Michael Penix Jr. is back for Thursday Night Football vs Packers | Falcons Audible Podcast

Model it for him. Se get it for him. Can we get the music? If you haven't joined us, where have you been? He's shortening guys necks that are coming on blitzes. Next, we going to have Arch do the dance. Tell us about the touchdown. One touchdown. We talked about edge rushers this offse. >> It's that time of the week, ladies and gentlemen. Falcons audible presented by AT&T. The fellas are back. That's DJ Shockley, Dave Archer. I'm Derek Rackley. Here's what we got in store for you. Yes, we will look back to the 343 Falcons loss to the Panthers. We will talk about Thursday night football. Quick turn around, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, sir. Let's go. >> And we've got some personnel news that we're going to talk about. Michael Pennock's junior back to the starting quarterback position on Thursday Night Football. All that coming up right after this. At The Home Depot, we make it easy to turn your to-do list into a done list with our speedy delivery options. Need something in a hurry? We offer next day and even same day delivery on a wide variety of products. The best part is you can order straight from your couch. Our team is ready to help and get your order to you same day if it's placed by 400 p.m. on select products. When shopping online, filter by delivery to see availability options. Delivery at the speed you need. Only at the Home Depot. >> All right, fellas. So, let's talk a little bit about the Panthers game. We have to do it. >> Do we? >> Uh, it was uh >> Do we >> It was not great. It was not great. There are um I was sitting in bed last night. I was thinking about like how to preface this whole thing. And I know you guys have heard the story before, but >> we don't we don't need to hear what happens. >> It's a quick story, okay? Um because this happens every once in a while. Yeah, >> you show up to a game and you get you get boat raced. Okay. >> And I'll never I've told you guys before, I'll never forget the 2004 game when we went to the Chiefs >> and we were actually pretty good that year. We started off on a tear. Went to the Chiefs and got absolutely boat raced that game. >> Rushing touchdown. >> Eight rushing touchdowns. >> Um, >> hell yeah. >> 56 to 10 I believe the score was. >> I did the game. >> In the fourth quarter. Did y'all get off the bus? Oh my god. >> Well, we got off of it, but we didn't we didn't do too well when we got off it. However, I say that in the sense that I'm not trying to give false hope here, but we actually had a really good season that year. Ended up winning, went to the playoffs, but sometimes you have these games where nothing works to your favor. Um, now back in that season, we did not have to go in with a backup quarterback. We still had Michael Vic, but still just everything that went wrong could have went wrong, which was much like what we saw on Sunday. Arch, you're up in the booth. You're calling the game and I'm talking about from the very first snap, things just started going the wrong direction. >> Yeah. Just really poor decisions uh as to what to do with the football and and I think Cooper Rush would be the first guy to tell you, "Oh, I should have hit the hit the my first look when I come out on the bootleg. He's got a guy in the flat, put the ball on him." And those plays are designed, Shock, and I know that those plays are designed on first down >> to get it. It's a drive starter, you know, just get you something. And then if a guy splits somebody and gets up the field, which ironically enough happened the very next drive. They went right back to it and get to Drake. Drake goes and gets you a first down. >> You're just trying to get the the the thing started. So yeah, Cooper decides to to tuck it. I honestly thought he was down on the play, but I guess it was so close that they had called it a fumble on the field, so it stays a fumble. And the next thing you know, your your defenses backs against the wall. But it kind of mushroomed from there. as a having played the position at quarterback, there's there's you can be a galvanizer or you can be a kind of guy that separates things out. And if you make a mistake early in the game and there is some question as to how we're playing on the offensive side of the ball, not just the quarterback position, then it creates some doubt and creates, you know, everybody starts looking around as to who's going to make a play. So, it did not get off to a good start. >> Yeah. And even even this specific play shock, like he he tucks it down and runs with it. was actually okay with it. But then there's just the old adage is it's ball security, right? Like when you start running with the football, you just got to tuck it away. The ball ends up getting knocked out right at the last second. Then we know what happened after that. Big picture, DJ, the problem the first couple of games has been turnovers. And it just does not matter what level of football you play at, if you end up in that lopsided on the worst side of the turnover margin, things are generally not going to work out well for you. >> Yeah. And it's it's the part of the game that I think uh we've stressed and uh we do our keys to the game at the end of every uh podcast and you know we can say the most obvious thing. Oh yeah, turnover margin matters. Yeah, we we we don't even need to say that but ultimately you do need to say it because ultimately it's what really turns their ball game, gives them momentum. Uh you know they kind of you kind of give them an extra series and we talk about it all the time. Hey, you you get a turnover, gives your offense confidence, give your defense confidence, and you also have a chance to give them extra possessions. And when you think, hey, they win the toss to get it in the second half, but then they come out and they get it right off the bat. It's almost like an extra possession for them starting the ball game that you lose. And when you lose the turnover margin, your defense has to play a little bit more. They have to come on the field. They have to kind of bowl their necks every single time. And it's hard to do that every single time is all right, let's make sure we try to hold them to three. And that makes it tough. Um, and I think, you know, nobody wants to throw interceptions or fumble. We know that and things happen, but you have to have a heightened sense of urgency. And when you have the ball in your hand, you got to be able to hold on to it because those are drive killers, those are uh team killers, those are key situations in the game that can definitely hurt you and give other team momentum. And when you know, you're back at home, first one in the building, you want to give some good mojo. And when you don't do that, it uh like Arch just mentioned, it kind of spirals throughout. >> And it's one of the positions, and Cooper just happened to be the victim of this play, but one of the positions that doesn't do a lot of ball security >> drills in practice is the quarterback. >> I mean, they'll we did drills where we drop and throw and shock, they'd swat at you as you slid up in the pocket, but taking off and running, >> right, >> you become pretty vulnerable because that's not what you do. If you take off four or five times in a game, that's a lot. >> You know, and Cooper makes a really good run later in the game for a first down on third and 10. Very similar play, dives for a first down to extend a drive. >> Um, but yeah, you're you're you're kind of the prey that they're looking for when you get out of the pocket and start taking off the ball to the quarterback. Arch, I want to ask you this question because when when you get off to this type of start and the turnovers are issues and quarterback play has been inconsistent, it's easy for all of the outside noise to start kind of permeating inside, right? >> And we're going to stay away from getting into all the outside noise, but I want you to put your player cap on in this situation. I know I've been in this situation before. You may have been as a player, Shock, you may has been as a player. We heard a quote after the game of Chris Chris Lindstöm saying like, "We got to go to work. We just got to get better. That's what our job is to do. Take the listeners into when you're a player in this situation and you're getting paid handsomely to do a job. What your responsibility is when you find yourself in this 0 and2 hole and you're not playing really good football. >> Yeah, that's it's it's it's a scenario rack. And I don't care what walk of life you're in, you have to double down and re-evaluate what what am I doing to help us be successful. And that it doesn't matter what you do. I mean, you're going to have teammates around you, whether you work in an office building or whether you're on a football team, you're coordinate with one another. So, my job is to look at myself. What am I doing? Am I taking care of of my responsibilities? Am I doing my 111th, if you will, in in in uh in the football terms, but my evaluation, I don't get down on myself. I said, "Hey, I made some mistakes. How can I be better? How much can I can I do to improve that?" I I I remember getting into a funk um starting here in Atlanta. I got into like a twoame, three-game stretch where I just wasn't playing as well as I was early in the year. I went back and watched every drop I was taking. Was I at the proper depth? Why was I not meshing up with my wide receivers? Was I looking at the coverages right? Was I seeing coverage to make sure confirm that what I'm seeing in 3 seconds is confirmed in my overall look and what I'm looking at from a tape standpoint. that was just me reinvesting in in what my effort had to be to help my teammates. And ultimately, you have to trust the guys around you. And I I think that's one of the biggest things that's happened in the first two weeks is the ability or the the willingness to turn things loose as a quarterback because you're just not quite sure about the player. And it might be because you haven't played with them very long, which is certainly logical in this situation with with Cooper. >> Um, how well do you know the offense? There's a lot of growing pains. >> And then if somebody else kind of makes a mistake, it magnifies my situation, right? But the only thing I can do is go back like Chris Lindstöm said, go to work, evaluate what my job is. Am I doing my 111th or am I doing my job at the highest possible level? If I'm not, what do I need to adjust? and then move forward from there because if you start feeling down on yourself and woe is me, you might as well go sit on the bench because you're not helping your guys at all. >> You've been in similar situation. >> Yeah, it's interesting Arch bring that up because I wrote in my notes uh as I was preparing for the pod and the two words I I used was don't flinch. And when you're a leader on this team like Lindstöm is, you have to in your mind say, you know what, there's probably some younger guys who are going to watch me and say, okay, how do I respond in these moments? And what Ars mentioned was going back to work, looking at myself internally because there's going to be some things on tape that I see, you know what, maybe if I did this this way, it wouldn't have affected the guy next to me because every, we know, every action has a reaction to it. And as a leader, the don't flinch attitude of just going back to work and understanding I have to put in the work to make sure that my teammates see the action that's put in and not just talking about it. And it starts the the day you get back. It's it goes into the the point of I've been here before and a lot of these guys have been in this moment before where you know you've had to struggle through things and it starts with you. And I think it was a great point. Arch mentioned it. Uh finding ways to hold yourself accountable for those things because if you don't, there's no way the team can get better if you're not doing it first with yourself because that's where it starts. >> Yeah. And you're defined I think all of us that we, you know, competed, I'm sure anybody out there that that's had to fight to go get a job, get your education, go get a job, you're defined by your failures. I mean, everybody can ride high and have a rum drink over here and enjoy success or whatever, but when you struggle or you get knocked to the ground, how do you respond? And that's usually to look internally like Shock's talking about. So, you're defined by by the adversity that you go through. And in all honesty, like Shock's talking about, my teammates are looking at me. What am I doing to respond to whatever is going negative to me? because the booing in the crowd and all that kind of stuff was probably directed towards one guy. How do I respond to that as a player and um and I thought that I think that that's that's ex exactly what Shock's talking about. All right, all really great context from the fellas there in situations that are extremely difficult for an organization. But even though a lot of things were not great about the game, there was some positives that came out of it. Drake London ended up passing 4,000 career passing yards as a member of the Falcons. as we know, he's been one of the most consistent forces in this organization. And then also, Bjan Robinson, fellas, ends up being the fastest Falcon to 4,000 rushing yards in team history. Does it in 53 games, one game ahead of William Andrews, who's in the Ring of Honor in 54 games. So, yes, it wasn't a great performance, but you did get a couple of milestones that are important, not only for right now, but also moving forward as we know these guys are locked up for the future. >> Yeah, which is great because you got a couple guys who, you know, you got to depend on. Those are two of your core guys who you expect to show up week in and week out and the production is there. You can see regardless of you can go back over the past few years and see whoever's storming the football, it doesn't matter. These are guys that go win. They play winning football for you every single week and they show up and they put their all into it. So yeah, kudos to those two guys for for playing at a high level uh and continue to do that. I mean, just think about whenever you give Drake an opportunity, this guy is so hungry. I mean, he seems like the hardest guy to tackle whenever he touches the football. He's going to fall forward. He's going to break a tackle. Just a relentless effort. I mean, we talk about every week, but Bjan does things within a run game that makes you say, "H how I mean, there was nothing there." And he ended up getting 78 yards. So, we see that in the Matrix for sure. Yeah, we see that every single week out of him. So, yeah, it's great. We have those guys that are part of our offense that gives you a kick. Another guy who I thought stood out to me who continues to be a guy I think we will have to lean on and will continue to lean on is the other B- Rob. I thought Brian Robinson continues to run hard, continues to show that toughness and whenever he's in the ball game is a force and I thought he had a couple runs in the game where you say, "All right, this is starting to get the offense moving. We're starting to to to metriculate down the field a little bit and make some plays." So, yeah, give Bro a lot of credit. I think he's going to be one of those guys that as the season progresses becomes one of the go-to guys when you have to spell Bjon or whenever he's in the ball game. The guy makes an impact. >> Well, he just slid into former Chiefs head coach Hank Stram way back. >> Now, I know a lot of you at home have no idea who Hank Stra is. Go back in the day and find Hank Stram metriculate the ball down the field. I like it. >> We talked before the show, Arch. I mean, you you mentioned a couple of other guys, even though it doesn't necessarily show up in the box score, but that you came away with impressed with how they continue to work and provide production for this team. >> Some of the guys that we went out and got in the in the in the off season, Ian Cuttingham and Matt Ryan and those guys went out to try to find some guys as we talked about, try to raise the floor of what you are across the board. Couple of guys that have stood out. I I think that Samson Ebukam has played really well the first couple of weeks. I thought not only has he created problems with pass rush and he's got a cook quick first step. I think a lot of people were concerned we're not going to be able to rush off the edge because you know Pierce Jr.'s not here and Jaylen Walker's not here and you know you you got a whole new crew that are doing that. >> They put some pressure on on the quarterback this last weekend. I thought that uh I thought that Bryce Young made some really good throws in the face of pressure, but Samson Ebocam did a really good job. I tell you another guy, Cydney Brown is a guy that to me has surfaced as a guy, accountable guy. He plays all the special teams, but he's your big nickel. He's in there in those rundown situations, sometimes in the pass downs, but mainly in the rundown situations. He's coming up and making plays in that regard against the run. He's also a pretty good blitzer off the edge. So, he's done some good stuff. And let's give the young guy some credit. Avon Terrell, I thought, played really well. He comes in in those nickel spots where it's an obvious passing situation. He drew Tedo McMillan a couple of times. He was right in his hip pocket. Did a really good job. So, I think the younger Terrell really had played played his rear end off too. Just a couple of guys to point out. I know it wasn't a great day for the secondary. They had a few explosives they gave up and they'll try to tie that back down. They'll need to against who they've got coming up in Jordan Love. But, um I thought those guys kind of stood out to me on the defensive side. >> Yeah. And this is one of those it's a difficult week because you got to turn around quickly, but you also got to look at the tape. You got to learn from the mistakes that you had. You got to be able to address that. That's part of your job as an NFL player. And you got to get ready to go the next week, which generally stacks up on a Tuesday as your off day, but now it's a work day for the Atlanta Falcons because they're about to head out of town here pretty soon. And so they got to figure out how can they change some of the things that did not go well for them last week and get better as they go into a nationally televised game against the Green Bay Packers on the road. And with that shock, the announcement came out yesterday as we tape here on a Tuesday that Michael Pennix Jr. will be back in the starting lineup as the quarterback. So, let's get your first impressions on short week going to Green Bay, but getting Michael Penn Jr. back in the lineup as your starter at quarterback. >> Yeah, probably the the best news you heard is having that guy back. I think we all been excited to see Mike get back. Uh he's been a guy who's been tirelessly working to get back and we know coming off three ACLs. Nobody really understands that. I had a a good buddy of mine, obviously he played for the Carolina Panthers, but we all know him, Thomas Davis, went through three ACL as well and he told me how tough it was to go through. I went just I went through one myself and knew how hard it was to be able to come back. Mike's coming back. He feels good about it. He's he's talked so much about being ready for this moment and making sure his body was 100% ready. And now we go on the road prime time game. you get a guy who was the number eighth overall pick back into this offense and we've seen what Mike can do when he's feeling the game that he actually got hurt and I think at one point he was 11 for 12 in the ball game throwing the football all over the yard uh looking like the guy that obviously this franchise wants him to be and what better opportunity than coming back on prime time versus the Green Bay Packers when everybody get a chance to see you to go out and showcase who you are and I think he brings you know a little bit little bit of moxy obviously to the quarterback position, but he also brings the ability to be able to push the football down the field. And I think that's something that uh it gives any defense uh a little uh weariness of you know what, this guy can throw it down the field, but then it opens up everything else for your other guys who talked about Bejon uh you know, obviously Kyle and Drake, having those guys ability to have a guy who can push it vertical and give you that opportunity and put yourselves up to bat. And we've seen that a bunch of times last year where >> they got tight coverage, but guess what? he gonna give his guy a chance to go get it. We saw that a bunch of times with Drake last season. So, I'm I'm excited to see Mike go out and operate within this system. It's the first time that we've seen him in this, you know, Kevin Stfansky and Tommy Reese style offense and he's been working towards this for a while now. He's been in 111. He's done all the work he can to get to this point and now he's at the point where he's ready to go play football and I'm excited to see him go work and and see what nine uh can do to help this offense get back on track. And Arch, we're not billing this up to say that Michael Penn Jr. is going to be the savior of this team, but he is the guy that Shock said was an eighth overall pick. >> He is a guy that was built to be a starting quarterback in the National Football League and he is a guy that can be a gamecher because of what he brings to the table from a skill set. But all that being said, the struggles at the quarterback position, him coming back on national television, what is the goal for you for Michael Penn? What does he need to focus on doing Thursday night? >> Yeah, just distribute the football and take what's there. Um, if you go back and look at the tape, there are a lot of opportunities that one, his skill set, you mentioned his skill set, his arm ability, his arm strength, his arm talent, whatever you want to call it, is going to allow him to do a bunch of things that we probably have missed on in the first couple of weeks. Let's be honest about that. Um, and I think that he he took a lot of reps. This is not a short week for Michael Penn Jr. He's been training to get ready for this for this opportunity um for several weeks. Took half the reps last week and preparing for the Carolina game. Was hoping to get back for that. Ultimately, this is the game that comes back. I keep hearing this stupid narrative that the the organization said, "Oh, you got to play now." That's not what happened. Okay. Michael Pennix has been on his own track trying to accomplish his own physical goals and mental goals potentially some there to get himself in position to go play. He's now ready to play. And in all honesty, I would have been hesitant to put him out there in a in back-toback games five five days apart when he's coming back off an ACL. This a perfect opportunity for him to step in and take over. And I think and it's on his timetable. This is not something that was dictated to him by the organization. It's not something that, you know, somebody came came and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and said, "Hey," no, this has been something that he's been trying to get ready for. Believe me, it's been agonizing for him. If you watched him on the sideline during the game, he's got the headset on, listening to the play calls. He's combing over the the the tablet, the surface tablet, maybe trying to help Cooper on the sidelines, but also dialing himself mentally as to what we had, what he could what he could exploit potentially when he gets in the game. So, he's ready for this moment. And I think that what you're going to get is you're going to get a guy that's going to try to operate on time, distribute the football, and get all his guys involved and take what they're giving you. Just take the opportunity. You don't have to force feed anything. Just go be you. So, with Michael Pennock's shock on the offensive side of the ball, I'm going to be calling the game on national radio, so I've been doing some preparation the last couple of days on it. >> Watching tape for Michael Penn, what he's going to see on defense. Okay. Couple things that stuck out. Obviously, we know that Michael Parsons is not back from his injury yet. That's a positive because he's one of the best, if not the best pass rusher in the National Football League. However, Lucas Vaness is on a tear to start this season. The former first round pick, which by the way, first round pick that was acquired from the Aaron Rogers trade to the Jets. That was one of the picks that got sent over to pick Lucas Vaness. I believe he's got three and a half sacks for their first two games. Edger and Cooper at the linebacker position and one of your boys flashed off tape to me last week. Javon Bullard was all over the place on that defense. Yeah, he's a guy that plays that uh people understand a star position. A guy who's kind of what we talked about with Sydney Brown is a guy who can play down in the box play and the rundown, but also can cover guys as well. He is uh he is a real dog at that position. Plays hard, plays physical, not afraid of the contact. We'll go get you. Zia Franklin, who we know from the years, a tackling machine at linebacker. Uh he's got two uh he's got a couple sacks. Ezra Cooper has a couple sacks. uh Xavier McKenna on the back end, a guy who's played a lot of football in the secondary uh for him, but I think they're still trying to figure out their identity as well uh the last two weeks hasn't been their best when it comes to, you know, just stopping an offense. Uh but one thing they have done well, they played on the other side of the line of scrimmage. They got 16 tackles for loss in two games. That tells you a lot about that front seven. Tells you a lot about them changing the line of scrimmage and want to play on the other side and forces teams into longer down situations. We talked about being able to protect Michael Penn. Run game has to be big in this ball game and you have to find a way to stay out of those long yard situations which puts your more stress on your quarterback when you're second and long or third and long. This is a defense that wants to force the issue. They are physical bunch. Um you know Devonte Wyatt up front is another guy from Georgia. Uh a guy who's played really good football for him. Just got a new contract. So, they have some guys up front who are game changers like you mentioned and Lucas Vanges. Uh, another guy like you mentioned, two and a half sacks coming off the edge. Uh, this will be a a a test for the Falcons offense, but nothing uh they won't be prepared for. >> Yeah, I think a lot of multiple looks up front. A lot of guys stepping in, bluffing, coming, not coming. They're showing and they're probably from a pressure standpoint a little bit more pressure than what we have brought in the first couple of weeks. I know Jeff is or you know has dialed up some pressures for us to get to the quarterback. Um this is a team that shows a lot of multiple looks. So communication up front will be have to be paramount. I thought a guy that I didn't mention that played well was on the offensive side. Ryan Nel played really well in the game against Carolina physically against some guys that are 30 pounds heavier than he is. Um, and then also from a cerebral standpoint of making some of the calls up front. It'll be imperative that Michael stepping back in as the quarterback that Newsel helps him up front with some of the identification looks because Green Bay is going to give you some fuzzy looks up front. And it'll help that they've that he's taken snaps against our defense because we do some of the similar things from getting a lot of guys around line of scrimmage and the guys bailing out, some guys coming. I think that that will be um something that will be very important for New Zeal. I want to come right back to you here for Green Bay offensively. We know Jordan Love is going to be at the quarterback position. We know that Josh Jacobs is not going to be back there in the backfield. He is not playing for the Packers right now. Tucker Craft back after uh having ACL injury last year. He ended up having a nice game uh to start the season. And then Christian Watson has flashed the first couple of games. had an 81 yard touchdown against the Vikings in week one. Scored again last week. I notice Arch there's a lot of quick slants. That's where him and Love seem to have pretty good connection. I think Matthew Golden, the former first round pick, they're still kind of waiting for him to take off. He's the burner that can take the top off the defense, but really hasn't made a huge impact. What are some of the biggest things that the Falcons defense and Jeff Ober need to focus on and what they're going to see with this Packers offense? Well, they haven't been able to run the football and that's been something that uh you know being around coach Laflur when he was here as the quarterback coach for the Falcons is you want to be able to run the football. He was part of that staff that went to the Super Bowl here that had Devonte Freeman, Kevin Coleman. They want to be able to get the football to the backs and you mentioned Josh Jacobs is not available. So, it's been running back by committee and they just haven't gotten a lot out of that. So what what that has expanded them is to go horizontal and they've thrown a lot of screens to the outside. Ball coming out of out of Jordan Love's hands. Lot of play from the shotgun for them. Not so much under center. Um and so that's changed the game a little bit for them. Now Jordan Love has some of those some of those skill sets where he didn't necessarily have to have his feet underneath him to get it out. He's got ma massive arm talent. They do like to throw the slants and off the slants they like to throw the deep corners. What did we get touched up with this last weekend? Corner routes. We got touched up with corner routes against two high safeties touching you in that outside area. That'll be something that Atlanta have to do a really good job with if there's nobody threatening a corner in the flat shock. That corner's got to get off and sink and take and take some of those throws away. But you mentioned Christian Watson. He's averaging 18 almost 19 yards a catch. He's only caught 10 balls, but he's got almost 200 yards receiving and three of them have been for touchdowns. Tucker Craft I think is as good providing he's come back. He's got like five grabs for 80 yards, but he's one of those tight ends that we're kind of seeing a lot of teams have where they've got guys that can go get the football much like our guy in in Kyle Pittz. So, they've got some weapons, but they've been a little bit dysfunctional on the offensive side of the ball. They're only 4 for 22 on third down in the first two weeks. and and a couple things that have stood out that that have kind of short circ short circuit them on offense is penalties. 26 penalties in the first two games for Green Bay. I'm sure that that's something they're going to try to try to clean up. No question about it. Um the defensive sack, the quarterback, you mentioned seven times. The other thing that kind of sticks out to me is they laid the ball on the ground. >> Yes. >> Um seven fumbles so far in two games. >> Are you reading this? >> If you're >> Are you reading this? If you're if you're Jesse Bates and all those guys that want to get the the peanut punch in, this would be a group to do that, especially with them rotating three running backs. Um you might be able to get the ball out. So, um those are all things that I look for. >> Five footballs on the ground last weekend for them. They only lost one fumble, but they were was it one or two? But, um a lot of balls going on the ground. Now, there was terrible conditions in New York while it was raining for most of the game, but opportunity potentially for the defense to start creating some takeaways and see if we can help get ourselves on the other side of the turnover. >> Yeah, the the only statline that Arch did mention that uh I had on my sheet that he totally crushed. I mean, he just went down the line on me and just went down the line, but uh he did mention this. He did mention their lack of ability to run the football. 129 rush yards in the last two games on 39 attempts. 64 yards a game, that's not getting it done. And then you turn the football over, seven fumbles on the season already and lost two of them. It it it gives you something to look forward to as a defense that these guys have put the ball on the ground and they're willing to do that. So yeah, not being uh not having the explosiveness like like Ars talked about a lot of stuff to perimeter. Go out and you got to be able to tackle. Tackle space is going to be big. Guess what? That's why they've struggled on third down because they haven't been able to push the football down the field like they want. So yeah, uh spot on by Arch. He crushed it there. Um, but yeah, this is a opportunistic defense you should be looking forward to for the Falcons against this uh, Packers offense. >> All right, so not Go ahead. >> One last thing. Special teams, I looked up one other little cool stat. >> Teams are pretty doing pretty well against them in the special teams. Average punt return yards for opponents 18.2. >> So you're talking about being able to change the field. We talk about a guy Zachariah Branch who you feel like is so close to, you know, changing that field, busting one. got a chance possibly this week with how they've been able to cover. >> Rack, walk us through and I don't mean to go back to the Carolina game, but I know everybody's kind of, you know, you're trying to micro analyze what was going on and and we struggled a bit with some explosives on defense. >> Obviously, offensively, our inability to stay on the field, do some of those kind of things and and just take what's given. Big punt return in the game. when you looked at the tape and what did we do there and is that something that's fixable to where you don't give up Sky Moore returning punts for them. He hasn't had any moments yet, but he's got he's very capable. >> Yeah, I mean that's that's one area when you're on punt team and you're going down the field, there's there's a couple of different areas. Number one, depending on what type of of defense you're facing, whether it's a block or it's a return, if it's a return, you're generally getting doubles out on the edge right on your gunners on the outside. Even though those guys are getting doubled, they're some of your most tenacious and best athletes. They got to find a way to win, right? Whether you get outside and you beat somebody with speed and get right back in bounds and get them in a trail technique or you find a way to get go to the left and split in between the double team to get downfield, but those are generally your most athletic athletically gifted players, really good tacklers, and they're fearless. You've got to have those guys win outside. But then on the inside when they're tying everybody else up, you've got to win. And a lot of times the long snapper's job is to pick off one of the guards, right? Your guards are usually linebackers, right? Usually linebackers, maybe tight end. A lot of times it's linebackers that can run and they can tackle. When does this happen? >> This just this happens right after the snap. Okay? So you snap. Listen, I'm going to be honest with y'all. Like I might be the first one down the field, but your long snapper ain't the best tackler on the field. Okay? You may attack. Why? Why not you free up the guys that are the really good tacklers on your team? So, your job is generally to try to pick off the guys that are holding up your guards, right? Because you want them to wrap around and get downfield and you want a backup linebacker that is paid money to tackle people down there to make plays. So, those are the two things. It's you got to either get win out on the gunners or you've got to pick somebody off that can get immediately down in the face. And then last but not least, maybe the most important is the ball hat. No. No, the ball has to hang up in the air. Right. We got you got to have the right amount of hang time because either if you outk kick your coverage or you don't have enough hang time, you don't give these guys enough time to pursue downfield. So all those things have to kind of work in connection. And Arch is right. They've got two really, really talented returners on that team. And so you cannot get yourself beat on special teams. We talk so much about turnover margin and co quarterbacks having to play better. you you could do all that well and then you lose in the kicking game with maybe a missed field goal and a punt return for a touchdown or something like that and it completely changes the complexion of the game. So, a couple guys to look for great great tips there if you want to watch. So, a lot of people like Okay, though they're punting, I'm going to go get I'm going to go get a sandwich. Don't do that because Ragnus broke it down to you. You're watching for number 42 Josh Woods. You're watching for number 45 Christian Harris. You're watching for 56 Harold Perkins Jr. maybe even Kendall Daniels. Those are those guys that are athletic guys that can get down the field and we saw it in the preseason. Those guys made a lot of plays in the preseason on some of the kick returns. So, cool cool little tip there to watch. >> Yeah, that's where and everyone listen, everybody is not perfect. So, your punter is not always going to get the perfect punt out. He's not always going to have a 4.9 hang time and he's not always going to kick the ball outside the numbers which ends up eliminating some of the field that he has to work with. So, guess what? It's just like any other position. You got to go bail him out. If your punter doesn't make a great kick, you got to go down there and you got to make a great tackle. You got to make an individual effort, right? That's what happens all over the football field. And the same thing holds true on special teams. >> Rick, you never had a bad snapper or nothing like that. Ever. Never. Never. No. >> Something that I some that I wasn't happy about, but let's go sometimes. >> Let's go. >> All right, fellas. Uh, let's get to our keys. I was going to go with something else, but then when we got on special teams tangent, you got me. You guys got me. >> I like it. Was good, though. >> My quarterbacks asked me about special teams. >> I was locked in on it. All right. So, we know that Michael Pennix is coming back in the lineup this weekend. Arch, I need a key for you. One key that's going to help propel the Falcons to a victory and get in the win call. >> Hey, he take my key. I'm walking out right now. >> That's why I'm letting you go first. >> You said Oh, I did. And one of one of the one of the real weird anomalies in in maybe statistical history and maybe it even throws more mud on our face right now because of what we haven't been on offense. We don't have an offensive snap in the red zone. >> Yeah. >> Okay. To get to the red zone, what do you got to do, Shock? You got to string first downs together. >> Yes, you do. >> That is as simple a key as I can come with. Let's put some first downs together. From what I understand, if you get f enough first downs, the goal line at some point hits you in the face. >> It does get closer. >> Okay. >> My simple key here, string first downs together. Okay, there you go. >> However it may come. >> Get one rushing, get one passing, get one by penalty, it don't matter. Let's go. >> That's it. >> Arch had he called it simplistic. Mine is pretty simplistic as well, but it's get Mike comfortable early. And I think that bows with being able to run the football, stringing together good uh good plays, being good on first and second down, the efficiency there. So I think you got to find a way to get him comfortable in the game. I think Tommy Ree did that to start the game with Cooper Rush. Got him on the edge. Hey, give him a run pass option as a former quarterback who I love the little neck bootleg to start the ball game. Maybe I take a hit, maybe I get an easy completion. That got me going in the ball game. So find a way to get Mike comfortable in this game early. Whether it's a a couple little easy completion, throw a little stick out, throw a hitch route, throw a little something out there just to get the get the juices flowing. Okay, I'm back in the mood. I'm back in the mode of playing in real live game action. Find a way to get him comfortable early so that he can relax as he gets into the ball game and start to to push the football down the field. >> Shark, let me ask you this about uh the position. I felt like when I played that I needed to get hit first. Mhm. I mean, I could throw a completion on a hitch route or a slant or something like that. That's great. I got a ball out and got a guy got a completion, but I didn't feel like I was in the game until I took a shot. And it might be I let the ball go and I get hit. Hey, I'm good right now. Or I had to get out of the pocket on a boot like you're talking about and take a shot. How was your feeling on that? What got you mentally dialed in? Not not all the way into the game? >> I think a hit does or two. Uh, for me it started with I just wanted to be on the move and give me a nice easy completion, get out and get running and find something easy. And if I took a hit, that was a part of it as well, too. Because then I was like, "All right, I ain't that bad. You know, you're playing against this team. You've been watching them on on on tape all week. You're like, "Okay, they got some dudes that can probably knock your head out. You take a hit, ain't that bad." And this may be even as important for Michael in this ball game than anybody else. >> Taking a lick. Oh, mentally I'm good. >> Ain't bad. Yeah, I took a lick. You know, he hit me whatever way and I'm fine. I'm good. I feel regular. I think that may go a long way than anything. Then maybe even a completion of how comfortable he could be in the ball game, taking that first leg, popping up. Now we rolling. I like it. So, yours is getting uh Pennock comfortable early, stringing together first downs. You guys want simplicity. >> Yeah, I love it. >> Play discipline football. >> I mean, it's to me it's simple. Don't beat yourself. This game is hard enough to beat an opponent. Okay? And I don't care what level. It's hard enough to beat an opponent in high school. >> It is exponentially difficult to beat somebody when you beat yourself. And penalties and turnovers in week one, beat yourself. Turnovers in week two, beat yourself. You just cannot do it. So, I'm looking for a disciplined football game. You're you're not missing blocks or assignments up front on the offensive line. We're not turning the football over. We're not having penalties that keeps us back behind the chains, which does not allow us to string together first downs. >> And it does not allow for string easy completions. That's right. Right. This all just works together. >> Come on, man. >> Right. >> We're in lock step. If the team plays as well as we're in lock step right now, you're ready. >> Listen, it's all about simplicity. All right. Sometimes you go back to the basics and the fundamentals, and that's what gets you in the win call. What is your key? Let us know. There it is on the screen. Comment your key below. Tell us what you got to get the Falcons in the win column on Thursday Night Football. Are you going? >> Bring us bring us a dub, man. Come on. Bring us a dub. >> I could be up to two. We're going to double it up. >> Two out of three. >> Okay. Two out of three. >> Three of us will be in Green Bay. Uh you guys are leaving when? Third tomorrow afternoon. >> You are. You are. >> I'm leaving tomorrow night. >> Oh, okay. We're leaving in Yeah, we're leaving in the afternoon. Team's leaving in the afternoon. >> Anybody's curious, by the way, I'll be sitting in coach. Okay. Not no first pass. All right. So, I usually walk past all that. Wealthy people on my way back to coach, although long legs, try to find exit row seat economy comfort. >> They loan his shoulder pads on and stuff like that. That's when I slide in. They slide me in with the shoulder pad. >> All right, that's going to wrap it up here for the Falcons Audible presented by AT&T. We'll be back next week to recap everything from Thursday Night Football. Remember, you're going to have to put on your memory cap because it's going to be a few days after Thursday Night Game before we're back here to talk about it. If you forget, we'll refresh your memory. For sure. Thanks so much for joining us everybody. That's DJ Shocky. Dave Archer. I'm Derek Rackley. See you next week.