9-18-26 Dukes and Bell

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2:00The Strato Tech T from Viori is one of those shirts you put on once and immediately get why people love it. It's incredibly soft. Stretches with you, dries fast, and still looks sharp enough to wear from a workout to the ballpark without missing a beat. It's become my go-to T for pretty much everything. Head to Viori.com slash pod 20 for 20% off your first purchase. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. I know many of you are disappointed. I know many of you are looking to hear, to see my openings on the field Sunday. But that is not what is happening. Ed Lanna, what's going on? It's Duke's in Bell on Sports Radio 92 9-The-Game. Mark Zinno in from Mike today. We start off every day and every hour by saying, Hey, man, we're live at Hobnob. We're tonight right outside of the doors. When we're looking out, the dirty birds rally is going to go on.

3:01Now, I think fans will show up. Every year it's been a great event for the Falcons. There'll be a lot of entertainers here. Freddie the Falcons, the cheer leaders. There's a lot going on. But let's talk about what's really going on. He practiced all week. He was a full participant all week. Toa did not practice all week. Jack Strand Frost was to the side. Right? We knew that. But many of you as Mike and I have talked about all week. And Zinno, I want to hear your take on this. There's a lot of disappointed Falcons fans right now going, man, you know, after hearing Michael Pinnix earlier this week, I thought he might might start. He didn't leave out the possibility of him being active this week. The announcement was made about 30 minutes ago from Kevin Stofansky. Cooper rushes our starter. Now look, I'm never going to root against our team. I want to win on Sunday. I certainly don't want to lose against the Carolina Panthers in a division game. But I don't have any belief right now that they're going to be able to get it done,

4:02especially after seeing Cooper rush in week one. He was absolutely pathetic. And I am supposed to believe as a Falcons fan that that's going to be all better. Come Sunday at one o'clock. I'm having a hard time right now. We want to open up the phone lines at 4047-260-929. This is why you don't give us hope. Just keep them off the microphone and don't give us this glimpse of hope that maybe Michael Pinnix is ready. Zinno, I don't know where you're at on this. I know you've been wanting to get your two cents in. We've been talking about this all week. And I just, man, I think there's a level right now where a lot of Falcons fans are like, all right, well, we're all in two. This is how this thing's going to start. And we're still waiting on this guy. Well, number one, when you started out the show saying, I know you're going to be disappointed. I thought it was because I was here. That's number one. Number two. By the way, you know who was a full participant this week in practice? Who? Billy Bowman practice on Wednesday. Okay. Billy Bowman practice on Thursday.

5:03Okay. Billy Bowman practice today. You know he's not playing on Sunday? Who's that? Billy Bowman. Billy Bowman's not the quarterback. Okay, but you're missing the point. You're not the quarterback. You're missing the point. I need the quarterback. You're missing the point. And respectfully, you guys have missed the point for a while now on this show. Nah! That's hilarious. Because the ratings tell us different. But go ahead. That's all I'm saying. Go ahead. Let me clarify. Let me clarify. Please. You've missed the point on Michael Penix for a while. Not this show itself. I want to hear that even more. Not this show itself. I want to hear that even more. Yes. I will give you your due as the ratings and the champ. And you guys have earned that. So I can't take that away from you. Here's the thing with this whole panic situation that I need you guys to understand. I need you really just to kind of, you know, really embrace at this point. I'm listening. I'm not going to say anything. I just want to listen. Okay. Go ahead. The plan from the beginning was very simply this. Okay. And the plan was, is that two of us going to start until Michael Penix was ready.

6:05That was readily obvious. You and I did shows over the summer together. And we both talked about Tuesday's the starter. Tuesday's the starter. Mostly because Michael Penix isn't ready. If it was an open competition, I still kind of thought maybe two of them might have won it. But, you know, we have new information that tells us they probably wouldn't. Beyond that, that was always the plan. There were two missteps along the way by the Falcons that they need to own up to. Number one, okay. Not announcing two of the starter from the very beginning. Because guess what? You know, in Minnesota, when they announced Kyler Murray immediately as the starter. You know, nobody cared about the quarterback that helped the Carson Wentz. Totally agree. The help of JJ McCarthy. Nobody cared because we had our starter. It was clear there was no issue. You should have announced it from the very beginning. Under the, with the caveat of when Mike is ready to get a step back on a football field in a game, we'll reevaluate the situation. Right? To his or starter. When Mike is ready to play football in the NFL again, in a game, we'll reevaluate there. That's the only caveat. Number two, okay. They quote, cleared him.

7:06That was the other misstep that they made. So it's thrown everything out of works. Now what's more to blame for the ugliness of this scenario here is the fact that to a, okay, it's been complete ass since he's been here. Like he lost a quarterback job to himself, okay. And then on top of that, he had no bleak and even at that, even after losing the job and proving that he wasn't ready to play, he was named the starter and weak one and then got on no bleak injury. Now again, you guys can sit there and say, oh, we shouldn't, nobody was going to get hurt. We shouldn't know and his play was going to be bad because we have a fine. You can say that all you want, but tell me what other options were available this off season. Oh, there were other options. There were, but who was coming here? What do you mean? They didn't focus on anybody else. Because Kyla Murray wasn't coming here. What are the quarterbacks did you want to go get? Oh, we don't want to dive into the past because I sure enough. Sure enough. And by the way, if you're just tuning in, Mark Zinnell's in for Mike. We're live at Hobnob guys here in Atlantic Station. I'm going to let you finish. We're talking about the quarterback decision.

8:06Coach Daphanski announced Cooper Rushes the starter on Sunday. I know how you're feeling, but I want to announce this timing thing. This, this announcement that you're talking about real quick. Because I want to hear you out. I agree with you. I said the same thing about, hey, just, just make the announcement. What are we waiting on? And everybody said they're waiting on. Ready for this? Michael Pinnix. They left the door open, Zinnell, because I think the organization truly thought just like they'd input him on the public. Well, again, another part of the same state. The same reason they didn't put him on the public. This organization was waiting on him to be ready. And they wanted to give him the opportunity. So when you do that, they're not going to announce who is the starter. But that's the mistake. But we agree that to misstep. I don't, I don't disagree with you on that. I don't disagree with you on that. Here's the one other thing that I'll say to we're waiting on Michael Pinnix. One thing I'm not wrong about. Go ahead. Here's, here's the one thing I'll say about Michael Pinnix. That I don't know if you guys acknowledge I've been able to listen and out, you know, going to get the kids and everything from school.

9:06So if you have said this, I apologize. But look, Michael Pinnix. And I said this on the 80's E podcast. I said I do on 90's and 90 game.com and the YouTube page. This is Michael Pinnix's last chance to prove he is a starter and franchise quarterback in the NFL. It is his last shot. Because if he goes out there and plays mediocre or bad, okay, he doesn't get a 50 or option. The Falcons draft another quarterback next year and he's relegated to being tralanced for the rest of his career. A first round pick who couldn't cut it is now a perennial backup. This is his last chance to strike it big. It's not the same as Patrick Mom's because he doesn't have three soup bowls. It's not even the same as Daniel Jones because Daniel Jones got 88 million dollars this off season. Coming off of an Achilles. Coming off of an Achilles injury got 88 million dollars. So Michael Pinnix has none of those things in an NFL terms. I know Michael Pinnix got 25, 30 million dollars from Zwicky. Whatever it is. An NFL terms. Okay. That is not what Michael Pinnix has.

10:08He has none of those things. So he has every right whether you like it or not, whether you agree with it or not, he has every right to not step on the field until he is 100% ready to do the very best version of himself because that's the only one. And look, I'll go away one further. I don't know how much you believe it. The Vargas have said repeatedly. We're on the same page, we're on the same page, we're on the same page, some of that could be smoke and mirrors. Let's just say for argument, say we agree they're on the same page. To me, the same page felt like, okay. That they knew when Mike was going to be ready and it was going to be sometime before week five. And why do I know that? Because logically it would have made no sense not to put them on the public and not even to put them on IR at a minimum once the season started. And then you open the window after week one, your three week window comes back where you have to put them on the roster, right? So those are all other options for him not to play in the first four weeks, public or IR. But you know what they didn't, but while they, you know what they did because they believe he's going to be ready before week five. No, they didn't believe. They kept telling them that he's close and so they left the door open because they trusted

11:11the player. Okay, I don't, none of us really know for sure those these conversations. Let's, let's freely admit that that the level of conversations what Mike's readiness is versus what he's telling the organization. Well, why the hell else would you not put them on the public, you know? Because again, they, they are all in the same page that he's going to be ready by week three or four. That's the only thing you can come up with without having any verifiable proof. And you don't, again, you don't have to like Mike's decision, but he has every right to hold out till he is a thousand percent ready to play. Yeah. Because anything less than anything less than winning football for him means he doesn't get paid in the future. Meanwhile, the season is, no, it's not. No, it's not. The organization is the organization. The organization is the organization. Start on three. Okay. The organization. You're probably right when it's on three, it's bad to recover from. It's really, really tough to recover from, but in this division, who knows the organization, whether they would ever admit it or not, was willing to sacrifice two to three games from Mike to be ready with the hopes of going, we get out of here one and two.

12:13We're going to be fine. Well, then you know what Mike's been saying is for four weeks now. I screamed at him and I'm about to scream. It is a gap year. This is an experimental year for Michael Pinnix to figure out whether or not he can ball or not. And meanwhile, we're losing out nine years of no playoffs, potentially losing games. What's the vibe going to be down there at Mercedes-Benz on sundown? Come on, man, like really? That's what we're doing. We got to do what's in the best interest of this football team and how about the fan base that's best you know what the best interest of this football team is for Michael Pinnix to be the franchise quarterback in the short term in the long term. What is the ultimate best interest of this franchise and anybody who says otherwise does not know what they're talking about? It's not in their best interest that the draft under the quarterback exchange is here. It's not. But what if that's our life anyway? I mean, if that's the way it goes, then once you get new information that chips fall, they may, you have to make a different decision to go into a different course. But it is not in the best interest of the organization to have to draft under the quarterback. News flash.

13:14They haven't been successful since doing it since 2008. So let's not rely on that as the thing that saves that. Where's Terry Fought? No, when you need him. I mean, listen, in fact, no matter is some of the people who made those decisions that pass are still here. The ones that drafted Pinnix, the ones that drafted Ritter, the ones that drafted every. I mean, what is that? Terry. Yeah, where is Terry? This is a new front office. New front office. You're not what you think is not a new front office. Very top doesn't change. World four, seven, two, six, oh nine, two, nine. Now, whoa, whoa, got to let, let, let people in on this, want to let people in on it. I want to hear from you guys because all week there was this glimmer of hope and many of you guys have been staunchly defenders, staunch defenders of Michael Pinnix to Zinno's point. Take his time. Y'all are tripping. You and Belle. It's no big deal. You have been tripping. Meanwhile, here we go with Cooper Russia. I am so frustrated right now. I get the Cooper Russia thing is ugly, man.

14:14Look, it's not, there's no personal buying it. Play frost. I listen, when I put that on Twitter, you may as well say it. Can it be any worse? There's an argument to say it can't be, but let me ask you this much, okay? Carl, you put them out there. Yeah. If it is worse than what you see with Cooper Russia, what is the fan base saying? You become the laughing stock. We try. We're already the laughing stock. You're not the laughing stock. It's bad. After last week Zinno, do you understand? We're proud to boo their own quarterback at home next week. We didn't. Well, that's true. We didn't even get in the red zones, you know? Last week. You know what I'm with you on this? There's no justifying the result. For total touches for our wide receivers and tidings combined. It's bad. It's bad. Come on. It's really, really bad. But again, just remember, Billy Bowman was a full participant in practice all three days this week. He is not playing on studies. Listen to his out. So let me ask you a question. If you substitute penics in Bowman, why are we so upset? You can't be asking me that.

15:15I absolutely question. It's not a ridiculous question. That's a ridiculous. Nobody's talking about Billy Bowman. I'm just saying what the point is, you could be cleared to practice and not be ready to play. Zinno, it's a quarterback league. I get it, but you could be clear to practice and not be ready to play. Yeah, that's the unfortunate news. I'm not afraid. Coach, the fans can confirm scoop a rest will be the starter Sunday. All right, we're coming back. Bryant, make fatten. We'll get his thoughts on this. Be met. Join us regularly on Fridays. We'll open up the phone lines in about 15 minutes for you to chime in. Settle your thoughts because I want you with a clear head when you come on today. We're live at Hobnob at Atlantic Station getting ready for the Dirty Birds Rally. It sports radio 92 9 the game. Let's clear the air about hybrids with Kia. I live in Pasadena. So my Kia tell you ride turbo hybrid has to do a little of everything. School bags, speech chairs, a grocery run, I swore would be small. And somehow there's still room in my sister text. I'm landing in Burbank. Come pick me up. It seats seven.

16:15Has over 600 miles of range and makes the 134 feel a little less like a test of character. Space. Range. Flexibility. The Kia tell you ride turbo hybrid is built for the way LA moves. Find your way forward at Kia.com. Kia. Movement that inspires. Hey, all right. It's almost here. Are you ready? Just grabbing my shoes. That's what you said 10 minutes ago. I just wrapped the video call, uploading this giant file on my tablet, looking at my watch goop and Nana's with the group chat, and of course still lining up tonight's playlist on my phone. All at once? Yep, story of my life. That's why I switched to D-Mobile. They have the fastest 5G network. Okay, multi-tasker. I see you. Honestly, I never imagined I could do all this at once. It's awesome. Say no more, I'm totally switching. My post is taking way too long to upload. That's a sign you've got to get T-Mobile. So many reasons to join T-Mobile. Find yours at T-Mobile.com.

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18:19Ready to try a pair? Head to Viori.com slash pod20 to get 20% off your first purchase. Result supply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. It is Duke's and Bill Mark Zinno's in today for Mike. And as we get ready for the dirty birds rally over here at Atlantic Station, it starts at seven by the way. The news today is we know who's starting at quarterback. And look, we said Friday was probably going to be the day. They could have waited. I don't think there was any reason to, but this whole thing about splitting reps and you know, Kevin Stepansky, early this week's I know I was upset when I heard Stepansky before Michael Pinnick spoke. Because I thought it was just talking around all the things and it was kind of like, what are we talking about here? What are we really saying? And he said, you know, we're gathering more information. And then yesterday with Andy and Randy and their interview at flowery, he said, you know, we're going to be smart about this. And so to your point about, are they all on the same page? I think a lot of people are wondering that. But Kevin Stepansky and the staff feels like, okay, we're on the same page.

19:22We're getting all the medical information. But the thing I think that's upsetting for a lot of people is this idea that you're a full participant, which we talked about all week long, which gives you this glimmer like, okay, man, maybe he's ready. And you know, again, I would have preferred him. He left the door open this week. I think you were there. Yep. When he said, you know, I'm not counting Sunday. I'm not not taking myself out like, there's a chance. And everybody's like, okay, well, maybe this maybe this happens. Just say you're not ready. Just say, and until you're to Zeno's point, just say, hey, man, you know what, I'll see you guys in week six. I'll see you in November. I'd feel a lot better about that than this cat mouse game that we're playing. You know, this back and forth thing. So that's what we're talking about with you. BMAC's going to join us here in a sec. Is he, he's ready? Oh, he's ready to go. Okay, man, because BMAC, I know you're here to my voice. I'm just, I'm at my way to in, man. I mean, it's week two. And here we go with Cooper Rush again. And most fans are going to be like, okay, what are our opportunity or chances to win? I know this guy's won games in the NFL, but he's just been flat out bad the last few times

20:24that he's been a starter. And so here we go. We got to believe that he's going to put this offense in positive situations when we come off of week one. And I know the circumstances were a little bit different, but he got nobody involved. It was Bijan and nobody. Be, tell me what you think. First of all, it's always great to speak to you, Carl. I know Mike is not here. Mark, pleasure talking to you. You know, week one went how it was supposed to go. Cooper Rush started on the road. Let's keep it real. No one really thought Cooper Rush would go into Pittsburgh and come out with the win. Even though it was a bit closed until, you know, the Steelers defense paved the way. And now moving forward in terms of the expectations, the only thing you can expect if you're a Falcon fan is that with him having another week of apparent as QB1, he should be a little more comfortable within the office and he's at home.

21:25So hopefully that atmosphere is a bit more, you know, pleasurable for him to be able to make the necessary place. But to your point, the biggest issue and I talked about this leading up to week one was even though Cooper Rush is filling in as QB1. The cupboard isn't bare there, obviously. You still got playmakers. He only got the ball into one of his playmakers hand. Kyle Pits was a no show. Drake London was a no show. So two things either went wrong. Either Cooper Rush just wasn't seeing the few well enough or Kevin's the fanski and the offensive staffers. They weren't calling plays to get those guys going. How about a little bit of both? Probably. It's B-Mac, by the way. Brian to Mac Fadden, CBS NFL analyst. Two-time. Super Bowl champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's got a lot of experience with the ones. How much will a full week of practice for him kind of make a difference do you think comes

22:33Sunday? I think it's going to make a major difference because to your point, Cooper wasn't acting as QB1 the entire week last week. This kind of was thrown in his direction out of nowhere. So in terms of weeks of NFL preparation, you got the backup quarterback is acting as the backup quarterback. He's going to get 40 percent, maybe 30 percent of the ones reps. If that, most of the reps goes to QB1, especially situationally. So now with him operating as QB1 from Monday's intro to the game plan for Carolina. Tuesday's the off day, but then he came in Tuesday. I would imagine you know got some extra film study talking with the coaches, and then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. He's taking off the necessary reps. So with him being a seasoned vet like he is, I think he's going to be more comfortable. I think you will see a better Cooper rush week two than what you didn't see week one. Be they said that he was splitting reps this week with pinnocks. That's what coach said.

23:34So I just want to be clear like. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Why? I know why. I know why. I know why. I know why. See now, now you're coming over here. That's what I'm talking about because there was this glimmer that pinnocks is working his way back. Those were the only two healthy quarterbacks this week and they both split at least according to coach Sapinski. He's been honest about this stuff. They split reps with the first team. So let me ask you this question. I don't know if you know the answer or not, but I'm going to act anyway. I heard you talking about pinnocks. I didn't hear it. Everything. But is pinnocks dressing Sunday? No, he's going to be an active. So if he is going to be an active, I'm willing to bet that was already the plan set. That was already planned and Monday. Monday, right? I was imagine that was a plan Monday. So if he was going to be an active regardless Sunday, why is he getting any reps with the ones? It's a great question. It's a great question.

24:35Lano, are you hearing this? I hope you're hearing it. Brian McFadden played in the NFL. This is something that we have wondered about. Now, again, we're not there to watch the practices because you know these practices are closed. You get 15, 20 minutes. All right, guys. We'll see afterwards. So I don't know if he did or didn't, I'm taking coach's word, but to your point, why? If this is where we were going to be. No, if they were under the assumption that Phoenix could be cleared, that's one thing, but still you got to wait until you know that for sure instead of taking opportunities from the guy who you know is going to be active and the guy you're going to have to lean on. It's a great point for me. That's that. I don't want to say that's coaching mouth practice, but that's not the right way to handle the quarterback conundrum that you're in the midst of when you know one guy needs all the reps. Okay. The other guy has to. There's still a question, Mark, but hang with me over the other guy.

25:36Let me ask you a question. Okay. I mean, at some point in time in practice, you divvy up the periods for certain things. You can do more than one thing at a time. Like you can still work in Michael Penex with a couple of periods with the ones and not really detract away from what Cooper Rush has to do with the ones. That is possible, correct? It is possible, but the thing about weekly preparation, everything is time allowing. Critical. Critical. Yeah. So, so, so I understand trying to work him in, but if you know he's not going to be active, I'm not ruined by working him in right now. I got to work it. I got to rely on the guy. I got to get the guys who I know will have a helmet Sunday prepared as much as possible. That's, that's what I'm saying. Oh, I'm sorry, B. I'm just, Carl Zed is what's saying. I am not. I mean, I, I, do you hear what he's saying?

26:37I understand what he's saying. Did we get, did we waste time this week? No, we didn't waste time. We didn't waste time because this is kind of the plan all along. B Mac was that they had to do two things at once. They had to bring Michael Pentax along to get him to a part where he was physically and mentally ready to play. That was always the plan to go all along because they knew he wasn't going to be ready for week one. Despite what they told us, which I think was a mistake by them, they should have just came out and named two of the start of the beginning of training camp and when Mike got 100% clear, it would have been a lot cleaner. That said, we can't go back. Wait a minute. But go ahead. What's going on with Tour? Is he still in Grady? To it. Yeah. Okay, you know what? He's still in Grady. No, he's, he's, look, he's there. He's like everybody else right now. He's just not practicing. Okay. He's there. It's Brian to make that. You feel it, right? Let's talk some other things here. Football related, please. We'll get back to the Falcons. Four lines will be open when we get done with B Mac. I want to ask you about last night, man. Josh Allen, what an amazing performance. He good. Five touchdowns. Three throwing.

27:37Two. Two. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three throwing. Two. Running. I mean, he literally was Superman last night, B. He literally was. Yeah. And two weeks of play, man. Josh Allen has been amazing. Two weeks of play. I think he has nine total touchdowns. Average in what almost 40, what's clearly over 30 points in two ball games. The offense has been rolling. Joe Brady, man. Shout out to Joe Brady, man. My brow county native. Now five four, man. He has a, he did a masterful job last night calling place. Great job. The running game, the balance, you know, just passing them ball around. Josh Allen was the ultimate point guard last night, man. He was amazing, man. And any keep this high level playup for the entirety of the season. I don't know, but I can tell you this much. Good luck in trying to slow him down in that offense.

28:39Yeah, I, I mean, Jared golf threw for 327 and four touchdowns and it felt like nothing. You know what I mean? It felt like we weren't even, he wasn't even on the screen last night. So a great performance. They opened their new stadium and look, you know, it looked amazing on TV. And I don't know either, but I just think like he's in a zone. And this again, we've been saying it for the last few years. Be back. This may be the bills year. I don't know. But man, to start the season the way he has, hey, as we talk about what's going on around the NFL, man, and, and, you know, all the stuff that's happening. It's been a fun couple of weeks here to get things going. I want to ask you about the bears because we see Carolina Sunday talking about scoring. Can the bears sustain what they're doing right now, barring any injuries. We're talking about offensively. I'm talking about Caleb Williams and what they've looked like and Ben Johnson saying they want to set the scoring mark the highest ever in NFL history. Yeah, I think so. Ben Johnson is a genius in terms of creating matchups in favor of his offensive playmakers.

29:40And they scored 59 points and they high level title in coastal lovelin, lovelin, then catch one pass. Then catch one pass. And many felt like he was probably the best pass catcher in that offense in terms of the expectations how he finished in 2025. So when you talk about the bears in their level of play, I'm not saying listeners, I expect. I believe they can score 50 points per ballgame. I'm not saying that what I'm saying is I expect for this team to be able to score points more than half of the league weekly. And we're going to we're going to really get a great test for the bears with Minnesota with how they. The pressure on opposing quarterbacks, but the thing that gets me going with the bears and why I believe in them so much. Is because of Caleb Williams. Like when you have a quarterback, when you have a dude at the quarterback position. Say that louder being about when you have a dude at the quarterback position, you're going to have to say that's basically why we highlighted the Buffalo bills like we did because they have a dude at the quarterback.

30:42Caleb Williams is a dude and I do as much about football on any level. If you do not have a quarterback, it feels like you have to drive 150 yards this score instead of 100. Welcome to our life. And you know that's there you have it. Listen, that's that's that's where we're live. Yeah, right. I mean, it's a struggle. It takes longer, but when you have a quarterback, it only feels like you got to go 60 or 70 because it happens with ease. And that's why I'm so high on Chicago because I'm a believer in Caleb Williams because he is a dude. He can throw it. I said to do CBS Sunday. I said watching him play is like watching Steph and Curry play basketball with Curry. There's no such thing as a bad shot with him. There's no such thing as a bad throw. He can make throws from anywhere on the football field any given time. Well, he's going to have to win Brian Flores. Blitz is as 77% like he didn't week one.

31:42So we're going to find out the irresistible force versus the movable object here on Sunday in Minnesota. But you know, I think the other game I wanted to ask you about was the commanders and cowboys. I mean, how much of a hole is it when both of these teams lost their week one opener, both of these teams lost division games. Now they got to play a division game again in week two. Loser, this game starts O and two and O and two in the division. I mean, I don't think we have must wins in week two, but damn sure feels like one. You know what? It might not be a must win because of the week two, but it's a gotta have it. So you're a point. I love it because both teams first two games against the vision point opponent. And you want to start O and two, but yet O and two in your division. And that's why this is going to be a must watch, but I'll tell you this much. Even though the commanders kind of fought back in that game against Philly, I believe more in in the cowboys in this matchup. And here's why George Pinkins will not have the drops he had week one against the Giants.

32:43That's for sure. And I think this their defense will perform better, you know, in this new regime they have going defensively. In terms of the commanders, they had issues protecting Daniels last week. I think those issues will continue because the office of line is kind of in this array with the injuries. And defensively that secondary had issues with Jalen. Jalen hurts through three touchdowns, a quiet three touchdown performance. So you talk about that press guy in his past catchers kind of underperforming. You know they want to have a moment to get right. And I think this is a great match up in their favor. Be appreciate you as always, man. You have a great weekend and we will talk to you next Friday. Thanks, Peter. Thank you. It's a pleasure. Before you let me go, I think this what we should do, Carl. I know Mike is not here with this, but we should do the faithful listeners. You know, since you guys lost the dinner bet, let's do a poll and ask the listeners where you guys should take me out for dinner. Okay. That's fair. I'm with that. I'm with that. Mike has reassured me that the alcohol tab is not going to be nearly as high.

33:48So I'm not concerned with that. So yeah, we'll put it out there. And then we'll come back to you next week. I'll make a couple of suggestions for you, be mad. I got some good spots. Please do, please do great stuff. Be we'll talk soon. All right, guys, it is Dukes and Bell. Mark Zinnell's in for Mike today. We are at Hobnob right here at Atlantic Station, getting ready for the Dirty Birds rally again. They call it Times Square because it's like in the middle of Atlantic Station. You can't miss it. But that's what that's where it's going down tonight at seven o'clock. We'll tell you more specifics about that. But we're going to come back. I know you have some things you want to add. We're going to let you hear what Kevin Stofansky said today about this quarterback situation. If you're just tuning in, it is Cooper Rush Sunday against the Carolina Pan. Let's clear the air about hybrids with Kia. I live in Pasadena, so my Kia Telluride Turbo Hybrid has to do a little of everything. School bags, speech chairs, a grocery run, I swore would be small. And somehow there's still room in my sister text. I'm landing in Burbank, come pick me up. It seats seven, has over 600 miles of range and makes the 134 feel a little less like a test of character.

34:48Space, range, flexibility, the Kia Telluride Turbo Hybrid is built for the way LA moves. Find your way forward at Kia.com. Kia, movement that inspires. Hey, all right, almost here. Are you ready? Just grabbing my shoes. That's what you said 10 minutes ago. I just wrapped the video call, uploading this giant file on my tablet, looking at my watch group and Nana's with the group chat. And of course, still lining up tonight's playlist on my phone. All at once? Yep, story of my life. That's why I switched to T-Mobile. They have the fastest 5G network. Okay, multitasker. I see you. Honestly, I never imagined I could do all this at once. It's awesome. Say no more, I'm totally switching. My post is taking way too long to upload. That's a sign you've got to get T-Mobile. So many reasons to join T-Mobile. Find yours at T-Mobile.com. Fastest based on analysis by Uclav Speed Test Intelligence, the data of national speed score results in cooperating 5G download and upload speeds for the first half of 2026.

35:57Heading back to campus? Time to upgrade your entire tech setup. Switch to Verizon, buy or bring a qualifying smartphone and get a smartwatch and a tablet on us. That's all your essential gear for zero extra dollars. Ace your classes, track your fitness and stream your favorite shows. Visit Verizon.com or your local store today. Bring an eligible phone to purchase a new phone with device payment on post-paid service plan required. Up to $6.49.99 watch and tablet device payment purchase with new mine on $20 per month tablet plan and $50 per month watch plan for 36 months required. Less up to $650 per month credit applied over 36 months per device. Additional taxes fees in terms of supply. The Strato Tech T from Viori is one of those shirts you put on once and immediately get why people love it. It's incredibly soft. Stretches with you, dries fast and still looks sharp enough to wear from a workout to the ballpark without missing a beat. It's become my go-to-t for pretty much everything. Head to Viori.com slash pod 20 for 20% off your first purchase. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions.

36:58Summer routines live or die by how easy they are. And honestly, if something takes too much effort, I'm out. That's why groons is my go-to. It's one daily pack of gummies covering my greens, vitamins and minerals. Plus it has six grams of prebiotic fiber which is more than two cups of broccoli. No mixing powders, no giant pills, no hassle. Just rip open the pack and I'm done. They taste good and it makes it easy to stay on top of my health even when life gets busy. Save up to 52% off with code podcast at groons.co. That's code podcast at gruns.co. Happy Friday everybody. It's Duke Symbel at Hobb knob at Atlantic Station. Mark Zinno is in for Mike today. We're going to take some of your phone calls and we will throughout the course of the day. I don't know how you're feeling. I hope you know how I'm feeling about this. But Z before we move further, I want you guys to hear the announcement today. This happened at about one o'clock when Kevin Stofansky made the announcement about who would start.

37:59And there are a couple of other things that I want you to hear. Now again, these are, I will say this before I let you hear it. Some of this stuff is just my interpretation. Kevin Stofansky's not said anything and I got to give our coach a little bit of grace here. He's been thrown into a crap situation. Okay. And I said all along and I've been saying this to Mike and you guys, some of you here, some of you don't. You had other options in the off season that you could have possibly brought in. We talked about Carson Wentz. There were other guys out there that when you talk about quarterback money that were fairly cheap, did you say, okay, was it an option? Did they reach out? And everybody was so caught up in, well, too was cheap. And I just feel like, you know, there is part of me that says, wait a minute, we're in this predicament because you guys wanted to bring these guys in. The strand thing, we nobody knew who the hell Jack Strand was. So an undrafted for agent doing what he's doing, did and impressed us. That's a different conversation. But when you say, hey, I don't think our starter may or may not be ready. What do we need to do and what gives us the best chance to win?

39:02You are already worried about two of being injury prone. And this so bleak thing, I'll be completely honest with you and take you behind the curtain. Zino and I were having this conversation. Dude, I don't know if that's real or not. I have no idea. All right. I just want you to hear Kevin Stuffin. I'm so frustrated. It's a Friday. Listen, here's the thing. You're allowed to be frustrated. Everybody's allowed to be frustrated. I'm not telling you guys as fans, don't be frustrated. But don't let your emotion of the frustration cloud your objectivity of what is actually going on. What was supposed to happen versus what is happening and how we got here. Like, this isn't as simple as saying Mike doesn't want to play Mike as weak, Mike is soft. It's not that simple. It's never that simple. Zino, the further we go, the more that becomes the perception right or wrong. The further we go. No, it's a conscious choice to have that perception. You believe that? Yes. Because I think everybody was giving him the opportunity and more importantly speaking of grace. He'll be back. It's cool. He'll be back. It's all right.

40:02I think more I'm telling you from what we're seeing from our listeners and fan base. More and more people are like, okay, do what's going on. And the part that I think people are coming around to is you've been cleared this week. Allegedly, you participated. You were a full participant. That's true. That happened. Okay. Hey. So then you're starting to believe as a fan. Like, okay, this is moving in the direction. Okay. And it just feels like it's not. Okay. So let's look at this objectively and everybody just. Objectively think for a second. Stop and think for a second. Okay. As I go back to the idea that is in the best long term interest for the Falcons from Michael penics to be there for an exercise quarterback. Both in the short term along that is in the best interest in the organization. What is in the best interest to Michael penics? Objectively. If you sit here, you think he's weak or he's softer. He's not. Desiring to get out there. The further they, the closer they get to the end of the season and the NFL draft without him proving himself the less chance he has to prove to them that he is the guy.

41:03Of course he wants to be on the field more than not. It makes no sense for him to wait longer. The more reps he gets, the more he gets on the field, the more he shows, the more he proves that he's the guy. The further away the Falcons get from drafting his replacement. So there is no reason for him to purposely hold out other than he's not physically slash mentally ready. And he has the right to go. You said it could physically. He's been clear. Okay. I will say it again mistake on the Falcons part. They should have never done it. If they were going to sacrifice three games to get him back by week four. They should have been willing to sacrifice four games to get him a week five. Just be done with it and pop them or put them on IR. They didn't put it on. There was a bad strategic move by the Falcons to a god in the way. And a bunch of things got thrown into the works that weren't supposed to happen because I guarantee you again, even if to a play bad. If he was named the starter from the beginning of camp, this whole thing is a different spin. More of the field of it's just one week. We're can bounce back here. We're coming home. It's not this whole chaos mess, but it does not benefit Mike guys. It does not benefit pennics to be on the bench anymore. Obviously the more he gets out there and the sooner he gets out there.

42:08And the sooner he starts the ball out, we hope. The sooner the answer is given to the organization. This is our guy. Okay. Here's your fifth year option. We're not drafting a quarter. I got to ask you this. And then I'm going to play the defense key. We'll take some of your phone calls. And again, phone lines are open. We got plenty of them for you. 4047260929. How many games is enough for you to make that determination? That's a very good question. I don't know the answer to that. We don't know the answer to that. But that's the problem. I'll tell you this much. Okay. That's the problem. Nine games for Joe Burrowin is rookie year before you heard himself. Was enough for us to see as Brian McFadden said. That's it. Dude. He flashed. Has pennics flashed enough for you? No. And that's the point. I'm just saying. I'm saying is it nine games? Is it six games? Do we take the totality of the nine games he's played already and add in 12 games from this year? No. All we know. It's like the definition of pornography back in the day. We'll know when we see it. Right. If it flashes. We'll know when we see it. If panic is the guy. We'll know when we see it. It'll just be readily apparent. And that's that. But again, it does not benefit him to stay out long any longer than he absolutely needs to.

43:19But it does benefit him to be 100% because if he pulls up or he's unsure of himself or he has hesitation and he makes mistakes. We're going to remember all those. Can we knock it? Let him lay it down. No, we're not. But can I say this? He's a quarterback. There will be mistakes made. None of these guys are perfect. It's not going to be a perfect situation. Whether it's now it's six weeks from now. He's just got to come back and play. Bro, it's never going to be perfect. Guess what? The protections are not going to be perfect. There will be drop balls. There'll be missed opportunities. That's the position. But how you overcome that is what this is about. And so this idea like we're going to practice until it's absolutely perfect. And then I make my return like it's ridiculous. Let's hear Kevin's to fanske on the starter. This was the announcement at one o'clock. I got to be about our business on Sunday. Quarterback wise Cooper will start. Jack will be the backup. We'll continue like I've told you guys all along. We'll work through it. Feel good about where we are and feel good about putting a plan together to go find a way to win. And that's what we're charged to do.

44:25Can I ask you something? How are you going to be a full participant all week and then being active in Jack Strand is the backup. Again, how again, how sway here here is the issue with the strategic move that they made. If you were to hit the rewind button again, you put them on pop, right? He can't practice with the team. The minute he practices by rule he has to come off. But the only way to get him to progress and develop, leave him out there is put him through the reps. And I listen, I agree with you. And I asked this question all off season to Kevin Stofansky and everybody else. What's the difference between 20 practices at a level of 25? What's the difference to 25 27 27 30? What's the difference in 20? I don't know. Nobody knows that answer rather than Mike. And I don't think we're ever going to be able to verbalize that answer. And that is frustrating. I agree. But the only thing I can defend is his decision to make sure he is absolutely unequivocally wholeheartedly and dominantly 100% ready to play ball.

45:31Because when he steps out there, the rest of his NFL career is on the line. But here's the deal. And I don't disagree with that. But it ain't going to be perfect, bro. I'm sorry. We're going to have to judge it for what it is. It's not going to be perfect. It's just not wrong. It's not going to be perfect. And maybe there is such thing as making perfect enemy or good. I understand that. You know, use that phrase all the time. Don't make perfect enemy or good. And maybe Mike is trying to be 100% perfect. Only he knows the answer to that. I do genuinely believe across the board that the plan. Okay. The plan is to have Mike come back in week three or four. I think that was the plan all along. And they were going to sacrifice whatever sacrifice is the wrong word. They were going to play out the string. Oh, it's three sacrifice in all right. Sacrifice. And everybody is on the same page with that. By the way, I got a tweet from a black man. There is a cut sent us Mike. Do this dropping so much in the house and sense today. I don't like it. Come on. Nobody likes it when it makes sense. You're making sense every now and then it blinds girlfriend.

46:33All right. I know what I think you might I know we're up against it. We got to take a break. Your phone calls are coming up. I'm not done. We're not done. We're not done. So it's the fanski moral. What do you have to say? I'm going to get you back to my side. Okay. And I hope you do. But where this is and where it's been all week. Come on. Come on. Bro. That's my boy. Say come on. Bro. I don't go to the dark side car. I'll do not go to the dark side. No, it's where the light is. You guys are all on the dark side. You guys are no more wrong about anything in the years of the show. I was in a meeting until I told day day this day days off today. I was in a meeting and I got out of this meeting. I turned my phone off in the meeting. And I came out of the meeting at literally 125 and I turned my phone on. I thought somebody had been shot. My phone was just going crazy. And I'm like starting to look at these messages. Now y'all know why. All right. We're coming back. We're live at Hobnob guys at Lennox City. A Friday show. We got comments for Paul to talk about. But this is front and center Falcon fans. Front and center.

47:39Compact capable. Surprisingly roomy always forward with Kia. My apartment garage in Los Feliz was clearly designed by someone who never had to open a car door. That's why my Kia Salto's just fits with room for work bags, yoga mats, groceries and whatever I accidentally buy at the Rose Bowl flea market. Small SUV, real cargo room. I got turbocharged power and all we'll drive for the days LA decides to be more mountain than city. Y'all new Kia Salto says built for the way your life actually moves. Find your way forward at Kia.com Kia movement that inspires. Hey, all right. Almost here. Are you ready? Just grabbing my shoes. That's what you said 10 minutes ago. I just wrapped the video call uploading this giant file on my tablet, looking at my watch group and Nana's with the group chat. And of course still lining up tonight's playlist on my phone. All at once. Yep, story of my life. That's why I switched to T-Mobile. They have the fastest 5G network. Okay, multi-tasker. I see you. Honestly, I never imagined I could do all this at once. It's awesome.

48:40Say no more. I'm totally switching. My post is taking way too long to upload. That's a sign you've got to get T-Mobile. So many reasons to join T-Mobile. Find yours at T-Mobile.com. Fastest based on analysis by Uclav Speed Test Intelligence, data of national speed score results in cooperating 5G download and upload speeds for the first half of 2026. Heading back to campus. Time to upgrade your entire tech setup. Switch to Verizon. Buy or bring a qualifying smartphone and get a smart watch and a tablet on us. That's all your essential gear for zero extra dollars. Ace your classes, track your fitness and stream your favorite shows. Visit Verizon.com or your local store today. Bring an eligible phone or purchase a new phone with device payment on post-paid service plan required. Up to $6.49.99 watch and tablet device payment purchase with new line on $20 per month tablet plan and $50 per month watch plan for 36 months required. Less up to $650 per month credit applied over 36 months per device. Additional taxes fees in terms of supply. The Strato Tech T from Viori is one of those shirts you put on once and immediately get why people love it. It's incredibly soft.

49:48It stretches with you, dries fast and still looks sharp enough to wear from a workout to the ballpark without missing a beat. It's become my go-to tee for pretty much everything. Head to Viori.com slash pod 20 for 20% off your first purchase. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Summer routines live or die by how easy they are. And honestly, if something takes too much effort, I'm out. That's why groons is my go-to. It's one daily pack of gummies covering my greens, vitamins and minerals. Plus it has 6 grams of prebiotic fiber which is more than 2 cups of broccoli. No mixing powders, no giant pills, no hassle. Just rip open the pack and I'm done. They taste good and it makes it easy to stay on top of my health even when life gets busy. Save up to 52% off with code podcast at groons.co. That's code podcast at gruns.co. Well, well, well, we have closure at least for a week too. It's Duke's and Bell Sports Radio 92 9 to 9 to the game.

50:49We now know who's the starting quarterback for our Atlanta Falcons on Sunday kickoffs at one pregame starts at 11 o'clock right here as Arch and West will have the call for you. And Mark Zinno is in for Mike today. We've been talking so much off the air. I wish today we, you know, you guys could hear our conversations in regards to this. But as we've been talking about it, I said the phone lines are open. I'm getting so many texts and tweets. And by the way, go ahead and give out your social media handles so people can get at you. Mark Zinno and me are KZI and I know where you can find all the all the hate. I've seen that. I've seen that. I put them up. See, Duke's of course, Mike. He's off today. He's got his social media ATL Bell 9 to 9. Follow the show at Duke's and Bell 9 to 9. And of course, follow the radio station at 9 to 9 to 9 to the game. Stay up on everything guys. Things like this. These announcements that matter. We will get to some college football. We got some big games coming up. Obviously big shout out to be Mac for stopping by talking about this situation where Cooper rushes the starter. We're going to talk to our buddy Daniel Flick from the AJC.com. He's going to join us here at about 340.

51:55But right now we want to take your phone calls. So before we get to talking to you guys, I want you to hear a couple of things from Kevin Stofanski. I just think it's important that you know you hear exactly what he said. He announced Cooper's going to start. Then Stofanski talked about Cooper being better this week and doing better. Here's what he said. I mean, I wouldn't speculate. I mean, he's practicing. So he's doing better. Oh, I was confident. That was really confident. You know, it's funny because I, after a couple of weeks of training camp and hearing Stofanski, I call it a lot of my friends who work the media and Cleveland. I work with a bunch of over the SBN for the SBN Cleveland station. And I tried to ask, tell me what's the fan she's all about. You know, is he always this way in the answer is yes. It is he is hit the rewind button again. Remember how everybody thought our art that Smith was with the media. You're going to like the fans. You're going to like the fans.

52:58Well, look, here's the deal. And this is goes for all these guys and Kevin knows this. When I don't give a damn when you can be however you want. Bella check never answered a damn thing, but he had rings to back it up. We all got frustrated and we didn't even live in Boston, New England area. We all got mad. Let's do it. I don't know anything on to the next game. When you win, you can do whatever hell you want. So I am not tripping on Kevin's handling of some of this stuff. I will say this. And again, this is my interpretation. No one has said this to me. I think, dude, it's frustrated. I think he's frustrated. You don't know why I think it goes back to what I said. He's frustrated because the plan they had got turned upside down. Everything has a different look. You know how I plan gets turned upside down. Well, you trust people. Well, and you and my line. You trust people. And when you trust a guy to say, I think he's going to be ready.

53:58And he's not ready. It turns a plan upside down. Or you trust the guy says, I want to come in here and be the starter and win the job. And well, his play does anything else. That's the other thing. Man, how are you going to be mad at to stop this night? I am going to be mad at to a man. Nobody thinks to us going to be here in the long term. You guys are tripping. So what does it matter if he's not here in the long term to get mad at him because he can be here long. Nobody went into the season like man, to a he's going to stop. I tried to give the guy a chance and y'all tripped on me. I was with you 100% I'm trying to give him a chance. Yeah, you get to for sure. Look, I will tell you this much. And I'll make a I don't know if this is a bold prediction here, but I feel like at some point in the season, there's only going to be two quarterbacks on the roster. The names are Michael Pentax of Jack strand and both of those are two are going to be gone from. I mean, the way this is gone, anything is possible this way. Ask yourself objectively after what we've seen from Cooper. Stop using that word objectively. Nobody right now is being objective.

55:04You have to you got to get you got to get your damn feelings man. No, you don't. What do you mean you're worse than my ex-wife fix this? I feel and everything fix this. I am fixing it. Fix this. Give me some leadership. Just like her. You're not listening. Give me some leadership. Fix it. That's all I want. Oh man, you guys are just hitting all the buttons right now. I am giving you I'm telling you. You know what leaders do. You know what bad organizations do. They panic after one week. You know what bad organizations do. They turn around and try to upset the apple cart and turn everything around. In one week thinking it's going to fix everything. This is a week to week league, but the arc of the season cannot be ignored. You cannot get to down after one game let alone the first game when there's plenty of time and third game. You can when you got four quarterbacks and you don't have none. Mark. Mark. Yes, I'll get you. How many games have you lose a division by last year? That would be one. Yeah, okay. But again, thank you.

56:04Okay, but if you want to play that game, you're going to end up on the wrong side of this because I'm going to show you something. Okay, that is very simple because when you go back to the way things unfolded, it wasn't week one that did the Falcons in last year. It was the five game losing streak. Okay, so there are times to turn things around in all of this. This could be a five game losing streak the way this is going. You just can't assume that Michael Pinnix comes back and everything is is charmed. I'm not assuming Michael comes back and everything is charmed by no means my ever doing that. What I'm assuming here is that Michael comes back and gets a chance to prove that he is the franchise quarterback for the future. Because ultimately that's the answer you're looking for. Playoffs would be an added bonus. Playoffs. They would be an added bonus. At a minimum, you have to know the direction of your franchise by the end of this year, whether that's drafting a quarterback or it's not. And again, that's why it's in Mike's best interest to get out on the field as soon as he is 100% ready to go.

57:04Can I keep it 200 with you and then we got to take phone calls because I know Lawrence and Allie, all you folks have been holding on. I want to hear from you guys. Can I keep it 200 with you? Send it. We are all not all of us. Many of you are talking about this from a guy who now has an extensive injury history. Yep. You really believe that you don't go into next year's draft thinking you're going to draft a quarterback anyway. No, you're not. You're not crazy. You're crazy. You're crazy. You're not because this is why we're not GM. You want to know. This is why you're not a GM. It's a hundred reasons why I should be in the room for the conversation. So you cannot go in the next year's draft not knowing that and you're unprotected whether he plays great or not. You are risking being back in this position. You can't repeat the same damn mistake when you sign Kurt Cousins draft is replacement. Then you're going to give Pentex a 50 or option to draft his replacement. What's that? Stupid is that? How stupid would it be to make? Listen, if Matt Ryan is the adult back in the room. If Matt Ryan is the guy who's supposed to be the leader of the franchise and put the football man in charge.

58:06There's no way he lets that mistake happen twice. If Pentex proves it, they're not drafting a quarterback. And if they do shame on them for being that foolish. I can not protect myself. You've got to protect the organization long term. Long term. My point is. It is, it is, we now know not going on nine years without a playoffs. All right. More with Zeno. He's in from Mike today. Real quick. Oh, let's play the sound by please where Kevin Stofansky is very short and answering the question about next week with Michael. Yeah, with Michael Pentex. Is he going to be ready next week since he was a full participant this week? What about Jack Strand? Normally you wouldn't do it now when it happened. You know, date me on a short week though. Right? Is that fair to say? I'm not going next week. Sorry. If Jack has to play, he's all good. Like he is. His rev count hasn't been too high.

59:06It would seem but he's gotten enough to where he has to play. He'd be ready to think of all of our players who are on the act of roster. We trust them. They're ready to go for the next play. Yes. Oh, they can be the third quarterback. If necessary. Let's see if we get there. I don't know about y'all. That's frustration. That's frustration. Yeah, I listen. I kind of think that the and you want him there to listen respectfully to my colleagues who show up there. To me, that's a little bit of a foolish question. What are you asking about next week for? Come on. I mean, people want to know if this guy's going to be ready. Okay, then you have to wait till Monday to ask that question. That's just a sad reality. He's not going to give you an answer. So as media members now, we're supposed to read the coaches mind. No, but no, I mean, you asked the question again. If you just told you who the starter is this week, what about next week? Okay, I just to me, it's like at this point, we all know when we go up there, what we're going to get from Kevin and what we're not. And I certainly understand and validate the point of asking the question because there is value and asking the question sometimes, even if you know the answer, we're even if you're not going to get the answer.

1:00:09But I mean, look, he has got here's the other thing called that you need to understand. Do you realize how the lengths that's to fansky and the organization as a whole are going to going to to protect Michael panics like from an image standpoint and from everything else. Now some of that doesn't look good because it is does kind of feel like it's Mike's decision. The organization is waiting. He's holding them hostage day after way on him. I don't think that's really what's happening. I understand why it comes across that way. But the idea that they are being so protective and not saying, look, Mike's not going to be ready until week five or Mike's not, you know, and also too by putting him on not putting him on IR in the pub in a way protect, you have to kind of twist it in a way protection because it keeps you believing that he is the guy that we are believing in as opposed to an afterthought that we'll deal with down the road. It's false hopes, you know, I don't know if you're necessarily wrong on that. I'm not going to tell you you're wrong on that. But the organization is going out of their way to protect him and to make sure he has every opportunity to succeed. It tells you how invested they are in him.

1:01:16These are obvious observations of my opinion. I don't think I'm saying anything that is all that grand. Let's talk to Lawrence. Lawrence, thank you for your patience. Zinnos long winded. I apologize. I'll show them. You're all sports radio 92 9th game. Hey, man. Hey, man, it's nor is. Oh, sorry. I thought it said Lawrence. My fault. Nor is talk to us. No, no, no problem. No problem. Listen, Duke. I got something for both of y'all. All right. I'm going to start with you, Duke. A couple of months ago, I called, you know, you and I went back and forth for a good five minutes on the two of Michael Pinnix conversation. And I was all four Michael Pinnix and you and I, you know, we had it. We had a lengthy debate on it. And, you know, it was a healthy debate. All right. At this point, there is nobody in the fandom of the Falcons that is going to look at this and state that they are comfortable with the situation because all off season, all we had were little tidbits and clips of Michael Pinnix telling us what?

1:02:18He's going to be ready. He's going to be ready. Yes, sir. So at the end of the day, I want to never said he was ready by week one. Yes, he did. No, no, no, no, no, let me. I got something for you in just a minute as well. I'm waiting, but I just want to be clear. Pinnix never said he is ready for week one. He did say that we have the audio with. Yes, he did. Well, we have the audio where he was with John Groot and grew nastin. You'd be ready for we were and he's like, yeah, yeah. He said it numerous times. I missed it completely. I'm sorry, Norris. Go ahead. So when it comes down to that, we can only go off of that man's word. And it's at a point right now where we've watched this team. This is this is where it transitions over to use in all right. We're at a point where we've watched this team for going on nine years to nothing but go the wrong direction. So sitting there and saying that all they're doing is trying to make the right decision for the franchise and do this and that that makes sense.

1:03:20And your mind and not everybody else's mind. It doesn't fly with us because okay, you watch Patrick Mahomes. He wasn't 100% but he was out there for his team. He gave his team his all. Norris, stay not in your home. If Patrick Mahomes has a dog poo year, okay, and the chiefs miss the playoffs. You know, he still has a starting job next year. He'll be in the NFL till he's 40 and he's got 450 million dollars. They're never moldy close to the same thing. Norris, I didn't cut you off. I'm sorry, Norris. I'm not going to cut you off. That is a ridiculous comparison. He's got two MVP's and three Super Bowls. Do you compare the guy in a rookie deal to that? Come on. Allie, you're up next. Don't sports radio 92 9 the game. Allie. Hey, man. Hey, man. I don't know who's more long winded Zeno Norris or doaks, but I'll tell you this. So all this hatred or aid at tenets should be aimed at Matt Ryan. We're promoted. We were promised competent and class and we're getting neither.

1:04:25I'm 95% with Zeno where I think this is gone completely arrive at. They're not trying to protect him. They're trying to rush him back because they have completely blown from a talent and help perspective issues with Tua and Cooper rush whatever they did in the off season to determine at that with it. Because guys, we're going to have a conversation Tuesday Wednesday. He's not coming back for green Bay on a stub week. That's crazy. Totally. Totally. Listen, you don't think that they can prepare for green Bay before green Bay. Of course, there's a whole staff there of people already prepared for green Bay. Do you think he's just getting together Monday night? Let's start looking at green Bay. He's not coming back. Come on. I've seen his dude November. November. I mean, all right. That's what we're talking about. Allie. What does it be bad? No, who the hell wants us to be bad? We were living in hell. We're all living in hell. Who wants this to be bad? Are you a Falcon fan? Have you lived? Are you serious? Who wants this to be bad? Who's driving around the A right now? I'm going, man, you know what? I'm just ready except another bad issue. These Falcons, man. Ten losses. I'm cool with it. Another miscell of playoffs. I'm all right. Are you serious?

1:05:40And Allie, it's my damn show. I'll be long-winded if I want to. You're lucky you didn't get dumped right on that moment. Thank you, Zeno, because I was about to do it. I wish you were. I was about to do it. BK, we're coming back. Z Kreflow. You guys are coming up. Be ready. 4047260929. We're talking about our quarterback situation. It is Cooper rush. And you have to be frustrated about this. Did you eat as very late? You're saying you're not getting hit until week one. So that means you'll be ready week one. I'll be ready. I'll be ready. I'm going to do everything in my power to be ready. Yeah, what is that? Compact capable, surprisingly roomy. Always forward with Kia. My apartment garage in Los Feliz was clearly designed by someone who never had to open a car door. That's where my Kia Salto's just fits. With room for work bags, yoga mats, groceries, and whatever I accidentally buy at the Rose Bowl flea market. Small SUV, real cargo room, I've got turbocharged power and all we'll drive for the days LA decides to be more mountain than city.

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1:08:47The days are longer, the calendar is filling up and I want to feel as good as this beautiful summer weather. That's why I've been loving grooves. It's one daily pack of gummies that covers my greens, vitamins, minerals and even has 6 grams of prebiotic fiber. So I don't need to juggle a complicated wellness routine on top of everything else. They taste amazing. They're easy to toss my bag on the go. Plus, they're vegan, gluten free and HSA FSA eligible for reimbursement. Save up to 52% off with code podcast at groons.co. That's code podcast at gruns.co For the dirty birds, rally, which happens at around 7 to 9 here. We're at Hobna by the way if you're coming through. It's Duke's and Bill. Mark Zinno is in for Mike. We were having an argument off air so I want to kind of get that settled. Not between me and Zinno, but Orn's back at the studio. Daydays off today as well. Mike is out. Can't believe Dayday billed on me today of all days. Yeah, well trust me, he wanted to be here. Daniel Flick from the AJC is going to join us coming up. But real quick guys, Zinno was saying that that you know.

1:09:47Michael pinnings had never really said he was going to be ready. And off air or gave him three other examples outside of the one that he played for him on air there. One with Kay Adams, we were talking about he went on a podcast with John Groot. These are months ago. We're going back April, May. This is months before we even got to camp. So I just want to clear that up. Orn as you were talking about this because you went in and you said you did some research. Yeah, so it wasn't just April and May. It was August. It's matter of fact, it was the Friday. I believe or the third of Thursday Friday before the dolphins preseason game. And I saw this tree from Maria Martin. I saw this tree from Josh Kendall, the pressure of Michael pinnings saying that he was asked about week one. He says if you stay on the track that he is where he is right now mentally and physically, he would be ready for week one. You go back to March where it was the K Adams where at the end of the interview, she's talking about like week one, you're going to be ready. And he goes like, yeah, I'll be ready. I'll be ready.

1:10:49We just played that bit from his sit down with Zach Klein from April. We had the big deal because Zach had the Miss quota originally and everybody took that the wrong way of when they thought Michael's going to be back or be ready. But Mike in the interviews, I asked him like, hey, week one is going to be the first time that you're going to get hit. Are you going to be ready for week one? He goes, I'll be ready. I'll be ready. So I don't know how you can't take that any other way except for him saying that I'll be ready for week one. Now, there's other times he said that like the goal, but it's been makes he said the goal of that time. Stu is very frequent. But he's also said, I will be ready for week one. What did you just say? I mean, look, yeah, he got out over his keys. Man, I mean, look, okay. In the process of rehab, there are always setbacks. Correct. Usually there can there's not always there can be setbacks. Usually that's the only justifiable answer you have. I mean, clearly he's want to be ready for week one was high at that point in time. And the reality is he didn't get there. Okay, I mean, even if he was ready for week one and fear ready, but you can't say that multiple times and not have people say what they're saying.

1:11:55That's what we're saying. Okay, but that's not the way again, it's calling him weak. Who's called him weak? This show called him weak. Who's the word week? I saw it on Twitter. I said in his sheet normally use the word week because you're looking at me. I'm not called him. Okay. I called him out, but I'm not called him weak. We're not. That's all right. Am I wrong? And that was weak. Not the word use. Let's be accurate. Not by car. Oh, no. Maybe. So thank you. Someone else, but not by car. Okay. So then call you have my apology. I did not. Well, it's not the first time people have lumped me in with all the craziness, but fair enough day. Look, but don't this a long time, bro. I know better of what a professional athlete goes through day in and day out. When you talk about keeping their bodies, the way that they need to keep their bodies, the commitment to be where they're at. I will never go down that road where I will go is guy sometimes do lose their desire to be what they thought they might be when you're going through multiple injuries.

1:13:02And you're having to come back and recover and recover and recover. I don't give a damn how headstrong you are. That's a struggle. It could be taxing. And so from that standpoint, that's what I've questioned mentality, the mental aspect of this, but enough about what I didn't say. Go ahead. I mean, I don't think there's any reason to question Michael Pentax's motivation. I just don't. I don't see a viable path for him to earn a second contract, particularly with this team, a second contract of note without being on the field as much as possible. It's the only way he gets paid is to prove that he can play and anything other than that doesn't net him the result that he wants. Again, Daniel Jones got $88 million of season. It's not the same. It's not the same as my homes. My homes can be 70% of what he was in 2022 when he won his last MVP and he'll still play till he's 40 and nobody will ever doubt it. He's got that he's earned that Michael Pentax has earned anything in this lead.

1:14:07That's that you just said it. He hasn't earned anything. And so he is making sure that his last attempt at earning something is 100% within his control. And that's why it's taking longer than he expected. Then we all expected. Mark, this is, you know what? You defense attorneys in your future. Let me ask you definitely in your future. Can you discredit a guy or punish a guy or get after a guy for having that level of optimism, though? That's the top part about it because the optimism right now is put us in a situation where we thought Michael be ready. And you want the guy to be as optimistic as possible because you want the guy that want to be back for week one. You want a guy that's going to be like, I want to be on the field as soon as possible. But at the same time, it feels as an optimism as put us in this place right now where we're like. Yeah. Or or no, here's the thing. Well, here's the thing because we got to jump back on the course. I promised these folks that did get on. Or here's the thing though. This was the first time this week we heard him say I really want to be back on the field. I really want to play. Yeah. This week.

1:15:08And listen, I thought I thought it was a gutsy move for him to meet with the media. One injured player is on the talk. Okay. He was a full participant. That matter. I mean he practiced. He split reps. But yet he's enacted. Right. I thought it was a gutsy move for him to do it. But I think there was a sense that he wanted to do it to vocalize how close he really is. How close is he very close to him, which leads me to believe he'll be playing on Thursday night. Now, if again, if he doesn't, there is something. No, I can't share. I'm not getting caught up in this false hope. I'm just not anymore. Well, that's right there. That's got you right there, Carl. Right. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not going to go down there. BK has been holding patiently. BK, thank you so much for listening to sports radio. 92 90 game. Your chance to vent on this situation. Hey, man. Hey, man. How y'all doing? We're good, bro. Talk to us. All right, man. So dooms. You know, I like y'all showing everything. But I'm going to be honest with you, man.

1:16:12I feel like the whole radio station is singing the blues on Michael Pendi. I understand media. You got to, you know, report the story, but I kind of feel like it's a promotion business. Because it just seems like it's okay. Let me ask you a question, BK. What is the story? You tell me what the story is. Tell me what the story is. What's the story? I think the story is, and I'm going to say this. I'm going to shut off without having Mike's in on the radio today. Okay, or Mark. Say that because who? Mark's in a, not Mike Mike Pendi. It's Mark's in a, oh, hey, my bad. I'm sorry. I'm going to say Mark. I'm not going to confuse with my male. We'll be singing the blues. I don't think anybody would ever make that confusing. But okay, go ahead. No, you're right. No, you're right. Now I'm just saying. Glad for having to go on because that's the most author in the kitchen, man. Of what we needed to hear in regards to this situation with Mike. You're not answering me. This is the question. What's the story? I'm going to say this. The story should be. He's going to be ready. Where he ready? Like, I feel like we put in a lot of pressure on it because I guess he's fans.

1:17:14When we went to the playoffs and stuff and all that, which I, I found his fan. I want to go to the playoffs, but I just kind of feel like if he's come back early and get hurt. On play, hurt like Kurt. The last year. Then they're going to be on them. You know, and I feel like yeah, they interviewed him at the top. But I feel like I don't know what else you can say. I don't know what you're saying. He's trying to be optimistic because if he wasn't, I would not think that. But I just kind of feel like man, the story should be when he's ready. Should be or what is the story? See, you're misplacing this. BK, listen. No. The story is an often injured quarterback coming off of his third ACL. And a lot of folks not just here in this city, but around the country have question whether or not he would be ready for the season. He is basically said on numerous occasions, which we've talked about that he would be everything was going perfect, at least according to him. We get to camp and the story became guys, I'm not going to be clear for another four weeks. Excuse me? Okay.

1:18:14New news. Four weeks. We'll talk to you then. Then the story became well, he's got to get medically cleared. I'm sorry. We thought it was four weeks. Zeno's here shaking his head by the way, BK, because this is the story. And then you go, all right, well, one way to get medically cleared. Then he gets medically cleared and he's still not ready to play again. This is the story, BK. Nobody on this radio station. I'm only going to talk about my show. I can't speak for Andy or Andy. I'm not going to talk about the morning shift. Certainly not going to talk about steak. Everybody on this station has their take on this. But let's not get this confused. What you want it to be and what the story is and why people are conflicted about it and why they feel the way they do is very simple. This is how we got here. Not what I think it should be. We should be optimistic. How we've been optimistic. But this has been changing the entire time. And so now you're talking about 28, 30 days of being cleared. And now you say, okay, well, medically, Mike, you're good.

1:19:16Oh, wait, you're back at practice every day. Oh, wait, you're getting full reps. This is the story. What the hell is going on? That's the story. And we have a right to talk about that story, BK. I'll just say, maybe there's not enough reps. I don't know. You know, they were talking about the surgery or whatever. I just feel like whenever he's ready, which I really wish, you know, as soon as possible. But I want to be talking about this. I don't think it's the wherever we need to go, which I think it's supposed to be. So I'm just kind of feel like man, regardless of what everybody thinks about. mentality. I feel like to do just trying to make the best of what he can do to be able to come back out there. Now I heard it was a third ACL and the first two took the first two to tell us then is in the second one is a different one. So that can explain the different passes and holds and all the other. But I just feel like man, then I'll focus down on like everybody else had expectations. I'm not going to say it, but at the end of the day, I kind of felt like when they saw in two of them or any other quarterback there.

1:20:21Just in case Michael, Peter, do you want it available to start with now? Yeah, I BK and thank you for listening. Thank you for trying to explain how you feel. We can agree to disagree. That's the story. That's why so many people are discussing this. I will go back to what I said at the open of the show. I think the Falcons made two as an organization made two critical missteps here that have led the perception of this to be what it is. Can I ask you who's the blame then? Well, there's a, you know, you know, them. It's a group decision. Everybody's in on it. Right? Well, you saved some people make some mistakes that he somebody's the blame. Well, it's a group decision. That's what we're always told. So, but I go back to naming two of the starter from the beginning of training camp would have been simple, convenient and easy, clean way to set this whole thing. Two is the starter. Okay, once Mike is 100% ready to step back on a football field in the game will reevaluate the situation.

1:21:21Okay, and then two, the idea that they quote cleared him. Now, once you got cleared, it put it put a seed. Everybody's mind that he is ready to play football on the field again, because that's what we all should believe because that's generally what being cleared means. Correct. Clearly, that's not the case. Thank you. And their definition of clear. Thank you. I think those two missteps put this in a frame for fans and the media. But is it an ask a lot of questions that they knew the answer to but couldn't tell you. But Z, is it there or is it his? Who's in charge? Michael Pinnix. Michael Pinnix. But if at the beginning of the season they would have sat down and had the conversation that said, two is the start of when you are ready. And if you need to tell us when you're ready, then we'll reevaluate the situation. But you left it open and did once you cleared him. And so those things I think have changed the context of what we're talking about here. But I'll reiterate, it's nowhere in the organization's best interest, nor is it in Michael's best interest for him to play less than more.

1:22:25It's not. But nobody can say right now what the more is. And that in itself is a problem. We're coming back. Daniel Flick covers the Falcons for the AJC.com. He was up there today. We'll get his take on this as we get ready for Carolina. And yes, we'll ask him specific questions in regards to this game. Because believe it or not, the game is what's most important. Do we really have a chance to win this game on Sunday? No, Michael Pinnix, guys. Inactive. Jack Strand is your backup. It's Duke Simebel. Let's clear the air about hybrids with Kia. I live in Pasadena, so my Kia Telluride Turbo Hybrid has to do a little of everything. School bags, speech chairs, a grocery run, I swore would be small. And somehow there's still room in my sister-tex. I'm landing in Burbank, comping me up. It seats seven, has over 600 miles of range, and makes the 134 feel a little less like a test of character. Space. Range. Flexibility. The Kia Telluride Turbo Hybrid is built for the way LA moves. Find your way forward at Kia.com. Kia. Movement that inspires. Hey, alright, almost here.

1:23:26Are you ready? Just grabbing my shoes. That's what you said 10 minutes ago. I just wrapped the video call, uploading this giant file on my tablet, looking at my watch-goop and Nana's with the group chat, and of course, still lining up tonight's playlist on my phone. All at once? Yep, story of my life. That's why I switched to D-Mobile. They have the fastest 5G network. Okay, multi-tasker. I see you. Honestly, I never imagined I could do all this at once. It's awesome. Say no more, I'm totally switching. My post is taking way too long to upload. That's a sign you've got to get T-Mobile. So many reasons to join T-Mobile. Find yours at T-Mobile.com. Fastest based on analysis by Uclav Speed Test Intelligence and State of National Speed School Results in Corporating 5G Download and Upload Speeds for the first half of 2026.

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1:25:46Save up to 52% off with code podcast at groons.co. That's code podcast at gruns.co. Let's talk about what the chances are for the Falcons and win their first home game against care online. We've been talking a lot about the quarterback decision a day after Cooper Russian, Michael Pinnick, split reps, Mark Zinno's in for Mike today. And we need to talk to our guide Daniel Flick from the AJC, HAC.com. Daniel, good to have you on, man. I know you guys are pressing coach today about, you know, Pinnick's and Winnell be ready and all of that. What's your take on this? What do you think is really going on, especially with him taking first team reps, putting time this week, but still being inactive? Obviously, the easy answer is, all right, he's not ready. But do you feel like there's more to this and do you feel like Kevin Stupansky is frustrated? I think you have to be a little frustrated, right? I think the one thing I've taken away from all this, that I really have to question what the word close means. We've heard close for two weeks, for a month, for a long time.

1:26:51And that's not anything against Michael, it's anything against the team. It's just, I don't, I'm at the point now where I really don't know what close means. I don't know if that means he's close to being back in a week. I don't know if that means he's close to being back in a month. I have no clue. I think they let him practice with the ones this week, because they felt like there was a real chance. Obviously, I mean, you rule him out last week, he was rode out on Monday. He's not ruled out until today, you know, heading into week two, which implies to me that he was a lot closer. And again, he said he was a lot closer. We talked to us on Wednesday compared to where he was at last week, but again, what does close mean? So, yeah, I think he's, it's a tough time. If they play on a Sunday next week, you feel a lot more confident. You know, I think they're going to be back in a week, but you don't have that luxury because it's the 2026 Atlanta Falcons quarterback position. And there are no luxury. So, it's an interesting dilemma. I really don't know how it's going to end. I don't know when Michael will be back. Like I said, though, it's made me contemplate a lot about the, the meaning of the word close. To that end, Daniel, I mean, look, the Falcons have to do two things at the same time here.

1:27:53Right? If they don't give Michael Penix any reps with the ones he can't evaluate and they can't evaluate how close he really is. So they have to split reps with him and Cooper Rush will they're trying to get ready for a game because it doesn't make any sense for them to give Penix every single rep in practice. To find out that he's still not ready and then have Cooper Rush be completely unprepared for the game. So, I mean, should there be any leniency in this matter? Well, they're trying to get Penix back, but at the same time prepare for a game. I don't know. You know, it's a great question, Mark. I'm really the way that I view it. And this is kind of a broader or obviously it does not help Cooper. The fact that he does not get every rep with the ones. You have to get Michael involved. I don't think it's incredibly helpful for Michael if he's just doing a scout team offense. Look, and again, ultimately when he is back healthy at his show, I think we've learned that the last couple weeks that whenever he's ready to roll early, you know, the last week, whenever he's ready to roll, it's going to be his team. But I try to go back. I would also add about Rush that this is what he does, right?

1:28:55I mean, he's a career back up who is used to pretty much doing what he had to do last week of trying to get ready and understand a game plan and operate in very unideal, you know, times not having the reps and all that stuff. So, it's kind of what he does, but this team, and I think we're all agreed with this that no matter what your win lost record is you have to leave this year knowing if might can be your guy long term. If you don't know that yet, either way, you have to you have to leave this year knowing it. You know, if he is, if he isn't and so ultimately you got it, whatever he is out there, he has to be 100% himself. You can at least get a proper evaluation on it. That's so I've always viewed it. That's so I think they view it as well as if he doesn't play until their own four, at least you get a real look at who he is and not a, you know, watered down. So that's that's kind of the way I view it. And again, it's a tough situation for Cooper, but this is kind of the way that he's had to play his entire career. Yeah, it's interesting that you say that I think most people who've been following this feel the same way. I mean, true Falcon fans, I think understand that aspect, but the other part about that is you come back going for, and let's just say they're not any good.

1:30:00Yeah, he's still going to catch criticism. He's still going to get it. And it's crazy as I just feel like there is no perfect situation. The help thing is one thing, right? Yeah, I get him being 100% but like stepping into this situation, I kind of feel like that's unfair, Daniel to be. And again, I hope we're not. I hope we went on Sunday. But if we're going for like you expect him to come back and be the savior because we've been waiting all this time. And now here he comes. He's 110%. You know, that, that just to me, that seems like a pipe dream. I want to ask you about the game. Let's talk about this offense last week. Daniel Flickr, guest guys, AJC.com for total touches for the wide receivers and tight in. Total touches. How does Tommy recent prove that knowing that? Hey, we're rolling Cooper rush back out there. Does the full week of practice really do the justice that you think it might to get this offense moving and being balanced? Yeah, it's super interesting because not only were they that was at the lowest mark in the league, it was the lowest mark by a very significant margin to call it. It was a deal where I think every other team in the league had at least 10 total touches and Atlanta had four.

1:31:05So it was significantly lower. So I think you kind of look at it. It's you go in with a clear understanding from the beginning of this week of this is how I want a game plan. This is how I want this look is how I wanted to look at it. And part of it too is like Cooper was not healthy. Objectively was not healthy last week, which in retrospect, I asked Kevin after the game how close Cooper was to, you know, 100% and he said pretty close and comes out Wednesday. Well, actually, he's a lot better now than he was on Sunday. So what does that tell you about how he was on Sunday? So I think part of it, too, they couldn't really tap in a lot of their play action stuff. I don't think Cooper felt comfortable enough to try to thread tight windows. And then a lot of what they did, too, because I asked about, I asked Cooper, I asked Kevin about this on Wednesday. So much of what they did offensively was quick and underneath and Cooper leaned heavily into, well, I have Vijon Robinson and he's pretty good with the ball in his hand. So let's see how that goes. Now, you have to balance it. You physically can't give Vijon the ball every single play when you're when you're paying as much money as you are to Drake and Kyle on those guys.

1:32:06And I think ultimately it's, you know, how do you, how do you find ways to get them space when the opposing team knows that you're trying to get them the football and I think ultimately, if you're Cooper, Drake one is a big dude, Kyle fits the big dude, you got to give him a shot. He didn't give Kyle much of a shot last week. He threw him one ball and it was woefully under thrown and he threw Drake. He hit Drake on free passes. One of them was called back from penalty, but when he went Drake's way, it worked. And so I think part of its trust, part of its timing chemistry, all that stuff. And I think they're optimistic that with more reps this week and more time on task, he can be a little bit better. Yeah, I mean, I don't think the, the, the, the, the, Vijon workload was sustainable for any long period of time this year. That said, I also don't think it's sustainable to throw the ball down the field as far as my sister can on a routine basis. So we have to believe we're going to see at least some attempt to extend the field and try to move the ball 15, 20 yards down the field to the air. Am I wrong in that? I don't think you are. Morgan, I think part of it too is they have to, it was really disheartening, I think, to watch the way that they used Zachariah branch last week as well.

1:33:14I wasn't expecting Zachariah to come out and be a world leader, right? But I mean, he, what he did the entire training camp has run past people deep and, and make a miss in space on screen passes and we didn't get to either that. And I think if you're trying to create more explosives, you got to, you got to use Zachariah in that way. I mean, I off top of my head watching film, I remember I think one, one time where he actually ran a go route and it, there was a chance to let the ball fly and Cooper ended up not taking it. It's one of the pills or maybe he was one of the helps to push it, right? They talked about how they, because the penalties were playing, you know, behind the chains quite a bit and they played against the ton of zone coverage. I think Pittsburgh didn't run a single snap in man. It's what I saw after the game, which is wild and very uncommon. So again, you got to take what's there. Yes, but you also have to at least show that it's a threat. I mean, you can't just go into a game and it honestly, that was one of the things I was stunned that Atlanta ran the ball as well as it did last week because if you're Pittsburgh, and you know, they're not trying to push it down field, you should naturally be playing down and loading the box and they didn't blitz as much as I assume they would, but Carolina did.

1:34:19Carolina had the second highest blitz rate in the league last week. So you're probably going to get a lot of chances, a lot of one on one opportunity, chances to push it and try to push it. And if Cooper's willing to take it, I think there's a chance they could hit a couple explosives. I mean, you saw a Carolina allowed last week defensively, right? So it'll be a get right game for somebody. I'm not sure if it'll be Atlanta's offense or Carolina's defense, but it has to be an, you know, I mean, it just there's no way that it ends up being a really even matchup there. I think it'll probably swing one end of pendulum. No doubt Daniel Flick always a pleasure, man. Appreciate you joining us. Thanks for like, we're going to. Yeah, man, we'll hallette you at the game, bro. Take care. Yep, son of a good. All right, that's Daniel Flick from the AJC AJC dot com. This brother, this brother just rolled up on me like, I mean, like, he knows me like this. There's a world where people like you turn around just pops him. Well, I mean, like, Terry, bro, I mean, I mean, you just rolled up on me. How you doing, man? What's going on? What's your name, man? Troy Huff. Troy Huff. Got his, his Falcon gear on out here. He's ready to go. He's out here for the Falcon 30 bird rally. It's going down at right here at Atlantic station. All right, we're coming back guys. I want you to hear what Pete Golden had to say.

1:35:27You need to hear this. He is the head football coach of old miss. That game has everybody's attention. What are the dogs going to do this weekend? We'll run down our college football. We come back on sports radio, 92 9 the game. Compact capable, surprisingly roomy always forward with Kia. My apartment garage in Los Feliz was clearly designed by someone who never had to open a car door. That's why my Kia Salto's just fits with room for work bags, yoga mats, groceries and whatever. I accidentally buy at the Rose Bowl flea market. Small SUV, real cargo room. I've got turbocharged power and all wheel drive for the days L.A. decides to be more mountain than city. The all new Kia Salto says built for the way your life actually moves. Find your way forward at Kia.com. Kia, movement that inspires. Hey, all right. It's almost here. Are you ready? Just grabbing my shoes. That's what you said 10 minutes ago. I just wrapped a video call uploading this giant file on my tablet, looking at my watch group bananas with the group chat, and of course still lining up tonight's playlist on my phone.

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1:38:35Save up to 52% off with code podcast at runes.co. That's code podcast at gruns.co. Couple of things going on around the NFL if you're just joining us. Falcons announced Cooper Rutsch will start on Sunday against Caroline at Jack Strand. Frost will be the backup. I don't wish injury on anybody, but do understand that frost is one play away from being in this game and certainly being a guy that a lot of people have been clamoring for. And I think we haven't talked about Jack Frost or Jack Strand, but I think that's a result of I believe, again, what you saw in the preseason and the glimpses in preseason is different. I hear you, but I also think it's the frustration of where we've been at quarterback and the kids showed like, hey, I can run, I can escape. I got a nice arm and everybody's like, wait a minute. So it's really interesting because realistically, if our quarterback room was right, we wouldn't be talking about this.

1:39:39We wouldn't. Can we let me ask you if this is fair? Was that a lot of your angst, a lot of the fan bases angst about the Michael Penic situation is a result of things that he did not create. I mean, look, objectively, I've been in his town for over a dozen years now. Ever since that faithful day in February, it's been downhill. It's been nine years of bad. And we're looking to Michael Penics to sort of fix that all. And because we are impatient as a society, we're more impatient as a fan base and I get the Falcons fans in patients. But Michael Penics said nothing to do with him. Michael Penics had nothing to do with the Desmond Reader years. He had nothing to do with the Rahim Morris years. He had nothing to do with any of that. All he did was get drafted here and asked to play and we're asking him to fix a whole lot of problems and a whole lot of angst from things that he had nothing to do with. Well, if you want to have something to do with Rahim years, he was here. He signed off on that. Well, I mean, he didn't have a choice. He got drafted. It wasn't his decision to come here. But my point is, is that like even, you know, what could Michael Penics control?

1:40:48He got a starting job three weeks left in the season. They missed the postseason. He started the next year. He got injured again. I mean, that's that's life. Like I just don't understand why we are transferring the years of frustration onto Michael Penics not coming back on a timeline that he's not ready for. Because that's what it feels like objectively that in all of the fans, angst to get this thing right and finally put our football team back in the playoffs, back to respectability, back to being an organization that is not a laughing stock. Well, you're asking one person to save all that one that's just not football, two. Yes, the quarterback is the most important position. I'm not underscoring that. But two, there is a whole lot of other things that go into this equation as to what is taking so long that aren't Mike's issue or his fault. He can only operate on the timeline that he has and he can only do so much with what he has. And until he gets back, look, if he comes back and flops, then we can have a different conversation, right? Excuse me. If he's not good when he comes back, then lay it on him. That's on him. But until we get a definitive answer on who he is. And as Daniel Flick said, the same thing.

1:41:57It is finding out what he is this year is the most important thing to the future of this franchise. And the direction that it goes from there ultimately hinges on. Let's just hope it's 14 games because it's not going to be 15, right? No, 15 games or 14, whatever it is in the teens. Yeah. How many games he plays. Let's hope we get that answer first and foremost. Again, play us after that would be great. But I don't know if it's necessarily the measuring stick. I would say that the responsibility. Because you're right. There are a lot of things that Michael Pinnix had nothing to do with. But the last regime sold us. Well, like it or not. That we won't have to we wouldn't have to be in this business again. You guys know what I'm talking about. Look, I'll say it. I was vociferously against the decision that they made. I thought it was one of the worst football decisions I've seen in my life. The signed Kirk cousin to draft this replacement five five weeks later. And that's not a reflection on Pinnix. It isn't it was a piss poor decision by the organization.

1:43:00But with the expectation of being drafted with where he was the responsibility. Yes. And that's heaped on every first round quarterback. It's not just him. Correct. Not just him. So that's part of this. It's not just your angst because the organization has been been you know bad for X amount of years. Part of this is that we finally did something that a lot of people thought we should have done years ago. And that's draft the quarterback. And oh, by the way, you're going to take him top 10 when you didn't have to hold crap. It's a bad decision. So I do feel like the once the decision is made once that die is cast. There's a responsibility and expectation that comes up being the eighth overall pick. And so, you know, that pressure is there regardless if Michael wants it or not. The problem for Michael is there were a lot of people who assumed that again this was just going to work the way it should have.

1:44:00And rarely does that happen. He was going to come in wanting to go for for Kirk cousins. It was a wrap. We had a guy that could spin it. He throws a deep ball. Great. We're going to have a vertical passing game. We got a great young wide receiver and Drake London. Bees on to the draft. Like you just look at how things shook out. And there was this this this expectation that comes along with it. So no, I don't blame Michael Pinnix for the stuff that he didn't have anything to do with prior to getting here. But once he was drafted and the responsibility fell on his his shoulders. Right. That's what people and now what has happened is. There is this anticipation of him showing us that exactly what we want to see once the validated the decision was correct. Correct. Correct. Right. Right. And that pressure is real. Okay. And the best corollary to that is JJ McCarthy in Minnesota. Right. JJ McCarthy was drafted. Okay. Bob. Hold on. I'm not going to disagree with that. But remember.

1:45:01JJ McCarthy was drafted. Sam Donald was signed. Okay. Yeah. JJ McCarthy got hurt and didn't play the whole year. Yeah. Yeah. Sam Donald balled out. He got hurt. Not game. Right. I think he got hurt against the balcony. They got ball. They they they they. After Sam Donald balled out left. He was handing the starting job. Okay. And what happened that we served the course of last year. The three letter word you just use. Bob. Okay. And what did they do immediately? Move on. Brought somebody else in here and it doesn't look like he's long to stay in Minnesota. That's the order that this has to go in. Do we know Michael Pennix is a bum at this point? No. We don't have that answer. No. No. No. Not saying that. That's ain't no. And I'm not saying that. But I'm saying we don't have a definitive answer one way or another. So it's in his best interest to get back on the field. Prove is not a bum. Prove is the guy. And it's in the franchise as long term interest to do that. I don't understand why people are so hung up on the first two games of the season as being. Because it matters. I'm not saying it doesn't matter. What I'm saying here is that the arc of the season and finding out what you have and finding out if you can make the playoffs and finding out if he's your long term guy.

1:46:07There's a lot of data points left to acquire. I understand why people are anxious. I understand why people want to see it now. We all want to see it now. I want to know too. I want to know if Penniss can be the guy. But you're willing to be patient like Joe. I am willing to like Joe. I want to. Joe. Joe Bible. Joe. Correct. Okay. I just make a. Joe. Joe. Joe. Who? That's correct. Because that is the epitome of patients. Yes. Right. So I mean, that's what you're saying. And that's where I think we differ. I'm not trying to. We're not trying to be here all year and then. Oh, we got six games and well, let's see what he's got. And also I think it's a disservice to his fan base, man. I'm sorry. I just do. I really think that this the way this is all gone down and the way it's been handled and again. Some on Mike. Some not so much. But regardless. This is where we're at. 4047 2609 29 you guys can chime in. It's something we've been discussing today as this was announced by. I was. I was. Resoundly reject and object to the idea that Pennix is weaker soft or his motivation should be questioned at this point in time. I just.

1:47:15I don't see it. I would. I see as a guy who knows it is the last bolt. The gun he has to prove that he is a franchise quarterback. And he's got to get it right. And if that's the case, you want the table set perfectly for you. You don't want to be running back to get the forks and the knives and the plates and the cups and napkins. He wants it all set. So when he sits down, they do. Read it. And that's what this is about for him. Can I tell you I've been to many dinners where the plate was set, the fork and the knife or the food still stunk. The food still. Okay. That's just what it is. You still have to find that out. It's just what it is. But this idea again, like it's got to be perfect. I'm sorry. I'm not going to buy that. I understand it from a health perspective. But if doctors, his doctor, and he also said, by the way, his doctor told him, your knees fine. You should never have another problem with your knee. He I didn't say that. He said it. Yeah. And and and and you're up there enough at flowery to know like these things that are said, people take it exactly as it said. People don't take what Michael Pinnick says and go, well, you know what dog he meant to say this. No, that's what he said. And so when you say those things, people take it and they go, wow, okay, well his knee sounds like it's going to be good. Now we're just waiting for the medical clearance. And then when that happens, there's an anticipation of.

1:48:29I'll keep going back. I think it was a critical mistake by the franchise to do it. But we can but we're going around in circles. That is undeniable. Those things took place. Okay, 4047260929. That is the phone number if you want to join in as we discuss this and look the Falcons. If they go out and ball on Sunday, boy, I'd love to see it. I'd love to see it. I mean, I don't even need you to ball out just somehow eat out a win. Well, yeah, but I mean, you're going to have to ball out the slow down Bryce. Bryce has been killing us. Well, he is. Yes. Bryce young last year. He had a great year against us. So if we go out and look, I say ball out because I need to rush a throw for more than six yards. You got to go give me something. Give me 250. Hell, give me 235 and two touches. Can we do that? Like and no, no pick six is no interceptions. Like that's what that we're going to need Sunday. And then the defense is really going to have to step up and oh, by the way, Nick folk, make your kicks. Well, don't get me started on kickers. You don't want to waste the next two hours of their show. What do you mean worst humans on the planet? Oh, geez. Come on. Come on.

1:49:34I'm 100% right. Never been proven wrong. Worst humans on never it never never never asked Mark Zinno about kickers. It is a trap. It's ridiculous. He had a bad day. I was hot. Everybody was. I hope he gets right. The worst people ever. Come on, Zinno. That's a high that that's a that's a really high bar. Yeah. It's okay. I'm not wrong though. Every single one of them will let you down. Yeah. All right. Let's talk about about old Miss LSU real quick. Georgia, by the way, 24 and a half point favorite at Arkansas Saturday at noon. That number has not changed. By the way, I've been telling you guys all week. Georgia's better. Coachings better. Everything's better. They should handle business on Saturday. I'm not worried about this game. No, I'm not worried about this. I mean, Arkansas is going nuts at this point in time. They have been in the doldrums for way too long. You know, it's 2000. They're nine and one against Arkansas. It's crazy. It's crazy. Dominated. You're absolutely right. Hey, oh, let's play the sound by from Pete Golding. This is the coach at Ole Miss. And then I want to get your thoughts on this because I just feel like the craziness is just being elevated.

1:50:42With the lane, Kiffin stuff. And can I say something? I got to tell you guys I hope nobody gets hurt Saturday. And I'm being real. Like the craziness of that that's being talked about out there with lane, Kiffin in his return. Guys, coaches leave all the time. And I know it was, you know, unmitigating circumstances or whatever you want to say about, you know, how he left. But still football coaches leave all the time. You can be mad and you can boo in but like some of this stuff, the vitriol is unreal. Here's what Pete Golding said. And by the way, they're still friends because he got a shot to be on lane staff. But he talked about Ole Miss not being misguided. And we're going to prepare the right way this week and get locked in and get focused. Lot going on. You got LL Anglia. You got Game Day. You got so much other stuff. But to me, it's like high school homecoming for these days. If you focus on the wrong. That homecoming dance ain't very fun after you get your butt beat on a Friday night. So we got to make sure we're doing everything right throughout the week to get the outcome that we want.

1:51:43Man, we had our incredible homecoming dance. I don't even know if they do that anymore. Well, our homecoming was incredible. Blue the team out. Arrival. All the hot girls were there was great. We had a great homecoming. But I will tell you, Ole Miss is not as good as LSU. No, that's the next sentence out of my mouth. There's just not. LSU is clearly the better team here. Now they've got to play like it and they've got to prove it. But there is a lot on the line here. A lot on the line. Do you like the line? By the way, I'm talking about the betting. I'd lay the two and a half. I know a lot of you smart guys. I know who are on Ole Miss. I'm staying off the game altogether. But for me, LSU are past. Miami at Wake. We talked about it earlier in the week. 20 and a half point favorite at Wake Forest. Also Houston at number 13. Texas Tech. That game is tonight. By the way, Houston comes in ranked 22nd in the country. And the UNC at Clemson Game.

1:52:44Clemson beat up UNC. They beat up Bill Belichack. I mean, you know, his son resigned this week. It feels like there's still a lot going on at UNC. But the big game, the other big game for me is Florida at Auburn. I am very curious to see how that game shakes out. We'll talk more college football coming up. We got to talk more with you at 4047-2609-29. Today has been very interesting to hear your perspective on the Falcons, how you feel as we get ready here at Atlantic Station for the Dirty Birds Rally tonight. And by the way, I want to remind you guys, this is free to the public. Mike and I have been talking about it all week. Zeno's in for Mike. He's out today. But, you know, this is an event that has been going on now for the last few years. And I got to give him credit. They do an amazing job. It's free. If you're coming out here, start around 7 o'clock. We're right here at Hobnob. Right outside of the window here, they're getting things set up. It's going to be a lot of fun. Stukes and Bell. By the way, I'm shocked. I got to be honest with you. It's a good song. I got to be honest with you. It's Friday, man.

1:53:50I'm heading towards the weekend. We got great calls. Football. Hopefully the Falcons can find a way to get it done. And I say that because my confidence level waned when Michael Pinnix was not named the starter today. Just what it is. Sorry. So they can, you know, certainly go out, ball out, prove me wrong. And I hope they do. Defense did a really good job. I thought last week I put those numbers out there and put them up. See, dukes on social media. And what's just saying, you know, for all the idiots that are clowning Jeff Oldbrick about what this is and what it isn't. Again, I think he did a great job. Yes. Last week. And hopefully it continues to get better. But the interesting thing is, and I said, I got to say this, you know, it's a compliment coming for you. Don't tell anybody. I'm shocked. But I'm even going to say this. But there are people out here agreeing with you. I think they're shocked as well. Like nowhere. That's his Twitter handle. He says I put them up. See, dukes put them up. He says I'm patient with Pinnix. Just like Mark Zinno.

1:54:51There have been others today. And I can't read them all. We see him guys, you know, again, we appreciate you interacting with us. But many of you are saying, you know, Zinno Zinno Zinno is doing a good job. So I'm going to give you some love and give you your flowers. Thank you. All right. I love you. Because I know you don't get enough of that. So I just want to just want to state that while we're talking about this, because you'll be like, they all hate me. Not all of them. Most of them, but not all of them. So, uh, big shout out to all of our listeners out there. Chime in on this conversation. Want to hear from you. 404-726-0929. We're going to talk to Steve Koon and coming up here. We'll get back into some Kevin Stofanski comments. He spoke to the media today. Made the announcement about Cooper Rush. But he also talked about coaching the Falcons and the home opener. This is his home opener. Yep. As the new head coach. Yeah. Guys, his staff wants to do well. Nobody takes a job and goes, you know, I want to suck. Nobody. This staff wants to do well. They're, they are committed to try to win football games. But you can only work with what you got. And there are some areas quarterback where we're limited.

1:55:51And if you are limited at quarterback, then it's going to be a problem to win in a quarterback league. That's part of this discussion. So I know CREFLO has been holding patiently. And I want to get him on and get more of your calls as well. CREFLO, man, what's on your mind? Talk to us. Hey, man. I don't know. I got to finally get on. Finally, I finally get through. Man, hey, man. It's just. I just don't have the faith in him anymore, but I will give Zeno a little bit of credit, though. But we got to go to some history here. This, this fan base is so spoiled with quarterbacks because because of the fact that we have not had to worry about the quarterback for so long. Yeah, and gave us what 13 14 years. Right before I get here, we had, we had Mike Vic who transformed the city and transformed the team to really make us a contender. And you know, and then we have, you know, his issue. And then we gave us everything and we didn't have an issue of quarterback for basically all four years to decades.

1:57:03CREFLO, we apologize, man, hit us back because your phone line keeps dropping out. We want to give you an affair opportunity to speak your mind and certainly share with the listening audience. But we got to be able to hear you. And as I like to say, check your provider, but you can hit us back. All right, 4047, 2609, 29 because I don't know where you were going with that. But you got to give him the history of the quarterback situation and why fans feel the way they do for those who may not be aware of it. But hit us back. All right. 4047, 2609, 29 run. Thank you for calling 92 9 to game. Ron, what's on your mind? Hey, man. Man, what's going on, fellas? What's up, Ron? Hey, man, I just got two quick things and this is going to be super simple. Number one, I don't think anyone should be surprised that either Mike or tour wasn't going to start on Sunday. It was no surprise. I mean, number two, I could be wrong. And I want you to check me on this anytime you see a backup quarterback on the sideline. They either won. Then beside the coach with a headset on. And if I'm not mistaken, tour or Mike didn't have a headset on the sideline. I'll let you guys talk about it. So there was a picture that was put out there on social media. I hate this about social media, you know, because, you know, they say pictures of thousands of words or whatever. And you see it. And the automatic assumption is that they weren't locked in.

1:58:14Yeah. Then we find out after that picture came out. Ron, that in fact, they did have earpieces in. They were attentive. They were listening. They were doing the things that backups do. Randy Mack and I had this conversation early this week, because Randy knows, you know, covering the NFL as long as I have and being around different markets. It's funny because he was like, I don't know if people just realize what goes on when guys are not playing. And to his point, big shout out to Randy Mack, Randy Watson. He said, you know, when you're in that situation, whether you're quarterback, Z, or you're just, you know, you're an active. You're not playing, right? You're just. You're not constantly cheering guys on. Right. I'm watching the game. I'm watching my position. Usually I'm watching to see what's going on. If I can help a guy try to help him. But literally, I think there was this automatic assumption that, you know, Tua and Michael or somehow, you know, playing grab ass on the sideline. And I just thought it was unfair. It's an unfair assessment of the situation.

1:59:16So I feel you on, you know, you see backups, but let's not take that one photo that got out there. And everybody's like, oh, they did not even involved in the game. Because that's what that's what people said. Yeah. I'm with you. I don't put too much stock in that sort of thing. I mean, you know, I also know to a certain extent that a lot of the times, look, they get the play in their year and they don't have to have a reaction to it. They don't have to be motivated. I mean, it's information to them. And oh, by the way, if it's like, you know, a basic play in the playbook that they know really well, they know, like, okay, I got it. All I got to do is look up at the screen and see the result. The work there didn't work. I mean, they have a large base of knowledge for a lot of this stuff that they don't have to be they don't have to be intimately involved in on now. Some guys choose to stand right in the offense, according to the coaches back pocket and and want to be part of the conversation. Some other guys choose to sit back and watch and they learn a different way. Are they they process the information different way? You can't. If that's what you're hanging your head on with everything else is going on. If that's what your angst is like, come on guys, they're well, but but see people look for reasons. Well, people are looking at this. They're looking for justification to back up with their thought processes.

2:00:25Yeah, they're looking for reason to say, hey, see, and I think that's unfair. Look, I'm going to try to be as fair as I can about the situation. At least when I give you the information that I have in front of me, but I'm not going to reach. Let's talk to Matt. Oh, sports radio 92 9 to game Matt. What's on your mind, man? Hey, man. Hey, man. What's going on? I'm, you know, I'm so first of all, it's I'm disappointed in the Michael Pentex situation. I bought tickets for Sunday's game a couple of weeks ago. So that's a bummer that I have to go watch Cooper rush in the home opener, but you know, I'm just not ready to give up on the guy because what if he is the guy? I mean, he's shown flashes where it's like. He's got the biggest arm in the NFL. And I know he's had some accuracy issues and things of that nature. And of course the injuries, but what if he is the guy and you find that out this year? And now we've got a gazillion dollars in cap room that we can go and we forget a huge impact player on defensive end or, you know, keep building around the young guys that we brought in the draft the last few years on defense.

2:01:28So just curious what your thoughts are there because you know, maybe it's wishful thinking, but I'm going to be there on Sunday. I hope to see you there. And I appreciate it. No, no, appreciate you. No, look, I'll just simply say this. It is not wishful thinking. I think Xeno is more adamant about this. I have no problems with figuring it out. We've been waiting. This is this is part of the process. But I said this to a gentleman yesterday and he got so poked at me when I said, look at his draft class. Look who's already established. Drake May went to a Super Bowl. Caleb is a star. Right. Jayden Daniels has been doing an FC championship. This is Michael's draft class. Guys, I'm sorry. Bo Nix was in a in a championship game. So you're waiting while other guys have already shown that flash and that ability to go. Wow, we got a guy. So I have no issues with that. But I understand that you're frustrated about, you know, having to go to a home opener. Guys, I said, well, never root against our team. I just won't. Okay. But that doesn't mean that I am not as frustrated as you are about this situation.

2:02:31But I know you want to chime in on the whole, you know, being patient about finding out because he may be the guy. That's what's crazy about this. That's the ultimate thing at this point that we need to know it. And look, no NFL team goes into a year going. We're trying to lose. We're tanking for this. It's just not how professional organizations work. Now that may come to fruition that way. And it may be at the end of the year that there's more interesting, you know, trying out other guys than it is anything else. But leaving this season with your quarterback situation settled, i.e. Michael Pennix is a 2027 starter from here and beyond. Or we're back in the quarterback market is what needs to be found out. It is not in the best interest of this organization to have to draft another quarterback. It is not. I mean, it's it's they'd rather use it is a top 15 pick. They'd rather use it on maybe another red rusher. Oh, how about some more offensive line help? How about a middle linebacker? How about you know a bunch of other things that they could use to make this team better that isn't the position of quarterback.

2:03:38So it's in the long term interest for Michael Pennix to work out. And that should be every Falcons fan should be hoping for. We're coming back the CEO of our little Hawks is set to join us Steve Koonin will get to a Falcon report. I'll let you hear from Kevin Stofansky his thoughts on the game and much more five o'clock. We'll talk some braves baseball there. Taking on the Astros guys starting the night as well as we head towards a big weekend on sports radio of 92 9 the game. Steve Koonin Hawk CEO here on sports radio 92 9 the game. What did I by the way at hobnom? We're getting ready for the dirty birds rally right here at Atlantic station and Steve. How you doing today? What's going on?

2:04:42all. Doing great. Just enjoying this beautiful fall weather we're having here in Atlanta. Yeah, we are marked by the way Mark Zinno is in for Mike today. Mike is he's actually heading to Tuscaloosa. He talked about it earlier in the week to go see Florida State. Now a band I said, you know they're gonna lose and he said, I'm just there for the party. That's a loyal fan. Oh, I'm going to look at it. No doubt. Hey Steve, let's talk about some of the things that are going on. By the way, Hawks I just saw released all their kind of promotional nights. Got a lot of stuff going on this season. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, some fun stuff too, including honoring Ted Turner with a Ted Turner bobble head and a lot of stuff for the kids. So I'm excited. Anything kept your eye? Um, actually I love the bobble head, but no, you know what? Some of the uh, promotions that we got in the spring. I don't have it in front of me, but I will tell you,

2:05:43I was very amused. You guys are so creative in coming up with some of this stuff and getting the fan base involved and certainly having, you know, the energy down at the arena. But I'm going to pull it up. But yeah, in the spring there are a couple of nights where I was like, oh, that's cool. And obviously you guys celebrate HPC use as well. That's very cool. Absolutely, absolutely true to Atlanta. Yeah, we have a lot of fun stuff. I'm excited about the season. I wish it would get started already. Well, uh, Hawks fans might be more excited than Falcons fans at this point, Steve. Um, just because of all the uncertainty. When you're dealing with that in an organization and you kind of have to get the messaging correct. Talk me through the decision process of how you guys handle stuff with players like that and how you want to message the fans and the media and the public and how critical that is. Well, I mean, everything communicates. I'm, let's sharpen it a bit. Are we talking about the quarterback situation? Sure. That could be one situation that I'm talking about where the messaging may have been a little off. Yeah, I mean, that's a tough one. That's a very tough situation. You know, in basketball,

2:06:51it's pretty obvious when the teams rebuilding, you know, in fact, it was so obvious when teams were rebuilding that we had to revamp the entire system because it really wasn't good. And this year, every team is incentivized to win and punished for losing. In football, I don't know. You'd really don't see teams tank, if you will, like you do in basketball. You know, Utah was fine. Half a million dollars by taking their starters out in the fourth quarter of games they were winning last year. That's terrible. That's not good for anybody. So I think that there are certainly some challenges. I don't envy being in those situations, but I think that, you know, it's only week one. So before we judge, let's see what happens. Steve, it's interesting you're talking about this because I do think the NBA has made it a lot more difficult, even to make like trades. We talk about this in season. Like people just

2:07:54think trades are easy. It's a lot harder to do these things because of the financial ramifications. And I want to get to something that we just that just came down from college football. The Arkansas Board of Trustees, because George's playing Arkansas tomorrow, has passed a resolution to renew Razorbacks, athletics and football financial resources. And the trustee, at least one of them is named Steve Cox. He said, failure's not an option. This has to succeed. I believe it will. My point is you see all this money being thrown around in college athletics, but still you have programs even at the power four level who are trying to figure this out and make sure that their programs are viable. And Arkansas, you know, a couple of years ago, I think we talked about it. Maybe it was last year that cut the tennis program. People lost their mind and then, you know, they brought it back. Well, you, you're close to the financial aspect of these situations. We talk about professional sports. What's your take on all of this? I talked to two athletic directors this week, college athletic directors, who are absolutely, their job has changed. And they need to go find money for NIL. They need to go find money for

2:09:01roster building. That was never, ever, ever consideration a few years ago. Never. So they have to look at all kinds of different opportunities. They're now looking at patches, you know, as the, the proteins have. They're looking at, you know, creating more content. They're looking at all kinds of different things. I think there was an ESPN article this week showing Ohio State and Texas, you know, are spending $50 million this year on players. Georgia was, they had a estimated 31 to 34 million. I don't know how accurate that is. But significantly less than the others. And there's probably a reason for that. A Kirby smart premium when you look at the amount of people he's put into the pros, certainly has great value. But it's, it's kind of stunning what's happened. College sports, a pro sports. Period. In the discussion. They are pro sports. They are souried employees. And I just think that college needs to call it what it is.

2:10:03Figure out some guardrails. So it's everybody's playing on a level playing field. But every day you look at the news, you know, and this one's so in this one and this can't get along and this one, you don't want to have the goose kill the golden egg because college sports are spectacular. So I am concerned. Yeah. Well, that was my next question, Steve. I mean, you know, we see it in football a lot more than we necessarily do at basketball. You guys start to feel the impacts as players are coming up from college into the NBA or you and other organizations starting to see the difference. Well, I mean, I think you're seeing the difference on a couple of levels. You had less kids eligible for the draft this year than any year in history because they could go back to school and make more money in NIL than they could a G league or being a two way player. Or even being a second round pick. So, you know, I mean, there's a couple of stories of players who

2:11:04came to the NBA signed seven low seven figure contracts walked away from, you know, millions much more in NIL and then got injured. So it's problematic for the athlete too. Steve Kudin our guest guys talking about all things sports related. He's got a great background in all of this stuff. Tell me your thoughts on the dogs and the Falcons heading into the week because this is the Falcons home opener. We got word the Cooper Russia starting. Just, you know, I know you support all the teams. All these teams, it's funny because social media wise, hawks support the brains when they get in the playoffs, vice versa. All the teams are looking for everybody to have success. It's interesting in that way. I don't know if people realize how much their these interconnected stuff goes on between the teams and success. Well, I mean, we're literally next door neighbor with the Falcons. We were met with Rich McKayon, some, you know, neighboring issues this week. We worked together really, really well.

2:12:04But we went Atlanta, you know, we were just voted the number one sports city for business in America. We want to be the number one sports city in America for wins and for, you know, and for championships, which we have not been, we've not had the level of success that we've had on the business side of sports with the Falcons braves, winning championships. So we, you know, I think the fans love seeing our players interacting. Many of our guys have gone over and been part of the game day festivities for both the Falcons for the United throwing out pitches at the braves. We host several players at our games. So we want to build a sports family. You know, Derek Schiller who does an incredible job for the braves and Kim Zalaski and Rick McKay and all the Falcons folks, you know, we work together all the time.

2:13:05And I think a rising sports tie that's good for the city. I think it's good for your all's business and I think it's good for everyone. Steve Koonin joining us here on Sports Radio 90 to the game. With that, you know, the events that surround the games and everything that we do here is a special part of Atlanta. You know, somebody who didn't grow up here, you know, we're sitting out here at the at the Dirty Bird Rally and you guys do great jobs with, you know, events outside the arena and things of that nature. That's part of I think the culture of Atlanta sports that's so special and unique and I think it's a great thing. You know, it's funny. We have a new sports venue in town called Cosm. Have you guys been there yet? I have not. Yeah, it's pretty cool. I have a buddy in town as a matter of fact, he was going to go watch a game and he's like, what is it? You know, how is it? And I told him and tell me if I'm wrong, Steve, I've I've described it as a mini sphere in Vegas. I call it the sphere of sports. Okay. Okay. I mean, people are lined up around the block and it's in the, you know, our new Centennial Yards

2:14:06development, which is coming on beautifully and people are seeing movies during the day in sports at night. And it's really again, lifting that sports tied in Atlanta because not only do we have great pro teams and probably the best facilities in the country, but now we have a place where you can go watch, you know, a championship game or a Sunday night game or a Tuesday night game or world, you know, or whatever in an environment that's unlike any other. So again, we keep layering more opportunities for fans more, more ways to capture the passion. And I think it's really, really exciting. I'll be bold. Can you get me in? Yeah. Of course. Exactly. No, it's it's a cool, it's a cool venue. There's no doubt. And we've been saying it like if you get a chance to check it out, I think don't world cup. It opened right, don't world cup real quick before we get out of here. Yeah, they, they, they worked around the clock because you couldn't miss that opportunity. You just couldn't miss that

2:15:10opportunity with the world coming to Atlanta. And they capitalized on it. And again, we have, you know, we don't have anything to do with it, except we think they're spectacular, absolutely spectacular. Awesome. Steve is way to watch a dogs game there. I was going to say it's a pleasure, as always, um, appreciate you coming on and let's see what the dogs do, man, and go Falcons this weekend. Appreciate you. Don't win by, but probably not more, by not more than 50. Oh, that's good to know. Let's yeah, 24 points, but yes, okay. Thank you again, buddy. We'll talk soon. All right, take care. Bye. That's Steve Cooner, and hog CEO coming up Falcon reports on the way guys. Also, we'll talk to a grand about the Braves. All right. What it kept us to fansky say today? The thing he said is our starter is if you haven't heard, stay there. We now know who's going to start on Sunday, but does that give the Falcons the best opportunity to

2:16:15win the football game? It's something we've been discussing all afternoon long. Mike's out today, Mark Zinno's in. We are Duke's in Bell. We start off every day and every hour by saying, hey, man, we're at Hobnob guys getting ready for the duty bird rally, which is going to happen right here at Atlantic Station. Have had a few listeners already come up, people hanging out and getting ready. It officially starts at seven o'clock, and they got a bunch of performers and retainers that are going to be here, legends, autographs as well, and Freddie, the Falcon, the cheerleaders. There's a lot going on out here, but Zinno, let's talk about what's going on, and that is Cooper Russus, your quarterback. Kevin's to fansky made that announcement today. I want you to hear it, and then I want you to tell me whether or not you think this is going to be better than what it looked like last week. Here's coach. Got to be about our business on Sunday. Quarterback, wise Cooper, we'll start. Jack will be the backup. We'll continue like I've told you guys all along. We'll work through it. Feel good about where we are and feel good about putting the plan together to go find a way to win, and that's what we're charging to. Look, he's right. There was a collective gasp of when the

2:17:20announcement was made today at one o'clock, and I said to Zinno, I came out of a meeting and I had my phone off because, well, that's what you do in meetings, and then all my phone just went absolutely bananas. And I'm like, what is going on? I thought Pinnets was named the starter. I was like, wow, this is great. And then I see that that's not the case. Look, I am frustrating and disappointed because he got he got reps this week. He was a full participant, and you just felt like, okay, especially when he spoke, and I know you were there Zinno, when he did not rule out Sunday. He did not say, guys, I'm not playing. He said, no, I'm not ruling it out. I'm close. I'm close. I'm close. And so this thing that we've been, this angst we've had, like, oh man, he's close. He's not close. He's not close. And I don't think he starts next week. It's a short week guys. We go up to Green Bay next Thursday. That's just my interpretation. I don't necessarily disagree. So where are you at with the Cooper Rush thing? Is he going to be better than he was last week? Because we were absolutely bored if he completes the pass over six yards. Yes, that's better. It's a very low bar to clear, but that would be better. Look, a couple of things too. And this is also part of the things that

2:18:27I don't understand about the way the Falcons are handling this. If Mike went in front of the media, and you know, he's asked you to be ready for Sunday. Yeah. He should have just said no at that point in time. And you could have just named Cooper to start at the beginning of the week. Would have been done. It would have been done. And it would have it would have been handled a lot cleaner. I don't understand why they're choosing to do this method that they're doing now. That said, I do understand why Mike is taking reps with the ones doing the week because he has to see. There's no rehab assignment and football. There is no minor league assignment where you can go get live game reps, right? Yeah. And nobody hits a quarterback in practice. So it's not like he can go practice against ones somewhere and play against ones and get me better and figure out what his status is. So he's got to take first team reps. And that's you have to be able to do two things at the same time here. It's not ideal. We all know it's not ideal, right? Cooper Russ needs as many damn reps as possible at this point. Yes, he does. So that's the only thing that might make him better. Considering what we saw last week, but they have to do two things at once in order to get Mike to

2:19:29a place where he feels like he's comfortable and ready to play. I think with a full week of practice, and I even asked this to Kevin's to fansky. And do I believe that they knew that Cooper was starting on Wednesday? Yes, I believe that they knew. I mean, because I asked him, it's really hard to put a game plan together when you don't know who's starting. Michael Pennings does different things in Cooper Russ. You can call more plays with Michael Pennings under center than you came with Cooper Russ. Like you have to kind of know and he downplayed it. He did downplay it. He downplayed it. I heard the question because he was like, well, you know, you know, it's not that big of a deal. And I'm like, well, then why does the starter get a majority of the rest? Right. I mean, so again, some of the things to me are a little bit like, dude, if you just come out from the beginning and say what it is, everybody moves on a lot quicker. But you drag this thing out. And now you have this language heading into Sunday because it was announced Friday at two o'clock, one o'clock, whatever it was. And you know, everyone's trying to get excited for the game. It's like, okay, at least let me have a couple of 72 hours to decompress on all the angst and then go down to Mercedes Benz. So

2:20:31I think that there will be more that Cooper Russ is capable. I would hope there's more than he's capable of doing with the full week of practice, you know, with him being part of the game plan with his limitations understood and the things that he does well understood. And I hope more than anything too that Bajan's workload is less. I know that sounds crazy, but it was a lot, bro. It's a lot. It's not sustainable. I mean, Jimmy, our gift is going through in Detroit right now too. You're going to run him into the ground. And that's that look and the thing is you won't run him into the ground this year. No, you're running into the ground for next. Correct. We saw it with Saquon. We've seen this happen every 2,000 yard rusher suffers from the drop off the air ass or his massive. And you're going to say, well, he's young and what's he out there for? No, you don't do that. You don't. You don't. You can't overload, particularly at the position of running back, you can't overload these guys too much because it's about miles on the tires, right? Tommy resaid this week and I almost lost my mind. That's the offensive coordinator, guys. He calls the plays. He's like, we got to be more balanced and I got to do a better job of getting the ball to playmakers. Do you guys realize that our wide receivers and tidings

2:21:35as a collective group? That's pits. That's Johan Dotson. That's Drake for balls total. Yeah, they have got to get the ball spread. That's ridiculous. I mean, listen, at this point, throw a wide receiver screen to Drake and hope for the best, right? That should be easy to execute. But they didn't even attempt that. No, and that's my point. You know, I think that there will be more dispersing of the football to five to eight to what numbers that goes every 17s. I prefer. I go fours, dots and I just see B2. I mean, that's the you drafted him for his explosiveness and like, so yes, that's got to be corrected. But again, how much of that was on Cooper rush? How much of that was on Tommy Reese Tommy, you know, said, look, we got to be more balanced. It's Duke's and bail sports radio 92 9 the game. So that is where we're at right now. And look, I'm hoping for the best Sunday. And maybe this team shows up and Cooper rush does an adamant job. Just just be capable of doing just the baseline stuff, right? Don't let I know TJ. Why I made a hell of a play last week. But let's not throw pick sixes. Let's attempt to just

2:22:40give me 230 yards. D and I said, give me two touches. Is that possible? Am I asking for too much from Cooper rush? I don't know. Here's what Kevin St. Fansky said about the team itself and rush being better this week. You know, it's the national football league. So you're going to have some plays. You're going to have some moments. You're going to have some times that you don't play your best or you're not at your best and then you bounce back. So I expect nothing less from our football team, not just one person. So there's going to be a plays that you want back or there's going to be, you know, we're not going to be perfect on any Sunday. But understand that that's why we work. That's why I put it in the time. That's why you do everything in your power to get ready to roll on Sunday. I do not expect this team to be as bad as they were last week, especially offensively. And I know that may be hard for some of you because again, you have no belief in Cooper and I get that. But I just don't because they don't said something earlier in the show and it is really true. You talk to coaches over the years and they will tell you it is a week to week league. This is why you see teams look amazing. And then all of a sudden teams look like a garbage. And there is truth

2:23:43to the fact that when players and sometimes because I don't even know we play next week, there's so tunnel vision and laser focused on what is in front of them, which is the next game. It's a week to week league. But again, I'll go over the arc of the season is something that you have to account for. That's what they had coach has to do, right? Not everybody else. Position coaches everything. They could just focus on the task and then what's the pair for Carolina. I don't care about Thursday night. Sure. I'll worry about that after Sunday at four o'clock. I'll start worrying about Thursday night. Right now all I got to do is worry about beating the Panthers in front of me. But the head coach has to worry about the arc of the season. And when they sat there and put a plan together about Michael Panicson when he was going to come back and when he was going to be healthy and everything else, the arc of the season plan was that we're going to have to struggle for the first couple of weeks until we know and that Mike is 100% until we can get to a spot where we're going to put him fully ready to go and play. I mean, you know, I know everybody's leaning towards oh, we'll do it after Green Bay because it's a it's a long week and you have more preparation. He has preparation time now. There's already people on the staff working on Green Bay. It's like they're not scouting Green Bay ahead of time. But you don't talk to those people.

2:24:46Those people don't talk to the media. They're in a dark room going over film and everything else and putting, you know, trends and things together for for the team to look at. So, you know, it's not like Michael Panicson can't be preparing for Green Bay. I wouldn't totally rule it out at this point in time, especially since. Well, they would be in full on a short week. Would Bim not a short week for him. He said two and a half short weeks now. So it's not a short week for him. I mean, that's that's the reality. You laugh at it, but that's the reality. It's not a short week for him. That's whole time. He could be studying film on Green Bay's defense. You know, it's hard to try. That's true. I mean, it's I just I just think like you go through this week and all the hope just you hit me in the stomach. My wind's been knocked down again. I'm with you. And you know, that's don't I don't know why should I go through that next week. Right. On a short week where you like, Hey, and then you hit me in the belly. I mean, if you do the math, right, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, right? So that's that's what you have from when, you know, we meet with the media on a normal week. On Monday, he should be announcing the quarterbacks.

2:25:47Right. Right. And I look, if they go through this exercise again, where they hold out, shame on them. Honestly, I got sorry, Falcons. That that that's bad on you. If Mike's not going to be ready. Okay. Say it. Say it. Say it. Then just say it and let's move on and prepare. And that's been part of the problem, especially in a short week where there's it's a truck any time. I don't know if you have the time to split reps in a trunk in a trunk. Can I ask you something else? It is a prime time game. It is green. Bay. You don't want to get embarrassed. There's a lot of people watching. Yep. I'm just asking. Now, doesn't get any better with the with the rival saints, the following week. No, it doesn't. And I don't listen. I don't think that has anything to do with the perfect. No. All right. Is there ever an ideal? Yes, you look at the schedule. Oh, look, it's a Titans. Let's go start against them. That'll be easy. That'd be great. But coaches and players don't think that way. And they never haven't they never will. They look at every opponent is equal. We look at it that way. That's not true. They threw Michael Pinnix out there against the lowly giants when they wanted to give him a chance to have success. Well, it was also started. But it was also the charges. It was also after another what two or three in a

2:26:51section game by Kirk against the Raiders. It was yeah, but they could have they could have they could have put him in two weeks before. And they said, Hey, and again, that was a free free. But I do, but I do think they think about those things. You want them to have success. You don't want them to go out there and not have success. What that said, let's hear Kevin's to fansky talk about Mike. Here's what he said. This is a very, very long sound bite from Kevin's to fansky about Michael Pinnix being ready. Yeah, you know, again, it's a progression. I feel really confident in in the plan. Feel really confident in what we've done. And what Mike has done both on the field and medically and like he's told you, like I've told you when he's ready, he'll be ready. I like. But man, that is where this has been. No update that I could share. That's that's where this has been. I'm sure coach to fansky wakes up at night in a cold sweat. No update. He'll be ready when he's ready. I mean, like, this is where we've been living. And today for him to say that, it's like, wait a minute. Two days ago, this dude was sitting

2:27:53at the podium taking questions and the assumption was, okay, man, he's very close. And then today, he's inactive. He's not even going to be stressed. He's not even the backup. So that's the problem that I think a lot of fans have 4047, 260929. It's Tucson, Bill, Mark Zinnell's in for Mike today. We're going to talk to Grant. They get the Astros coming up this weekend. And again, we'll talk about the magic number and what's in front of the braves. But it feels like, at least to me, you know, you're going to be able to hold on. I hope they win this division. It's never over until it's over. But, you know, the way this has gone. So we'll get to Grant about that. I want you to hear one other thing because look, I don't want to take away from the moment while I'm talking about how I feel and how I think many of you feel in regards to this situation. And I'm not talking about whether you're for him or against him. I'm just simply saying as a as a fan of this football team, man, this has been one of the most frustrating situations that we've ever had to deal with.

2:28:55All right. But Kevin's to fanskiest coaching is his home opener on Sunday. And I think there are a lot of people who have confidence in Kevin's to fanski. I don't know. I've said this. He's not won a game yet. And that goes now after week one. He's not won a game as a Falcon football coach. But I do think people feel like, okay, he's going to do a really good job when giving the opportunity to have all the pieces in place. But here's what he said about getting the coach on Sunday in the home opener. It's not a small thing to be the head coach of the Atlanta Falkins. Like I take that very seriously. I take my job seriously. I take what I do every day. I want to do the best I can for this football team. And the fact that I get to coach this football team and get to be in front of our fans in that building. Yeah, I can't wait for it. Well, good. I think we feel the same way. But let's show up. Let's score. We didn't get in the red zone last week. Not one time. Once, let's be better on Sunday. And as we started the show today, I got to tell you, I was I was so mad because I am just like man, you build this ups and oh, and then it's just like

2:30:00again, you get it taken away. And that's why I think fans. It's like, okay, I don't know when he's coming back and everybody again, I asked you about the patients and there are guys who are hitting us up on social media. Oh, I'm patient. I'm, I'm with you know, again, give me the number that it's going to be that you're going to feel satisfied in evaluating him. If it's 10 games, if it's eight, are it is that enough? And many of you cannot answer that question. We can't because I don't know what it looks like. I mean, there's a world where it comes out as three great games and then as two bad ones in a row. That's true. I mean, it's true. We won't know it until we see it. We all all very anxious and all very driven to see what this whole thing looks like. But you know what the best, you know what you hope for more than anything, dude, regardless of record. What's that? You hope by the time we're flipping the calendar to November. Yeah. We're sitting here making these first two weeks and after thought conversation. I hope so. You know, and just look, you know, things aren't going right, but panic is balling out. It's not on him. Things are going wrong for

2:31:03a bunch of other reasons, but it's not on him. I would prefer to have that conversation. Would prefer to have that conversation. Hey reminder, guys, football coverage on 99th games presented by Exfinity score. The most reliable Y5 one price five years guaranteed. Exfinity, imagine that we're coming back. We'll talk to Grant McCauley our Braves insider about where this team is this weekend and what's going on? What's the rotation look like and much more? Stay there. It's Duke's in Bell. It is Duke's in Bell. We're live at Atlantic Station. Guys getting ready for the dirty birds party that's going on. It starts at seven, by the way, the official start time. Mark Zinno is in for Mike. Let's talk to our buddy Grant McCauley because Grant, despite dropping the the rubber game of that series, you know, we're still right where we want to be. And I'm talking about a top the NL East after that Cubs series. And here come the Astros. And, you know, I was talking with Mark about this Braves Magic number to clinch the division is five. So look, I feel pretty good about this. I'm okay to feel good about this right now, right? I'm not going to get out of this.

2:32:04I mean, this thing, no, no, this thing could be over this weekend. The Braves can clinch their Playoff spot as soon as tonight with a win. I believe it's a diamondback lose to the Yankees. That would also clinch the Braves a playoff spot. So as far as things are going, they're punching their ticket to October. Now, obviously the big businesses, they like to win the National League East and they'd really like to have had one of those top couple of records. I think that might be a little bit of a taller mountain decline because all of a sudden we knew how good the brewers were. They're not going to be caught by anybody. But the Dodgers have also stopped losing, despite not having show Heyo Tani right now. So, you know, you just handle the business that you can. And as far as that's concerned, the Braves can get themselves into the playoffs this weekend, which I expect. And can clinch the National League East at some point in the next couple of days, perhaps or by Sunday. And if not, they can come on home and maybe clinch it against the Cincinnati Reds. Grant, I've heard a lot and it's seen a lot of this scuttle butt on Twitter about Alex Anthopolis and some of the blame that he's taking for a whole variety of different things. But I really don't see enough adulation for the acquisition of Tyler Molley, who's given up just,

2:33:08what is that? Five earned runs, six earned runs since coming over in the trade. I mean, you know, this is your number two starter in the postseason right now. And that's not something that easily you find in the trade market. No, it's not. And I don't think that when that trade happened that many people, including myself, were looking at it and saying, oh, they've solved their number two starter for the postseason. Now, I did look at Tyler Molley as a guy that had had moments in his career and seasons in his career where he could be helpful to the overall rotation. I thought, okay, you know, you solidify your add some innings. You've had a bunch of injuries. You needed to make a move. I just expected there to be that bigger domino. And we went through all the consternation of, oh, they want Jacob DeGrom, but DeGrom doesn't want to leave Texas. All of that stuff didn't play out the way that he wanted it to. So it felt like Alex had just swung and missed at helping the starting rotation. When, in fact, Molley, I believe by the numbers and performance and everything we've seen has been the best starter that has been traded at the deadline thus far by their results. And we're talking about almost a couple of months or this more or at least a

2:34:08month and a half. So he solidified that. The Braves certainly needed what he's given. Now they've got to figure out if you got Chris sale and Tyler Molley, then you got Martin Perez and Grant Holmes. Look like the other two most likely candidates to start games in the postseason for the Braves. And they can start figuring out where all the other innings are going to come from. Could get Robert Suarez back in their bullpen. And as we've talked about a lot over the years, your bullpen is one of your biggest October weapons. The Braves proved it in 2021. And it gets proven year after year after year. The team that has a bullpen that can lock things down is a team that has a good chance to have success in October. And I believe the Braves have that. The biggest thing they need to do, which is not your question, but is the question for me. Can they consistently get this offense rolling so that you feel confident all the way around that the Braves can be as their best when they face the best in a few weeks? Grant, what should Atlanta fans feel more secure in? Cooper Rush starting on Sunday or Martin Perez starting to play off game. I would go with Martin Perez starting a playoff game, especially if it's at home where he has been

2:35:10almost untouchable this year. So, you know, we have the two different ends of the extreme, right? And it just kind of is what it is with the two organizations. There are also very different places in their seasons at this point too. So, you know, a lot of football has to be played. It's not a phrase I've used a whole lot. Not a lot of baseball has to be played. Your most important games laying right out there in front of you, but it's not all up to Martin Perez, I guess, maybe my biggest point because if you have the other arms that are able to be complimentary and he gets you through four or even five innings, I think you feel pretty confident about figuring out how to get the other 12 hours this need be. What's interesting to me, Grant, and I didn't realize this going back to, you know, the World Series, but we've been pretty good at Houston, huh? Eight and one. Yeah. And that goes back to 2020. So, I mean, planted Houston. What kind of they're crypto night? Yeah, it's been a good spot for him. Obviously, some of those victories came against the Marlins and the Bubble Playoff scenario where all that's right. It's called Houston Home and

2:36:12both had to go play in that series there. But yeah, I think that the braze have been comfortable there. Obviously, in 2021, they played some of their biggest and most important games there. It's been a minute since 21. So I will say we don't want to be a front row for another showing of small sample size theater, but taking a series this weekend would continue a trend that the braze very much would like to continue. And it would start checking the boxes of playoffs and perhaps national league East Crown. Health wise, Roy, just from a health perspective, I know you said we could clinch tonight and obviously this weekend, we're feeling pretty good about the everyday guys, right? I mean, are there any concerns there as we head towards the end of the season here? No, I think that the ones that we have are just kind of the obvious ones of let's just keep everybody healthy. You know, the D.H. Drake balled on a lot. I think that's been something good in the second half, but haven't Sean Murphy back is. You trust him with his pitching staff. He is more than proven himself as a valuable commodity to how the pitching staff performs when he's

2:37:14behind the plate. He has to praise ABS Maven. There are not too many other players on the team, and that's no disrespect to Drake or any hitter for that matter that seemed to know the strike zone quite as well as Sean Murphy, because when he tests that helmet for a challenge, he's getting it right a high percentage of the time. That kind of stuff is helpful to pitch sequencing, game planning, all that stuff. He's handling a lot of that hard work, which is allowing Drake to be, I think, a little fresher as we head down the stretch in September and into October. So that is the number one health area that I was curious about coming out of the deadline when Sean got activated from the injured list. How was that going to balance out and it balanced out quite nicely? And I don't think I need to tell you where anybody listening, you got to keep Ronald Likunia junior healthy because as he goes, I think the entire lineup can go. And we've seen a much better version of Ronald Likunia junior over the past few weeks, which has me hopeful that this entire lineup will have itself in the right position, or at least enough guys rowing in the same direction the Scorson runs for this pitching staff. Grant, let's fast forward to the playoffs here for a minute because I know a lot of fans are worried about the rotation, but you know, if you hit the rewind button and remember the

2:38:182015 Royals and how they won the World Series, the Braves sort of set up the same way. Like there's a world where after sale and Molly, whoever else is starting really only needs to go for innings. Get through the lineup one time. And this bullpen is good enough to carry you. Is that a fair assessment that this could be a more bullpen heavy playoff run for the Braves than ever before? Yes. And Alex has talked about that. I believe he told Carla Mike that a couple of weeks ago about how much they believe in their bullpen and their ability to cover those outs. And you know, as somebody who, you know, listens when I start hearing them talk about that strategy and just marks that down in my notebook, you know, like BJ Novak in the office. I've just got my notebook right in front of me. I'm writing it down. Yeah, I think that they are going to lean on the bullpen. And this was the success of the Braves in 2021. I mean, yes, the Royals absolutely, but the Braves in 21 by the time things were said and done in the World Series, they had lost everybody but Max Fried and Ian Anderson. And so they were trying to figure it out because you remember game one was Charlie Morton broken leg and that's your veteran who was supposed to be

2:39:18angering the rotation at that time. That was a different version of Charlie than the one we saw who retired last year. That was the guy that you were really hinging a lot of your hopes on. And they figured out a way to make it work is my point. They had some guys step up and cover some beginnings. I think that they have candidates in there that can do it. Grant Holmes is certainly one of them. I think Giddyr Fwent is kind of their secret weapon and you may not be much of a secret to the opposing teams because a lot of clubs, including the entire baseball world and fans, could get to know this young man and how special his season has been. And then you start talking about some of the other arms for the higher leverage innings outside of that from Rice, Ella Glacius, the hopefully Robert Suarez here in the next few days or week and Dylan Lee and Dylan Dodd and some of the other guys who stepped up really, really big. This is a good bullpen. It's a multifaceted bullpen with varieties and lefties, Brent Souter who they got at the deadline has thrown a lot of important innings for him. I think he's the guy that can help bridge from starter to bullpen and get you some important outs. They've got the quantity and the quality to make a long story short to do something similar to how they won it all in 2021. When are you on this weekend,

2:40:24Grant? I will actually be on Monday after Monday night football. That will be my next one. So I will, just like everyone else, clock in on Sunday and see what the Falcons are able to do in their home opener against Carolina. But from the Diamond will be back on Monday. You can find it wherever you get your podcast. And of course on the Odyssey app and after Monday night football. Sounds good, brother. Take care, man. Enjoy the weekend. Thanks, Grant. Thanks, guys. The first Falcons home game of the season is this Sunday. You can start your game day with Sports Radio 92 9 the game at our tailgate party. It's at the corner of MLK and Thomas W. Cole. Is that 9 through 11 a.m.? That is 9 until 11 a.m. I'll be on that show. Okay. It's just two blots west of the stadium. Food drinks lots of fun. So you're going to join Joe Patrick this weekend. Yep. All right. Check them out, guys. It's the tailgate show from 9 to 11. They want to be there for positivity and and a lot of good reason. Yeah, okay. I think that's what management said. I'll never believe it. Oh, you shouldn't. That's all Sunday at the corner of MLK and Thomas W. Cole on Sports Radio 92 9 the game. We come back. I got to tell you

2:41:26what I'm looking at. I got to tell you what I'm looking at and why it matters to the Atlanta Falcons. Next. It's the Falcons. It's Cooper Rush. It's Sunday at Mercedes Ben Stadium. It's Duke's in Bell. Mark's in O is in for Mike today. And I said to you guys, I got to tell you what I'm looking at. And we're in Hobnob, which is right outside of what they call Times Square kind of, you know, the central area here of Atlanta station. And outside as they get ready for this dirty birds pet rally, Falcons fans are loyal, man. And see, I'm looking outside and with all the uncertainty and frustration and people are here. They support this team. They're going to support them on Sunday. These tables next to us all filled with Falcons fans. And I say that to just say to this organization, can you help us? Can you help us out? We're here. We want to be here. We want to want to be happy

2:42:31about cheering for something that's positive and good and and gives us a reason to like brag about our team and flaunt and floss. And it's just been so damn long. And so as I look outside and I'm like, man, people are showing up. There'll be more people. There's people crowded around. And there's always a good crowd for this event because again, they do such a good job. There's live entertainment. There's a legend autographs and Freddy the Falcon cheerleaders, all that stuff is going on out here. But it just makes me think, man, we're just starving for a winner. We're just starving to get back to the playoffs. And it just feels like it's been so long, but we're not going anywhere. And that's the thing, you know, for all the fodder on social media. And I know you get it. Megan, I see it every single day. We're here. We're discussing our team. We're talking about the team. The team is front and center. We just want to be happy about being able to brag a little bit about yo, see the Falcons? See what happened this weekend? Just see our quarterback? Like it would be just amazing to get back

2:43:32to that. And the crazy thing is we've been there. You know, we've been there. When Matt Ryan takes us to the playoffs, he's first year in 08, and then you get to 2010 and all of a sudden 2012, and we're hosting the NFC championship game and 16. And I know how it ended, but the point is we've been there. You know what it feels like. And I know, you know, this city, man, you're talking about putting off with a city. GZ, we put on. Yep. We put on for these Falcons, man. So I say that to just say, like, let's see other season goes. We're all right now feeling some kind of way about how this is all played out. And Mark and I were just having this conversation about communication and the messaging and all this stuff that has played a role in this Michael Pinnix or deal, right? It really has. This has not been all Michael Pinnix's fault. No. But the bottom line is a lot of folks are like, yo, what are we doing? You're going to blank get off the pot. Like, what are we doing? Are you going to play? You're ready? You're not ready? You're practicing. So I just feel like all of that, that angst

2:44:34again, as I've talked about today. But man, big shout out to Falcon fans. I just want to say that. If you're on your way down here, you're going to game on Sunday, or even if you're not, because I say this all the time, everybody done go to games, which you spend your time watching this team and being connected with it. So big shout out to everybody, man, for listening and to listen to giving this test. What's your reaction going to be to the to the fan attendance or anything in Mercedes Benz this weekend? What's my reaction? Yeah. I mean, like, you know, there seems to be this overwhelming, like, oh, I'm not going to the game. I'm not doing it. You know, I don't need to watch this. This is that the other people are giving away my tickets to be. A lot of people are saying that, but you know, they're still vested. Some people are upset and some people are out. I hear you, but I do think that's that's idle chatter because those same people that are out, let us go on a six game win streak. Right. You know, so look, I had a great conversation with my buddy, Brian Baldwin, this morning, because we were climbing around and he put a couple of videos

2:45:36out talking about Buffalo last night and how dominant Buffalo's defense was and stopping Jamar Gibbs. So we were just talking and he said, hey, you know, I'm coming to the game this weekend, Baldi will be here and he asked me, what do you think the crowd's going to be like? Because we've had this conversation over the last three or four years him and I and it's been like, you know, Dukes, when are they going to get get a crowd in there? Like he's asking me and I'm like, Baldi, part of this is the team has to do their job. The team has to provide some excitement. And over the last few years, think about who our quarterbacks have been, you know, think about where this team. So that's part of this quarterback number six and last six years. So I will tell you like, am I going to be surprised if it's not completely full? No, but I also understand that's why I just laid out we're yearning for an opportunity to like cheer it like hell for this team man and and and and supported. And Matt Ryan said this a couple of years ago, he wasn't even the president of football, or president of football. You know, when he spoke to the team a couple of years ago, Rahad him speak to the team and I know you're

2:46:38familiar with this. The videos out there, but Matt was like, look, in Atlanta, you earn it. They'll support the hell out of you, but you got to earn it man. And so he knows I think everybody in the organization knows and that's kind of what we're going for, but I don't expect, you know, capacity. I just don't because there is a lot of frustration right now, but that's why I hopefully they're building this thing and it's moving in the right direction. I want you to hear something. I want to get your reaction as we are live today at Atlantic Station guys. Mike and I are back together Monday. It's a Falcon Monday. We got a lot of stuff to chop up. Great NFL action. Obviously college football over the weekend. We're all over it starting at two on Monday, but Jason Tatum coming back from his injury. And he went on a damn Patrick show yesterday. And Jason was talking about his relationship with with Jaylen Brown, who's an ATL kid, you know, ATL born guy. And Jaylen and him, Jaylen at one point, I think this off season said he hadn't talked to Jason Tatum. Tatum said he loves him for what they were accomplished, what they were

2:47:40able to accomplish. But I want you to hear this particular sound by talking about returning from his injury guys. This is Jason Tatum. Physically, this day and age, especially in professional sports, with best trainers and doctors and modern medicine, like physically you're going to be clear at the plate. It's the mental hurdle that is the the top is and that is different for everyone. And it just takes time. And only you can understand and know when you're 100% ready when you're confident, nobody else can even do that for you. That's Michael Pinnix. That's that's Michael Pinnix, which with Jason Tatum, just and he was talking about his injury, right? But he said, look, we got the best doctors, the best equipment, technology is way advanced. You're going to be fine physically, but mentally you have to trust it. And that's why I keep saying that there's a lot of angst from fans and a lot of, you know, anxiousness from fans about stuff that really doesn't have to do with Michael Pinnix. He's not responsible for all nine years of no playoffs. He's not responsible

2:48:45for bad draft choices, bad coaching, bad decisions along the way. He's only really responsible for the nine games he's played in. And ultimately that's it. Like that's all you can really hold him accountable for. I understand where everybody wants to back. I understand that we all genuinely feel when healthy he is by far the best quarterback on this roster and the best hope for long-term sustainability for this franchise. The Obi-Wan Kenobi now. You are our last hope. Help us, Michael Pinnix, you're our only hope. But that's fit. Like honestly, that's what it is. That's what it is. You're right, because as much as people get excited about a top 10 quarterback again next year, guys, the track record is not there that you're going to do well. And even at that, at this rate, when we've seen in recent years, 50-50 first round quarterbacks or busts are out. It's a coin flip that you're going to get the right guy. It just is. So it's not always something that is cut and dry. If everybody wants to move on to the next shiny toy and the next big thing, the thing that you have maybe right in front of you, we just need to see it. Yeah, that those

2:49:49and all gets back to hope and excitement. That draft thing, whether you know, you get the right guy or not, that gets back to, okay, we find ourselves in this rut. It gives you some reason to hope and have excitement, which is why I think drafting Michael Pinnix, for those who hated it, at the time, where's Terry? The franchise was committed to it and remember, they were like, they were conviction, our conviction, to make this pick. And so they made us believe, many of us, that this is what they needed to do. And so it gave a lot of people hope. The problem is, the piece they drafted has been unable to stay healthy. And that is part of this equation. And that is just real. But I thought what Jason Tatum said was very interesting, because he was talking about his return from injury. It's all mental, man. You guys can tell me all you want, but he's like, want you get cleared? It just is. And he says it takes time. So how much more time are we talking about? And that's really what we're talking about with Michael Pinnix. 4047-2609-29,

2:50:49you guys can always text us. Coming up tonight, by the way, Sam Khrinshaw, Coach Chris Parker, 6-11, the high school scoreboard show guys, and they'll have all of the big high school games and talking about them, interviews and much more. So make sure you stay tuned for that here on Sports Radio 9290 game. But I just, I, I, I'm going to leave here. I'm going to go have a drink. Me too. Probably going to smoke Stogie. Not a bad idea. And I'm going to try to get my mind right for hopefully a good performance on Sunday, because that's all I really am hoping for. I mean, like, and by the way, that there's, well, we made it close. I don't give a damn. I'm trying to win. I don't care. Well, you know, they play good, but you know, we know. I'm trying to win. And especially in a division game. I mean, I don't care. Who we kept it closer than I thought it would be. Man, come on. The same horseshoes. No. This is NFL football. W's matter. L's matter. And that's it. I mean, look, you have to hope you get a better version of Cooper Rush that is in Cooper flush on Sunday.

2:51:56And I hope the game plan is better than that. Well, by the way, if it is Cooper flush, how long does that last year? Seriously? I mean, do you going to move on from him when when two has been injured? Pretty pretty to this way. This may be an absolute tell. If it gets bad, and he pulls him for Jack Strand at some point in the game, please don't get people excited. Hold on. That tells me that Pentax is starting on Thursday. What? Okay. Let me ask you a question. You want to eliminate the idea that Jack Strand would start in week three. It's because Michael Pentax is starting. The only reason to pull Cooper Rush is that bad. Okay. He's that bad. We got a problem. Well, if he's that bad again, and you pull him and you put Jack Strand in, now you open up a can of worms where people want Jack Strand to start week three. If it's not Cooper or Michael Pentax, right? The only way to eliminate that is you can put Strand in knowing Pentax is playing next week because there is no debate between Strand and Pentax. None. Pentax is healthy. He plays. Pentax is ready. He plays. Not Jack Strand.

2:53:00No, but isn't there no debate between any of these quarterbacks and Pentax? There shouldn't be, but that's the point. But there could be a debate between Rush and Strand. That's a can. You don't want to open up. That's why you don't pull him, right? You don't self manufacture a quarterback controversy. No, already enough of a mess as it is. Well, that's why he didn't play in last week. So the point is, is if he's willing to pull him, that tells me that Michael Pentax is starting on Thursday. Bold prediction. Come on. If you see Jack Strand as we, Pentax starts on Thursday. Come on. Come on. You have to see what it's doing. What is Strand? It's in balls out. Well, he ain't going to ball out in a quarter and a half. I mean, he might leave me in the middle of the draw. Three touchdowns for Frost. Don't self manufacture a quarterback. He runs for one throws for two and throws one to himself. Come on. Listen. You get it. W who cares, right? Who cares? Hey, man, we got to get out of here. Again, the coach is show coming up. Coach Parker, Sam Khrinschall, stay tuned at six. Hey, back at the studio. Big O man, let's clear

2:54:02our throw. Hey, thanks to all of our guests today. More important thanks to you guys for hanging out with us and making us at laments number one sports station. It's number one sports show, Dukeson Bell. Mark Zinnell, appreciate you, man. Always brother. Good to see you. Glad things are going well. Enjoy the weekend. We are back on Monday, as I said, at two o'clock. Are we talking about a Falcons win? Are we talking about a loss? And what did it look like? Either way, dogs, Georgia Tech, all of that, and much more on Monday. Hey, big O back at the studio. I know you were by yourself today, day day, and Mike were off. And you did all the things, man. So appreciate everything that you do for us. All right, man, we got to get out of the way. Thanks to the folks in the staff here at Hobnob, Falcons, Dirty Bird, Rally going on outside here, kicks off about seven o'clock at Atlantic station. If you're coming down,

2:55:03still in room as we're looking at it right now, people setting up chairs and hanging out. There's going to be some great performances here tonight as well as we get ready for Sunday. All right, man, let's get out of here. Mark Zinno, clear throw. So those down in Oxford, Mrs. Cippy tomorrow. Oh, man, this has all the makings of something really bad that could happen. Somehow, if old Miss pulls off the subset, please celebrate responsibly. Okay, no fires, no fights, no, no, no, no, looting, none of that stuff. Carry your gold poster, whatever rear river is new, you that's fine. But beyond that, man, this has the makings of something that could get very, very ugly if it doesn't go a certain way. So I just hope we see a good football game and everybody celebrates responsibly. Hey, Mike Bell is headed to Tuscaloosa. I love Vamma. Tied by a million. Yeah, they're going to win. But the thing about this is reports now from our buddy Bruce Feldman, who covers college football, is Jim Boe Fisher wants back in. No. If Florida State fires

2:56:04on an interim basis, no, he wants the job. If Mike Norville is fired, Fisher reportedly wants the job. He spent eight seasons there. Remember, he won a national title in 2013. James, as the Florida State head football coach, if Alabama wins and covers, no bells fired on Sunday, right? And that may mean that means they win by three touchdowns and that may mean they bring in Jim Boe Fisher. Wow. Fisher apparently is lobbying for an opportunity to get back there. Why wouldn't you? You rob Texas A&M. Hey, we got to get out of here. If you love the show, tell your friends. Yeah. Yeah. Don't find some patience for panics. No, Mark. Let's clear the air about hybrids with Kia. I live in Pasadena, so my Kia tell you ride Turbo

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