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October 17, 2024 11 mins
John Michaels, Atlanta sports radio host with 680 The Fan, joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about Sunday’s game between our Seahawks and his Falcons, Jimmy Lake’s Defensive Coordinator job, offensive skill players, and the quarterback situation.
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Live from the R and R Foundation Specialist Broadcast studio.
Now back to Softie and Dick Gone your home for
the Huskies and the Kraken Sports Radio ninety three point
three kjr FM.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
All right, what do you say we head down to Atlanta, Georgia.
We got cracking flyers by the way, coming up at
seven o'clock tonight, pregame six thirty right here on ninety
three three KJRFL. But let's head to Atlanta. Joining us
right now on the radio show. He is the king
of sports talk radio in Atlanta, the absolute undisputed heavyweight
champion from six eighty to fan.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Our friend John Michaels, How are you, pal?

Speaker 4 (00:36):
I'm doing great. I heard you guys. Weather report forty
four and cold. There is a reason I live in
the South. My goodness. It's too early in the year
for it to be that cold.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Well, when it's one hundred and fifteen and one hundred
and fifty thousand percent humidity, your sweat and your nuts off,
don't call here. Okay, pal, you want to be here
in Seattle with us. But hey, how about how about
this Falcon team. First of all, how's our guy Jimmy
Lake doing we got a matchup of an ex Husky
defensive coordinator versus the x Husky offensive coordinator in Ryan Grubb.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
How's our guy, Jimmy Lake doing down there.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
Well, we are the ultimate ben, but don't break defense.
My goodness, we can't sack a quarterback with a shovel
and a rope. I mean, it's so terrible. Falcons are
dead last in the NFC and the dead last in
the NFL with sacking the quarterback with only five on
the year. But you know what, they have found ways
to make plays at the end of games, to get
off the field, come up with turnovers. So so far,

(01:28):
so good. We're four and two, so I can't complain
about anything after seven straight years of missing the postseason.

Speaker 5 (01:34):
Well, it looks like the defense has actually look better
in the losses than their wins because those wins have
primarily been shootouts, right.

Speaker 4 (01:41):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean even the win last week against Carolina,
it's twenty eight to twenty in the fourth quarter and
Carolina's driving to come up with a tying score and
AJ Terrell undercuts a route and gets an intercession. But yeah,
the defense played great. In the opener against Pittsburgh, played
really well, even in the loss to Kansas City, they
kind of slowed down Patrick Mahomes in company. But the
defense over the last couple of weeks, even New Orleans,

(02:04):
you know, they did score a defensive touchdown which ultimately
ended up being the winner. But Tampa Bay sliced and
dice the Carolina with Andy Dalton moved the ball up
and down the field. But the good thing is that
coincided with the time with Kirk Cousins, John Robinson and
Tyler als here really got their act together. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Well, John Michael's again from Atlanta Seahawks and Falcons on Sunday,
and you mentioned it right there, man, the the concerns
that the Seahawks defense, who are still kind of banged
up by the way defensively, Like, what am I really
concerned about him? I concerned about Bijon going nuts? Am
I concerned about Drake London and Darnell Mooney, Kyle Pitts?
What am I really thinking about? If I'm game planning

(02:42):
for this Falcon offense.

Speaker 4 (02:44):
In best case scenario, what they want to do under
Zach Robinson has run the outside zone scheme and then
play action pass off with it. I think, you know,
people that watched the game on the Thursday night a
couple of weeks ago against Tampa to night Man, Atlanta's
gonna throw the ball all over the yard. They had
to that day out of necessity because Tampa was taken
away the outside zone run. I think what Zach Robinson

(03:06):
would rather do is what happened in Carolina this past week.
He had a combine two hundred yards out of their
top two backs, Jon Robinson and Tyler Algier. Drake London
had just about one hundred yards receiving, and Kirk Cousins
only had to throw the ball thirty times. So I
think grand scheme they would like to run it first
and then play action off of it. But I'm going
to tell you Drake London, who in his first two

(03:27):
years did not feel like the number eighth overall pick,
He's turned into a very, very dangerous number one receiver.
He's on pace right now for ninety six catches over
twelve hundred yards and eleven touchdowns, which would be a
marked improvement for what he gave us the first couple
of years.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
Why doesn't Vijeon get more carries?

Speaker 5 (03:45):
I mean, is at five point six yards per carry,
yet he only gets it thirteen times a game. I mean,
this is a first round draft pick and he looks
to be a top three talent in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
And they don't really run him that much.

Speaker 4 (03:57):
No, they like to spread it around. They really like
Tyler Algier. I think Tyler's averaging over six yards of
carry as the backup running back. And remember, as a
rookie two years ago, before Bijon was drafted, Tyler Algier
was a thousand yard back. I think there's times in
the outside zone scheme that Tyler Algier actually runs the
ball a little bit better. He is a one cut

(04:18):
guy that's going to get downhill and he runs through
people like every time somebody hits them. You'll see guys
bouncing off of him and you'll wonder why. I mean,
the guy's built like a brick blank house, if you
know what I mean. Lower body is immense and runs
really hard. And I think they also like to save
Bijeon for different things. They're going to throw them the
ball out of the backfield from time to time, and

(04:39):
I think right now they're just kind of pacing the
two of them, which is why you don't see Jon
getting twenty carries as a fantasy football owner. It drives
me crazy. I'm like, for the love, could you give
him the ball twenty five times and get me some yards.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
I'm totally with Dick on this one. I thought they're
going to build their whole offense around the guy. I'm
actually shocked they're not giving them the ball more. To
be honest with you, but is kirk Cousins being pushed
Michael Pennix at all? I mean, he looks like he's
playing pretty damn good. Is he kind of motivated by
the fact that Pedix is there?

Speaker 4 (05:07):
I think so. And I think the other part, Sophie
is really the health has gotten better. You go back
and watch the first two or three games. Kirk Cousins
was laboring, trying to even get the handoffs, and then
all of a sudden, week by week you see the
achilles starting to feel better. But I do think there
is a little bit of a shadow sitting behind you
with the guy that you took eighth overall, especially when

(05:28):
you look around the NFL and Caleb Williams is playing
some pretty good ball and Jaden Daniels looks like he's
going to be the Rookie of the Year. Spencer Rattler
in New Orleans, pops in Drake May all of a
sudden starting. The one guy that's not playing is Michael Pennix,
obviously because the plan was never to really play him
this year, and JJ McCarthy, who unfortunately got hurt. So
I think Kirk is definitely motivated to play a lot

(05:49):
better ball, knowing that he's got a youngster behind him
and Michael Pennix.

Speaker 5 (05:52):
What have the reviews been on Pennix in training camp,
in preseason, you know, in practice? I mean, obviously I
haven't seen him in a regular season game, but what
has everybody thought of him?

Speaker 4 (06:04):
Glowings They think he is an absolutely NFL ready quarterback.
And I'll give you the best example. He played in
the first preseason game, Okay, great, and Raheem Morris goes,
we've seen enough. He didn't play in the next two
preseason games because he said, we know exactly what this
guy can do. We saw him in the joint practices.
They had a couple down in Miami, and he goes,

(06:25):
we don't need to see this guy in games anymore.
And I think they were so afraid of we don't
want to get this guy hurt. Just in case that
Kirk Cousins wasn't ready. But they love Michael Pennix. They
think that're in a couple of years, they've got themselves
a star, much like Jordan Loves did a few years
in Green Bay. And then we've got a star right
after that.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
Hey, John real quick, John Michaels with us from Atlanta.
Is is Jimmy xuy calling the plays on defense down there?

Speaker 4 (06:48):
Yes he is, absolutely Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
John Michaels from Atlanta with us, all right, So the
view from twenty five hundred miles away on this Seahawk
football team. We've had some big games with each other
in the last ten to fifteen years. Most of them
involved a legion of Boom Russell Wilson, Pete Carroll, brand
new coaching staff, brand new roster.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
What's the perception of the Seahawks right now?

Speaker 4 (07:08):
You're think in Atlanta, we're still scared to death of
the Seahawks because Gino Smith. I know, and I watched
the entire Dolphin game, which may have been the worst
football game I've ever watched, because without Tua, the Dolphins
are a JV team. But Seattle looks really good and
if the Falcons are unable to get pressure on the quarterback,
which they haven't all year long. Gino is going to

(07:29):
be able to sit back there and throw to a
bevy of really good receivers. Now, defensively, you're not where
you are with the Legion of Boom obviously, but still
pretty good. And it feels like just one of those
hard nosed, gritty Seattle teams who can run it and
spin it around. And I have a feeling that with
about five minutes ago in the fourth quarter, we're going
to be in a one score game and whoever has
the ball last is probably going to walk out of

(07:50):
Mercedes Benz Stadium with a win.

Speaker 5 (07:53):
I remember on Draft night a couple of years ago,
John I was asked, you know, we went around the room,
who do you think is going to be the best
player ten years from now? Out of this first round.
I voted for Kyle Pitts because I thought he was
just an absolute freak show. And it just hasn't materialized
into a freak show.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
What has happened.

Speaker 4 (08:14):
Part of it is injury. You know, two years last
year and the year before he was hampered with a
knee injury, and last year, truthfully, he probably should have
taken about six to eight weeks off, he was dragging
the leg a round. I think part of it had
to do with playing with terrible quarterbacks in Mariota and
Desmond Ritter for two years. This year he's had flashes.
He had a great game against Tampa. He looked like

(08:35):
a number one tight end. But it just doesn't seem
like all the time the motor is on. And I
don't know if you guys got to see the Carolina
game at all. There was a play where we went
three receivers right and single receiver left down by the
red zone, and it was Kyle Pitts to the left,
match one on one with a corner, and Kirk Cousins
tries to throw a fade to the back to the

(08:55):
back of the end zone, and Kyle Pitts basically stops
about halfway through his route and never finishes the route,
and the ball just lands in the back of the
end zone. And I think it was Mark Sanchez was
on Color commentary eviscerates Kyle pitt You can't do that
in your quarterback. You can't have that kind of effort.
And there's just times that doesn't feel like he's going
one hundred miles an hour like you need you in

(09:16):
this league. It sucks because the talent is there, it
just has not materialized the way that it should.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
Hey, you're your quarterbacking to win the Heisman Trophy, by the.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
Way, I sure as I'll hope. So, unlike Travis Hunter,
I will not knock what Ascion Gentt is doing at
Boise State. I think that kid is amazing. I stayed
up way too many times till two o'clock in the
morning watching him. But cam Ward's got bigger games. We
got to take care of business noon Eastern on Saturday,
so I can be a happy man next Saturday when

(09:46):
we get some revenge on Florida State. But cam is awesome.
We thank you for sending him from the Pacific Northwest
all the way down the South Florida.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
What's your level of confidence?

Speaker 5 (09:55):
Where are the Georgia Bulldog's level of confidence going into
this Texas game this week?

Speaker 4 (10:02):
Not as much as it normally would be. Normally you
think of a Kirby smart coach team, You're gonna walk
into wherever and you're gonna win. After watching them against Bama,
watching them struggle a little bit against Kentucky, watching them
last week, not really impressive against Mississippi State. I think
Texas is better. I don't think Georgia has an elite
player on offense outside of the quarterback in Carson Beck,

(10:22):
and I think the defensively they're nowhere near as good
as they were in those couple of national championship seasons.
I think it'll be close, but I think Texas ultimately
wins the game with home field advantage and just better
weapons everywhere.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
All right, real quick, John Michaels, before you go, we
play a game on this radio show every now and then.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
Call you can only have one? Can only have one.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
You can't have both a national championship for your beloved
Hurricanes or a Super Bowl title for the Atlanta Falcons.

Speaker 4 (10:48):
It's not even close. I have about seven University of
Miami tattoos. I would chop off a finger right now
for a Miami national championship. My son's name is Cain Tacking.
His name is Kane, so absolutely a Cane's national title.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
I thought he was gonna say, already got seven championships.
Give me the Lombardi for crying out. All right, John,
you're the man. We'll talk to him. Budy appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (11:11):
Pal, I got talk to you.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yeah, he's uh, he's.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
A he's a huge Miami fan living down there. Yeah,
he's from there originally. He loves the Hurricanes. He's got
tattoos all over his body, and yeah he is. But
he's when Miami and Georgia, if they ever get together,
he's pissing everybody off in town. Everybody, all right, we're
gonna break. Brian Schmetzer is gonna join us, coming up
before cracking. Pregame at six thirty right here on ninety
three three kJ A RFL
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