FALCONS SQUAD SHOW: The Atlanta Falcons’ offense STRUGGLES on the road AGAIN

FALCONS SQUAD SHOW: The Atlanta Falcons’ offense STRUGGLES on the road AGAIN

I am Tenitra Batiste and my key to the game was to not let the kicker determine the outcome and on some level he still did. I’m Aaron Freeman and at some point the Falcons offense is going to get off to a fast start on the road, but it was definitely not tonight. I’m Jarvis Davis and when are the Falcons are going to put some pressure on the opposing secondary on the road? [Applause] 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 are Locked on Falcons host Aaron Freeman and Lockdown analyst Jarvis Davis. The Squad Show is part of the Lockdown podcast network, Your Team Everyday. And today’s episode sponsored by Price Picks. Download the Price Picks app today and use code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. So guys, let’s just get into it. We talked about how much of a signature win or a statement win or an important win against the Buffalo Bills the Atlanta Falcons had on Monday night, but here was another opportunity to sort of follow up with a statement game, an important opportunity for this Falcons team. But the offense did not rise to the occasion, no pun intended, in missed opportunity after opportunity that resulted in the 20 to10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on the road. Now, think about this. It had some potential, and I’m going to use that term loosely, Jarvis, because when you look at the fact that Michael Pennix Jr. started off with nine completions in the first quarter, most in any quarter of his NFL career. You’re thinking, “Okay, that might lead to something.” Except the Falcons walked away with zero points. And then in the second quarter, three points is all they were able to muster. Of course, we know that they scored seven points in that third quarter, but ultimately speaking, it just felt like overall this Falcons offense just could not get it together tonight. Yeah. and and and that’s the u unfortunate thing because I said that this was going to be the biggest test for the the Falcons this year because you have that game on the road against the Carolina Panthers and you make some changes from communication standpoint. you offense starts to starts to click and you get the these back-to-back games at home and offense is putting up points and you’re doing exactly what you’re supposed to do, but you got one of the better teams in the NFC and you’re on the road and they just did not have it tonight. And when you think about it from that aspect of okay, you start to wonder why. Why didn’t the Falcons have success tonight? Why was the Tatum Bthoon looking like Fred Warner 2.0? That should not be the case. Like if if you have some a sub in that in a in the game, um if you have a sub behind a guy like that in a game, you test them. You have to try them and see what’s going on and hey, are you good enough? Are what we saw when you you subbed in for Fred Warner last week uh uh last week and you had a solid game. I want to see I want you to prove it to me again. You got to continue to prove it to me over and over again. Like I know we’re gonna get into, you know, our defense side of the football, but just taking a piece of what Kyle Shanahan did to the Falcons defense. Soon as that Devon Diablo uh went out that game. Yeah. Oh my gosh, they found 23 coming out of that back field and every time it every time it was either Kaden Ellis or JD Bertran and I like those odds. I love those odd eyes for K Christian McCaffrey when you talking about from a coverage standpoint. So yeah, I I think that Zack was overthinking this thing a little bit. Like I know that Michael Pennix is really comfortable throwing off the ball outside of the hash, but at some point you’re going to have to work that middle of the field and they completely avoided that tonight. Yeah. And yeah, when we talked about this game uh earlier, well last week that is, we talked about the fact that hey, you have to play who’s on the field, right? And you’re thinking, okay, this is a game where there were some holes, like you mentioned of Fred Warner, and there could be some opportunities there for the Falcons to take advantage, but it didn’t seem like the Falcons kind of knew how they wanted to take advantage. Aaron, it it just it it just felt like at every turn, the Falcons were maybe making a misstep or the Falcons weren’t maybe looking and saying, “Hey, here’s an advantage for us. We’ll take it on.” or if they saw an advantage, they didn’t seem to keep going back to that. Well, if you will, enough once they saw that something was effective. Yeah. You know, I think Jarvis is right. Like you you went into this game expecting the Falcons to try to attack the middle of that 49ers defense where they were vulnerable. Um they didn’t really do that. And so you’re sitting there and and you know, the run game never really got rolling like we’ve seen it before. you know, that second series where the Falcons were able to successfully move the ball and get the ball in the field goal range. There’s a lot of passing. Um, and you know, I’m not going to be super critical of the play calling because the Falcons were effective moving the football uh in this game, but it did feel like this was not their best effort. This was not following off of the heels of, you know, two weeks where this offense looked like it was starting to get its thing rolling. The question was going to be, okay, you did that at home. We have seen this consistently with Michael Penn through his eight starts where he’s really good at home, not so great on the road, and you wanted to kind of see, you know, Zack Robinson be able to cook up some things to get him going on the road really kind of for the first time in his NFL career. Uh, and you didn’t really quite get that in this game. Um, but it’s not just all on the play calling. You know, Pennix didn’t play particularly well. Drake London wasn’t a huge impact. You know, you had like one or two good plays from Darnell Mooney, but he didn’t really provide the shot of adrenaline in the arm. The offensive line did not play to the level that we have seen them play. You know, how much of that is owed to playing from behind and and the 49ers being able to get after the quarterback and Bryce Huff, you know, really exposing, you know, Elijah Wilkinson a number of times. Yeah. Yeah, like the only real positive you can really take away from it. Like Bjan played great, but probably didn’t get the ball enough in this game. Um, and Kyle Pittz played really well, but that that that was really about it. And so it just felt like, you know, this is going to be, you know, like we were talking about the first three games of the season with this offense where it’s just like, okay, like it’s fine, but like there’s still feels like a whole lot of meat left on that bone offensively. And when you you come away with only 10 points, um it it does feel like, you know, you’re a little lacking there. Yeah. And and I hear you on that, Aaron, but I guess for me, Jarvis, I don’t want to attack per se the the strategy for Zack Robinson. But on the same token, I guess I do feel like, but we’re having the same conversation again, right? So Kyle Pittz has 10 targets, catches the ball seven times, 62 yards, a near explosive, but no touchdown. So I think for me, and even Darnell Mooney, okay, fine, you know, three receptions on five targets for 68 yards. But I guess if you think about it, we looked at the last half of the game against the Bills and said, “Okay, we respect the fact that the Falcons were uh the the offense was pretty feudal in the second half, but it was about ball control and just keeping Josh Allen on the field.” But there are moments where when you see the offense offensive futility again this week and you see it pretty much for the duration of the game with the exception of the possession or the drive in the third quarter where they scored seven. I don’t know. It’s a little bit disconcerting um whether or not that strategy was the right strategy in terms of Okay, but you saw the same futility in the back half of last week’s game as well. Yeah, I I think just overall I just felt like this offense didn’t have a sense of urgency. What I mean when I say that is it seems like okay outside zone not working. We try that. Okay, we start get some toss in. Okay, we try that. That didn’t necessarily work. Oh, okay. It’s passing situation. we’re going to pass the ball and we when you need to push the ball down the field, it’s not because you’re trying to be aggressive and trying to set the tone. It’s because you’re in a third and long situation and you have to you have to try to, you know, pass push the ball down the field. And every time that they were put in that situation, Michael Pennis was either not getting rid of the football and there were times where he really didn’t have those those hot reads, so to speak. So, I guess, you know, I can question the route concepts. I dig into it a little bit more, you know, by going back and watching the film um you know, a little bit later. But I I think that just overall it just didn’t they didn’t have a sense of urgency. Yeah. Yeah, they became obvious because you know they put themselves in that situation to be obvious and when you have those that’s why you saw guys like Bryce Huff get off like he did and he was able to expose Elijah Wilkinson because we knew coming into this game. Yeah, Elijah Wilin is not is not the best pass blocker, right? You could probably put Kayla McGary, they’re right there neck and neck when it comes to pass blocking. We just understand what Kayla McGarrett does when they’re running the football. So when you aren’t able to run the football, you’re going to get exposed. And that’s exactly what happened. Yeah. And I think too for me, Erin, it may not be the strategy for the game overall. But I do think in a game that’s tight because 20 points is not world beater type numbers from the San Francisco 49ers. So in a game like that where there were opportunities where this game was close until it wasn’t, I do think you have moments where you do still have to make the right decision. And I think the juxtaposition for me when I kind of think of okay, what did the 49ers do in this situation that was right? What maybe did the Falcons do that wasn’t so right? So, I’m thinking, okay, well, when Klay Kubak had an opportunity and it was third and short or fourth and short, they’re going to just run it, right? They’re they’re just going to run it straight up. It’s it’s just a yard, right? And so, all they did was say, “Hey, we just want to live to see the next play. We just want to live to keep the drive going.” I did have a problem with a fourth and one and thinking that the appropriate thing to do was to toss the ball to Drake London. Like I I just didn’t feel like that was the right decision. Like why not just live to see another possession? Like why not just live to see another down? No, I I hear you, T. I think the the strategy is definitely criticizing the strategy I think makes sense. I I guess for me like it felt like to me looking at this game like I when you talk about that specific issue I I think that kind of sums up the game because you had the third and one before that you run a toss play to Bejian and he gets stuffed and so I think the Falcons are sitting there going like well you know their short yardage running game has not been that good this year. it it’s been very hit and miss and usually it’s like okay well we’ll just smash it in there with Tyler Algier and so I think that’s another opportunity for you to do that but we’ve seen this team particularly in some of these road games kind of struggle to do that and so I I think you can absolutely second guess that decision to throw the ball in fourth fourth and one um but it was at the same time like part of me is just like Penn made a bad throw and like I I don’t feel like that was a situation where it’s like, oh well that throwing the ball in that situation is doomed to fail. You just got to make a better throw than what Michael Penn did in this game. And I just feel like that kind of summarizes my thoughts on the game. Like I think the strategy of of Zack Robinson and the play calling and not attacking the middle of the field and not running the football are all things that we will sit here and second guess because the Falcons did not take care of business. But for me, a lot of it was just like you just got out executed by this 49ers defense. I think they won the line of scrimmage far more effectively than you wanted them to. Your receivers were not really getting the type of separation that we have seen them get the last couple of weeks outside of Kyle Pittz. Um, and so and and then your quarterback continue, and again, I’m not trying to blame it all on Michael Penn, but like your quarterback continues to struggle in road games where like the first two and a half quarters, it’s like, okay, well, you know, he’ll get going and similar to what we saw in that uh Washington game last year where he kind of struggled for three quarters and then he came alive in the fourth quarter and I was kind of waiting for Michael Penn to have that sort of clutch performance in the fourth quarter and he didn’t really quite get there. And then part of that is owed to him getting a little nicked up at the end of the game and sort of when you needed him to kind of make the play make the throws and make the plays, he he didn’t make the plays. And so I I felt like the Falcons were kind of waiting for someone to sort of come alive and make a play and unfortunately nobody stepped up in that situation. Yeah. And and I think I hear what you’re saying, but then you know I could counter and say, “Well, what about Michael Pennix’s performance throughout the course of that game made you think that he was going to throw ball on fourth and one that actually would have gotten to where?” And now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that that nice little jump of the route at the last moment wasn’t a heck of a play as well, but I’m just like, you know, there are so many other options that could could have happened. And then like you said, maybe the ground game wasn’t working for the Falcons, so they’re not necessarily going to say, “Hey, Bjan, you can push it through.” But there are teams that don’t have running or mobile super mobile QBs that’ll go ahead and say, “Hey, just sneak this.” I mean, there to me, I just I don’t know. That was a question for me. And there’s another play, but I want to save that one for special teams because it makes my earlier point about I told you I didn’t want the kicker to have any impact on this game whatsoever. and somehow he still did. And and I think just for me coming into this game, I felt like this was the prime opportunity for to be to for a breakout game for a guy like Darnell Mooney because of the young guys that they’re rotating in and out and trying to figure out who’s going to be the guy at at safety. The 49ers were playing downhill all game. They were not afraid of the deep ball at all. At all. That’s why he had so much success um stopping a run because the Falcons did not try them. They they just did not try them. I’m talking about quick screens and they, you know, they got in the end zone um in the first half, you know, throw throwing the uh screen to uh Bjon Robinson, but like yeah, that works in in that area, but when you talking about trying to sustain drives and really putting some pressure on this defense, they just did not do that. And I think that Darnell Mooney was ready to do that because there were times where he got he got open from time to time, right? You know, especially, you know, when you you have that certain matchup that you you able to take advantage of. You know, Kyle Pittz has some success like you mentioned earlier, T and and then, you know, of course, you getting getting a rock to be Robinson. Drake London was a little quiet tonight. you know, he had a game of his lifetime, you la last week against the Buffalo Bills, but he’s quiet. What happened this week? You know, it’s just so many the little things that you say, okay, you think, okay, they should be able to take advantage of it. Go back to what we what we talked about last year, uh, free, you know, it’s bring it’s coming back around again. going to the games you think they should be able to take advantage of certain things and then when it doesn’t play out that way it’s not necessarily you’re angry you just kind of disappoint. Yeah. Yeah. I I think it’s that whole up and down because I know as I was watching the game I was feeling like okay there’s a let down there right because you know what you saw last week in the first half in particular that could have been replicated but then again then again you got to give a lot of credit and kudos to Robert Salah for making all the adjustments that he made so that the 49ers defense could perform the way they could perform even in the absence of some of their best players. So sometimes you kind of run into that as well. But again, that’s what halftime is for. And making adjustments and figuring out where you do have something to get you the hot hand. And and granted, again, taking nothing away from the fact that, hey, the uh Falcons were able to score that touchdown in the third quarter, but you just have to be able to replicate that in order to walk away with the win. So when we come back, we’ll talk a little bit about what we saw on the defensive side of the ball because there were some good things that we saw on defense, but obviously sometimes when you are missing one of your critical components and the other team can take advantage, well, you walk away with a 20 to10 loss. This episode of our Falcon Squad Show is brought to you by Ripling. If you’re a business owner, here’s the truth. SAS promise to make work easier, but the average company is buried by hundreds of apps that slow down your teams and simply don’t work together. That’s not SAS. It’s actually pretty darn sad. Software as a disservice. That’s why you need Ripling. Ripling 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. So, by uniting employees, teams, and departments in one system, Ripling removes the bottlenecks, busy work, and silos your software created. Everything from onboarding to payroll to IT access runs automatically and perfectly in sync. So, think about this. Right now, you can actually get six months free when you go to rippling.com/lockedon NFL. So, you can learn more at ripp piping.com/lockedon football. Again, that’s ripp png.comon rather lockedon. Six months for free. rippling.com/lockedonfl terms and conditions apply. This episode of our Falcons Squad Show is also brought to you by Prize Pick. Every day we make decisions, but on Prize Picks, being right can actually get you paid. Don’t miss the excitement of this football season with prize picks where it’s good to be right. Playing prize picks is such a fun, simple way to add more excitement to football. you just pick more or less on player projections like maybe Saquon Barkley rushing for a touchdown if that happens again and you’re in the game or more importantly a night like tonight where Bejian Robinson gets a 10- yard pass takes it in for a touchdown and you’ll love how quick it is you can make your lineup in under a minute and one of your favorite parts is probably going to be stats where basically if you want to ride with a player you can select their pass yards rush yards and touchdowns i.e. Be John Robinson with the yards from scrimmage all in one lineup. So download the Prize Pix app today and use code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code locked on NFL for $50 in lineups after your first $5 lineup. Prize picks. It’s good to be right. So guys, I think one of the things I wanted to start with just in terms of defense free is sometimes it’s tough when you are going without your guys. So they go so the Falcons go into this game, no Jaylen Walker, then the Falcons get into this game, no Divine Diablo. How much of a like a disconnect or how much was it a disadvantage rather for this defense going into San Fran? No, Jaylen Walker. Let’s start there. Yeah, I mean it certainly didn’t help things. Now, I won’t put too much of what we saw from this defense or at least some of the struggles of this run defense on the absences of players because they were struggling to stop the run with those players on the football field in previous weeks. But certainly if you’re sort of looking at it from the standpoint of maybe losing one of those guys, particularly a guy like Jaylen Walker, who uh is a guy that can set the edge so effectively, you know, maybe that’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Although for me when I’m watching this game, I’m just watching the 49ers just kind of run it between the tackles. And even if Jaylen Walker is in this game, I don’t know if he’s making that much of a difference for that, you know, but maybe you get a little bit more juice in the run defense. you get a little bit more juice in the pass rush. And so you’re losing a player in Jaylen Walker that I think certainly hurt this defense. But I won’t go too far to say like, oh, that’s the reason why San Francisco was just basically from start to finish or or you know, the defense got a little bit tighter, the run defense got a little bit tighter in in the second half, but first half of that game uh where it was just like, you know, seven, 10, 15 yards a pop pretty much anytime they wanted to run the ball. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 60 60 yards between the tackles to be exact for Christian McCaffrey in the first half. So yeah, Jarvis for you obviously just starting with not having Jaylen Walker there uh as as Free mentioned, that’s a tough one. But I think when Divine Diablo goes out of the game, you know, that that’s a tough one for for the Falcons as well. 10,000%. I talked about how this guy is a transformer type guy, like he’s the guy that’s he’s a downhill linebacker. I remember in that first game of the season when they playing against the Buccaneers, I I remember tweeting out I remember it vividly like one of the first plays that he made. I like that’s how you play linebacker coming downhill. Yeah. And that running back is coming at you. It don’t matter what move he is, he just got it outside shoulder free and he gonna put you on the ground. And that’s what that’s the type of player that he is. and he’s been he’s been that consistent guy in that in the middle of that defense to be able to allow Kaden Ellis to do what he does to for him to go down to that line scrimmage and you know in that fiveman front and and rush the passer or come off that edge and get flat down the hill and and make that play from behind um in in the run game. So for me, I I feel like this is one of those scenar scenario. Yeah. Uh the guy that you know that can hurt you the most if he goes down is definitely Devon Diablo. Yeah. especially in a game like this because one thing that I talked about when when I was at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on on Monday night at halftime, I said if Joe Brady gets out of his own way and decides to just pound a rock, they got a chance to win this football game. And that first drive, it looked like that coming out of that half and that h that that that particular drive, Kyle Shanahan said, “I’mma do that all game and y’all gonna have to stop me.” And that’s exactly what it did. I’m just run turn around, hand it off, guard pull, come on, come on down, gap scheme, old school, we about to run it down your throat. And that’s what it is. Trent Williams said it after the game. He was like, “Man, hey, man, we we we won up front.” And that’s what it is. And Kyle knew it. Kyle, one thing about Kyle, I love him as a play caller because he doesn’t overthink this thing. If he sees an advantage, if he sees something he can take advantage of, like losing the the prototypical linebacker in today’s NFL, Yeah. I’m going right at 40. Yeah. JD Bertran. Yep. I’m coming right at you. Better get ready. And that’s what do Yeah. And And he wasn’t ready. And And to be honest with you, T, no shade. No. I knew he weren’t ready. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Like he he ain’t he ain’t ready. He He’s a special team guy in my eyes at this moment. So yeah, like when stuff like that happens though, you just gota you just got to grin and bear it. And they just the Falcons just couldn’t recover. Yeah. Yeah. And for you, Free, just seeing Divine Diablo go down, I mean, just what was that? What was your thought in terms of Okay, I know where this game was. I And and we know where this game ended. Yeah. I mean, my my mind was not right when I saw Divine Diablo uh go down cuz to what Java said, like, you know, like I I I like JD Bertrren uh Captain America as we say, but we saw in the preseason like what he was going up against second and third stringers and to think him him going up against the Trent Williams and the Christian McCaffies of the world like Yeah, it and so you were just kind of all right JD, you just hold on for dear life, my guy. Like, you know, like this is is, you know, hopefully the rest of the team is going to step up because if if if we’re relying on you to make the play, it’s not going to be you to make the play. And, you know, the interior, you know, shout out to Zack Harrison. He made a couple. Yeah. Thank you. He made a couple of nice plays, but the rest of the interior was getting bodied in this game. I I know again I I don’t want to sort of single out any one individual or whatever, but I know a lot of people were like, “Okay, what’s what’s Taquan Graham going to do this week and I I was watch when I was watching Tawuan Graham, I was like, he getting bodied. David Aima is getting bodied.” You know, Sam Roberts had a great game last week and I don’t recall him having, you know, it was just he made a couple plays for you. Yeah, it it I’m not going to sit here and say like everybody was getting completely obliterated, but like this this defensive front is predicated on getting penetration. It is not a we’re going to hold the point of attack and and stop the run. We’re going to penetrate. And basically like Zack Harrison was the only guy that was really doing that in this game. And so when you only have one out of what, five guys on the interior, you know, kind of making the plays that you need to make in order for this run defense to work. It didn’t work. Yeah. And guys, and and kind of add to what you’re saying, Freak, guys like Brandon Doris, like what happened? Where he at? What’s up? Like the first few games, man, 54 out there getting it and he’s just disappeared. He’s disappeared off the map. And and and that’s the type of stuff that you can’t have. That’s the type of stuff that when you you look at that draft class, right? Like Rook, anybody seen Rook? I don’t Was it Did he play tonight? I I I’m trying to figure it out. Like I know Freeze said he ain’t going to call him out, but I’ll help you. I’ll help you out, Free. You know where where where are thou? Like it was just like Zack Harrison was the only thing that was pleasing to my eyes up front tonight. The only thing, you know, and and it he can’t do it by himself. Yeah. He can’t do it by himself. James Pierce Jr., where are you, sir? Where are you? I mean, the these are the type of things that can’t happen. You can’t can’t disappear for games. Yeah. And you’re right. Like multiple guys can’t disappear for games. I’m sorry. That just can’t happen in NFL game. Sorry. Yeah. There’s no way that should be happening at this point. Yeah. Because if you have Zack Harrison doing the job that he’s doing where, hey, first play on defense, got ourselves a sack. Okay. So, Zack Harrison is just saying, hey, anybody else? Any of these other 10, anybody want to, you know, just kind of help me? And for him to be in in that um situation where with with Xavier Watts when he was able to get that tackle and kind of force that three and out, I think that was like the second drive in the uh second half. Zack Robin, excuse me, Zack Harrison. That’s part of the reason that he was able to get that. But like you said, other than that free, like you can’t just have one moment or you can’t just have one or two players kind of playing their best games. Like everybody has to bring what you saw last week every week. Yeah. And you know, you mentioned last week and Jarvis kind of touched upon this like when the Bills ran the ball to James Cook in the second half, they were getting whatever they wanted to get. But because they were playing from behind, they couldn’t commit to running the football. And again, so far this season with the Falcons run, like they have not really been able to stop the run really in any game. But because the offense is performing at a certain level, it kind of dictates how committed a team can be running the football. Like that Washington game, Washington ran the ball a ton because they were basically like, “We don’t trust Marcus Mario to win this this football game.” And they were successful running the football. Uh, and that allowed that game to be look a little closer on the scoreboard than uh it wound up being. But like basically at this point, not to put it all back on the offense, but like right now with the way that the run defense has looked through, you know, now six games, their best run defense is their offense. Um, and if they can’t put points up on the board, like I I just remember we had these conversations in August and at the beginning of the season where it was like there was going to be a game where a team is just going to basically say, “We’re going to run the football down your throat.” and I don’t know if the Falcons going to stop him. And they just had that game and now that blueprint is out there for the rest of the NFL to basically say, “Okay, well, if we can slow and the challenge is because this team offensively looks so different on the road versus at home, you got like four more road games in your next six games. So, you got to figure that whole thing out as well. or otherwise. We’re going to be having more of these conversations over the next several weeks if the Falcons can’t either figure out how to get off to better starts offensively or figure out ways to tighten up this run defense and if they’re going to be dealing with some of these injuries that now are now starting to accumulate on defensive side of the ball, especially in the back seven or in the linebacker position, especially where they don’t really have depth at all. Like that’s going to be a challenge for this team in in the next few weeks. Yeah, a challenge indeed. Well, there are some other challenges that when you when you think about how close this game was at certain points, you need not just your offense, not just your defense, but you need to have somebody reliable to keep you in this game. And I really still believe that the lack of reliability for a certain position also dictated a lot some of some at least of what we saw on the offensive side of the ball. We’ll talk about that 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 they craft every model. You can feel Japanese craftsmanship in every detail from the metallic accents to available Napa leather upholstery. 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. So like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda move and be moved. So Jarvis, special teams, special teams, special teams, special teams. Now there was a good one. So, you know, we we didn’t have the good fortune of being able to start the first segment or the second segment with anything good, but we’ll give some positives before I go into what I wanted to say about the other side of special teams. And you got to give Jamal Agnu a load of credit for the 47 yard return that flipped the field for the Falcons. You’ve got to give Bradley Pinion a world of credit for what he was able to do in terms of of punts. So, at least with Jamal Agnu, I think now two uh Sundays in a row or two two weeks in a row that he’s back and doing some good things for special teams, that was at least one positive takeaway from what they were able to do tonight. Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, going back to the beginning of the year when it was just, hey, let’s try this guy out. Let’s see who Natron Brooks. Yeah. Go on out there. You returning. Oh, D. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Going on out there. like whoever like whoever wants to go back there just go back there and we’ll figure it out. And now that like you said Jamal Agnu is it seems like he’s getting his footing so to speak like like you can see hey this guy was uh one of the better returners in the league at some point during his career. So you’re starting to see why they brought him in. So that was definitely something that was that was that I liked. Right. Um, another thing that I like, there was a punt specifically by Brad Depin in the third quarter, less than a minute left. Put pinned them down there like Cardell Hodge. Hey, yeah, pro bowler, you know, recover that bad boy inside the five. And I was like, okay, you’re setting your team up for success, right? They’re inside the five yard line. Your defense can at least they don’t have to. You would have love for them to pin them right there. Hey, go three and out. But, you know, they get they get a couple first downs, but they end up making eventually making them punt. So, when you think about it from that aspect of it, like, all right, they had to go so far in order to just get some decent field position, your special teams basically put them in a hole. So, you kind of give yourself, you know, an opportunity to get a stop that you needed. So, I I think that, you know, with Jamal Agnu returning the ball like he was like he did tonight and Bradley Pinion being a a a tool, you know, to to to deploy and and and and make plays for you and and and then you have your guy, the coverage team going out there downing the ball like they did. I think that that was that was a nice sight to see. Um cuz that it was they were really setting themselves up to be you talk about three phases of the game. You win two out of three, you get the dub. And if the Falcons were somehow able to pull this out, I feel like special teams would have been one of those phases that that they would have helped them get a win. Yeah. Yeah. particularly as you mentioned with a Jamal Agnu uh return if you will now you put yourself in position where all you have to do free is run six plays and then you find yourself in the end zone or you Bradley Pinion I mean if that game had turned if in the Falcons favor you could easily have said that would have been the turning point if it had happened. So yeah, you got to give a lot of credit and uh Jarvis Mitsay, I know I mentioned Jamal Agna, you mentioned Cadarl Hodgej as well because yes, Bradley Pinion with the incredible punt, but Cadrell Hajj being able to field it and in inside the five and not let that ball bounce in for a touchback. All three of those were some good signs for Maris Williams squad. Yeah. Yeah. I think when it comes to field position, the the Falcons, you know, those elements took care of business. But, uh, T, I know you’re itching to talk about the thing that we all want to talk about, so I’ll I’ll let you tee it up and we can talk about it. I was going to be nice. I was gonna let you go and then It’s okay, T. We can out right here. This is where we, you know what I’m saying? We relax, relate, release. This is This is not a five minute conversation. So let’s head on. Yeah, we just go ahead. Let let it ride, baby. Let’s go. So I’m gonna go ahead and and and and give Lil Parker Romo his credit for kicking a 38 yard field goal. Congrats. That’s great. But when it’s playing in the back of the minds of your head coach and your offensive coordinator, how they’re going to proceed in short yardage situations where I was actually on a call and the person said, “Hey, why’d you guys not try to kick that field goal?” And I was like, “Well, you know, saying you guys because he knew, hey, we’re on our way to the Falcons postgame show.” And I go, “It’s not obvious.” Like, it makes and this is the thing I said Thursday. Remember we talked about keys to the game and I said don’t let the kicker be the determining factor for the outcome of this game. I still feel like in any other instance that kicker especially because of what you saw on the other side where you see um what is it Eddie Pinero go for a 55 yard. It’s the kind of thing that’s frustrating because at that moment in the game, if you’re able to rely on your kicker and you believe that he’s gonna actually boot that ball through, I still feel like it’s a different game as opposed to you’re going for it on fourth and one or you’re going or you’re in a third down situation and it’s third and short, but you’re like, “Yeah, no, I I can’t afford to go to fourth down because I know what’s going to happen. I’m going to have to put this game in the hands of the kicker and I don’t trust that. To me, Aaron, it’s like you said, it’s a bigger conversation that we knew we potentially were going to have throughout the course of the game, but you called it six games, four on the road. A lot of times those road games are won and lost by that kind of short spread of three points. And here we are. I know it was a 10-point loss, but if we really think about where it was, it’s really not the 10 points if it’s if if I’m talking I know I’m kind of going on a die drive because it ticks me off because I’m like this is exactly what I said was going to be the key to the game not to happen and did and did. Yeah. So, you know, for for those of you that missed it, what what we’re talking about is that fourth and one, the Falcons had an opportunity to kick what, like, 52 53 yard field goal or Yeah. about Yeah. It was somewhere between like 50 52. Yes. Yes. And uh they elected to not kick it and they went for it on fourth and one and you know that decision is going to be second guessed because you had an opportunity to tie up the game 1313, but like as we discussed like I don’t blame Raheem for not trusting the kicker. the the the issue is not to me Raheem not trusting the kicker or the decision to go for it in that situation because you don’t trust the kicker. The issue is you don’t have a kicker that you can trust and so you know it’s not as and and the the immediate reaction is going to be well if you don’t trust Parker Roma to make that kick then you need to get a new kicker and it’s like that’s a fair point. This is, we’ve been talking about this all season long, like the Falcons, John Parker Romo is a band-aid, and it’s one of those, you know, not to be too colorful, it’s one of those BL band-aids where you can still see the bleeding sort of bleeding through the band-aid and whatnot. It’s like maybe need to change that band-aid a little bit, like that’s that doesn’t look too pretty uh at at this point. And and Band-aid have push on it at this point. Yeah, I was gonna say and free. I was actually thinking whenever that happens that also means that there might be some situations where there’s an infection because yeah, something is going a miss, like really a miss and arai under that band-aid. But yeah, go on. I like your analogy. And um you know, part of it is we we know Raheem is naturally aggressive, right? So that’s that’s part of it. Yeah, certainly okay with that. Even even under other circumstances, there’s a good chance that Rahee’s going forward on that fourth to one, even if he trusts the kicker. But it’s very obvious that the Falcons do not trust their kicker. And as we discussed a couple of weeks ago with this sort of back and forth with John Parker Romo and it’s like, is this going to be a conversation all season long? It’s still a conversation. And the the challenge right now for the Falcons is if they don’t have the veteran in in Parker Romo, they have two rookies kickers. And I don’t think Raheem is going to be like, well, I trust Lenny Craig or I trust Ben Sauls to make that kick either. So you you got to ask the question, and it’s it’s going to continue to be a question until you figure it out. Do you need to go out there and and go out there and get another kicker? And and you mentioned Eddie Pinero. He turned down the Falcons to go sign with the 49ers and he said I wanted to win games and right now he’s on a five-2 football team instead of a three and three football team. So, you know, Eddie Pinero, you know, out here calling the shots and whatnot and making us all look bad. But, um, yeah, the Falcons still got a a major major kicking question that’s still looming over their heads and it’s still a conversation. Yeah. And Jarvis, I think as Free mentioned, there’s no frustration in going for it on fourth down like that you if if I don’t think I said it, but let me make sure everybody’s clear. I’m always good with with that for the most part because in my mind I already know if it’s fourth and one, two, or three, that’s pretty much Rahim Morris go for it territory, right? So he goes for it twice tonight. That’s nothing that’s uh out of the ordinary for him. But it’s that underlying reason why you really went for it that’s problematic. And the fact that here we are and Free makes a great point. This is a five and two team where this man has been darn near this kicker has been darn near perfect. Here’s a team that’s three and three. And again, it’s the pivotal moments where you either miss the field goal or in this case, the opt is away from you kicking the field goal that’s problematic because you could be the team that’s four and three just like they could be the team that’s four and three except they’re the ones with the guy who kicks the 55 yard and you’re the one with a guy where you don’t even trust that he’s going to make it five yards closer in. And I don’t know if I’ve ever if we ever been in a situation where we understand that Raheem Morris wants to be aggressive in those moments, but we also know that he doesn’t trust the kicker. That is a weird s scenario. And I feel like it’s the only it’s a falcony type thing, you know, for for those you know know like you if you know that’s a that’s a term if you know you know. And oh yeah, those you watching or listening to this podcast, you understand exactly what I’m talking about. And and it’s it’s truly unfortunate that you have to deal with that, right? Because if you’re going to be aggressive, let’s just talk about that for a second. If you’re going to be aggressive, you want to feel like you have the advantage as a play caller. I’ve been fine with Zack Robinson as a play caller for the most part since he walked through that door. You know, I mean, I I I assume that you’re going to have to take some lumps when you when you’re a first- time play caller. Sure. No doubt about it. But in that particular situation, just given how your quarterback has been throwing the football, he was solid right throughout the night, but there were just moments where he was just like, “What was that?” Like he had it was like a delay. Like the sense of urgency was there. You knew the guys I’m not saying feel the pressure, but feel the pressure. You know it’s coming. You got to be able to get rid of the football and know where you’re going with it. And then also the coach has to align with you being able to have those those certain route concepts that kind of match up with what you’re going to be facing or what Sailor was was throwing against you. So I feel like them not kicking that field goal was just right in line with what how this game was going. Yeah. Like said a 53 yard field goal. That ain’t no that ain’t no that ain’t no big deal in today’s game. Brandon Aubrey out here kicking 65 yards with with plenty of leg left. I know that’s an extreme example, but guys make 50 yard field goals like they used to make 40 yard field goals back 10 year 10 15 years ago. and and and when you you’re in a situation where I know I’mma go for it if it’s a 50 plus yard field goal sometimes you going to have to make those things. You have to kick those balls because you’re going to get into these dog fights and the teams are going to be you going to be jabbing back and forth and then you gonna try to go for the knockout blow and you gonna mess around and lose the game because of it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s just it it’s just it’s a I think it’s a source of frustration because you you think about the fact that oh my goodness, you’re about to go on the road for a clip and this is the type of thing where again we’re okay with aggressiveness on the part of our hemorrh where we’re being the rationale for going forward on fourth down. were not okay with being the rationale of wait a minute when I’m in no man’s land because in that space there there’s no no place really for Bradley Pinion to punt it, right? So, you’re kind of in no man’s land of either it’s going to be a kick or it’s going to be we’re going for it. You just don’t want it to be we’re going for it primarily because we don’t want we don’t want any kicking. But when we come back, we’ll talk about how these Falcons might need to reset. 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 and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So, you’re going to love FanDuel because it gives you so many ways to play. I mean, you can build parlays, try player props, and even all the live lines during games. It makes watching football even more exciting when you’ve got a little something riding on the action. And whether you’re a casual fan or love diving into the stats, FanDuel makes the game day experience so much better. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fanul.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. Again, that’s fuel.com. Download the app today and get started. So often times on our Falcon Squad shows, we take it to the couch. You know, you might want to talk through some things and you might want to feel better about life. So Jarvis, I think there’s something that you might want to get off your chest and we want you to get that off your chest because we don’t want you going to sleep with Angela. So, so what is it that you you feel a burning desire to share? Uh, so you know, I I want to say this because y’all know how I I trust my eyeballs and I don’t mind being wrong with my eyeballs because this is what I see. This is what I interpret as to what’s going on on the field. And I make an assessment and I go with it. I mean, if I’m wrong, I’ll admit it. But if I’m right, you know what I’m saying? You just let just let it be known that I was right. You know what I’m saying? Because I I don’t do that. Hey man, you ain’t say this. But this is what I have to get off my chest. Jesse B. He been played by rookie. I I I think that when it comes to tonight, one particular drive, two missed tackles. I know it’s Christian McCaffrey, but you Jesse Bates. I can’t have you out here missing tackles. That can’t happen. The cheating, I’m more than willing to allow it. You know what I’m saying? Like I’m willing to allow you to if you see something, go get it, man. I would never tell tell a player not to from based off of his film study, he sees something and he jumps on that bad boy. I am totally fine with that. But what is unacceptable? You can’t be out here missing tackles, bro. Not in a game like this. Because guess what Kyle Shanahan said? We about to line up. We about to get in the old school 12 personnel. We about to turn around and hand it off to 23. We about to pull this guard around and we about to run it right up the freaking gut. And it ain’t nothing you could do about it. True enough, defensive line probably deserves most of this, but once they get to that next level, yeah, the man has to go down to the ground. And if three is right there, I need to assume that he’s going to go on the ground. So, yeah, Jesse Bates has not been himself this year. Yeah. I’m sorry. Yeah. Like, if you want to argue against me on that, free, you know what I’m saying? By all means, sir. We can have that debate. But that man has not been himself this year. And I think tonight it showed it. It show it shine through. And I was just like, man, I was very disappointed. Very disappointed when it comes to basic stuff like that. Well, Jarvis, you know, to be fair, to be fair, Jesse Bates did lead the team in tackles with 10 and four of those were solo. But I think your point is well taken in that number one, you got to still tackle when it matters. I did say the defensive line didn’t play well either. So yeah. Yes. Yeah. Safeties got they going to make tackles. Yeah. They gonna make tackles. That’s fine. Right. Exactly. Because the the other piece of that is it’s not just about the numbers. It’s also about when are you tackling and when are you missing those tackles. So that’s why I said to be fair, he he did lead the team. But on the same token, to be fair to you, you’re saying in those critical moments where, hey, if it’s not happening up front, it’s got to happen at the second level and didn’t, that’s where it’s problematic. And that’s because when you look back at his first couple of seasons with the Falcons and where he landed as far as even something as simple as tackles, right? when you’re looking at where he was a third of the way through last season, a third of the way through uh his first season with the Falcons, 30 tackles. So, multiplying almost twice as much as what he has right now, which is 17. So, there is still like a not just a quantity or quality aspect of it, but there could be a quantity aspect of it as well. And like you said, you’re looking at what Xavier Watts is over here doing. And sometimes, granted, there may be some scheming that allows for Xavier Watts to kind of go off, but we talked about it a little bit earlier, that tackle that he had uh in that second drive that forced that helped to force that three and out. Like, you can’t not see that. But on the same token, uh, and Erin, I I’ll ask you to wrap us up, but on the same token, if we’re being honest, we also saw some poor tackling a few too many times overall for this Falcons team because there was one uh situation, I think it’s one play where like uh right in that first drive of the second half, and it’s like miss tackle after miss tackle. So Scott Moore just kind of does his thing. The only good thing that came out of it and it kind of like took the edge off of it was the Falcons were still able to hold the 49ers to a field goal. But there were a to me that goes back to like we were talking about with the offense, they just didn’t seem ready or with a sense of urgency and there were just moments in time where overall with the defense it’s like, “Okay, we just need you to do your basic 101 job. You do your basic 101 job and any number of times things could have turned out differently.” But for you, Free, I wanted to ask as well before we wrap up. Like what was was there anything else that kind of stood out like the sore thumb that Jesse Bates is for Jarvis Davis? Is there anything that stood out for you or like a sore thumb that really just kind of got under your skin about how this team played whether it was on offense, defense, or even special teams? Um, not particularly. I go into these games, much to the chagrin of some of my listeners, with not high expectations, right? I just I’m I’m at a point with the Falcons where it’s just like they are outperforming my expectations through the first several games of the season. But that doesn’t mean I’m like, oh, this team is, you know, coming off that Bills game, you know, oh, this team is is headed to the Super Bowl or anything like that or anything like that. So, for me, it was just kind of like I kind of expect the 49ers to to do the game plan that they did and try to run the football. And it’s up to the Falcons to stop them from doing that. And the 49ers were able to execute their game plan. I’m like, “Okay, this is why I I don’t set my expectations high because I’m just like anytime I do, anytime I start to buy in on the Falcons, they they find a way to disappoint me.” So, it it’s one of those things where like I look at this game and I’m like, okay, like, yeah, this this is not a surprise to me, but it’s like the challenge for this game is going to be this game is going to have potential if this team is going to wind up being a playoff team at the end of the season, which I think they are despite all my reservations, um it’s going to have tiebreaking implications uh at the end of the Yeah. Um Yeah. And so like you know the Falcons can’t just beat up on AFC teams. They got they got to beat some some NFC teams, some teams in the division, some non-divisional teams in the NFC because we can sit here Yeah. you know, and so like we can sit here three and three is a good spot to be relatively speaking, but the the three wins that they have, you know, no offense to the Vikings, but like I I’m not sure if these three wins are really helping them when we get to the end of the year um in the in the manner that we think it is uh or at least the way that we hope it is. So, they got some things they got to tighten up and and that’s going to be a challenge over the next couple weeks. So for me it’s just like okay like the you know I I I try never to get too high off of the wins too low off of the losses and so I’m I’m kind of just at a neutral medium all the time and I’m just like all right then here and Falcons always find a way to keep me here. I I never ever get off this spot I guess. I don’t know. It’s just like sounds like it’s kind of like freeze being on the like free on the hamster wheel. So depressing. Oh my god. I feel sorry for you, my man. Like, I don’t think he I just want to come on the show and just hug you, bro, for for the next 30 minutes when you do go locked on Falcons. No, I just want to hug you, man. Like, I’m just gonna hug you, bro. Enough support. More support. I don’t think I don’t think he’s he’s depressed. Like, I think he’s he’s more trying to be even killed. Like he said, he’s not going to go overboard. Maybe we got a little excited about the Buffalo Bills win, right? But he’s not going to get too far down about this. I think what makes me kind of like, well, no, I’m not gonna get too far down, per se, but it is a little bit frustrating because you’re in third place in your division. So, when you’re looking at the standings and of course we are very early into the season and you you know the standings don’t quite mean as much like you haven’t even gotten like halfway through the season per se but if I’m kind of looking at the conference and you’re kind of looking up um in the NFC and you’re kind of seeing the Bucks at the top of the conference that’s where it starts to get a little bit uh kind of touch it touch and go if you will because then you start looking at as you mentioned uh free for you look at the Packers, the 49ers, the Eagles, the Rams, the Seahawks, and you could just kind of go on and on and then you kind of see uh the Falcons and kind of like that 11th spot. It’s when you lose games like this where it’s going to make a difference in the end where you’re trying to if if it comes to this, right? Like if the Buccaneers don’t fall back down to earth and they end up going on to win the NFC South, then your I guess your path to the the postseason is going to be dictated by some of these critical conference wins or conference losses. So yeah, while I’m like you, I’m not going to panic right now. It does make me a little bit concerned because you can’t you can’t keep dropping these conference games and expect that it won’t bite you in the butt down the road. But hey, I’ll take the free road. I’ll take the free philosophy and just say at the end of the day, it is still just one game. So thanks to our everyday end. I say at the end of the day, the day gonna end. Thank God because man on that note, thanks to our everyday for making the Falcon Squad show your first listen of the day. Be sure to stop by Locked on Falcons with your host Aaron Freeman for more postgame coverage shortly. We will see you next time.

The Falcons Squad Show breaks down Atlanta’s 20-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Hosts Tenitra Batiste, Aaron Freeman, and Jarvis Davis analyze the Falcons’ offensive struggles, particularly on the road. They discuss Michael Penix Jr.’s performance, the run defense’s issues, and special teams impact. The hosts debate key decisions like not attempting a 50+ yard field goal due to kicker concerns. They examine standout players like Zach Harrison and areas needing improvement, including tackling and Jesse Bates’ play. The conversation touches on playoff implications and the importance of conference wins. Despite the loss, the hosts maintain a balanced perspective on the 3-3 Falcons’ season outlook.

#atlantafalcons #nfl

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOFalcons?sid=YouTube

The Falcons Squad Show breaks down Atlanta’s 20-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Hosts Tenitra Batiste, Aaron Freeman, and Jarvis Davis analyze the Falcons’ offensive struggles, particularly on the road. They discuss Michael Penix Jr.’s performance, the run defense’s issues, and special teams impact. The hosts debate key decisions like not attempting a 50+ yard field goal due to kicker concerns. They examine standout players like Zach Harrison and areas needing improvement, including tackling and Jesse Bates’ play. The conversation touches on playoff implications and the importance of conference wins. Despite the loss, the hosts maintain a balanced perspective on the 3-3 Falcons’ season outlook.

#atlantafalcons #nfl #falcons

Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL

Become a Locked On Falcons Insider for in-depth analysis every day!
https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonfalcons

Join our Discord server!
https://discord.gg/lockedonfalcons

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!

Peloton
Let yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.

Rippling
Get Rippling FREE for 6 months. Terms and conditions apply. See site for details: https://app.rippling.com/legal/promoterms

PrizePicks
Download the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.
Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Right now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.

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 https://sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit https://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 https://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit https://ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)