FALCONS SQUAD SHOW: The Atlanta Falcons FUMBLED multiple opportunities against San Francisco

FALCONS SQUAD SHOW: The Atlanta Falcons FUMBLED multiple opportunities against San Francisco

I’m Tenitra Batist and heading into the bye-week, we attempted to define this team’s identity heading into week eight, it feels like the Falcons identity is identified and it’s inconsistency. Marin Freeman still waiting on that Michael Penn breakthrough performance on the road and uh it’s not going to be this week, but you know, we got two more road games coming up shortly, so maybe it’ll be then. I’m Jarvis Davis. And I was hoping I didn’t get to this place, but I’m upset and we got to talk about it. Rise up a town. It’s the Falcon Squad. Everything Atlanta Falcons every week, breaking down all the big hits and gamechanging plays from the ATL, the way only the Locked on Podcast Network can. Straight from the ATL, the Falcon Squad Show starts now. Welcome to the Falcons Squad Show, your home for the best Atlanta Falcons football talk. I’m your host, Tenra Batist. Alongside me, our locked on Falcons host Aaron Freeman and locked on analyst Jarvis Davis. Falcons senior reporter Tori Mohhaney of course is traveling. We wish her and pray for safe travels. She’ll be back with us of course next week. And our squad show is part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. And today’s episode is sponsored by Prize Pix. Download the Prize Pix app today and use code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. So, are you sure it wasn’t just a little more about the play calling? We’ll discuss also the good, the bad, and the ugly. We’ll talk about it as Jarvis alluded to. And can they just do what they’re supposed to do come Sunday? We’ll download on that. But first, the 20 to10 loss. Is there a way to make it make sense? So, Jarvis, we sometimes hear about the Super Bowl hangover. It goes in both directions, right? You’ve heard about it where the team that wins kind of stumbles into the next season because they’re like, “Okay, we achieved our goal.” But then you hear about it with the hangover of the team that lost and they’re coming for everybody or sometimes they can’t make it make sense. So, I want to go with the Super Bowl champion version of the hangover, right? where, hey, you win, you get a big game, the biggest game of the year and the biggest game of the in the world and all of a sudden you’re like, okay, I climbed the mountain. Did a young Falcons team, especially on offense, maybe look like one kind of that had that type of, I’m going to put it in air quotes, hangover after that big win over the Bills Monday night. I don’t know if I would necessarily call it a hangover because a lot of times we know where hangover come from because we was out here drinking, you know, getting it in. I don’t think that the Falcons from a football standpoint were out there just getting it in and they just kind of took this game lightly. I think there was just a lack of execution because going back and watching the tape, uh there was several moments where I was like, why isn’t Michael Pennis throwing getting rid of the football? There was especially after his first read wasn’t there. It would just seem like he just had hesitation. He pulled the ball down for for no reason whatsoever. There was one particular play where it was had a double slant going inside. Darnell Mooney came. He was in a slot. He he he jumped down in there was a linebacker kind of waiting maybe about a couple yards away. So I understood him not throwing it there. But you had your 6’4 215 pound or wide receiver in Drake London was right there. It was open. He showed you his numbers. Get rid of the football. Give it to him. And it was just things like that. The first play out of the after the turnover, uh, K Nellis interception. The first play after that, they run a toss a toss sweep to, uh, to Bejon Robinson. The safety coming down. You got Elijah Wilkinson coming out there. He actually gets his block and seals turns that. He seals that bad boy. Once the offensive lineman turns his turns his butt like that, that means you supposed to go the opposite way. That means he’s sealing off the outside. All you had a crease to go outside. But for whatever reason, Bean decides to cut that bad boy inside. And guess what? When you cut back inside on a toss sweep, guess who guess where you’re going? You’re going back into the other defenders. This was nothing but red jerseys in there. And Drake even had his block. and his man end up making the play because Drake did not expect him to be inside like that. You have to pre press that hole and get outside, man. Like you can set up your block a little bit, give him a little time to get get onto his block, but once he did that, he should have immediately put that foot in the ground and got out got to the sideline and see how far he can go. So, it was just I wouldn’t necessarily say they were hung over like, “Yeah, we big time now. We doing our thing. Back to back home games. We out here putting up points and all that stuff. I wouldn’t say that, but oh my gosh, it was definitely a lack of execution on the players part because that was just you can’t you can’t go out like that. Like you can’t go out like that not not making plays when they were there. They were there. Plays were there to be made and they did not make them. Yeah. And I I think too, Free, if I can just expand with that definition of hangover, I’ll take what Jarvis said and say maybe in this instance, the hangover wouldn’t be so much that they were feeling themselves and thinking that they were just world beaters, but maybe subconsciously thinking, hey, if I just do the basics or the bare minimum, I’m still going to get a quality result. Yeah, I I think that’s a great way to kind of clarify. I I think when we talk about the sort of hangover where you’re talking about T where we were feeling ourselves like that to me felt like the Carolina game coming off of that Vikings win they I think were feeling themselves uh a little bit too much and sort of looked you know looked past the Panthers and they got taken to it. I think the difference between this game and going back to Jarvis’s point, the 49ers are a good football team, right? And I I think, you know, probably from the outside looking in, you know, maybe a lot of people overlooked them because of all the injuries and we talked about that and it’s like, okay, well, they’re vulnerable, but they’ve been dealing with injuries all season long. Brock Party’s been out, George KD’s been out, but they found ways to win football games, right? They’ve shown a resiliency this year despite all those injuries. And so going into this game, I don’t think the Falcons went into this game, or I’d like to believe the Falcons went into this game thinking like, “Oh, well, Fred Warner’s injured, and so this is going to be a cakewalk victory.” I I don’t think that was the case. I think, as Jarvis said, they went in there, tried their best, and the 49ers came out there and out executed and and basically kind of punched them in the mouth and won this game in a lot of ways in the trenches. And when you do that, that leads to some of the struggles that I think the Falcons were undergoing. And you know, Jarvis mentioned the play where Pennix had a kind of a turndown to Drake London, and that I believe that was the uh correct me if I’m wrong, Jarvis, that was the first red zone trip on that third down. Yes. Um where they had to settle for the field goal. And it’s like plays like that that you sit there and you go, you know, when we talk about, you know, one of the criticisms of Michael Penn has been, you know, his unwillingness to attack the middle of the field. Um, and plays like that sort of are essentially like he’s not beating the allegations with plays like that because there is that open window. And you wonder how much of last week’s game, you know, where he had those slants to Drake London late in that game and they got broken up and one of them was almost an interception and you’re thinking, you know, is he in his head about throwing this over the middle um that, you know, he’s worried about that and that leads to that second hesitation that you can’t necessarily have in those situations where it’s do or die and obviously that, you know, you know, not being able to to get those four extra points, you know, plays a huge part uh in how this game sort of plays out over the course uh of the next three quarters. So, um I feel like if we’re going to say there was some lingering effect of last week, it’s things like that that I think sort of, you know, linger into this game. Um but in terms of do I feel like the Falcons took the 49ers likely lightly? Not really. I just kind of think they went into this game expecting, okay, we’re going to go out there, we’re going to do our thing, and the 49ers are like, all right, we’ll see you. And uh, you know, they they went out there and and played a better football game. Yeah. Yeah, they did. They did. And I think, you know, to add what you’re saying, and I there was another play that it just he just not beating the allegations, man. Tatum Bthun was not getting a his drops at all. He was basically as acting as a spy essentially throughout the game. He wasn’t because you know Fred Fred gonna get that drop. He gonna get that drop. He gonna get into his drops and he gonna try to find something and get active is Tatum Bthoon was basically just guarding grass for the most part like cuz uh Michael Pennis did not make him move. He did not even act like he was trying to throw the layer the ball over over his head at all at any point during the game. So when you think about it from that aspect of it, he gonna continue to see this type of stuff, man. Yeah. Like whatever you put out on tape, people are going to continue to use it against you every single time. And it’s interesting you say that, Jarvis, because our girl Tori, who like I said is on her way traveling back from San Fran, gave some really damning numbers, if you will. She said that when you look at Michael Pennik Jr. and I want to talk about him first because I know we we kind of have a question that we’re going to pose, but she said from NextGen stats, Michael Pennik Jr. did not complete a single one of his nine passes under pressure in week seven against the 49ers, the most such pass attempts in a game without a completion by any quarterback since 2023, Sam Howell. You don’t want to be in a conversation compared to Sam Howell. And to your point, Jarvis, and Aaron, even something that we talked about before, it’s that predictability. If everybody knows, hey, we send pressure, it’s going to be a problem for Penn, and it’s that simple, then why wouldn’t you keep going back to that formula when it’s paying dividends and not just things like, hey, you know, why are you so quick to just throw it to the checkown guy or you’re not even looking for that that second option or even that third option? Use your legs. Like even if all you’re using your legs for is to buy yourself just a a half a second or a second, it’s something. Or we’re not saying you need to be a mobile quarterback, but sometimes I think that in Michael Pinnick Jr.’s mind, or at least it feels like, hey, I have a plan, I’m going to throw it. If I can’t throw it to that person in that moment, then that’s going to be a problem. And what I challenge that for, and again, that doesn’t mean that he can’t evolve into that next question segue. But it does make you think, okay, I’m still looking. I’m still looking. I know it’s only been eight games, but I’m still looking for that elite processor. I’m still looking for that elite processing that we need to see in order for breakdowns like what you just described or at the end of the first half so that we don’t see those breakdowns more often than not. And listen, there are moments that obviously Michael Penn has had. If we look at those last two games, I mean, he was looking like he was trending in the direction of World Beater, right at home. You cannot knock him for what he did against the Commanders. 20 of what 26 313 yards, couple touchdowns against Buffalo, 20 of 32, 250 yards, a touchdown. And then there was last night and it’s 21 of 38 for 241. But the numbers aren’t that different free from what we saw in those games, especially the one against the Bills. But we know that the results of what those numbers did, that’s what just wasn’t that’s what wasn’t there. So Jarvis free. I got to ask you guys, does MPX’s inconsistency change your outlook on who he can become as a quarterback on us seeing the elite processor? Well, for me, I I don’t know if it changes my outlook. You you you mentioned the numbers. You’re right. Like the the numbers look better. The box score looks better than what the film looks like because a lot of those completions were kind of just like screens and, you know, checkdowns and whatnot. And you you sort of mentioned it where it does feel like you know and this is not a bad trait to have but um you know it’s that idea of like living to play another down where it’s like okay boom get to the my the my back foot on my drop back the route concept isn’t open check it down to be and then let’s let’s keep it moving and that’s not a bad state of affairs to be that that was basically what Matt Ryan was for his entire career. Uh, but you sort of balance that out where it’s like, well, you know, then I’m going to throw the ball to to Rody White and Tony Gonzalez and and Julio Jones. And so we can have those plays in between those plays. And the problem with the Falcons last night was they weren’t getting those plays from their playmakers other than maybe Kyle Pittz uh in this game. And so when it when we talk about Penn, like there is a big dichotomy between Michael Penn at home and Michael Penn on the road that we have seen this consistently. And again, it’s it’s what, eight, nine games into his NFL career, so it’s still early. We we know consistently in this league, young quarterbacks tend to struggle on the road. Matt Ryan struggled on the road early in his career, and eventually you figure it out. But it’s one of those things where it’s like, you know, do we have the does this fan base, does this organization have the patience to wait for Michael Penn to kind of figure it out when it comes to the road? Because again, as we talked about last night, you got a a really some really tough road matchups that you kind of have to win, you know, coming up in in a couple of weeks. Four of your next, you know, six games are on the road and you’re probably going to have to go at least three and one in those games if you want to really take control of your your playoff hopes at this point in time. And so, you don’t really have the time to be like, well, he’s just a young quarterback and he’ll figure it out and once we get to like year three, he’ll be good on the road. And it’s like, h we can’t really wait to year three. we need month three uh at this point in time. So I think that those are the things that it’s just a a question of my outlook hasn’t changed on Michael Penn, but it is one of those things where it’s like until he figures that out, it does kind of lower the ceiling on where he can be as a quarterback until we can start seeing better play outside of Mercedes-Benz. Yeah, and you’re right. This in a an ideal situation, sure. That’s why you gave Kirk Cousins the four years, but essentially the two-year out because your thought was, “Hey,” and and then you go and draft Michael Pennix, because at the end of that two-year window, you’re hoping that he would be ready to become the true successor and heir to the throne. But that didn’t happen. And so that entire timeline has been sped up. And now here we are and you’re looking at the Falcons again. We know that it’s only week seven, but you’re looking at the Falcons in 11th place in the NFC. And what a, you know, climb that’s going to be because of what we thought this was a gauntlet, right, of these first six games. And then you look at what the next six look like if for no other reason because of so many road games and it does make you pause because you know you just don’t have time for Michael Penn Jr. to kind of figure it out. But that said, Jarvis, when you look at where we are in its totality, his inconsistency, does it change your outlook overall on who he can become as a QB? No, because I look at how this team is built. This this team is built to run the football and that’s supposed to make you help you be patient. That helps me be patient because they have Bejian Robinson. He’s the best player on this team, right? So when you think about it from that aspect of it, I don’t my my my projections on who he can be as a quarterback don’t change because it’s just it’s it’s just a matter of them figuring out what the the the the backup plan looks like, right? When the running game isn’t working, what are you going to do? Yes. Or what can you do when the running game is is working? That’s what you need to figure out. I I I said coming I said this after the game uh last night uh on the show last night when this was a game that I was expecting Darnell Mooney to have a breakout game because of the matchup, right? The back end of San Francisco defense. I liked him in that matchup and there were times throughout the game where you say, “Okay, Don Mu starting to kind of catch himself.” I think at one point he had about three for 60 which is about 22 yards a little bit over 22 yards per per catch. Yeah. Yeah. That’s some success. And I just would have liked for it had to I would have liked for it to have been focused on more. So um when you there is something that we can point out going into a game and they and you saw success with it that means that the quarterback and the wide receiver were able to connect and so that means it was working. It’s just a matter of them not really really digging into it and really trying to take advantage of it like we saw Kyle Shanahan did do when he was just getting in 22 personnel said stop it. Yeah. And you know one of the things that came out of that Bills game was you know saw seeing the stat where the Falcons were really efficient going against zone. A lot of that was throwin to to Drake London and less efficient throwin against man coverage uh this season. And in last night’s game, it seemed to be consistently the one guy that they were going to in man was Kyle Pittz. And that’s a big reason why he had the success. And you’re expecting Drake and Darnell to kind of be also in that mix as man beaters. And they they weren’t there as is sort of piggybacking on what Jarvis said. And and until you can get that consistency from all and we we’ve been talking about it for the last couple weeks where it’s like you have a big three or really a big four in terms of your offensive skill positions in addition to Michael Penn. And when those guys play well, like this offense is going to thrive. When those guys don’t play as well as you want them to, this offense is going to look like it did on on Sunday night. And so that’s going to be the key I think for this team to truly unlock their consistency of can we consistently in you know coming off the Washington and Buffalo game it was like oh it looks like they’re consistently able to get the ball into the hands of their playmakers and then it kind of stagnated last night and it again it just kind of fuels that whole difference between what this team looks like when they play in Mercedes-Benz Stadium and what they look like when they play away from Mercedes-Benz Stadium. And until they can kind of close the gap between those two points, we’re gonna get more of these ups and downs from this team all season long. Yeah. And close the gap between what a game looks like when your best player is having an all-world night and when your best player is having a subpar. Not not saying that that was on the ground that is for Bejian Robinson because he still had uh his usual solid scrimmage from scrimmage game, right? But I was thinking about this even like and we’re talking about the world champions. So let me put a caveat on that. But a game in which AJ Brown had a couple of big catches for the Philadelphia Eagles, but Saquon Barkley still ain’t Saquon Barkley. And yesterday they managed to not just have a a solid game, but they punched it in four times. And so, see, that’s the other piece. Like, we we’re still having that conversation about, yeah, you guys can eat up yards oftentimes on the ground or in the air, but what is it producing? Like, it still only produced 10 points last night for all intents and purposes. So, when I look at another stat that Tori threw out there about the inability to consistently run the ball, be with a 29 28.6% success rate, which is his second lowest this season. I’m thinking, okay, but again, that means that this team, whether it’s the players, the coaching staff, or all of the above, you’ve got to figure it out. When another team has said, I’m going to stop him, and then I’m going to dare the rest of you to win for the Falcons, you got to be ready to say, we’re going to win. But that said, are you guys sure it still wasn’t just a little bit more about the play calling? We’ll talk about that when we take it under further review. This episode of our Falcon Squad show is brought to you by Ripley. If you’re a business owner, here’s the truth. SAS promise to make work easier. But now the average company is buried by hundreds of apps that slow down your teams and simply don’t work together. That’s not SAS. That’s SAD software as a diservice. That’s why you need Ripling. Rippling is the unified platform for global HR, payroll, IT, and finance all in one place. They’ve helped millions of businesses replace a mess of disconnected tools with one system designed to give leaders clarity, speed, and control. 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You can just pick more or less on player projections like whether or not Bejian Robinson is going to have a hundred or more yards from scrimmage or score a touchdown in the game happened and you’re in the game. So, you’re going to love how quick it is. You can make your lineup in under a minute. And you can take advantage of stacks. If you want to ride with a player, you can select their pass rush, pass yards, rush yards, and touchdowns all in one lineup. So, download the Prize Pix app today and use code locked. NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code lock.n for $50 in lineups after your first $5 lineup. Prize picks. It’s good to be right. So Aaron, I know during the postgame show, we didn’t want to hang the loss all on how Zack Robinson called the game. But but but the Falcons couldn’t or maybe didn’t take deep shots on a consistent basis. They didn’t work the middle of the field where who knows, maybe they could have had some success as examples of what maybe could have led to a different outcome. But other than that lone touchdown of the night that came off the pass to Bejon, they didn’t really try to get the ball to their running backs out of the back field either. So just kind of revisiting that now that you’ve had a chance to kind of decompress, maybe look at some film, are you a little concerned about these missed opportunities maybe being also a lack of foresight to see how any of that could have worked with the game when the game plan wasn’t working or maybe could have been adjusted to at halftime. Yeah, look, I I think it’s more than fair to criticize some of the play calling from Zack Robinson. I think that’s always going to be the case in a football game. You’re always going to find some some issues with the play calling, especially when it doesn’t work, where it’s like, well, maybe we could have done this and it might have worked. Um, I do think the reason why I’m a little hesitant to to to really sort of pour gasoline on that flame is because I do think the Falcons were trying to do some of the things that they were successful at doing the last couple of weeks. And again, because the other team is well coached, too. I think the 49ers were probably like, “Okay, well, we’ve seen them have a lot of success doing, you know, x, y, and z, so let’s try to stop x, y, and z.” And I think the 49ers had more success than we would like to believe being able to to take care of business in that regard despite some of the issues that they were dealing with on defense. And so I feel like obviously, you know, the Falcons need to be able to make those in-game adjustments as you said, T, where it’s like, okay, this is not really working. What’s our plan B? What’s our plan C? Um, and that to me is where I think if you’re going to be critical of the play calling, that’s where I think things fell a little short where it was like they have kind of their go-tos where it’s just like we’re going to run the football, we’re going to do some of this thing with with Drake down the seam and and we’re going to have some play action. We’re going to have Bejon as a pass catcher. Uh, and then it’s like this is not working. Uh, what what’s what what do we do now? And it’s like screen pass. let’s, you know, um, you know, and so like I think that’s really kind of and you know, when we talk about Zack Robinson and his lack of experience and not having as many reps and like I think those are the things that kind of fuel that sort of criticism of you don’t have this super experienced play caller who’s been calling plays in the league for eight years or however many years like Kyle Shanahan was when he came to Atlanta, like Dirk Cutter was when he came to Atlanta where it’s just like, okay, you know, I’ve been through the ups and downs. I know like, okay, this is how we kind of get things back on track. Um, and you’re still going through that learning process with Zack Robinson. And so, I think it’s more than fair to criticize him at this stage. He still looks like a young offensive coordinator at time and experienced offensive coordinator at time. Uh, and I think this game showed some of those weaknesses. Uh, but, you know, I do feel like there has been significant progress the last couple of weeks, but unfortunately it felt like it kind of hit a wall against the 49ers. Yeah. Yeah. And I I think that’s fair to say that if we had to hang our hats on something, Jarvis, it’s probably just the inability to kind of make adjustments to kind of see what’s going on in the game real time and then to be able to say, “Okay, we’re going to have to reset because clearly you almost have to throw our full game plan out of the door, especially at half and see if maybe we can reset in second half.” And you did see a little something that worked in the beginning of the second half, but if we’re honest, you got to give half the credit to only having to go have half half field. I mean, if if we’re being honest, right? So, if we’re looking at the rest of the game where maybe you had to go three quarters or almost the full length of the field and then you’ve got to go into the full-on toolkit, that’s when it looked a little bit different. And that’s when it started to show like, hey, maybe those things that you would do if you were a little bit more seasoned, maybe those that it’s kind of showing itself in that the adjustments just weren’t there. Yeah. And I think that, you know, you talking about that being seasoned and giving your quarterback options because if your quarterback is basically getting ready to tuck the ball after his first read not being open, that’s play design to me. Partly that’s partly play design because when you talk about play design and and and being able to have your hot, you got to have your hot read. Okay. What if they send pressure? Okay. I know exactly where I’m going. If they if they if they send no if we’re outnumbered, right? If a guy is a free rusher coming, I have to know where I’m going with the football. Yes. And then you have to have your intermediate, right? You have to have your intermediate routes. There was one particular play and it just looked like it was Drake, Darnell, and I feel I feel like it was Casey Washington. All those guys looked like they were just running off. They were just doing runoff like clear out routes. I’m just like, what what is going on? Because a lot of times when you when you have that go, you have that you have that play call, you have someone coming underneath, right? So you can say you want them to to draw away all the underneath coverage and then you have your guy coming underneath and and getting the ball getting the ball and they can go to work. But they just it wasn’t set up like that. All they had was Bean going out into the flat and he had basically kind of just, you know, cut the route off and it was nothing. There was nowhere for Michael Pennis to go with the football. stuff like that that happened often. So when we talk about play calling and all that stuff like yeah plays are I feel like are okay but it’s all about design at this point because like you said you’re a second you’re in your second year as a play caller. You have to make sure that your quarterback is being set up for success. If you don’t have those things like I mentioned the check route, you know the hot read, what’s what’s my hot read? what are the intermediate route going like if they’re in this particular coverage I know that Drake is going to be open if he’s running this dig like that’s those are the type of things that need to be conversed about leading up to you know this game now Darnell Mooney did say that he didn’t expect that was going to throw that much man coverage at them but however when when you when you have man coverage right I know when I got man coverage on Madden hey man look I know exactly what I’m about to do. Either I’m going I’m running a goal or I’m running this slant, baby. Because I know cuz you you have to know your personnel. Yeah. You got Kyle Pittz, you got Drake London. You got these big body wide receivers. If they’re locking up and man, you know that before the ball is snapped. Hey, man, get the ball in their hands and let them go to work and make a play. That’s what you’re able to do, you know, pretty consistently at home. So yeah, it I feel like it’s play design and not really necessarily giving your your quarterback options and then of course you you combine that with your quarterback holding on to the football and not getting rid of it and being indecisive with it. So it was just a combination of a lot of boooo and I think that you know it came out Yeah. Yeah. And and I I do think if you if you know your quarterback’s tendencies, right, then I think at this point, although you only maybe had three games with him officially last year as far as like real time game experience versus just maybe working with him through camp and the like, but at some point you kind of know, okay, he has a tendency that if he sees pressure coming, this is what he’s going to do. This is going to be his reaction. So my goal is maybe more mental than anything. How do I help my quarterback get over those mental humps of it? And maybe to your point, that includes design. So, okay, NPX, Mike, let’s go through this. 49ers, they’re going to bring pressure. Yeah, we’re thinking they’re going to play zone, but what if they come, man, and what if they bring all the pressure? What’s our first answer? What’s our second option? what’s our like I think that’s a kind of conversation that at this point needs to be had because you kind of know what it is that his tendencies are as far as like when he gets himself into a particular kind of we’ll say in situations that he can’t easily bail himself out of. We we’ll say it that way. Real quick, I wanted to ask you guys as well, uh, if we’re being honest, taking nothing away from what Christian McCaffrey was able to do with his success on the ground, but you got to think about this. George KD is back. He wasn’t 100%, but he was back enough close to 100% to have made an impact in the game the way he did. But take the O line for the 49ers out of it. Think about George KD and what he was able to do to get McCaffrey free. I was just thinking after you had a chance maybe for you to again process it again Jarvis look at the film was there anything that you saw anything else that you saw as to why not named Elijah Wilkinson Jarvis anything else that you saw that maybe was a reason for why Bejan was having the struggles that he was having in in running the ball I think that they just attacked that zone scheme. They know that the Falcons are going to stick to that outside zone and they never had a counter for it. You know, I think that we we talk about how Kyle Shanahan Shanahan, you know, on the on on this show on the Falcon squad about how he’s evolved as a play caller. Yeah. Like back in the day, sticking that bad boy, that play action, sticking that ball in the stomach, coming out of that bad boy. Yep. Outside zone skin. Yep. That’s what he’s going to do. And you going to have to stop it. What did we see that he was doing last night? Gap schemes, counter coming. I mean, shoot, George KD was an extra offensive lineman. Yeah, he he was absolutely just mashing mashing on on from a blocking standpoint. So when you think about it from that aspect, I just really feel like these this game right here really opens some things up to to say all right and free and I even talked about this leading up to the season. We talking about the what is the uh you know gave the baseball analogy like okay okay I know my fast ball that’s my that’s my stuff but when are you going to bring the change up or is it the curveball like and you got to know when to throw it and I think that Zack Robinson hasn’t figured out when to throw the curveball or that change up. Yeah, I think that’s a good way of putting it and it speaks to the the larger conversation we’re having where it’s just like you have a plan A and when plan A isn’t working, what is your plan B? What is your counter? What is those types of things? And that’s something that the Falcons still need to figure out. Indeed, they need to figure that one out. So, the good, the bad, the ugly. Yes, fan base. We will try to find the good. We’ll back that in next. This episode of our Falcon Squad show is brought to you by Mazda. Mazda crafts cars for those who do more than simply move. Mazda delivers confidence with every ride with more IIHS top safety pick plus awards than anyone else as of August 2025. From footwork to breath work, athletes sweat, all the details. So Mazda brings this same intention to how we craft every model. And you can make everyday drives feel like anything but from smooth handling to intuitive controls. And with all-wheel drive standard in every crossover SUV, you can drive with confidence through almost any season. And you can feel Japanese craftsmanship in every detail from the metallic accents to available Napa leather upholstery. So like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every mo move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda move and be moved. My gentlemen, friends, I challenge you to find some good because we always try to. Now, that doesn’t mean that we’re not going to call out some bad and some ugly that maybe we saw in last night’s game, but we’ll try to start this one off on a positive note. Jarvis, give me something good that you saw last night. Zack Harrison, come on now. Like, that this is an easy one. the way he was playing uh last night. That was the only defensive lineman that I can give like a a strong kudos to you, sir, for going out there and and stepping up and and playing your game and being a guy to get off blocks, get penetration, get up field because once Chris Christian McCaffrey was pretty clean when he got the football um for for the most part, but you did see Zack Harrison make it make the TFL, make that big play and put drop him down for like a minus three or for those are the those are the plays that you need first play of the game when they’re out there you sack sack M Jones you put him on his back like immediate quick slap rip get down there get downfield get flat put your put your hands on that quarterback and don’t let him go and put him on the ground so that’s that was my good for sure last night it I I love to see how Zack Harrison has developed as a player now albeit it was a little he’s been slow when a little bit for a lot of people, you know. Um, but I feel like, you know, there are definitely different factors that come into play when you talk about why he’s he’s been slow to develop, but now he’s in the right system. He’s the right fit for what Jeffrey is trying to do, and you saw that come out last night. Yeah, Zach Harrison, four tackles on the night. The only sack of the night for the Falcons, the one that you mentioned that started the game, uh, two of the tackles for loss that the team had only one of the four QB hits on the night. So yeah, a solid night from Zack Harrison indeed. And what about for you, Free? Give me something good from last night. I I apologize if this comes off as too cynical, but Kyle Pittz was one of the good. And if you’re Kyle Pittz, you’re like, “Hey, I’m in a contract here. I I did my job, guys.” Like, you know, I don’t know about the rest of this team, but like I I went out there, I was beating man coverage. I’m I’m off to the best start of my career so far. So, you know, I don’t know if it’s going to be here in Atlanta or somewhere else, but you know, I’m I’m trying to get paid this year, you know. So, Kyle Pittz, hey, you know, keep getting them checks. I don’t know who’s going to give you that check. Someone’s going to give you the check based off how you’re playing this year, but um you know, that’s that’s a good thing if you’re Kyle Pittz, you know. I don’t know. I don’t know if that’s a good thing for the the team when only Kyle Pitts is the the the guy that shows up, but hey, Kyle Pittz was was good last night, I thought. Yeah, because he of course with Drake London both had 10 targets, but Drake only four receptions. Kyle seven for 62 yards, averaging almost nine yards uh per catch. So yeah, a solid night from Kyle Pittz as well. And like you said, we don’t know what it’s going to bring for the future or for the long term, but at least maybe for this season, the Falcons can benefit for it off of it somewhat. It’s just the hope is that they start benefiting in getting into the end zone with said Kyle Pittz. All right, Jarvis, we spent about three, four, six minutes on the good. We tried. Now it’s time to get back to the real the bad of last night. Oh, and hold hold your strong comments for the ugly. So remember, we we still got that. So just going with the bad. And you know, we’re going from top to middle to boy. I I guess I’ll go with my bad for it has to be Michael Penn because that was that was that was kind of frustrating to watch. you know, when you when you think about just going back and looking at the film and you kind of trying to see what he saw on a on a particular play like that. I go back to that play that I talked about with the had the double slants. Like I said, first read not there. Cool. Understand you not making that throw, but that second one was there. It was there because guess what? Darnell Mooney basically held that linebacker. So it was free space. You got it’s free willing. Give it get the ball to Drake and let him work. And and those are some of the things that you have to be able to hit those. The OC should not have to tell you to, hey, man, if it’s not there, go here. No. Uh-uh. You supposed to be able to see that cuz you see the play. You know what route he’s running. You know the timing of the play. You know, you have to get it off. And especially if if it’s the way this team is built, you got these big body people catching the football for you. So yeah, the percentage of the the the percentage of the pass that you type of pass that you throw can be low and it can still be a completion. They can make you look good and Drake has made you look good this year. So yeah, I I feel like I have to go with you talking about bad. I felt like that was really bad and and I think that you know this is he’s a young quarterback. I understand that. But these are the simple things that simple plays that you’re going to have to make when you play good football teams. Good football teams are going to force you to make offbeat, off path type things. Like your first read not going to be there for for good teams for the most part, right? So you got to know what you’re going to do when when that second read it has to come up because tucking the football and taking the sack, that’s not an option. It can’t be an option, especially when your play caller dials it up for you. Yeah. Yeah. And good teams also know what the clock looks like heading into halftime and saying, “Hey, if we can put pressure on him and cause anything. I mean, it could have been an interception. It could have been a sack. It could have been a a turnover of some sort. Instead, it ended up before he went out of bounds to you.” Exactly. And try to make a play. Exactly. That part. So yeah, when you talk about the things that you need to have a head heads up and a mindset about paying attention to and those little mistakes that begin to loom larger as the game wears on, those are things that you can’t just make. You know, you could uh argue the case about what happened at the end of last week’s first half, Aaron, and say, “Hey, that was just it’s a game of inches and the interest just didn’t go Drake London’s and the Falcons way.” Right? This ain’t that with what happened at the end of the first half. this week. And again, we keep going back to, you know, a field goal opportunity here or a field goal opportunity there. Placed at the right time could have changed the trajectory of the game. But for you, the bad. Well, talk about field goals. Let’s talk about the kicker, right? That was the bad for me. Uh, you know, I’m sorry for you to fall out to you, but you know, the bad for me was like, uh, we still got a kicker problem. Uh, so again, I I don’t have anything else much else to add to it. It’s like we’ve had a kicker problem the whole year. We still got a kicker problem. Uh, and you know, for for those that you missed it. That was there was a fourth and one late in the game that Raheem went for it. As we discussed for like 15 minutes last night on on the post game, like we understand why Raheem made that choice. He he he’s known to being aggressive, but the sort of underlying cause that sort of fueled that aggressive where it’s like there’s no doubt, you know, there’s no question in Raheem’s mind that he’s going for this because he does not trust the kicker to make a 53 yard field goal. Uh and so that to me, the fact that we’re still in this space and it doesn’t feel like, again, call me a pessimist, call me Mr. negativity, whatever you want to call me, but it doesn’t feel like we’re going to get out of this space anytime soon. Uh, until John Parker Romo or somebody else comes in here and just starts making kicks. Um, and uh, you know, bas based off how it’s gone. I don’t know how many opportunities they’re going to have to make those kicks and that’s why it’s so bad. Yeah, indeed. Indeed. So yeah, I forgot to give my good, which would be Jamal Agnu for obvious reasons that we already talked about earlier in the game, but I think for the bad, Elijah Wilkinson, I gotta just say that was tough to watch. That was tough tough tough to watch. Um, and I think too, and sometimes it’s just, you know, a matter of kind of like where you are in the game and kind of uh what the the game is dictating, if you will, but I think too it kind of it’s part for the course, but you also have to get away from some of those some of those penalties and some of those illtime penalties as well. That was only six for 43 yards, but again, in a game where it’s tight, there are opportunities there to keep it tight or for the game to break loose, and you just got to be careful with that as well. But guys, what was ugly about it last night, Jarvis? What was ugly? You know, yeah, this this this one right here touches my soul when I turned on that dog on tape T free and I just saw defensive lineman just getting washed down on the other side of the play. They line up on, let’s just say they lining on the defensive right side. By the end of the play, they want a defensive left side. That that that ain’t that ain’t cool. Um that’s not supposed to happen. A man’s not supposed to move you like that. I’m sorry. You’re in NFL. Yeah, there’s a lot of stalemates for the most part in the run game, you know, from that standpoint. Like when you get washed, I’m say like the old folk used to say, when you get washed down like that, that’s ugly. You don’t supposed to get moved like that. That it just not supposed to look like that. And I saw that too many times, especially in the run game. Christian McCaffrey just had his pickings of where he wanted to go. Um, and I think that that was just such a Can I add one more? Yeah. An honorable mention for Ugly. I mean, it’s it’s uh Manic Monday, so Yeah. Yeah. Free, don’t look at me like that. You know what I’m about to say. Jess Bates. Jess Bates. There was this one particular run play. It was a counter. He was already down in the box. So, wait, Jarvis, can I ask you a question? Yes. So, is this from last night or did you take one more look at it with Oh, this is more This is more This a continuation from last night. I got you. Like, it wasn’t what I saw with the miss tackles, none of that. Oh, this is just football oneonone. I’m I’m questioning that right now. Like, just for this in on this particular play, it was a counter. M. Jones had handed the ball off to Christian McCaffrey. Christian McCaffrey is making his way up through the line of scrimmage. Mind you, Jesse Bates was already in the box. So, more than likely Jeff probably thought it was going to be a run and um you had uh AJ Terrell lined up next was over the wide receiver. So, Jawan Jennings had come down kind of like he was almost kind of do a crack block. So, I almost kind of gave Jesse a little bit of lee away with that. But once you saw that ball was in Christian McCaffry’s hands, why are you still bracing for that block? Yeah. Why are you still bracing for someone to come hit you as if you’re going to have to fight over the top of that block to try to get outside because you think the play is going outside? I don’t understand that. That that that was ugly to me because again, my expectations for Jesse Bates are high. Should I lower them because it feels like that’s where I should be right now? like they’ve come down a little bit, you know, but should I loan him more? That is the question that it’s just s certain things aren’t supposed to happen. Like why are you bracing for that hit? Cuz AJ Terrell was right there. He’s right there. He’s sitting right beside you. So what are you bracing for? Joan James went by trying to put his hands on you. It was it was I I don’t know that. Like I said, I said that this is probably gonna be one of those games that when you go back and look at the film, you probably get a little bit more upset. Yeah. And I was right. Yeah. Because you definitely said last night, I hope that maybe I see some things that kind of help me to decompress and maybe not get angry. But unfortunately, I agree with you, there were some things that even this morning I was like, “Oh, I haven’t even like completely delved in because admittedly I was like, “This is too much.” Like it was because I was getting more and more frustrated by what I saw. And so sometimes sometimes you just got to step away for to protect your own peace. That said, what for you was the ugly? Well, you know, I’m gonna let it slide, Jarvis, just because you’ve been waiting to go on an anti-Je for for a year and a half. So he’s like, this is your one. This is your one, Jarvis. You get one. Okay. I’ve been waiting. He’s like, I’ve been waiting to take down the king. This this man down Jordan. this man has been going too strong and I just he just been saving it up for two and a half years. Uh but um you know piggybacking on Jarvis’s point, you know, I got to go with my guy JD Bertrren, Captain America. He did not have the mighty shield last night. Uh and and it was ugly, right? You you get your Jarvis talked about Dline getting pushed off the ball offensive lineman just easily climbing to the second level and JD it was tough, right? He’s a he’s a smaller guy. He’s young. You know, the the the reading and recognition isn’t quite where it needs to be because of the lack of reps, but you know, he’s thrown to the wolves. You know, maybe if he had a full week of film study like we had at the end of last season when he was kind of forced to have to play late in the in in the season, like maybe he’d be a little bit more prepared, but he looked like a rookie uh getting thrown out there uh and getting pushed around and you know, it was it was rough. It was rough. So, it goes in the ugly for me. Yeah. And you all know my ugly. Three words, John Parker. Romo. When we come back, we’ll talk a little bit about what this team needs to do to reset do what they’re supposed to do come Sunday. We’ll talk about that in the look ahead. [Music] This episode of our Falcon Squad show is brought to you by FanDuel. The NFL season is here and FanDuel has an offer you don’t want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get 300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks. 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So guys, with this team heading into week eight at 500, let me ask before we start talking about the reset, are we back to feeling, Jarvis, like they’re the team that loses when it’s supposed to lose and or win and then the team that wins when it’s supposed to lose? Because I don’t know. It it kind of I think that and that might be a PTSD type of reaction that people are having, but understandably so. Yeah. I mean, I can understand why people feel like that, but for me, I can honestly say that we talking about this team playing badly. Like we talked about, we pointed out in the last segment about individuals on specific plays playing badly. Yeah. I don’t think that this game aligns with the Carolina Panthers in game. I don’t think that. I’m not saying that. I wouldn’t say that. Yeah. But is it a barely better? Yeah, we can have that conversation. It’s a little bit better. Yeah, sure. But how much better? I don’t know. You know that that’s a conversation to be had. But so but for me I don’t think this is one of those scenarios where you’re saying like they’re up and down team because they played well and and they’ve lost. Yeah. You know they played well against uh Tampa Bay but they lost and that happens. So you know and they lost to a good football team yesterday. I think like like Free mentioned earlier, people talking about looking at all the injuries and all that stuff and saying, “Okay, or the Falcons should be able to win because they don’t have Fred Warner and Nick Ba.” It doesn’t necessarily work like that. I get it. I see why you say that. But it doesn’t necessarily work like that. when you have a guy and Kyle Shanahan who’s an excellent play caller who understands finding your weakness and stepping on it and mashing on it and continue to poke at it and prong at it for the entire game until you do something about it and we saw that the Falcons weren’t able to do anything about it and that’s how you end up losing to a good football team. So, but yeah, I wouldn’t say that this is win game supposed to lose, lose game supposed to win. I feel like this team has a decent foundation of what they can do. It’s just that when you get into those those games against those really good football teams, those serious playoff contending teams Yep. you tend to kind of fall a little short. And when now ask me if we talking about this is the mid team that we’re kind of used to. we might be in a little different conversation, might respond a little differently. Yeah. And just a sidebar because sometimes I like to read the comments and respond. So, first of all, let me go with my guy Aaron. Aaron is not the angry negative guy on our show. Like, not at all. Aaron is actually the even killed guy. And I saw a couple comments like, “Why is Buddy in the middle so angry? Why is he so negative to the P?” No, Aaron is just our guy who keeps it real and he’s but he’s he’s going to be even killed with it, but he’s gonna always keep keep it real. And what you guys have to understand is also Aaron is trying to protect his peace so that he’s trying not to get too high with what happened with the Buffalo Bills and not to get too low with what happened with the Carolina Panthers and the San Francisco 49ers. And this is a long season, so we can’t afford to get too high or too low. And it’s only we’re only wrapping up week seven. So, I just had had to kind of, you know, point that out, if you will. And then, uh, someone else asked about like, Tedra, what’s your beef with Parker Romo? How much time we got? Okay, but if you think about last season, the Kansas City Chiefs and how they made their way to the Super Bowl, they did not look like the World Beaters that won three championships. They did not look like the team that looks like it’s back in form to be able to maybe get back and represent the AFC again. They looked like a team that was fighting for their lives every single week. Week in week out, week in week out. You literally saw it play itself out live and in color, right? And so every week for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2024, it was like, “Oh snap. Oh snap. It’s about to happen.” like they’re they’re you know they’ve been walking the tight rope. They’ve been walking the tight rope. Walking a tight rope and then all of a sudden the season ends and they’re 15 and two and they have an opportunity to win three Super Bowls in a row. Why? Because good teams have somebody that can close out. They have the ability when a game is that close to say, “I know that my kicker, regardless of how you might feel about said kicker for that team, uh they know that their kicker is one of those guys in the NFL who can actually win a game for him.” So, that’s my challenge here. If the Falcons are trying to move out of being considered a middling team, if they’re looking to move into the real conversation with some of the quality teams that can get it done, that can close out and put themselves in contention to either host a wildcard game or maybe even win the division. You can’t afford to have that most important, arguably the most important person in the third phase of the game dictate how a game is going to be called. That’s what happened one time last night. Maybe even more in the back of Raheem Morris’s mind or in the back of his head, but we just never got to that point because maybe a drive stalled or something to that effect. It’s not personal with me with Parker Roma. What is personal is watching a team that we want good for. We want to see them succeed. We believe they have all the elements on offense. They were the walking into this game number one in offense in the NFL in rushing, number one overall defense, and then it falls off a cliff. That’s a concern for me. That’s a problem for me because that’s how you’re also falling off a cliff in your own division looking up staring up at the Panthers. Staring up at the Panthers, that is what my problem is. It ain’t personal. It’s just business that I don’t like having to look at and talk about each and every week. Okay, great. I mean, I appreciate what you said earlier, T. I live for weeks like this, right? Because like my my thing is like don’t get too high off of the wins. Don’t get too low off of the losses. And people were very high off of the Bills win. Understandably, it was again, as we said, all magic high, you know, magic high, it was the the best win the Falcons have had in a very long time. And so I understood why people were high off of that. And and you have every right to, you know, ride that wave for the four days, but don’t let that bleed into the next week and go like, “Oh, well, they if they beat the Bills, they should roll over the 49ers.” And like that’s what the you as you said T like the season is a marathon. It’s it’s not a sprint and like as you said like I try to stay even kill it’s like okay they’re probably not going to play as well against as they played against the Bills on the road because that’s this has been a consistent issue uh with this team. They’re facing another tough opponent on the road. So they’ll probably come back down. The question is going to be will they be able to make the plays in the end particularly after they got off to that slow start uh to to win the game similar to what we saw you know last year in that week 17 game against Washington where they got off to a kind of a slow start you know besides the running game and and then Pennix made the clutch throws and then then the kicker became an issue piggyback on what you’re saying T but um you know now they’re coming off this loss and you know people are going to be very low like oh wow this team is bad they’re not good they’re they’re frauds they they’re they’re poorly coached and whatnot. And then they get to go home and they get to play, you know, a a soft Dolphins team. Again, no one I’m not saying you should overlook the Dolphins, they they have some weapons that if the Falcons aren’t prepared, you know, that’s why we have any given Sunday, you know, they will they will take advantage of that. So, but the expectation for me is like they will play better than they played against the 49ers and they’ll probably come back with a win. So, like these are the weeks that are like this is just part of my brand of just like this is why you got to try to stay even keeled because it is a long season and if you ride that emotional roller coaster every single week and feel like after they beat the Bills like oh we’re never going to lose a game again and then after we lose to the 49ers we’re never going to win a game again like it it’s it’s going to be a long season for you guys you know that’s all I’m going to say like again if if your heart can take it hey if you can then more power to you but I Just know for me, I got high blood pressure. I ate too much in my life. You know, the cholesterol is not good. I can’t deal with that emotional roller coaster on a week- toeek basis and give you guys five good shows a week on Locked on Falcons and two good shows on the Falcon Squad riding that roller coaster every single week. So, for me, I can’t do that. If that’s what you want to do, then do you. But like for me, I just like just stay in the middle and we’ll see where all the chips fall at the end of the season. And then if they don’t go the way we then I’ll have my crash out in week 18 or week 19 as we’re watching all these other teams play in in in the postseason and like what the Falcons did this and I’ll be complaining to Jarvis on on whatever you know those shows are uh in January. But like for for the time being it’s just like you got to just try to you know stay rooted and just keep it in check as the season goes on. Yeah. And I gotta say free you triggered me because Yeah. that crash out show after the regular season was over last year was just painful. Why would we want to have that kind of feeling in week seven because it I remember and listen I’m not a fan you guys know I say all the time I try to be objective with this team but that was a crash out of epic proportions for our show because it was just it was unimaginable based on what we knew as the team was constructed. This team is constructed better. This team is constructed better. So yeah, in week seven, we’re going to find a way to be even killed because there are 10 more weeks, 11 more weeks total to make it happen. And you got to hope that there’s going to be some type of reset for this team. And that yes, come Sunday, they’re actually going to win a game that by all stretches of the imagination they should. Thanks to our everydayers for making the Falcons Squad Show your first listen of the day. Be sure to stop by Locked on Falcons with your host Aaron Freeman as your second listen and catch Jarvis as a frequent contributor for Locked on Falcons. And of course, check out Tori’s great work at Falcons.com. We’ll see her next week and we’ll see you next time.

The Falcons Squad Show dissects Atlanta’s 22-10 loss to the 49ers, exploring the team’s inconsistent identity and Michael Penix Jr.’s struggles on the road. Hosts Tenitra Batiste, Aaron Freeman, and Jarvis Davis analyze key plays, offensive line issues, and the ongoing kicker problem. They debate whether the Falcons are reverting to old patterns of winning and losing unexpectedly. The show highlights positives like Kyle Pitts’ performance and Zach Harrison’s defensive impact, while critiquing areas for improvement. The hosts emphasize maintaining perspective in a long NFL season, urging fans not to overreact to single games. They look ahead to the Falcons’ upcoming matchup against the Dolphins, discussing how the team can reset and improve their playoff positioning.

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FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)