Preseason Finale, Penix cleared for 11v11s, & roster cuts preview | Falcons Audible Podcast

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I'm Derek Rackler here to recap what happened last week and fast forward to the final. It's kind of weird for me as a old schooler when we played four preseason games to have the third one be the final one. Hey, these are the times that we live in now. The third and final preseason game at the Miami Dolphins coming up this Friday night at 700 p.m. for the Atlanta Falcons. Guys, let's talk a little bit about what happened in that Colts game. We talked about this briefly before we came on the air. Arch looked like a different team. Here's what here's what former players will tell you. It's still preseason, okay? And you take preseason somewhat with a grain of salt, but you still want to see progress. You want to see better than last week. You want to see improvement. Arch, it just looked like the team had a different intent to them against the Colts than we saw the previous week against the Broncos. >> Yeah, completely agree. Anybody that was interviewed, they talked about what was the word they kept using? Energy. Different energy. It was something that Kevin Stfansky talked postgame to him about said, "Hey, this is not the energy we need to play with. This is not the intent we need to play with. Um, we need to improve that." So during the week, as you talked about, they got there the other with Indianapolis for a couple of couple of practices. You could see it starting to build in those practices. Uh, and then they laid it out fully for you. Uh, and I thought that the energy is one thing, intent to do your job, and then there's execution. >> Mhm. And it's as good of execution as I saw in three phases of the game. I mean, you could go to all three phases and they dominated >> the Colt guys that were the guys that were wearing the horseshoe on the side of their helmet regardless who was with the bird on his side of the helmet. So, that was what I saw. I thought it was pretty pretty impressive. >> First off, shout out to Bucket Hat Arch for the people who are listening to maybe on the podcast. >> We're still trying to go. >> We got Bucket Hat Arch in the building. I'd love to see it. >> They don't give these out. These are These are pretty exclusive. >> That's like earned. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> I don't know if it's earned. It's stolen. >> This is all folks. >> Joy's the equipment. Hey, Joey, look over there. >> Uh yeah, but uh you know, I agree with everything Arch just mentioned. And you talk about the energy. That was something that was talked about, you know, leading up to this ball game. You want to play with a different energy. And the one thing that came to mind when I thought about it and we went back to to look at it and said, you know what, >> there was a lot of juice in the building. The juice was alive in the building. >> And like Arton mentioning, all three phases and I thought it started from the very first play of the game on offense where you come out, you're aggressive, you got oneonone on the outside, Zachariah Branch wins on the comeback route. Cooper hits that fifth step, lets it fly, and boom, we off to the races from that. So I thought the juice was alive from throughout. And maybe it was a little bit of, hey, we saw these guys for a couple days and yeah, we want to show, you know, everybody what we've been doing and uh I think it it comes back to the the standard and just the culture which Tfansky has talked about since he's got in. I think we finally saw it on the field was this is how we want to play. We want to play loose. We want to be aggressive. We want to uh you know play with that fire. you you you use the word um intensity or tenacity and you saw that and you saw that from every level on offense, defense, special teams like AR mentioned. So yeah, juice was brought on last Saturday. >> It's really easy for us here to talk about offense. You got three guys that have a background in offense. I got two quarterbacks here. I'm from the special teams and offensive side. But guys, I I looked at the defense and I thought of about three plays that stuck out to me. U early in the second half, Josh Woods ends up making a stick on somebody. Uh Kendall Daniels had a really good play just showing his sideline to sideline athleticism. >> Shout out to Canon. >> Uh Demarco Helms, the guy that I've always talked about over the years, he flashed a couple of times and just shows like when he goes to hit somebody, he's got rude intentions, which is what you want to see on a defensive side defensive coordinator. like you want somebody to go there and you want him to initiate the battle, right? >> And those were just like three individual plays that I was like, "Oh, okay." Like that looks good right there. >> But then you do flip it over to the offensive side. And what stuck out to me was efficiency from the quarterbacks. >> Kevin Stfansy talked about it after the game. He felt like the quarterbacks made the throws that were supposed to be made. Right. Sometimes you just take what the defense gives you, which maybe the guy's wide open, maybe it's a high percentage throw, but you still got to make it, right? It's still got to be a throw and catch. But to me, guys, what was most impressive was I thought the offensive line did their job in the game. They won the line of scrimmage. Whether it was from a pass protection standpoint that we saw was let down for much of the Broncos game or it was opening up enough seams for these running backs to get the running game going. That's what's encouraging to me just because when I played tight end, you're an extension of the offensive line and you're always kind of graded on that unit. And if your offensive line plays well, generally your offense plays well. So to me, that was encouraging. Some of the same things that you saw, Arch, as you were calling the game. >> Yeah, you you nailed it, Rack. I think that if you talk about the offensive side of the football, it all begins with the big uglies up front, right? And >> I give Tommy Reese a ton of credit. I I think that they they didn't go overly complicated. They ranced a lot of stuff that they've been running for several weeks and they just wanted the guys to turn it loose and go play fast. Let's not be thinking about this that or the other. Let we we've seen the base look. We and I think it helped, you know, and this translate to the regular season. I think it helped that they practiced against the Colts >> for two days. So that's almost like watching tape on a team on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday before you get ready for a game, right? And so I thought that they were more prepared maybe in their own minds. Not that the coaches didn't prepare them for the Denver game or, you know, work on the stuff that they ran in this game, but they just seemed more prepared for it. Uh, and and they handled that. But I give Tommy Reese a lot of credit, but the offensive line, um, and you can go, you can go to one play if you want to. The Tyler Goodson touchdown run, if you go back and look at that tape, I encourage him, you can find it on YouTube or wherever, go back and look at it. And when they came off the ball, You get a hard upfield rush. Jerrell turns the hard upfield rusher to the outside. Pins him to the outside. Now you got a double team working on the inside. Uh Levan and K and Kyle Hinton are working on a on a two-ey technique which is just on the inside shoulder of the right guard. They move the two technique up. Now they're looking to see who's going to come off for the linebacker. All of a sudden the linebacker flashes in the B gap. Hinton comes off and destroys the linebacker and Newsel stays on the two eye and pushes him as he reaches pushes backside. You got Dubberry working with Odona. They slide. They take the three technique and they slide him up to the linebacker. On Ana's blocking the three technique 13 yardds down the field. I mean, that's how they came off as a unit. And Goodson, you know, as you said, they're playing on their side of the line of scrimmage. Goodson finds that crease and bang. And then all of a sudden now it's his speed to make somebody miss. That was the the what you're talking about from an execution standpoint. You give up 164 yards defensively. >> Are you kidding me? The play of the game was one you pointed out. Kendall Daniels is standing inside the the hash marks. They throw a quick screen left side outside the numbers. He makes the play for no gain. >> Yep. Go get him. >> I mean that was incredible. There were another Helms makes a great play in the left flat for a no gain. They were just locked in. And then what can you say about coach Ox group? I mean co they were hunting on kickoff coverage. They got a lot of opportunities to do it when you put 34 points on the board. You've been in that situation. They were flying down the field. Those young linebackers, you had Mike Yeah. Mike Ford. You had a bunch of guys flying down to make plays. So it was impressive. >> Yeah. Um you know I go back to your offensive line comment for the folks that don't know like these zone blocking combinations are worked like ad nauseium, right? like because that's so it's it's it's easy to draw up on the board arch. Oh yeah, you two are double teaming this defensive tackle up to this linebacker, but it doesn't go like that in the game, right? >> Oh, by the way, that guy's got a chance to do what he wants to. >> Like I mean, if you're trying to do this against Vea, okay, yeah, you just think that you're going to push him three yards into the defensive back field and then the linebacker is going to just run right into you. No, it doesn't work like that. into the into the same thing the play with Kendall Daniels you're talking about they got two three offensive lineman getting out for him to get him and he outruns all of them and it's for no gain. So you say, "Yeah, you draw it up and says you 53, he's inside. You can go get him. Tackle, you can climb up and go get him, but the ball snap." Oh, it's a different breed right there. That dude's a little bit different. >> And the guard goes back to the sideline afterwards and he tells tells his offensive line coach like, "Dude, he was so far past me. There was no chance I wouldn't get he wouldn't go to get him." >> Uh, just think about these couple of things though in the game. You know, stats, take it for what it's worth. Our old head coach used to say stats are, you know, what are they worthless or whatever. Anyway, I think they I I think they do have value. Um nine of 17 on third down for the Falcons versus one out of 11. One out of 11 for the Colts. Okay, that matters. 461 total yards and you mentioned 164 given up for the defense. That's a pretty strong performance. And again, listen, what I'm telling you all here is from our standpoint is this is another preseason game. This is another step in what this week was the right direction. Last week we didn't feel it was the right direction. At the end of the day, it's still a preseason game that they're trying to get better. They're looking to find more reps and ultimately trying to find out who is going to land on the 53man roster to help this team win games. >> And what's the players responsibility in that rack? >> Go out and compete >> and and and make it as hard a decision. Yeah. >> How many times have we talked about We've talked about it on this show before. >> So, they cannot cut you. >> Can you cannot cut me? You cannot me. WHAT WHAT ARE YOU thinking about? You know, no, it's that's that's it. you're making it as hard as you can for him, right? So, >> a bunch of guys did that >> and and I thought that that performance was was really good. But let's let's talk about this week, guys, because this week is a little bit different as now the team is going to prepare kind of like they would prepare in the regular season because they want everybody to have a flavor of what game prep looks like. Now, it's not going to be completely as as detailed as we would get in the regular season, but there is going to be some game planning as far as who we're going to see, what their strengths are, what their formations look like, and we're going to dial up the plays that match what we're going to see this week. So, Shock, take us through a little bit about what this week looks like for players and coaches as they try to simulate more of a regular game week. >> Well, the great thing about this is now you have direction. you have something to look forward to that says, you know what, all right, we get in this particular situation or we get this particular look. Now, I get a chance to go back to what I've learned all throughout the week and who can process it from that time and bring it onto the game field and then execute it in that way. So, there going to be looks in the game, there going to be plays, there going to be times where, hey, we got checks depending on what they line up in as opposed to the last couple weeks where you're kind of just reacting to what a defense does or an offense does and you go out and play. This week it comes down to all right if that safety starts to come down we got to run away from it. We got to get out of it. We got to go can can we got to get out. We got to everybody got to be working in the same unison to get into the game plan. So I think this week is fun because this makes it feel more like an actual real game week as you get ready for the regular season as guys really have to study. You got to go in and understand what the game plan what they're trying to do and also what the opposing team is trying to do to you. And then there's also there's actual faces on the other side of it now. Not not saying it wasn't before, but now you got guys you coming in now you say, "Okay, this guy is really good at X, Y, and Z." Now you come in say Michael Jerrell's playing tackle. He say, "All right, we got this guy rushing off the edge now. Here are the three things he really likes to do." And now as a game plan, you go in thinking, okay, here's how I combat what this guy can do on the outside. Maybe it's, you know, Drake London going against, you know, whoever's, you know, on in the secondary form. Say, all right, this guy really loves to be more of a press man guy. He loves to open his hips when you give a certain move. There's certain nuances in the game plan now that you look at more than what you did coming into the first two preseason games. And now you're more focused on the details of the actual game than just responding to it. So I think a lot of guys will be more excited to get a game plan to have something they can really, you know, put their put their put their eyesight on and say, you know what, this is where I can really focus on this week. So it's going to be a fun week to actually have that a part of the plan. The evaluation process is continuing. Kevin Stfansky was adamant to me after the game shock where he said, "We're going into week three or week four training camp, whatever number you want to put on it. Um, week three gamewise, but I think they've been in for four weeks. We're still in training camp mode." So with them doing this a simulated game plan scenario, there's still evaluation happening to those guys because they are now being asked to absorb as Shock just talked about a game plan and how do you take that? So yesterday and we're filming this on a Tuesday. Yesterday Monday was essentially a Wednesday. Today as we film on Tuesday it would be a Thursday if you're trying to follow me on this. And then tomorrow would be a Friday. So they're show they're again as you're evaluating who's going to be your 53man roster, who's absorbing that, who's taking uh what we talked about on the first day and implementing it on the field. Then we're going to transition. We may not even talk about that, you know, the first down stuff. We may transition to third down red zone stuff the next day and then you get two minute and then you maybe combine all that stuff on the following. who are the guys that are absorbing that and can take that from the meeting rooms from the walkthroughs to practice and implement that without making any mistakes. >> And that's, you know, and that's being evaluated across the board. I don't care what position you're playing. >> So, you've got that going on for guys that are still scratching and clawing and trying to make an impression to make this team. You got other guys that are probably feeling pretty good. The Zachariah Branches of the world and maybe the Kendall Daniels of the world. They're getting a chance to see what this looks like in the regular season to get their minds ready for what this is going to look like for 17 weeks of preparation during the regular year. Speaking of preparation, the other big news that came out, guys, is that Michael Pennix Jr. has been cleared for 11. Okay, I think this is one of the the steps in his process that a lot of people have been waiting for is yes, he's been at practice. Yes, he's been out there working, but when it comes to team periods, he's had to take what we call mental reps. Well, now he gets physical reps. So, without trying to get into knowing exactly what's going on inside Michael's brain arch, but think about what does this week look for look like for him now that he knows that the uh what what shall I call them? The shackles are off a little bit like he's got a little bit more freedom as he goes to prepare and ultimately try to win the starting quarterback job. Yeah, it's it's freedom uh that you're you're able to go do what you want to do. You got confirmation in your mind, got confirmation from the doctors that you're in a great spot. Now go turn it loose. There's still going to be that little piece that okay, I need a little something. And it happened in the first practice of this week. I talked to Tommy Reese briefly about it. 11 and 11. Michael drops the throw, sets up. He's got Kyle Pittz running a shallow drag. He's got other pieces in the route, but he finds he he has to wait just a second for Pitts and turns it loose and puts it on him. It's a good throw, but in the concept of protection, he gets bumped in the right hip and it makes him have to readjust. Hadn't been doing any of that. And I got a smile on my face. I wondered when Michael felt that and saw that. Those are the little things that he hasn't felt and those are the little things they were trying to stay away from in 11 on 111 that they felt like he's okay to do now. That's confirmation to me that he h it he didn't it didn't take his mind off. Oh god, I got bumped. You know, my knee, you know, he didn't do any of that kind of stuff. He just did what he normally used to do. Slide it. Boom. Pop it out. >> I thought that was a really telling moment for him. Um and that's what you're getting from 11 and 11. That's why they were so guarded about maybe putting him in there until he was quite he was ready. That is a freeing moment. Shock for me mentally if I've had you've had a knee injury. Walk me through that in stepping back into the into the into the fray if you will in the even it's in the pocket for for a practice. >> Yeah, it's funny you mentioned that because the number one thing I had on my list was how you navigate the pocket because there's so many things that happens around you while you're inside the pocket. And I remember going through an ACL and coming back and you're doing they're trying to assimilate everything during your rehab process that you do inside the pocket, guys around you, you know, you know, throwing stuff at your feet, your legs, having you move a little bit, but there's some a little bit different when there's, you know, 21 other bodies around out there with you and you're having to move and having to navigate it. And then the first instance you get, like Arch mentions, where you get a little feeling where it's a little bit different than your rehab, where you have to move just slightly different and you get bumped or you get hit or somebody's right around your feet and you get through it. And in your mind, you're like, "Okay, I'm really good." And your mind before that, you feel like you are. You feel like you're good. But to go through it and actually have to have to go through those moments, it's more satisfying than anything you've done. So for Mike, this is a big we for him and a lot of people uh will say, "Yeah, he's been doing this, been doing that." But there's something to it and he's been through it a couple times. So he's had those moments in his head. So I think he understands what are the the growing moments within coming off this ACL. And you know, having that what Arch just mentioned is is so so valuable. And I think him point that out is so good because it seems like a small thing, but when you go through those injuries, you need those things to happen for you to mentally say, you know what, I'm all right. I'm cool. I can handle that. You know, I can still move and step up and still feel fine. But in your head, you're like, I didn't flinch. And that's what really gets you is, you know, if you do flinch, then >> in your brain, you question it. And now once you're back in there, >> you get a little antsy. the feet move a little bit quicker or you let it go a little bit sooner. You think because you think somebody's around you, but when you don't flinch, like R.J.'s mentioned that Pennix didn't flinch, that's a whole another world that you can continue to progress through. >> That's great uh perspective from somebody that's been through it. And you know, that's what's going to be uh in front of Michael Penn Jr. this week. And and to the average fan, you might say, well, is one week enough? Like, are they going to be able to get enough reps to be able to see that he's ready? And I go back to your point and the coaches are going to be able to tell whether or not he's fling. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. >> They'll be able to tell the way the ball comes out of his hand. Yeah. They'll be able to tell the way that he handles the huddle and walking up to the line of scrimmage and if he gets in there with a young wide receiver and maybe they're on the wrong side like he immediately recognize it. No, you're over here. Like those are the little things that the coaches see like, oh, he ready or >> he's a little rusty right now, right? to to coaches and players, it's clear as day because you'll go out there, he'll make a couple plays, you'll be like, "That's different." Yeah. Right. And that's what you're looking for at this level. You're looking somebody that brings a different element that is going to be hard to defend if you're on the defensive side of the ball, spec specifically from your quarterback position. >> Yeah. And and I keep and we keep being reminded and you you mentioned it a week. He didn't have he's we're three weeks from training camp. three weeks from from the regular season. He's practicing this week and probably going to play this game. I would imagine there's a good chance he starts this game Friday night, providing there's no setbacks here in the next couple of days. And then he's going to practice all next week, too. And so they're getting the things that we just talked about getting bumped in the pocket and sliding and feeling. You're talking about distributing guys, getting the ball out, the timing of it. He's got more than enough time. And I'm not saying this is what they're going to do, okay? This is just me talking. He's got more than enough time, Shock, to show that he could he could be the guy opening weekend against Pittsburgh. >> And the great thing about it is he's done everything since the, you know, first day of training camp except for this. So, they've seen a good body of work of what he can and can't do or what he's, you know, feeling good about within this offense. And now this is just the last piece of And like Arch mentioned, you gonna get a chance to go through all this and he's played a bunch of football, but he's going to get a chance to go through this week. And as guys who evaluate him, which is his coaches, they understand how his mind and his body already works within the pocket. So you can see if his feet are a little bit antsy when he has to drop it off or if like Arch just mentioned, his eyes are still downfield as he navigates things around him around his feet or getting hit. And if he can still look downfield, that tells you guess what? He ain't thinking about his knee. This dude ain't thinking about the rush. He's thinking about how I distribute his football with the things around me. So yeah, there's plenty of time and they already understand where he's at. But this is just the next piece of it and having this week and following week is going to be big for uh what happens with this quarterback race. >> Oh, by the way, there's still time for number one to a tongue of Aloa to step up as well. Absolutely. I mean, we're not talking we we talked exclusively about Michael because he's coming back in his first opportunity to be back in 11 on 11, but Tua is a guy that's been absorbing this offense and playing some. So, so don't don't be surprised if Tua steps his game up >> a little bit now that they're kind of now that competition's on, you know, because they are sharing the same reps and stuff like that. I would not be surprised to see a guy with his ability to play to a tongue below step up as well. Well, we know about the competition that's going on at that position and it's going on all over the field, offense, defense, and special teams, fellas. And and I preface this final discussion by saying that after this Miami Dolphins game this weekend, it will be the initial 53man roster. So, I want to ask you both without getting into individual players. Shock, let me start with you. from what you've seen so far or maybe what you want to see this weekend against Miami, where do you think some of the difficult position position group decisions are going to come after this Dolphins game? >> That's a good one cuz there are a lot of depth in this upon this team that you say, "All right, how many numbers are they going to keep in the secondary? What are you going to do? How many O line you going to keep? You you got a bunch of guys. What are you going to do at running back?" We've seen Tyler Goodson play really well. I know you said don't mention names, but you got Tyler Goodson, you got Cash Jones has played well, Nathan Carter has been a part of this. >> You know what the first two guys are all about, but now just just think about, we talk about special teams so much. You know, Tyler Goodson has the big return on on kickoff return, 34 yards, whatever it is, comes back and runs it down for 49 yard touchdown. Guess what he does the next play? He's lined up on the left kickoff running down. They run away from they like, "This dude has killed us for the last two or three plays. Not going to happen again." In fact, he went to coach Hawk and said, "I'm still on kickoff coverage." >> He ran 49 yards for a touchdown. He ran over to a coach Hawk and said, "Hey, I'm I'm covering this kick." So, that tells you who he's a smart man. He he knows who's going to be at the running back position once we get to the regular season. He's more concerned about where is my V? How can I make this staff say they can't cut me? Okay. No doubt. >> Arch, I'm going to ask you the same question. What are some of those position groups that you think are going to be really difficult? Well, I'm not going to go through the entire roster like Rack just or like Shock just did. So, I'll try to answer I'll try to answer your question like >> name two spots. >> Rack asked a specific group question. I'm going to I'm going to point to the wide receivers. I think the wide receiver group has been an interesting group. We know about the four guys. Jan Dodson, Drake London, Alame, Zakius, Zachariah Branch. Okay. I think you're pretty settled that those four guys are probably in that. But how about Chris Blair? How about Dylan Drummond? How well he's been. How about Antoine Wells on the fade route to squeeze the corner, save the box, and be able to fade on a perfect throw from Jack Strand along the sideline. Keelin Marian's done some good Vinnie Anthony has stepped up, returns some kicks. He's done a good job catching the football. How about Bo Collins? He ain't even been on campus for a week. He goes over the top of a guy and makes a grab down the left sideline. I think that's going to be really intriguing as to how they decide who the five, six guys they're going to keep on the active roster and then how do you protect maybe hide some guys to get them back on practice squad. >> So, so Arch, the question I present to you now is how does that matter with how does that happen with the tight end spot because we saw tight ends making a ton of plays throughout our camp and in this last preseason game. Like you look at numbers, it's like, okay, and we've known, you look at the stats, we all know this is a unit that loves tight ends. Stefansky, Tommy Reese, he's done it all the way back from Notre Dame to Alabama. They love tight ends. >> Do you keep four tight ends? Yeah. >> How does that affect the receiver spot? Like >> very well. >> Who would you say are? That that's a tough one too because you start looking at the tight end spot and you mentioned all the guys that you're pro you know it's kind of a given that you're thinking obviously Kyle Pittz Austin Hooper here comes back to the team and Charlie Warner so well okay we're full in the in the room >> well wait a minute Josh Simon's been pretty good Jacking has been pretty good Nick Muse who's come on the scene has been pretty good and as you mentioned you know some of the things that you see like from the Rams on offense where they have 13 personnel all those guys can come off the and block, but they can all catch the ball down the field. These guys are showing they can do all that kind of stuff. >> Yeah. I I mean, >> make it tough on them, right? Right. >> That's it. That's it. >> Make it I don't that that's I'm glad I don't have to make those decisions. They got a bunch of guys. >> You got one You got one more week of practices in training camp as Stfansky has told us and an an opportunity to go out and compete against the Miami Dolphins. That's another impression that you can make. >> That's like keep all the tight ends, right? >> I mean, listen. Yeah. Yes. But >> I knew it. Here's a couple things that I'll tell you guys to your point is what we you never really know what this is going to look like from a how many do we keep at each position group >> because there's variables. It's it a lot of times it comes back to special teams. >> Where do we have the best setup on special teams? And then do we does that help us back into how many tight ends we keep, how many defensive backs we keep, how many linebackers that we keep because guess who ends up playing on special teams? wide receivers, linebackers, additional defensive backs, sometimes tight ends if they're not a big part of the offensive game plan. Those are your special teams players, right? So, you got to make sure that unit is shored up. That helps you get to how many linebackers we keeping. >> Who is the guy on special teams that I have to have for the main four? >> Why do I picture coach Aurman uh who's not in the offensive or defensive meeting rooms? He's got his own room, but he's got that old school like cup against the wall when he's listening to what's going on in the offensive or he's on the defense. >> Josh Joshua. Joshua is Joshua. You know, I And then sliding a piece of paper underneath there. It's got a guy's name written on it. Just you're not talking about him. >> Don't forget him. Don't forget him. >> I got to have this guy. I mean, it's it's really going to be a uh a difficult uh proposition. And hopefully we get let's get a good weekend here and obviously we'll come back next week and talk to you guys about the Miami game and then we'll obviously talk about what happens over the weekend with the cuts rack. But this is uh this is one of the more in would you say this is one of the more intriguing ones because what what Ian had said we're raising the floor and I think they've done that. They raise the floor. >> That's what they're trying to do is bring bring the the what's what's holding us back. Let's bring it up a little bit more. And I think if you ask personnel department coaches, they would probably tell you make it difficult on us because that means we have a lot of really good football players that we think can help us win games. >> I hope this isn't like talking about a pitcher that's throwing a no no, but um where you don't you leave him alone. He's sitting over there in the dugout. >> What are your impressions of the We haven't even talked about the two specialists. Jake Bailey and Nick Nick Folk have been >> perfect. I mean, hang time, net punt. >> You're looking at my nose. So, are you looking at my nose? >> Nick Nick says, "Okay, go ahead and celebrate. I'll kick the 48 yard extra point, you know, after the first." >> What are your impressions having been up close and personal though those two guys? What is it about those two guys you like? >> Well, let me focus on Nick Folk just because the I hate to say it, but the elephant in the room is that the kicking position has not been up to par. It's not been acceptable to what this organization needs to win football games. And then when you watch Nick Folk go out there, like to me, I'm like, he making that. >> Yeah, >> he's making that. Like there's a there's such a calm and experience about him to where it's to your point, even like on a backed up extra point, it's like, oh, he's good. >> And that's and we have unfortunately we haven't been there in a while because it's been somewhat of an adventure, right? And so that gives me as a former specialist, I know it gives Aurman a sense of comfort. I know it gives this coaching staff in front office because they've had to work through separate kickers over the years. No doubt. And that's that's unnerving, right? Because it's like the position that you know that like that's points right there. >> Three points might be the difference of the game. Us making this extra point after a a penalty might be the difference in us tying the game or trailing by one going in the fourth quarter. And do you have confidence in the guy Nick Folk that's been around for a long time that this is going to be old hat to him? >> Unbelievable. >> It it um and this is going to be a really stupid analogy and you guys are too young to even know what this is, but there was back in the day where you could make your own ice cream, okay? And they had a little >> Well, there was always a guy and it was your grandpa that made the ice cream and you didn't even worry about it. You trusted him. knew it was going to be >> the burger. He sit out making a flipping the burger. The burger is good. Grandpa's making the burgers. We're good. >> That's what I feel with Nick. >> I mean, I don't know how bad that is. And sorry, Nick. Sorry, Nick. I apologize for apologize for putting you in that category, but >> you don't worry about it. It kind of And again, don't want to jinx it. We're early. We haven't even started the season yet. We're talking about this, >> but it reminds me a lot of another venerable kicker we had here, a guy that you played with, Matt Bryant. a guy that you didn't think about it. You just say, "Okay, send money matt out there. We we'll get that." You know, the field goal that sends us to the second round of play, all that kind of stuff. >> I actually uh was watching the game and I was talking to my youngest daughter. She's 14. And we were like, she was like, "Who's the kicker?" And I said, "Oh, it's Nick Folk. He's been around for a long time." And I said, "You know, he's he's here to bring some consistency to the position." Because we as a family, we know Matt Bryan a little bit. And she says to me, she goes, "Has it been since Matt Bryant?" And I said, "Pretty much like she she recalled that because >> she would either watch it on TV or she'd hear me coming home from the game and saying, "Gosh, we had missed a couple of field goals or something like that." Right. >> Um but that like that name came up just this weekend with my 14-year-old daughter who's not even like all dialed in on football. She's that dialed in when it comes to specialist. So um yeah, Nick, that's the reason why you're here. So we appreciate you. >> Dad came home talking that noise. >> I know what Dad be saying. Listen, as we talked about, uh we'll be back next week to recap the Dolphins game. We're also going to recap the initial, we put emphasis on initial 53man roster because there are uh a number of moves that happen even after that first uh roster is announced. Um make sure you're paying attention this week though because Will and Toriel will be back on Thursday. They're going to bring you some updates from practice and their two cents on what's going to go on in the final preseason game and getting ready, as we mentioned, for this initial 53man roster cut down. Uh, make sure you give us your opinions. What position group do you think is going to be hard for them to decide who's on the active roster and who do they have to try to steal, get through waiverss, and keep on the practice squad? Let us know. >> Will Arch what your thoughts are. >> It's going to be it's going to be >> I got I'm going to go steal me a couple more hats before I get out of here. Get a couple for your boys, man. Come on. Get a couple for us. >> All right, that's going to wrap up the Falcons Audible presented by AT&T. Thanks so much for joining us on Make sure you continue to follow us on all of your different podcast apps for all of the content that we're going to continue to push out to you throughout the rest of the preseason and once we get to regular season action. It's going to be coming in full force. That's DJ Shockley, Dave Archer. I'm Derek Rackley. Thanks so much for joining us everybody. See you next time.