The Falcons’ Disaster Gave the Rams a Gift 🎁

The Falcons’ Disaster Gave the Rams a Gift 🎁

Well, the Falcons mismanagement has uh given one of the best teams in the NFL a gift. Uh so this is a little bit of a two-parter here. Obviously, the Atlanta Falcons season is going in the wrong direction. If you I mean, they’re already three and seven, so they’re already right now. I think if the if I believe if the draft happened today, they would pick eighth overall. Um, I think that’s that’s the Okay, that’s the that’s the floor can only go down from I guess you know that doesn’t make sense, but it can only go up in the draft order from here. You know what I’m saying? Uh because I think this is going to get a lot worse before it gets a lot better. Uh Michael Pennock’s obviously out for the rest of the season. It seems like Drake London has a PCL injury. Um, to me it sounds a little bit similar based on some of the stuff I’ve looked at to Brock Bowers or Ricky Pieraw’s injury from the PCL sprain standpoint. Not not fun recovery so far this season in the Brock Bowers Ricky Pearaw saga. Guys that you know Bowowers tried to play through he came back and tried to play through it. Wasn’t himself until they finally put him on the shelf and they didn’t get really back into form until week nine which is why I shared those splits earlier about since week nine when Brock Bowers got back out of 13 personnel for the Raiders. And for Pawall, he just got back after a long, long absence. Uh, and he wasn’t really involved in the game plan other than clearing out space for the 49ers last week. He’ll be more involved going forward. But that’s sort of the level of recovery we’re potentially looking at here. So, by the time Drake London is not just back, but even back to his full form, I mean, the season’s going to be completely over for Atlanta. And you know how I feel about Drake London. We feel a lot of the same ways that their offense just doesn’t work unless Drake London is getting the ball, you know, 10, 11, 12 plus times a game. Well, he’s not going to be involved here. So, you’re now looking at the Kurt Cousins Darnell Mooney show. We’ve already seen what that looks like this year. It looks pretty freaking bad. So, and unfortunately, Atlanta again sent their first round pick in next year’s draft to the Los Angeles Rams to because they just they had to have James Pierce. Well, we didn’t expect Jaylen Walker to be here at our pick. we got to take him. But we were so dead set on taking James Pierce, we got to trade next year’s first in order to get into it. And again, based on some of the other compensation, they didn’t just give up that pick either. There was other compensation that went back, too. So, this just looks like a a really bad bungle. And unfortunately, we were completely right at the time with what we said about this. I will I reference this often, Nate, this conversation that you, Charles, and I had off because this was one I know we had off camera. We were walking back from the studio at at the the now former Plyio Vista Yahoo studio for the draft show back to our hotel. Uh, and I remember saying at the time, the Falcons want to portray themselves, convey themselves as this LA Rams type of very thoughtful and, you know, uh, we really think about the sport. It’s that type of organization, but then they behave in ways that are like the New Orleans Saints, which is where Terry Fontau, the GM, comes from. They very impulsive, stuck on one thing. We’ve got to have this. We’ve got to do this. We’ve got to give up future assets to become this and live in the moment. We’re never going to die. We’ll always live forever. And that’s sort of how they behave as a team. And unfortunately, I think those two wires have gotten so crossed here that now, again, this is a team that’s completely lost in the wilderness. I think we’ve seen some nice things from Michael Penn, but I don’t I don’t know that we like feel any more certain about what he is right now than we did in week one in terms of where he falls in the quarterback pantheon. And now that first round pick is going to the Rams who might win the freaking Super Bowl this year and then have a position to maybe make a franchise changing pick with that selection because like I said, it’s eighth overall right now. Who knows what it’s going to be a few uh months from now. And if you watch how Cousins was playing when he had to come in for Pennix, his arm is completely gone. Uh completely gone. It’s it’s completely fallen off a cliff. I talked about this with Chuck is um it might have been Shield somebody recently just like you said all blends together on a recent show I talked about this um where guys were I think people remember guys like Drew Brees or Pton Manning when their arms fell off uh and the thing was they started with great arms. Watch young Peyton Manning or watch young Drew Brees. They’re rocketing that thing. Um and then when they get to 40 years old, of course the arm drops off. Tom Brady’s an outlier in all every way, shape, and form. But then you watch guys like Kirk Cousins who never really had a great arm. Like he had maybe an above average arm and then so when his falls off, yeah, this is what it looks like. It’s just like a bad athlete and they fall off. Um it’s the Vince Carter discussions. He became a good role player because he was such a good athlete in basketball and that’s why then he becomes an above average athlete as he gets older. Anyways, um and I I think too what I think with this whole Falcons thing is just the there’s a lot of hubris with all this. It was the word I always kind of came back to. Um, even when I was at the Athletic and they made this draft, uh, when we were doing our draft show, when I was doing with Robert and Dane, I remember when that trade happened, I was just like, you know, just trying to piece it all together and go like, okay, one, you’re reaching on Pennix because I think not only just me who had him as a day two guy, I think the consensus was that he was a day two guy, you know, maybe at best maybe 28th overall on the big board, something of that sort. I had him in the I think 60. And when I when you’re looking at that, it was just that they said that because they go, “Well, you got to address the quarterback positions.” Which is like, “Okay, because we’re not going to be picking this high ever again.” And I was like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, you guys have not made the playoffs in a while and you’re going to say that?” Uh, like that was already that was one of those where I was like, “Okay, you guys are not looking at reality.” And then the stories came out and Terry brought up all these stories about how oh and that’s the thing it’s not just Penn’s issues Penn has actually been fine but just talking about this just every pro the process of the Falcons is that you know Terry goes out and says oh u when I was with the Saints we IDed Patrick Mahomes and we missed out on Patrick Mahomes and I’m not going to let that happen again and it was like all right one Shawn Payeyton ided Patrick Mahomes two it’s come out that You guys weren’t even going to take Patrick Mahomes anyways. You guys were always gonna take Clatimore with that selection. So, okay, we’re already making more false narratives, whatever you want to, however you want to put it. Not living to be generous. Yeah. Not living reality at all. And then it was, oh, and then we’re going to live in uh we’re going on the Jordan Love Packers plan because we’re going to sit our guy. And then they played Penn, you know, with a month to go in his rookie season. And also Jordan Love was a project taking out Utah State with not a young player, one of the youngest players quarterbacks drafted in recent memory from Utah State while Penn was an old player who had injury histories. So also you’re like you’re making the older guys sit for a while. Even Rogers was super young when he was drafted. So that’s the thing too. Okay, that didn’t make sense to me. And then this summer they just told everyone that would listen that went down to training camp because multiple people said this. He’s actually Stafford. That’s who Michael Pennix is. He’s Matthew Stafford. And I was just like, “What are you guys doing? Just shut the up.” That’s what I wanted to say to him. It’s just like, “Just be normal and shut up. You guys are doing this to yourselves. You’re making this like bed of all these proclamations.” And and so that’s why even from it’s just been watching it. I’m like, “Yeah, this is exactly the process you guys go in.” They trade the pick with an unproven quarterback with a defense that still had holes in it that we’re seeing now. They’re doing good stuff scheme wise on defense. They do do good stuff scheme wise on offense. It’s not perfect, but on defense they do some cool blitz stuff, cool stuff, but it’s just like but the makeup of the team was just anyone with eyeballs goes, “Well, you need interior help. You need more another corner. You need linebackers. Like, you guys aren’t going to be able to stop the run.” And they’re just like, “Nope, we need two pass rushers.” I don’t know. It’s just everything they said was just they’re selling themselves on these prizes as opposed to like working their way up to those prizes. So, it’s just been very very very frustrating to watch because it just like just all these self-inflicted stuff and they just won’t stop talking and then they and oh and then the receiver the receiver stuff that’s gone on this year firing the coach the receiver coach and then not reporting Darnell Mooney’s stuff you know with the injury like they said oh it’s just a shoulder thing he had a broken freaking collar bone um you know it’s just been they’re a mess and then throwing him under the bus once we get into the season too. I like he’s he’s played poorly this year. I I to be the first one to tell you that which why I’m like more Drake London is the answer to your offense. But then, you know, he has a bad game. Like, yeah. They just like outright throw him completely under the bus where you get other coaches like, “Yeah, I don’t I don’t do uh you know, I don’t know if get into I think Jim Harbaugh this week when they asked him about Bradley Boseman or somebody like that. You’re like, well, I don’t I don’t really get into evaluating players for the media, which is we all know what you want to say, Jim. He stinks. But you don’t you don’t say that because it’s not the right thing to do, right? Yeah. You just you you learn how to speak code. Like that’s what you have to do when you talk to the media. And it’s like Raheem’s a great Hank and don’t get me wrong, I’ve worked with him years ago and it’s just one of these things too. It’s like well you got to just stop talking and just stop saying these things. Like it just help just help yourselves out a little bit. Like it’s just I don’t know. I And even watching it too, it’s like you watch the team, they’re sloppy. like uh we we went on into it on on your show on the fantasy forecast when we were talking about um uh when we’re talking about the sorry 3 2 1 we’re talking about kind of maybe the frustrations that this offense had uh that we had with the offense. Oh, we more play action. We need more of this. And then when you watch them, they do it, but then also those there’s some thoughtfulness, lack of thoughtfulness of what that actually means big picture-wise and how stuff blends together. So, it’s just like they throw ideas at the wall and then they’re kind of like they they get crazy when it doesn’t work and they act like it’s crazy that it didn’t work. And it’s just like that’s because you guys aren’t thinking anything through and not seeing anything through. I don’t know. It’s just been frustrating cuz then I watch him and I’m watching Bjon Robinson just being incredible and Drake London being incredible and then like and the run game scheme actually being pretty cool at times and god it’s just so frustrating to watch and and it’s a bet that they made and that’s really why we pile on so much about it. Yeah, that was therapeutic. It really was. I mean, just shut the up was probably the best anal best advice you could give the Falcons as a team for a minute. Like, let’s let’s look in the Yeah, let’s look Well, we could all use a little bit of it, but like let’s look in the mirror and be a little bit more serious if this staff is even back next year. Obviously, we can have that conversation another time, but that’s I don’t know. That’s just a tough spot for this team to be in. And then, yeah, now the Rams have potentially number eight pick and you look at this draft class. There’s a couple interesting quarterbacks. There’s no like true true true blue chip guy. I would say Fernando Mendoza is my QB1 right now. Um I could say him a good QB prospect. Maybe like Straoud tier. Um and I know Straoud gets recconed, you know, after his rookie season, but like really how he was as a prospect. And I was, you know, Lenor Sers is another interesting guy to me. I actually think his tape is from South Carolina has been really cool tape. Really much better tape than people are giving him credit for. But he might go back. He’s young. He might tr he should transfer because South Carolina’s offensive line, offensive scheme are just so horrid. Um, but he’s another interesting name. Ty Simpson from Alabama, another interesting name. Dante Moore from Oregon, interesting name. So, you got quarterbacks of the future. There’s defenders that they can go after that are really cool. Averal Reese from Ohio State. Uh, Kellrick Faulk. They don’t really need a edge guy, but they got some there’s some uh cool corners that they go after. What I’m saying is the Rams are in a good spot for what they need and they might be and I actually think they’re the best team in the NFL right

The Falcons’ season has gone completely off the rails — and somehow, the Rams might be the biggest winners. 👀

Nate Tice and Matt Harmon break down how Atlanta’s aggressive, short-sighted draft strategy could hand Los Angeles a franchise-changing pick. With Michael Penix Jr. hurt, Drake London out, and Kirk Cousins looking washed, the Falcons’ record means their 2025 first-rounder — traded to L.A. — could land in the top 10.

Where do you rank the Falcons among the NFL’s most mismanaged teams right now? Sound off below. 👇

00:00 — Falcons Mismanagement Gives Rams a Gift
01:57 — Falcons’ Trade: Giving the Rams Their 1st-Rounder
05:27 — Revisiting the Penix Reach & False Narratives
08:30 — Media Code vs. Falcons’ Public Missteps

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