Atlanta Falcons Road Woes EXPOSED | Can Michael Penix SILENCE Critics Against 49ers?

Atlanta Falcons Road Woes EXPOSED | Can Michael Penix SILENCE Critics Against 49ers?

The next step in Michael Pennix’s development is stepping up on the road against the 49ers in week seven. 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 Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. And uh today’s episode we will be breaking down can weather Mike Pennix get right on the road. Uh can the Atlanta Falcons handle the 49ers play action passing attack, especially with George KD uh returning to the lineup and what’s going on with Ray Ray Mloud. We’ll get into all of that on today’s episode, but I appreciate each and every one of you that is here with us as an everydayer. That means you make this podcast your first listen each and every day. And all you have to do to become an everyday or subscriber, follow for free on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast to get the latest episode as soon as it is available. And of course, if you know who I am, I am your very humble host, Aaron Freeman, aka Mr. Drew, aka Sirius Black, aka Mr. AKA, and I’ve been covering the Atlanta Falcons for over 20 years, formerly at filefans.com. RIP still going strong here on this podcast. So, let’s talk about Michael Penn on the road. I think the next stage in his development is going to be playing well on the road because I looked at the numbers and they’re not that good when it comes to Michael Penn playing on the road. Yes, we have a small sample size. Two road games this year, one road game last year against Washington. But when you look at some of the efficiency metrics of Michael Penn, whether you look at quarterback rating, whether you look at success rate, he’s basically been one of the worst road quarterbacks in the NFL, uh, when it comes to these efficiency m metrics, right? You look at passer rating this just this year in the two road games he’s played this year, right? and you look at all the qualifying quarterbacks that have at least made 28 pass attempts on the road so far this year heading into week uh seven uh through six weeks. Uh Michael Penn is dead last out of the 36 quarterbacks that qualify in quarterback rating. He’s 33rd out of 36 quarterbacks uh in success rate. Only uh Dylan Gabriel, Joe Flacco, and uh Cam Ward or below him. And I imagine based off of Thursday night’s game, uh, if I can’t even remember who was the road team in that one, but uh, you know, maybe Flaco’s moved up the rankings, but we’re only factoring in through the first six games. But you also have the Washington game from last year where if we use Penn’s 39 pass attempts as a qualifying benchmark, you know, Pitt would have rated 43rd out of 46 quarterbacks in terms of quarterback rating on the road. He would have been 45th out of 46 in terms of success rate. So again, long story short, he has to get better on the road. Uh, and of course, we know that, you know, performing on the road is something that young quarterbacks often tend to struggle with. You look at the last two seasons, the top 50 quarterbacks that have had at least 50 pass attempts on the road in that combined time. Only two of those players in the top half of that top 50, top 25, have been drafted in the last three years. That’s Jaden Daniels and that’s Drake May. And you look at the two rookies from this current year, 2025, that have played that qualify, Dylan Gabriel and Cam Ward, they rank 49th and 50th respectively in that metric. And then every other quarterback taken in 2023 or 2024 is in the bottom 25 as well. We know Matt Ryan also struggled early on the road throughout his NFL career. You look at his success rate, just looking at success rate in his rookie year on the road, he was 24th in the league that year. In 2009 he improved the league average about 16th. 2010 he was 19th. 2011 he was 15th. And then finally in 2012 uh he had that breakthrough and he was number one in the league in success rate on the road uh in that fifth season. So we’re hoping that that is something that you know Michael Pedix we can get you know there sooner than five years. But um you know, we’re hoping that some of the recent changes that the Falcons have made, uh Zack Robinson being on the sideline, the increased effectiveness of the quick game, perhaps the play action passing game, those are going to be some things that will be able to facilitate and fuel Pix being able to perform this weekend on the road and those road woes can go away. We don’t need Penn to, you know, light the world on fire this weekend against the 49ers. you know, the expectation is the run game and the defense will do the bulk of the heavy lifting. But if we can get like a, you know, a one pump performance, uh, you know, we don’t need two pumps, but, you know, at least get a one pump solid game manager performance in the all in the run game and the defense come to play. That should be more than good enough for Penn to have a better performance on the road. Now, the 49ers are going to be the first of several road opportunities that Penn is going to have over the next two months. Right after this week, the Falcons will be back home against Miami in week eight, but then they have a twoame road stand starting first in New England and then of course off to Germany uh to face the Indianapolis Colts. Then you go back home against Carolina and then you have a two-game road stand to finish out in November against the Saints and the Jets. Now those Saints and Jets games, those are arguably the two weakest opponents that the Falcons face on the road this upcoming season. arguably the two weakest opponents that the Falcons face on their season, on their entire schedule, home or away at this stage in the season. Uh, and so you have five opportunities basically over the next 17 weeks to become a road warrior. Uh, two against those lesser opponents in the Saints and Jets, and then three against less, you know, not so weak opponents in the 49ers, Patriots, and Colts. And basically, if the season ended right now today, uh, as I’m recording this, the 49ers, Patriots, and Colts would all be playoff teams. And so, you know, essentially, if we’re oversimplifying, the hope is that you can get a playoff caliber performance from your young quarterback on the road against those three upcoming opponents, especially if you can win those games. And of course, the 49ers are arguably the most important of those three games. If you’re going to win one of those three, that’s probably the one that you most want to win just because it will have implications for tiebreaking purposes potentially at the end of the season if and when the Falcons are hopefully in playoff contention. So, we will see if Michael Penn and this Falcons offense can step up on the road, but we will continue today’s episode talking about the Falcons defense. And we’ll get into uh you know, maybe despite their dominant performance this past Monday, they still might be a little vulnerable to the play action passing game. And will George KD’s impending return, you know, exploit that vulnerability? Today’s episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Uh October 10th was World Mental Health Day and this year we’re saying thank you therapists. Life can be tough on and off the field. And behind millions of mental health journeys are therapists who showed up, listened, and helped people take a step forward. BetterHelp is shining the spotlight on those connections while also making it simple for you to find support whenever you need it. If you’re ever if you’ve ever thought about trying therapy, this is a perfect reminder that help is out there and the right therapist can make all the difference. And with BetterHel, it’s easy to find the right match. Uh you just fill out a simple questionnaire and BetterHel does all the matching for you. 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So download the prize picks app today and use code lock on NFL and you’ll get $50 in lineups after your first $5 play. That’s code lock on NFL for $50 in lineups after your first $5 play prize picks. It’s good to be right. So as we know, every week presents new challenges for NFL teams. And you know, I learned the lesson last Monday with the Falcons having earned now the benefit of doubt. who talked a lot about a respect is given is earned not given and the Falcons earned that based off of their performance on Monday night. So we will give them the benefit of the doubt. However, you know, one of the things that was noticeable in that game despite all the success the defense had is that the Bills did have some success. If there’s any positive you can take away if you’re the Bills offense in that game uh in this game was that they had a lot of success with play action. Right. The Bills had a perfect passer rating, 158.3, uh, on play action passes against the Falcons on Monday night, thanks to a 45 yard bomb to start the game. They had a 67% success rate, which was tied for the fifth best in the NFL in week six on play action passing plays. Um but you know despite those issues, the Falcons defense struggling specifically in this Bills matchup relatively speaking on the play action, the Falcons have generally been good against play action this year, right? They have been top 10 in success rate allowed on play action this year. So again, another sign that overall health of the defense is good. It was just that one sort of crack in the armor against the Bills. Now they face a 49ers team this weekend that is 10th in success rate off of play action so far this year. And the 49ers were the tied for the best in terms of success rate off play action just in week six. So they actually outperformed the Bills this past weekend in play action. Now they were tied for number one in terms of success rate off of play action because they were tied with some team. I don’t know if you guys heard it was the Atlanta Falcons. They’re coordinated by some offensive coordinator named Zack Robinson. You know, as we said, play action was actually successful for the Falcons last week. But, um, you know, the the challenge for the Falcons is going to be, um, you know, against this 49ers team. If they get George KD back, is that going to be a huge boost to the 49ers play action passing attack? That was a huge boost to their play action passing attack last year. You guys may recall the episode we did back in June breaking down Kyle Pittz’s usage in the Falcons play action or lack of usage in the Falcons play action last year. And we compared Pitts’s usage in play action with George KD’s play action usage last year in large part because KD was the best tight end in the NFL uh at least in 2024 with a league leading 425 receiving yards off of play action among tight ends. And so we know KD can be valuable in that arena. We know M. Jones, who we’re expecting is going to start for the Falcon, I’m sorry, for the 49ers this weekend at quarterback, has also been pretty efficient in play action. You look at where he ranks in certain certain efficiency metrics off of play action, 10th in success rate so far this year, third in completion rate, eighth in passer rating. So pretty across the board, top 10 efficiency when it comes to play action. And right now the 49ers have a very efficient play action pack attack. But the hope is if you’re a 49ers fan and obviously the opposite of what you’re hoping for if you’re a Falcon fan is that they will go from not just efficient but to explosive with the element now that they bring George KD back into the offense. And so when I look at this matchup and I’m concerned if I’m building a game plan for the 49ers to attack this Falcons defense that has played so well this year and sort of looking at some of the okay where are the cracks in the armor that we can exploit that number one factor is going to be establishing the run right we know that’s a major that’s one of the few weaknesses that this defense has shown. Falcons are currently 31st in success rate allowed on run plays this year. And I’m going to dial up play action, right? Hopefully that’s going to help pe keep this pass rush at bay, this Falcons pass rush at bay if I’m the 49ers. Uh and hopefully we’ll be able to create some, you know, shot plays, especially with KD in the lineup. And hopefully that will avoid the third and mediums, the third and longs that we know Jeff is very uh you know licking his chops to sort of dial up the blitzes that we saw throughout Monday uh against this Bills that really cause problems for Josh Allen. If it caused problems from Josh Allen, it’s probably going to cause problems for M. Jones as well. And you know, I I know historically the 49ers are always not the best team when it comes to handling the blitz uh and whatnot. So that is something that you want to avoid if you’re the 49ers by mitigating that by being able to get into, you know, manageable third down in distances to help mitigate that blitz. And so obviously if you were Jeff, the opposite is true. Your defensive game plan is we got to stop the run, which is something the Falcons have yet to do so far this year. But you don’t want to necessarily, you know, sell completely out to stop the run so that you become vulnerable to the play action. Um, and you know, maybe that means that we see a little bit more man coverage this weekend than we saw the Monday night compared to what we were expecting. And the the reason for that is that there’s at least some evidence to suggest that man coverage is slightly more advantageous against play actions than zone coverage. you know, it’s not overwhelmingly so, but maybe it leads to you leaning a little bit more on your man coverage on early downs to try to mitigate whatever play action that the 49ers try to throw at you on those situations. Uh, particularly second down. I know that’s something that the 49ers run a lot of play action on second down. Um, you know, I think if you can get Michael Penn and the Falcons offense to get off to a fast start on the road, you know, that will help mitigate some of the run defensive issues, which will force the 49ers hopefully, like we saw with several teams these last couple of weeks to kind of abandon the run in the second half of games. Um and then you know if you’re um without the threat of the run game you know that puts potentially hopefully the 49ers in that sort of come from behind mode uh and then their play action passing becomes a lot less impactful. So you know it all works in conjunction offense and defense coming together uh to build some success for the Falcons. So we’ll see you know which team has success executing this game plan. Well, you know, um, again, as I said, we’re giving the Falcons the benefit of the doubt for the very first time here on this podcast in the year of our Lord at 2025. Uh, and we’ll be optimistic uh, for once that they will be able to execute their game plan versus the 49ers executing their game plan. So, we’ll see. But, uh, you know, that’s why they play the game. So, uh, speaking of playing the game, uh, is Ray Mloud going to be playing any games anytime soon? We’ll talk about that as well as some other injury updates to wrap up today’s lockdown Falcons. 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Riett’s Golong isn’t just another ED pill. It’s a total game changer for confidence. Golong combines two doctor trusted medications in one dual actual formula so that you can get hard and go the distance with effects that can last up to 36 hours. That’s confidence all day, all night. So you can get your pump on by going to rouette.com. If you’re ready to boost your confidence in the bedroom, head to rugie.com. Use promo code locked on NFL for 15% off your first order. That’s rugg.com promo code locked on NFL. And make sure you use our code so that they know we sent you. So we are getting our Thursday practice report and three players stand out. Ray Ray Mloud, Jake Matthews who both missed practice and then Darnell Mooney who was limited in practice. Now, Ray Ray stands out the most because he was listed as a Don injury other, right? And there’s been a lot of speculation since he was a healthy scratch on Monday night against the Bills. And I’m not going to spend too much time speculating on it, but I’ve seen the rumors that um you know, it’s related to Ikillyard’s dismissal given that Ray Ray and Iard go back many years to their time in Pittsburgh. I believe back to 2020. Um, you know, it also could be dealing with, you know, having a much more reduced role in the offense and maybe Ray Ray’s express some frustration over that. And again, I, you know, whether that’s true or not, I can’t confirm or deny, but they seem plausible, at least at face value. And then when you throw in this quote unquote other designation, it kind of adds fuel to that fire because this the first time I’ve ever seen an other designation uh on an injury report. But ultimately, we’ll kind of see how it all plays out with Ray Mloud. you know, basically uh with Darnell Mooney absent and we’ll see if, you know, Moody can make his triumphant return to the lineup in week seven, but you know, I think the Falcons going to be smart and cautious with Mooney given, you know, we haven’t really got to see him. So, I think they’ll be conservative with that. And so, uh, they may, if they do play him, he’ll be on the pitch count in in all likelihood or they may sit him for another week. Um, but you know, that’s led to a lot of speculation about, you know, are the Falcons going to make a move at the wide receiver position. As I’ve said before on the podcast, I don’t think it makes a ton of sense for the Falcons to be that proactive on the trademark at wide receiver. You know, again, you have a thousand yard receiver on your team already uh for that number two spot. And Darnell Mooney, you just got to be patient and wait for him to be healthy. But obviously, that has not been the case uh you know, through six games so far this year. and it may not be the case through seven or eight games, but again, there’s still a lot of football left to be played. So, we know that hamstring injuries can linger. So, it is definitely a legit concern, but I do think it it’s valuable for the Falcons to be patient. um especially since like you know you don’t have draft assets and so um essentially your hope is that if you were to trade away draft assets you would be basically making a lateral move when it comes to Darnell Moody and and I presumably and adding that sort of high level number two uh trading draft assets to get a lesser player than Darnell Moody doesn’t make a ton of sense to me in my eyes and then you know how long is it going to take that new wide receiver to kind of click with Michael Penn we know that like we saw it in the first three games of the season with Mooney who missed all the training camp and him and Penn weren’t really on the same page. Now again, Penn and and none of the receivers are on the same page in that Carolina game, but um I don’t think it’s going to be like, oh, you trade for a wide receiver next week and then boom, that guy’s, you know, starting and getting 100 yard games in two weeks. Um and so it’s like, okay, if you trade for a guy, does it take him four to six weeks to kind of get up to speed in the offense and then you really only have him for the home stretch? And it’s like, okay, I get it. If you’re trying to make that push, I get it. Uh, but at the same time, like, I don’t really see as much upside as maybe other people uh see in that regard. So, we’ll see if the Falcons, you know, what goes on with the wide receiver position. We’ll see what happens with Mooney and Mloud uh in the near future. They have a million young wide receivers on the roster. I think it makes sense, you know, to continue to see what you have in Casey Washington. And you know, of course, we we know that the the superstar, the future Hall of Famer, and Nick Nash is still on the practice squad. So, you got Chris Blair, you got you got several players that we’ve been talking about for several months as guys that we’re hoping to see contribute more. So, you know, I don’t feel like you have to bring in outside help. I understand why other people think you need to bring in outside help. The like the Falcons do have, you know, could upgrade their wacker receiver core. I want to make that clear. But it’s just to me when you have limited draft assets and you need to be smart about building long-term for this team and the type of draft capital that you would have to give up to add, you know, Jaylen Waddle is a player that people talk about. It’s like, oh, you know, you could trade for Jaylen Waddle and he and Drake London could be a great number one and two punch. Well, a the Dolphins aren’t going to trade trade Jaylen Wadd. That’s that’s part of it. and then B it’s like yes that may yeah you don’t really need to get to B if they’re not gonna trade him. Uh we we’ll leave that aside, but I’m sure that draft talk and I’m sorry, trade talk will be a continued conversation for the next, you know, two and a half weeks. But um the last little tidbit is going to be Jake Matthews, his status. Uh he was out again on Thursday and we’ll see if he’s ready to go. he suffered that ankle injury midway through the Monday night game. And as we discussed on the Thursday Falcon squad show, you know, Jake, given his track record of, you know,und whatever 80 plus starts in a row that he’s had going all the way back to the 2014 season uh consecutive starts. He’s going to do everything in his power to play this Sunday. And so we’ll see. My suspicion all week long was going to be that he was going to be a game time decision. So, we’ll probably find out an hour and a half before Sunday Night Football whether or not Jake Matthews is going to suit up. So, it’s it’s kind of a wait and see situation. So, you know, we’ll have to sort of see, but basically, we we know that if Jake can play, he will do everything in his power to play. And basically, the only thing that’s going to stop him um from playing is a, you know, a a fleet of doctors that are basically saying, “We we can’t put you out there. It’s not in your best interest.” So, we’ll see how that all plays out. Obviously, we’ve discussed as well on the Falcon Squad show. Um, you know, the potential impact of that with Mike Jerrell. Talked about that a little bit earlier this week on the All 22 review. You’re you’re losing a lot uh if you go from Jake Matthews to Mike Jerrell or Jack Nelson. I know the Falcons have mentioned Jack Nelson. I would be surprised if the Falcons roll Jack Nelson out there uh to make his NFL debut, but you know, presumably he could be active. Um, so that will be something that we’ll keep an eye on. But, um, yeah, it’s it’s going to mean then as suggested on the Falcon Squad show, you got to rely a little bit more on your running game. You got to rely a little bit more on that play action passing attack um to hopefully mitigate some of the issues that you’re going to have at offensive tackle uh if you do not have Jake Matthews this weekend. So, that’s going to be a potential challenge for Michael Penn uh and the rest of this offense to overcome if Jake Matthews is not ready to go. So, uh, that will be something that we’ll keep an eye on and we’ll be here breaking it all down, um, this weekend on Sunday Night Football or Monday morning or whenever on Lockdown Sports Atlanta as well as Lockdown Falcons in your postgame review, hour-long locked on Sports Atlanta Falcons Squad postgame and then a 30 minute rapid reaction here on Lockdown Falcons all for you. uh following that final whistle on Sunday night to see if the Falcons prevail and get their, you know, follow their impressive home victory against the Bills with potentially impressive road victory against the 49ers um this upcoming Sunday night. So, continue to make Lockdown Falcons and Lockdown Sports Atlanta your first listen. It’s all part of Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Penix faces a crucial road test against the San Francisco 49ers. Can he overcome his away game struggles and lead the team to victory? Host Aaron Freeman analyzes Penix’s road performance, comparing it to Matt Ryan’s early career. The discussion covers the Falcons’ defensive strategy against the 49ers’ potent play-action game, with a focus on neutralizing George Kittle. Key injury updates on Ray-Ray McCloud, Jake Matthews, and Darnell Mooney raise questions about the Falcons’ roster moves and potential trades.

#atlantafalcons #nfl #nflweek7 #week7 #sanfrancisco49ers #georgekittle #macjones #michaelpenixjr #rayraymccloud #jakematthews #darnellmooney #nfltraderumors

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