Hr1 - Falcons Start Tua Tagovailoa as Michael Penix Jr. Remains Inactive

0:00Finally, we now know. Get on board and let's go win Atlanta. What's going on? It's Duke's in Bell on sports radio. 92 9 the game. We start off every day and every hour by saying, hey, man, the news dropped on Labor Day and many of you who are making your way back like my man Mike Bell from last night Florida State game. What a mess that was. Oh, yeah. You're making your way back to work or just getting back home. Whatever it was, hope you had a great vacation, get away weekend. But the news that broke kind of set the NFL world on fire because everybody was assuming, hey, if they're waiting this long, it's going to be Michael Pinnix. Of course, we're talking about the Falcons. It is not. And week one, it is to a tongue of Iowa. T U A. I do not know what we're going to get guys. I have no idea Mike what this is going to look like. How well he is or is not going to play. This is what I do know.

1:00I'm on board. And for everyone who wanted one thing and didn't get it, let's not hope the Falcons go to Pittsburgh and get embarrassed. Let's not hope the Falcons show up and don't do anything offensively. Rooting against our guys is not it. At some point, can we all agree that we will see Michael Pinnix? At some point, I don't know in Mike, but at some point, we will probably see Michael Pinnix. But for week one, can we all just ride and say, hey, let's go and try to win a football game? It's not going to be easy, guys. It's not going to be easy. The Steelers defense will break this down over the remaining part of the week here. They're offends. Say what you want. They still have a Hall of Fame quarterback at behind center. But Mike, this is driving people crazy. Yeah, man. Look, it's going to be another week. It will be an active for week two. Don't know. Is Pittsburgh a really good defense? Yes. Is it a really mediocre offense? Yes. But it's a road game in the NFL. So just a matter of how too aggressive it's the fancy is asking to do.

2:03And hopefully, you know, our playmakers, we got a bunch of those guys. They stepped into it. And the young defense may be surprised as long as some of the OGs they added. But, yeah, I mean, look, I'm not arguing about this with people. I don't understand how you can't say I'm ready. He knows his body. All right. Cam Newton told him, okay, great. Okay. All right, buddy. It'll be ready when it's ready. So we're not going to get a full season of sample size by definition. It's not a full season. So that's okay. Well, roll with it. I know you and Dade A were arguing back and forth about, you know, the analogy that is this, what we wanted Kirk Cousins to do and say that he wasn't ready to go after that Saints game. And I said, it's a bit like Apple's oranges. And Dade A will talk about it later in his segment. It's like Apple's to pine apples in my mind because Kirk should establish guy. You know, and the coach should have said, look, it's not, you're not ready. You sit for a week, get right, and we'll put, you know, put Panix in and we'll get you back out there. Panix is fighting for his career. Kirk Cousins came and got paid $100 million. It's different to me. It's a different argument. Of course it is.

3:03And I stated as much on Twitter. Follow us. Put them up. See, dukes, ATL, Bell, 929. And if you go read the entire tweet, not the headline, just the entire tweet. Hopefully you understand the dichotomy of what I was talking about because it's two different elements that we're talking about. But yet you want to compare what you want to say is, well, you guys wanted to kill Kirk Cousins because he wouldn't tell the truth. What I am laying out for you is why Kirk Cousins did what he did and why he got respect from his teammates, which was Mike, you play when you're hurt. And sometimes you play when you don't want to play. Right. And for Michael Pinnix, the irony is he's at a point where that's why you're disappointed. Many of you were just saying to yourself, man, I know he's going to play because you know what he'll pull through this. He's going to be fine. Even he's been cleared medically, whatever that means. And he'll just say, I'm ready. The thing is he didn't say that. And I'm going to read a direct quote from Michael Pinnix as to what he said to Kevin Stofansky.

4:03He told the team and Kevin Stofansky specifically, I'm not 100%. I just told Coach Stofansky, I'm not where I want to be right now. I want to be 100% so I can go help the team win football games. It's that simple for Michael Pinnix. The problem I'm having with that is Mike, you've had extra time. I think it's been six weeks now, right? Over six weeks. There's another guy in the league now. He didn't have three knee surgeries, but his name's Patrick Mahomes. He's Patrick Mahomes. He's playing opening weekend. And a lot of folks felt like the timetable just synced up perfectly for him to be a vacant. For him to be available and ready. Let's be clear on a couple of things Atlanta. One, medically he's been cleared. Two, he's been practicing and doing more than he did at the beginning of camp. And so the assumption there was, okay, they'll get him up to speed, Mike, 11 on 11, and he'll be ready to go. And those things have not linked like we thought they would. The question is why is this mental or is it something else?

5:04And if you're just telling me, well, I just told him I'm not ready. As Mike's been saying, and it's redundant, but when, at what point does three more days help you? Does two more weeks help you? And now Mike, the cinnamon is, well, guess what? They didn't put him on the public. So that means he'll be ready certainly by week three. Right. I mean, it's just a little different. It is a bit counterintuitive as we said. I mean, you know, day day talked about it earlier. You know, we just discussed the differences with cousins. But I mean, yes, generally in the NFL, you got to be pulled dragged off the field, you know, unless, you know, there's a, you know, a bone sticking out. You know, you're going to try to stay out there, or you're going to try to get out there. And knowing, you know, good and well, this is, I mean, like, I don't think that Michael doesn't get this. I wonder if this is just a new Jack quarterback now where, you know, and the fans are cool. They're cool. We came from a different mindset. It was, I just laid it out. It was literally, you got to be a dead man. They dragged off the field. It's a different mindset. And a lot of our audience is apparently cool with it. Because they only accept panics as their quarterback.

6:04So you're rationalizing this, this is anybody else. You be going, what the hell is going on here? But he's your boy. So you're giving him the patience of job, which is fine. Let's hear from Kevin Stafansky. He made this announcement. And everybody went, and I don't know why this had been trending this way for a very long time. What I think Mike is, people got caught up in these damn preseason games and wanted to believe that they hadn't seen enough for him to be named the starter. And this idea that well, he didn't win the job. Well, neither did Michael Pinnix. Neither did Pinnix. No, it wasn't, it wasn't even a quarterback competition. Correct. The most compelling part of our quarterback competition was Jack Strand made the roster. Frost, let me hear Kevin Stafansky making this announcement. As you guys saw the report, Tuwa will start. Cooper Rush will be the backup. Mike Pinnix will be inactive. Really, really proud of those guys. And I told them this this morning, I think those guys have worked like crazy all off season.

7:07And they've pushed each other and they've supported each other. And that's what we'll do for Tuwa. We'll continue to support him and understand that this is a collective group that is constantly looking to help each other. Inactive. That bothers a lot of people. I don't know why. He's not playing, he's not able to play. He just told the coach he's not 100% but yet you want him as a backup. If you can't start, he can't be the backup. Right. If you can't, if you're telling the coach, I'm not good to go, then you don't dress. You're not, you're in sweats. And so Cooper Rush would then become the backup if anything happens to Tuwa. Having forbid that goes down. Pittsburgh, like you said, it's, it's, it's not like it's the scariest game ever. It's a road game. Road games are hard to win. Their defense is really good. How is our quarterback going to handle playing against that defense in a new offense? That's it. That's the question because we got, we have enough guys. You're going to lean into B-john. They'll try to probably take B-john or we make two of beat them. Sure. But we got guys. And you know, and offensively it's, if you guys think that Aaron Roche is going to lead the Steelers the Super, you're on crack. Ain't going to happen.

8:07He doesn't have that game. He's not that guy anymore. They're old man. I mean, that's my deal. It's an older team. This is their last run. Right. We know that. They're grooming Drew Allard and some of these other guys to be the next era or, you know, are a parent either way, they're going to run out there and go, all right, this is a feasting. That's what they believe that they think they're going to get off on our offense. And maybe they get to two a few times. That's just the nature of it. They do. They have one of the best edge rushers in the game. We don't have any DJ Watts of beast. So we got to find a way to block this dude, whether it's, whether it was pinnocks or whether it was two of, but the reality of where we're at right now is a fan base. Mike were split. We are split. We got to come together and say, hey, let's go win. And that's what's bothering me the most about this. It's almost as if, well, if he ain't playing, I ain't cheering for him. I don't understand that. I just don't. As I said, there's just, there's a bias towards a certain kind of quarterback for some of the fans. Not all, just some. And again, if this was anybody else, you'd say it's incomplete. What has he shown you? And again, we've already covered the things that were beyond his control and the things that were in his control last season.

9:10And the year before. I mean, it's just, I get it easy. They're all nice guys. We're all pulling for him. He's like a really good dude. Everybody in that team is pulling for him. But I mean, it's at some point he's got to get out there and do it. Yep. You know it. But again, I've just never heard of fan base going. He's not ready. He's not ready. You can't rush him. Okay. All right. All right. How many years football has been playing? It's just a different mindset, I guess, these days. What is Mike real quick before we grab a phone call and you're more than welcome to call in. 404-726-0929. Hope you had a great Labor Day. It's Mike and I's first chance to address this on these airways. And it's been interesting to hear the responses. I just kind of chilled yesterday and set back and listened and watched what was going on. And the one thing the common denominator about this is, well, you know, this just doesn't get me exciting. You know, we get you excited. Winning. Winning gets you excited. Right. Ask Georgia Tech. Winning gets you excited. If they won the game against Colorado, you'd be excited about maybe what the season was going to bring.

10:11Ask LSU fans. Ask Clemson fans. Right. Winning is what gets you excited. If we can win and Mike and I are tired of losing in this city when it comes to our Falcons. Nine years, Mike. Nine? There'll be nine seasons if we don't make the playoffs this year. Ridiculous. 404-726-0929. Let's hear some fanski real quick before we get to some of your calls on. Pinnix is doing everything he needs to. This has been the message guys since day one. First day at Campy said this. I don't think it'd be fair for me to speculate. I would tell you he's doing everything in his power to get ready. And that's all the work you put in the training room, all the work you put in the weight room, the work in the meeting room out on the grass. So he's doing everything that he needs to do. Mike, if I told you that was a from week one of training camp, you wouldn't know the difference. That's the same thing, Kevin's the fanciest been saying. He's on track. He's done all the right things. He's working hard. But I can't give you a definitive date. Right. You and I were just talking about this off the air. I mean, we suggested this back in the spring that maybe they always knew this was the case.

11:12Pinnix was probably not going to be ready week one, maybe week two. And maybe week three is the target. And then the cherry on top is here and Mike's saying, no, I'm not ready. So, okay. Okay. Okay. All right. I mean, I don't know. It's hockey players. You know, like if it's the NBA, I could say that that's par for the course of the NBA. It's just not what I'm used to here for the NFL. No. And I think most professional athletes would tell you if they've been injured and they've been on the sideline and I use that term loosely. I mean, not being able to play is the worst thing when it's what you've done all your life. And then you're all of a sudden, you're cleared. You're okay. Your body's healed. You're okay to go play if you want to play. No, I'm good. You don't hear that. Yeah, you just don't. And I look, I thought it was a fascinating conversation with Cam Newton about a month ago when he went on the podcast. You know, and saying, Cam, you know, like, you know, you know, you're not going to be able to play. Yeah, I was, I was a greegious paraphrasing. But Cam said, you know, he should, he rushed back from an injury. But that was the first injury, Cam. It's right. This guy's had a bunch his whole career. His whole career is defined by injuries.

12:13So if he's going to be good to go and win this job and he's, he's only going to accept 100% he's writing his head. He's right with his body. Well, you and I have to be more patient than. And I think that's where we're all going to have to be. I'm not rooting against pinnocks. Certainly not rooting against two or rooting for the team. Yeah, I have to. I don't care who the quarterback is at this point. I really don't let's win. Let's have success. And if that part of it, you just, you're not, you're not a part of this. Then I don't know what to tell you. All right, Eric and coming. We're going to grab you, man. Stay there. All right. We got to talk to Tony Gwynn Jr. Our Odyssey MLB insider, Braves, steel in first place after an incredible weekend in Ronald, Akunya, did his thing. We'll talk to our man Tony Gwynn Jr. Next. Sportswear to you. The Braves. The Braves. Settle for a split of their four game series with the Phillies after falling one nothing in

13:14yesterday's finale. They're back home tonight, welcoming the Tampa Bay Rays. AJ Spishovar gets to start with first pitch at 715. And to a tag of Aloa is the Falcon starting quarterback to begin the season. The Kevin Stephans he says he's only focused on Sunday's opener in Pittsburgh, not a long term decision. I'm Ali Mack. It is Duke's in Bell on a Tuesday. We're talking about the Falcon's decision. And actually, I think it's more Michael Pinnick's decision because when you tell the coach, I'm not quite 100%. You make it easier for them to say, okay, well, we got to play somebody who is and somebody who's capable of trying to win a football game for us. But we want to get your thoughts, man. And before we get to our buddy Tony Gwynn Jr. Eric and coming has hit us up here on the show. Eric, welcome in, man. Welcome to Sports Radio 92 9 to game. Is he there? He hung up. All right. As he called in and was pretty adamant about something in regards to Pinnick's and by the

14:14way, you're more than welcome to share. Okay. Wherever you're out on this, it doesn't matter. 404 7260929. We'll take plenty of phone calls throughout the day. Let's talk to Tony Gwynn Jr. Odyssey MLB insider. Of course, insider calls presented by Granger for the ones who get it done. Granger offers professional grade products. You need delivered win and where you need them call. Click Granger.com or just stop by. Tony, we went to Philly. We handled business. I'm talking about our braves and I want to ask you about pimping home runs because I have not seen this much reaction from a Ronald Akunyan home run in a long time. He pimped it but he also deserved to pimped it after facing seven fastballs over 100 miles per hour or whatever it was. And then he hits a big home run that ties the game and ultimately your team wins. Did you have a problem with the way he did it? No. And neither says, you know, I don't think Zach did. He doesn't think he was in his feelings a little bit. And you know, rightfully so.

15:15Sometimes you get put in front of that camera right after the game. You're still a little salty. You get to hear some real thoughts sometimes. And so I think it's been a lot to do about that. I mean, he made reference to Bryce. Bryce certainly admire his home run. It's not like he hits them and just starts running. He's going to do his thing as he should. And so yeah, this is just our greats to me. Right. I don't get a kick out of it. I mean, oh, poor Philly, they've been victimized by the antics of Ronald Akunyan. I mean, the most evil fan base in the planet. And Don Maddenly, we've got a history with that. That's why I was curious if that would get back. I don't think Don does that this stage. But what do you think? You think next time we see him, he throws it? Is that too much to ask? No, I don't think so. Even to me, you know, Don kind of poured cold water on it myself. I thought the way he spoke about it. So yeah, no, as I said, I think those were Zach comments. I think he was perturbed that he gave it up there. And I would have been too.

16:17And yes, you know, I just think that just I think ultimately, he said what he was thinking versus kind of recognizing what happened, which was that, you know, Akunyan got it. He got he won that matchup and that ended up being a big part of that game. Took it to the upper deck, by the way. It's Tony Gwen, Jr. Joining us. Zach Tony, did we get did we get the best player at the trade deadline? I mean, the most impactful guy to me has been Tyler Malley. And he was good again against the Phillies. I mean, zero runs. When you talk about what he do, four hits, one walk, struck out three through six innings. And by the way, Tony, it's been six plus every time this guy's taken the hill. I mean, listen, I saw the same thing. The guy is throwing the ball at a very high level. And listen, that's the best part about deadline. There's always somebody that you're not thinking of that comes in and just has just does a tremendous job.

17:20And Malley's done that. I think he has stabilized, which we already thought was a pretty good rotation. He's added some more depth to it now. And I don't know if he is the, if he's the best team that got, that's got moved at the deadline. But he's certainly at the top of tier. Based on, you know, his performance, since he's got there, the team performance, since he's gotten there, all signs are pointing up. Now, you just hope that this is this, this last end of the playoffs and beyond. Because right now, these are regular season games as a whole different pressure once you get to that point where you're in the post season. It's our man, Tony Gwynn Jr. here, guys, talking about the Braves. And we started four games ahead. We left Philly four games ahead. So it's a push. We'll see them for three. They get the Astros, by the way. We got a little bit easier road in the meantime. Real quick, though, the pitching staff, you just talked, he called just asked you about Mally after sale. Lazardo was just crushing it, man. He was dealing yesterday and unfortunately, we made one mistake. And that was a Fuentes pitch to Schwarber.

18:20Good job from Grand Homes. That the pitching staffs, if we see him again in the playoffs, you give him the edge or you still like the Braves. I mean, it's a hell of a pitching staff. It's really, I mean, when Nolan's like the fifth guy, practically, right? It really is. And if Nolan's going to throw like he threw in this series, I mean, that's five guys then, you know, are legit. But I would say it's a push right now. I think these two sides are as equal as any staff in Major League Baseball. And as I said, there's some depth to it. I would at this point, too, I would maybe give a slight edge to Philly. As I said, if Nolan's going to be that version of himself, that's that's a really tough staff to deal with. But now, this is, this is as pretty close to even as you're going to get with two staff, especially if they face off against one another. Tony, go in junior, our guest guys insider calls brought to you by Granger for the

19:21once who get it done. Granger offers professional grade products. You need Tony judges back. He's been out since May 31st. I want to know first what that means for the Yankees and their push. And then O'Toney. And they're saying most likely he won't pitch again this season. My question gets back to the trade deadline. Is this why they went and got scoobled knowing that this might end up like this? I'm pretty sure I said that when they went to deal, when the deal went down because we hadn't seen O'Toney at that point. He had been hurt and the aggressiveness in which the doctors went out after him, kind of had my antennas up. You know, this isn't a controllable guy. They're going out and they're going to get a guy who's going to hit the pre-agency mark. And I think everybody assumes that they're going to resile. But I always had that thought in my mind that in the back of their mind, they knew there was a chance that O'Toney was not going to pitch again. And so if that's the case, you got a fortified at rotation, they did that.

20:23And I also think given that he's had this knee injury and shoulder, I think it's they said. He kind of need him to be his best version offensively for the dodges to be the team that is one back to back. I think we forget that because O'Toney is such a user from a picking standpoint as well. But that team was as good as they were because he was at the top of that line up causing all kinds of problems for everybody on every, on any given night. So I think he's going to have to not pitch in order to be his best version offensively this year. And they got the they got the depth once they went out and got scoobled to add to the rotation. Hey, man, me, while the other guys, the Cubs, we talked about the Brewers a few weeks ago, I mean, the Cubs, the team you don't want to see in the playoffs. No, I don't want to see them. I don't know if anybody wants to see them right now. I mean, PCA is closing in on an MVP.

21:23It feels like I mean, that's kind of how MVP's are one. It's all really about the storyline as you get towards the in here. No one is really talking about O'Toney. Everybody's talking about PCA and you kind of been a driving force on that ball clip. Now I don't know if they're out of the teams that we're talking about that could make a deep run. I don't know that they have the pitching that these other teams do. But if they get you in their yard, that could be a problem. That's it. There's a true home field advantage. It feels like they're they seem like they're going to be a lot of people. They play lights out, but they're definitely a team that's smoking hot right now that it's the playoffs. I'm going to start today and I I caution you. It's only September 8th. I like it happen between now and the end of the season that I kind of have us looking at things a little differently. So if they continue to student the season, yes, this is not a team you want to space, but little ways to go here. Tony, going to junior our guest guys as we talk baseball with him and we will do this all the way through the end of the season.

22:26You mentioned it is September. What's the mindset, man? Most of these teams at the top, right? I mean, like the braves now, I think have proven to braves country and braves fans like they're the real deal. We kept, you know, that that June slide made everybody feel a little bit uncomfortable. And now you've gone through this stretch where hey, not only do we feel like the pitching is better, but they can handle things and it's not just Matt Olson, all of a sudden now Kuneha's heating up and you know, this is a different team, Tony, when when a Kuneha's rolling like this, man. Yeah, no, it's just I saw someone had tweeted out that there wasn't this much hoopla when a Kuneha was having the same type of year PCA was and I was like, you just don't remember what the hoopla was. It's all we were talking about was how good Ronald Kuneha junior was. Yeah, no, this is the good thing for the braves is that they're not far enough ahead to where they can just coach. Right. They've got to play out the rest of the season. And I think that always keeps the team sharp as you head into the post season.

23:28We see oftentimes teams kind of cruise into the to the playoffs and they have they've had problems in the past. And so I think it's a good thing that they're not far ahead and they're they have enough season where guys can as you guys, but you see Ronald started to get hot and have a completely different like, you know, way that that offense can run come post season. So I think it's a great thing that the race is close enough where a team like to braves that start in a peak. They can't really like take their foot off the guys. They got to keep playing. Tony, we've talked about Matt Olson. He's been on the MVP candidate for the Sriliff in this team. He's kept this team afloat, but we've seen this over his career here. He gets into some really cold patches. You know, I all hit us go through it. And unfortunately right now it's one of those. He batted 2.26 for August. He's battened what two hits for 23 in the six games this month. So is that a concern now because also looks like he's cool enough big time. It is, but again, because of the day, his September, he got some time to kind of figure it

24:31out. He got some time to kind of get himself going in the right direction. It sucks that it's happening right now, right? You would rather the coach spell it hit, you know, three weeks ago, a month ago. But you know, all he can do at this point is keep pushing forward. And nobody's coming to help him. Nobody's coming to save him. So you just got to believe that when the tips are down, they'll start to be the player that we've seen most of the season. As you said, MVP candidate. So I would expect that he figures it out by the time we get by the time they get the post. Tony, great stuff as always, man. We appreciate you stopping by again, brought to you by our friends at Granger for the ones who get it done. Granger offers professional grade products. You need delivered win and where you need them. Call clickgranger.com or just stop by Tony. We'll talk next week. Appreciate you, man. All right. Good stuff from Tony. Great stuff from the Braves this weekend. By the way, if the play I've started today were two games in Los Colum behind the Dodges, we'd play the Diamondbacks. We'd be in a best of three with Arizona. Yeah. And look, you know, we talked about this.

25:33It's a dangerous spot. The best case scenario is we overtake first place overall in the NL. We don't have to worry about it. That would be the best case scenario. But as he said, there's a lot of a lot of games left in September. But man, impressive with the way this team responded over the weekend. You said it might no ground gained. Here's the thing though. Philly comes in here this weekend, guys. So you know, they get a series next three days and then they come in here on Friday. So it's not done yet yet. All right. We're coming back. We got more to get to. Mike was in Tallahassee last night. If you missed it, it was a mess. All right. It was a giant metaphor. Basically, what happened last night? It really was. And the game, right, was like secondary to what else was going on. But we'll also talk some college football because guys, it was an incredible weekend around college football. We'll let you in on what we're thinking about. It's stay there at Sukson Bell. Hey, each Wednesday night joined Damian, Dayday Lewis for Prep Sports Nation. Guys, the conference of look at teams and athletes making news on the high school level across the state. It's brought to you by Ingalls, low prices, love the savings that's Prep Sports Nation.

26:35Wednesday nights on sports radio, 92 9 to game. We are Duke's and Bell. And it's funny because we're heading in the week one. I'm excited. NFL is here. It's back. As a matter of fact, we came tomorrow tomorrow. We get a game. Okay. A real game. One that counts. And then we head in towards the weekend. We get a game Thursday with the game in Australia. And then we wait till Sunday, one o'clock in Pittsburgh. And the two announcements as we've been discussing has a lot of people feeling some kind of way. Get excited, man. Like either this is going to work or it's not. And as Mike and I have said, this is the part, Mike, where people just don't want to accept. If it doesn't work, there will be change anyway. Right. They're going to do something else, whether it's one guy or the other, but this is our lot in life right now. So we have to accept it and keep moving. And I'm just the negativity is just driving me insane with, oh, we won't do anything. They're not going to do this or that. He hasn't even started yet. Let's wait till Sunday. If they look like crap, we'll be happy to kill him on Monday. But maybe that doesn't happen.

27:36Mike, maybe this offense moves the football and they do some things. Well, the only thing, and this is something we've talked about in the offseason is what if, to it as well, you know, what if, you know, the defense that holds up his end of the bargain. We said it's not really a daunting offense against the Steelers are probably looking at us and saying the same thing. You know, we'll take B. John away to a camp beat us, right? That'll probably what they're saying on Pittsburgh radio. But what if two against the norrhythm, you know, what if two, it looks like he did against us last year? He did. You know, and then all of a sudden, you know, you go three and two of those first five games, you're going to pull him for Michael. I don't know. I don't think so unless the plan was always to is an inexpensive insurance policy. He is the stopgap and they've got to evaluate panic. So come hell or high water. Penics will be out there. Winnie's red. Winnie's ready. Yeah. Mike, the worst nightmare though would be to have a situation like that put pinnocks in and he doesn't look good. And then you've got a decision that that's the other part about this. Like there are many things that can play out. There's levels to this guys. Right. Like it's just not hit or miss or it's white or black. There are levels to this. I mean, you know, if this happens, then this happens that that happens and this happens.

28:39But we got to wait and see how this all plays out. Let's talk to Norris real quick. The moment I talk some comments for ball Norris in conures. Hey, man, what's going on? Hey, what's going on guys? Hey, man. So there's two options, right? So I called a few months back and I spoke to you and I was just directly speaking to you. You know, about two of being the quarterback and how I wanted to. I've grown since then. I've looked at things from a wider scope and realized a lot of things. He goes back to what you were saying. One of the options was Patrick Maholms is playing when he went the game rolls around and it's time for him to play. He's going to play. There's a difference though in that situation because Pemex doesn't know that he is the starter of the quarterback. He knows that he has the opportunity in front of him to become the starter of this team moving forward. Therefore, in his mind, it is all a mental thing. It comes down to his mental being able to tell himself, I am 100% ready to go because

29:43I need to be 100% ready to go because if I'm not, then they're going to move on to the next option. So that's in his mind and that's the only thing that I can come down to when it comes to that is that he really is battling some of his mental and Cam Newton didn't help him in that situation. That's neither here nor there when it comes to that. He should have the mental regard to be able to put all that to the side and say, I am the quarterback moving forward of this team but he cannot do that and that's what it blows down to. The second option is they have told him they are going to see what he is capable of throughout some process of this year moving forward and he wants to ensure, like he said, that he is 100% going to be able to give himself. That's the only reason that I can fathom in my mind why he would say I'm not ready yet because he knows that down the road, it's his job to lose.

30:45Does that make sense? It does and it's a very thoughtful phone call to be quite honest with you, Norris. You're thinking about this the right way and the problem for most fans is, look, this is an emotional decision for us. We want to see if this kid has it or not. He's yet to play a full season in three years. Mike just said it. He's not going to play a full season now. We might not see him to week three or four. That's not a full season. So the evaluation process from a fans point of view is, come on, man. And he's thinking about the long term viability of his career because if he fails here, Mike has said it. What happens, Mike? If he fails here, that's it. You're done. We're in a baseball cap. You know, on the side, no, it's good money in that. Josh with Dobbs is pretty satisfied doing that. But I thought being drafted in the top 10 of the NFL draft, Michael Peneck's junior aspires to be a starter, to earn this job, to prove he can handle this offensive to Fanski, which should help him. And let's get on with it. So I get it. You guys, we're just being bullies and we're mean and we don't get it.

31:49Okay. I mean, but Kirk Cusses was an established starter. The coaching staff was incompetent and should have said, Kirk, you don't have it. We got to sit you for a week and the kid will get some reps and do some basic stuff and you'll be back when your arm is right. That's what we needed to do two years ago. But again, nobody thought to do the right thing there. Here this is strictly how his shoulders are. But they had to pay. Yes. That's correct. That's what the rope, that's the twist that Dave was talking about. I mean, it's just we were conditioned to you've got to get out there and earn this job. And the way that he's approaching it, it's a new style. It's not the way I would think you'd approach it. If you were on thin ice as a starter in the NFL, because they're going to make a decision this spring, either to pick up the fifth year or that's it. He'll play his fourth year and he'll be gone. And he may be a backup because we made draft a quarterback next year. I mean, that's, these are all these things are out there. He's got to know that, you know, but he will serve no wine until it's time. No, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, man. Thanks for listening to sports radio 92 9 the game Atlanta's number one sports station. It's number one sports show, Duke's and Bell.

32:49Here's the deal to guys with him waiting. And again, I'm all for giving us everything you've got like like be the best you can be. It's just rare that you get that initially. No matter who you are, what injury you're coming off of. It's just Mike. It takes a little time to get your rhythm and to get things. We said this last year in the game, he gets hurt in Carolina. We actually felt like, oh, something clicked. Right. He might be seeing this thing a little bit differently and then boom, he's injured and we don't get to see how that plays out. It may take some games. He's not just going to go in guys and throw four touch. He might, which would be incredible. Throw four touchdowns and 350 yards, Mike, but it's going to take some time for him. And that is part of this okay evaluation process. He can't deny it. We can't overlook it. Well, you know, we're going to give him four games to get right and then we'll evaluate him. That's not how this works. And again, this is something which I think it crops every time we're on social media talking about it. Guys, the injury thing is part of the equation. It's how you judge a player. There are guys that had tremendous talent.

33:50They're just injury prone and their careers never turned into anything because they just couldn't stay healthy. We just went through this with Braille and Trice. He's back on the practice squad. He's trying to make a go of it. But I mean, that is all, I mean, it's not a dig. It's not a shot at Mike. He's just a very injury prone guy that you're banking that all of a sudden now he's going to stay healthy and now his career takes off after three knee surgeries. I don't buy it. So maybe he's factoring that into the start of this season. Maybe he doesn't want to hamper this team knowing that if I go out there and this team gets off to a bad start because I'm not 100% and I'm just saying I know there's a court. He's either way. I'm saying so maybe I do, but here's the issue with that. 90% of the fan base believes he gives us the best chance to win out of all the quarterbacks in that room. And you want the best guy on the field who gives you the best chance to win regardless of the circumstances, which gets us back to Kirk cousins. He gave us the best chance to win. It's why they didn't run pinnocks out there. He wasn't ready. So cousins are like, hell, I am the best chance to win. I'm going to go out here, even though I'm not a fully 100% and try to do that.

34:53And then we saw the consequences of that, but there is a mindset and that's what Norris is talking about. Problem is, is he a dog? Is he a dog? Dogs want to go out there. And that's the problem that some people are having day day. I feel you 4047-260929 is the phone number. The only caveat to the cousins thing two years ago was, you know, he never expected Panics to be drafted. He was ticked off that Panics was drafted. And then unfortunately subconsciously, he played into all the things he just talked about because here's this young stud over his shoulder, you know, which he was an anticipating, which made him maybe be less than fourth comment when it came to the injury. No doubt. I still don't think he would have came out if his backup was, who was in the Heinecke? I don't think he would have came out. I think it's his mindset. I do think, but this isn't again. We're getting into like, you know, the psychology of Kirk cousins, but I mean, I always felt that it was like you journey him in backup, then Kirk would have been fine. But there he, I think he saw Panics as a threat. One guy's going to come in and maybe take the job. That's why it was a, it was a ridiculous situation to be in the first place. It was one of the other. Yeah. Either sign cousins, right, and go draft some defense or just draft Panics and spend some

35:56money on defense and free agency was one of the other to do both make no sense. You know, because here we go three years later, we're still no clearer to know what our freaking quarterback of the future is. Yeah, you know, and you don't know what Panics is. You know what the irony of that is? Two, three years later, we still don't have edge rushes. No. And, and Murfuss is lost by a sick twist of fate. One injury and one suspension, right? You know what I mean? They go and dress it and we still don't have it. Because, well, and the jury, again, Jaylen walking in and ask for that. That, you know, and Panics is not asking for any of these injuries guys. It's just, it's a part of the game. All right, real quick, because we mentioned this and we're going to talk more throughout the course of the day. Just a real quick re-house. Last night, Mike, when they said we don't have power and I was like, oh, okay, I had no idea this game would turn out to be what it was. Yeah, and it was an internal issue at Florida State at the, at that dope Campbell Stadium. There was a lot of erroneous information that somebody actually hit like a car in a telephone poll right before the game started. That actually happened the night before. Sunday night there was an accident in the college town area by the, by the campus where the bars and nightclubs are and a transformer got hit and the whole, that half of that grid

37:00was out. So Sunday night there was a, and that's connected to the stadium. And the stadium was part of that. So people are saying when they, when they finally went to hit the power, either it's like literally when you, hey, what's wrong? Why is my microwave beeping? So there was some, and people are saying why didn't they do a better situational awareness and have an idea that maybe there'd be something when they power up, they'd have a problem, they didn't, and that's what you dealt with last night. So it was residual effect of what actually happened on Sunday night down in Tell Has. I gotta be honest, I wouldn't have played this game. Now they played it. It ended up being entertaining, coming down in the end, you know, and again, the three point cover, I think it was three and a half or something of that nature. But I was like, man, if there's any controversial play or anything that happens, no replay, no PA announcer, no clock, no communications with the helmets. Yeah, I was just like, he, I don't know. Retlashly, you can thank, by the way, thank SMU's Retlashly because he signed off on it. Yeah. And some coaches might not have. That's right. And at the end of the day, Florida State's got a quarterback that can't process, can't make decisions and probably needed somebody in his head, and that hurt.

38:01Again, they gave up nearly 600 yards of offense, Florida State, couldn't tackle. If not for the, the miscues from SMU's quarterback, the game would have been over half time. Yeah, I agree. Look, I don't think the quarterback there is, is good, Mike. And 135 yards passing told me everything I needed to know last night. Right. Not when I'm watching Darren Minza throw for almost 450 and four touchdowns and there are other quarterback, hell, look around college football guys, you saw it. The real McCoy stood up. Okay, that's a, that's a star track reference, by the way. All right, they, they were like, hey, I'm here. Levitt was damn good for LSU. Clemson's quarterback, he's not in lead. They're going to have a long year. I'm sorry, dabbo, it's just what it is. Your offensive line sucks. It's just what it is. There are teams that you, week one shows you a lot and you start going, okay, the level of competition in some of these games, I get it, not equal, but that one's supposed to be a conference game where, hey, SMU, we know we're getting into. I just was not impressed with the QB play. No, they got great running back to their issue, but Ash and Daniels is an app. He's just not the guy. He couldn't get, he couldn't earn the job at Auburn.

39:01You see it. He just can't process. And Norval at this point, fan base wants Dion, fan base wants pride. And I, I just, look, at this point, I'll take Jimbo, I'll take Dion, I'll take a Bobby Boutin hologram, anything but Norval who's completely, you know, resided as no way of knowing it. And Alabama, they play Alabama, they got a week off, they play in Tuscaloosa. I'll be there for that beat down, but that's going to be ugly. That's going to be probably what you saw with LSU in Clemson. All right, man, more college football coming up, including the Mac has issued a statement saying replay protocol was not properly followed in that Michigan game. Remember Michigan gets one second on the clock. They hit the hell marry. Now what happens also plenty of college football news that we need to talk about, but when we come back, we're going to take more of your phone calls. Okay. Guys want to talk about pinnocks. They want to talk about two or they want to talk about the Falcons and rightfully so it's week one Steelers. One o'clock right here on sports radio, 92 9 to 9, the game pregame starts at 11. We've got you covered. Stay there at Suksen Bell.