Michael Penix RETURNS! Can Atlanta Falcons Finally Breakthrough Against Patriots?

Michael Penix RETURNS! Can Atlanta Falcons Finally Breakthrough Against Patriots?

Michael Pennix returns to the lineup for the Falcons in week nine against New England. And will this be the breakthrough road performance we’ve all been waiting for. [Music] You are Locked On Falcons, your daily Atlanta Falcons podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast 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 Mazda. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move count, pulling off the unexpected is only the beginning. Stay tuned later for highlights in this week’s Mazda, moving the game forward. Monster move, be moved. So today’s locked on Falcons, we will be updating you on the Falcons week nine injury report. Got some key play key players coming back. So we’ll talk about who’s going to play, who’s not going to play, what that means for this Patriots matchup. We’ll talk about how the fast start means everything for the Falcons this week against New England. And we’ll also break down if stopping Drake May is going to be as easy, uh, air quotes, I guess you could say, easy as stopping Josh Allen was for the Falcons earlier this season. Uh, but, you know, we’re doing this as kind of a bonus weekend episode just because for the most part, guys, I felt like we spent so much time and energy this week talking about all the things that went wrong for the Falcons with the Dolphins and talking about the apathy and season’s over and all this stuff. And you know, it certainly has been a a tough week for all of us. I understand. Uh but I always want to do the best to get you guys geared up for every game. And I I felt like at the end of the week, it’s like, yeah, we did talk about this New England game, but it didn’t get the quite the level of attention that I personally think the standard is here on Locked on Falcon. So, we’re going to do a bonus episode to sort of get these last takes off about this game. Uh, and you know, as someone who sets the standard, I am, of course, your very humble host, Aaron Freeman, uh, here of Locked on Falcons. Been covering the Falcons for uh, two decades, uh, and have been able to go that long because I set such high standards, but I appreciate each one of you that appreciates the standard that we set and you make this podcast your first listen each and every day. And so therefore, we call you the everydayers. And if you want to be an everydayer and uh, follow this standard, then all you have to do is subscribe or follow for free on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast. So, let’s talk about this injury report. The main thing being Michael Penn dealing with that bone bruise in his knee uh is back after missing last week’s Dolphins game. And hopefully his return to the lineup will be kind of an adrenaline shot for this offense, similar to how the, you know, benching Kirk Cousins last year. It felt like an adrenaline shot uh when Michael Pennis got re uh inserted in the lineup and now getting reinserted in the lineup. And hopefully that will lead to kind of a breakthrough performance for the road uh for Michael Penn. Uh I looked it up on True Media uh Pinnix’s EPA per drop back expected points added. when you look at him since uh entering the league last year, so going back and comparing him to all the other quarterbacks that have attempted at least 100 passes on the at home or on the road since the start of the 2024 season, Penn ranks third on that list in terms of EPA per dropback at home and ranks 45th, which is second worst uh when it comes to on the road in terms of his EPA per drop back. So, you literally have a night and day difference between what Pennix looks like at home versus what Pennix looks like on the road. And something’s going to have to give when it comes to those road performances. And we need to see better from him with four, I believe, road games, including this Patriots game over the next five weeks. Uh, and so we’re just kind of, you know, the clock is ticking when it comes to at some point he’s gonna have to have a breakthrough performance or, you know, we’re gonna have to have a serious conversation if he continues to struggle on the road, uh, as he has for the most part. Uh, but in addition to Penn, Drake London, who missed last week’s game with a hip injury, is also back. So, that’s huge, getting your number one wide receiver, and that also helps facilitate a better performance from Penn. uh you know, Pennix and Drake London did not get injury designations after being limited earlier in the week. Um but you know, other players that were also limited earlier in the week, but were not given injury designations because they were fully able to participate in Friday’s practice were running back Tyler Aier who’s dealing with a knee injury, wide receiver Darnell Mooney, his hamstring injury, and tight ending Kyle Pittz with an ankle injury. And getting all those skilled players back is huge. Uh we’ve talked all week long about, you know, the need for Bejian Robinson to kind of have to step up because a lot of that was looking at the injury report and being like, “Yeah, he’s not going to have as much help as he normally has and um he’s going to have to kind of carry the entire offense.” Uh and that’s why we’ve scrutinized Bejian so much this past week because, you know, it’s not to say that Bejan was terrible last week, but he did not perform to his usual standard. Uh and we needed him to last week given all those injuries that the Falcons were dealing with. Um, and you know, we still need BJ to be kind of the the best player on the field on any given Sunday, and that includes uh this upcoming Sunday. Um, but when you don’t have some of the limitations that those other skilled players have, you should have hopefully your full arsenal, and that’s going to be the thing um that you know hopefully fuels this offense to look far better, particularly in the passing game, uh, on the road than what we have traditionally seen. Um, you know, when you look at this team’s success, you know, the one road that Pennix has was a game where Bejian kind of carried the team. Uh, but hopefully we won’t have to rely on Bjan doing that this week because everybody will be performing. And, you know, with Mooney also, the other thing to note with the injury report is that Mooney was limited on Wednesday, but was a full participant in both Thursday and Friday practices. And I believe I I have to go back and double check. I believe that’s the first time that’s been the case this year. like pretty much every other week he’s been limited at least two if not all three days of practice. Uh, so it at least is suggesting that he’s, you know, trending to where we want him to be where we can start seeing 2024 version of Darnell Mooney. And that’s a big thing that’s holding back this offense because it’s just kind of, you know, it’s the big three. Uh, but, you know, we want it to be the big four. And if we can get the big four uh with Drake, Bejian, Pitts, and now Darnell Mooney, you know, I really do feel like this offense is is hopefully going to be in a much better place in the back half of the season than it has been in the front half of the season. Now, other players that are going to be questionable going into this Patriots game, safety Jesse Bates with a knee injury, edge rushers Leonard Floyd and Jaylen Walker with hamstring and groin injuries, respectively. All three were limited throughout the week. Floyd did miss Wednesday’s practice, so I guess he’s technically trending in the right direction. I think Bates and Walker are going to be instrumental to this potential game plan. We’ll talk more about Walker specifically uh later. And it’s not to diminish Leonard Floyd. Um but he’s been fairly quiet to my eyes since week two against the Vikings. Uh and I don’t know if there’s really a whole lot that Linder Floyd’s bringing to the table that you’re not already getting with Arnold Wetti as well. Um even though you know Floyd has gotten more opportunities as a pass rusher uh than AK uh and and thus has been more productive, but they’re they’re kind of the same to me in in a lot of ways. Um but you know, the status of Walker and Floyd and those guys dealing with injuries, you know, I think is, you know, speaking of Arnoldi is going to potentially impact the trade talk with Arnold Equetti with the trade deadline being Tuesday after this game. You know, I don’t think the Falcons are going to acquire anybody at the trade deadline. I think the more likely outcome would be them to move on Kennedy, but if they don’t trust that Floyd and Walker are going to be 100% for the rest of the season or at least for the next couple of weeks, you know, I I think they’re going to be a little reticent to to move Arnold McKenna at the trade dead. Now, with Jesse Bates, the expectation I have is Jordan Fuller will step in uh if Bates can’t go in this game. Um, you know, Fuller is not to the level of Jesse Bates in coverage. Uh, but Fuller is better in coverage than Demarco Hel. So, I think that’s why he’s going to be the first man up. you know, obviously as we discuss um following the 49ers game, uh you know, as a clapback towards Jarvis Davis, uh and others that have been too critical in my opinion of Jesse Bates this season. Um you know, Bates has been very good in man coverage this year, and that’s going to potentially affect the Falcons ability to try and man up this Patriots team. We’ll talk more about that later, uh if if that is going to be a worthwhile strategy for this team against Drake May. But, you know, I’m not going to necessarily root for Jordan Fuller’s downfall. But, I’ll just say I’m if he struggles in this game. I’m not going to lose too much sleep because, you know, it’ll make all the people that were like, I don’t know about Jesse Bates, you know, you know, the Jarvis Davises of the world, um, you know, we got to keep those people in check. And maybe you can eat that plate of crow uh for for coming for the king or polyamorous king in Jesse Bates. But, um, you know, looking at the players that are not going to play this Sunday, um, Billy Bowman, Falcons nickel quarterback, out with a hamstring injury. Uh, Zack Harrison, their Dlineman with a knee. Uh, Storm Norton is out again with a foot. Uh, and Casey Washington, their other wide receiver, is out with a back injury. Um Norton, you know, when the Falcons activated him um from injured reserve, I figured it would be a long ramp up because he missed so much time this summer. Um but because of the performance of Elijah Wilkinson last week against Miami, it was like maybe we need to fasttrack Norton back in the lineup, but it appears the Falcons are are going to wait another week for Norton. And so I believe his window is going to close after next week if I’m not mistaken. So, we’ll almost certainly see him back for the Colts game. Uh, it’s just going to be a question of whether or not he’s going to start. And a lot of that will probably depend on if Wilkinson has a bounceback game against New England. Um, Zack Harrison, obviously, you’re losing a lot there. Your best interior run defender, arguably, I would argue, your best interior uh pass rusher as well. Um, Billy Bowman. We do want to see Billy Bowman return. I’ve been very critical of Billy Bowman on his podcast, but I I do think um he will add value to this team. Although I don’t think there has been a massive drop off between his performance prior to his hamstring injury and D Alford’s in the nickel. You know, I was a lot more critical of De Alford as an outside corner than I am as Dford as an inside corner uh these past few weeks. Uh but of course me saying that now means that I just jinxed it and he’s going to give up like 180 yards against the Patriots and Pop Douglas. Uh but Matt Holland and and all these other guys. Uh and then with Casey Washington’s absence like you know Canad can literally do everything that you know he’s not as fast as Casey Washington but um he he could do everything Casey Washington can do in a lot better. But we’ll see uh how these injuries and absences impact this game. We’ll see who has that sort of breakthrough performance. We’ll keep an eye on Michael Penn uh as these games unfold, but uh you know, if the Falcons going to have a a breakthrough, it’s probably going to have to start early in this game because um how the game starts really is huge in determining who’s going to win this game. And really, my main hope for the Falcons pulling off this upset is getting a fast start. and I’ll explain why as we continue today’s locked on Falcons. Today’s episode is brought to you by Mazda’s moving the game forward for those who believe it’s not just about playing the game. It’s about redefining it. There are moments that do more than put points on the board. They move crowds, move culture, and keep moving the game forward. in this week’s moment that moved the game forward. Looking back at one of the few positives from this Dolphins game was that big catch from Kyle Pittz that helped facilitate the Falcons score uh in the early part of the game. It was an under center play action pass from Kirk Cousins throwing over the middle of the field and it’s like we can do this with Kirk. Hey, let’s see if we can do this with Michael Penn. That was a move moment that moved the game forward and hopefully continues to see moments like that with Michael Pennix back in the lineup. And when you follow what moves you, the unexpected is only the beginning. And just like there’s more to every highlight, there’s more to a Mazda vehicle. Mazda, move and be moved. Today’s episode is also brought to you by FanDuel. With the NBA season being back, there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. And even if you miss the start of a game or you just want to ride the hot and FanDuel has the live bets on everything from who will score next to those fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. 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You know, I try never to have my optimism completely bottom out at zero. Um, you know, but sometimes it gets low and certainly coming off of this Dolphins game, it’s probably it’s the lowest it’s been in the calendar year of 2025 is what I’ll say. Um, but uh we’ll we’ll see. you know, there there is always room to go down this, you know, but um you know what what little optimism I currently have as we sit here talking about this game is tied to, you know, the the optimism of the Falcons pulling off the upset is tied to their ability to get off to a fast start. Right? We talked about this during the crossover, but the Patriots tend to be slow starters. They’ve given up points on six of the eight opening drives that they’ve had this year. I I won’t say the Falcons are fast starters, but they tend to be front runners. And I’ll distinguish those simply because you can kind of tell, you know, in the first few minutes of the game if the Falcons have shown up first and foremost, which has been a issue at times, not only this year, but last year with this team under Raheem Morris, and kind of how the rest of the game is going to go because like if they don’t show up in those first couple of drives, uh they typically have not shown up, right? like pretty much every week by the end of the at least the second drive, if not the first drive, you pretty much can tell if the Falcons are are have brought it on on this particular Sunday or Monday or whatever, right? The week one against Tampa Bay is probably the only exception to that. Um, in in terms of, you know, the Falcons got off to a fast start there mainly because of a Bjan uh explosive play. Uh, and then, you know, didn’t do a whole lot in my recollection on the second series. Even then, you could probably say like, “Oh, well, you know, that didn’t quite live up, but anyway, doesn’t matter.” And so, you know, the reason why you want the Falcons to start fast is because, you know, it kind of allows them to kind of dictate to their opponents versus the other way around, right? Which has been kind of the case the last couple of weeks with some of their slower starts. Uh, the opposing team has kind of dictated the terms of the game. And that’s again where the Falcons are kind of front runners where it’s like they kind of need to get out in front. Um, and while I I’m not a huge fan of Raheem’s decision to receive the ball every single week when when given when they win the coin toss, um, I get it. I don’t agree with it, but I get it based off of that. So, um, you know, if they can dictate the terms that allows the Falcons to put pressure on their opponents. If New England is playing from behind, you know, because the Falcons get off to a fast start, then New England will be less inclined to run the football, which means that the Falcons poor run defense is going to be less problematic, right? Be less of a liability in these games. As we’ve discussed many times on this podcast, the Falcons best run defense is a good offense. It’s going to also allow the Falcons offensively to kind of maximize their playbook, right? Where they don’t have to get onedimensional. They can rely on running the football themselves if they’re playing with a lead. Uh and as I said earlier, like their one road win so far this season was that Vikings game. And even though they struggled with the red zone, they had no problem moving the football and putting points on the board, at least with field goals in that Vikings game. Uh, and by and large their ability to move the football was based off of running the football. Um, and because, you know, Pennix, you know, hasn’t had that breakthrough road performance, you, you know, again, maybe it’ll happen, but like probably the best strategy to facilitate that is probably not to get into a game where you need Penn to kind of throw the ball 35 40 plus times a game. you want to get into a game where he only has to throw the ball 25 times a game because, you know, Bejian and Tyler Aier can take on, you know, 35 plus carries and whatnot and the Falcons are effective doing it that way. So, that’s kind of the Falcons formula for success. That’s how they quote unquote out Atlanta somebody. Um, and so we’ll see if the Falcons can do that with their particularly with their opening game script. We we praise Zack Robinson uh in the Washington game with a really good game script featuring some quick passing game uh that got Pennix in the rhythm. You know, it felt like a little bit with the Falcons, particularly against the 49ers uh where they were passing the ball a lot in that game. That was kind of their goal is like, oh, let’s throw the ball and see if we can get Pennix into a rhythm on the road. It didn’t quite work. Uh so we’ll see. Um if it’s less about quantity of passes and quality of passes is I think where I think most of us would would agree where Zack Robinson uh needs uh to improve in that regard. So we’ll see if you know Zrob and Penn and and the rest of this offense can do that if these guys have come to play based off of how they look in the first couple of drives, right? Um or will we be looking at those first couple of drives and watching the Falcons get in getting out at Lantud uh and getting out physicalled? Um and so we’ll see. Like that’s going to be an important part, right? They they’re going to have to match the physicality of this Patriots team. If you’re the New England Patriots, you’re like, “Oh yeah, we we watch this team get punked by the Miami Dolphins, so we definitely can punk the the Atlanta Falcons.” Um, and so the Falcons are gonna have to raise their intensity, raise their physicality, and if they can’t do that, then, you know, all this other stuff that we’re talking about is nonsense. You know, I’m not going to go into a Mike McDaniel rant, uh, coming off the Thursday night game, you know. Okay, let’s let’s go. Let’s get into it. What are we doing? It’s weekend. Let’s let’s have some fun. Um, you know, I still consider see people being like, “Oh, Mike McDaniel being the replacement for Zack Robinson.” I don’t get that because again I said it on the podcast. I I I heard Dan Olowski say this on ESPN as well whereas like in the history of the of the sports has anybody ever said the Miami Dolphins were very physical in the football game? No. Like no one’s ever said that but they did it against the Atlanta Falcons which is a massive indictment uh for this team. But it’s just funny to me because it’s like one of the big problems with the Falcons right now is their lack of physicality and hiring a offensive coordinator like Mike McDaniel who is infamous I would say for designing an offense that lacks physicality. Like I don’t understand why so many Falcon fans are like like he’s the he’s the solution to problem. And again this is not I don’t have any beef with Mike McDaniel. I actually like a lot of things that Mike McDaniel does. uh and from as a from a personality standpoint, I think he’s a fun uh human being, but like I don’t see how he’s solving any of the the main problems that the Falcons are are dealing with. But we’ll save that ram for another day. I’ll just let the rest of y’all continue to hype up Mike McDaniel. Uh and I will not get on board. I just But anyway, we will uh talk flip the script, talk about this Falcons defense and talk about whether, you know, can the Falcons just kind of dust off the Josh Allen script uh and game plan in order to stop Drake May and if they can’t, what what adjustments are they going to need to make in order to deal with this specific matchup in week nine? And we’ll break that down as we wrap up today’s lockdown Falcons. So today’s episode is brought to you by Rugia. Now we like to pump a lot on this podcast, but pumping can be hard because you know you can find yourself making a lot of excuses, right? You know, just the stress or the fatigue or you know it happens to everyone sometimes, right? But when it comes to performance, sometimes your body just needs a little extra support, right? That’s where Rouette comes in. Ruia is going to offer fast acting doctor prescribed treatments for ED, help you get your pump on. It’s designed to help you stop making excuses and start making moves. It’s easy to get started with Rouette. You just get connected with a board-certified doctor 100% online. No awkward waiting rooms, no in-person appointments, and if prescribed, your treatment ships discreetly straight to your door. So, you can get your pump on by going to ruette.com/lockon NFL. That’s ruggit.com/lockton NFL and you’ll get 15% off your first order. That’s ruggit.com/lockton NFL. And don’t forget to use our code locked on NFL so that they know we sent you. Ruette, stop making excuses and start making moves. So, as we discussed this week, some of the challenges that Drake May, pretty much all the challenges Drake May is going to present to a defense are basically the same as the challenges that Josh Allen is going to present to the defense. That doesn’t mean that Drake May and Josh Allen are the same thing. Um, you know, we we need we need a larger uh more proven body of work before we can have that conversation, but Drake May’s off to a great start this season. um you know when he was coming out he was he was kind I wouldn’t say he was my preferred prospect because I did have Caleb Williams as my QB1 in that draft class but I I I was a big fan of Drake May and he was he was kind of the guy that I the the I knew there was a slim possibility that the Faulers could get him but he was kind of the guy I was I was hoping for if they were to find a way to trade up into that draft. Um but you know we’re not complaining about that. We got we’re getting our pump on with Michael Panick. So we’ll see how that works out. But um I I remember talking I bring that up just because I remember when I was breaking down Drake May I was like he’s kind of like a chaotic Justin Herbert and basically a chaotic Justin Herbert is just Josh Allen at this stage. Uh but you know after that Bills game where the Falcons really you know put the screws to to Josh Allen you know we talked about some of the things that they used the blitz the man coverages. Uh you know about half of their coverage in that Bills game was either man coverage or match zone coverage. You know you can decide to play man. You know there are pros and cons to playing man versus zone. And it’ll be interesting to see, you know, where where the Falcons sort of fall uh when it comes on the spectrum. But, you know, some of the pros are playing man in this particular matchup. You’re going to get AJ Terrell on Stefon Diggs. Um, you know, it’s going to hopefully create tighter windows for May to throw to, although May has been very good. I believe like some of the metrics are like top three or top five uh against man coverage this year. It should allow the Falcons to be more aggressive blitzing, which has kind of been their superpower as a defense. The cons of playing man is that you’re going to be more susceptible to the QB run, which means you’re going to need to be able to have a spy, which is going to be a challenge uh without Devon Diablo. Uh and you’re going to have to kind of trust the rest of your coverage group, right? And Drake May’s ability to attack down the field to M. Hollands and uh Kahan Bouty has been one of the the factors. It was something that Lockdown Patriots was talking about where it’s like, yeah, the Patriots don’t really have that one guy where they run their entire offense. It’s been kind of a well, we won’t call it a pick your poison type of offense because I don’t think anybody’s losing sleep over Matt. Holland, but uh they have been effective at getting those other guys to to be, you know, effective weapons uh this upcoming season. And so even if you are like, okay, well, we’re going to take Stefon Diggs out of the game and force these other guys to beat you based off of the way that Drake May has been playing, those guys, Kahan Boute, M. Holland, Hunter Henry, etc. those guys are more than capable of beating you based off how they played this year. And and that’s going to be a concern because you don’t have Devon Diablo at linebacker. And so that’s going to hurt you with some of the tight end matchups against Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper as well as Trayvon Henderson. You don’t have a linebacker that has the speed to to run with him. Uh and then of course if Jesse Bates, as we mentioned at the top, is questionable and doesn’t play, that’s really going to impact your ability to play man coverage. If the Falcons decide, okay, you know, the the pro cons, the cost benefits of playing man coverage aren’t necessarily in our favor. Let’s play zone. Well, okay, the pros and of playing zone is, you know, you should in theory, well, we’ll see. It’s the Falcons. You should in theory at least be less vulnerable to Drake May’s scrambling ability, uh, particularly on like critical third downs just because you’re going to have more eyes on the quarterback, right? And so hopefully those guys will be able to make the open field stops. And I think it will be a little easier to do that against Drake May than it is against Josh Allen. Um hopefully the zone will also limit Drake May’s ability to attack down the field. That’s kind of the, you know, the point of of of zone, which is like we’ll give the underneath stuff, but we won’t give the over the top stuff. But, you know, it’s e it’s easier said than done. Got to go out there and execute. Um, and so any sort of coverage limitations you also have, you know, outside of AJ Terrell hopefully will be less exposed, especially if you’re worried about the linebacker position and JD Bertrren or life without Jesse Bates. The cons of playing zone is if you’re going to play zone, you’re going to need to get reliable pressure with four. That has been something that the Falcons have struggled with this year, um, especially over the last couple of weeks. Um, and it tends to lead to much more of a bend but don’t break style of defense. And we know the Falcons with their poor run defense um are going to do a lot of bending uh if they play that way and and giving up a lot of dinking and dunking uh if they play that way. And then unfortunately because the Falcons red zone defense, right, it’s the idea of like, okay, well, we’ll bend and then when we get to the red zone, we’ll get a stop and we’ll force you to settle for three and we’ll get seven and we’ll trade that all day long. That’s kind of the idea behind it. But because the Falcons are one of the worst red zone offenses and one of the worst red zone defenses in the NFL, uh 28th currently in terms of red zone defense and I believe 26 in red zone offense, right? Like that strategy is probably not a workable strategy for the Falcons because you’re not going to trade seven for three. You’re going to you’re going to be getting three and they’re going to get seven based off of of that. So, we’ll see how the Falcons, you know, weigh those cost benefits of playing man versus zone. Obviously, you’re not going to do one or the other. You’re going to do a mix of both, but it’s about sort of the balance, right? Uh, in terms of, you know, is it 20% man, 80% zone, is it 30%, 70, 40, 60, whatever. Um, you know, I tend to be much more of a I want you to be aggressive, right? And if the Patriots exploit that, then so be it. And then you’ll make the adjustments. But, you know, for this team, I’m going just like come out swinging, right? If your defense is legit, you know, that should be the way that you should play. But when we talk about the QB spy, right, with Drake May, you know, you were able to do that against Buffalo because you had Devon Diablo. You don’t have Divine Diablo this week. He’s on IR. He’s going to miss at least another two games. probably knowing the Falcons, it’ll probably be like four or six four to six more games instead, but we’ll we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Um, and so this goes back to what we were saying at the top, which like this is why you need Jayen Walker, right? Because he’s probably the best guy equipped to function as a spy um for this team, right? Because if you ask Kate Nellis to do it, you’re arguably losing your best pass rusher because, you know, Kate Nellis, I think, is still arguably the Falcons best pass rusher when it comes to winning 101 ones. Um, and if you ask JD Bertrren to do it, you know, as I’m sure you you guys watch the game, you you know, that’s not a that’s not a workable strategy. And you know, with Jaylen Walker, even though Jaylen Walker has been effective at times as a pass rusher, like you’re not really losing a whole lot based off of how he’s played so far this year as a pass rusher, he’s probably like your fourth best edge rushing pass rusher. I I know there are like PFF metrics that suggest otherwise, but stop basing your opinions on PFF. Watch the film. Um, and you know, like so I I do feel like having Jaylen Walker do it means that you can still allow Kate Nelson to do what he does best and that puts your defense in a better position uh to do that and you can sort of kind of change things up with some simulated pressures and, you know, show blitz looks and then drop this guy and drop that guy and Jaylen Walker gives you a lot of versatility when it comes to doing that. So, we’ll see uh if um Jaylen Walker, you know, with that questionable designation is is healthy enough to play it. We’ll sit here and be optimistic for once on this podcast and say yes, but we’ll see. Um so, those are my thoughts on it. Um when it comes to this game and we’ll see if the Falcons, you know, catch this Patriots team slipping. It it does feel like, you know, the odds with the Patriots coming off a fivegame winning streak, you know, they’re due for a loss. The Falcons are due for a win. You know, maybe we’ll finally get, you know, any given Sunday, we’ll finally get a good game. as uh Nick Cattles of Lockdown Patriots said earlier the week, you know, it’s basically if what the the versions of these teams that we have consistently seen this season show up again, the Patriots will probably win this game. But if we can get the good version of the Atlanta Falcons, and that’s going to be the challenge, and that’s why this coaching staff is under so much scrutiny. Can we get the good version of the Falcons to show up? And if we do get the good version of the Falcons, and again, I’m not super optimistic, but there’s it’s a greater than zero number in terms of the level of optimism I have on a 100 point scale. I don’t know. It it might barely crack the double digits at this stage. So, we’ll see. But, you know, a lot can change based off of how they start this game, going back to that earlier point. But, um, you know, we’ll we’ll see if the Falcons can, you know, I’m not going to say win me back, but at least not put all of us in a complete existential death spiral like we spent the last five days, uh, being in, uh, coming off that Dolphins game. So, um, we’ll be back with more content Sunday after the game. Full hourong uh, postcast locked on Sports Atlanta with myself, Jarvis Davis, and Tenra Batist. and then a 30-minute show by myself giving you my additional takes beyond that. So, an hour and a half of content coming your way postgame. So, hopefully we we’ve lived up to the standard and and gave you more than enough content pregame for this game and we’ll see what happens with the Falcons postgame. So, continue to make Lockdown Falcons your first listen as well as Lockdown Sports Atlanta by subscribing or following for free on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast. And of course, if you want to know the scoop on the other week nine matchups, go check out Locked On NFL. It’s all part of Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.

Can the Atlanta Falcons overcome their road struggles thanks to Michael Penix’s return against the New England Patriots? Host Aaron Freeman breaks down the complete injury report with Penix and Drake London returning to action, analyzes why fast starts are essential for Atlanta’s upset chances, and examines defensive strategies for containing mobile rookie Drake Maye. The discussion covers the man coverage versus zone coverage debate, the QB spy dilemma without Divine Deablo, and the Falcons’ lack of physicality makes them vulnerable.

#atlantafalcons #nfl #newenglandpatriots #nflweek9 #week9 #michaelpenixjr #drakemaye

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