Atlanta Falcons Making Moves ahead of Clash with Tua, Miami Dolphins | Falcons Podcast

Atlanta Falcons Making Moves ahead of Clash with Tua, Miami Dolphins | Falcons Podcast

And good morning. We’re live on the Falcons podcast on YouTube and X. Let’s bring in one of these Facebook pages even though they won’t verify me as my identity and haven’t paid me in a year. So, but that’s still Atlanta Falcons on SI. We’ll get those going and then we will get going. And here we go. Maybe there we go. Welcome in everybody. This is the Falcons podcast. It is Wednesday morning. It is still a brisk fall morning. Fall is officially here in the south, which means the weather is absolutely gorgeous, Nick. It’s one of those times where it starts in the high 40s and finishes usually usually around mid70s and uh it’s just perfect weather here. So, let’s play a game inside. No, I’m just teasing. The Miami Dolphins are coming up this weekend and they are on the ropes and it’s up to the Falcons to keep them there. Lots of stuff to get into today. Okay, I want to talk future schedule, follow up on some of the stuff we talked about uh Monday. Uh ESPN listed the top 24 best possible trade targets. There are two Falcons on it. There are three Falcons players, three players connected to the Atlanta Falcons, and we’ll get into that a little bit. But first, Nick, how you doing, my friend? You uh you settling in over there? Slowly but surely. Um it’s kind of hard to do. I’ve been on the uh the job hunt and applying and that’s been a lot of time. My parents are here. They always come out for the Broncos meet and greet and uh daycare right now goes from 8 to 3. Uh so like that that less two hours uh makes a difference especially cuz my wife is working hybrid but uh a lot from home right now. So as you can see it’s still a construction zone behind me. Um but I think that’s hopefully something we will get to this weekend. Um what room in my house looks like and I’m in my 10th year. So okay well I need a green screen or something. That’s a plan eventually. Um, but uh I’ll be in the guest room, but for now, this is the setup. And uh yeah, no, we’re doing well. I’m not quite used to the violent change in temperature uh that we have out here in Colorado. We got 30° here today is what the what the difference will be. Yep. Yeah, we because in Seattle everything would be like trapped because the marine layer. So like your range throughout the day was maybe 15 degrees. I’m getting 50°ree swings out here right now. It’s it’s crazy. Um but uh we’re doing okay. Um, can’t complain too much. Still a ride in the high from being at that crazy Bronco game and still a little bit low from the Mariners getting kicked out. That was a bummer. Um, and also the the Falcons disappointing me on Sunday night. Yeah, for sure. Uh, you know, but again, we we we hit on that one on Monday. We’re going to move forward. Now, also, there’s some news that came out, too. Ray Ray Mloud was cut. That shouldn’t be too big of a shock to anybody that’s been watching the show. Just read the tea leaves. I I like to say watch what they do, not what they say. Uh when you’re talking about coaches, general managers and stuff, because coaches lie so much, they don’t call it lying. They call it coach speak. So, you can’t really do what they say, oh yeah, things are working well. They’re they’re close back. Yeah. No, he’s inactive. He’s inactive again. He’s a healthy scratch. He gone. There’s something going. To be fair, in this case, Rahee Morris was pretty curt about his discussions about Ray Ray Mloud. So, he he was giving us a little more hints than the usual coach speak, but we’ve got some folks that want to come in here and speak and I want to say hello to those. Rusty was the first one in today. Rusty says, “Pretty sure I’m going to put a big amount of money on us this weekend to win because we absolutely should, but if we somehow lose to Miami, can we all agree it’s time to fire everyone?” Well, I want to say going back to who was the last coach got fired, Arthur Smith. It was the heading into the bye-week coming out of the Arizona game where they got beat by Kyle. It was the third straight loss to a brand new quarterback. Kyler Murray was making his first appearance uh of the season and they had just lost three straight after coming out of the gate pretty well. And going into the bye-week, that was when, you know, if you scroll back through our archives, we went nuclear on that one. I’m like, “Okay, it’s time. Just leave his ass in Phoenix or Scottsdale or wherever the hell they play.” And uh I said, “We’re we’re done. It’s time.” I will feel that way if they lose to the Miami Dolphins. I will feel that way, but there will be time. It won’t happen. It won’t happen right away. So, there would be time to turn the ship around. So, I would be fully on board with the okay, end of the season, they’re cleaning house, but there would still be time to change our minds if things were to come together for the team, Rusty. But yeah, u I would be on board with the it’s it’s time to clean house if they end up losing this game to the Miami Dolphins. Yeah, I I don’t know. I think the overall direction of the team feels positive uh still, especially with what we’re seeing on the defensive side that Morris, I mean, it obviously depends on how it looks and how the rest of the season goes, but uh with Morris, maybe it’s more of a we need a different offensive coordinator uh in here cuz what’s going on with PennX isn’t uh exactly the direction we want, especially with the Lamborghini and insert, you know, crazy car uh that we have with two two of them with Pitts London and Bjon and the offensive line. Uh but it would take more than the Miami game. I say it all the time on this show, but anything can happen any given week. Um I think back to 2012 when the was it 12-0 Green Bay Packers went in and played the 1 and1 Chiefs and got curb stomped. Um Chiefs ended up picking number one that year. I think the Packers maybe won the champ. They were unbelievable um for that season. So, one game um would it be a kick in the you know what and for the aspirations and direction of the team and a lot of catharsis after the game? Yes. Would it put everybody on watch a bit? Yes. But as you said the season, the bigger notion is what it says where the direction of the team is going. And if they’re three and four after losing to Miami, then they’re going to be five and 12. You know, of course, if they turn it around and and go 12 and five, then everything will be fine. It’s just the odds of that happening. if you drop this game to the Miami Dolphins, go down to, you know, not not so good. And it’s funny, Austin comes in, he kind of disagrees with you, but that’s that’s the difference between being, you know, emotionally involved and from the outside looking in. He says, “Morn, it seems like the team is going in the wrong direction. The decisions that coach uh Raheem Morris seems to be making over and over ain’t good. He’s sad to see Ray Ray gone. If we lose to Miami, I’ll crash.” Um, you know, and that’s that and that’s part of it, Nick. When you when the team loses faith in what’s going on, that’s when it can spiral out of control. And I feel like that would be one of these moments if they were they were to to lose. It’s like then players start playing for themselves a little bit. You know, the nicked up players are less likely to get back into the game. You know, you know what? My shoulder’s bothering me a little bit. Let’s sit this one out. And it would just be they’ve got to win this game. I was looking at some of the uh some of the spreads and I was like, I expect this one to be one of the biggest spreads in the in the NFL this week. So, I’m going down going down the games and I’m like, okay, so far it is. Seven and a half, seven and a half. Those are the top. It’s a seven and a half spread right now. And then I get down to the bottom and it’s Titans Colts. The Colts are 14 12 point home favorites over the Titans. And the second biggest one is the Chiefs is now a 10 and a half point favorite over the Commanders. So the at seven and a half, the Falcons are tied for the third biggest spread in the NFL against the Dolphins. And yeah, they should win this game. And I’m I’m going to be doing a guest podcast with uh Alan Pupar of uh the ONS SI Miami Dolphins page here at 10:30. I’ll see if I can get a copy of that and load it up to our channels, too, because I don’t think we’re going live. So, we’ll we’ll preview that game a little more in depth from I’ll ask him a bunch of Miami Dolphins questions, too. But, hell, he was out on Tua two years ago, so I know where his head’s going to be. Yeah, I mean, this is a a team that’s circling the drain, I think, despite not or having a better record than the 0 and7 Jets. Jets have much more life uh than that team. So, we’ll see how it goes. So, this is a game, yeah, the Falcons would have to actively like try to lose. Um, if they are, you know, they’re still professionals on the other side, but like if you protect the ball, do the little things, you know, run it 60% of the time, uh, the offensive line for the Dolphins isn’t good. Despite having, I think, three first rounders on their defensive line, they’re not very good. Uh, they’re just they’re soft with a capital S. They’re infighting right now. There’s not belief. Mike McDaniel. Um, obviously he was the talk of the town when he first came in because of how fun and high-flying, but I mean at the end of the day, the bells and whistles are only as good as what you if you can do the basics uh up front. So, yeah, we’ll see how it plays out. But, I would expect the Falcons to establish the run and the defensive line and pass rush to look like they had again because Tua is he gets rid of the ball quickly. Um, but sometimes that’s to the detriment uh of the overall offense. Yeah, I want to say um hello to Dantz Jackson as well who always comes in. He’s here early in the morning and he is also joined us as a new member. So, welcome. And then after we went off the air, u we got another new member at S.mmail who’s in here a lot too. So, thank you guys. Thanks for joining the nest or the perch and becoming new members and also showing us a little support. Uh one of our Denver Broncos fans, Denver Luke is here. He says, “Morning Nick and Scott.” And he’s got the coffee emojis. I’ll I’ll drink to that. here momentarily. And uh let’s see, Calder is here. Good morning. Uh Ray Ray got the Jimmy Lake treatment just like Justin Simmons did. Ray Ray kind of did this one a little bit more to himself. It wasn’t just he wasn’t playing well. I think there was some there was some behavioral stuff involved in this one as well. Missing some meetings or whatnot or some of the things that have have been making the rounds. Um, and you know, it’s just not productive is is is coming out of it. And we we talked about there a couple things we talked about coming into the season. Not everybody can have a career year. It just doesn’t work that way. Who’s going to fall off? My number one candidate was Ray Ray Mloud. If Kyle Pittz is going to have a big season, it’s going to come at the expense of the slot receiver. That was Ray Ray. It has. Ray Kyle Pittz is having a big season. I was not expecting Darnell Mooney to fall off a cliff also, but he got in. He got 54 snaps, played a lot. Hopefully works his way back in and can become that weapon that he was last season. It’s not going to happen for Ray Mloud. I think we’ve seen the rotation. David Sills actually got more snaps than Casey Washington. So, the Falcons still definitely could use some more help at wide receiver, whether that’s on a on the phone with Tyler Lockett, uh, who was productive with the Seahawks last year before, you know, the Titans are a they’re terrible. I I I do think right as of right now, I think they’re one of the three worst overall franchises in the NFL. Um, and I don’t blame them for saying, “Hey, I want out of here.” Doesn’t mean he’s done. is a little older, but it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s done. Nick, yeah, I mean, he’s useful. I would be curious where he wants to go. There’ll be opportunity uh obviously in Atlanta, but maybe there’s a team that has a little bit more upside uh currently than what the Falcons have. So, and there was some him floating out there for the trade market as well. So, I do think there’s some interest. Uh yeah, he won’t be out of work long. He’ll he’ll have his pick. Are the Falcons a team right now that can convince a free agent without money, you know, overpaying because that’s that’s not how they’re going to get him. Can they convince him that, hey, this is where you want to be? Maybe, you know, there’s certainly an opportunity to come in and be a a contributor right away with a rocket arm young quarterback and an exciting offense that has all kinds, hey, you’re the missing piece. I know how I’d sell that. I I I could sell him. I could sell him pretty easy. Um, but there’s going to be other professional sales pitches going on, too. So, I think that would be tough. Um, want to get down, say hello to some more folks. Stephen B. Stephen B, he’s feeling like me today. I Nick said, “Hey,” when we when we hopped on the show, he’s like, “Hey, how you doing?” I’m like, “I feel salty today.” I think I said pissy. I said, “So, little caffeinated bliss and some football talk. I’ll start feeling a little better.” But he’s he’s starting to feel not feel it on on Penn. I heard the same narratives about Ritter and the other quarterback. He’s just young. This just his rookie year, even though it’s not every everyone else’s fault. The offense need to score more points just beyond Bjon. Yeah. And I put it in writing yesterday, Stephen. The the way to defend this team is really simple. It’s not easy to stop Bjan Robinson, but it’s really simple. Stop Bon, stop the Atlanta Falcons. And there’s that. That can’t be your only way to to play. It just it’s got to be more diversified than that on offense. Yeah. I What are we in? 10 starts into his career at this point. Nine starts uh for Penn. Three and then three and three. Yeah. He’s had nine. Mhm. So, I mean, I know it’s frustrating because you want to see them hit the ground running. Uh, but I think probably given what we’ve seen with the the highlights and the highs, like there is proof of concept. Like for Ritter it was, oh, he’s young, but like he was young and bad constantly and didn’t have like tools that you could dream on. Pennix has had two games this year where he finished top 10 in EPA per play and success rate uh in in both those games. So again, uh there is uh to push the football. Um, so I think that he deserves time. This is a team that’s very much in transition. Uh, still as well. I mean, you you have to understand you’re taking the lumps. And also, Ritter, let’s just be real. Um, the reality of what was the Penex eighth overall versus Ritter being a third rounder. Pennix is going to get a much longer runway. Uh, as he should. So, uh, again, you you bank on the tools. And does it does this I also hate the I’m I’m with you. um on the frustration of like, oh, he just deserves time, then guarantee linear growth. We don’t know that. I mean, this could be who he is, and he might be struggling when he’s moved off his spot and scattershot accuracy. But with where the team is at uh currently with the upside and the talent and the the buyin there seems to be in the locker room and the organization as well, you need to ride this thing out. And it’s there’s going to be highs and lows. Uh but that’s what this season and probably the first half of next season is. is now expectations change as we gather more data. We’ll see how the back two/3s go, but he deserves time and the the talent is different uh than Ritter. I know that there’s like, you know, you can tell when somebody’s selling a a dead fish right out there. It’s like, yeah, this this stinks. Um we’re not we’re not doing this. I don’t think that’s the case with Penn, but he does need to be more consistent and better and he has things to work on. That’s that’s fine. The narrative the narrative around Ritter was so much different, Nick. It was it was always all he needs to do is just not lose the game because you didn’t expect him to go out there and win it. Michael Pennix has the left arm that can go out and win games. And we we have seen that in his young career already. And I think you may have frozen up on me, Nick. It was it was it was freezing up. So, I’m going to pop you out of here. I’m going to take me out of this just a little bit and once I see you, shake your head for me when you’re down there and I’ll see you go. Okay. Froze up on me just a little bit. Um but yeah, I mean it is. And you know, I agree with people and say, “Oh, they just they just need more time and they’ll be better.” You know, well, theoretically, this quarterback struggled, this quarterback struggled. And look at them now. They all struggle when they’re early, but 95% of them don’t get to year three and four. They just they’re there’s there’s out there. I think uh I think Pennix has absolutely has the tools. I think he needs more help from his coaching staff as far as putting them in positions to succeed of move them around a little bit. And again, they’re predictable on offense. They just are. U Casey Washington, I said I don’t want to see him I I get on Casey Washington for third two third down throws. Uh one was he caught low that was really close and one was was dropped that was really close. Hell, he only played 11 snaps and he’s still getting all of these targets at, you know, in crucial moments. I’m like, I I don’t want to see that. John Herald, thank you for being a member. He says, “Good morning. What happens if we struggle against Miami at home?” I can do the press conference for you. Uh, we’ll go back to work. That’s what we do, you know. We’ll look to we’ll we’ll self scout and we’ll look to get better. We’ve got to blah blah blah, etc., etc. That’s just what coaches say after games like this. But why do they struggle? You know, is it because of the predictability and play calling? Did the defense, which seems to be playing over its head, finally, you know, spring a leak? Those type of things. And why? You know, is it, you know, are they missing throws? Are they dropping balls? Is it penalties? Or is it again, hey, we’re going to come out and just try and establish the pass to set up the run? I don’t like that with this team. And we’ve seen that now twice in in losses where they scored 10 points and they’ve been shut out. You know, where the where Bjon and Tyler had what nine carries this time in the first half. Tyler had one carry. Um I think the number right now is 60%. If Charlie Warner plays 60% or more of the snaps, they’re 3 and 0. If he plays under 60% of the snaps, he’s 0 and three. And that goes to establish the run and work off of that. So, we’ll see. But nothing will happen as far as, you know, are they gonna fire somebody mid-season? No, they’re not. They’re not. They’ll they’ll get the chance to finish the season and uh we’ll move on from there. Curtis Case, good to see you. Go ahead, Nick. I was going to say we already had the wide receivers coach uh moved out. That’s the one that I was like, “Oh, maybe wait a second. That already happened.” Uh so yeah. No. Uh Curtis Case, good to see you. Says, “Morning, Scott, Nick, Falcons Nation. Every member at Still Penn says rookie year.” Yeah, once you’re like 25 starts in, I feel like it’s the clock really is ticking at that point. You have to be god freaking awful uh to not get the the runway. Um and right now again, not even 10 starts. So again, has it been volatile? Yes, but there actually is like highs. Um so there is a there is something to hope on. And you see the raw tools uh as well. So the arm talent, I mean, he’s got one of the top five best pure arms like velocity wise. There’s difference between like, you know, the elasticity like a short stop, but like a power, you know, set and deliver arm probably one of the top five strongest and there’s plenty to hope on uh still. So, he he deserves time. Um and I know it’s frustrating. Um I saw a comment too like Straoud uh got worse since his rookie year. It’s a rare occurrence. It could happen. Growth is not uh linear at all, but you’re going to ride this out and I think you just got to buckle up. Um, you know, we if he’s this volatile and you have the lows that you have a year from now, uh, December 2026, we’re having conversations about the coaching staff and the quarterback. Uh, but damn. Yeah, you uh you you cra you paused out on me just a little bit. Um, yeah, I just uh I’m I’m not ready. We’re not giving up on panics. We’re not talking about that. But are there some concerns? Yeah, we talked about some of the concerns last week. You know, one of the comments I got was, you know, oh well, you know, yeah, he can’t he can throw under pressure, but not when it’s coming from the blind side. Well, if it was all coming from the blind side, there probably would have been more sacks. We didn’t see him getting crushed from the blind side the entire time and not seeing it coming, or else there would have been more sacks and stuff. We saw a lot of incompletions and inaccurate throws or throws into coverage. We saw a lot of poor throws when he was being pressured. Uh that that’s got to get fixed. I believe it will. I believe he’ll definitely get better on that, but he definitely needs help in his play calling. Move the pocket around. We got to stretch the back end of the defense a little bit. You can’t just throw everything 15 yards and under on that. So, uh, Nick bounced on me. So, I’m going to get to Curtis. He says, “Morn, Scott. Nick, Falcons Nation.” That’s all y’all. Everyone remember? Oh, we did get to Curtis on him. We just had that whole conversation. So, want to get back into the chat just a little bit. Um, and Calder says, “How many scapegoats have to fall before they dress address the offensive coordinator?” Uh, and Mad Scientist says, “I think we should move Walker into Diablo’s spot until he’s healthy.” Maybe Mad Scientist, that’s not a bad shout, uh, but he hasn’t he hasn’t really trained at all at inside linebacker in this defense. Their their whole idea was we want him to be good at one thing before we try and get him to do more. Now, I might be more interested in just going a how would we call that? A 335 how you’d set up the different in in a 3-35 with just one inside linebacker and have it be Ken Ellis have two edges at all the time all the times because the way they’ve done it here recently is their 335 has been two inside backers with one standup edge. So, a fourman front. I’d almost rather see the fiveman front. So almost like a 515, but technically you’d call that a 33 with uh with just one inside linebacker and a nickel. The the nickel base is absolutely there. They almost always have five defensive backs on the field. So rather than Bertrand be out there, I’d rather see more of Walker, Leonard Floyd, Arnold Lebetti, and James Pierce outside and have them drop into space to cover the flat zones every so often and rush for that way. you don’t know who it’s going to come from. Uh but more of a an outside linebacker, true outside linebackers where they’re dropping in coverage more. James Pierce can do that. Uh we saw him have awesome recognition on a screen play in in I think it was in the second quarter against uh Christian McAffrey shove and and drop and he he wiped out the screenplay. So I’d rather see that. What I don’t want to see is a lot of Jame uh JD Bertrren in space. D’Angelo Malone has cross trainined at inside linebacker a lot and Josh Woods was decent in the preseason too. So those are all options. Um too coming in on the uh on with a super chat. Want to say hello to AJ’s Pokemon cards. Uh love your your picture there. He says, “Thoughts on moving Walker to inside lawn backer until Diablo is back.” Well, there you go. That was it. So I I just went through that. Um just as a heads up as this is the the old guy in me. get off my lawn. I absolutely refuse to use the term offball. I refuse. It’s inside linebacker. It’s been inside linebacker for 150 years. Every single time they talk about an offball linebacker, they’re talking about a guy inside. So, and linebacker by definition is back of the line. So, offball offball. It’s like saying offball running back. I It’s just just one of those things. I told you I was salty this morning, AJ. Um, so I just got into this. I think it’s a great question and it’s a great suggestion. I just don’t think we are there yet. So my other options would be again I’d rather see him tweak the formation a little bit and go uh 335 with two outsides and then uh Caden inside. Uh and then you can drop those guys back into coverage like like outside linebackers like you have in the past. uh you know so I would rather see them do that than try and stuff another part of this Jaylen Walker hasn’t been healthy a lot and then to put him in an inside role where it’s much much more physical I’m not ready I don’t want to do that with Jaylen Walker so I’d rather see D’Angelo go in there I’d rather give Josh Woods a try and again I’d rather tweak the formation a little bit because you’ve still got more edge rushers you’re still fairly solid on the edge I’d rather see them take advantage of their their front a little bit more uh in in that way. So uh it’s a great question. It’s a great question, but I don’t think Jaylen Walker is ready for it mentally. He hasn’t been practicing that and I don’t know that he’s ready for it physically because he’s been beat up just a little bit on that one for sure. Um let’s uh let’s move on just a little bit. Nick is back. So Nick, we’ve been talking about Jaylen Walker. I don’t know. Since you were restarting, you probably didn’t hear what I had to say. So, I want to get your take. What about Jaylen Walker possibly inside uh right now? I think that’s something you could do in terms of some slight uh packages throughout the game, a third and long, maybe some first downs where you want to have a mug uh look with your linebacker, but it’s such a different game playing the edge versus the linebacker spot. And I think Walker has been really developing nicely um at that edge spot as kind of a a hybrid uh coverage/blitzing chess piece uh up front. So again, there’ll be some uh a gap bap uh lineups, but as far as like actually playing the second level and the responsibilities required for a linebacker, I think it’s something that’s kind of, you know, fun to think about in Madden. Uh but I wouldn’t really ask that for a player as young as him. He’s one of the younger players in the NFL, I believe, this year. He wasn’t really asked to even do that at Georgia, so to speak. So, I don’t know if I would mess with it too much. I honestly think while there’s he’s obviously athletically more gifted, uh, than Bertrand, you might be having some coverage runfill busts because it’s something that he just hasn’t really done on tape that much. Can you tweak the defense uh, and put make it more uh, blitz, even more blitzoriented the linebacker spot? Maybe. I think you’re probably doing that at the the cost of sending Ellis less and him being a little bit more of a safety backer in that case, which I don’t know if I want to do that. So, I think right now you’re probably, you know, sinker swim with Bertrand maybe a little bit more physical with rolling a safety uh down, hoping Bowman helps with that as well, but I don’t know if I would be moving Walker to offball other than some packages, which I would be doing anyway. Nick’s 20 years younger than me, so he’s not afraid. I I gave him my diet tribe on offball. I said it’s uh I said the offball comes from the department of redundancy department. Linebacker, especially when it’s always used for inside middle guys, is like it’s it’s they are they’re back of the linebackers by definition. What’s the other one? Draft capital. All caps edge. The all caps edge. Those are my three probably big ones right now. The all caps edge bugs me as much as I think offball is probably number one for me. Edge next and then draft capital because I can use I I see where you want to package picks together to say that this equals something that equals capital but still draft picks anyway. Also, you don’t really like simulated pressure. It’s a fake blitz. Yeah. I just it sounds that all the renaming the stuff. It just sounds so pretentious to me is the problem. It’s like, “Oh, we all have these podcasts. We want to sound smarter than we are by changing the names of things.” And it’s just I don’t They’re taking it from coaches. Like these coaches are using this. It’s to me it’s just it’s it’s it’s phony. It it just it’s pretentious and I do not like pretend. I’m a blueco collar guy at heart. Chris Walker in his blue shirt. He says, “Good morning, Scott Nick.” along with everyone watching. I don’t want to fire Albert, but just about everyone else is fair game. Um, yeah, it’s I I think I think the defensive side of the ball has got to feel pretty good about where they are. And that’s not just Alrech, that’s that’s everybody on the defensive side of the ball. I’ve mentioned before I’m a little surprised that uh special teams coach Maris uh Williams was able to that he that he kept the job when Raheem Morris came in and then last year when they were so bad that he was still there and they’re still bad on special teams and they put a lot of personnel like oh we have to have this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy and this guy. Oh yeah, and that guy for special teams. Well, that’s a lot of players that you’ve got dedicated to just special teams who aren’t helping you on offense or defense, and your special teams are dreadful. That’s uh it’s it’s it’s uh it’s not necessarily a good thing. Deontay, thanks for being a member. Good morning. It’s official for me. The Falcons are a good team. I don’t care if it’s players, play calling, or coaching. This team is broken. I expect to lose to Miami. We played down to teams. It’s at home. I I think that’s a big one, Deontay. The the Falcons have been good at home. Michael Pennix has a 40 point difference in his home and road splits right now in three games each. It’s 100 and three versus like 63 in his passer rating. And he’s played good teams at home. He’s played the Buccaneers, the Bills, and the Commanders at home. So, it’s not just a a scheduling thing. They’re going to take care of business this week and and we’re going to feel good about things on Monday and then we’ll see how things go the next week against the Patriots. More on that in a second. Nick, I just wanted to give a shout out to defensive line coach Nate Ali. Um he’s been awesome uh as well. I think it was I think going to give a shout out to Carrie. Um she brought him up in a preseason podcast and okay check it out. And yeah, he’s been he’s been doing pretty good. Uh but um yeah, the coaching staff right now, I mean, pass game coordinators, offensive staff is probably on thin ice, but we have the rest of the season to see how that goes. I mean, it’s somewhat to be expected with the injuries at offensive tackle, the lack of depth in known quantities at uh wide receiver and the uh the youth at quarterback who is already kind of a again high low kind of player. So, got to figure it out and got to put him in better positions. Some of the play calling stuff, I’m with you. I mean, again, run the damn ball. Uh we were with uh Arthur Smith in that front. Uh but yeah, that’s Nick, you froze up on me again. You’re uh you’re you’re back now. Uh the voice was okay. So, if you see it freezing up on your side, just keep talking. Don’t don’t let that distract you. But Zach has a question. Zack Hubard, thank you for the super. He comes in with a question that’s been on a lot of people’s mind. He says, “Why does Raheem choose to receive the ball first every game? It makes no sense. Why not have the advantage of getting the ball at halftime?” I This isn’t This doesn’t bother me as much as it does a lot of people. And you saw it play out uh in the game against um who did they just play? I got Vikings, Commanders. Bills, and then 49ers. Thank you. It’s the It’s the new memories that are hard to implant for us old guys. The 49ers, they’ve got they start with the ball and this was the first time they punted like on their first drive so far this season. They’ve they’ve put points on the board or, you know, at least driven down and had an attempt at points and missed a field goal. Carolina Panthers, but then they get the ball with 90 seconds left with the ball with the ball. They they work the clock, they make a stop, they get the ball with 90 seconds left. That’s one more possession in the first half. you’re plus one in possessions in the first half by taking the ball first. Now, it can be a little scary because if you mess up, the 49ers just put points on the board and then you fumble and going from a lead, you’ve got a chance to go down 17 in three possessions because they fumbled the ball. You But you don’t coach assuming you’re going to make mistakes. That’s coaching to lose. That’s coaching to, oh, we we’re coaching not to lose. Well, that’s how you lose games. So, it’s actually being a little more aggressive taking the ball first and mathematically speaking, you end up getting you’ve got just as good a chance. It’s like, oh, well, you want to go back to back with your possessions, but I can get an extra possession in the first half. So, it’s not as big a thing for me. I think I think it’s aggressive, and I don’t I don’t necessarily mind that. That of all the things that we see, that one doesn’t bother me as much as it bothers some people. back. Yeah, I’m curious as well because I mean I’ve been noticing from uh again uh coming back everything comes back to Iowa Scott, but uh even Kirk Ference at Iowa with the offense is better now. Um but you think defense of first team they’ve received every time they’ve won the kickoff this season. So I wonder if there’s every week. I don’t know how this happens. I do wonder if there’s a study out there where you have a higher probability of gaining an extra possession and controlling um you know that aspect of the game if you get it first. Um, unless you have like a terrible offense and you have really really good defense, uh, maybe there there’s a a study or some sort of analytics out there that say if you receive first, you’re more likely to get an extra possession uh, in that first half uh, and then play even football uh, possession by possession in the second half. So, I’m not exact especially because depending on game flow, some of those possessions in the fourth quarter aren’t as neutral uh, as well. So, I’ll be I would be curious. Um, I’m sure there is something out there uh driving that decision. And maybe that’s something I haven’t heard, but maybe somebody uh in the press box can ask uh Raheem Morris the the logic there and if there’s any data uh that’s driving those decisions. Uh some back and forth discussions on this. Um you know, like Harry says, the defense is good enough to hold them on their first possession and get the ball back and effectively give us first possession. Yeah. And and field position, too. You know, if I if I can play decent, and part of it might be I don’t trust my kick coverage. You know, it could come into special teams. If I can pin them in the 20, go three and out, I get the ball on the 35 to 40 yardd line on a three and out, I got all kinds of momentum. I flub my kick and they return it to the 40, their one play from field goal position because most teams once they hit the 43 yardd line on the other side of the field are in field goal position. Uh, so I see both sides of it. I I can make an argument for both. And like I said, I’m not, you know, and Ron says we want to play with a lead. That’s why. And okay, again, I can see both sides of this. I think it’s I think it’s more aggressive and I’m okay with that. Uh I’m okay with them being more aggressive on offense on this. And again, you can come out plus one in the first half on possessions. Uh you know, some Ray Ray questions in here. Michael says, “What’s going on with Ray Ray?” Well, Ray Ray is gone. That’s that’s what’s going on. And there seem to be some personality conflicts in there as well. Uh Nick, I I teased at the top. I want to talk a little bit about um ESPN did a top 24 uh players as far as tradable players and it had the Falcons really going after a quarterback. There were three quarterbacks in that top 24 that best best fit. Falcons were one of two or one of three players uh in there. Tyreek Woolen was one of them. He was a number four overall. Falcons were linked there. Michael Carter, he was a player that the Falcons were linked with heavily in the offseason with his ties to Alberts. He was at number 12. And then Roger McCreary, the other corner, he was at number 14. And uh the Falcons were linked with all of those players. And let’s see that the odds of those getting I always heir on the side of a deal doesn’t happen because they they get talked a lot more than they actually happen. But McCreary 35% chance of being traded, uh, is what they’re saying. Michael Carter is up to 45% chance of being traded, which makes sense considering they’re 0 and7. And then Tyreek Woolen, I would think that would be a little bit harder of a trade, but it there’s something going on there. Uh, he doesn’t fit what Mike McDonald wants to do. And it says 50% chance of him getting traded, Nick. So wide receiver, you’re not finding a starting level offensive tackle on the trade market more than likely. No. Uh but you can get a corner and you can get a wide receiver. You might be able to get a swing tackle. Uh but you already made that move earlier and we saw Matthews back out there. So and Storm Norton should be back. So consider that your uh your trade uh coming down here. Wide receiver is the one that makes the most sense uh for this team coming in. Now granted, we always talk about it, Scott. It’s this weird thing where I guess it’s kind of similar to pass rush, but like you talk about drafting a wide receiver early. It’s like there’s so many that come out in the draft every year. They’re always available, but you look at the trade deadline every year and every team that’s a contender is looking at wide receiver as well. So, I just, you know, teams are paying them also. So, I mean, draft them, they’re valuable. Um, as far as Steven Beast is a Raiders wide receiver, um, is he talking about Jacobe Myers? Jacobe Myers, he was five on this list. Uh, pretty much talking about that as a foregone conclusion that he’s going to go to the Patriots. Um he’s been a uh Josh McDaniels person with Patriots and then uh to the Raiders and uh sounds like the obviously they could use another wide receiver as well and they have capital to go make a run right now like that Patriots team they could AFC is wide open uh right now Scott. So we’ll see. I don’t think Meyers is going to be traded anywhere but the Patriots. Wow. Um but wide receiver makes the most sense. eight, nine, 10, and the the Patriots have 10 draft picks. U so that makes a difference, but it’s Jacobe Myers and they they put the Dolphins on there for some reason. Um as far as one of the team fits, but the Steelers were on there as well. Uh but Jacobe Meyers will likely be moved. Um I’m interested in, you know, like I said, get on the phone call with Tyler Lockett. What can happen? These guys are going to have options. Are you on there? Um, let me see. Jimmy, a lot of questions. We have Dylan Drummond, Nick Nash, Chris Blair. Hey guys, I can’t stay but want to drop in and say, “Hey, hey, I’m not sure why I don’t bring up Blair from the squad. He’s a baller.” Uh, there’s a spot now because I would think they the Falcons hadn’t updated their their roster because it still had TQ listed on on injured reserve with a designation to return and he got activated, but it had David Sills on the practice squad. I’m pretty sure he’s on the 53. So, there seems to be a spot open for a practice squad elevation type of guy, but we’ve seen what it’s going to be like without uh Ray Ray because he hasn’t played in the last two games. He’s been inactive and they haven’t brought those guys up and you know, maybe it’s time. Chris Blair, Dylan Drummond, Nick Nash, those guys, you know, it’s like, okay, I like the special teams play, but David SS isn’t offering much as a receiver. Those guys are pretty good wide receivers as far as number four type of options. So, we will see um on those. The Atlanta Falcons, the the number one player they had as far as uh tradable players is not who you might think it is from the Atlanta Falcons. So, who would we think would be the top available trade bait for the Atlanta Falcons? Nick. Uh, Kurt Cousins would be the one. Kirk Cousins would be the obvious one, right? He is on the list. He’s number two. But who is number one? Who’s the number one on there? And it probably isn’t even your next choice because my next choice probably would have been Tyler Algier. It’s not Tyler either. I would probably go Eeti. It’s Arnold Eveti. Um, because Arnold Evetti checks in at number 16 on the list as tradable players, Nick. And that it does make a lot of sense that you would if you were shopping he’s expendable at this point and you’re probably talking about a sixth or seventh round pick. I mean let’s be honest uh last year of contract I believe um and there have been much better edges traded for equal or less than that at the deadline uh than what we’ve seen from Evetty. But right now he does seem like on the outside looking in. That’s one of those ones that I probably hold on to until like the the day of the trade deadline, uh, Scott, because you’re one injury away from, knock on, knock on wood, but you’re one injury away from him having a much larger role. Um, and you, you know, if somebody offers you a fifth, you probably take it. Um, just to get a little bit more capital, reset a rookie contract as well. Uh, but I do believe he is in a a final year of his contract. He is. Yep. He’s a free agent at the end of the year. So, you’re talking about a reserve at this point. He his numbers his snap count was down. Let me see what it was. Uh, Nick, but he also he doesn’t have a sack this year, uh, which, you know, that makes a difference, too. He’s he’s been marginalized to a certain extent. He’s got six sacks in each of the last two years, but they’ve come in bunches. It’s like, oh, he had five sacks in the final four games. He’s really ready for his breakout year. We’ve heard that for two years in a row. And then, uh, let me see. Snap counts. Snap counts. Snap counts. Snap counts. Falcons for Ebetti. I got to keep scrolling. He was down to 25 snaps. He was behind uh Floyd Pierce and then Jaylen Walker didn’t play. So, he was third in that group of uh of starters, but he’s definitely behind behind um those three. But Jaylen Walker’s out. So, right now he’s third. And like Nick says, hey, you might want to hold on to this guy. And you might, depending on what’s offered, but talking about, you know, trying to make trade deals, well, it’s really hard when you don’t have any picks, you know, talking lots of capital. The New England Patriots have have 10 draft picks going into next year. The Falcons have five. They’ve got a second, a third, a fourth, a sixth, and a seventh. So, they’ve got one, they’ve got two day two picks. Um and then you know fourth, sixth, seventh. So they’re up against it when it comes to what they can give up right now. If So Nick, if I’m doing anything, I probably want a pick swap. I want something back if I’m going to try and acquire one of these cornerbacks or a wide receiver. I might be willing to give up an extra round. Not a six for a seventh. Here, take a take my fourth. Give me back a six and give me this player. But I I’d want to swap in there. I think we’ve seen that a lot more, too. Um there’s like a baseline number of picks that teams want every year. So, there’s been a lot more pick swaps uh occurring. Um Tankathon, which you know, I haven’t had to look at very much this year. You guys as well, Falcons, which is great. Um I suppose you wouldn’t anyway because the lack of the first, but u they do a uh draft power rankings every year where they like allocate the point value and tabulate it for each team. And uh the Falcons have the second lowest uh point value in terms of overall draft cap capital. Sorry, Scott. See, that makes I can I can live with that one a little bit better than value of draft picks is draft capital. Yeah. Yep. The the overall value of your picks um is the second lowest in the NFL uh this upcoming season, only ahead of the Packers who made the Micah Parsons trade. So, if the Falcons, let’s say, Scott, that you guys are sitting here at 6-1 and looking like you were like, “Oh my gosh, we’re making a run.” Maybe you do take out of this pot or the 2027 draft pot as well uh to capitalize uh on this season. But right now, Falcons are a team that could go either way. You look like a feisty, borderline uh playoff team, and I don’t know if that’s worth taking away from how small your pot already is to add to the team. I think probably for the most part you your trades have already come. Um they happened in the draft last season and the guys that are here other than you know some practice squad stuff uh you know maybe some waiverwire etc. The guys that are here are the guys that are going to be here. Um but we’ll see. We still have a little bit of time before the trade deadline. Uh but I just I don’t know. I would be hesitant to uh to move. This wasn’t a chips on the table all-in year um for this team. we’re in evaluation and trying to see if Pennix is the guy and if we can improve the defense. So, um again, I maybe I’m a little bit more conservative uh big picture on that front, Scott, you know, not pushing it in every year. Uh easy for me to say, you know, my my butt can continue to sit on the seat where the guys making the decisions have uh have to win. Um but I don’t know. I just don’t think you’re in a position uh with where the team is at or where your uh number of picks uh is at to be an aggressive buyer at the deadline. And I want to hit Stephen Be’s question here or comment here. Um do you remember the number we said that we were kind of hoping to get from Kyle Pittz this year for uh for yards and touchdowns? I think we were hoping for like five touchdowns and 700 yards. I think I said eight and eight is what I said. What would be a good year? A good year would be at least 800 yards and eight touchdowns getting in the end zone. Well, nobody’s getting in the end zone. Okay. Yeah, but he is on pace for 807 yards right now. It doesn’t see it seems like he’s had a bigger impact, but he only has 285 yards right now. So, he has been he has replaced Ray Ray Mloud’s production. Darnell Mooney’s production has not been replaced. Um, that’s still a whole that that’s going to be Bjon right now where Bjon is doing more things. But Steven says the Falcons should trade pits if they don’t want to give him a multi-year extension. No way his agent would let him play next year without a big deal. That’s fine. I agree with you. But you don’t trade him this year before the deadline. You let him finish. You tag him. He has a good season. You tag him. Then you have the entire off season to make a deal. make a deal before the trade. I mean, before the draft, not a deadline deal, unless somebody comes and blows your socks off. But worst case, it looks like right now the Falcons would be four and four at the trade deadline and still in it, which is what the NFL wants, which to Nick’s point, they should move the trade deadline farther back. Eight games, there’s almost every team’s going to be within one or two games of a playoff spot. Doesn’t mean they’re any good. So, um, if they don’t play if they don’t play a multi-year extension, that’s fine, but negotiate from a position of strength. Last year, you couldn’t trade him. He was coming off another down season. He’s having a pretty good year this year, and his role seems to continue to expand. he still has every chance to be a thousand yard receiver by the end of the season. Tag him and if he doesn’t like it then you’re then you can get some value for him in a trade at least because he’d be coming off you know close to what would be a Pro Bowl season in the NFC. Um so I you know this is what we’ve been advocating for uh from the beginning beginning. Now Nick looking ahead I just said for let’s just chalk it on the board. The Falcons should be four and three. They can’t look ahead. We can. Losing this game to the Miami Dolphins should be unfathomable. It’s not. We know. But it should be. They should win this freaking game. Then they play New England next. I mentioned strength of schedule last year. Who have they played? Blah blah blah. So I went when I was on Tankathon. They do a strength of schedule based on winning percentage because that’s how the draft order is sorted. That’s the tiebreaker. If you have the same record and the Falcons were a beneficiary of this a lot, that’s how they got the number eight pick despite having a one of seven seven and 10 teams. They’d have the top pick of that bunch. So looking at it, Denver is actually 29th in easiest schedule. So they’re they’re is 462. Their opponent’s winning percentage is 462. Now some of that’s they’ve won those games. Mhm. Cleveland is uh 30th at 455. Buffalo drops all the way down to 400. There’s a 55 point gap. For you guys who like batting averages, the third guy hits 455 and the next guy hits 400. Is 31st. Then I got to get out my binoculars to look all the way down to find New England whose opponent’s winning percentage is 333. Yeah, insane. We don’t know who New England is yet. They could be really good. We know they’re not beating themselves and making mistakes, but we don’t know if they’re a a legit playoff caliber five and two. This is going to be a really good team. And their schedule is awful. That’s what happens with last place teams. It’s supposed to be, but we don’t know that much about this team yet. their opponents, their winning percentage is I mean it’s you’re talking like 1% difference between 10 and and 20 on this. You know, it’ll be like 470 and 480. They’re 125 points off 30th. So, we don’t know much about New England yet. Falcons could be five and three coming out of the next two games without a doubt easily. Um I mean Drake May is playing great and it’s one of those things where again being college uh scout first Scott you are evaluating the execution and the talent and you watch Drake May and it’s like I don’t care if he was playing the 85 Bears some of the plays that he’s making are incredible and the windows that he’s throwing in and playing very uh aggressive football. I mean he’s this isn’t dink and dunk. He is pushing the freaking football. Uh, but as far as like the defense, the offensive line, uh, the weapons, how they’re getting open, I mean, the Patriots have have had by far, um, easiest schedule so far this season. And it’s not just uh the uh it’s not just the win percentage either. Scott DVOA um which kind of takes in account like how you perform two week to week because you know there’s games where you win by one uh or you win by 100 and that looks the same in the standings but maybe the quality of your play is very different in those games. So DVOA takes into account some of that and the Patriots are also far and away have had the easiest schedule so far according to DVOA uh as well. So unfortunately, I guess for maybe everybody else in the AFC, their p they have like past schedule so far today and they have future schedule Patriots past schedule ranked 32nd in the league. Their future schedule’s ranked 32nd. Play the Browns at home next. It it actually and if they go two and six, it would be 333. If they beat them, their opponent’s winning percentage would be 333. Now, part of that is winning. You know, the more you win, the the lower your opponent’s winning percentage is going to be. The Falcons are over 500 for the first time in years as far as their schedule goes. Uh they are, let’s see, their opponent’s winning percentage is 504. That’s the first time in a long time. I have to resort this. If I if I auto, if I sort this, I got I copied it out of uh Tankathon and put it in a spreadsheet. Atlanta has the 19th hardest um or 19th easiest. So, if I’d have to reverse that, but the easiest schedule, they’ve got the 19th easiest schedule. So, therefore, it is harder than most so far. Eric Parker says, “We’ll beat Miami and lose New England. We can’t stay consistent in winning.” And if New England ends up being a really good team, you know, there’s there’s no shame in losing on the road to San Francisco. Beat the teams you’re supposed to beat. Take care of your home field and you’re a playoff team. But you’ve got to do that. You got to win a couple games on the road. And Carolina Panthers, let’s see how good they end up are. You know, there’s a lot of talk about that. And I don’t Panthers fans have gotten chirpy all of a sudden after that game. It’s like that the fact that they won that game wasn’t wasn’t the fluke. You know, y’all are calling that game a fluke. Well, the game itself was a fluke. Unless you want to spot me 30 points next time Falcons go to Carolina. If you want to do that, then put your money where your mouth is. That the Panthers beat the Falcons isn’t a fluke. That the the outcome wasn’t a fluke. The game itself was fluky. So, that’s got to change. You know, losing on at a a nationally televised game on the road against the 49ers. Okay. Three and three after six. Okay. But again, all of a sudden, the Patriots are a diff look like a different team and the Colts look like a different team. Those are two that you were thinking, “Okay, maybe I can chalk those up as dubs and things got a little harder down the road.” You play the game though, uh, one at a time. You got a chance. Um, we’ve seen crazy things in the NFL and we’ve also seen the high highs, uh, from this Falcons defense and offense. So, uh, as well as the low, they’re one of the more volatile teams in football right now. Uh, but, you know, that’s if you’re going where you want to go, eventually you’re going to have some tough opponents that you’re going to have to match up against. So, good measuring stick games and we’ll find out about the coaching staff and all of that. But right now, you do have a little bit of a softball uh coming up. Talk about a team one, two, three, Cabo. They could just say Miami. I guess I can stay down there. Uh but go down to the hop in the car. Yeah. No, nice and easy. Uh but yeah, it is tough. We’ll find out a lot about this Falcons team in the next three, five game stretch, obviously. I mean, bigger sample we’ll find out, but right now they’re they’re an up and down team. Um, the defense is a lot better than I’d thought. The offense is more erratic than I thought, but I guess that shouldn’t be surprising in hindsight. Uh, looking at how the roster is built there. There’s some talk in here about um, you know, the edge rushers and it is, you know, when does when does some of the, uh, you know, Cory says, and it turned into discussion, turning some of the pressures into production into sacks. You know, James Pierce Jr.’s numbers. We had this discussion last year like, “Oh, well, that guy’s not doing anything.” But we’ve seen James Pierce affect the game. You know, the numbers might not be there, but we’ve seen him affect the quarterback make it. We’ve seen Jaylen Walker get out there. The numbers aren’t mind-boggling, but it is one of the hardest positions. And it’s one of the reasons we said you can’t count on a third round rookie edge rusher coming off a knee injury, you know, that’s now has two first round edge rushers in his room. It’s really tough. My thoughts for Brilland Trice is he takes Ebetti’s spot next year. Resign Leonard Floyd one more year. Keep your veteran in there and there’s your fourman rotation. That’s my thoughts of where he ends up. He wasn’t going to be an impact guy this year. He’s number five at best in that rotation of I would disagree with the point there, Scott. I think the edge rushers um because it is a lot of times it’s not really a thinking position. and it’s a god-given talent. And maybe the stats aren’t there. Um, but you can tell if a guy is it or not where quarterback, uh, offensive line, tight end, linebacker, defensive tackle, those are more developmental positions. Um, compared to edge, which again talking stats, but like eyeball test guys belong, right? Walk. That’s kind of what I said, Nick. You just agreed. I just was disagreeing with Cory’s point about Oh. Oh, yeah. It is. No, Pierce. We’re seeing Pierce make an impact. Yeah. But, you know, we’d have people argue last year about, oh, you didn’t need to take a defensive player in the draft. Look, this guy only has four sacks. Yeah, but he’s he’s impacting the game for sure. He was impacting last year. Pearson Walker, their n their numbers look pedestrian at best. They look like bus on paper. Watch the games. They’re impacting the game and the future looks bright. And and again, time will come where those numbers the numbers will follow what they are doing on the the numbers will come is what I’m trying to spit out in a stupid way. I mean, I’m just looking at the I’m much more of a pressure versus sack. Like sacks are valuable. Um but you don’t they’re not as predictive where pressures are predictive and if you are a pressure player, sacks should come. Uh and right now you have Pierce tied for fourth in pressures this season at 12. You have Walker at eighth uh with eight pressures, but these guys have substantially less total snaps than the rookies that they’re going against right now. Carter has 347. Now, he’s far and away 27 pressures. He looks like the again edge rushers, early ones especially. You can tell right away Carter’s a guy he’s a dude, but after that, you got Williams with 14, as a rock with 14. Those guys have 100 to 150 more snaps on defense this season than what Pierce does. Uh now some of that is by necessity with Dallas and some of that’s the run defense of Mikel Williams having a lot more opportunity because they’re not really trusting Pearson that front currently. Uh but again like the per snap pressure rate is high. Those guys I mean they’re first round edges and you can see it in the the tape and the stats uh back it up. And and Corey, you and Nick are circling around the same point here. You you really are as far as you know talking about impact. Yes, you can see the impact early if you don’t necessarily see the numbers. We would like to see the numbers follow the impact. We like what we see from James Pierce Jr. and Jaylen Walker despite the numbers right now and they are that’s the thing. The numbers are are fine. I think um but I mean like most people are going to look at their page and go tackles and tackles and sacks. They’re not there. What I think I think Pierce has like four four tackles and maybe two sacks. Yeah, his impact on the game has been much greater than that. And the the the production, the numbers, the back of the baseball card numbers will come because it is hard for rookies to pile up numbers. It is the rookie edge rushers. I mean, your your defensive player of the year last year had four. He had four sacks. Uh your rookie and Jared Vers last year, I think he had four. The pressures were crazy. The kid Leatu Latu, you know, his he made a huge impact for the Colts last year and his numbers were me. Uh, so it it it definitely definitely comes up on that. Um, I saw one more thing on here. Real quick to Corey, I’m just the semantics. I’m annoying. Um, but I’m following the data, draft trends, historically there is positions that take a lot longer and you’re not drafting them for their rookie year. Edge is kind of in the middle ground there, but like offensive tackles, give him three years, you know, like you I’ve seen rookie offensive tackles, Andrew Thomas, Scott, he’s probably the best left tackle in football right now. Him and Tristan Wors, he was dreadful his rookie season. Those big boy positions, even though they’re coming from blue blood programs, they take time. Edge, not as much. Yeah, again, it’s the strength versus the quickness stuff. I mean, yeah, you can be a 22, 23 year old man, and there’s exceptions, of course. They’re they’re always exceptions. The Orlando Paces of the world, those guys are exceptions. Yeah. Of, you know, you’re going against guys that are 28-y old men in the trenches that can bench press a house and, you know, squat a semitr even if they’re not all that great. The example on the other hand, Scott, for this Falcons team is Rook this year. I mean, he was on the back of milk cartons last season and now he’s been one of the best pressure oriented players. Zack Harrison, here comes Zack Harrison in his third year. Yeah, exactly. So, that’s just I’m just again getting into some of the actual like nitty-gritty of the points, but yeah, no offense, uh, Corey, and appreciate your comments. So, on that note, we are going to get out of here. We’re at 1 hour and uh want to say thank you to several people who’ve come in like Curtis, AJ’s Pokemon cards, Denver, Luke, Zack Hubard, Jacob, I think I missed this one. Jacob, let’s fix that one. Uh let’s fix that right now because Jacob had come in and says, “Good morning everyone. What do you think of trading for Jawan Jennings? His contract isn’t bad and a late round pick might be enough.” Is he now? Didn’t he with the 49ers? Is that the same Jawan Jennings or am I mixing up my Jawans? Because they were just calling him like that is the 49ers one. Yeah, they were just calling him Jawan and one. Are you talking about Okay, if he gets healthy u Yeah. You know, if they if they get healthy and I get healthy and and and Pierce gets healthy, maybe he doesn’t have a spot, but I think he’s an ideal number three. I don’t think they’re sellers, Jacob. I I think that would be a tough pull. The issue is that he’s the issue is that he’s a big slot Scott and Drake London does his best work from the slot. So you’re looking for a Z uh on this team ideally or or an X um which Drake London can do, but he’s the best is a big slot um right now. So Jennings kind of overlaps the areas where you don’t necessarily need for this the offensive infrastructure. Yeah, I just I I feel that’d be tough, Jacob. You’re looking in the right direction. you’re you’re definitely looking at wide receiver because the the the the top trade targets from ESPN, it had the Falcons on corners, which I agree with, but I I think it’s wide receiver as much as anything. It’s the problem is there’s going to be more there’s going to be even more competition for those guys from teams that can outbid you uh because of the draft picks on that one. So, um thank you for coming in. So, I missed you on that one. And then finally, thank you for Dantz for becoming a new member. Appreciate y’all. Uh, I’m going to get out of here. Keep your notifications on. I’ve been putting up the new member videos. Been doing a couple of those a week now and those will increase as news breaks. Want to make sure that you get it along with a quick hot take from me. So, if you want to be a member, look in the description of the video where you’re watching. Uh, it will be in there. And I say thank you to all of you who are already members. Otherwise, we will see you Monday morning after the game. I’m home though. You know what? I’m home. So, I don’t have to travel this weekend for a change. So, I might go live immediately after the game. We’ll see. So, like I said, keep those keep those notifications on and we will see you sometime this weekend or Monday, sometime after the game and the Falcons should take care of business. If they don’t, we’ll go scorched earth and this little vein of my forehead will pop. They’ll take care of it. Nick, any final words before we get out of here? No final words. I do got to fly. I appreciate you guys bearing with me with the internet stuff. I’ll probably when I do end up moving to the guest room, I’m going to maybe sneak the modem uh up there as well and have the hard line so won’t be an issue. Um but for now, we’re at the whims of Exfinity and everything. So, appreciate everyone. Have a good one. And uh Falcons are going to win. Falcons, we’ll take care of it. Nick, get out of here. I’m going to say hello to Tony real quick who had a question. I’ll talk to you later. Nick is out. Tony, one of our members. Want to make sure I get to you before we get out of here. Uh thank you, Tony, for being a member. He says, “Good morning, fellas. I think all the criticism on on PennX is not accurate. He does need to work, but he’s facing a lot of unfair scrutiny. Have 10 games. I think it’s nine actually. Nine games of experience. Give him a chance. I know. No more pits screens. U I agree with you on all of this stuff. Is Penn there’s things are so binary, Tony. You know, it’s like, oh well, Pennix doesn’t have a bad game. Oh, you’re a hater. You don’t want it. Doesn’t mean I want him gone. You know, there’s room for improvement. Things will improve. of does he think he played his best game? So why can’t we say he didn’t play his best game? He didn’t. It’s okay. Doesn’t mean I’m out. Uh this again everything is so polar binary when we when we have these discussions that there is room for discussion. And Michael Penn he struggled mightily with pressure on him last week. It was one of the worst pressured games in a couple of years. 0 for9 two sacks and an interception I think is what it was when facing pressure. That’s That was really poor. Got to get better at that. Zack Robinson has to do a better job of putting him in situations to succeed. And the Falcons have to push the ball down the field. They have to. If some of those incompletions come because they’re they’re throwing it 40 yards downfield, so be it. Good things happen when you let it rip. The the it’s almost impossible to cover Drake London down the field. If you throw an accurate ball, he’s either going to catch it or he’s going to get pass interfered with. Same with Kyle Pittz. Yes, I want to see Kyle Pittz get the ball in motion on slants. Uh I I want to see him catching it in stride and dragging guys along. He’s a 245 pound grown man and anybody who can stay anywhere near him in coverage is at least 40 pounds lighter than him and smaller. It’s a mismatch. It’s why they got him. I don’t want to see screens. I want to see him and Drake London blocking for a little scat guy like Darnell Mooney who can who can make things move out if we’re going to throw those screens out wide. I agree with you 100%. Uh I think that’s just about it. And Austin says uh take advantage of KP size. Yeah, for sure. I don’t want him catching the ball with his feet planted. That’s that’s not his game. So, uh, Eric, is Raheem on the hot seat if they lose to Miami? Scorching, scorching hot. Miami bikini weather hot if they lose to Miami without a doubt. Uh, Atlanta boy says, “If he gets fired, who do you replace him with?” I don’t know. It’d be temporary. Uh, I don’t know that you do that in season. You might just say, “Hey, he he was he wants to take the Oklahoma State job. Go ahead and take it.” But is it is it TJ Yates? Fellow Pop alum. I didn’t see Jay in here. Uh my my fellow pope alum Jay grad Jay um Gribbon Gibbon Gribbon Jay sorry Jay uh graduated a year behind me. TJ was probably 10 years behind me at Pope. Um this was before the ages of YouTube and stuff when I was doing recruiting. He shoots me an email and says, “Hey, I heard you went to Pope and still live in that district. Is it okay if I drop my tape off at your house?” Sure. So, I watched it and hey, this this kid’s pretty good. The Pope quarterback just stopped by my house and dropped off his highlight tape. That’s how long I’ve been doing this. So, we’re out of here. Um, let’s see. That’s about it. Let’s call it a day. It’s going to be a gorgeous day out there. Get outside, enjoy some weather, and then some some college football before the Falcons take care of business against Miami. Keep those notifications on. I’m planning on being around. I’m not traveling this weekend. I travel a lot of weekends either with baseball or, you know, baseball. So, I’m around. We might go live. We might just do a gut reaction. And then we had a lot of fun doing those the other night. Might do it again. But for sure, we’ll be here Monday morning. Either way, you’re only 32, Scott. No, I’m like 32 years older than uh than those guys. Uh put a change that three to a five and you got my age. I’m actually 52. 53 is right around the freaking corner. So, thanks Christie. Getting out of here. Uh, that’s all I got. Appreciate you hanging with me while we go add here to finish up the show. Y’all have a great rest of your week. We’ll see y’all next time.

The Atlanta Falcons have made a significant roster change heading into the Week 8 clash against the reeling Miami Dolphins. Nick and Scott get into it on this episode of the Falcons Podcast.

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