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Speaker 1: What's up everybody, and welcome to another special edition of

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Speaker 1: The Falcon's Final Whistle Podcast, recorded right here in the

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Speaker 1: Ticketmaster studios, and we have seventeen little news nuggets to

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Speaker 1: talk about Tory. Why because it's schedule release day and

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Speaker 1: as you put it on Twitter, Happy schedule release day

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Speaker 1: to all who observe.

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Speaker 2: And there are lots of you yeah and celebrate.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, who are super into it.

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Speaker 1: Because we've known the opponents and who the Falcon the

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Speaker 1: teams the Falcons are going to play. I just had

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Speaker 1: that battle of is it who or whom?

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Speaker 3: So I went teams.

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Speaker 1: Instead because I'm not sure of my own grammar and

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Speaker 1: my English teacher from the twelfth grade would be really

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Speaker 1: disappointed if I mess that up. Non sequitor over, we

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Speaker 1: have the Falcons schedule. We've known the opponents for a

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Speaker 1: long time. Now, they're in an order and they have

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Speaker 1: the lowest in the NFL strength of schedule, which can

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Speaker 1: mean something sometimes because what it technically means is that

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Speaker 1: the combined record in twenty twenty two of the opponents

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Speaker 1: on the twenty three slate lowest in the league, which

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Speaker 1: kind of makes you think if the order is good,

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Speaker 1: then it's quite possible that the Falcons have a chance

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Speaker 1: to make Hay in a wide open NFC self. We're

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Speaker 1: going to go through this in segments, right, but it's

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Speaker 1: kind of boring podcast, you know, strategy if I just

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Speaker 1: read a bunch of names. So we're not gonna do that.

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Speaker 1: But how about this, everybody have like a two screen

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Speaker 1: experience for us. Load up this podcast on YouTube, open

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Speaker 1: a separate browser, or if you're listening in your car,

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Speaker 1: don't mess with your phone, and then we can read

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Speaker 1: it to you. But nonetheless, just real quick kind of highlights.

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Speaker 1: They open up week one against Carolina. They obviously play

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Speaker 1: Jacksonville in London. They have an eleven a week eleven bye.

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Speaker 1: They actually play every team that took the top four quarterbacks.

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Speaker 1: So there's a lot of interesting things for us to

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Speaker 1: discuss before we get into this thing. Chronologically, Tory their

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Speaker 1: bye is also in week eleven, not after the London game.

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Speaker 1: There are no Thursday games on this slate, so the

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Speaker 1: rest is pretty even. Yeah, now, when you first looked

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Speaker 1: at the schedule, what did you make of it? What

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Speaker 1: kind of themes did you extract from what you saw?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I think first things first was just from a

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Speaker 2: you know, five thousand Foot View, you were talking about

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Speaker 2: the strength of schedule, and I think there was something

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Speaker 2: that we were reading where it's like, you know, when

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Speaker 2: you this is the easiest strength of schedule of any

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Speaker 2: team since twenty eighteen. Wow, And since that time, four

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Speaker 2: of the six teams that have had the easiest strength

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Speaker 2: of schedule during that time made it to the playoffs.

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Speaker 2: Not saying that this is like track record for you know,

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Speaker 2: the Falcons or anything like that, but when you that's

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Speaker 2: just the facts of it. Those are the statistics of

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Speaker 2: it when you have a strength of schedule that looks

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Speaker 2: like this, And I think that that was something that

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Speaker 2: more than where they're playing, who they're playing, the totality

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Speaker 2: of this was where I kind of zeroed in on.

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Speaker 2: But just to kind of like go go into it,

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Speaker 2: I think this was something that I said and I

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Speaker 2: kind of laughed about. I was like, you know, there's

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Speaker 2: no such thing as a perfect bye, but their bye

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Speaker 2: week in week eleven I think is very good, especially considering,

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Speaker 2: you know, two years ago they had the earliest buye

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Speaker 2: because at that time you had to take your bye

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Speaker 2: after a London game, and they played the Jets in

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Speaker 2: twenty one in London and had to take the bye

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Speaker 2: in week six. It was the earliest bye week. Last year.

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Speaker 2: They had the latest bye week in week fourteen.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and that was late.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, the guys were you could tell were feeling it

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Speaker 1: in we twelve and thirteen.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it.

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Speaker 2: Was that was tough, like and having it early in

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Speaker 2: the season in twenty one was tough. But now they

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Speaker 2: finally have a bye week that sandwich in a really

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Speaker 2: good spot, kind of right before the Thanksgiving week, which

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Speaker 2: I think is you know that that time in the

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Speaker 2: middle of November, that's where you would.

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Speaker 1: Want it, all right, So let's break this thing down,

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Speaker 1: not in quadrants. I mean, seventeen is a NOD number anyway.

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Speaker 1: But let's break this schedule down into three segments. Let's

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Speaker 1: start with the first four games. I want to highlight

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Speaker 1: a couple of them. Week one at home against Carolina,

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Speaker 1: Week two at homes, starting with a two game road

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Speaker 1: trip against a Roger list Green Bay Packers, and then

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Speaker 1: they'll go on a two game road trip and it's

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of frequent flyer miles being collected there.

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Speaker 3: Week three they play at Detroit.

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Speaker 1: Week four they play quote unquote at Jacksonville, but it's

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Speaker 1: really at London's Wembley Stadium. So that's our first segment

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Speaker 1: that I want.

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Speaker 3: To dive into. Yeah, London is an attraction. We're going

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Speaker 3: to get to that.

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Speaker 1: But let's go to week one here, because this is

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Speaker 1: super fascinating game. The air of mystery surrounding this game

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Speaker 1: is palatable, and that's what That's why I think it's

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Speaker 1: going to be so entertaining to watch how this plays

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Speaker 1: out because there's so much mystery.

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Speaker 3: It really is.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you think about, you know, just in and

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Speaker 2: of itself, the Panthers have gone through a coaching change

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Speaker 2: this offseason and then they you know, send bookoos of

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Speaker 2: draft capital and you know, they really the break the

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Speaker 2: bank to get Bryce Young and they get him. They

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Speaker 2: get the number. He is the number one overall draft

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Speaker 2: pick in the twenty twenty three draft, and he is

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Speaker 2: a Carolina Panther. He's gonna be their starting quarterback week one.

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Speaker 2: You know that's just gonna happen, barring anything absolutely crazy happening.

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Speaker 2: You have no if you're the Falcons, you have no

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Speaker 2: earthly idea what that means for Carolina. You don't know

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Speaker 2: what it means. You don't know what type of Carolina

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Speaker 2: team you're getting. You don't know, you don't have anything

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Speaker 2: to go off of because preseason. Don't even get me

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Speaker 2: started on preseason doesn't matter. I don't care about the preseason.

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Speaker 2: I mean I do care, but not really like in

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Speaker 2: terms of being able to discern who a team is

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Speaker 2: in Week one, Right, you're not gonna know. You're not

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Speaker 2: gonna know. And so for this, the fact that you

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Speaker 2: you have no idea what the Panthers are going to

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Speaker 2: do offensively, it's kind of cool. I mean, it's kind

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Speaker 2: of I think this is when things are it's most fun.

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Speaker 2: But the other layer to this, there's another side of

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Speaker 2: this coin in that the Falcons defense specifically looks so

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Speaker 2: different than it did in twenty one or twenty two.

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Speaker 2: They have so much more I mean, i'll say it, firepower.

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Speaker 2: More money has been pumped into more resources has been

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Speaker 2: pumped into this defense. A new defensive coordinator in Ryan Nielsen,

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Speaker 2: who you have no idea really what his game day

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Speaker 2: play calling is because didn't do that with the Saints,

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Speaker 2: and so there are so many layers of mystery in

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Speaker 2: this one game happening in Week one that I think

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Speaker 2: it is the best opportunity to really see like a

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Speaker 2: true chess match in real time.

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Speaker 1: And there's no way Arthur Smith is going to throw

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Speaker 1: out any offensive scouted looks either. He likes to add

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Speaker 1: layers of the unknown to it. And seeing Bryce Young

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Speaker 1: in week one probably the best possible thing because there

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Speaker 1: will be nerves and maybe they won't be as reliant

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Speaker 1: on his magician like capabilities as they might be when

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Speaker 1: they play Carolina later in the year in week fifteen.

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Speaker 1: So to catch the Panthers and their new dynamic quarterback

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Speaker 1: in week one probably a plus for Atlanta, especially with

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Speaker 1: the Smith Nielsen uncertainty of it all. Green Bay is

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Speaker 1: kind of in a team in transition. Detroit is a

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Speaker 1: team that used to used to be able to just

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Speaker 1: like write a big green W right there.

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Speaker 3: Not anymore.

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Speaker 1: This is a fun, up and coming team that plays

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Speaker 1: like the Falcons built upfront. I'm skipping past these because

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Speaker 1: we have to get to facing a real upstart franchise

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Speaker 1: in Jacksonville and going across the pond to do it,

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Speaker 1: combined with not getting a buye on the other end,

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Speaker 1: all that stuff break that down for us, because it's

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Speaker 1: going to be a challenge for the Falcons, especially Jacksonville

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Speaker 1: is also of note. It's going to go set up

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Speaker 1: shop in London for two consecutive weeks, so they're going

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Speaker 1: to go make a home base. Atlanta has to go

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Speaker 1: in there, play an AFC playoff team and come back

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Speaker 1: and get ready for Week five.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that's it's pretty difficult to do

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Speaker 2: when you really think about it. And I but the

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Speaker 2: thing is is I understand not having the bye week

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Speaker 2: after the London game because at.

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Speaker 3: This it's the right thing for the Falcon right.

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Speaker 2: At this point, I especially looking at the totality of

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Speaker 2: the schedule. I mean, it's not to me, it's not

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Speaker 2: a necessity to have it. And especially because of the

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Speaker 2: way that I think, I don't know, these London games

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Speaker 2: have become more of the norm, you know, going overseas.

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Speaker 2: The Falcons did it in twenty twenty one, and at

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Speaker 2: that time, I didn't think they needed a bye week

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Speaker 2: after that. I mean, you get home after the game.

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Speaker 2: It's just like it's like a West Coast trip, you know,

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Speaker 2: it's and I think it's not it's not as big

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Speaker 2: of a deal. I think, And here I'm saying that

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Speaker 2: not suiting up, not playing not really having to like

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Speaker 2: to have the whole time change and affecting that.

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Speaker 3: But this is a nine to thirty am body clock though, right,

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Speaker 3: that's the one, and that's the weird yeah about it.

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Speaker 2: I wish that it was later in the afternoon and

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Speaker 2: not a one o'clock kickoff like Eastern time, you know,

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Speaker 2: I think that that kind of I don't like, But

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Speaker 2: I will say I think that where it is and

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Speaker 2: looking at Okay, you have Caroline, you have Green Bay,

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Speaker 2: you have Detroit. I think those three teams get you

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Speaker 2: to a good place to where you're ready to face

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Speaker 2: a team like Jacksonville, who, like what you said, is

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Speaker 2: up and coming, right. I mean, they were in the

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Speaker 2: playoffs last year and they made a run, you know,

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Speaker 2: and I think they they're a team that has done

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Speaker 2: a lot via the draft in recent years. That's they're

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Speaker 2: a fun team to watch rebuild as well. So I

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Speaker 2: don't know, I think, But in terms of like breaking

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Speaker 2: this up, it's not. That's not the hardest part of

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Speaker 2: the schedule in my mind.

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Speaker 1: And especially starting with two home games, I think can

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Speaker 1: be a real advantage. And that leads us into segment two,

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Speaker 1: which all call the trap section, right, because you can.

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Speaker 1: We don't do w's and l's here, but you could

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Speaker 1: look at Houston, Washington, Tampa with a new quarterback, Tennessee

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Speaker 1: in a bit of a rebuild mode, Minnesota when a

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Speaker 1: lot of one score games in Arizona is seems to

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Speaker 1: be really rebuilding. And you could look at that and think, oh,

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Speaker 1: they say, if I can pronounce that correctly, that they're

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Speaker 1: gonna come out of that with a lot. But I'm

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Speaker 1: calling it trap section, meaning that you got to be healthy,

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Speaker 1: you're a long way from the by you it's possible

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Speaker 1: possible to surge during that section and build some confidence.

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Speaker 1: Or you could also look back and be like, we

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Speaker 1: didn't take that seriously enough, or we didn't take enough

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Speaker 1: advantage of this part in the schedule, and maybe you're

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Speaker 1: maybe you're regretful when you get to that week eleven by.

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Speaker 2: Right, and that's what you don't want. If you're the Falcons,

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Speaker 2: you want to I have called it, you know you're

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Speaker 2: calling it like the trap part of the schedule. I've

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Speaker 2: been calling it the October grind because you start October

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Speaker 2: in London playing the Jags and then you you have

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Speaker 2: four more games in October against the Texans, the Commanders,

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Speaker 2: the Bucks and Tennessee and that two game road trip

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Speaker 2: against the Bucks and then you'd come home and then

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Speaker 2: you immediately go up to Tennessee to play a pretty

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Speaker 2: good Titans team. I mean that that's a really that

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Speaker 2: part of it. When you have now gone that's in

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Speaker 2: week seven, in week eight, you've gone that many weeks

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Speaker 2: without you know, a break or anything like that. That's

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Speaker 2: the part of the season that I think is kind

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Speaker 2: of the grind. That's the grind of the season is

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Speaker 2: from week seven to to the bye, right, and that's

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Speaker 2: what you want to be able to like grind through

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Speaker 2: it and get the wins. And I think this is

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Speaker 2: where the Falcons run game you would hope is like

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Speaker 2: fully established and you are just like firing on all

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Speaker 2: cylinders and at this point in the season. But if

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Speaker 2: they're not, that's a different story. And what happens in

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Speaker 2: October greatly impacts how you go into week twelve after

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Speaker 2: the bye.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and when you look at this buy we're talking

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Speaker 1: about placement in in terms of time on the calendar.

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Speaker 1: It also comes after their only West coast trip, where

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Speaker 1: their only western trip, and then you come back and

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Speaker 1: you play the rival Saints at home with an extra week.

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Speaker 1: That's a huge swing there. But if you look at

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Speaker 1: the third segment of the year, four of the last

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Speaker 1: seven are against the NFC South, which that's all the

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Speaker 1: Falcons should care about, Yeah, is can you win the division?

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Speaker 3: What will it take to win the division?

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Speaker 1: And I think winning the division is going to come

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Speaker 1: down to two games against New Orleans, a home game

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Speaker 1: against Tampa a road game against Carolina.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. And this is the point in the season where

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Speaker 2: you are one the word playoffs should be in the

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Speaker 2: back of your head. Honestly in the forefront of your mind.

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Speaker 2: You are playing to get a playoff birth. And Arthur

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Speaker 2: Smith has said it before too, he said it last year.

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Speaker 2: And you know, the easiest way to get into the

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Speaker 2: playoffs is to win your division. The Falcons could win

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Speaker 2: the division if you go and beat the Saints, and

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Speaker 2: you beat Carolina and you beat Tampa Bay in this

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Speaker 2: chunk of time at the end of the season.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's why it's gonna be interesting. And you'd

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Speaker 1: think coming off of that buye they would have had

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Speaker 1: a chance to tinker with some things, but these vict

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Speaker 1: not like any game is more or less important than

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Speaker 1: any but They're also gonna have to play well in

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Speaker 1: close games. That's something that we always talk about that

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Speaker 1: never travels between seasons. Two years ago they were really

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Speaker 1: good in close games. In twenty twenty two they weren't,

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Speaker 1: and that impacted their record. Now this is a better

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Speaker 1: overall team, a deeper that's a huge word, A deeper

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Speaker 1: overall team that they're gonna need to withstand, especially Saints

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Speaker 1: at New York Jets talk about strength to schedule being

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Speaker 1: sort of misleading that low Jets number included Zach Wilson

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Speaker 1: and not Aaron Rodgers.

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Speaker 3: It's a little bit different team now.

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Speaker 1: So I think when you look at that section in totality,

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Speaker 1: I think it's definitely a very crucial section. But you've

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Speaker 1: had the you've had an opportunity to gain some momentum

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Speaker 1: more to figure out what all these new pieces can

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Speaker 1: do and when playing together. Now as we wrap this

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Speaker 1: thing up, Tori, and this is kind of the big.

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Speaker 3: Question when it comes to the schedule.

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Speaker 1: When you look at this schedule, it seems maybe not advantageous,

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Speaker 1: but I don't think it's disadvantageous in terms of how

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Speaker 1: it's structured. When you look at this schedule and you

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Speaker 1: consider the parody within the NFC South. Is there a

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Speaker 1: path to the NFC. No, they have to play well

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Speaker 1: and execute, But is there a path or or are

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Speaker 1: there any obstacles standing in their way to winning the

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Speaker 1: NFC self?

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Speaker 2: I mean, of course there's obstacles. There always are, But

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Speaker 2: I do think that when you're looking at the team

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Speaker 2: that the Falcons have put together in twenty twenty three,

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Speaker 2: I mean, we're near a complete team at this point.

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Speaker 2: You know, you've got to go through OTA's and you

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Speaker 2: gotta go through training camp, and you'll cut down to

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Speaker 2: a fifty three men roster. But I feel like if

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Speaker 2: I were to go out and make a depth chart

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Speaker 2: right now, it'd be pretty dang close to what it'll

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Speaker 2: be in Week one, barring any injuries or any major reconstructions.

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Speaker 2: So all of that to say, I think it's really

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Speaker 2: important to remember that over the last two years, this

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Speaker 2: Falcons team, this organization has been pieced together with rookies

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Speaker 2: who were asked to start their careers and to be

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Speaker 2: playmakers and to be important pieces really really early in

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Speaker 2: their careers, and a lot of veterans on one year

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Speaker 2: deals because the Falcons just didn't have any money to

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Speaker 2: pay anybody in the long term. That's what they had

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Speaker 2: for these last two years, and they were seven and

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Speaker 2: ten both years. In twenty one and twenty two. I

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Speaker 2: think the Falcons outplayed expectations. I think they did more

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Speaker 2: than what I think a lot of people gave them

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Speaker 2: credit for. And that was with the team that was

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Speaker 2: put together with rookies and vets on one year deals.

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Speaker 2: That's not the team that you're looking at right now.

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Speaker 2: You're looking at a team that has been meticulously put together.

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Speaker 2: Those rookies are now better for the two years that

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Speaker 2: they have had to be relied upon. A lot of

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Speaker 2: them are your are in year two, year three. Then

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Speaker 2: you go out and get Jesse Bates, David On Yamata,

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Speaker 2: Kayden Ellis, Calias Campbell, but Depre and those are all

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Speaker 2: just guys on the defense. Then you get Jon Robinson.

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Speaker 2: I mean, this is a team that when I'm looking

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Speaker 2: at this schedule, knowing what Arthur Smith and Terry Fino

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Speaker 2: and the whole football staff was able to do with

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Speaker 2: what they had the last two years and go seven

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Speaker 2: and ten. I mean, it's hard for me not to

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Speaker 2: feel very different going into this season than I had

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Speaker 2: the last two years.

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Speaker 1: And I think when you look at how it's broken down,

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Speaker 1: you need to start well, not hot. You need to

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Speaker 1: start well. Come out of that five hundred of the

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Speaker 1: first four you're probably feeling okay, and then you talk

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Speaker 1: about the October grind. So so start well, don't dig

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Speaker 1: yourself a hole, grind through the middle of the season,

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Speaker 1: and find your footing to finish strong posts by I

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Speaker 1: think if you can somehow do those three things over

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Speaker 1: the course of those three segments of this schedule, the

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Speaker 1: Falcons can at least put themselves in position maybe to

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Speaker 1: play for all the marbles in Week eleven against the

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Speaker 1: New Orleans Saints. So do we come up with any

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Speaker 1: absolute answers here, No, we can't because it's the spring,

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Speaker 1: and I refuse to. But I do think that there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of insight to be gleaned and there's ways

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Speaker 1: to understand how the Falcons depth can play into it.

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Speaker 1: It's gonna be fascinating to watch it play out. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna start actually watching some version of football pretty soon.

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Speaker 1: We have rookie Minicamp coming up on the weekend of

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Speaker 1: Friday May twelfth.

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Speaker 3: Then we're gonna lead into OTA's.

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Speaker 1: And Mini Caamp everybody's gonna go find a white sand

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Speaker 1: beach and am Tai and then we're gonna come back

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Speaker 1: and we're gonna and we're gonna attack this season.

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Speaker 3: I think it's gonna be so much fun.

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Speaker 1: Guys, thank you so much for joining us here on

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Speaker 1: Falcons Final Whistle Recorder right here in the Ticketmaster studios,

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Speaker 1: and we will talk to you again really soon, probably

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Speaker 1: post OTA's post mini caamp, something where we can bring

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Speaker 1: you more football Falcons, Falcons football analysis, rate reviews, subscribe,

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Speaker 1: all that fun stuffppreciate you guys for joining. As always,

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Speaker 1: we will talk to you again soon.

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Speaker 3: See y

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Speaker 2: M hm