Best of Falcons on 92.9 the Game: Tua getting hurt was a blow Atlanta did not need

0:00nothing ever goes right for this franchise. Atlanta, what's going on? It's Duke Simebele on Sports Radio 92 9 the game. We start off every day and every hour by saying, hey man, we now know who's going to start in Pittsburgh and it is not Michael Pinnick. So it is not to a tongue of my low on. Nope, it is not even Jack Strand. Nope, it is Cooper Rush. What? Who was named today by Kevin Stofansky after two of her disobleek yesterday at practice. This is already a mess and the season hasn't even started. Yes. I'm so at my wits in, Mike. And I got to tell you, look, I blame the front office for this because they had an opportunity to either make a trade or bring in somebody else. If they knew and had talked to Michael Pinnick's about where he is. But I'm starting to believe Mike, they didn't because it's almost like,

1:03well, you just tell us what's going on. And then when he said, I'm not ready, they went, oh crap. Well, that's just it. I mean, I've had all these guys tell me, you can't rush Pinnick. This is his career year. He's not going to have a career even as he get out on the field. So I know, don't project your life into Michael Pinnick's life. If you're a quiet quitter, okay? Michael Pinnick's junior has got to impress GM's around the league who right now we're going, how is this guy clear to not playing? Okay, that's reality. There's nothing to do with just Atlanta. If Michael Pinnick's future lies somewhere else, other GM's are questioning the same things I'm questioning. Regardless, Carl, they had two options. It was either Kyler Murray or two of Tonga Violet. That's not true, Mike. They could have made a trade. They could have gone out and acquired a quarterback. If they really thought our quarterback room is going to be crap. Not to paraphrase you. Who? Well, look, Cooper Rush was sitting at home not doing a damn thing, waiting on a phone call all off season. They didn't call him until we acquired him on the 29th of July. Okay? So he was like last minute after thought.

2:04Just in case we need another guy. And now, all of a sudden, he's starting on Sunday. I'm just saying a front office worth its salt. Does its research and says, hey, we got to bring in more qualified people in here because we may be without Michael Pinnick's a lot longer than we think. They didn't do that. Well, again, I thought they figured two of Tonga Violet was looking to reinvent himself because he liked to continue to get paid other than what the dolphins still pay and for not being a dolphin. But I will say that two of us, injury to start the camp, was kind of maybe a harbinger of what's going on with this guy. We think about the concussion. We worry about that. Turns out to be my aching back. So today, I mean, yesterday, he literally is like that scene in the royal tenon bombs when Jean Hackman goes, oh, I remember he lays down slowly and they put the spoon in his mouth, pretending like he's had a stroke or something. That's the way he went down. So guys, it's just very frustrating that, yes, we didn't have a better option. But the one thing I'm excited about is maybe we see Jack Strand. The good news bad news on that is if you see Jack Strand on Sunday in Pittsburgh, we're probably down by 25, 30 points. Correct.

3:04And a lot of fans will be curious to see how he responds. But this is going to be Cooper Rush who's been there, done that, has a bunch of starts, high pressure, you know, being in there for the Cowboys years ago. But it's just so uncompelling as a Falcon fan. I want to see Michael Pinnick's junior. You don't get that. I don't even get that. So you're right. Sometimes, and I hate to play that Atlanta, I just card you feel like you're cursed. 404-726-0929. I told you guys yesterday, nobody. And I mean, nobody is giving us a chance to go up to Pittsburgh and win. That was prior to this decision. What is Cooper Rush? Cooper Rush is a 32-year-old backup quarterback in the National Football League who has played 42 games and is 9 and 7 as a starter. He was 0 and 2 for the Ravens last year. That's what he is. So if you're asking, hey, what are we getting on Sunday? I really don't know a whole lot about Cooper Rush. For those Cowboy fans, you might remember him as the backup. He had moments, okay? But at the end of the day, this is a tough way to start the season. And again, when you acquired the guy on the first day of training camp, just because, and now, you know,

4:10yesterday was his first real first team snaps. And he said it yesterday after practice. And he said, ah, you know, it's good to get out there because if I have to play, at least I have a feel for what's going on. Cowcon fans, where are you at with this? Because it really feels like this sets the season and the tone for the opposite direction of what we thought might, what this might look like. I heard Rusty Mansell the other day say, that's a long season. Yeah, it's a long season. But every year, our seasons come down to one game, one or two games, and we win the division. So we're just going to say, oh, yeah, it's a 17-week season. You know, week one is an extension of the preseason. Carl, I can't wrap with that. That's a bunch of nonsense. I mean, these games matter. Okay? Now, if you're the, if you're the Rams and you look like Sturfried blank last night down under, you can always come back and get it right because you're the Rams. You've got better talent than we do. Yes. You know, but if you're the Falcons, we got no margin for error. Where you just say, I can seed week one. That's why I was so irked about Panics not being willing to go when he was cleared. All right, man. We got a lot to chop up today. It certainly changes the direction of what we thought we'd be talking about.

5:13And that is, hey, all right, two has gotten all these raps. They got a game plan in for two. And by the way, the game plan was specifically centered around what two of us best. That's now been tweaked. And the time is ticking until kickoff on Sunday. And so I'm not telling you again, Falcon fans, that Cooper Rush won't step in and do the best job that he can. Of course he is. But it just diminishes our chances when you know you're going into a game with a guy who really gives you, you know, a 50% or less chance to win this game. I'm just being honest with you guys. That's that's how I feel about this. Now, if he pulled off a miracle mic and Monday we roll into the studio and we're talking about what a win for the Falcons. Great, but I just don't feel like that. No, you need the offense to really be trucking because your defense has now what lost. We did the math. Half of those sacks it made us the second best pass rushing team in the league last year. Those those sacks are out of the building right now. You know, at least until James Pierce Jr. comes back 10 and a half, whatever he can do in a half a season, come back. Joe Sue Mendoza hits us up on the X.

6:13He goes, I don't know what panics putting on the Cape even means. He goes for an eight as a starter. Literally has not shown once that he can play at an elite level. I said, and my argument is with a better head coach, a better offensive coordinator, a real game plan, not that crap that Zach Robinson was in over his head with. That's what I want. That's why I can't wait to see Michael Pentax in this sample size. That's what I mean by give him a shot to come out there and be the hero. All right. Look, we have no choice. We got to get behind Cooper. Right. We'll see what this looks like. I hope he plays well. By the way, speaking of Jack Strand, Frost is the backup. So to Mike's point, now we're talking about him being a play away. And I've been saying this all off season. Either one of these guys are a play away. Whether it was going to be pinnings or two and you guys laugh when I said Jack strand can be a play away. Literally on Sunday, he is a play away. Well, now they've talking about they're going to be there'll be an emergency quarter back. Well, is it going to be Michael Pentax Jr. or Lama-dae Zacchaeus who played who played quarterback in pop one or or in junior college that can play quarterback in a pinch? Right. Everybody's got one. Now, this we're bringing Heinz Ward back or Matt Ryan is going to come out.

7:15Matt Ryan is signed on one day contract to be emergency quarterback. Oh. You know, I'd be down with that. I mean, bro, this is so falcony. It's just so falcony. It's what unfortunately, and I hate to tie in previous seasons with a fresh start. But the fresh start just feels like more of the same. Well, this is why Mike, I'm, and I know again, we hadn't played it down, but this is why I'm looking at the front office. What are we doing? It's almost like, what's the plan? And the most important plan going into the season, this off season was what? You guys know, it was quarterback. It was the number one thing we talked about. Pentax coming off of this injury and everybody just assumed, dude was going to be fine. How many of you guys told us he'll be ready for the season? He's not. Did the falcon's front office not realize that and say, you know what? We really need to kind of double down on this and be prepared. So look, the two of thing is what it is, but many of you thought he was injury prone anyway. You thought he was injury prone. I was never really sold. I mean, the one thing we can talk about. Now, they're not going to start him. And by the way, you and I were talking at the end of the show guys who missed it about, you know, how does the NFL work week?

8:19You know, work because they're traveling up to Pittsburgh on Saturday morning. It's talking with Archie last night on the way home, be a text. And Dave was saying there's some seven on seven, some red zone today, but it's not like your full, you know, day of practice that you was see earlier in the weekend, was they do the installs. So it's not like Cooper Rush is going to be beating out Jack Strand. It's all Cooper Rush and Jack Strand won't have that opportunity. But Jack Strand is on this roster for a reason. Somebody in that building carl upstairs says, I believe enough about Jack Strand to take away a vital 53 man roster spot. So as much as I argued with you that he's not ready or you can't throw him up there against Pittsburgh, I think every Falcon fan listening would rather see Jack Strand out there than Cooper Rush. Just to at least see what this kid's about, you know, in the ultimate trial by fire. That's where I've been. And I said if two of can't play at two, I start obviously that's not who they're starting today. Kevin Stofansky when he addressed the media was not upset. He was not read in the face. He simply delivered the information and I've said this about him. I do like this aspect. Even when we're kind of freaking out about stuff, he is right here all the time.

9:24Right. And so he said that they have always had a plan. I'm not sure if that's true. I think this is reaction. Okay, I don't think this is part of the plan action reaction. Okay. But he said, hey, we've always had a plan. But he be carrying four quarterbacks. Isn't that doesn't that mean you anticipated some stuff? I think the four quarterbacks was we know pinnocks now is not ready. Okay. So at least we've got three. Okay. That's what I think they weren't expecting to go my back. You know, Carl, we're live at Twin Peaks here in Buckhead. Can I give a shout out real quick to start the show? Absolutely. Carl, I believe that children are our future. And you and I have talked about Gen Z being soft. Randy Watson said that being weak, having no balls. That's not what's happening right here. Three young men from the University of Georgia, hardworking guys, Duke's and Bill listeners, Carl. They only got to see national championships with Kirby. Young men right there just got certified as an agent as a like a professional sports agent. How cool is that? One guy's in banking. One guy's in real estate. They're here to bird dog chicks. Let's give it up for these. You know what? Gen Z. They're not all worthless.

10:26Oh, that's good. That's good. Way to go, Gen Z. All right. Too bad. It's a room full of dudes right now. I know. You're exactly right. And then once you hit 25 to 54, you help Carl and I hit our bonuses. So you get you guys get that birthday soon. All right, man. Good to have you guys in the building. Appreciate you guys coming out. You can come out here and hang out with us. The drinks. They eats the scenic views as we like to say here at Twin Peaks. All right. We got a lot to get to. We're going to talk to our man B. Mac Bryant. Mac Fatton two times. Super Bowl champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was already leaning Pittsburgh. We said this today on the pre show on Twitch and YouTube. He's going to be chirping like there's no business. I mean, he's you know how much he's going to be chirping today. All right. We'll talk to him. And last night, all that Rams hype. Come down. We're live between peaks on a Friday. It's Duke's in bill. A lot of questions surrounding the Falcons as they head into week one facing Pittsburgh. So we got to bring in former Falcons quarterback and analyst for the Atlanta Falcons radio network.

11:26Dave Archer. Dave, thanks so much for joining us this morning. I'm really not even sure where to start with all the conversations around the quarterbacks right now. Obviously you know to us day to day. How are you sizing up the situation at this point, Dave? Well, probably like everybody else is, you know, just kind of kind of shrugging their shoulders. Say, okay, what next can happen with the quarterback situation? Very difficult for coaching staff, you know, and obviously we had a training camp supposed battle or battle. In the off season that you thought would take shape that really never did. And now you've got to now you got this situation to deal with. So, you know, fortunately you had two guys in in Cooper, Rush and Jack Strand that did some good stuff in the in the preseason that you feel like you could lean into in emergency situation. And frankly, this could be what that is. And with that, you know, the the weight doubles down on guys like Bajan Robinson and Drake London and these guys that are around.

12:34Whoever's going to play quarterback and certainly you can put a plan together for Cooper Cooper's played, you know, see started 16 games in this in this league. And so it's not like he hasn't been in this situation before, but it's certainly not the night an ideal situation. No question. Yeah, but to that point, Arch, I mean, in your in your mind, I know you haven't been in those rooms, but does the do you think the game plan really is going to would change that much between Rush and to or am I kind of because to me, I just don't feel like it would, but maybe I'm wrong on that. You obviously know more than me. Well, the game plan will be lean into and you heard Kevin Stefansky probably heard the presser for Tommy Reese yesterday and he talked about leaning into what guys do best, you know, and there's certain things that that that two of brings the table that maybe Cooper's not as comfortable with and all those things. Only Tommy knows that and probably the coaching staff Alex van pelte the quarterback coach as to what those those situations are, whether it's the waggle plays or the boot plays and I don't think that we saw anything in training camp that lead you to believe that that Cooper doesn't feel comfortable with probably similar stuff that two runs.

13:52Now, would you ask him, you remember, you know, to has been absorbing this offense since he got here in, you know, back in OTA Cooper Rush showed up at the beginning of training camp, so his ability to do things at the line of scrimmage might be, you know, significantly limited as to what we saw to it. And the in the game against Miami where, you know, he motioned Kyle inside or emotionally outside saw how mine reacted to it, changed the play, brought Kyle back inside and then an old screenplay and Kyle went down the sideline for about 35 or 40 yards. Not saying that Cooper can't do that, but I don't know that if he has enough. Repson is under his belt to be able to check into some of that kind of stuff, so that might be some of the limitations you have should Cooper have to play in the game. Arch, let's dive a little bit deeper. I mean, we don't know who the quarterback is going to be at this point, but in your mind, what do you think is the way the Falcons need to attack this really, really talented Pittsburgh defense.

15:00Well, Mike, whenever you have a team that rushes the passer conventional wisdom from me and the things that I've learned is you've got to make them defend the run. I think you would do that anyway. I think that this was a, this is a big front. So again, traditional wisdom is that you want to make them run. I think that we were so excited about some of the new additions in the run game that Tommy and Kevin and Bill Callahan are bringing to the table with the gap scheme stuff. I'm of the opinion. I think I heard you say this too, is it you want to make them run. So that's the wide zone. You know, and you want to make them get on their horse and try to get, you know, get cut off. But it's not like that this is this is a veteran. You know, to a certain extent, this is a veteran defense. The two linebackers are really good in the middle Patrick Queen has seen pretty much all you're going to throw at him as a seven year guy. I thought Peyton Wilson is a guy that's unsung. Only in his third year at NC State, but he he had over 125 tackles last year.

16:06And we know the two edge guys, it's not like you're throwing anything at them that they haven't seen before either, but I would say that you want to try to run them. You're obviously going to try to keep them off balanced. I would throw the ball on first down some two. So you say, hey, I'm going to run the football, but I think that, you know, if you want to keep TJ watt and Alex is Smith and whoever else gets in there, rush the pass or from middle, playing his ears back, you want to stay out of third down, you know, obvious third down in long situations, we were trying to throw the ball. So you remember the first play out of the box against Indianapolis was the hard play action. You threw the deep comeback to the wide side of the field. Those are some things. Tommy will have to be really honest, these and cues when it comes to, you know, mixing things up from from series to series, maybe even from, you know, three sets of downs and three sets of downs as you move. If you move the chains, this is going to be a tough game anyway for both teams from an adjustment standpoint, because you don't really know what either teams going to do to know coaching staff.

17:08Atlanta's is on the offense. You said the football so Pittsburgh will know a little bit more about Atlanta defensively than Atlanta might know about Pittsburgh defensively. So it's going to be a major adjustment game, not just into the second half. You're going to need to make those adjustments from series to series. We're joined by Dave Archer on the morning shift. I'm going to ask you to put yourself in Cooper Russia shoes at this point. You signed here to be the backup. Suddenly on Thursday week when you're taking first team reps. Is this more exciting or terrifying? Where is his mindset at this point? Yeah, I don't think you're terrified. I mean, you get in this game alley. You're you want to play, you know, and you get in, you get into on a play. He probably obviously didn't think that with Michael Pennix and and to a tongue of a low up competing to be the starter that he was just kind of battling to be that guy that be the emergency guy, but he's been in this situation before. So it's not for and territory form as we talked about before. I don't think you're terrified. There's nervous energy. No question about it. And then Michael tell you that you have nervous energy anyway. Jake Matthews is going to have nervous energy going into this game.

18:15I think Aaron Rogers will have nervous energy going into his 20 second season because you want to get out. You want to do the things right for your teammates. You want to be able to be perfect. If you can't, I'm a Troy Ackman saying his goal in every game and every practice was to be perfect. Well, that was his goal. You're never going to be perfect because the other sides getting paid to play too. They've got plans to try to disrupt what you're trying to do. So his mindset will be very important alley, though. And you make a good point is that he doesn't get down on himself or allow himself to fall into some kind of funk because some things don't go right for him. I thought we, you know, we got a little bit of that in the Denver game feel a couple of picks. And I think he struggled a little bit. I didn't think he knew the offense extremely well. He's much more dialed in now than he was for the Denver game. So I think he'll be in a better place mentally as well from a confidence standpoint. Arts, when you look at the receivers at the stillers going to line up, they got Matt Kauff big guy that got pitman also 64 and then Jeremy Bernard who's over six foot as well. I mean, how do you, how do you kind of neutralize a big, big receivers like this? Is there a certain way that maybe you think they should play them or.

19:32Well, I think that there's, you know, I asked that question to Kevin's defense get his presser on Wednesday. So this is a big receiver core. I didn't really burn art six one. He's kind of an average side receiver nowadays, but Ben Skurronic is six three to 25. Pitman 64 to 25 and Metkauff, as you mentioned 64 to 35. So big guys on the outside. I don't know how quick twitch they are. Now we know that Metkauff can run. So he'd be the one guy that's obviously big and strong and tough. I don't think that Atlanta's going to travel corners. So AJ is a good sized corner six to so he could he could match with somebody, but that's not really what Jeff Ulbert does. He kind of keeps guys at home. You got a bigger corner in CJ Henderson that can get out that's rotating in to play as well. So you've got some guys defensively that are that could match up with him. This is more about Aaron Rogers. I think then the receiver has his kind of transition to a guy that plays the game.

20:35He's a guy that plays the game. Horos on. Now he'll still try to stretch you down the field and take shots. He's still got a big arm and you can see it on tape. But he's a guy that wants to get the ball out of his hand. He doesn't have the ability to move around as well as he used to. And I think that was part of an unsung piece of his game early on, but he's got a big arm and the ball comes out quickly. And so now how do you take that away? You got to come up and hog up and you got to take jam guys up and using bigger receivers from a ability to make you miss it. The line of scrimmage struggle with that a little bit now. The sudden one they get down the field and they get into top end speed or it's a 50 50 ball. Then they create problems for you. So I would I know the Falcons are leaning into watching the routes that they run. Now again, this is an adjustment piece now because you've got a new offensive system here. You got to go back and look at green bay tape. You got to go back and look at the tape boys when McCarthy was coaching there and what did he do with CD Lamb and some of those guys.

21:37This what they'll do with DK Medcalf. So you can see that it's really going to be an adjustment deal in a feeling out period for the first first quarter certainly and maybe into the first half. And hopefully you can do some things to keep them off the field some as well. But I would be more I'm not as concerned about the wide receiver core is I am about the two running backs because the way the ball comes out in the way the two guys played last year. Rico Dattle and Jalen Warren both ran for about a thousand yards last year. And they're going to want to come off the ball and test Atlanta's ability to stop the run. We weren't very good against the run a year ago and I know we're bigger. But they're going to get tested in it and it'll be interesting to see if Atlanta can hold up there and then push McCarthy into some uncomfortable situations and and make these receivers make some place. Dave, we appreciate the time. Hopefully there are no more headlines coming out of Larry branch before you guys get to touch down in Pittsburgh this weekend. Yeah, that would that would be nice to be nice to get some good news out of the heavy for sure. Absolutely safe travels Dave. Thanks for the time.

22:37Thanks guys. Appreciate it. That is Dave Archer, former Falcons quarterback and analyst for the Atlanta Falcons radio network. You'll hear him on the call on Sunday with Western once Mike and Bo wrap up their pregame responsibilities pregame does kick off at 11 a.m. right here on 92 9. The game opening week on sports radio 92 9. The game is presented by hands free sketch or slip in. Just step in and go and the morning mailbag is on deck. You get to weigh in. There's a lot to talk about this morning. So call in 404 72609 29. How are you feeling about Cooper rush potentially starting on Sunday? What was your hobby when you were a kid Mike Sundridge just discovered hobby town and it's a thing 404 7260929. You can also tweet us at 929 morning shift is all coming up on sports radio 92 9 to game and the audacity. We're trying to gather more details on the tour tongue about lower situation to apparently went down today. No contact or anything like that guys is just throwing an individual drills and apparently you know it looked like something may have gone wrong with his back. Maybe a muscle or

23:42a little bit. But again the media at that point is like all right guys good to see you. Let's get you inside now. Now waiting we do hear we have some folks telling us is going to be some videos going to drop here. Well it was done the time you say it wouldn't be in violation of the media protocols if they have in place once you get in a game week. But we'll see what it looks like the new is a fan can say okay that looks like nothing that looks like a big something. It's just if you tweaked his back and that's what kept him out of practice to start the season. That's what got the preseason. That's what got Jack Strand all those extra reps with Cooper rush. Yes and if it's the same it's the same injury. Same part of the back specifically that's a bit concerning because that prevented him from working it and doing what we expected him to do well it camp or at least heading into camp you have time to rest. You can do those things because there's no urgency. Now there is season starting season started last night. Sunday the season starts for the Falcons.

24:45There's urgency that there wasn't there at the beginning of camp that you can go out you need a few days go ahead take a few days need a week go ahead take a week. That is the difference of where we're at right now which again gets us back to Michael pinnocks the urgency. You've had all off season and all of that and again we could rehash all of this but that is part of this discussion Mike is okay we don't have time now for guys to be taking three four days and then all right we'll get you ready for the game. Like now's the time speaking of now being the time let's talk to a guy that we thoroughly enjoyed talking to and getting to know last year. He's a stud man and I think we saw that when we went on that five game losing streak not blaming divine but I will tell you the team definitely was different without him on the field. Did you say divine Diablo joined us right now on sports radio 92 9 the game what's up D. I was of y'all y'all know man we're good brother how was how was practice today. Good how do you know but we had to grind to it so let's focus in on that real quick what do you think about this Steelers offense what are you seeing on film and and from a standpoint of like how are we going to get after and Rogers man because that's going to be a big part of Sunday.

25:56I think first of all they want to start with some run game you know they got that big tight and watch the same number 80. So I think they're going to use the tight and try to start the running game they got a lot of pull back they like as well but outside of that they got some weapons on outside DK a ride for the way we got to give them off his you know his tempo he gets the ball off that so we'll try to pressure when we can but if not we've got to be on our on our man and match it up. Don't want to spill some secret sauce here but I mean we're going to see you maybe making a run at the quarterback from time to time. I guess we'll see I guess we'll see because we talk and I know you got candle Daniels we like him Perkins is a stud you think we're going to see both of those guys on a field on Sunday. I want to say you okay that's the same you know there'll be out there I fair enough. Hey man how are you feeling I know you you had to take some time as well during camp. Physically what were you at right now and then with what you dealt with last year your way past that right. We have a form injury that that that that during the season last year while I had the guys on and then the foot and I was just a we practice on high school so I just got a little tweak spring that's all the way yeah so we're good now fully helping you feeling good man as far as Jeff Obrick in this defense how much more of a handle do you have on it now then when you got here and how how different is your responsibilities are they going to be this year.

27:22I got a great handle on it now feel like any you know second year in the same system I feel like that helps a lot of defense honestly we can't prepare. There are no CAs was just trying to make it better and seeing what weaknesses we have and trying to eliminate those as far as my role you know I just got the voice of the defense so I just got to make sure I'm on my piece and keep you make sure everybody on the same page and go from there. Divide the obelis with this guys even the Falcons Falcon linebacker as we know don't have a James Pierce junior for the first half of the season on for the general walkers out a lot of sacks are out right now from last year's stats do you have to blitz to create there do you think the guys in front of you can get home. I know the guys in front of you can get home I can't wait to see. Well I know this you got some big boys in front of you all of a sudden right I mean this feels like it's easier a little easier it feels like it's a bigger defensive line divine is it. They definitely big up there they definitely clear up a lot of running goes for me you know just run through and get some CFLs hopefully you are going to wear the green dot obviously call the defense you mentioned that is that your forte are you a big talker like how much have you had to work on that.

28:28I'm very originally I wasn't a big talker had to get out my comfort zone but you know these guys make it easy as like a family around here so they they all do a good job listening what I got to say and keep moving. Defensive captain the leader divide the upload of the defense are talking about some of the young faces out there man talking about AJ's brother has a be on looking to you. He's looking good man he does the same knows how to cover really well he's still growing obviously but was just brought to season goes I'm trust him completely out there I can't wait to see him play and we mentioned Kendall Daniels earlier he's kind of a freak how we went from being a safety to a linebacker but he's athletic is how it looks like he can do almost anything. Yeah for sure any students again so yeah almost you know I was two of us out there you know this is all making me run so I'm excited to play with him yeah he said he when we talk to him again he said you actually kind of helped him because you understood that journey man of making that transition. How did that happen and what did that entail like was it film work or you just talking about playing the position footwork what was it what was it all in tail.

29:31A little bit of both I tried to speak from a safety perspective sometimes just to give him idea what to expect as far as route concepts at least and then a run game you know he's got to know your gap so it wasn't that hard like I said earlier it's a very smart guy student of the game so it wasn't easy to use him more probably him to myself for sure. Denon Vinde Abel joining us here on sports radio 9029 the game Falcons getting ready for the Steelers in week one on Sunday. The offense itself I know you've gone up against them quite a bit obviously in camp. What's your perceptions man because I think you know right now a lot of Falcons fans are like all right we think this and this and this but how confident are you and what you've seen with the offense that things are going to smell that, and we're going to have and we're gonna have a productive offense this season. I think our offense is outstanding. They do a great job of moving the ball against us. So I can't say too much, but I'm looking forward to see what they got. You know, we got the weapons on that side. So hey, I'm just excited. Okay. All right, man. Cause Zachariah Branch, we saw him, pits.

30:32Man, that's the thing. You know, hey, now it is divine. We talk about this, we think about, we got all these matchups. They should provide some mismatches, right? Yes, sir. Thank you. That's, that's how we're looking for, man. All right, man, before we let you roll, what's, what's the Vindy Obloss goal? I've already put it out there. Listen, you speaking, this is me. I said, you're gonna leave the team in tackles, man. I mean, you missed what five games last year. I think you had 75, 78 tackles, something like that. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I feel like that's something you're gonna be able to do. You have specific goals. You've set that you feel like you can accomplish with this defense. Oh, yes, sir. I got a lot of goals, actually, but leading the team in Tigers is definitely one of them. I want to create some time over this year, most of them, actually, and just go from there. I just want to be the best lineback I can be for this team. All right, man. So do we ever do the T-shirt? Is the devil with the Angels Wings or an Angel with Devils horns? I'm working on it. I'm working on it. I don't know quite, you know, which way I want to do it, but yeah, I definitely got it in the process. All right, man. All right, man, divine, good luck, and we appreciate you stopping by.

31:34The Vindy Obloss. Thank you, bro. I appreciate you. Yeah, man. Good, dude. Yeah, man. As we said, you know, he just was so missed. And again, I know JD Bertrands, a kid up 400 way, and a lot of fans, but it just couldn't do the job. And there was just nobody, apparently, and the in the linebacker room on this roster that could do the job that Devine Diablo did. And when he was missed, man, everything to the middle car. The guards after the catch just went up to the roof. Yeah, I totally agree. And look, the defense changed, man. And just you talk about taking one, take the, and this is what we did know about divine. We didn't realize how critical he was going to be to the defensive, the makeup of the defense last year, and being a guy, especially in coverage situations. But I was going to say, just take off the best guy on any defense, and, you know, a playmaker like that. And it changes the complexity of what they can do. So hopefully he stays healthy, man. I'm, I don't want to say semi-confident Mike, but I'm not as confident in the front seven

32:35as I'd like to be, only because of those guys that are missing. We know we're going to get pierced back. Jaylen's not coming back this season, unfortunately. But we got to wait. I mean, and that's the only thing that I'm, I'm really in like, I'm leery about the front seven. And specifically, are we going to be able to stop the run? Yeah, we got bigger boys up there. But man, you still got to, we got to be able to stop guys. Right. You know, we talked about Brandon Dorolas is arguably the most impactful guy from that draft, until Michael establishes himself from 2024. LeKale London, they picked up Mason Smith. They wanted more size, got rid of Rook. And we got Zadaria Smith to come back. And again, we know the circumstances, he lost his mom, he got away from the game, and he's absolutely excited to be back. And now we just hope he's got something left in the tank. But I mean, the odds of an older player giving him that kind of production, like we thought about, you know, what was going to happen at times last year would let it flow. It just, you know, I mean, it just, I don't know, man. It's just, it's frustrating. I know, Samson Ebbukom, we've talked about some of these dudes. You know, it's Harold Perkins, Kendall Danes. Are you going to be blitzing this? Ulbrich, I know I asked him the question. He was going to, you know, spill the tea.

33:36But are we going to really be dialing up stuff to have to scheme pressure, you know, with blitzes? Yeah, I mean, look, do you, I think you can do more with these two guys, Mike, I'm talking about the linebackers in divine and Kendall because they can run, you know, they're quick twitch guys, they can get off the blocks. But if you're doing that, you're really trusting your DBs to cover everything up. And, you know, especially in the middle of the field. And maybe that's, that's going to be this, maybe the first few weeks of this season to figure that out for Jeff Ulbrich. I just think we went from the summer, think about this where you went. All right, we know James is going to have a punishment. We don't know what that's going to be, but I got a guy on this side and a guy on that side that can create pressure on their own. True book ends that we've never really had on this team safer. You know, you got to go back to the bomb squad days, Carl. You know what I said? Like, like John Abraham, but nobody on the other side. I mean, Kerni kind of had guys in the middle but didn't really truly have that other edge guy. You know, we never really had those book ends you're talking about. We went from that to both of those pieces being gone and that stability being gone.

34:37And now you're looking for other guys to do those jobs when you could have allowed those guys to just do their job. It changes this defense. And so that's, it's a big concern. And look, I don't know if the Steelers might can exploit this like other teams. I don't think we, we'll find out as we move along through the season, but there are going to be some teams that try to exploit that a lot more than, because the Steelers quarterback is not mobile. When we play a mobile quarterback, that's going to change things guys. So guys coming off the edge and you're saying, all right, there's no pressure. Whoo, I'm on the outside and now I got more time to fill football. That's where you hope that Jesse Bates and the athleticism of our young linebacker core comes to the forefront. All right, man, appreciate divine stopping by. We got a lot more to get to. We're going to talk to our buddy Mike Griffey. You look at the video. Toa, yeah, I saw it. I don't see like what happened. You know what I mean? This is Ray Rimanissant of the Pinnix injury. When Pinnix got hurt, I said this. When he got hurt, everybody went, he's hurt.

35:38I don't know what to make of it. I tweeted it out. It's an ATL bell 929. If you guys, don't look all you're driving. But thanks for buddy Reggie Chapman from channel 11. He put it up there. He basically, he's going to the ground sort of in slow motion. Like it's like you were me when we get a back spasm basically. You know, you, oh, oh, and then he sits down. So I don't know. But again, because it was a same situation. Or again, not if it's that specific part of his back. That's how we missed the first couple of days of camp. All right, man, dog nation's microphone's going to join us next. What's he thinking about this upcoming weekend? Is there anything Curry didn't see from his team that he may want to see this week? We'll ask that and much more. We come back here on sports radio, 92 9 again. And we are in the TBD zone with the Falcons right now. His tour is dealing with an oblique injury. At practice yesterday, he was limited and Cooper Rush ended up taking reps to the first team. Here is Cooper Rush. Obviously after practice yesterday, a lot of people want to talk to him. So here he is talking about if he feels ready

36:39to be the Falcons starting quarterback if he's called upon. Yeah, I feel like camp was camp was good. Got caught up to speed pretty quickly. I think to test me to the staff, how well it's coached that you can fall along and pick it up pretty quickly in terms of how it's organized, the systematic. It's systematic stuff of it. And so that's been helpful. And I think everyone being the first year together definitely helps it too. Like I am so happy for him and this opportunity. Just get that out there first. But it just give you a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you see these push notifications or however else you heard about to a grabbing his side and grabbing his back or grabbing his oblique or whatever it is. And you understand that this guy wasn't even on a roster six, seven weeks ago. And it just like I hate when things turn out what the obvious hiccup would have been. You know what I mean? Because usually in NFL, the obvious stuff doesn't happen.

37:40But this just felt, it made me feel something because I thought, okay, this is going to sound obvious in the end, but to me, it never is. But good for him, man, these reps today, I think are gonna count a lot. Bob brought it up earlier. He had us two afield and I think the Cooper Rush probably should get these repetitions today and these situational drills either way. And we'll see what happens, but it just kind of is what it is at this point. I don't know how much changes or doesn't change in terms of the way we operate. Maybe it changes the way they call defense, but it is what it is. You mentioned Cooper Rush was on the roster or set to be on the roster until the day of training camp. Literally the day had opened. Trevor Simeon was that guy. Would you feel more comfortable to say like that Trevor Simeon took every snap that Cooper Rush did and looked identical. I'll just replace the resume and the player and keep what they did this year in camp and everything we saw. Would you feel more or less confident

38:42if you know Cooper, if it was Simeon than Cooper? I think it would feel the same. Yeah, I actually feel a little bit more confident. I think I'd feel a little bit more confident just because we've seen Cooper do it against us. Now you didn't win, but we've seen him look confident. And that's the thing. And I just feel it's disappointment for me is that you'd hope you'd have PennEx you didn't. And you got over the disappointment of personally for me wanting to see him. And now you need to, and I'm like, all right. You know what, I'm all in. Let's all my eggs into two of basketball. Yeah, for week one. Then it's like, but are they? Because now you don't know. And I'm like, okay, well, I'm gonna get behind Cooper. That's like, what? Just, it's just kind of like, man, like this is only week one. Like, can we get through this? Can we just, I wanna be excited. And I am gonna be excited.

39:43There's gonna be more exciting than when we kick off. And I'm be ready for the game because look, they still gotta go out there and score against our defense. And the game plan doesn't change offensively. Go out there, protect the football, get the ball in hands of your playmakers and let them do what they do. Yeah, I think the frustrating part is, what do we know about the Falcon? Really, really not anything. We really don't know anything. Honestly, like, we could say, oh, Bajan's one of the best players in the NFL. Yeah, he is. It's a new run scheme, right? Drake London is a guy who can climb ladder and go get the ball top 10 watching. Sure, who's throwing it? How many times a game? How will they feature him? Is he power slots? He playing outside. We don't know anything. We know we feel good about the secondary. The front seven is almost completely different. And we'll probably be different in the way they play the game. How much will that change, Jeff Obert? Remember, Jeff Obert got the second highest blitz rate in the NFL last year. How does that change?

40:43We, and that's what I think the frustrating part of this entire storyline is, there's just so many things that we don't know today that we feel like we should. So I saw people looking for like a glimmer of hope yesterday. Once this news was coming down, the Kuparaj was taking there after the first team. And it kind of made me think about how, when the Braves are losing, I checked the Philly score. Like it just makes me kind of go to that to find some silver lining somewhere. And I saw a lot of people hoping that, because inactive, don't have to be in until how soon before the game? Yes, 90 minutes. 90 minutes. A lot of people hoping that Michael Pettics might be able to overcome this hurdle. And that's just not realistic. What is it? I don't, I would be blown away if anything changed from now till the then. I also, to be honest of what I know about how these things work, I'm not even sure if he's set to travel. I have no knowledge either way, but if he was inactive,

41:45he was, he was, the word was put out Monday, he was going to be inactive for Sunday. There's not really much benefit in traveling him. Now, I think he will because of the position he plays, but and it helps being in those, here in those conversations, but. Yeah, I think he has to. But I mean, that could, that was probably a question until yesterday. Well, I would lean, honestly, I don't think it's a zero percent chance, but it's close, you know, because then at that point, how bad do you look if you're Michael Pinnix, right? Like then all of a sudden, you're having to say, yeah, really, I really was a head case, you know, and I don't think that's what, I don't think that's what he is and I don't think that's the vibe he wants to put out. But I will say, if I'm on that team, he'd better be in that locker room. I will say that because you can't tell me, you can't show up in a week, three or four and tell me you're a leader when you didn't even roll with us over the first couple of weeks. Yeah, I agree with you. I just don't know if it's always in the players, if the player has a choice. I know I would like to think in you,

42:47you were in those situations, you can probably answer it. The only thing I can tell you absolutely is every coach does things differently. And there are some coaches that would say, yeah, you're going, you're, you are going with us. Some coaches would be saying, it would say, I think I'd like you to go, but if you want to stay here and get work in and get treatment, I'm fine or whatever, I don't know what, you know, what that's like for him. And then some might just say, you know what, we want to, we're going to carry, we're not, we're only carrying guys that may be active depending on what we know about the game at that point in time and probably to score because you elevate some of those guys. Ali, and you bring that up about, you know, online, wondering, and the socials wondering about Michael Pinnix. I saw probably more on the, from what I looked at about wondering about Jack Strand. As Jack Strand, the backup. And at any point do you put him in the game if Cooper Rush does in fact, starting Jack Strand is the backup? I don't know, Bob brought it up earlier and I think it's a good point.

43:47I wouldn't be shocked to see somebody else be put on the practice squad and be elevated, which would be insane for a team that has four quarterbacks on their 53 man roster, but given the situation, not only is it possible if you just ask the most to people, it probably sounds reasonable because of the situation you have with the top two quarterbacks. You have about, I would, you have 53 players and then you have I think 15 or 16 on a practice squad depending on that extra international spot or whatever. When half of them are injured, you still have got on the practice squad that is maybe spent time with Stofanski at some point in time in the last eight years if there's one out there, you're not gonna go make a move or anything but like a trade. But and figure out and maybe just carry that, and if the worst case scenario have that guys, your emergency quarterback. I'm not sure if they will, but I don't think it's either of a possibility. To me, I'm more comfortable with Jack Strand being the backup,

44:50but stop with the, I'm gonna say this, and I honestly believe this and I don't care if I hurt some icefills or not. If you're putting out that you think Jack Strand should be the starter and you're in the media, it's disingenuous and you're doing it only for clicks and to basically make people that want that to say, yeah, I feel you, because there's no way in hell you believe that. He's not taking one single rep in 11s with the ones. You heard Cooper rush, what did Cooper rush say? Yes, he said, I haven't taken him since reps with the ones since Mike and two were both injured in training camp which was the beginning of it. So you're just not being serious if you say that. Let me, I agree with you, but let me play devil's advocate here. There's a reason they kept him on the 53 man roster and it wasn't just to be a spectator, right?

45:50So you see something in him. I would argue that before you ever saw him as a starter, you would see him situationally, package-wise inside the red zone. That would be my first argument, but I agree with you. Like Jack Strand at this point, he's not on the 53 to be anything other than a developmental piece that you hope you can keep around for some time. If Jack, if two of us, if you had two in Cooper going in and they're both healthy and two of us going to start, Jack Strand would be inactive as the emergency quarterback. That's the real, you're not wasting an active game day spot on a guy who may be used situationally in the red area. That is a great. You can just do a wildcat if you're going to do that. When it comes to Cooper real quick, I think I'm not saying he has great mobility, but I do think he has some mobility, some escape ability. Do you think that if he does have to start, do you think that makes you feel any sort of better about him

46:52starting the fact that he could use his legs to buy a little time, if need be against the Steelers pass rush? I think I feel more comfortable with him doing it. Every time one of the, whether it be Mike or two, every time one of them took off the run for first time, I'd be. Yeah, I think I think everybody would feel that way. I think I'd feel more comfortable with Cooper doing it. Now is it, is he more fleet of foot? So you're going to make more people miss? I don't know, but I would feel more comfortable watching it than I would otherwise. Yeah. We're going to continue to talk about this all morning. Of course, Kevin Safansky does have to speak with the media today at one o'clock. So maybe we'll get some more clarity on the situation at that point. Sports radio 92 9 the game is your home of college football coverage in Atlanta. Join us this Saturday at 8 a.m. It's Mitch Evans and Abe Gordon set the stage for all of the days. Big games with college football game time. It's brought to you by Ingalls low prices. Love the savings and by window nation. Window nation.com or call 866 90 nation. And we've got half time coming up. It is fair or fell Friday. Fair fell. But John Robinson will get 20 plus carries on Sunday.

47:53No matter who the quarterback is that's coming up next on sports radio 92 90 game and the Odyssey. Well, I just like. I mean, I can do that. I look at the video. It is like, okay, current. I mean, just like waiting on just waiting on what? We're waiting on him to say to her for Kevin Safansky come up. Maybe sometime the next 10 minutes and say, yeah, two is going to be out this week. He's like, okay, because the best the faster you know the better. You know, I mean, that may be we can just prepare our single weekend. Probably for everything for everybody. Even for them. And as as people who support this team, we can sit back and like, okay, we got that because I'm not going to put the automatic L on this game because Aaron rise to get hurt this game. And we see that backup quarterback either. I mean, drowler. No, I think it's Rudolph somehow. Oh my God. Yeah, I take Cooper Russian over makes the Rudolph. All right. There you go. You never got beat to death with his own helmet. Yeah. That's positive. Yeah. He wears black and white dunks is practice cleats. Really? Yeah. Cooper rush does. Yeah, I got black and white dunk cleats. Oh, there's a key. Yeah, there we go. There's a key. There we go.

48:53All right. He throws a nice. Never mind. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just gonna stop. But we'll do it. We'll do it. We'll do it a little bit. But it is a little bit. Because I think we might know you're right. We might know for sure from Kevin Stofansky by the time we do that segment in 15. But it is, it is a positive Friday weekend. Like my man, positive Paul. Yeah. We turn Paul into a punk. When Paul first called in, Paul's negative is him. It was negative. And so we got positive Paul in there. So we'll see if we can get really. Really. Really can't believe it. Randy. All right. How about that? Astonished. Yeah. Astonished. Really can't believe it, Randy. Yeah. I'm just gonna tell you what I think the game's gonna look like in 15 minutes. There we go. It's not gonna be positive or negative. Cause I don't know. I mean, there's a lot of unknowns. And I do think that the Falcons have some. Is it van, I don't know if advantage is the right word. I think that they have some strengths that the Steelers don't have that we can get into. But. Cause you gave me one.

49:54No, not now. You got to hang out, but you got to wait 15 minutes for that. For that. I'm a wreck of a party. What's that be John? Okay. Yeah, I mean, be John is the best player in the game. We got it. Let's do. We don't give all this away. Give away all this gold. Alright. 15 minutes from now. You got to find the way to save some other stuff about it. Well, here's what we will say. Cause that'll be more like game specific kind of without really knowing what it's gonna look like. Cause neither team has played a game yet and they both have entirely new coaching staffs. But we'll get more kind of what to expect to see on Sunday, stuff in 15 minutes. I think it's okay to spend just a minute like we did at the beginning of the show. Talking about just how absurd this all is for Falcons fans and the people that support it's unfair. I don't know and did anything wrong from a Falcons perspective either in terms of like maliciously. Like no one did this on purpose. I mean, the franchise has made bad decisions over years that have led to this being the quarterback situation. Right.

50:54But I mean, in terms of what this regime was inherited when they took over and the quarterback situation that they had and what they could kind of do to go about dealing with it, there wasn't all that much that they could do. Right. Now, I know two of was going to be hurt the first day of training camp. I haven't a lot of big old card Andy. Or did we know that it was going to have to be seven or not? Of course not. Okay, what I surprised is no, we're not surprised. That Michael Pentix isn't cleared or whatever you want to call it. I don't know. He's cleared. I'm not surprised that Michael Pex is not playing week one because of his. Because Michael Orn said or an orange week, the word cleared his really struck a chord. And people because he said the doctors there's new was good. That means it's clear. Right. Clear to do 11 on 11. I'm not surprised that Michael Pentix is not ready to play quarterback. No, not one bit. I'm not surprised that to a tongue of I loa is is probably hurt and not able to play that one bit. I'm a little surprised that Cooper Rush might be the starting quarterback week one just

51:57because I didn't even know Cooper Rush was going to be on the team. But now I've known that for like seven weeks now. So I'm not that surprised about that now. And I'm not surprised that there's people out there that want Jax strand to be the quarterback to because that's that's what it is. That's where we are. Where we live. Well, I think about it is. That's the reality. That's the reality that we understand. And the founders have done this to these people. That's right. Exactly right. That's exactly what happened. Their football team has put them in this mindset that this guy who looked good in pieces, which I can't I will never say he didn't. Now, I don't have any ill will or all towards Jackson. I think Jackson is a fine prospect. You're annoyed by the conversation. I'm annoyed by the conversation. Yeah, like, but that's it. But I understand the conversation because the founders put them in this situation. And now this kid might get an opportunity because of cool. Russ gets hit. He's going into game. Unless they bring somebody in today and tomorrow to that is knows the system and all those different things. By the way, people are going to be furious. Yeah.

52:57If they bring in like Dorian Thompson, yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah. Or somebody brings somebody that knows the system to be cool. Russ is back up. All right. That is definitely all on the table. And then they will release something back in guy on the roster. This is to be on the and he'll be the aggressive quarterback. I only throw Dorian Thompson Robinson's name out there because he has started games for Kevin Stevens. Yes, where's he at? I looks like it's just Johnson out there. It's like he's last planned for something called the stallion. Okay. Stagging. Birmingham. Oh, the Burmett have stagging. It's like he was there. So there it is. Like there's that that is a definite possibility that that, you know, depending on what they come on. Depending on what they decide to do with that whole situation. But yeah, it's a, it's a bad situation to be in for the Falcons and I don't, and I don't, again, don't have no argument. I'm saying argument. No disagreeing with people's thought price behind it because it's their fault. You think that way. Yeah. You know, and it's just unfortunate that you're in a situation where you are as far as the

53:59quarterback position because you got good players. You got good. I think you got good units. I don't think this defense is great. I think you're got good players on the team. I don't think, I don't think this, I don't think this defense is better this should they were last year. No, obviously because we don't have on it. Yeah. I, on paper, definitely for sure. Yeah. And in what you're missing. And I think, you know, I know that it was hard for, for Jeff Olbrick to lose Kaden Ellis. I know he really wanted to keep him. And I think if they were in a different spot, trajectory wise, they probably would. They probably couldn't make the fight. But I like to sign. But I like to sign. No, I'm excited to see the young guys. Yeah, but I got your point. And so I think deepfaces get on that they're great. I think they'll be right where they were last year. So we're 19 20 in overall defense. I think to all offense, if you can run the football, you should have success. But this, this quarterback thing in Atlanta right now is a fricking mess. And it's been a fricking mess. Wouldn't this first thing would have followed, Rich? Oh God. July 20, whatever. It's been a fricking mess for that. Oh, yeah.

54:59No, it's been a mess since 2019. It's been a mess. And it just right now. This is, it seemed like it was one of the thing where it's bubbling. You got the BGs. And all of a sudden it just came out like a new door, new boards blow out. That's what, yes, they was. No, no, that's what this training kept starting. It was a blowout all up the back on the neck. Like, that's what it was. Just throw it away. You got it through the other way. Yeah. Because it makes no sense for this team and this organization to continue to have this problem with this position. It was funny. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. It was the first born, the Falcons, very nicely. David Bassidy and the people in the communications department sent me a Falcons cheerleading onesie for her. And you know the first thing she did, she blew it out, pooped all over it. That's what this is pretty season. What is it? It's been a lily blowout poop diaper all over a beautiful little Falcons cheerleading onesie. Yep. It's from bad. Yeah. It has. It's what it's been. Yeah. Well, let's just spend a few minutes not talking about that. I'm going to get to keys to the game in about 10 minutes.

55:59Let's get to the. With all that going on, obviously the only Falcons opening their season is front and center for this city. You know, and we're the flagships. So we've been pumping this thing up for months and getting ready for it. But boy, does this have a lot of twists and turns in terms of the quarterback room specifically? The quarterback room, a room that has had six different starters. I believe it is once Sunday happens in that six year stretch. And in a room where Michael Penex says, I can't go even though I'm clear, a room where two or a tongue of a low goes down yesterday, a room where Cooper Rush was completely unemployed. And he's starting. It looks like and Jack Strand was coming out in Minnesota, Duluth, Minnesota more. Yeah. Joining us now, Jake from he's been a backup of the NFL. He's been a starter in the NFL. He's been in multiple quarterback rooms. He's also host of a fabulous podcast, right? Yeah, a punt and pass season 10 right now. Jake and I have been having a blast. That's right. Thanks for joining us, man. And Jake, I have you.

56:59I was looking at the Notre Dame. Thank you all for having me. Yeah, a lot of footage is sweet from the Notre Dame game that Jake started. That's right. That's right. Yeah. What university was that? Like the 10 year, you guys taking over that stadium or whatever it was. But let's get to the room. Let's get to the quarterback position, Jake. And thanks for joining us. Are you absolutely yes. Michael Penex Jr. from On Air Guys, fans, a lot of vitriol. That a guy has been cleared by doctors and it was announced. And Michael Penex is saying after three ACLs, I came back once before and didn't feel right. I still don't feel right yet. Is that strange to you? Is it unfair to be critical of him? Give us best you can. What might be going on in his head? Give me you haven't had three, four entries like that. But what is your thoughts on that whole situation? Yeah, I think I'm going to put on my upper level Atlanta Falcon 2. Pat and basically say, hey, I want to give Michael Penex every opportunity to succeed.

58:03And I want him to be our franchise guy and I want him to have a very long and successful career. So there's no reason from their perspective to rush him in to play week one. We need to wait. Make sure he's feeling good, feeling healthy. Just what we're trying to look five years down the road here and not just look, hey, are we going to be 98 this year? We're going to be 79, you know, whatever it is. And we want what's best for Michael Penex moving forward. When he says, I don't feel, I played after an ACL when I was clear and I did not feel like myself and I don't want to go back on a field and not feel like myself. Then there's the notion of you're an NFL player. Your team needs you. You know, you've been cleared. Get under center. You're in harm's way in Pittsburgh. So talk about what you think he might be feeling what that means for a quarterback and not be able to someone like you's been in that position elaborate on that a little bit. Yeah, this is tough for me because I've never had that type of injury.

59:07But I can imagine you're torn between, hey, man, I want to get out there for my teammates, but I also have to have some type of self preservation. And if I push myself to early, another catastrophic injury, you know, could ensue and then man, I'm done. I'm toast pretty much after that. Now we can get in the weeds of, hey, you know, the Atlanta Falcons, they knew that this was a possibility. They knew this guy was a little bit injury prone when they drafted him, but they took that risk anyway. So that's a completely different conversation. But, you know, in the NFL, everyone plays injured and banged up and you're going to have some nicks and bruises. And even going into weak one, not everyone feels great and healthy. And so you're constantly battling that as a player of, hey, how much, you know, can I play with? How much pain and how much suffering can I play with, you know, throughout the rest of the season, but, you know, when you kind of start getting into the, to the knees and the ACLs and injuries that could take up eight, nine, ten, ten months to a year of your time

1:00:09to come back and repair from, that's a, that's a little bit of a different situation. Jake, I'm fascinated to think about what's going on inside the quarterbacks room for the Atlanta Falcons. They were kind of clowned on after the last preseason game for keeping four quarterbacks and how they're pretty much down to two, but I want to kind of compare it to the quarterback room that you were in in Detroit, Jared golf, yourself, Henning Hooker, Teddy Bridgewater. If guys were cleared to play, which Michael Pennix has been cleared to play and it was very evident that they needed you to get out there and play, yet the quarterback was saying, well, I'm not really ready. Like what does that do for the dynamic of the quarterback room? It kind of turns it into a clown show, honestly, and I hate to really say that. You know, I think it's a nightmare scenario anytime any NFL roster has to put four quarterbacks on their active roster. That's a nightmare scenario already in and of itself.

1:01:12Because of why? Because that means you don't have a real number one because you're on state. I mean, there's only 53 guys that can be on the active roster. And now you're taking up, and they're like, they started to season with only two running backs on active roster. And yes, you're going to elevate guys, but you're just taking away from positions that need that roster depth. Great. It's two possibly three at the most. And that's it. There's really not a whole lot of room for four just because you're just sacrificing somewhere else on your roster. Take from with us on Sports Radio 92 9 again. Okay. So it seems like Jake to a tongue of I loa day to day now injured yesterday in practice with an oblique Michael Penex. We don't even know if he's going to be active. I would assume not. So the Falcons are down to Cooper Rush and or Jack Strand. Are these guys ready to play? Are they ready to go to Pittsburgh? And play from an execution perspective with the game plan. Yeah. So my theory here is I think they really, really like Jack Strand.

1:02:14And I think they like him so much that almost don't want to throw him to the wolves week one. They really feel good about developing this guy, keeping him around. And when he finally gets this opportunity, they want it to be a good one. And so I think they'll go out there. They'll throw Cooper Rush out there. And he's been in the NFL for a long time. He's been thrust into situations. And hopefully they can give that Cooper can give the Falcons an opportunity to at least be close and win the game. That's kind of my take on this. And I think they're just going to kind of figure it out as they go and take it week the week. And hopefully Penex is able to play sometimes soon. You've been in the situation before. Is it safe to say this will be a smaller playbook? Absolutely not turning the ball over. Is the number one job of Cooper Rush and just look at Bijan and look at Robinson and just look at underneath passes and go, let's survive as long as we can in this game. Yeah, I mean, when you have Bijan in the mix, I mean, that just kind of takes it to a whole

1:03:19other level from a perspective of a backup quarterback here getting thrust into the situation. Being the three slash four, it's hey, do whatever you can to not lose this game. Stay in it for as long as you can. Don't turn the ball over. I mean, I think that's exactly right. You don't have to win the game, but definitely do not come in and lose the game for any reason, especially when you have Bijan back there. I mean, give him 30, 40 touches. Let him figure it out and he's going to keep it close. If you don't have Bijan Robinson, let me think about a game like this. There's zero shot, right? Yeah, but you have a guy that can get a five yard swing pass and make it 73 yards the way, you know, Todd Gurley used to do that stuff and guys like you just like get him a ball and let him take off. Yep. So I guess that's part of what we'll see. Appreciate again, the perspective, Jake, from a quarterback and there is no easy answer. I think is what you're with Michael Pentex Jr. Just it I love what you said. It's a nightmare situation. Yeah, and absolutely when you're carrying four and you're just taking depth away from

1:04:22other positions. That's a great way to put it. So thanks for coming on with a four talking to you down the line. Happy Friday, everybody. Falcons, for I.A. I'm going to give you some instant feedback. You sound like you're a little bit weary of our talking points today. I'm just it Wednesday. You set such a high bar like you were so I could tell you were like, let's talk some X's. Because today you're like, we don't get to do it anymore. Now we're going to talk about that stupid position again, the stupid most important position of the in the NFL, possibly in sports, team sports. And I just I don't want to do it, man. I want to talk about the game screaming. Like I love I was such a such a like a natural high Wednesday. Got to play golf, get to talk football, real football. You know, got my wide right on and now we're back. It's like it's like literally like it's Tuesday all over again. I just I and I just don't know.

1:05:22I saw that when I saw the stuff that we're going to about to get into, I just went really like seriously, we can't get to the weekend without another headline, which is can't it's just insane. I just it is. It's insane. It's insane. I don't want to talk about what do they do and like, oh geez. But I love that I was sitting there watching last night and I think I text. I don't know how to text a group. It was just Mike, but I was like, God, I miss football. I'm so glad it's back like watching that Rams diners game. It was just it was the first half was fun to watch really. Well, let's get into all of it instead of dancing around what's going on in Atlanta. Here the headlines since we last got to hang out. Braves won the finale their series at the race, three to one. Martin Perez had a great outing kept it scoreless for seven innings. Now the Braves take on the Phillies at home tonight, 715. We are jumping into the two of news in a moment. But like Bo mentioned, we had football in Australia last night, 49ers beat the Rams. 27 to seven Brock party had a dominant performance with 25 of 34 completions for 205 yards, three

1:06:25touchdowns, one interception. Matt Stafford was 15 for 25 for 155 yards in an interception. Once the Rams were down by 20 with three minutes left, they pulled Matthew Stafford out and put in steps and Bennett. So did the extra time in Australia pay off? It did. Well, I would say the lack of time that the Rams had probably was a detriment more than the St. Francisco time actually paying off. When I said this yesterday and I'm going to stand by this, to me, the Rams were saying, we're not going to get beat multiple times by this trip. To me, the Rams went out there saying, we're fine if we lose this one because I don't, they don't want to have to adjust the time when they get back. That when they, when I saw a video of them getting off the plane, I was like, dude, I would put the, I would put the house on St. Francisco right now. They all looked like they didn't get much sleep on a very, very long flight where they were, they were tried to be made very, very comfortable. So I think this is going to be a conversation that doesn't just begin and end today. I think it's going to be a conversation you're having a month from now about how do they

1:07:26do in the first four games as opposed to just the first one. Yeah, I think it's really interesting take by you. One I'm not going to argue because it makes a lot of sense, honestly. It is a division game. So it's hard to fathom that in a division game against, there's a three head of monster in that division already. It's a log jam and that you would, you would punt on a division game. That is the only argument I can really come at you with on it. Both teams looked extremely rusty on offense in the first half and then the Rams looked even rustier in the second half. But Brock party did play pretty well and I thought it was interesting. It's interesting when you hear some people talk about Brock party, the Fred Warner was so complimentary of him talking about how he thinks he's like, he's like, look, I'm biased but I think he's the best in the league and it's because I see him every day.

1:08:30I think it does, you do get more of an appreciation when you are around someone every day for how good they really are and Brock parties is settling in. I just, I think it was a huge win for the Niners because they put a lot into it by going over there and they did a lot of events over there as well. How lit is George Kittle getting on the way home? He was already in the press and talking about doing shouis trying to get D-bo to do a shoui and D-bo had no clue what a shoui was. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I don't think Kittle, what do you have before catches, something like that last night and a ton of yards. Yeah, I don't know. I feel like this is kind of my conversation around this though. You got to be a little bit careful. I'm just saying you got to be a little bit careful, man. And I'm sure they're having a good time though. It's like you can have a great time and still get a good night's sleep on that flight. Exactly. You can do both. You can celebrate and get a good night's sleep. Yes, absolutely. Well, news spread fast and furious yesterday after two has suffered in oblique strain during

1:09:32practice. He's considered day to day, his status for Sunday is TBD right now. So the video from Reggie Chapman is going around feels bizarre and kind of telling at the same time to a sit down grab stores his back pops up, walks off and apparently didn't throw anymore during practice. Now that was just the media portion so we don't know. Yeah, Cooper Rush came out and said later he took all first team reps. I believe him. I don't know. I looked at it original when I saw the video. I go, hell, I've had to do it. I happen before like swinging a golf club for a warm up or whatever throwing the football like a, you know, a telegator or whatever and then be able to compete later and I say compete is walk around and drink more beer. So it's a little bit different but it did look like immediately. It was almost like a, like a, you guys ever have like a muscle cramp where you just all of a sudden tightens and then you just can't do anything and then you, you twist a certain way and you walk, you walk off. I wonder if it was like that, like a spasm or if he legitimately pulled that oblique.

1:10:34Yeah, no, I, because do bond like he did it yesterday in the praise game and then swing it a bat and then he looked like he could barely walk for the next what 30 seconds and then then he was fun. Play the rest of the game. I was watching the video going. I hope it's, I almost hoped it was like a cartilage issue as sad as that is to say. Like I looked at it and I thought, man, if it's like something with his ribs, you know, like right here because he kind of reached back and I thought, and if it's something like that he can get like a quarter zone shot for or something along those lines, then he's going to be a lot better off. Not that he would not that they would do that or he would even want to at this point. But when it comes to no bleak, that's just something that in every sport, especially any where you have to use your torso to kind of, you know, bend and maneuver like that, the way you would throw in a football. That's tough, man. That's, that's a really, really tough. And I know he said, you know, lower back pain as well. I wonder how it kind of all gets tied in with one another. But I'm with you. I'm watching it and he sits down and then he pops up and you can tell he's uncomfortable.

1:11:35And we all were out there early in camp when he had the back problem and he kind of looked the same way. I thought, okay, he's he's re aggravated this thing. But I just, I don't know, like it doesn't shock me anymore, honestly. Like it really, that was kind of my niche reaction. I'm like, okay, like there's, it's not like one of those things where I'm like, oh man, it's like fine. You know, like what, like what else are we going to do here? Is this the roll the ball out there? Yeah, it's the roll your eyes. Shake your head like, all right. Yeah. The craziest thing to me is that we've spent all summer, panics or two of panics or two of panics or two of and on Sunday, it might not be either. Yeah. And I'll take you a step further because you're right. It might be Cooper and who guys been here six weeks. Your backup might not even be Jack Strand. I'm not saying they will or they won't. But I could absolutely see a quarterback added to the practice squad today and then that person travel and either be active or inactive based on what to it is Sunday.

1:12:36I could absolutely see that because I'm not saying they will, but it's twofold where A, do you really want Jack Strand playing in his first NFL game on the road against that defense when he's not taking one first team rap in 11s that's been meaningful and two, do you just want an emergency quarterback just in case you have to have Jack Strand go in there and you want to not answer guy because a lot of guy, because you could have that guy inactive as the emergency quarterback in case the injury bug continues to bite the quarterback position. Yeah. I would have all the time already to get that logic. I think it, I think it sounds ridiculous. I think it does too. Yeah, I know. Yeah. I think the thought of us keeping four quarterbacks and then having to add a fifth is just absurd. But I think all the points he makes are correct. I think that I would lean towards Jack Strand being the backup in that case, but there, you know, depends on who you bring in. I don't, I don't, I'm about as frustrated as I could possibly be about this entire thing

1:13:41because to me, you always lean in trying to give every opportunity to change the script and change the narrative and the narrative is not this and the narrative, these guys are different. This, you know, this is not, and when you get to week one and both guys, I know one's cleared, but both guys will hurt. It just, it's exhausting. It's exhausting for, for people like us in this room that want to try to look at this team with the glass half full. Which is like how many hurdles can you jump over on the way to week one? When are we going to get some clarity from the team on what's going on? Honestly, if I was a team, I wouldn't give you any until 11 30 Sunday morning. That's what I would do, which is when they have to have an actives in to the league, which is 90 minutes before the game. I don't necessarily know if I believe that because I think there is some thought that if, like how he wakes up this morning is one thing, I think how he wakes up Saturday

1:14:43is the biggest thing and how that, how tight it is and that kind of stuff. But today will be somewhat important because it's just a walk through in my ass today. And if he's out there and able to go through stuff, I think it's a good sign. I've always been a guy that if you don't practice on Friday, it's a bad sign. But that's normally when you miss Tuesday, excuse me, Wednesday and Thursday, not. Not practice Monday and Wednesday, be the starter and then all of a sudden Thursday, some of the pop up. To me, just knowing what I've read about what Cooper Rush had to say yesterday and in Chris Linchstrom, talking about how Cooper Rush has had meaningful snaps in 11 on 11 work, much at all during camp. I would say no matter what to a feels like today, Cooper Rush needs to run with the ones. Because why we talked about the other day, this is a heavy situational day, heavy communication day, two minute, those kind of things, situational football, let him get all those reps. If two has had a lot of them throughout training camp, if there's any question at all, any

1:15:45question at all, you let Cooper Rush to me get those reps today. Where is your head if you're Cooper Rush today? Then on the starter and I honestly hope that that a lot of guys cliche and say, I always prepare as if I'm going to start even if I'm not taking those reps. We know that that's not necessarily true, that the guys don't always do that. But I think Cooper Rush being a guy that's been, he's almost 33 years old. He's been in the league for a while. He's made 16 starts in the NFL, none of which as he was the number one guy, if everybody was healthy. He's not in seven in those. So I think he understands where his mind should be and I do expect his mind to be there. Because this has been his career. Well this is going to be front and center all morning long. This hour is brought to you by Morgan and Morgan. The Braves lead is back to four games as the Phillies head to town. We'll get into that and look into the Falcon Steelers matchup next on sports radio, 9290

1:16:46game in the Odyssey app. With all that going on, obviously, the United Falcons opening their season is front and center for this city. And we're the flagships. So we've been pumping this thing up for months and getting ready for it. But boy, does this have a lot of twists and turns in terms of the quarterback room specifically? The quarterback room, a room that has had six different starters. I believe it is once Sunday happens in that six year stretch. And in a room where Michael Peneck says, I can't go even though I'm clear, a room where two or a tongue of a low goes down yesterday, a room where Cooper Rush was completely unemployed. And he's starting. It looks like and Jack Strand was coming out in Minnesota, Duluth. Minnesota more head joining us now, Jake from he's been a backup of the NFL. He's been a starter in the NFL. He's been in multiple quarterback rooms. He's also host of a fabulous podcast, right? Yeah, a punt pass season 10 right now, Jake and I have been having the last. That's right. Jake, thanks for joining us, man. And Jake, I have you.

1:17:48I was looking at the noted. Hey, true. Thank you all for having me. Yeah, the lot of footage this week from the Notre Dame game that Jake started. That's right. That's right. Yeah. What universe was that? Like the 10 year of you guys taking over that stadium or whatever it was. Right. Let's get to the room. Let's get to the quarterback position, Jake. And thanks for joining us. Are you? Yeah, absolutely. Yes. Michael Penix, Jr. from on air guys, fans, a lot of vitriol. That a guy has been cleared by doctors and it was announced. And Michael Penix is saying after three ACLs, I came back once before and didn't feel right. I still don't feel right yet. Is that strange to you? Is it unfair to be critical of him? Give us best you can. What might be going on in his head? Giving you haven't had three, four injuries like that. But what is your thoughts on that whole situation? Yeah, I think I'm going to put on my upper level Atlanta Falcons hat and basically say, hey, I want to give Michael Penix every opportunity to succeed.

1:18:51And I want him to be our franchise guy. And I want him to have a very long and successful career. So there's no reason from their perspective to rush him in to play week one. We need to wait and make sure he's feeling good, feeling healthy. Just what we're trying to look, five years down the road here and not just look, hey, are we going to be 98 this year? Are we going to be 79? You know, whatever it is. And we want what's best for Michael Penix moving forward. And he says, I don't feel, I played after an ACL when I was clear and I did not feel like myself and I don't want to go back in a field and not feel like myself. Then there's the notion of your NFL player. Your team needs you. You know, you've been cleared. Get under center. You're in harm's way in Pittsburgh. So talk about what you think he might be feeling what that means for a quarterback and not be able to someone like you's been in that position. Elaborate on that a little bit. Yeah, this is tough for me because I've never had that type of injury.

1:19:56But I can imagine you're torn between, hey, man, I want to get out there for my teammates, but I also have to have some type of self preservation. And if I push myself too early, another catastrophic injury, you know, couldn't sue. And then man, I'm done. I'm toast pretty much out to that. Now we can get into the weeds of, hey, you know, the Atlanta Falcons, they knew that this was a possibility. They knew this guy was a little bit injury prone when they drafted him, but they took that risk anyway. So that's a completely different conversation. But, you know, in the NFL, everyone plays injured and banged up and you're going to have some nixon versus and even going into weak one, not everyone feels great and healthy. And so you're constantly battling that as a player of, hey, how much, you know, can I play with? How much pain and how much suffering can I play with, you know, throughout the rest of the season. And so, you know, when you kind of start getting into the, to the knees and the ACLs and, in injuries, that could take up eight, nine, 10, 10 months to a year of your time to come

1:20:58back and repair from that's a, that's a little bit of a different situation. Jake, I'm fascinated to think about what's going on inside the quarterbacks room for the Atlanta Falcons. They were kind of clowned on after the last preseason game for keeping four quarterbacks. Now they're pretty much down to two, but I want to kind of compare it to the quarterback room that you were in in Detroit, Jared golf, yourself, Hennon Hooker, Teddy bridge water. If guys were cleared to play, which Michael Pennix has been cleared to play and it was very evident that they needed you to get out there and play yet the quarterback was saying, well, I'm not really ready. Like what does that do for the dynamic of the quarterback room? It kind of turns it into a clown show, honestly, and I hate to really say that. You know, I think it's a nightmare scenario anytime any NFL roster has to put four quarterbacks on their active roster. That's a nightmare scenario already in and of itself.

1:22:02Because why? Because that means you don't have a real number one because you're on stage. I mean, there's only 53 guys that can be on the active roster. And now you're taking up, you know, they started the season with only two running backs on active roster. And yes, they're going to elevate guys, but you're just taking away from positions that need that roster depth. To me, it's two, possibly three at the most. And that's it. There's really not a whole lot of room for four just because you're just sacrificing somewhere else on your roster. Take from with us on Sports Radio 92 9 again. Okay. So it seems like Jake to a tongue of I loa day to day now injured yesterday in practice with an oblique Michael Penex. We don't even know if he's going to be active. I would assume not. So the Falcons are down to Cooper rush and or Jack strand. Are these guys ready to play? Are they ready to go to Pittsburgh and play from an execution perspective with the game plan? Yeah. So my theory here is I think they really, really like Jack strand.

1:23:03And I think they like him so much that almost don't want to throw him to the wolves week one. They really feel good about developing this guy, keeping him around. And when he finally gets this opportunity, they want it to be a good one. And so I think they'll go out there. They'll throw Cooper rush out there. Some guy who's been in the NFL for a long time. He's been thrust into situations. And hopefully they can give that Cooper can give the Falcons an opportunity to at least be close and win the game. That's kind of my take on this. And I think they're just going to kind of figure it out as they go and take it week the week. And hopefully Penex is able to play sometimes soon. You've been in the situation before. Is it safe to say this will be a smaller playbook. Absolutely not turning the ball over is the number one job of Cooper rush and just look at Bijan and look at Robinson and just look at underneath passes and go. And survive as long as we can in this game. Yeah, I mean, when you have Bijan in the mix, I mean, that just kind of takes it to a whole

1:24:08another level from a perspective of a backup quarterback here getting thrust into the situation. Being the three slash four, it's hey, do whatever you can to not lose this game. Stay in it for as long as you can. Don't turn the ball over. I mean, I think that's exactly right. You don't have to win the game, but definitely do not come in and lose the game for any reason, especially when you have Bijan back there. I mean, give him 30, 40 touches, let him figure it out and he's going to keep it close. If you don't have Bijan Robinson, I mean, think about a game like this. There's zero shot, right? Yeah, but you have a guy that can get a five yard swing pass and make it 73 yards the way, you know, Todd Gurley used to do that stuff and guys like you just like get him the ball and let him take off. So I guess that's part of what? We'll see. Appreciate again, the perspective from a quarter and there is no easy answer. I think is what you're all with Michael Pennick's junior just it. I love what you said. It's a nightmare situation. Yeah, absolutely. When you're carrying four and you're just taking depth away from other positions.

1:25:10That's a great way to put it. So thanks for coming on with a four talk and you down the line. Yeah, absolutely guys, man. Thanks y'all for seeing him. Thank you, Jake. Jake from legend at Georgia and he he is Cooper rush in the NFL. Yeah, absolutely. He's a third stringer sometimes. He's a backup thrust into that role and started a game for the New York Giants was in the quarterback's room with those great Detroit lion's jeans as well. He's with the commanders for a while drafted to the Buffalo Bills. And yes, he is a legend. Jake and I will be on Atlanta news first tomorrow at 1145 leading into the Georgia game and post game, but it's such a treat being in Athens with him. Stay because he is as a list as it gets. It's incredible. It is. That's a pretty girl that's in college now. Watch Jake when they were in middle school. So they see him and they're like, I get a picture. I call myself Jake's personal photographer or an ass. Yeah, or maybe just his butler. I mean, he said Jackie came into the game last week and this girl takes a picture with Jake and she goes, Hey, do you know who the guy is in the white shirt? It's so fun.

1:26:11Jackie says, yeah, that's my husband. Oh, did he play football? She's been like, yeah, that's Kevin, that's Kevin Butler's son. That's Kevin Butler's son. Hey, when we come back, why Aaron Rogers has gone scorched earth? Sports radio, 92 9, the game. Happy to talk to Falcon fans, Stakes Shapiro and Drew Butler. You literally can't make this stuff up. I'm just I'm trying to compare it to an opening game in which I played in the NFL. My rookie year, Sunday night football, Steelers at Broncos, Peyton Manning's first ever game in Denver. That was the year after Tibo had beaten the Steelers in the playoffs. So that was a lot of hype going into that game. Steel was supposed to be pretty good. Arizona, we played Monday night football against the Chargers. Arizona, we played Sunday night football against the Pats when Brady was suspended for deflate gate. I've never been a part of a game, even going back to college in which you feel like you don't even have a shot. You feel like you're like, I don't even know what we're going to do. We don't have an answer at quarterback.

1:27:11Yes, we got a generational talent at running back. Can we piece together some good stuff on defense? We're missing some of our key players on the defense side of the ball. I've never been a part of an opening game after a training camp wanting to get out there and start the season feeling hopeless. And I am, I'm really remiss to, I guess I would be, I struggle to think that Falcons fans are not feeling hopeless right now. Hopeless. That's a, that's a great way to put it. You struggle to feel that Falcons fans are not feeling hopeless because that, that is, has to be the dominant emotion about this season. That literally all spirals back to the drafting of Pentex, the signing of cousins, the, the Desmond Ritter experiment, the Mario, even five years back, the exit of Matt Ryan to Dishon Watson, the Bockel, then there is the Michael Pentex, Kirk Cousins last year. Cousins going to be his backup. Then there's the Pentex engine. I mean, the whole thing.

1:28:12How could you not feel hopeless in many ways? Yeah, and I think probably the most frustration around that is the fact that we do have a new regime. We got a lot of new people in the building. Of course, most notably the president of football, Matt Ryan, the greatest player in Falcons franchise history. You got your new head coach and Kevin Spancy. You got your new general manager and Ian Cunningham, your offensive coordinator in Tommy Reese. So there's supposed to be a lot of optimism with this new change. However, with the situation that Terry Fountain will let this franchise in, they weren't in a good enough position to revamp the roster. They weren't in a position to have a top pick in the first round of last year's draft. So Falcons fans have to just buckle in for one more year of well. We'll see what's happened because if you take a look at what Ian Cunningham and Matt Ryan are currently doing, freeing up a ton of cap space, trying to get more draft picks, they are loading the boat to make significant moves after this season.

1:29:15So while it is extremely frustrating for Falcons fans to not feel optimistic with this new regime, them's the breaks, I guess. Yeah, I have a vision of interviewing Matt in a couple of years sitting across from us here, wherever we are and being like, Hey, Matt, what was that? What was that? Like your quarterback is now Dante Moore or Archman and... And Trinidad Chameless or Sam Levitt or Darian Mensa or CJ Carr. Yeah, okay. Like, that's your quarterback. You got me, John. He's going into a second year. You built up a defense. Beeshawn still looks great. Him just like taking a deep, I think I'm going to do that. That was that first training camp was like, wow, to be from there to here. And I don't know what here is going to look like, but I don't think here is Michael Pennick's junior or any of those quarterbacks on the roster. I think we are once again going to be picking top 10, picking a quarterback, developing him.

1:30:15Maybe Penox is the starter. This guy backs him up, but eventually you know that this guy's going to start. Think whatever you want about the Kurt Cousins experiment. Okay. Good, bad, indifferent. The decision to draft Michael Pennick's junior eighth overall after paying Kurt Cousins a hundred million dollars guaranteed to be your starting quarterback was a catastrophic series of events for this franchise. It is exactly why the Falcons are in the position that they're in right this moment before a week one of the 2026 season. Yeah. There's no other way to look at it. And think about what you sold to the public. Okay. Think about the youth. You decided as Terry Fontno, you're the smartest man in the room. Yeah. Smarter than everybody else. You're going to do because you guys don't understand this. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to take Kurt Cousins. I'm going to play him for two years. We're going to win a ton of games. We're going to go to the playoffs. Like I know it's been six years out of the playoffs, but Kurt is the lead us. And then I'm going to have a backup behind him.

1:31:17Right. And that guy is going to eventually take over. Now I hope it doesn't happen next year or the year after. Maybe three years. Remember Arthur's like maybe it'll be three years with that. So hold on. We're not going to take a defensive player in the top 10 when you just told us Kurt Cousins is going to be a playoff type quarterback. Yes. You're going to take a quarterback, have him hopefully sit. So you're trying to like nuance this whole thing. Yes. That the Cousins signing was a great signing. And the Pettics drafting was a great as if those two things can be mutual, which they can't. And I just know more than everybody else. So we're going to do both things. There is there is literally I think I mean, I firmly believe this. There is one person to blame. That is the architect of all of this Terry font. No. That's it. Call up 404 70726 099. Call up and tell me I'm wrong. Terry font knows the one who hired these head coaches. Terry font knows the one that said, let's go get these quarterbacks in here. Terry font knows the one that said, Oh, we got Kurt Cousins.

1:32:18Okay. Instead of getting a pass rusher on the defense, which we badly need or a playmaker on offense, which could be very helpful. Let's go ahead and draft his backup. Is Terry font? No, that's what general managers in the NFL are paid to do. He left this franchise in rubble. Yeah, it's just trying to unpack what they thought was the win, explaining it like, yeah, we got a great starter, but then we got a great backup when he's done. Well, when's he going to be done? Well, we hope it's no time soon because we signed them for three years, but maybe Michael Pentex sits for two full years because remember what their best scenario would be. You see that guy, Michael Pentex, we just took an eight overall best scenario. That guy won't play for years. Yeah, right. Right. I don't want to. And I remember being on the air with you and others the next day, which is like, I don't I. So the good news would be that Pentex never plays for years. And that's your counting on Cousins deleting us to the playoffs.

1:33:20And by the way, if Cousins, Lee and Ziplayas, why didn't you get him a player on the top tend to help him, right? Because we're out of playoffs five straight years at that point or six straight years. Like the theory of how it was all going to work is like, I mean, I'll even go as far to say, you know, Terry Fondo drafted James Pierce Jr. He drafted James Pierce Jr. Because he said, hey, this guy's got legit talent. He could help us pass rush. He also very, very, very, very well knew the documented past of James Pierce Jr's personal life and how that could affect his status on this team. So look like great pick, great, great greatest past Russia as a rookie, as a rookie in fact, as a straight Warren. See how long he's going to be here. Yeah. Warren sap had this. I don't know. I'm just saying like, I don't understand how fans can just essentially say like, no, it's not his fault or just pass the book. No, no, no, no, no, no. No managers are the architects of rosters and of coaching staffs and Terry Fondo did

1:34:23all that. And now he's gone. What's like you said, that one decision like many in life, right? You know, what's the whole expression with what that movie is something windows like every decision you make. Like butterfly effect. Yeah. Has an effect. And then oh, here that that decision is why we're starting Cooper Cup. That decision has had layers and layers underneath it. That's why we have two of tongue of a low on a one year contract which the backens are only paying him a million dollars. Like heavens to fans. These are coach. Yep. Right. Matt Ryan's back. We need help. Save us Matt Ryan. Yeah. Well, you can't do it. You can't turn chicken salad out of you. No, no. And Matt Ryan, again, my vision in a few years were like, bro, what was that like? And he's just like, man, it needed to happen. It needed to happen. But look at like a franchise and I'm not making the comparison. So don't call me crazy. But look at a franchise like the Detroit lines. Man, it was bad. And the fan base hated Dan Campbell got off to a horrible start.

1:35:24And now Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes, the GM, they look like geniuses and the Ford family saying we trusted these guys. We let them run the process. Now we are a perennial playoff team. Well, look, I mean, like that's what can happen. And to your point, looking back, being like, wow, but you believe we had to go through that to get to where we are today. I think in mind, they had Matthew Stafforders a quarterback also. At least they were in better shape there, right? Yeah. Stafford was there. So all right, let's get Andre and Lawrence Villandre in sports radio. 92 9 a game. Hey guys, good morning to you. Morning. I have a question and then I want to make a statement. The question is if tour is not able to go with my companions be eligible to get back on the roster for this week. I would also like to say that the only way that the Atlanta Falcons saved his franchise as far as the fans are concerned. Go ahead.

1:36:24Jack Stranger ends up being the quarter. So the savior and he blood and he blood so micro pennies because I'm a micro pennies fan, but he kind of ticked me off when he's, you know, hey, I'm not ready to quite ready to play thing. It kind of ticked me off. So right now I'm kind of hoping he gets blood so and we, we, we have our franchise quarterback already in on the roster, man. Thank you. Thank you. Getting blood so. Look, if Jack Stranger is the savior, that will become a massive storyline in the NFL. I don't know like like if Cooper Rush starts the game, you're one play away from Jack Stranger being in Pittsburgh as a starting quarterback of the Falcons. What happens to the game plan situation then? I feel like it's the same. He'll just run handed off the beach on. Hey, feel free to get off schedule. You're athletic enough. Just hold on to the football fall forward. Let's get into third and manageable like that's exactly what you're going to do with Cooper Rush and Jack Stranger. Yeah. I prefer Jack Stranger starting, but I do believe what Jake From said. They like Jack Stranger so much.

1:37:25Can't just throw under the wall. Yeah, they don't want, they don't want him to be terrorized in Pittsburgh in a game that could be 26 to 6 where he has a confidence of maybe I can't play in the NFL. Right. Because right now he doesn't have that mindset. Yep. And I think they know there's a future. You don't keep four quarterbacks if you didn't think Jack Stranger as a future because you were worried that that guy was going to get gobbled up by somebody. So 4047260929. Let's get some new collars in there. I know a lot of the same names and faces have been hammering 4047260929. The point spread went from three to five. That is an enormous jump in Las Vegas. That is an enormous jump. How about coach Tom when talking about two or some of a low who's probably knocking the line. Do you want to hear that cut? Because I thought this was very pointed. Can we bow run Tom on the other night who by the way just says a very likable quality about him. I guess it's cut 22. He is. He is. I like when Maria Taylor kept correcting him because he was saying JNS instead of JSN and coach Tom did not really understand.

1:38:25He's like, what are you doing? She's like, you keep saying JNS and he goes, Oh, I appreciate you. Thank you for looking out for me. And that was referring to what Jackson Smith and Jigba, these Seahawks, why receiver? All right. Here he is talking about. How does he? How does he think Tua is going to do in Pittsburgh? You know, it's less about Aaron for me and it's a more about the quarterback on the other side. His last visit in Pittsburgh didn't go well. I was in the stadium that day. They lost. He got benched. And so I think it's going to be a good day for Mike McCarty, Patrick Graham and the Pittsburgh Steelers and company. I'm going to pull a devil. Mike, I have something to do with that. I've got a little something to say. I'm going to pull a devil and I'm going to go with the steel. Yeah, he's not impressed. No. He's playing the game planned against Tua, like everybody knows. And that was with Mike McDaniel as the head coach. I will say that. Of the Miami Dolphins as well. A quote unquote offensive guru. I will say that I don't think there's any difference really now that I think about it between Tua and Cooper. Like I'm not disappointed as much as I thought. Like Cooper Rush can do whatever Tua does.

1:39:26He's probably a little bit more mobile too. Go back and watch Reggie Chapman's video. I don't know what happened. Surely we've all gotten hurt sleeping, getting out of the car, walking down the street stairs, but this man is doing a literal pat and go warm up pass and goes to his knees. Listen, I think when I hear Tomlin, what I think it's going on in his head is broke. When that guy, your starter, like we knew they have no chance with Tua. He can't move. His arm strength is marginal right now. He has no confidence. Like, okay, like Tua Cooper, it's six or half a dozen. It's just silly that we go through all the histionics of finally naming the guy, finally having the quarterback battle settled. It started on day one. We're sitting there in front of us to fanskin. He's like, yeah, Michael Penis is not going to be ready for four weeks to even be real valid. And no, no, Tua won't be out there. We're like, who's out there? Jack Strand and Cooper Rush is coming to town. He said, oh, what? What? Yeah.

1:40:26What? And Cooper Rush is coming to town. I believe James Franklin said, you're making me uncomfortable. Yeah. I would think that's how Falcons fans are feeling. Well, I mean, listen, we're paid to, you know, kind of like I'm making me uncomfortable. Like, I don't know what you're talking about. Yeah. You want to try to be clever when you're on the air. And one of the first things to say is this is not a good foreshadowing of the Matt Ryan day one era that we just walked into that press conference. So no, no. No, no. Yeah. And like, no, I think it needs to be repeated. Matt Ryan, Kevin Stofansky and Cunningham, they are not responsible for what the situation is at this current moment in 12 months. They will be. Yeah, they inherited this mess. The definition they inherited this mess. Get ready for Cooper Rush. When we do a brand in Languistra, Bobo, we got headed to Vegas next.

1:41:26Oh, damn, what's talking gambling coming up? Hey, now, I can't wait. That's radio. 9029 the game.