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Speaker 1: What's Up Everybody?

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Speaker 2: Tory mcaleney joined by Taryn Walk and Will McFadden for

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Speaker 2: the Falcons Final Whistle Podcast presented by Zaxby's. We are

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Speaker 2: in the Mercedespence press box at around one o'clock in

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Speaker 2: the morning, coming off of a Falcons loss to the

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Speaker 2: Kansas City Chiefs twenty two to seventeen. The Falcons were

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Speaker 2: not without opportunities to go and score.

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Speaker 1: Let's start at the very end.

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Speaker 2: We're not going to go in chronological order because no

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Speaker 2: one wants to talk about what happened in the first

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Speaker 2: three quarters.

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Speaker 1: I do.

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Speaker 3: Even though they had a great first drive.

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Speaker 2: Even though the first drive was exactly, yeah, exactly what

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Speaker 2: you would want from this team, in the end, it

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Speaker 2: was the final offensive.

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Speaker 1: Drive that everybody's going to talk about.

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Speaker 2: The Falcons had third down, unable to get that third

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Speaker 2: and one from the Kansas City thirteen, unable to get

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Speaker 2: that one yard with a Tyler Algier run up the middle.

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Speaker 2: They go for it on fourth and inches Withjon Robinson, but

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Speaker 2: Jon Robinson has.

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Speaker 1: Dropped for a loss of three.

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Speaker 2: For me, that those final two plays was kind of

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Speaker 2: a microcosm of the entire game.

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Speaker 1: For this offense.

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Speaker 3: Close but not quite there.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, close, but not quite there.

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Speaker 2: And also just an inability to establish the run in

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Speaker 2: the end bit the team in the butt. And I

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Speaker 2: think that was what was so disappointing about this game,

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Speaker 2: was coming off of a Monday night victory where you

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Speaker 2: did establish a run and you felt like.

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Speaker 1: The run was getting going and it was on the

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Speaker 1: right track.

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Speaker 2: Robinson averaged six point nine yards per carry against an

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Speaker 2: Eagles defense.

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Speaker 1: That is pretty dang good. But then the Chiefs happened.

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Speaker 2: And I'm just curious you guys and tarn or will

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Speaker 2: y'all can y'all can answer this, But when you were

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Speaker 2: watching this and you were seeing how much the run

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Speaker 2: game was, it was struggling. What was kind of the

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Speaker 2: main point in main point of emphasis that you took

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Speaker 2: away from it? Well, I don't think you can talk

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Speaker 2: about the run game without getting into the injuries too,

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Speaker 2: especially since those did happen in the first half, which

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Speaker 2: we're apparently completely ignoring on this podcast. We're not completely

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Speaker 2: ignoring it.

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Speaker 3: No, it's important. Oh my god, you know what else

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Speaker 3: is not there? My voice? Ladies and gentlemen, Hi back

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Speaker 3: for Italy. I'll make fad.

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Speaker 4: Nice to see you don't know what happened. It's close

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Speaker 4: but not quite good enough. So bear with me. I

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Speaker 4: know this is this is terrible on your ears, but

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Speaker 4: I think the injuries are definitely notable because, like like

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Speaker 4: we said, the first drive of this game was like

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Speaker 4: picture perfect. I know it was mostly through the air.

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Speaker 1: But balance still.

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Speaker 4: Nonetheless, it felt like it was after what they did

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Speaker 4: in Philly, where they were able to really run the

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Speaker 4: ball against a great defensive front, I mean, controlling Jalen

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Speaker 4: Carter at the point of attack, establishing themselves against.

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Speaker 3: Good linebackers, downhill thumpers.

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Speaker 4: I kind of expected them to follow that same blueprint

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Speaker 4: tonight here against Kansas City, especially at home, get the

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Speaker 4: crowd behind Bajan Tyler Aljeer, use their dominant offensive line.

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Speaker 4: What do they do know is Kirk Cousins rolling out

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Speaker 4: and hitting Darnel Mooney in the flat on the first play,

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Speaker 4: second play, going right back to him on this awesome

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Speaker 4: crossing route, and I was like, cool, come second half,

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Speaker 4: all of this work through the air is going to

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Speaker 4: pay off and they're going to be able to just

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Speaker 4: gash them five yards, eight.

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Speaker 3: Yards, twelve yards.

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Speaker 4: Maybe that didn't happen, and I do think that the

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Speaker 4: injuries to the offensive line played a part in that.

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Speaker 1: Tory said, Bejon average six point six last.

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Speaker 5: Week, six point nine last week last week per carry

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Speaker 5: HM one a point nine tonight.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that alone speaks volumes.

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Speaker 5: In total, Bajeon Robinson had sixteen carries for thirty one yards.

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Speaker 5: His longest was only seven yards. But yeah, that average

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Speaker 5: of one point nine per carry, I think speaks volumes

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Speaker 5: and kind of like sums it up right there. That's

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Speaker 5: a huge difference from last week.

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Speaker 1: It really is.

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Speaker 2: And it can't help but think that it was a

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Speaker 2: major reason why the Falcons couldn't string drives together. That

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Speaker 2: was something that was so obvious. I think at one

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Speaker 2: point in this I believe was in the third quarter,

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Speaker 2: was the Chiefs had been out on the field for

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Speaker 2: about sixty five plays and the Falcons at that time

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Speaker 2: in the third quarter had thirty five. You're talking about

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Speaker 2: the double the amount of plays. You're talking about double

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Speaker 2: the amount of time of possession. I don't know what

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Speaker 2: the time of possession ended up being, but Taran, do

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Speaker 2: you have that number off the dome?

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Speaker 1: Thirty five?

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Speaker 6: Jeez?

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Speaker 2: I mean very that's hard at one o'clock in the morning,

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Speaker 2: but I don't know that part of it. You can't

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Speaker 2: overlook you can't overlook that this defense was out on

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Speaker 2: the field for as long as they were, and you

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Speaker 2: can't overlook the fact that we were through a couple

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Speaker 2: of minutes into the fourth quarter and the Falcons had

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Speaker 2: ran the replace. Yep, that was wild to me when

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Speaker 2: I looked up at the fourth quarter and it was

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Speaker 2: like the Falcons offense hasn't been out on the field

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Speaker 2: hardly at all.

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Speaker 4: And yet the defense, I think it did play well tonight.

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Speaker 1: It's like up to the play it's been kept on swinging.

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Speaker 4: The time of possession has been a little bit of

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Speaker 4: a theme so far, even those small sample size, but

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Speaker 4: through three games they have pretty severely kind of lost

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Speaker 4: that time of possession battle. And you can it's fine

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Speaker 4: sometimes if you do lose that time of possession battle.

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Speaker 4: It's way better than losing your voice as a professional podcaster.

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Speaker 1: But professional podcasting, that's what we are.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you like how I did that.

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Speaker 4: Always always bump up your resumes, always, but you can

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Speaker 4: live that life. The thing that I noticed though tonight especially,

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Speaker 4: and I actually think last year's defense was really solid

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Speaker 4: at getting off the field on third down, like, they

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Speaker 4: didn't do any of the really flashy things that creating turnovers,

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Speaker 4: the getting sacks, but they were really solid at getting

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Speaker 4: teams in the third and long and then getting off

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Speaker 4: the field on third agree there and tonight you got

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Speaker 4: the Chiefs into a lot of third down situations. But

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Speaker 4: in the first staff they were five of eight I

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Speaker 4: believe on third down, and really they were.

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Speaker 3: Five of six.

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Speaker 4: At one point in the second half they were one

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Speaker 4: of six, So really it's kind of like one of

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Speaker 4: eight once whatever switch they flipped got flipped. But if

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Speaker 4: you're going to be in a lot of those third

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Speaker 4: down situations, if teams are converting those against you, ultimately

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Speaker 4: you're gonna end up playing against a team that's gonna

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Speaker 4: have these long, seventy five yard drives fifteen twelve play

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Speaker 4: drives that eat up a lot of clock.

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Speaker 3: The key there is.

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Speaker 4: To get a sack in a negative play that then

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Speaker 4: puts them in a second and fourteen or a third

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Speaker 4: and nine and gives you an opportunity or to get turnovers.

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Speaker 4: And we saw that justin Simmons interception on the Chief's

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Speaker 4: first drive. To me, that's what the Falcons kind of

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Speaker 4: need a little bit it's a missing piece to this defense,

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Speaker 4: is that that package or those turnovers are a more

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Speaker 4: consistent rate.

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Speaker 5: I was looking at the quarter by quarter breakdown for

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Speaker 5: time of possession, and the first one was surprisingly closer

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Speaker 5: than what I thought.

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Speaker 1: Upon initial look.

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Speaker 5: But it was I can't remember off the top of

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Speaker 5: my head, but it wasn't ascute as the others.

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Speaker 1: Still, the Chiefs took the nod.

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Speaker 5: Second quarter was more like eleven in change versus three

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Speaker 5: in change again with the Chiefs. Third quarter was the

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Speaker 5: exact same as that, still like double digit versus single digit,

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Speaker 5: Chiefs taking the nod. But then in the fourth quarter

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Speaker 5: it reversed and the Falcons had the eleven in change

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Speaker 5: the Chiefs had three in change. So it's kind of

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Speaker 5: like there was that late clicking, but that last circling

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Speaker 5: back to your original promptory. Yeah, that offensive drive just

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Speaker 5: couldn't turn points to the board.

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Speaker 2: Here's the thing, is like we're talking about this time

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Speaker 2: of possession stuff, and it almost feels like a tale

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Speaker 2: of third down, Like two tales of third down.

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Speaker 1: The Chiefs were.

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Speaker 2: Able to convert on their third downs, especially early. The

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Speaker 2: Falcons have not over there over the course of three

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Speaker 2: games been able to convert their third down. So this

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Speaker 2: is the third game in a row that they are

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Speaker 2: two of nine on third down, exactly exactly three in

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Speaker 2: a row.

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Speaker 1: I looked it up, and that's something that.

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Speaker 2: So originally because I've looked at this against the Steelers

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Speaker 2: in Week one, you're talking about a there were a

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Speaker 2: lot of third and ten plus moments that was a

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Speaker 2: huge problem with they were in third and long, obvious

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Speaker 2: passing down situations, tjy off the edge, ears pin backed,

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Speaker 2: ready to go.

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Speaker 1: That was the problem.

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Speaker 2: The last two games, though, it's been a lot more

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Speaker 2: of these like third and manageables.

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Speaker 1: So you're talking third and three, third and four. I

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Speaker 1: know last week I looked at it.

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Speaker 2: There were a few, I want to say there were

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Speaker 2: three or four third and four situations that the Falcons

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Speaker 2: were not able to convert against Philly. I'm gonna look

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Speaker 2: at third downs tomorrow and we get the all twenty

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Speaker 2: two and kind of really break it down.

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Speaker 1: But when you go to of nine on third down.

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Speaker 2: You're gonna struggle to string drives together, and so you're

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Speaker 2: gonna have these shortened drives.

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Speaker 4: I mean it just you need to hit explosives. Still,

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Speaker 4: you're gonna do that, and the drives that they scored

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Speaker 4: on it's fifty yard. I mean I kind of thought

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Speaker 4: that the Ray Ray McCloud little jet sweep.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I liked that.

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Speaker 4: I loved it and thought I thought that that was

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Speaker 4: gonna be like, Okay, you got an explosive on this drive.

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Speaker 4: When that happens, your likelihood of scoring goes way up.

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Speaker 4: But the issue, to your point, Taran, the Chiefs controlled

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Speaker 4: the middle two quarters of this game, and the Falcons

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Speaker 4: when they found themselves down twenty two seventeen, were unfortunately

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Speaker 4: no longer in a position to be able to kick

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Speaker 4: field goals. Right, So you you got that explosive, but

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Speaker 4: it wasn't a touchdown. And then what did the Chiefs do?

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Speaker 4: They got you back into the third and short, you know,

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Speaker 4: fourth and short in some instances, and that is where

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Speaker 4: you know it's early in the season, right. An offense

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Speaker 4: is three because the preseason wasn't really a factor for

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Speaker 4: all these guys playing together. It's still a cohesive mix

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Speaker 4: that I think they're trying to find. And you're trying

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Speaker 4: to do that against a Pittsburgh defense that I think

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Speaker 4: is going to end up being one of the best

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Speaker 4: in the league. They usually are an Eagles team that

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Speaker 4: we know how good they they have been and you

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Speaker 4: know remains to be seen this year. But the Chiefs

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Speaker 4: are back to back Super Bowl champions, right, So you're

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Speaker 4: trying to find that that mix against really good teams.

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Speaker 4: And honestly, like I kind of think that the more

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Speaker 4: distance we get from this game, people might start feeling a.

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Speaker 3: Little bit better about this loss.

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Speaker 4: Because again, if you had said you're going to go

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Speaker 4: one and one against the Eagles and the Chiefs when

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Speaker 4: we all got the schedule.

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Speaker 3: You'll take it like you would take that. And these

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Speaker 3: were how of the wired games.

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Speaker 4: I mean, people were upset that this was a loss

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Speaker 4: and just three weeks ago like that in and of itself,

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Speaker 4: there aren't any moral victories in the NFL.

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Speaker 1: But I think that what sticks with you is that

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Speaker 1: it just goes to show.

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Speaker 2: I think how collectively this roster is performing early.

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Speaker 1: You've even in a loss.

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Speaker 2: Going back to your point about there's no moral victories,

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Speaker 2: even in a loss, you do feel better about the

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Speaker 2: trajectory of this group. Now, health is going to be

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Speaker 2: a big factor in that. As we saw today, nothing

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Speaker 2: against Door Norton, nothing against Ryan Neuzl, I think they

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Speaker 2: thought they came in and performed as well as they

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Speaker 2: could have, but that seeing what happens with Drew Dommond,

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Speaker 2: seeing what happens with Kaylea McGary, making sure that you

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Speaker 2: keep everybody on this defensive side healthy, knock on wood,

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Speaker 2: the Falcons.

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Speaker 4: Have been pretty a right. Yeah, injuries are starting to

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Speaker 4: become a little bit of right.

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Speaker 2: And that's going to be a factor in it, and

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Speaker 2: something that I think this is a statement that Kirk

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Speaker 2: Cousins made that I feel like is the crux of

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Speaker 2: where this team is right now. Where he said he

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Speaker 2: was like, you feel like you snatch defeat from the

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Speaker 2: jaws of victory, which is the inverse of the actual quote,

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Speaker 2: where it's like you feel like you snatched victory from

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Speaker 2: the jaws of defeat. He did the opposite, And I

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Speaker 2: thought that was so well said because of the fact

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Speaker 2: that the Falcons have had every opportunity to beat the Chiefs.

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Speaker 1: They really truly did.

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Speaker 2: They didn't get it done on a fourth and inches play.

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Speaker 2: And even though we're sitting here talking about the loss,

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Speaker 2: and even though we're talking about the issues and all

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Speaker 2: that kind of stuff, it's to play down to the

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Speaker 2: wire with a team like that is not something that

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Speaker 2: I feel like, if I'm being completely honest, would have

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Speaker 2: been the case in the last few years. I feel

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Speaker 2: like you have to give credit where credit is due

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Speaker 2: to this defense. For even when Patrick Mahomes would leak

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Speaker 2: out and even when Rice or Kelsey or Gosh even

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Speaker 2: steal he ran the ball very well. Not like who

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Speaker 2: knew that was going to be such a big part

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Speaker 2: of the game.

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Speaker 1: But I don't know.

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Speaker 2: I feel like, even though we're talking about all this,

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Speaker 2: there's still some hope to hold on to. And I

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Speaker 2: remember saying even before we got into these games into

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Speaker 2: the season, I was like, if you can go two

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Speaker 2: and two in.

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Speaker 1: The first four weeks of the season, you'll take it.

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Speaker 1: That's absolutely cool. You'll be good with that.

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Speaker 4: So the more importantly, if your two wins come against

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Speaker 4: NFC opponents.

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Speaker 2: Yes, even better, even better. So the Falcons have the

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Speaker 2: Saints on deck. But I mean, I don't know where

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Speaker 2: to go from here. But I don't know, Taran, when

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Speaker 2: you look at let's just look at the defense and

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Speaker 2: the bright spot it's been for the last three weeks weeks.

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Speaker 1: Are you sold on.

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Speaker 2: This unit's ability to be consistent in what we've seen

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Speaker 2: from them over three weeks time.

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Speaker 5: Oh, it takes a lot to fully sell me, but

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Speaker 5: I have been pleased with what the defense has done

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Speaker 5: in these three weeks. And I feel like this storyline

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Speaker 5: out of this game is very similar to that of

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Speaker 5: week one, where we're like, the defense did its job,

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Speaker 5: offense just fell short.

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Speaker 1: So you have that in the back of your pocket.

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Speaker 5: But at the same time, it would be more beneficial

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Speaker 5: to see, like we were talking about better third down

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Speaker 5: stoppage or more turnovers. Like us, you have seen two

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Speaker 5: interceptions and that's great, but you still want to see more.

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Speaker 5: You want to you always want to see more, And

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Speaker 5: I think it just comes down to shortening the drives

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Speaker 5: and making sure that like they're remaining fresh out there

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Speaker 5: because it is going to get exhausting. Yeah, and you

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Speaker 5: do talk about like if injuries start to accumulate, that's

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Speaker 5: another thing to keep in mind because not everyone is

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Speaker 5: equipped to handle those sixteen seventeen, eighteen nineteen twenty play

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Speaker 5: drives that we saw tonight.

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Speaker 6: Today's episode of Falcons Final Whistle is brought to you

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Speaker 6: by Zaxby's. And after a long game, when I'm tired

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Speaker 6: and I need to refuel. I turned to Zaxbies their

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Speaker 6: marinated handbreaded fried to perfection chicken fingers. They hit the

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Speaker 6: spot every time. Get yours with seasoned crinkle fries, a

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00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:32,600
Speaker 6: nice drink in whichever of their twelve signature sauces you're

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Speaker 6: feeling at the moment, but it always hits just right.

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Speaker 6: So next time you need to refuel, go get yourself

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Speaker 6: some Zaxbies.

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Speaker 2: Well we've obviously seen the impact of Justin Simmons and

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Speaker 2: Jesse Bates pretty clearly over the course of these first

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Speaker 2: three games, but is there anyone else on defense that

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Speaker 2: that kind of sticks out to you?

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Speaker 3: I actually thought Mike Hughes had a pretty good game.

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Speaker 1: Something he did. He had a series that I was like, dang, okay, my.

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Speaker 3: Yeah he played.

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Speaker 4: I thought like tenacious that Ajterrell was somebody who And

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Speaker 4: obviously I didn't watch the game live because sipping cappuccinos

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Speaker 4: and just.

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Speaker 3: In Italy.

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Speaker 4: Yeah no, today, I was very much present and not

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Speaker 4: in Italy. Thank you for reminding me. But yeah, I

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Speaker 4: was really impressed with Ajterrell kind of rewatching that Eagles

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Speaker 4: game because of the physicality and you just played downhill

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Speaker 4: and hit people like Devonte Smith every time he got

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Speaker 4: the ball, just Aj was right there to whack him,

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Speaker 4: and that was kind of the feeling I got from

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Speaker 4: my cues, and early on he nearly came away with

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Speaker 4: an interception in the end zone. So I think that

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Speaker 4: the the play of the secondary really has been kind

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Speaker 4: of the story defensively to me so far this season,

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Speaker 4: and that is where I think the missing piece for

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Speaker 4: this defense right now is really just those negative plays

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Speaker 4: of the line of scrimmage.

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Speaker 3: If you can just get.

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Speaker 4: Some more of those where you're stringing the running back

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Speaker 4: along for a two yard loss as he runs out

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Speaker 4: of bounds, or getting the quarterback down on the turf

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Speaker 4: for a five year old like that's really when I

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Speaker 4: think this defense is gonna hum. But to have my

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Speaker 4: cues step up today in a game where the Chiefs

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Speaker 4: offense didn't look nearly as explosive as they usually.

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Speaker 1: Do now they were.

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Speaker 2: I was shocked with how many screens they were running.

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Speaker 2: They were kind of dinking in and they were danking

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Speaker 2: and dunking. And that's something you saw Jalen Hurts do

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Speaker 2: in Philadelphia. It's something you knew that the Steelers were

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Speaker 2: going to do because Arthur Smith said I'm not throwing

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Speaker 2: it around day secondary. It is very very obvious that

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Speaker 2: at this point in time, we're three games in. Who

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Speaker 2: knows what the Saints will do, who knows what will

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Speaker 2: happen in the future, but we're three games in and

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Speaker 2: it's very obvious that offensive coordinators and opposing quarterbacks are

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Speaker 2: not really wanting to go downfield against this secondary.

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Speaker 1: And I don't know, And maybe it's also.

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Speaker 4: Be the three game thing where just early in the season,

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Speaker 4: offenses are not taking as much as you're kind of like,

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Speaker 4: all right, take the easy yards, let's get in the rhythm.

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Speaker 4: Let's do that, and maybe come week twelve, like we're

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Speaker 4: seeing a different thing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so far that's been the case. Again, well, well.

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Speaker 4: The Saints will be a great test next week, right,

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Speaker 4: like she heed Derek Carr, like their offense has been

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Speaker 4: humming all season long. It wasn't today against the Eagles,

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Speaker 4: which was fun to watch.

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Speaker 3: It was.

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Speaker 4: It was really nice, honestly to be able to watch

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Speaker 4: in one o'clock games. I don't know about y'all, but

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Speaker 4: get the red zone channel going.

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Speaker 2: I don't know, if we were playing at one o'clock,

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Speaker 2: I would not be up at one am.

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Speaker 1: So there is the offset. One PM is primetime for journalists.

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Speaker 2: Oh man, but no, we I don't know. I I

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Speaker 2: go back and forth. It'll be one of those things

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Speaker 2: that we'll see kind of where this defense goes from here.

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Speaker 2: It's already doing things very well. There are just still

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Speaker 2: some things that they still want to clean up. There's

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Speaker 2: a lot of leaking, that's how happening. And to your

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Speaker 2: point where if they're they're kind of the one thing

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Speaker 2: that's missing is these tackle for losses and negative plays

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Speaker 2: and like key moments. But then you have but then

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Speaker 2: the the inverse of that is that you have Jesse

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Speaker 2: Bates getting a hand on the ball and third down

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Speaker 2: and knocking it away from Travis Kelcey, Like that was great, right,

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Speaker 2: Like there are certain there are these moments and you

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Speaker 2: have that you look at this defense and you're like, oh,

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Speaker 2: there's the big play.

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Speaker 1: And I even tweeted, I was like, you gotta give

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Speaker 1: credit where credit is due.

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Speaker 2: To this defense where it's not perfect and they're stringing

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Speaker 2: together opponents are stringing together long drives. But when when

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Speaker 2: push comes to shove and when they're in the clutch

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Speaker 2: and it really really matters, like they show up.

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Speaker 1: They show up every time they do.

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Speaker 4: But to your point about kind of the leaky yards,

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Speaker 4: it's like they're doing the hard stuff. They're like acing

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Speaker 4: the most difficult the mid term in the final and

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Speaker 4: then they're like kind of getting the weekly exams minus is.

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Speaker 3: And C plus's on. Yeah, you're like weekly quizzes. Right.

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Speaker 4: It's the arm tackles and allowing three you know, the

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Speaker 4: running back to get by three defenders before somebody finally

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Speaker 4: gets them down and what should have been maybe a

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Speaker 4: three yard game turns into an eight yard game.

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Speaker 1: Right, which is exactly what we're talking about in week one.

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Speaker 3: It's the details.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's those little things where filling the right gap,

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Speaker 4: like swarming to the ball, which they are doing those things,

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Speaker 4: but then making the play when you get there.

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Speaker 5: Right, Okay, but they're not taking as many shots downfield?

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Speaker 5: Do you think that where you just are seeing this

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Speaker 5: because the quantity of shorter plays is higher, if that

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Speaker 5: makes sense, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 3: I don't know how you have one without the other.

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Speaker 4: If they're if the shorter plays are higher, you are

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Speaker 4: not taking the deep shot.

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Speaker 5: It's like no, no, no, I get what you're saying, but

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Speaker 5: I'm like, now that we're critiquing this not getting the

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Speaker 5: negative yardages and like the tackles for loss. Do you

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Speaker 5: think we're just noticing it more because there are so

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Speaker 5: many more opportunities for it.

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Speaker 4: Oh, I got like what could be if they were

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Speaker 4: making these plays? You know, I still think kind of

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Speaker 4: the the negative plays and the minimizing the positive plays

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Speaker 4: are two different things. Right to me, If you're if

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Speaker 4: Kaden Ellis is coming off the edge and tackling Pa

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Speaker 4: Checko or steal like in the backfield for a two

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Speaker 4: yard loss, that's a little bit different than him making

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Speaker 4: the play like two yards beyond the line is like

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Speaker 4: them gaining two yards and only two yards instead of

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Speaker 4: six yards, right. Like, one is a good play for

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Speaker 4: the defense doing its job. The other is a great

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Speaker 4: play for the defense forcing the offense to like not

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Speaker 4: do anything close.

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Speaker 3: To what I wanted to do. And I would love

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Speaker 3: to see both.

445
00:21:46,119 --> 00:21:50,000
Speaker 4: I'd love to see them clean up the average play

446
00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,359
Speaker 4: and hold hold those yards like right stop them like

447
00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,040
Speaker 4: upon contact. I would be really curious to see what

448
00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:59,520
Speaker 4: the yards after contacts are for Kansas City's offense in

449
00:21:59,520 --> 00:21:59,960
Speaker 4: this game.

450
00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:03,120
Speaker 2: Well, I think I saw something on next Gen that

451
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:09,040
Speaker 2: Rice's particular Rashid Rice was significantly he had. I don't

452
00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:12,200
Speaker 2: want to say this is fact, but I'm like ninety

453
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:14,800
Speaker 2: percent sure that I saw that he has the most

454
00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:18,160
Speaker 2: yards after catch of any player in the league right now.

455
00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:18,679
Speaker 3: Wow.

456
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm pretty positive I saw that on next Gen

457
00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:24,960
Speaker 2: stats earlier tonight. But that's that's beside the point. We

458
00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:27,040
Speaker 2: need to morect I am correct.

459
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:29,439
Speaker 5: Leads all players in yards after to catch this season

460
00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:32,520
Speaker 5: with two hundred, leads all wide receivers in most and

461
00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:34,440
Speaker 5: missed tackles forced with nine.

462
00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:37,639
Speaker 1: I mean, that was that was obvious tonight. It really was.

463
00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:40,360
Speaker 1: He was. He was that. The Patrick Mahomes and.

464
00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:44,480
Speaker 2: Rice connection and what they were able to do with

465
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,320
Speaker 2: some of their screens and different stuff like that, to

466
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:48,520
Speaker 2: me was very very obvious.

467
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:49,879
Speaker 1: So thank you Term for playing.

468
00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:52,600
Speaker 5: So much work in the Travis Kelce Patrick Mahomes stat story.

469
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:56,320
Speaker 5: Only he didn't even go for him four receptions only.

470
00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:58,800
Speaker 1: Hey, you know they they minimize that. I think that's

471
00:22:58,800 --> 00:22:59,080
Speaker 1: a win.

472
00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:02,360
Speaker 2: So we need to wrap up because I think we're

473
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:04,920
Speaker 2: all tired, but we we do need to give game

474
00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:07,639
Speaker 2: balls out. Even though I'm under the firm belief that

475
00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:09,439
Speaker 2: you don't get a game ball unless you win, but

476
00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:11,840
Speaker 2: Will says that we have to give game balls, So

477
00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:13,000
Speaker 2: we're giving game balls.

478
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:17,000
Speaker 3: What does it matter what I say?

479
00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:21,680
Speaker 1: So Will, I will let you go first. Who are

480
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:22,680
Speaker 1: you giving your game ball to?

481
00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:26,680
Speaker 4: You know, I know, I know Justin Simmons got the interception,

482
00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:29,960
Speaker 4: but it's still Jesse Bates for me, Like he You're

483
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,080
Speaker 4: like okay, yeah, like cool, cool, Justin doing a couple

484
00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:35,640
Speaker 4: more times, like Jesse is just so much fun to watch.

485
00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:38,520
Speaker 4: There was a play where I think it was either

486
00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:40,840
Speaker 4: third or fourth down, but again, like it doesn't matter.

487
00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:43,879
Speaker 4: The end results still the same where he like walked

488
00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:47,320
Speaker 4: over to AJ and was literally kind of like, it

489
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:49,879
Speaker 4: was so loud in here. First off, we should shout

490
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:54,680
Speaker 4: out the fans, the crowd. It was it felt like

491
00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:57,160
Speaker 4: Taylor a playoff game.

492
00:23:57,400 --> 00:23:59,880
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, don't remind me I was upset by that.

493
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:02,400
Speaker 3: Well, I will say, why we can't have nice things?

494
00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:03,280
Speaker 1: I've covered?

495
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:08,359
Speaker 2: I have covered my fair share of Falcons games. This

496
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:11,680
Speaker 2: may have been the best environment of any Falcons game

497
00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:16,959
Speaker 2: I have covered in the last four years. Granted, one

498
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,800
Speaker 2: of those years was COVID the other one was still

499
00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:23,080
Speaker 2: COVID protocols, So we're just going off the last two years,

500
00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:27,480
Speaker 2: but this was the first true game where I felt

501
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:31,600
Speaker 2: like there was a home field advantage for the Falcons.

502
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:34,640
Speaker 4: It felt like Week two of the twenty seventeen season

503
00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:38,880
Speaker 4: when they opened the when they opened Mercedes ben Stadium

504
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:43,120
Speaker 4: against Green Bay, and that was a great game. Again,

505
00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:46,159
Speaker 4: the Falcons are coming off of that crazy season in

506
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:48,480
Speaker 4: twenty sixteen. The Packers or the Packer like it was

507
00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:51,639
Speaker 4: a heavyweight fight and towels were waving, like right, it

508
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:54,520
Speaker 4: was so great. But anyway, like on that I think

509
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:56,919
Speaker 4: it was fourth down and it's so loud and you

510
00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,639
Speaker 4: can kind of see Patrick Mahomes trying to audible and

511
00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:01,080
Speaker 4: ease out. We'll walk up to all the line and

512
00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:04,280
Speaker 4: Jesse just like walks over to AJ's rel and like

513
00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:06,159
Speaker 4: just kind of whispered something to him and then like

514
00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:09,560
Speaker 4: walked back nonchalantly to his thing. And immediately you saw

515
00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:14,200
Speaker 4: that Aj jumped a screen or a slant so hard

516
00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:16,520
Speaker 4: that he I almost thought he was gonna get like

517
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:19,840
Speaker 4: an illegal contact penalty, but it was within five yards.

518
00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:22,199
Speaker 4: But he ran the route for the receiver and it

519
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:24,680
Speaker 4: was on that play that then Pat had to come

520
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,240
Speaker 4: off of that read and that's when Jesse broke up

521
00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:30,640
Speaker 4: the past to Travis Kelcey. So it was like, even

522
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:32,600
Speaker 4: in these little ways when we were talking about the

523
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,280
Speaker 4: secondary looking sharp and guys being in the right position.

524
00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:38,000
Speaker 4: I just think Jesse has so much to do with that,

525
00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:41,280
Speaker 4: with the way he's coordinating and conducting everything in year

526
00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:44,160
Speaker 4: two here that he is so impressive to watch week

527
00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:44,640
Speaker 4: in week out.

528
00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,600
Speaker 2: The first thing that Terry Fonto ever said about Jesse

529
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:49,960
Speaker 2: Bates after they acquired him is that he makes the

530
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:53,040
Speaker 2: people around him better, exactly, And that's exactly what you

531
00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:55,960
Speaker 2: see him do play in and play out the gamery

532
00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:59,400
Speaker 2: and space Jim there, you gosh, making everybody around him better, right.

533
00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:03,920
Speaker 1: Exactly, exactly? All right, tarn who is getting your game ball?

534
00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:06,560
Speaker 1: I'm going to give it to the man. Will jypped

535
00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:08,920
Speaker 1: Justin Simmons.

536
00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:13,040
Speaker 5: I just think it's absolutely wild that he has intercepted

537
00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:18,480
Speaker 5: Patrick Mahomes six times, and no other defender in the nation,

538
00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,919
Speaker 5: in the universe has intercepted him more than twice.

539
00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:25,600
Speaker 1: That is crazy players who have intercepted Patrick Mahomes.

540
00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:28,719
Speaker 5: Patrick Mahomes twice, but like Justin is the only one

541
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:30,320
Speaker 5: who has done it more than twice, and it's six

542
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:34,200
Speaker 5: times of his sixty seven interceptions thrown.

543
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:36,879
Speaker 1: And that's crazy, that's crazy. Shut off.

544
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:38,639
Speaker 5: He's like, well, I played him twice a year, so

545
00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:42,639
Speaker 5: it's just like overexposure, whatever you want to call it.

546
00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:44,880
Speaker 1: It was like, Okay, more opportunities.

547
00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:46,720
Speaker 5: I don't think you don't think that's the case because

548
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,080
Speaker 5: there were how many other teams that did that too, right, Yeah,

549
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:51,800
Speaker 5: So I just think it was a good moment for him.

550
00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:54,479
Speaker 1: It was it got exciting in here, and yeah, that's all.

551
00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:56,240
Speaker 1: Otherwise I'm gonna be it to Joey Chestnut.

552
00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,760
Speaker 2: Joey, that was awful. Sorry, Jeg chests Nant. But for

553
00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:02,760
Speaker 2: the who were in, for those who were in attendance,

554
00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:07,760
Speaker 2: Arthur Blank was inducted into the Falcons, I know at halftime,

555
00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:11,960
Speaker 2: and so in honor of that, Mercedesman Stadium partnered with

556
00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:15,960
Speaker 2: Levy to give fans free hot dogs.

557
00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:19,760
Speaker 1: Thousand hot dogs. There you go. Tarn had a vegan

558
00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:21,560
Speaker 1: hot dog two.

559
00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:25,719
Speaker 2: But so at one point I think this was like

560
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:30,960
Speaker 2: in the second quarter, they did a Joey Chestnut eating

561
00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:32,600
Speaker 2: hot dogs.

562
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:33,720
Speaker 3: Against Arthur Blanking.

563
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:40,120
Speaker 2: No, no, let's not put that out in the universe. No,

564
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:44,000
Speaker 2: And it was you know, I appreciate someone, you know,

565
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,200
Speaker 2: being good at their craft, but like that was so gross,

566
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:47,960
Speaker 2: the fact that.

567
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:51,760
Speaker 5: He chugged a beer after demolishing what like six hot

568
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:53,000
Speaker 5: dogs and a slice of pizza.

569
00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:55,920
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, respect, but keep it away

570
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:56,199
Speaker 1: from me.

571
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:00,879
Speaker 3: Can get away from it?

572
00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 5: Fil game ball to Justin Simmons, fake game, fake game ball,

573
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:06,240
Speaker 5: the hot.

574
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:10,199
Speaker 1: Dog Joey Chestnut. All right, well, I think that's going

575
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:11,800
Speaker 1: to do it for us. You got a tiebreak.

576
00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:15,800
Speaker 3: Okay, you know what I'll do.

577
00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,880
Speaker 2: The guy who helped cause both of the interceptions over

578
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,960
Speaker 2: the last two weeks, Kayden Ellis. He got the pressure

579
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:27,040
Speaker 2: on Jalen Hurts to cause the Jesse Bates interception. He

580
00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:29,400
Speaker 2: got the pressure on Patrick Mahomes to cause the Justin

581
00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:32,439
Speaker 2: Simmons interception. So I'll give it to Kayden. I like

582
00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,600
Speaker 2: what they're doing with him from a schematic standpoint. I

583
00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:38,400
Speaker 2: talked to Jimmy Lake about that this week and how

584
00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:42,160
Speaker 2: they can use him and his versatility, and Jimmy said,

585
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:44,360
Speaker 2: he's like, you're gonna see him all over the place,

586
00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:47,280
Speaker 2: And I think you saw that tonight and I'm really.

587
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:49,000
Speaker 1: Looking forward to seeing more of that.

588
00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:51,600
Speaker 2: I don't know, I'm a big fan, big fan of that,

589
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:55,719
Speaker 2: big fan of versatility. So let's wrap up. The Falcons

590
00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:58,640
Speaker 2: are back home next week. We're not going anywhere to

591
00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:01,600
Speaker 2: face technically this week. Technically this week is not Monday,

592
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:05,080
Speaker 2: now Monday to face the New Orleans Saints. This if

593
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:10,400
Speaker 2: y'all remember when we did our pre week one podcast

594
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:15,080
Speaker 2: and we'll ask us prediction, superlatives, all those things. He asked,

595
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:18,920
Speaker 2: which game do we think was going to be the

596
00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:21,720
Speaker 2: biggest game of the year, and I picked Week four

597
00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:25,160
Speaker 2: at home against the Saints. The Saints are coming in

598
00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,760
Speaker 2: two and one, the Falcons are going into it one

599
00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:29,160
Speaker 2: and two.

600
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:33,280
Speaker 1: But honestly, none of that matters.

601
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:35,040
Speaker 3: Throw the records out the windows.

602
00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:37,240
Speaker 2: To throw the records out the window, because when the

603
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:40,280
Speaker 2: Saints and Falcons meet, it doesn't matter who is up,

604
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,240
Speaker 2: who's down. It's going to be a battle every single time.

605
00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:45,800
Speaker 2: I for one, really excited about it. We love a

606
00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:47,920
Speaker 2: good rivalry. But it's the first.

607
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 1: Division game, which is a nice one PM kick.

608
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:56,400
Speaker 4: Yeah, Hey, Justin Simmons. Lot of familiarity in Strek Carr

609
00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:58,480
Speaker 4: as well. True AFC West quarterback.

610
00:29:58,560 --> 00:29:59,160
Speaker 1: True true.

611
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:01,480
Speaker 2: Now, the Saints Bucks suffered their first loss of this

612
00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:05,240
Speaker 2: season this weekend. The Panthers actually got their first win

613
00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:11,440
Speaker 2: such we actually new quarterback Andy Dalton. So a lot

614
00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:14,480
Speaker 2: going on in the NFC South and we're going to

615
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:18,720
Speaker 2: be here till the end to figure out exactly what

616
00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:20,640
Speaker 2: goes on in the NFC South and how this thing

617
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:23,480
Speaker 2: shakes out. But that's going to do it for tonight.

618
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:25,560
Speaker 2: Thank you guys for joining us on the Falcons Final

619
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:29,440
Speaker 2: Whistle podcast. For Will who's back from Italy, Tarn who's

620
00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:32,440
Speaker 2: back from eating her two vegan hot dogs, and for

621
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:35,920
Speaker 2: myself it's toy. We will see you guys later in

622
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:39,160
Speaker 2: the week to break down a very very important rivalry

623
00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:42,160
Speaker 2: matchup coming up in week four with the Saints coming

624
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:42,520
Speaker 2: to town.

625
00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:44,720
Speaker 1: See ya