way. This is
gonna be a crazy one. Fifteen seed Todd McClure going
up against eighteen seed Chris Linstrom.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yep, this one hurt my soul because Chris Linstrom is
I would argue the best guard I take it back.
The best offensive lineman to come through Atlanta ever, ever, ever, ever,
I believe, even though he is only what five years
(27:45):
into his career, I think that we are going to
be talking about Chris Linstrom for a very, very, very
long time. I don't think any offensive lineman has racked
up the awards and the consistent respect that Chris Linstrom
gains from other players around the league and other coaches
around the league. However, you put him against Todd McClure
(28:08):
like mud duck, mud duck, the guy who is in
the ring of honor, like I, this matchup physically hurt me,
and I don't I honestly, I put a question mark.
Jared was asking me like earlier. Producer Jared was asking
me earlier, like Corey, you have to make a decision,
who are you taking? And I was like, I really
(28:30):
don't know, So you you talk, you tell me, because
I don't want to make a decision.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
I have Todd McClure, Okay, I.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Also had Todd mclauury, but I didn't want Chris Lnstrom to.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Not I didn't want like, I don't think. I don't
think Chris is busting through that door to yell at
you right now. I think again, the way that we're
looking at a player like Pajan or a player like Drake,
this is to some degree a little bit of a
lifetime achievement award, right simply by nature of the exercise.
It's it's kind of who meant the most to the
(29:03):
Atlanta Falcons during the two thousands. Yeah, Todd McClure meant
just as much as Chris Linstrom for longer. And I
think that for that reason we got to give it
to Todd McClay.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
And again, when Bajon's career is done, when Chris Linstrom's
career is done, maybe we're having a completely different conversation.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
They're gonna be climbing right before.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Right now, it's fine, and we will put a pain.
We'll come back to it.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Breathe in for four seconds, fine, pause for four seconds,
breathe out for four seconds.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Reset, yep, all right, now go to the next one.
Because I can't do this anymore. I can't talk about.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Crys Linstrom not making it all right, This one will
be easy. Let's do Julio as our two seed against
Andy Levtree as our thirty one seed. And Andy that
may be low for Andy again, quality player, just the
time a time thing. It's Julio, It's Julio.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I'm so sorry again another Michael Vic Jesse Bates situation. Tough,
tough first round draw.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
I think Andy Leavittrie was actually the first gender reveal
that I saw out on the practice fields in Faberry Branch.
But I'm sure you've seen a couple in your day
as well. You know, we've seen a few. It's always sweet,
really nice for the family to exciting time. I think
his was the first interesting A little fun facts about
Andy Letree. You guys will always remember where you were
(30:22):
when you heard that. Let's move on to the to
the second round. So as a let's do a real
quick recap of the matchups that we've got going on
in round two. We've got Matt Ryan against DeVante Freeman.
We've got Grady Jarrett against John Abraham. We've got Roddy
White against Patrick Kearney. We've got Algie Crumpler against Tony
and Zalaz. We've got Michael Vick against Alex Mack. We've
(30:45):
got Jake Matthews against Michael Turner. Work done against Jonathan
Babinot and bringing it up with Todd McClure against Julio Jones. Yeah,
so let's dig in to Matt Ryan Devonte Freeman probably
the easiest of this entire second round.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Yeah, it's Matt.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Matt's may cool. So we talked a lot about DeVante earlier.
We'll move right along. Grady Jarrett and John Abraham. This okay,
this is crazy.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
The only reason. Here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
So John Abraham has the franchise, he's a franchise leader
in sex. Grady Jarrett franchise leader and quarterback hits. He
surpassed John Abraham is this past year.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Hold on, hold on.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
I did have a conversation when the day that Grady
Jarrett surpassed Abe in quarterback hits.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
I went down.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
I ran down and Abe was at the game, and
because he works with Maria Martin and they do some
stuff for eleven Alive together, and I was like, Grady
just passed you, and he goes, well, I think I
did it in one last year.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
So there's that. So for for.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
That reason, for that reason, that reason alone, and someone
will have to fact check me on that if if
he was even right about.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
That, do you bring to this.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
I do think that like the franchise leader in sas
has to move forward. I agree, as much as I
love Grady, as much as I love Grady's story, as
much as I still kind of personally wish Grady was
here and so but we have we have to give
it to Tape.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
The biggest X factor in maybe Grady's defense is what
he meant to the community. Yeah, a lot of the
kind of like extra curricular and tangible things that he
brought to the organization. You know, John Abraham amazing player
on the field and also still involved as you just
mentioned with Maria and kind of involved in the media
side of things. So like he also involved in the
extra curriculars. But to me, it is just kind of
(32:42):
by nature of the importance of the position. It's a
little bit of yeah about like doing it at edge
Rusher and us consistently talking about the fact that the
Falcons have not had somebody like John Abraham since John
Abraham to me just means a little bit more than again,
like mad respect for what Grady Jared is. Yeah, but hey,
we're we're deciding between two of the best here. Somebody's
(33:04):
got to disappointed, ye, John Abraham, We'll see you on
in the next round. So we got a five versus twelve,
Roddy White versus Patrick Kearney, knowing, knowing that you didn't
even want Pattison to begin with, you were ready to
kick him to the curb. I assume I know who
you got.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
Yeah, I got Roddy.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Okay, I have Roddy took great. I think that again.
Patrick Kearney is fascinating to me just because of the
way that nobody really talks about him anymore. He's kind
of a forgotten man, but he you know, he got
a little bit, a little bit of love here. That's
why I was like defended. I was like, no, the
way that you feel about Jonathan Babine. So I was like,
(33:39):
we're not gonna Yeah, we're not getting him. Sony next one.
This is this is quick too. Algae Crumpler, Tony Gonzalez.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Unfortunately for Algae Crumpler, like Tony Gonzalez, was the epitome
of the position at that time. When you think about
national perspective of the tight end position, you all time,
you can't overlook Tony Gonzales, and for that reason it
has to be him.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
His Pro Football Reference page in like the awards section
to the far right, is all just like AP Pro Bowl, AP,
Pro Bowl, AP AP, like it's insane every single year
except for like three. And it's not like he dropped
off in Atlanta, right, So it's not like he was
at the tail end of his career and he came
here and he was still putting up eight hundred yards
a season.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
When Matt Ryan retired and we did all the Matt
Ryan retirement stuff here in Atlanta, I got on the
phone with Tony and we were talking about his days
in ma Ryan he said, he's like, I wish more
than anything that I had more years with Matt Ryan.
I was and he said, I wish more than anything,
my biggest regret is that I did not have.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
The prime of my career.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Crazy he has. Ryan, Yeah, it's like, my guy, you
are basically like Jerry Rice at the tight end position,
and you're like man if I had been on Matt though,
and he.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Kind of said, he was like, that's not to diminish
anybody else that I played with. He was like, it
was just the connection I had with Matt was something
so special, and I think the connection Matt had with
a lot of players is pretty special. Matt Ryan helped
make players better. And I'm sorry that we're talking about
Matt Ryan while we're talking about Tony Gonzalez, but I
had to bring up that kind of anecdote because I
think it it shows kind of even more the potential
(35:19):
that there could have been.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Well, that was an early early clip that they used
to show really showed like Matt Ryan as either a
rookie or in a second year going up to the
bench to Tony and like yelling at him, getting in
his face, and it was like, oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Yep, and Tony was like mad respect he talked, Yeah,
he talked about that moment too.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
He was like, here's this kid from Boston College. Like,
but he was like he earned my.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Respects showing his moxie. Yeah, all right. Next one, we
got Michael Vick against Alex Mack.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Another tough draw. I'm so sorry, Alex Mack, but it's
Michael Vick.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
As Zazie Beats in the TV show Atlanta famously said,
it's Michael Vick.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
It's Michael Vick.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
So moving right along, Michael Vick. Next one, we got
Jake Matthews against Michael Turner. This is this is actually
tougher than I kind of expected it too.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
I kind of went back and forth about it a
couple of times. I think just name recognition though as
a falcon one out for me, which is why Michael
Turner is the one that I moved forward, because I
think that maybe it's by I think it's by nature
of the position, which is unfortunate. But I also am
(36:25):
a bit like what Michael Turner did for that offense,
not saying that Jake Matthews isn't currently doing that for
Atlanta right now, but I just think in terms of
like the history books, to your point is the I
think the blurb on Michael Turner is going to be
pretty lengthy.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Yeah, And for me it was a little bit of
we never have really talked about Jake Matthews as kind
of like that top three tackle in the NFL. He's
always consistently to me at top ten, yeah, guy, But
for a couple of years there, Michael Turner was like
the number running, if not two, if not one.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Right.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
So the peak, given that Michael Turner did have the
sustained success and was important to the team and all
of the things, was.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
In the National conversation.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
A bit more. Yeah, and fantasy football like it was
kind of right when the fantasy boom was happening and
he was like the best fantasy running back for a
couple of years.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
And I think too, It's like the thing with Jake
Matthews is like we're talking about Crystal Instrom and how
many accolades and how I think how high up he
is on all of these offensive line rankings. So it's
not like people aren't looking at the Falcons offensive line
and being like, oh, Jake Matthews is like, it's just
chrysal Instrom in the national conversation.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
So I think to that point, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
All right, Michael Turner, moving on. We got work done
against Jonathan Babino. It's work done.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
It's work done.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Okay, Jonathan, you made a great run.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Hey, I got you as far as I could, my guy,
I pushed it as far as I could.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Cool, Well, work done. You're on a run. Todd McClure.
Julio Jones, Julio Julio Jones. Yeah, we are onto the lead. Eight.
We got a Matt Ryan John Abraham matchup kicking us
off Matt Ryan. Do you think they ever let John Abraham,
you know, tackle Matt Ryan in practice? Just once? Just once,
(38:14):
just to no.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
It's one of those things like what like Matt would
never let anyone else throw to Julio, I'm sure would
never let a.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Don't touch me, don't no touch, no touch? All right, Yeah.
John Abraham was was incredible again, like so much fun
to watch. I wish he's a player that I wish
I had been able to see kind of now where
I would have had more appreciation. But at that point
in my life, I don't think I understood the nuances
of the game enough and so it was just like
sacks are great, yay. But now I want to go
(38:41):
back and I want to watch and enjoy because he
was just such a master at a lot of different things, agreed,
But his run ends here. We now have a maybe
the juiciest matchup of the whole thing. We got Roddy
White and Tony Gonzalez, a five to four matchup.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
This goes back to my conversation about Tony. I wish
Tony was in Atlanta longer. I wish Tony was in
Atlanta when he was at the peak of his career
and his powers and his youth even and.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
But I still have him going forward. I still have
him going.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Forward, I have Tony going beyond uh, Roddy.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
Tony going beyond Roddy. Wow, Okay, I have Roddy. And
this might be one where we need Producer Jared to
ultimately m on this because I don't know if I'm
willing to back down from Roddy again.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
I totally get it.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
I'm willing to concede Roddy, but I want to make
it known that, like I thought, Tony Gonzalez, like as
I was growing up, like was the epitome of like
past catcher and I loved watching him.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
Play and.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Right. And it's not like I didn't like that about Roddy.
It's just that like for contention for contentious sake.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Oh wow, okay it yeah, you want to read.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
It, Producer Jared, I'm gonna go for Tony Gonzalez. Growing up,
I knew who Tony Gonzalez was, but didn't really know.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Who Roddy White was.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
So from a national perspective, if like we're looking at it,
that's that's kind of his. And he said coming from
a from not a lifelong Falcons fan, yeah, like I
think that's a big part of it too, is like
probably a lot of Chiefs games though in Utah grown up, right,
Like I think Tony, what Tony was to the league
was different than what for sure what Roddy was to
(40:28):
the league.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
Okay, then let's I had one Roddy question for you then,
and we'll do it now because Tony is gonna move on.
Do you think what, like, how concerned are you if
we pull back ten fifteen years from now that kind
of what happened to Patrick Kearney.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Happens to Roddy. I do worry about that because of Julio.
I do worry about that because we are.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
Talking about Julio's career butting up against and kind of
on top of Roddy White.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
It is this John this Jonathan Abraham.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Bus to pass the baton in like real time.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Right, and it's it's a bit like, oh, what you
had you kind of forgot about because you continue to
have and then surpassed.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Yeah, there's no appreciation by absence.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
Right, Yeah, And so I think because of that, like
it does that's a great you.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Got to carry the banner for Roddy. I gotta we
gotta keep like streets. We gotta let the youths know,
let them know. Two times state champion wrestler. We got
to keep that little lower third alive. They ran it
every single time.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
As our resident gen Z Jared producer, Jared, I think
he's gen Z.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's firmly Yeah, he's a gen Z.
Don't let the beat fool you.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Yeah, he's a ninety nine kid.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
So he uh, he's the kids that we're trying to get.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
On the Roddy chain. All right, let's go Michael Vick,
Michael Turner, the two Michaels duking it out. This is
tough too.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
This is what's so difficult, And we're going to get
into this later if we move Michael Vick forward, because
I think the main part of the Michael Vick conversation
is that if you look at those teams outside of
like two thousand and four, they weren't like big time
playoff continuing.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
Miss twelve games I think in two thousand and three.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Yeah, So what you're talking about in terms of like
the impact on the team and the games that they
were winning is like.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
The Green Bay playoff wild card game. Yeah, And then
it's the two thousand and four season, and then it's
some of the individual accolades in six and seven, huh
not in six ye with like his rushing totals of
becoming the first thousand yard rushing court, like all of
that stuff. Yeah, but does that add up to win
(42:39):
Michael Turner and the importance that he had.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
Because the team was winning because of Michael Turner. Not
again not saying that they weren't winning because of Michael Vick,
but they weren't winning as much.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
But he was undoubtedly the focal point of that offense,
even more so than Michael Turner was to Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
I think, And I think because also of the cultural
impact and Michael Vick had in the app the remnants
of his play, and I think you talk about the
quarterback position, it diverged with Michael Vick, and because of that,
you can't can't put Michael Turner above him.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
I think if you're doing the Mount Rushmore of the
Atlanta Falcons, Michael Turner comes off before Michael Vick does
in the future, if at any point you're ever replacing it. Agreed, Yeah, Okay,
so Michael Vick is moving on. Sorry, Michael Turner, we
got work done. Julio Jones. I think Julio's got this one.
I do too. Yeah, I'd love to spend more time
talking about work done. We got to kind of move
(43:37):
on for times sake, but please go look the man up.
He was awesome. He was amazing. Like the genre reminds
me of him in some ways inside of the tackles specifically,
So give him a google, go watching YouTube clips. He
was great. We got our final two, Matt Ryan and
Tony Gonzalez.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
You don't have Tony Gonzalez without Matt Ryan.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Yeah, but you could also argue maybe you don't have
Matt Ryan without Tony Zala. I think the impartial or
the wisdom and stuff that he gave to him early
on was very valuable as well.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Yeah, but I'm but we're talking about Matt Ryan, the MVP.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
Matt Ryan. Oh I'm not. I'm not putting tonyzals over. Okay,
don't worry. Don't you worry.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
Matt Ryan to the championship as it should be.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Yep, number one in our brackets, number one in our hearts.
All right, next one we got oh, this is all time,
just cool showdown in Atlanta Falcons history. Michael Vick against
Julio Jones. You got Michael Vick. Wow? Really you got
Michael Vick.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
Yeah, because I'm you're so quarterback bias. I am, I
really am. I'm not even gonna lie.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
I think that Michael Vick just what he did for Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
Like in terms of when people think about the Atlanta Falcons,
you do you think about Matt Ryan, you think about
Michael Vick, and you do think about Julio Jones. And
I think that it was really hard to put Michael
Vick above it, above Julio, but it was because of
(45:10):
the continual impact of Michael.
Speaker 3 (45:13):
Vick on the game.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Wow, okay, so you his lasting impact is lasting legacy.
We've seen players like Julio before. We have really only
seen players like Michael Vick since maybe one other time
in Lamar. But like, yeah, that's true, but we are
seeing more types of those players because of Michael Vick,
and that it makes sense. Again, I like, Julio is
(45:37):
might be I'm a big Claude hum prepin, but like
he might be the most talented player to ever play
in a Falcon's uniform.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
Yes, yes, I agree, I.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
Mean something to me, But you want to go on
Michael Vick, I I do, okay, In of who you're
thinking Atlanta Falcons, of the two thousands. Yeah, we go
Michael Vick over Julio.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
You can't talk about the Falcons franchise without talking about
Michael Vick.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Hey, you can't make a bracket without breaking some eggs.
He of course, let's break some eggs. Let's put Michael
Vick on into the finals against Matt Ryan. Is quarterback
on Quarterback showdown here. I think I think it was
Matt Ryan's to lose. I don't think you lost it.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
I don't either. I don't think.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
I don't think there's anyone you can put against Matt
Ryan that I'm not picking.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
Matt Ryan team history.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
In team history, and I think it's almost poetic that
we got to Matt Ryan versus Michael Vick because of
everything that happened at the end of Michael Vick's years
in Atlanta and the absolute like weight on Matt Ryan's
shoulders to carry on the franchise and be the next
(46:49):
franchise quarterback after Michael Vick is one of the biggest
weights of any quarterback in any team history. I'm talking
any team across the league, and the fact that he
was able to have the career that he did, to
have the success that he did to have a Hall
of Fame level output in statistics and in every franchise
(47:10):
leader category.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
You can think of.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
Yep, it's Matt Ryan and what he meant to this
franchise over the years that he played for it is immeasurable.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
Couldn't have said it any better. I think the situation
he walked into only adds to that that luster of
what he ultimately did. And he did it at a
time when we talk about Michael Vick kind of setting
a blueprint. Nobody was starting as a rookie at that time.
He and Joe Flacco in two thousand and eight kind
of were the first since Peyton to do it. And
people were scared off because Peyton threw all those picks.
What's Matt Ryan do. He takes some of the playoffs
(47:44):
in his first year that was so incredible. So he
beats Brent Grimes, Devonte Freeman, John Abraham, Tony Gonzalez, and
Michael Vick to claim our champion of the best, most important,
however you want to describe it, just falcons of the
two thousands that we wanted to talk about out bracket.
Speaker 2 (48:01):
And I hope everybody was like, following along, we will
do different years, we'll do different all that stuff. Yeah,
because I I'm sure that people are like they don't
know what they're talking about. How could you leave this
person off? Or how could you move this person forward? Again,
this is just subjective. This is just our own thoughts
and feelings about this organization since two thousand and who
we remember, I guess like even for us like growing up.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
Yeah, and I would encourage everybody. I just used a
website called brackethq dot com. It'll make your bracket. Share
it with us if you want, let us know, uh,
share it on social media. DM US would love to
see how everybody else sees this all playing out, because
it was a really fun exercise and it's just honestly
fun to talk about some players that we don't get
a chance to chat about often. So thank you guys
(48:48):
so much for watching listening. Please continue to fall along
throughout the summer and lead up to training camp. We've
got a few more great piece of content on our
way for you, but in the meantime, training camp previews,
rolling all the positions, things like that, and we will
have you covered when the training camp begins. So for
Tory mclaney, I'm will McFadden and we'll see you guys
next time.
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