FALCONS SQUAD SHOW: The Atlanta Falcons did not know what hit them, and that’s on Raheem Morris

FALCONS SQUAD SHOW: The Atlanta Falcons did not know what hit them, and that’s on Raheem Morris

Well, I’m Tenra Batiste, but do the Falcons know who they are? And he may not be on the hot seat, but did that seat get a little warmer Sunday? I’m Tory Mlaney and I really don’t have that much to say. I’m Aaron Freeman and like Tory Mhaney, I am also too very tired. I’m Jarvis Davis and you know what? It’s therapy Monday. So, let’s get this thing started. 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 Tenicha Batist. Alongside me are Locked on Falcons host Aaron Freeman, locked on analyst Jarvis Davis, and Falcons senior reporter Tory Mhaney. The Squite Show is part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase. So, the Elite processor didn’t play, but kind of sort of neither did the Elite backup. We’ll discuss. Also, low energy is inexplicable. We’ll talk about it. And can trade deadline dealings offer a solution? We’ll download that that too. But first, the trap game came to fruition. So, on Thursday’s Squad Show, we posed this two-part question. Is the game against the Dolphins the perfect scenario for the Falcons to rebound coming off a loss against the 49ers? Or is playing a team that’s lost three straight sort of a trap game that we put in quotes? Now, we’re going to get into some of the nuts and bolts on both sides of the ball for the Falcons. But Tori, despite the fact that you said you don’t have anything to say, I got a sneaking suspicion my girl has something to say. So, I’m starting with you. And listen, I want to say this to Tori before we start. This is what Jarvis called it. It is therapy Monday. Whether it is this show are all around Atlanta with those who cover this team. Those who root for this team, those who are die hards. So if it goes a little off the rails, I am giving everybody license to do whatever they need to do to get through this Monday. That said, Tori, watch yourself, Jarvis. That’s his story. Why and how in the damn hell did this end up being a trap? How does that I wish I had an answer. I know. I do like and I think if I did have an answer, I would probably be like making more money than what I do and like having I would be I would be the best like coach in the history of coaches. Like I there I would be so much I I you know I have a lot of self-confidence like but if I were able to figure out like what the heck is going on right now I would have I no one would be able to talk to me because I would be so so confident. Um ultimately the issues that we saw against the Miami Dolphins were not new issues. Yes, you had a different collective group that was playing, but the issues the Falcons have offensively, mainly offensively, remained. Yes. the the issues whether it was Michael Pennix in or Kurt Cousins, whether you had Drake London or you didn’t. Like the the facts remain that yes, you could have gone into this Miami Dolphins game and been like, “Okay, the Falcons don’t have their starting quarterback, but they still have a veteran quarterback of, you know, over a decade in this league, so he should be able to operate this offense.” No, you do not have Drake London. And yes, you did release Ray Ray Mloud earlier in the week, but you still have Darnell Mooney, you still have Kyle Pittz, like David Sills has did some really good things for this this organization during training camp. Like I and the main thing this was the one of the worst run defending units in the league with the Miami Dolphins. You had your entire starting offensive line healthy, ready to go. You had Bjon Robinson. You had Tyler Algier. Yes, he was working through an injury throughout the week, but you had him up on game day. There is no reason that offensively you should you you shouldn’t have moved the ball the way that you did. Um, and that’s why I’m kind of sitting here b to answer your questions like what went wrong. We can talk about like the defense kind of later. I think that this game in particular showed like how important Divine Diablo is to this unit. Offensively though, the same issues. If the run game is not working, if they make this team one-dimensional, they don’t really have a counter punch or a counterattack that we have seen yet that works to the point of winning games. So, and I think Go ahead, Trey. I’m sorry. No, I was done. Like that’s the point, you know, like that’s it. Yeah. No, you’re absolutely right. I feel like there’s a theme that we’re going to be talking about throughout the course of this show and that is feeling like you kind of got punched in the mouth in the gut everywhere and somebody basically came into your pantry and stole your cookies and you just kind of sat there and kind of watched them just do whatever they wanted to do in your house. And that that is very much frustrating. That’s why I wanted to say like we’re not going to necessarily start off completely with like the nuts and bolts and getting down to into the place. We’ll get there. We’ll get there. But there were some inherent things that were just utterly and completely frustrating about what we all witnessed yesterday. So Erin, I ask you again, we talked about it Thursday. perfect scenario where it can be either a rebound game against the Dolphins after that loss to the Niners or it could be a trap game because you’re thinking, “Hey, this is one of the worst teams in the NFL and it turned out to be a a trap game.” But I mean, how and why did it devolve into that? I wish I had a great answer. Um it it was one of those things going into the week, you know, one of the things you come off wins, you’re probably not as good as you think you are, and so you get a little bit of a drop off against the 49ers. You come out of that loss, you’re probably not as bad as you think you are, and you’re expecting a bounce back. And the Falcons don’t get that bounce back. And I think T, you kind of mentioned it where you you’re coming off a game that Raheem said, you know, the 49ers essentially out Atlanta using Atlanta as a verb to indicate that, you know, you got to be the more physical team. And unfortunately for the Falcons, they haven’t earned that verbiage right now. like out Atlanting, whatever is, you know, fumbling the bag, I guess, is is what I would use to uh instead. Um, and it’s it’s really troubling when it comes against this Dolphins team that is infamous um and has been infamous for a number of years of being a finesse team uh of a team that can’t get physical that when you know the weather turns cold and they have to be a team that you know has to rely on winning in the trenches that they’re not a team that can do that at a high level. and it’s led to, you know, some of their late season struggles over the last couple of years and and recent struggles. And the fact that the Falcons got pushed around by this specific team is really what is troubling, especially coming like it’s it’s one thing when the 49ers do it because that’s been something that they’ve prided themselves on over the years, which is being a team that can win in the trenches. And that’s something that the Falcons are hoping to change. And you saw early in the season, you know, expectations were raised based off of how the Falcons had performed with the running game early in the year and with the defensive line and and the pass rush. And as we’ve gotten further and further into the season, we’ve gotten further and further away from that. And the reason why you went in, or at least the reason why I went into this game feeling like, oh, this should be a bounceback game for the Falcons was because of the expectation that, you know, after getting punked physically, if if we want to say that last week against the 49ers that the Falcons typically under Raheem Morris tend to respond where the offensive line gets their butt kicked, they they come back the next week and they play better. um this defensive line, you know, prides itself on on being one of these one of the better defenses in the NFL. You know, you got to go out there and control the line of scrimmage. And so, for whatever reason, the Falcons didn’t have it when it came to winning in the trenches. They didn’t have it in terms of their quarterback play. They didn’t have it at the skill positions. You know, Bejian’s been incredible this year, but by the Bejian Robinson standards, this was one of the worst games he’s ever played. Um, and you got to figure out what’s going on with this team when your best players aren’t locked in and playing at a high level, when your worst players are playing some of the worst football they’ve played. You just got to figure out something in that regards and and sort of what is going on with this team from a preparation, a practice, uh, game planning standpoint. you know, something is is clearly missing from this team because, you know, no one showed up this past Monday and this is, you know, the second time we we’ve had a game like that where we’re like, did anybody show up at the stadium this Sunday? And the answer was no. And so the Falcons got to figure out something. I I don’t know. May maybe I I don’t know. Again, I don’t have an answer to it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and it’s a tough question, Jarvis, to answer because one thing that Free mentioned as well is it’s one thing to see the team play like their worst game, if you will, but it’s I don’t know, sometimes it’s even more painful when you see like the best player play his worst game and because it speaks to consistency. I mean, even Bjan Robinson talked about that. He talked about the inconsistency that he’s seen that they’re dealing with even over his three-year tenure with the team. And I think that is the most frustrating part. Like we can’t figure it out. The reason Tori is like sitting here scratching her head, Aaron’s sitting here shaking his head, and I’m sitting here like, “What the heck?” Because nobody can put a pen on why we can’t have the same conversation at least consistently. I’m not saying perfection, Jarvis, because that doesn’t exist in the NFL even this season. But can we at least see some consistency? Because yeah, Jarvis, it became the trap game that we were a little nervous about on Thursday that it was going to become. And this is becoming a pattern for me. And I think that the comment that Raheem Morris talking about the Atlanta us like the verbiage as free put it like that is so how can I say this without being disrespectful? You have no self-awareness if you’re using if you’re talking about this team in that manner. Like you’re saying if you’re saying that Miami Dolphins copy what you all are doing or what you all been consistently doing, you haven’t been watching film, sir. I’m sorry. like that because what they what what they put on tape yesterday is the epitome of because I know I know I go I go back to the question that you asked us after right after the game on the Falcon squad T. You talked you asked us about whether or not it was the preparation game plan versus the players and I remember saying that for offensively it was more so game plan and I talked about you know it was more so players from a defense on defensive side of the football but for me after going back and watching the film I feel like it’s it’s a lot more players than I thought and and when you talking about everybody having a bad game. How is that even possible? Yeah, everybody had a bad game. Ryan News couldn’t get to the second level. Charlie Warner was coming up in the hole and literally just falling to his feet and be the man that he Bean Rosman basically had set him up. He was like, “Okay, I know Charlie Warner to go make this block, so he about to get ready to cut.” As soon as Charlie Warner fell, dog on linebacker shot right in dog on Bean Robinson’s stomach because Bean wasn’t expecting that hit because he thought Charlie Warner was going to make that block. And there was another instance where Jake Matthews, you know, where with Charlie Warner, he left him one-on-one with Bradley Chub. I don’t know if I would have necessarily done that, you know, and if he were able to do that, if you would have a maybe gave him a little bit more hand before he went up to that next level, it probably would have broke. So for me, I think it’s just Raheem Morris not really understanding like dog like why are why is it that your players are all having bad games at the same time? What is it? It’s a preparation standpoint. It’s it’s a preparation thing. It’s a game planning thing. It’s a mental thing. What are you doing during the week that these guy the these this team comes out and have a game like this? Because I thought the Panthers was the was the floor. I thought that was the floor. Like the floor is the floor, you know, talking about Michael Jordan, you know, like I thought the floor was the floor. But oh my gosh, you lowered it. You lowered it. So I have no confidence that we won’t see a wor even worse game this year because the head coach thinking is looking at this team one way, but he looking in the wrong mirror. He He’s looking in someone else’s mirror. He’s looking in Kyle Shanahan’s mirror. Like that’s what he’s saying. He thinking he’s thinking he’s that team physical. You know, we’re gonna figure out a way to win games. We’re going to be that team to to, you know, win the ugly game, right? You know that that’s what the words that he used. No, y’all don’t have a chance to win ugly games. Good teams win ugly games. Y’all ain’t even fighting. You didn’t even fight once you got down. It was It was hopeless. in the second quarter, in the first half. I remember talking to a media member like right right before we went to half. They were like, “Yeah, man. They need to figure this thing out, man. If they gonna come back, I was like, “They’re not coming back.” No, not based off what I saw. And guess what happened? That’s exactly what happened. And Tori, it it begs the question Jarvis kind of went into the one question I want to ask you guys before we wrap up the segment because I I do think it’s important. and it’s therapy Monday and it does kind of feel like man what’s the worst loss like the Panthers that that was a gut punch but you almost say like okay it’s a one-off it’s an anomaly we’re going to move on but then you get this and it’s like which one is it Tori like I mean they both make you feel really awful but I feel like yesterday I don’t know to me that was just a bigger gut punch I yeah I agree I because that was the exact question that Taran Walk and I talked about on the postgame show for us is like what’s the worst loss? Is it the loss to Carolina or is it the loss to the Miami Dolphins? And and we both kind of agreed that it’s the loss to the Miami Dolphins because Carolina, you’re in week three. Uh you are coming off a very like big emotional prime time win in Minnesota. It’s a big deal. You kind of are riding that high. You maybe take the Carolina Panthers and where they were at that time for granted. Now the Carolina Panthers have actually now gone on to win a few games. So, they’re not anything to like shake a fist at, but like Yeah. Yeah. The whole like that game there were those communication issues. They were discombobulated on offense. The defense didn’t really show up when we were used to them doing so. Even though like even in that loss, despite it being 30 to nothing, the defense wasn’t the issue in that game. It really was a lot of a lot of the issues. The reason why the score got out of hand was because of the offensive miscues. So, there was that. And then we’re told at that point that it’s an anomaly. It’s not going to happen again. Okay. Okay. And they and for in for Jarvis’s point, it’s like they did they went out and they beat the Washington Commanders. They went out and beat the Buffalo Bills. Yeah. They kind of laid an egg out in the West Coast against the San Francisco 49ers, but you knew kind of that that was going to be a tough game to win, especially coming off of a short week. This loss though shows to me that that week three loss was not this like mulligan an anomaly like that it’s not you know this has now happened again and the again to my point the issues that we’re seeing offensively have been happening since the second half of that Buffalo Bills game. So, it’s it’s not that like this is this kind of performance. That’s where it started, Tori. That’s exactly where it started. Yeah. It’s it’s not that this performance on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins kind of comes out of left field. Like, no, it’s kind of been tracking that way. And for me, as I’m looking ahead, it’s like they have the Patriots on deck. Then you go to Germany to face the arguably the best offense and team in professional football right now with the Indianapolis Colts who has a running back who cannot be stopped. No one has been able to figure out how to stop Jonathan Taylor. And the Falcons, one of their main weaknesses is run defense. So to me it there’s a chance that this thing doesn’t get better in two weeks time that it could that you’re you’re sitting at the precipice of this thing kind of being like if they do not get it together against the New England New England Patriots next week offensively. I don’t know how much hope and faith and like reassurance the fan base can get from that. Yeah. And then the Elite processor didn’t play, but neither did the Elite backup really play. That can be disconcerting as well. We’ll take that under further review. This episode of our Falcon Squad Show is brought to you by Prize Picks. You and I make decisions every day, but on Prize Picks, being right can get you paid. 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That’s code locked on NFL for $50 in lineups after your first lineup. Price picks. It’s good to be right. This episode of our Falcon Squad show is also brought to you by Rouette. Let’s be real, making excuses doesn’t solve anything. We’ve all heard them before. It’s just stress, tired, or it happens to everyone sometimes. When it comes to performance, sometimes your body just needs a little extra support. And that’s where Rouette comes in. Rouette.com offers fast acting doctorrescribed treatments for ED designed to help you stop making excuses, start making moves. Rouette makes it easy to get started. You just connect with a board-certified doctor, 100% online. No awkward waiting rooms, no inerson appointments. So, visit rugg.com/lockedonfl to get 15% off your first order. That’s rugg.com/lockedonfl. And don’t forget to use our code locked on NFL so they know we sent you. Rouette, stop making excuses. Start making moves. So Travis, before Sunday, this is what we heard. The euphemistic approach to the Falcons still having Kirk Cousins on the roster because hey, you have the best backup QB in football. 21 to 31 for 173 yards and no touchdowns doesn’t exactly look like best anything to me at least. But does it make you concerned that if Pennix can’t go again this coming Sunday, are you concerned because of what Kirk Cousins showed you yesterday? Oh, I’m big time concerned. I’m I’m I’m sitting here like I’m I’m almost about to get on my hands and knees and start praying that that Michael Penn is will be we will be ready on Sunday because when you think about it from him, what Kurt Cousins looked like on Sunday, he looked old. He looked old. I know that’s not the biggest best football analysis, but he just looked old. He looked delayed in making decisions and you know, he just now he he was moving around. You know, he looked like he was healthy, but he just looked like a healthy Kirk that probably is on his last leg or is on his last leg in the NFL. So, I I just don’t Oh, it it just it’s it’s it’s super frustrating because like you said, Kurt played really well last year when he was healthy and once he got injured, it just didn’t it didn’t look like what we were used to seeing him play in Zack Robinson’s system in the first year as a offensive coordinator, but in Zack Robinson’s second year as offensive coordinator, and we’re more than a year removed from Kurt Cousins being hurt. He’s healthy and it still doesn’t look good. So, for me, I I feel like Kirk is who he is. I have to go off based off of my assessment off of what I’ve seen from Kirk in the in the past in those few games and in the last few games last year. And it’s not too far from what we saw yesterday because missing missing Darnell Mooney on that post that end breaking route that was just awful. That was the the epitome of what that game was yesterday. Him missing him like that. It was just it was nowhere near where that ball needed to be. And then again, here’s a trend here cuz we talked about with Michael Pennis Jr. against man coverage against zone. When Miami played zone, Kurt was making some completions. He was getting the ball where it needed to be. But when they as soon as they went man and that that that brings up another issue, right, with with Drake London not being out there, you know who’s going to be man coverage? Kyle Pittz, six, seven yards a pop. that really gonna get you in the end zone. So, yeah, I am bit concerned if Kurt Cousins is going to be the starting quarterback um this week against the New England Patriots. Yeah. What about you, Aaron? When you look at the fact that we didn’t exactly see anything world beater or anything that looked like a Kirktober situation yesterday, does it make you concerned if Michael Fenix Jr. can’t go come Sunday against the Colts? In a way, Sure. I mean, I’m at a point where it’s like I’m I’m apathetic to the Atlanta Falcons. So, like I don’t really have any concerns when it comes to this football team. Um, at this point in time, uh, I think the challenge for the Falcons is going to be it doesn’t really matter who’s going to be the quarterback as as Jarvis kind of mentioned it. Like, if your receivers aren’t winning in their one-on-one situations, doesn’t matter who the quarterback is. If your offensive line can’t handle protections and stunts and blitzes, as we saw this past Sunday against the Dolphins, it doesn’t matter who the quarterback is. he’s not going to have time to throw. Uh and and if you can’t run the football like what is supposed to be the identity uh and foundation of this offense like we saw this past Sunday, it doesn’t matter who the quarterback is going to be. So to me, you know, whether it’s Kirk, whether it’s Penn, until the Falcons can solve those other problems on their offense, like it doesn’t ultimately matter to me who’s playing quarterback. you’re you’re basically hoping that whether it’s Kirk, whether it’s Penn and and I don’t think either guy based off what we have seen so far this season from them. Um, and at this stage in their careers, Kirk’s too old, Penn is too young, right, to to basically put the cape on and and basically carry this offense in the ways that they kind of need to if this offense continues to perform at the level it played uh yesterday uh against the the Miami Dolphins of all teams, one of the worst defenses in the NFL. Uh, and so you’re going up against New England Patriots, one of the better defenses in the NFL. They’re top three, I believe, going into this weekend. I don’t know where they they finished coming out of the weekend, but they were top three run defense going into the weekend. The Dolphins were a bottom three run defense. You couldn’t run the ball against the Dolphins. I have no expectation that you’re going to be able to do it against the Patriots. Um, and I see no reason to think that barring, you know, your wide receiver core just suddenly, you know, you know, Drake’s good, Kyle’s played well, Darn Mooney is still missing from this offense. Yesterday was a perfect opportunity for him to have his moments. Again, the the one time he he clearly got open, Kirk missed him by a mile, as Jarvis just put it. So, it’s, you know, who I, you know, frankly, as I said, I’m apathetic. like who doesn’t matter who the quarterback is cuz the whole team the whole offense stinks. I’m sorry. Yeah. No, no, no. I mean that’s a great point, Tori, that uh that Aaron makes because we’re looking at a less than stellar performance being kind to Kirk C of what we saw from Kirk Cousins yesterday. But at the end of the day, I don’t know if I’ve heard it put this way, so I’m gonna repeat what Aaron said, but it’s sort of that maybe too old slash too young at the QB position to be able to cape up and be captain SA for this team. But it may also be relative to the fact that you can’t because it’s just too many other issues that you have to salvage and save. So maybe it’s not not that you don’t want Michael Pennik Jr. to come back next week, but that may not be the full answer or resolution to the dilemma anyway. Yeah. I I mean I think free said it best. Like I don’t think that the issues solely begin and end with the quarterback in Atlanta. Like I think for the last couple of years as we’ve kind of been on this quarterback carousel, there have been very many times where the quarterback play was holding this team back. I don’t necessarily feel that way about Michael Penn. I don’t even necessarily feel even though Kurt Cousins like that performance yesterday was just kind of a a dud for lack of a better word, but like I don’t necessarily again blame him holistically for everything that’s going on with this Falcons organization from an offensive unit standpoint. Like I I think the broader issues that I’m seeing and I think it even goes back to what I said at the very beginning is like if this team cannot run the ball, if the run is taken away, there is no counter. Yeah. And it’s one of those things where I kind of like almost to a certain extent like instead of kind of being like, well, the run got taken away. Ho hoham. Like now now the offense can’t do anything. They can’t move the ball. like can’t win the game because Bjon Robinson can’t h can’t get more than three yards per carry. Like that should not be the end all beall of your offense. Like this is an NFL team. Like you have first rounders all over the offensive unit. Like it’s not just Yes, Bjon Robinson is this freak of an athlete and I love watching Bjon Robinson and I think he should get the ball all the time. Yes. But there are other avenues of which this offense should be able to successfully operate. And right now that’s not the case, at least not consistently. And so we’ve now seen two games in a row where the San Francisco 49ers and the Miami Dolphins said, “You know what we’re going to do? We’re going to take away Bjon Robinson. We’re gonna take away the run. We’re gonna make the Falcons throw the ball downfield to beat us.” And so far, you saw the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in week one had that same approach. You saw even in week two, Minnesota have their safeties playing super far back to be like, you know what, we’re like, we’re daring you to throw the ball 10 to five yards downfield like and you can’t like there’s no there’s no counter punch when the run game is taken away. And I think that is like a a serious point of like frustration for this offense. Yeah, I agree. And Tori, just to kind of add to what you’re saying, and I’m going to caveat in saying I know they’re the world champions, but they’re the world champions because they can figure that out. The Philadelphia Eagles are not seeing anything close this year to what they saw in Saquon Barkley last year. But everybody else is figuring out how to step it up just a little bit more. AJ Brown, you know, that that hasn’t been clicking for them in terms of him and his connection with Jaylen Herz other than maybe one game this season. They’re six and two. So somehow someway you got to figure it out. They they are injured as well. There are other teams in the league, but that just kind of came to mind because of course we kind of talk about Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, Bejian Robinson, Jonathan Taylor in the same sentence, but of those McCaffrey injured. The 49ers are just figuring out how to gut it out. The Eagles can’t get it right with Saquon. Don’t know why, but they’re gutting it out. So, you have to find a way in this league when one thing is not working. When a team tries to make you one-dimensional, you can’t allow that to actually happen. Now, low energy yesterday was probably one of the more headscratching inexplicable things that we saw. We’ll unpack that in next time. This episode of our Falcon Squad Show is brought to you by Game Time. NFL season is back and honestly, there’s nothing better than being in the stadium surrounded by fans cheering on your team. But let’s be honest, getting tickets can be a hassle. Between cues, login screens, prices jumping at checkout, it’s frustrating. That’s why I like to use Game Time, the app that gives the advantage back to fans. Game time is fast, easy, and backed by the Game Time guarantee. You’ll always get 100% authentic tickets delivered on time and and at the best price. So, all fees are included and the price you see is the price you pay. You pull up to Game Time and after just a couple taps, you’ll also see some amazing deals talking your favorite NFL games as low as $100, man. So download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase. Now, terms do apply, but again, that’s promo code LC K D O N for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. Erin, I know we’ve spoken on it before, but I wanted to go back to it as well because it’s one thing for execution not to be there. It’s one thing for us to question maybe the play calling or how deep a Zack Robinson, for example, on offense went into his playbook, but it is another thing to feel like virtually from the first snap in all phases, you’re seeing a team that just got out physical and just allowed the Dolphins to dictate the game in their building. I mean, and I know there’s no explanation, so this is going to be a redundant question, but I still want you to find a way to answer it. How do you explain the effort of a similarly depleted Dolphins team versus not seeing at least that same effort from a depleted Falcons team? Yeah, as you said, T, you know, for the Falcons to have the Dolphins do this in their own building. Again, looking at the reputation of this Dolphins team, they have not been a particularly good road team. Um, and the Falcons have been played their best football at home. And so again, it goes back to what we were talking about earlier with the expectations going into this game and the reasons why this loss feels so much worse than that Carolina game. Um because you at home, there were every reason to believe that this would be a bounceback game for the Falcons, even if it wasn’t necessarily like this, you know, 40 to 12 win or anything like that. If if the Falcons just had it kind of just like we’re just going to slog this thing out and win this game ugly by handing the ball off to Bejon 30 times uh in this game, that’s how we’re going to have to play this game. And you saw it right from the jump that when it came to trying to establish the run, they didn’t have it. They got out physicalled in the trenches. Um when it came to the passing game, they didn’t have it. When it came to the defense, they didn’t have it. And there’s really no explanation other than they just didn’t show up uh for this game and to as I said to have this happened to you by the Miami Dolphins. And again, like, you know, I don’t mean it to be disrespectful to the Dolphins, but like there there’s a reason why we were talking about the the vibes being downright atrocious for that Dolphins team heading into this week. And for the Falcons to to to to have that flip on you to the degree it has like it’s it shouldn’t it shouldn’t be shocking because we we’ve seen this with the Falcons over the years. But you just as we were talking about earlier, you just wanted to believe that okay well they had that type of performance in week three against Carolina. It’s not going to happen again. They’re not going to lay down. But we joked about it like you know it wouldn’t be shocking if you know given it’s the Falcons if Miami went out there and put up 35 points and we were all having laughs about it and haha wouldn’t it be funny if we saw that and Miami went out there and put up 34 points comfortable laugh right free right so you know it’s just it’s it’s just inexplicable for for this team to have laid down so thoroughly and just let the Miami Dolphins of all teams just kind run rough shot all over them. I would add too that like this game from go felt like it was Miami’s to win, not the Falcons like to win. Not like it. There was something with the energy. Yes. That I think the team came out with in that in you know that first defensive series you’re like okay the defense is going to show up. that first offensive those first couple offensive series like were really difficult to watch where they are handing the ball off to Bjan Robinson on first down, handing the ball off to Bjon Robinson on second down, throwing the ball on third down and punting like how many times did that happen conse not consecutively, how many times did that happen over the course of four quarters for this offense? Like I and then to see kind of like how early on you knew what the Dolphins were trying to do offensively. They were attacking JD Bertran every chance they got. Every time he was in a one-on-one every time uh every time they were looking at what where they wanted to run the ball, it was like where is JD Bertran? We are going after him. Yeah. And that was a very obvious game plan. And so there was again I you basically everything that NFL football is is this game of chess and it’s also kind of like punch counter punch punch counter punch until you get to the end until there’s all zeros and the last person that counter punched won the game. Like that’s what the that’s what the league is. So, if you never have a counter punch, if you never have a an answer to JD Bertrand getting picked on, if you never have an answer for the run game not manifesting and being completely taken away, then you’re going to get what happened on Sunday against a team that yes, you should have beaten. Like, in every way, you should have beaten this team based on what we have seen from you and what we have seen from the Miami Dolphins. Yeah. Tori, why’d you bring him up? I I was trying to go through this show without bringing that man up. I won’t say his name. I’m not gonna say his name. I ain’t gonna call him what I called him on the postgame show because, you know, I’ve got I’ve gotten this is therapy Monday. So, I’m trying to work to be better. You know what I’m saying? As an analyst, you know what I’m saying? Talking about this team because I feel like, you know, I may have owe him an apology at some point. You know, I don’t know if I’m actually say it, but you know, I just Oh gosh. But but but to your point, Tori, I think that you make a really great point. The vibes were off for that game before it even started. Yeah. I was talking to a member of the Miami Dolphins media and he was like, “Yeah, man. Oh, boy. They gonna lose this one. Woo. It’s a it’s a dumpster fire.” I was like, “Bro, you don’t know who they who who who they playing today.” Like there’s there is a uh there is a uh a a sense in with this team they can match energy. They can match you. They can match energy if you’re up and all good. Yep. They can Oh man. Getting up for that game. Oh yeah. On the road prime time. Yeah. They can get up for that joint. But oh man, if you are struggling trying to figure out a way, there’s desperation going on, they can match that, too. you know, they can they can match you to the point where you can you can execute to the point where you can get that win. And that’s what we saw yesterday. It it I am dumbfounded by AJ Terrell’s comments post game. He said, “Yeah, man. Our energy was was just off.” Huh. In week eight, how at home? How? Yeah. There’s one thing to go go into a fight, you know, when you’re outmatched, you know, and you get whooped, you get your butt whoop, that happens. You going to lose a fight, but when you go into the match, [Music] who know what we’re going to do, you know? All right, we got to play. Yeah, we’re good. And then you get your butt whoop, you lost before before the game even start. Like, you talking about energy? That’s what we’re talking about. Energy and focus. This football like you know how hard it is to explain something watching that game live that was it’s not supposed to be like that. It it really isn’t you know and I think that when you have players acknowledging those things that mean there’s a bigger issue that we can’t put our fingers on. And Raheem Morris based off of what Free said using that verbiage is even worse. It’s an epic fail if you’re saying that about your team because your players are telling you what time it is. Those guys weren’t mentally ready to go out there if you talking about energy. All right. Right. But maybe Jarvis, maybe when we look at energy and when we look at the mental, it might be something where they’ve got to get themselves together as players. So is it time, Jarvis, for that players? And and I’m asking you because, you know, maybe in your playing days, you had those moments where, okay, it’s time for us to huddle up as players and figure out how to write the ship. Is it time for that players meeting, that players only come to Jesus type of meeting? I don’t think it’s a players only. I don’t think a players only meeting will help this team at this point. Um, I think it’s a matter of somebody got to be willing to say something in moments because what happens with this team when stuff starts hitting the fan and not going their way, all you see is everybody kind of like everybody get looking like space goats. Somebody got to be willing to say something on that particular play where Kurt Cousin got sacked. And Bean did not step up. He did not come ready to block. He did not step up like he was supposed to. He just kind of caught the guy and kind of moved out the way almost. And then the guy just buried Kurt Cousins. I was like, man, if I was Kirk, he would have heard something from me. I wouldn’t have berated him or anything like, “Hey man, I need you right here.” Like something as simple as that. You don’t have to call him out. Call him a mother blanker and all that stuff. Just, hey man, uh sir, wake up. I need you. I I need you to make that block for me. We we got to get somewhere. But you don’t get that. You didn’t get that. And a lot of times when it comes to ball, if you have no accountability as you’re within the game, yeah, there’s a there’s a pregame process, there’s a game planning process, all those things that happened leading up to the game. But one thing that I know in the teams that I played on, I can always count on certain guys saying certain things when stuff wasn’t going how it was supposed to. Yes. Especially if it’s a team that we’re supposed to beat. Sure. If we get our butts kicked by the dog on Kansas City Chiefs, all right, yeah, man, we gave it all we had, blah, blah, blah, whatever. All right, let’s let’s pick things back up next week. But if you lose to one of the worst teams in the league and you ain’t willing, you aren’t willing to say anything to any team any of your teammates or nothing. No one is saying anything, talking about energy after the game. That’s a big problem. Rahee Moore’s got a big problem on his hand. It’s a big pile of doodoo, too. It’s just sitting right there on his desk. You better figure out what he going to do with it. Yeah. I The thing is is like I I don’t know how much like team le meetings like when things are going bad, like how much those actually turn things around. Um I think there are certain times where that can also cause like divide. Like not saying that this is gonna happen to this team, but I do think that there like there are some times like I know even like using the Falcons as an example like a couple years ago when the offense couldn’t do a dang thing and the defense was kind of playing out of their mind out of under Ryan Neielen and it’s kind of like I kept saying like the defense is not winning like the the defense is not playing bad enough to lose these games the way they are like and like I think that is kind of like so you can’t have the defense talking to the offense and be like yo step it up. Like we’re working our asses off over here. Like so in this scenario though, it’s the whole thing. Like I think that there are just decisions at every single level from execution to play calling to how like how your response should be, how you should enter a game, how you should leave a game. Like I don’t know. Like it goes back to what we were talking about with the offense. Like there’s not just like one thing that you can point to and be like, “Guys, if you clean this up, like we’ll start winning games.” Like that’s not where this team is right now. And I don’t know if like someone like uh Jesse Bates getting up in front of the whole entire team and being like, “Yo, get it together.” is really going to like move the needle. Like you you need something to move the needle. You need some type of thing to move the needle. And I don’t know what that is. Um, I have like ideas like I have some things that maybe they could do or try or changes they could make, but like I’m not paid for it, Tori. Don’t give it to them for free. Well, yeah. Like I also I’m not paid to make those decisions. Like and no one no one hears what I have to say about it. Like you’ve got to go out and do it. Like I just I’m here to report on it and that’s it. Yeah. Um, might as well try again. You know, just throw something at the wall and see if it sticks. you want to have a players only meeting. But you know these players only meetings that you know I I I know they happen a bunch where a team is struggling and if the team responds the next week it’s like oh that players only meeting was the thing that was the thing that catalyzed the team to success and then you know half the time they they have these meetings and they don’t respond the following week. You know, this has been a consistent theme with the Falcons for this now seven plus year playoff drought where you go back to the Dan Quinn era. They were having players only meetings in those 2019 and 2020 seasons. Sometimes they responded, sometimes they didn’t. I’m sure they probably had some, you know, come to Jesus moments, you know, towards the end of the Arthur Smith era. Didn’t didn’t work out for them. So yeah, to me this is like there there’s nobody on this team that you can sit there and say that can can go and demand, hey, this is not the standard by which we perform at you. Yeah. Like you know the the only player that’s what the only guy that’s on this team that’s played in a playoff game is like Jake Matthews and that was like eight years ago. You know, like Jake can’t sit there and be like, “Hey guys, we we got to do better.” like this is not the standard that we like this is the standard the standard of the Atlanta Falcons for the better part of the last decade has been mediocrity. So like ain’t nobody going to be able to get up in you know in front of this team you know Jesse B like yeah I played in the Super Bowl four years ago. Okay. Can is that going to allow Elijah Wilkinson to block? Is that going to inspire him to block somebody? Is that going to inspire Bean to pick up a blitz and and not fumble the ball and kick the ball out of his own hands? Is is that going to uh you know lead to Darnam Mooney getting separation in coverage? Mike Hughes covering somebody, tackling somebody, you know, JD Berson get off a block. Okay. If if hey, if it works, great. Awesome. But I don’t go into it expecting that to change anything. But, you know, might as well try something because certainly going down this path that you’ve been going down ain’t working either. Well, can the trade deadline dealings maybe offer a solution? Or maybe that kind of change can spark something? We’ll talk about that in the look ahead. This episode of our Falcon Squad show is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on that action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you missed the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, Fandal has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. So, right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $ five bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel. And again, even if you miss the start of the game, because tonight might be a challenge because of course the Hawks are on the road and it’s a later game uh than normal, but if you want to ride the hot hand, maybe they get it going from that three-point line like they did Saturday night. FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score and fourth quarter comeback. So head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. So Tori, we got the trade deadline coming up, right? And I mean, I know we don’t want to say the Falcons are cooked because hope wants we want hope to spring eternal and there aren’t 10 games left in the season, right? So there that means there is a possibility that a few things get shifted in some way, shape or form that might help out. But do you feel like there’s anything that can be done uh between now and what’s next Tuesday that might somehow help the Falcons write the ship? Especially when we think about all the uh injury that they’re dealing with. Yeah. I mean, you look at two main position groups, wide receiver and inside linebacker. You know, you know for a fact that like you’re not going to have Divine Diablo back for some time. um you know that he has a fracture in his forearm. He is on injured reserve. There is no sign of like Troy Anderson returning to this active roster like Yeah. Uh so Oh, my bad. That’s not right. Yeah. But so so you don’t have you don’t have a clear path forward and something at that position without divine Diablo. Um Rahee or Jeff Olrich talked before the Miami Dolphins game about like replacing Divine Diablo like using a by committee approach. We did not see that against the Miami Dolphins um hardly at all. Uh so I don’t know if that plan changes moving forward. I don’t know if there’s someone out there that they’re kind of pinpointing as someone who can have a better uh clon like experience to what they asked Divine Diablo to do. they’re asking so much of Divine Diablo that I don’t know if there’s a one for one type of replication. Um, and then receiver at at this point, if Drake London is not on the field, we don’t necessarily see um Darnell Mooney playing and having the production that we saw him have all of last year, whether it be because of injuries, whether it be I don’t know. I don’t know why. Um, and outside of those two, you’re kind of peacemealing. It feels like this thing together from a wide receiver standpoint. Um, so that’s where you can start. However, I don’t know what the path for forward is in terms of like putting packages together that help you win games now. Yeah. Um and also don’t kind of put you in a hole in 2026. Yeah. Um I I don’t you know, you don’t have a first round draft pick. Sure. Um you really don’t have I is it a third round pick? They don’t have like one of those day two, day three picks. Um right. But I mean, I just don’t think the Falcons have a lot to work with in order to be buyers or sellers in this in this market. I just I don’t right now. I don’t see a path forward in that. Yeah. And what about you, Jarvis? When you look at the trade deadline, do you that’s looming? Do you see anything that can be done or should be done by the Falcons that might just maybe be one step in the direction of just resetting things? My my first the first thing that come to mind for me is what’s the goal? Are you trying to make the playoffs? Are you trying to save face? I mean, because at this point, you know, when you look at your starting quarterback being injured and he just missed one game, is Michael Penn is going to be out for multiple games, you know? Well, you definitely better get some another wide receiver to get this man some help and pray that Storm Norton figures out a way to to be healthy, you know. Um, so I I think that there are some things in place that I feel that you can get help. Putting Elijah Wilkinson back at the backup of the backup, you know, I think that will help. Um, getting healthy. Um, that will help, but I just don’t know what their goal is right now because it’s the playoffs is they still have chance. True, don’t get me wrong. But if that is if the playoff is the goal, like yeah, a couple things are going to have to happen. You’re going have to just you have to get healthy and on that offensive line because getting a better caliber run blocker in there pass blocker, you know, getting a guy in there that you were really confident in being a a strong backup for Caleb McGary that you start there and then figuring out a way to get a wide receiver without giving up too much draft. have conversation because you’re already kind of slim anyway because you gave up your first round pick and the first round pick is not really doing anything for you right now. So, it it’s just a it’s a Terry Fondo is going to have some some tough decisions to make, right? Or is he in a space where blank them picks? I’m trying to save my job. That’s going to be it’s all about the mindset. What’s the mindset going into the trade deadline? And I feel like that is the Falcons going to have to determine whether or not they can be helped at at trade down based off what their mindset is going into it. Yeah. And what about for you Free? Do you see where there’s a path if the Falcons can kind of put it together at the trade deadline where that would be maybe one of the maybe a key component to helping them to to reset and make that kind of playoff run the back half of the season? No. Um, I I’ve never understood the whole like the Falcons need to trade first time, but to do what? What piggybacking on what Jarvis says, we talking about this team making the playoffs? No, they got to win. They got to go seven and three the rest of the season. They need to get better quarterback play. They need to be able to run the football. They need to be able to block. They need to be able to get receivers that can separate. They need to be able to stop the run. They need to be able to get pressure with four. They need to be able to cover guys. They need to be able to tackle guys. What trade are the Falcons gonna be able to make that’s going to allow them to win 70% of their games and solve all of those problems? So, like you you can you can make a trade. You can give up a fifth round pick or no, they don’t have a fifth round pick. That’s the pick that’s missing that Tori’s talking about. They don’t have first, they don’t have a fifth. You can give up another day three pick for something and maybe solve one of those problems, but is that going to make all the other problems go away? that like that’s really the issue that I think the Falcons have to deal with is like you got to fix all of those other issues before worrying about trade and and if I’m Arthur Blank and again maybe Arthur Blank thinks differently about this but I’m looking at Terry Fond I’m like you ain’t going to be back here next year my guy if if this season keeps going the way it’s going so I will not allow I already gave you the the pass to trade it that first future first round pick you ain’t getting the chance to trade another pick for the next GM you’re not going to put that guy in a hole to rebuild this roster so that you can do what? Add one more win to to get to eight and nine again. Like, no, man. No. So, if if Arthur Blank is walking through the halls checking up, you know, seeing what’s going on and he’s seeing Terry on the phone, like, hang up that phone, Terry. You ain’t making any trades at the trade deadline. You’re not giving up nothing. All right? Because you, you know, you just sit here and I don’t know, get coffee for people because you ain’t going to be back here next year. So, I’m not going to let you put the next GM in a hole trading up for what? Yeah. Whatever. So, I’m done with that. I’m done with that. So, no. To answer your question to you, no, there ain’t nothing they can do at the trade deadline that’s changing anything. Yeah. And Tori, I’m going to leave you out of this one, but I got to ask this question to the guys because of course Tori is the senior Falcons reporter, so we want to be respectful of some things that she can’t or should not weigh in on, but Jarvis and Aaron can. So Jarvis and Aaron, we’ve talked a lot about the things that are buzzing around this city right now. We talked about that a lot of it from the player aspect, but people are starting to ask the question about the coaching and whether or not last year one of the downsides, and I’ll give you guys 90 seconds to respond, but one of the downsides was that what if what if Jimmy Lake would have been relieved of his duties sooner? What if her Cousins would have been replaced by Michael Pennik Jr. sooner because you had opportunities at the end of the season to still be able to get into the playoffs maybe if some of those things to happen sooner. Are we at the point in place drivers and free where we are talking about from the coaching perspective because again spent a lot of time today on the players where some things may need to be reconsidered. Obviously, there’s already been one reset this season with Ike Killyard with the team parting ways with him, but is it time to start looking to that sidelines for some reset? I don’t necessarily know that. Okay, I’mma go ahead and say it. Firing Zack Robson, is that going to change things? Who gonna call plays? TJ Yates, he gonna save the season? No. I answer that for no. So my whole thing is it’s about figuring this junk out. Like I almost cussed just then. So you know you know because I had I had a flashback to some some some some some dark times. But but I think that when when you look at where this offense is the the small amount of success that you’ve had, you know, with your game plan going into games and running the football, when they able to run the football, the offense looks good. It’s just that when you have guys like Elijah Wilkinson getting beat clean on a third and short or fourth and short and allowing the defensive lineman that no one has ever heard of get it make a TFL for minus three Ryan Noosel not being able to get to the second level. It’s just things that are starting to come to fruition that we already knew. I knew that news will struggle with that, right? I knew that Elijah Wilkinson was gonna struggle with that. So, if I know the coach should know. So, and you need to call plays accordingly. Yeah. You know, give the man some help on certain in c certain situations. Have Charlie want to run this seek and destroy motion and getting up in that line script and be an extra blocker. So, you want to he can clean up that stuff. It’s just so yeah, I don’t think firing Zack Robinson I I’m still I’m riding with J Bro. I’ve you know the the nonexecution of the linebacker by committee I would like to know why that didn’t we ain’t really see that. I would like to know that but man firing Zack Robinson ain’t gonna do Jack Jack. Right. And I had to ask the question, Erin, because you obviously for our listeners, our viewers, we watch the comments and we know what the buzz is and everybody of course always wants that to be the answer. Like just, you know, chop and go on the sidelines. They need to go. So, I’m just asking the question of you be and Jarvis because when we watch what our comments are, it’s one of those where we we’d be remiss if we didn’t at least pose the question because everybody seems to think, not that we do here, but everybody seems to think, “Oh, that’s the instant answer and that’s going to cure all the ills for the Falcons. Just fire somebody.” Yeah. It’s it’s always this myth of addition by subtraction. It’s always this myth of we’re just one piece away. We just get the right co head coach. we get the right offensive coordinator in here and it’ll it’ll all come into place. This is what we have been telling ourselves for the last seven plus years and it has been wrong every single time and the belief that it’s like well this time this time it’s going to be different. It’s like no it’s not. Um unless you’re convinced that TJ Yates is is Ben Johnson 2.0 like what is firing Zack Robinson? Really to me the rest of this season is not about the you know the week to week you know is Zach Robinson costs the team is Raheem costing the team it’s about figuring out what young pieces that probably somebody some other coaching staff some other front office is going to inherit next year what are the young pieces that you can legitimately build around right you know bean’s one of those pieces you know Drake London is one of those pieces you know Chris Lynch’s one of those pieces outside of that throw AJ Terrell in the mix outside of that who else who else is coming, right? Who else is coming to the party? That’s what you got to figure out over the next 10 games. Um, is Michael Penn going to be there? Xavier Watts, James Pierce, Jayla Walker, etc., right? All that, that’s really what’s at stake. And, you know, talking about firing the coaches doesn’t solve those problems. Doesn’t, you know, determine whether or not those guys are going to emerge because that’s really to me what where we’re at with this season where it’s just like this is kind of a wash, you know? knowing the Falcons, they’ll go on a run at some point later in the season and convince us, oh, maybe the Falcons are going to come back and then they’ll of course inevitably let us down, uh, by losing a week 18 game to the New Orleans Saints, uh, who are probably like three and 12 at that point in the season or whatever it is. But, um, yeah, I I I don’t think firing the coaches really solves a problem. It’s just, you know, scapegoating somebody for, you know, this this team needs a complete overhaul probably this offseason and it’s time to find out, you know, who’s who’s going to be around for that overhaul, who’s going to last through that overhaul, and who’s got to go. Just do something to make me feel good. Yeah. So, thanks to our Everyday Dave for making the Falcon Squad show your first listen of the day. We tried to make you feel good with therapy Monday. Hope it helped. But be sure to stop by Locked on Falcons with your host Aaron Freeman. As you can listen, you can catch Jarvis as a frequent contributor for Locked on Falcons and check out Summit’s great work at atlantapalcons.com. See you next time.

The Falcons Squad Show dissects the Atlanta Falcons’ disappointing loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 8. Hosts Tenitra Batiste, Aaron Freeman, Jarvis Davis, and Tori McElhaney analyze the team’s lackluster performance, questioning their energy, preparation, and execution. They discuss the struggles of backup quarterback Kirk Cousins, the ineffective run game led by Bijan Robinson, and defensive shortcomings. The panel debates potential solutions, including trade deadline moves and coaching changes, while emphasizing the need for consistency and accountability. With playoff hopes dwindling, the hosts ponder the team’s future direction and which young players might be cornerstone pieces moving forward. The episode offers a candid, in-depth look at the Falcons’ current challenges and long-term outlook.

#atlantafalcons #falcons #nfl

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