Michael Penix Shows PROGRESS But Are Coaches FAILING Him? | Can Atlanta Falcons SALVAGE Season?

Michael Penix Shows PROGRESS But Are Coaches FAILING Him? | Can Atlanta Falcons SALVAGE Season?

There were encouraging signs from Michael Penn and the Falcons in their week nine loss to the Patriots, but still a lot of things they’re going to have to fix if they have any chance of turning around their three and five start this season. [Music] You are Locked on Falcons, your daily Atlanta Falcons podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Welcome back everyone to another illustrious episode of the Locked on Falcons podcast. Your daily Atlanta Falcons podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. And today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use all across the FanDuel app. And so on today’s Lockown Falcons, we’ll be joined by none other than Tan Diaz. We’ll talk about, you know, some of the good to take away, more good than bad to take away from the Patriots game, but where some of this bad still if the arrow is still pointing up on Michael Pitics and his development, we’ll break down Zack Robinson’s play calling, revisiting a topic that we had in discussion we had with Tan several months ago. We’ll look at the state of the roster and whether or not the Falcons are going to be active ahead of tomorrow or as many of you are listening, today’s trade deadline. Uh, but before we get into all of that with Tan Diaz, I should introduce myself. I am none other than your humble host, Aaron Freeman. Been covering the Atlanta Falcons for almost 20 years, formerly at falfans.com. RIP. Still going strong on this illustrious podcast. And I thank each and every one of you that goes strong with me as everydayers. That means you make this humble illustrious podcast your first listen each and every day. And all you got to do to become an everyday subscriber, follow for free on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. So without further ado, let’s get into that conversation with Tan Diaz of the Falcoholic right now. Welcome back everyone, we are back with an illustrious guest. He is none other than Tan Diaz, a consistent contributor over at the Falcoholic. You can find his stuff on YouTube at all Trey Phases on Twitter as well. And we are here to talk about this uh latest Falcons disappointment, which is their week nine loss to the New England Patriots. close but no cigar. And we’ll get into a variety of topics as well as the upcoming trade deadline. Uh and if the Falcons need to be buyers, sellers, all that stuff. So Trey, let’s talk more about what we just saw this past Sunday. And I’m curious from your perspective having watched the game, you know, are you more encouraged or discouraged from what you saw from the Falcons against the Patriots? Yeah, you know, we’re looking at this game in a vacuum. I would say I was maybe slightly uh encouraged uh by by the effort and the result. Um you know, this was a really good Patriots team, six and two, really good defense, especially against the run. Um I believe the statistic was they hadn’t allowed a 50-yard rusher coming into this game. So, um, you know, if you had told me that we would be down to Kyle Hinton, um, and then Gwyn would also make a late appearance in the game and that the Falcons lost by like one point, I’d be like, whoa, whoa, that’s really good. That’s, you know, I’m surprised. Um, when you tell me that they lost by one point because there was a missed PAT. Um, and then there was a a a ghost clap um that also took place at some point in the game and a couple of other, you know, uh, bungles. Um, you know, it’s it’s a little discouraging because that’s a part of the trend that we’ve seen from this team is is that they’re volatile. And um, you know, I also think that people are kind of scared to say that the Falcons were competitive yesterday because they think it works against um, the overhanging narrative that this is like a volatile team. Um, and you don’t know who’s going to show up. But, I mean, it kind of like perfectly plays into that narrative of like, yeah, these guys have showed you they can compete with really good teams. They can even beat really good teams. Um, but at the end of the day, they can’t get out of their own way. So, you know, um, looking at it, you know, from a from a full body of work perspective, it it was discouraging because you still kind of see those mistakes that you just can’t have happen happen. Yeah, that’s fair. I think that’s fair. Uh, you know, when you say the full body of work, I’m just like, well, that’s just the Atlanta Falcons. It’s always discouraging. So, you know, I I take it that the glass is half full as opposed to half empty uh at this stage. But, you know, to me, Trey, uh, you know, the Falcons are three and five. I I went back and checked to double check. I had them in my official season predictions, three and five at this point. I had them, you know, winning six out of the last nine games, uh, you know, to get to nine and eight this season. I don’t feel good about that prediction as we sit here today. But the thing that if they are going to sort of turn it around, to me the one thing that they really need is a big leap forward for Michael Penn. I thought given to me the night and day difference between what Penn looks like at home versus what Pennix looks like on the road. to me yesterday, even though it was by no means a clean or perfect game, it was a sign of progress where it was like, okay, like by, you know, I was talking with Falcon fans yesterday and sort of, you know, one person was like, I think that was like his best game. And I’m like, I don’t think that was his best game. It’s probably like his fourth best game this season or something like that and probably like his seventh best game overall. But considering where the rest of the games below that are, it’s a significant improvement uh from what that is. But I say all that to basically say like where are you at with Michael Penn’s development at this point in time? Do you see the arrow pointing up? Um or is are you more in the mindset of like I don’t know if this is going to work out? Yeah, you know, I I think the arrow is pointing up after what we saw this week. Um, and you know, to your point, like, yeah, we’re still seeing some mistakes from PennX. And so, you know, I think that’s part of development is there’s going to be, you know, some some volatility within that. Um, but I thought for the most part, he did a pretty good job of executing. Uh, you know, what was asked of him. I thought he had a couple of misses. Um, in terms of balls that he didn’t rip that he should have, and then there was some, you know, questionable location. Uh, but I thought, you know, for the most part, he he did a good job protecting the ball. Only had that one questionable throw into the corner of the end zone to Drake where I was kind of like, you know, a little bit jarred by that. We got lucky that was a dropped um interception. But, you know, coming off the injury and then like you said, coming, you know, on the road, New England’s not an easy place to play. We already mentioned that this was a tough defense. Um, I I thought Mike, you know, stretched his legs a little bit. you know, we we saw the scramble looked very nimble on that play, but you know, I also thought he just did a better job uh you know, navigating the pocket this week. We saw him able to get outside, make a few plays on the run. We obviously want to see that volume increase. Um but those are good stepping stones where it’s kind of like you hope that bleeds into next week. You hope he starts taking, you know, a little bit more ownership of those running opportunities and and and cashes in and calls his own number. Um, the thing that I think makes, you know, Pennix hard to judge, which was something that was somewhat similar with judging Ritter when he was here, is that when there are some structural issues happening, um, and and there is questionable coaching taking place, it it does make it a little bit harder to get a read on everything that’s going on. Um, and I think some of that is happening with Mike, uh, in this situation that we’re in right now. Yeah, I think that’s a a great segue into what I want to ask you about next, which is your boy, uh, Zack Robinson. We’ll find out if he’s still your boy. But for those that missed it, we had Trey on in June talking about the potential year 2 jump of Zack Robinson. And and Trey was of the mindset of, you know, I’ll fully judge Zack Robinson based off of what he does this year as I’ll give him a pass for what he did last year. And I was like, okay, we will revisit this topic. So, let’s revisit that topic and we’ll do that as we continue today’s Lock on Falcons. Today’s episode is brought to you by Built, right? Nobody likes to pay rent, but if you got to do it, you might as well get something out of it. And that’s where Built comes in. They’re changing the game by turning your rent payment into real rewards that you can actually use. When you pay rent through Built, you earn flexible points that can be redeemed towards hundreds of hotels and airlines. You can redeem it towards a future rent payment, your next lift ride, and so much more. But Built isn’t just about rent. It’s about rewarding you around your entire neighborhood. Whether I’m grabbing food at my favorite local restaurant or heading to the gym, I’m still earning rewards. 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Um it it’s pretty clear that um his you know there’s been so many breakdowns of it at this point, but you know their play action game is not effective. It it doesn’t even you know matter about volume. If you expand their current um you know volume of play action plays and they started running a lot more, it would be a pretty gross offense um because they’re not good at executing play action. Um, we’ve seen we’ve seen them start to do some funky stuff. Um, there’s like some misdirection action taking place now with Penn where he’s kind of like opening and twirling around back there. We’ve got, you know, simulated pullers with with Berseron and Lindstöm crossing face to try to confuse the linebackers. None of it’s really working. Um, so, you know, I think, um, we’ve kind of figured out that like, all right, well, that issue definitely Zack Robinson. The other thing we talked about heavily was the red zone. Um and and you know what? I it I laughed out loud when um they pulled off a successful goal line fade because if you talk to anybody about what’s the worst play you can call at the goal line or in the red zone, people will tell you it’s a goal line fade. It is very ineffective. It’s just one of those things where it had a bunch of great propaganda because Randy Moss made it work or or whatnot. And so of course Drake London goes out there and puts on a coline paid show. I don’t necessarily think that’s sustainable. Um and you know again when we look at you know the body of work from the Falcons in the red zone this year it’s rough. Um you know I think some of that has been quarterback struggle. There’s been you know a handful of plays where we’ve kind of been able to pick out and see opportunities for Penn uh to to grip it and rip it um where he’s really not. But there’s also just, you know, a a lot of plays where you kind of question the spacing. You know, for example, that London uh uh corner play where Pennix kind of like puts the ball in harm’s ways. I I would classify as a turnover worthy throw. When you look at the spacing on that play, I it just doesn’t make any sense to me. You’ve got four players on the short side of the field. Everybody’s bunched up there. It just kind of looks like a mess. Um, and so, you know, I I think that we’re seeing that, um, yes, there’s some young quarterback struggles, but Zack Robinson, I just think, is kind of struggling at attacking, uh, the middle of the field as from a play design standpoint himself. Um, if if the Kyle Pitts bender route doesn’t hit, he seems to be lost for answers. He calls a dagger for Drake London, you know, every other, you know, drive maybe, but like it just kind of seems like there there’s not a um there’s not a lot of answers for this football team when they’re trying to get after that part of the field. So, that was going to be my next question about the middle of the field stuff. I I I did notice a and you know, I haven’t done a deep deep dive of the film. Uh I’ll do that in the next 24 hours ahead of the all 22 review here on the podcast. But um there was a couple of times where I felt like there were there was maybe one or two turndowns from Michael Penn where and again it’s always difficult to be like oh this guy’s open but he’s open a half beat after Penn threw the ball but you’re like Penn doesn’t have to get rid of that football he can wait a half beat for this play to come open. So, I’m curious when it comes to the middle of the field stuff, if you’re balancing the scale of Michael Pinnick not being comfortable throwing over the middle field versus Zack Robinson not attacking the middle of the field, where do you balance? Is it 50/50, 6040, 7030? What direction are are you at where it comes to why the middle of the field continues to be an underutilized uh area that this offense can attack? Yeah. You know, I I’ll probably put it like 6040, Zack Robinson 60, Pennix 40. Um, you know, I I think it’s Zach’s job right now more than anything to get Pennix comfortable throwing over the middle. And, you know, that that might mean um, you know, running some more simplified routes, getting out getting out some of these choice routes. I think these choice routes are kind of burning them a little bit too when it comes to attacking the middle of the field because a lot of times I see the receivers that they make the decision like, I’m going to take the out route here. I’m going to try to get vertical more than anything where it’s kind of like you can definitely take that inside if you wanted to, but they just choose not to. Um, but you know, I think when we mentioned like, you know, it feels like play action game is is kind of one of the easiest ways to get better at attacking middle of the field. You have some different flood concepts that teams usually roll off of that with some boot action and other stuff. We’re not seeing really a ton of that. Um, and you know, you mentioned like there are some turndowns. Um, and this was something that I think you mentioned last year as well. Like Kirk Cousins is an efficient middle- of the field thrower, but they weren’t calling a lot of middle of the field routes for Kirk last year, but Kirk does a really good job at kind of like being able to take advantage of those slim opportunities. Pinnix just isn’t at that comfort level yet. And so I think the middle of the field numbers look so much worse because there’s not a high volume and the efficiency isn’t really good there that, you know, it kind of paints this picture where it seems like he’s doing, you know, maybe really bad or or even, you know, just just not, you know, playing up to the level that people expect. Um, but I think that, you know, his his OC is not really doing a good job of kind of setting him up for success and and not really putting together a development plan that kind of gets him more comfortable attacking that area of the field, too. Yeah, that is going to be to me the we’ll see how the rest of the season plays out, but that’s going to be the great mystery uh for me heading into the offseason as we sit here today. And we’ll obviously again see how it all plays out. But I think, you know, it’ll be easy to sit here and be like, well, if we just get, you know, I’m going to I’m going to say a name. People don’t judge it. Clint Kubak, who right now is operating one of the best play action passing attacks with Sam Darnold, uh, in, you know, very Shanahanesque tack the middle of the field type of offense and whatnot. And I think the assumption is going to be that a Clint Kubak type of offensive coordinator whether decide to go with me on this Clint Kubak journey for the next 30 seconds. Um is it was like oh this guy’s going to solve all of our problems, right? And so for me the questions I still have are is Michael Penn good turning his back to the defense? He had a good throw in this game on that uh I believe that Kyle Pittz sort of over route that he they hit. But it’s like two. Yes. Yes. And it’s like, okay, like can can we do that five times a game or do we only have like one of those in us? And then you talk about the middle of the field stuff. It’s like, well, you know, if we just draw it up, he’ll he’ll rip it. And it’s like maybe. And so like for me, I don’t know. I’m not as convinced maybe as other people are that simply if we just bring in a system that does the things that Zach Robinson’s system is currently not doing, all of our problems will be solved. But at the same time, I think I agree with you where the goal is if this offense is going to be potent, you’re going to have to get Pennix in this offense to attack those areas of the field in the future. And so we might as well try um and basically figure out if if he can do it or not. But I I’m I’m curious, how confident are you that you know, a change in system is just all the pieces are going to suddenly sort of click if and when that happens next year. Yeah. Uh you know, I’ll I’ll indulge your Kub Kent Kubak. Okay. Tough one to get out there. Take. Um, you know, the thing I like about his play action offense and like kind of what you mentioned is that he is a pretty mid-run game in my opinion. Like you I I know Kenneth Walker has some fans out there and stuff, but their run game’s really not that great. Um, and so it kind of shows you how a playaction offense can can really be effective and and and and you don’t need to have this even dynamic run game. Like people always reference the Falcons run game and they’re like, “They’re so good at running. They would just magically be good at play action.” And like, you know, doesn’t it really work that way? And you know, to kind of build off that point, I don’t really think that just, oh, we’re going to only ask Pennix to throw in the middle of the field is suddenly going to like make him a better quarterback either, right? Like, you know, this year I was kind of hoping that it would just kind of be like giving him, you know, a couple of sips and then you increase the amount every week till he starts getting more and more comfortable uh with what he’s seeing. Um, but you know, it doesn’t the the Falcons, you know, like every team in the NFL, they’re working their game plan. They want to attack, you know, defenses that they feel um, you know, is the best way to attack them. And so sometimes, you know, maybe that that means you’re not going to throw over the middle of the field as much. And you have to be very efficient uh, with the opportunities that you are going to get. And so, you know, I I don’t necessarily think just a big remodel is going to fix uh, Michael Penn. And I, you know, I think that that could even do, you know, some some damage um as well if you’re you’re going to come in and, you know, you’re you’re really going to start from scratch all over again and you’re going to be coached um you know, not necessarily in a different way, but you’re just going to you know, basically be told, yeah, you’re not going to attack the field this way anymore. You’re just going to flip and do this. Um it it doesn’t necessarily to me I don’t think that that just is going to equal instant results. Now you’re the most efficient middle of the field thrower in the league. Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see what happens with that. Um, you know, as we have just discussed, you know, a lot of question marks, if we’re being generous, about the current level of coaching that Michael Pennix and the Atlanta Falcons are getting, but, you know, I have some questions about is this roster where it needs to be in order for this team to be as consistently competitive as we want to be? and if that leads to the potential of the Falcons making a move as we sit here record this a little shy of 24 hours uh before the trade deadline and we’ll get into all of that here with Tan Diaz uh to wrap up today’s lockdown Falcons today’s episode is also brought to you by FanDuel with the NBA season being back there’s no better place to go to get in on the action than with FanDuel the official sports betting partner of the NBA and whether you miss that opening tip off. Um, or you know, you just want to ride whoever’s got that hot hand during the course of a game. 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Hopefully, we’ll be having more smiles on our face in the second half of the season, but you know, for me, I can’t I won’t speak for you, but I’m already at the point where it’s just like, all right, we’ll see what happens the rest of the season, but um you know, it’s on to 2026 at this point in time. I’m I’m fully invested in evaluating who who who still going to be here in 2026 uh at at this stage. And as I said, I I think we know that the coaching is subpar. Um, how how do you feel about the, you know, let’s let’s put Terry Fonto under the microscope and Yeah. How do you feel about the the front office and the state of the the Falcons roster? Um, you you had the Falcons at nine and eight. I also had the Falcons at nine and eight. That doesn’t scream roster confidence. Um, and I I I can’t speak for your reasoning on why they were 9 and 8, but for me, one of the main reasons I was thinking they were 9 and 8 is because I was like, if they get one injury at linebacker or receiver, this whole thing could be cooked pretty quickly. And um, instead it started off with the O line and then just got worse, significantly worse from there. Um, so no, I don’t think this roster is like in a place where, you know, you’re you’re competing and and you’re you’re even, you know, to to go back to the if we bring in a whole new system, is somebody going to be able to just pick up this current 53man roster and turn them into a juggernaut? I I don’t think so. Um, you know, before he went down, uh, there was a lot of chatter about Clark Phillips. This was the Clark Phillips year. Clark’s gonna play slot. He’s going to do this. He’s going to do that. We didn’t see Clark Phillips like at all um until you know he came in and did some really good work on punt. We appreciate that. The punt team effort unfortunately. Um only you and I appreciate that. That’s it. We’re the only somebody has to um you know unfortunately uh he went down but you know that’s a guy who I don’t think is really going to be back or contributor. Is AK going to be back? I don’t think the Falcons are probably going to be playing paying him or bringing him back. And then so you kind of like you said, you go through the list and you look at all these free agent options coming up for the team, all this money that they’re going to have to spend inhouse. Everybody’s really excited about all this money they’re about to get that’s going to just go right back into the current roster. Um so, you know, if I’m the Falcons, I would maybe consider being a seller ahead of this trade deadline. Um, and you know that that’s I think at this stage due to all those injuries we mentioned is probably a pretty weak argument. Um, I don’t necessarily know if the Atlanta can afford to get rid of anybody anymore, especially if Leonard Floyd is going to be out with extended time with that hamstring. AK to me seemed like a realistic option at some point. Um, you know, Kyle Pittz, Charlie Warner barely plays anymore. So, I’m like kind of like, okay, well, it seems like they’re kind of turned it in on Charlie. Um, you know, Tegan um doesn’t really get much run at all. I don’t know if they’re you’re just going to trade pits and then suddenly put him out there. So, can’t really move either of your two most tradable assets because of one what’s behind them and all the injuries on the team. So, you know, the Falcons are just unfortunately in a really tough spot here. Um, I don’t think there’s really many realistic options in terms of recouping any assets for this future draft class that that wouldn’t like hamstring them pretty hard. Um, you know, and I I tweeted I tweeted last night where I’m like they need to be sellers and then, you know, slept on it and I’m like they’ll they’re just going to get they they can’t afford to sell anybody. um it just didn’t go their way, you know, in terms of all the injury troubles and the regression from Mooney in the receiving room definitely makes Pitts um you know, too too valuable for the offense right now. Yes. And and Pitts is the only guy catching play action passes for this team these last couple of weeks. So if if they’re going to unlock any play action passing, they’re going to need Kyle Pittz at this stage. So yeah, it to me I I agree with you on that front. I I’m not in love with with the roster. I I I feel like people have kind of been convincing themselves that like we’re just a couple pieces away. We just got to get a wide receiver. We got to get the kicker situation, get a big nose tackle, and we’re good to go. And I’m just like, uh, good to get right back into the, hey, nine and eight, we’re being optimistic. Hey, they can figure out the nine and eight sort of thing. So to me, I remember because I was I was going through my notes on my phone, Trey, last night as I was thinking about what I was going to talk to you about today and I found a note from like last December about Terry Fontino. And you know, at that time back then, people were ready to run Terry out of town and I was like, you know, I think Terry deserves an opportunity to see if he can dig himself out of the hole. And I know a lot of people think, you know, because of how great this draft class, uh, is, you know, Terry did an incredible job and, you know, landed Devont Diablo and all this stuff. And I’m just like, yeah, he did fine. Like, he, you know, but I don’t think he dug himself out of the hole because the Falcons are right back in the same hole where, in my humble opinion, I know there’s a lot of people that disagree with this, but they don’t have any draft picks. They don’t have a ton of cap space that they’re going to have next year because they still got to deal with Kurt Cousins’s dead money again. you know, and um like they have a lot of work to do, I think, from a roster standpoint. Uh particularly in a world where you’re going to bring in a brand new coaching staff and that coaching staff may look at a lot of these pieces and be like, “Yeah, that guy doesn’t fit, you know, what I want to do offensively, defensively, and whatnot.” Um and so I’m not in love with the state of the roster to say all that. And it’s very reminiscent to me if you go back to those final years in Thomas the Mitro’s time where I remember vividly I think it was 2019 season was not going the way people wanted it to go. I think they started as season one and five if I’m not mistaken and everybody was like they gota they got to trade guys and it’s like well they’re not going to do that because they’re trying to keep their jobs and you know everybody was like well if you know a good GM would think what’s in the best um you know what’s best for the team not best for his own job security. I’m like that’s not how people work. People no are selfish right? Like if if someone came in here was like going to take this podcast away from me like I’m going to do everything like well I got to do what’s best for the lockdown podcast. Like no I’m going to be like what’s best for Aaron Freeman Lockdown Facers podcast. But um I I don’t I’ve never thought that they would be sellers at the trade deadline. I don’t think I hope they’re not buyers at the trade deadline. I think this roster needs a lot they cannot buy. giving away giving away more draft picks and hamstringing again the possibility you’re not a buyer at three and five there’s just no r like I’ll lose it if we send a future pick I can’t I can’t I I couldn’t deal with it but I know a lot of other people disagree with that and so I was just curious to see where you landed on that um any sort of parting thoughts for the listeners when it comes to this Falcon team um as we sit here you know roughly mid way through this 2025 season. Uh, you know, I would just recommend that they’re they take the same approach that you’re taking uh and that probably I’m taking and and just focus more on like player development. Who’s going to be here next year? Who’s who’s like, you know, try to try to try to narrow in that focus a little bit more. I think people will be a little bit more happier if they do that. Um because you know this this team’s going to drive you crazy week to week if you’re like if you’re trying to do playoff calculation math and all these other things on top like where’s you don’t need to be worrying about any of that. You just need to like make sure that you feel comfortable going into 2026 with Michael Penn. Like to me that’s like the most important thing right now is are you going to be comfortable going into 2026 with Michael Penn. And even if you’re not too bad, that’s probably what you’re going to have to do anyways because you don’t have a first round pick and like you mentioned, you’re dealing with Kirk’s dead cap money. There’s no other QB option on the market that’s going to save you. So, um yeah, just just just focus in on cheering for those those guys that you like the most. Isn’t Isn’t Daniel Jones a free agent? Isn’t Daniel Jones potentially gonna come and save the Atlanta Falcons? Isn’t that a possibility that you’re open to? You know, I’ve heard through the grapevine that Daniel Jones actually texted Zack Robinson last year when he was on the Vikings practice squad because of that KOC McVey connection. So maybe Aaron, we just got to keep Zack Robinson around, give him a good veteran quarterback. You know, all these guys, they get these bad veteran quarterbacks traditionally and then they become good. We gave him a good veteran quarterback and then he went bad. So, you know, we just got to flip flip some of these pieces in the equation. We’ll get this whole thing figured out. Okay. Daniel Jones 2026. Danny Dimes. Danny Dimes. So, uh there the positive way to end uh today’s show. Uh that’s what you want to think about is we’re doing great. So, we’ll see if the Falcons do the impossible, do the unthinkable at this point in time, turn their season around again. I I agree with you. I think it’s really just at this point it’s like is Michael Penn going to be good and we can talk about all the flaws in this offense and there are so so many if if only there was a podcaster that was you know ahead of that uh curve last year but you know we’ll we’ll just have to you know figure that out but um you know despite all the flaws you just want to see him operating this offense at a much more consistent level and that will be a positive sign that we’ll say like oh he was able to operate a bad offense pretty Well, so what happens if you get him in a good offense? And so that’s where your hope and optimism is. So we will see if the Falcons can live up to that. Thank you, Trey, for coming on and, you know, commiserating with me. Anything you want to plug before we duck out of here? Uh, yeah. Um, you can you can find my stuff at the Falconolic uh, and and running, um, a YouTube and other Twitter page called All Trey Phases, breaking down some of the fun stuff that this offense is doing every week. There you guys have it. So, we will be back tomorrow with an All22 review looking at the film of this game. Continue. Make us your first listen by checking us out on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast. And of course, for your second listen, check out the locked on NFL podcast. Two shows daily is going to give you that breakdown of the Monday Night Football, a game that you might miss because you’re subscribed like I am to YouTube TV and you will not be able to watch that game Monday night. So you will definitely have to listen to locked on NFL to find out uh what happened in that Cardinals Cowboys game. So continue to make locked on Falcons, locked on sports Atlanta, and locked on NFL your first, second, and third listens. It’s all part of Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.

Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Penix faces mounting scrutiny after the team’s 3-5 start, but is the quarterback or offensive coordinator Zac Robinson more responsible for the offensive struggles? Host Aaron Freeman and Tre’Shon Diaz (@TheFalcoholicLive) break down the Week 9 loss to the New England Patriots, examining Robinson’s failing play-action scheme and inability to attack the middle of the field. The discussion reveals troubling patterns in red zone play-calling, Kyle Pitts’ limited usage, and whether bringing in a new offensive system would actually solve the problems. With the trade deadline approaching, they debate if the Falcons should be buyers or sellers given their depleted roster, limited draft capital, and Terry Fontenot’s questionable roster construction. The conversation shifts to 2026 planning, evaluating which players deserve development focus and whether Atlanta can afford to move forward with Penix as their franchise quarterback.

#atlantafalcons #nfl #newenglandpatriots #nflweek9 #week9 #michaelpenixjr #zacrobinson #kylepitts #drakelondon #terryfontenot #raheemmorris

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