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

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Speaker 1: Falcons Final Whistle Podcast. I'm Scott Bear alongside Tory mclaney

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Speaker 1: and drum roll. Please to actually what you want me

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Speaker 1: to do? It was just like a pause for dramatic affect.

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Speaker 1: But I feel it's better, he said, I gave you

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Speaker 1: that a good yeah. And and that that voice that

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Speaker 1: you just heard that you don't recognize is the one

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Speaker 1: of Ashton Edmonds, third and brand new member of the

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Speaker 1: Falcons Digital slash editorial team. He's going to be right in,

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Speaker 1: tons of big features for us, lots of great beat coverage, yes,

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Speaker 1: and is graduating from North freaking Western yet a couple

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Speaker 1: more weeks. So, so we have a couple big announcements

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Speaker 1: on this podcast and now, and the first one is

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Speaker 1: the fact that Ashton's joining us full time. We're so stoked.

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Speaker 1: Tell Falcons fans kind of where you come from and

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Speaker 1: how you ended up here. Yeah, man, I'm from So,

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Speaker 1: I'm from Florida, Pensacola, Florida born and raised. UM moved

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Speaker 1: to Pittsburgh for a few years and then moved back

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Speaker 1: to Florida to Tallahassee, and UM then my undergrad years

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Speaker 1: at Clark Atlanta, So I'm very familiar with the Atlanta area,

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Speaker 1: literally walking distance from Mercedes Been So, um, this is

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Speaker 1: truly a full circle moment for me. Um. And just

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Speaker 1: to be back here in Atlanta. You know, I grew

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Speaker 1: up watching Michael Vick, Roddy White, Um, you know, Matt Ryan,

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Speaker 1: all of them guys, and and just to be back

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Speaker 1: here in this space is truly a blessing. So I'm

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Speaker 1: happy to be here. Man. Yeah, well, and now you're

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Speaker 1: getting ready to tell stories about Marcus Mariota d Terrell

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Speaker 1: and uh, what are your first initial impressions of how

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Speaker 1: this Falcons team kind of looks now that you've got

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Speaker 1: a chance to meet Terry Fonton now and Arthur Smiths. Yes,

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Speaker 1: those guys. Now, I think this team is really great.

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Speaker 1: I think the new pieces that they added on this

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Speaker 1: roster is going to be amazing. It's a relatively young team,

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Speaker 1: so they have a lot of potential to grow to

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Speaker 1: build around these guys. And um, you know, I think

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Speaker 1: the defense is probably like one of the biggest stands

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Speaker 1: out to me, especially the secondary room with you know,

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Speaker 1: Casey Hayward and A. J. Turrell and Richie Grant and

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Speaker 1: all of them, guys. Um, I think the defense is

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Speaker 1: going to do really good this season. So and Terry,

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Speaker 1: he's amazing, He's amazing, all all of Arthur Um, just

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Speaker 1: the whole just the whole team. Man. I'm you know,

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Speaker 1: they're really great. Please find the Man on Twitter and

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Speaker 1: Instagram at a eleven ye, a couple underscores, two underscores,

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Speaker 1: two Underscores's key follow the man. Gosh, you've already got

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Speaker 1: three hundred plus followers. Man. Every day, every day it's

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Speaker 1: like five new followers shout out to Falcons fans. Man, yeah, man,

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Speaker 1: keep it coming. And something else that's super exciting that's

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Speaker 1: coming down the pike. Tory mcelhaney is going to be

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Speaker 1: co hosting. Oh yeah, I didn't know where you were

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Speaker 1: going with this. I was like, there's nothing going yeah,

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Speaker 1: I like to keep you in the dark, I say

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Speaker 1: on our toes. But nonetheless, Fridays at midnight throughout the

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Speaker 1: course of the season, Tory maclaney Kelly Price are going

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Speaker 1: to be hosting Rise Up Tonight. There's tons of exclusive

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Speaker 1: Falcons content. I'm staring at Tory mclaney right now. You

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Speaker 1: can't see her, but she's like seriously giddy with excitement.

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Speaker 1: We're also stoked for her big announcement came on Good

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Speaker 1: Day Atlanta. Yeah, this morning, tell us some more about it. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm really excited. We are the first, i think and

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Speaker 1: only female lad sports show it in the Atlanta market,

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Speaker 1: and that is something that is very very It's something

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Speaker 1: that I never really thought that I would do. TV

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Speaker 1: was never something that I really wanted to thought that

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Speaker 1: I wanted to venture into it all. But Kelly has

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Speaker 1: always been someone who's very much been in my corner

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Speaker 1: and she presented this opportunity to me, and she's like,

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Speaker 1: I think it would be great, and she's like, we're

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Speaker 1: kind of breaking ground the little bit here, and that

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Speaker 1: was something that was very very near and dear to

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Speaker 1: my heart. So I think I'm really excited. I'm like

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Speaker 1: sixty percent or sixty percent excited, forty percent nervous. I

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Speaker 1: feel like that's a good ratio. It's a great ratio.

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Speaker 1: It keeps you on your toes a little bit, like

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Speaker 1: you know, but I am really excited. And yes, um,

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Speaker 1: Friday nights at midnight, Kelly and I are gonna be

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Speaker 1: We're gonna be doing some hot takes, which is something

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Speaker 1: that Arthur Smith hates and that's kind of why we're

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Speaker 1: doing it like it right like, And then we're gonna

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Speaker 1: be going over some Falcons fits, which if y'll follow

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Speaker 1: me on Instagram, y'all know, y'all know how much I

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Speaker 1: love a good fit session, fit check, should I say?

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Speaker 1: And yeah, we're also going to get into like some

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Speaker 1: scheme stuff too. I mean, shoot, it's a football show,

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Speaker 1: so definitely gonna I think it's gonna be fun and

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Speaker 1: I'm really excited about it. So she's gonna be We're

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Speaker 1: all gonna be busy over the course of this football season,

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Speaker 1: righting the big long form features that you like, This

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Speaker 1: Falcon's final whistle is going to keep rolling throughout the

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Speaker 1: course of the seas in the offseason, you're gonna be

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Speaker 1: hearing and reading and seeing us quite a bit in

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Speaker 1: this market, I think it's fair to say. And with

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Speaker 1: lots of kind of hot takes, instant reaction. And now

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Speaker 1: that we're into training camp, we're into our second week

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Speaker 1: at training camp to flies when you're having fun and

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Speaker 1: I don't know what day it is. Yeah, Like that's

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Speaker 1: a thing with training camp that I don't think many

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Speaker 1: people like realize is like we actually have no idea

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Speaker 1: like what day of the week it is. We have

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Speaker 1: no concept of it, right, it's only because there's a

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Speaker 1: literal calendar in front of Yeah, Scott's cheating, don't let

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Speaker 1: employ that. I do know that it's Tuesday because it

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Speaker 1: says the word podcast on top of it. So that's

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Speaker 1: my clue. So over the course of the next twenty

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Speaker 1: five or so minutes, we're gonna break down our early

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Speaker 1: impressions of the Falcons in what is a very intriguing

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Speaker 1: training camp. Because there's so many position battles and so

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Speaker 1: many new faces around here, We're going to take a

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Speaker 1: look at some early camp standouts. We're obviously gonna have

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Speaker 1: to look at the line of scrimmage, most notably the

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Speaker 1: offensive line. We're also going to talk about a word

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Speaker 1: that Arthur Smith uses a lot that sounds like coachbeak,

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Speaker 1: but in this case is really really real, and that's competition.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's the competition is fierce and is heavy.

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Speaker 1: And of course we're gonna end up talking about quarterbacks

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Speaker 1: because you know, we gotta. It does seem essential. So

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Speaker 1: let's just hop right into it here. Let's talk a

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Speaker 1: little football and go with early impressions. Who's really stood

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Speaker 1: out to you, Tory over the course of this early

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Speaker 1: portion of training camp. I was going to be like

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Speaker 1: really off the wall and say somebody that like, no

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Speaker 1: one's really heard of, But then that would be wrong

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Speaker 1: of me, because no one has caught my eye like

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Speaker 1: Kyle Pitts has ye and I really truly think that

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Speaker 1: we are watching a We're watching a player that I

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Speaker 1: think is we always talk about Arthur smith saying that

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Speaker 1: he's always scratching the surface of what he can be

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Speaker 1: in this league, and I really do think, like just

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Speaker 1: watching him out there right now and just kind of

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Speaker 1: tearing some dbs up left and right on occasion some

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Speaker 1: linebackers up, I think that we are seeing something really

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Speaker 1: special in Kyle Pits. It's something that I think we

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Speaker 1: saw in year one that now I honestly feel like

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Speaker 1: we know Kyle Pits a lot better in year two.

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Speaker 1: I just feel like just looking at the guy that

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Speaker 1: we talked to like a couple of weeks into camp

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Speaker 1: last year versus the guy that we talked to now,

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Speaker 1: it is night and day with this guy, and I

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Speaker 1: think he understands that he is one of the primary

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Speaker 1: phases of this franchise in a year that is very,

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Speaker 1: very transitional in a lot of different ways, and just

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Speaker 1: seeing him out on the field and kind of being

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Speaker 1: a leader and seeing the physical attributes of which he has.

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Speaker 1: It was funny. My dad came to practice on Monday.

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Speaker 1: It was the first day of pads and the coach

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Speaker 1: mac out and so in the first one of the

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Speaker 1: first things he says, Kyle Pitts was working with Justin Peel,

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Speaker 1: who's the tight ends coach, and he said, he's like, man,

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Speaker 1: he's like he's a specimen and he's like, he just

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Speaker 1: look He's like, he just looks different. And it's true.

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Speaker 1: I think a lot of people, like we talk about

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Speaker 1: Cole Pits a lot being such an important part of

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Speaker 1: this offense, but to just see him go out there

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Speaker 1: and do some of the physical things that he can

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Speaker 1: do on the field, it's really it's really stands out

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Speaker 1: in my mind. Yeah. I think the way he carries

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Speaker 1: himself too, that there's an air of confidence that definitely

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Speaker 1: isn't cocky now. He just has a real belief in himself.

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Speaker 1: And his last press conference, which I thought was really good,

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Speaker 1: he talked about finding his voice as a leader, maybe

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Speaker 1: not as a raw, raw guy, but just as a

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Speaker 1: way to encourage those under him. And I think he

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Speaker 1: understands and accepts the responsibility that's coming to him. He

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Speaker 1: knows he's gonna see double teams, he knows he's gonna

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Speaker 1: have to produce and score more than one touchdown. Maybe

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Speaker 1: he might be a good thing. Yeah, and maybe do

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Speaker 1: it on us soil. That's just I'm just throwing it

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Speaker 1: out there, right. Maybe Pro Bowl doesn't count. No, no,

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Speaker 1: it does not. And I will I will throw hands

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Speaker 1: with anybody who says differently. No, I won't. I'm scared.

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Speaker 1: But I do think though that all these things that

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Speaker 1: we're talking about with Kyle, um this it's it's fine

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Speaker 1: to bring him up as a standout here because he

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Speaker 1: looks he had Yeah, it looks comfortable. Yeah, And that's

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Speaker 1: really the key thing and the most fun matchup which

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Speaker 1: leads to Ashton standout is when Kyle Pitts goes up

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Speaker 1: against a cornerback that Ashton. Just being here for the

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Speaker 1: last two weeks, you're starting to see aj Terrell. Yes,

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Speaker 1: what are your thoughts kind of seeing this guy work

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Speaker 1: in practice and every day? Yeah, no, he this is

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Speaker 1: his third year. Um he looks very much confident, very

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Speaker 1: much comfortable in this defense. You can tell he's always

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Speaker 1: in the right place at the right time, and you

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Speaker 1: can tell he's starting to step up into that leadership role. UM,

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Speaker 1: and I think, you know, DMPs is looking towards him

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Speaker 1: to be a leader on this defense and especially in

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Speaker 1: the secondary UM and just playing alongside Casey Hayward, that's

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Speaker 1: going to develop his game tremendously. You know, Casey is

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Speaker 1: a veteran in the NFL, and you know, just playing

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Speaker 1: alongside him, UM, it's gonna be amazing. So AJ Terrell

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Speaker 1: has really been doing good and you know in training

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Speaker 1: camp and I'm super excited for him this season. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he just doesn't he just doesn't make mistakes. Here's the

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Speaker 1: thing about AJ is I think it's you talk about

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Speaker 1: him being in the right place at the right time.

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Speaker 1: That was something that I thought was very evident. On

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Speaker 1: Tuesday's practice. It was like this, there's there was a

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Speaker 1: play where Marcus Mariota launches the ball. I don't even

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Speaker 1: know who it was too bird, Yes, and it should

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Speaker 1: have been a touchdown. It should have been it should

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Speaker 1: have been a touchdown, and AJ just comes out of

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Speaker 1: the air and just barely second last second, barely tips it,

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Speaker 1: and it made it looked like this. It looked like

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Speaker 1: the easiest play that ever was. But to be able

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Speaker 1: to do that, like in that moment and to recognize

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Speaker 1: where he is and to have like the body control

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Speaker 1: to do what he did to make that play, I

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Speaker 1: was just like, dang, yeah, like the he's he's gonna

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Speaker 1: get his recognition this year. I really And his size

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Speaker 1: is amazing, Like he's a perfect size cornerback. I think

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Speaker 1: he can match up against smaller receivers, he can match

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Speaker 1: up against really tall receivers. And I think that's the

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Speaker 1: age that that ajorl has over a lot of people. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and he's just he's so consistent. Yeah, never too high,

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Speaker 1: too low. Always a tough test for Kyle Pittson, for um,

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Speaker 1: somebody that I want to bring up. Despite the fact

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Speaker 1: that Arthur Smith does not like complimenting rookies who haven't

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Speaker 1: done anything in the in the NFL at all, I

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Speaker 1: generally follow that same Fredo And I'm gonna go ahead

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Speaker 1: and break my own rule here and talk about Drake

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Speaker 1: London because over the course of this early training camp

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Speaker 1: period one, he looks physically bigger in person just standing

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Speaker 1: next to him. He's a big dude. He's a tough dude.

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Speaker 1: And the thing that impresses me the most is not

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Speaker 1: that he doesn't drop the ball or that he's made

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Speaker 1: plays downfield. He seems to have like a bag of

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Speaker 1: tricks to create separation. Yes, um, he'll he'll do a

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Speaker 1: small hesitation, or his footwork is precise enough where it

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Speaker 1: will it will get a defensive back to bite just

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Speaker 1: enough to create space for him to make the catch.

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Speaker 1: And him being consistent. I think him being dynamic in

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Speaker 1: that way is something that is really intriguing to me.

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Speaker 1: First year wide receivers, they don't all produce at the

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Speaker 1: level that they will eventually. Not everybody's justin Jefferson, right,

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Speaker 1: Who's going to come into the league and just do amazing.

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Speaker 1: But I really think that there's a good foundation here.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if he's gonna have a thousand yards.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if he's gonna be get votes for

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Speaker 1: Offensive Rookie of the Year, but I like what I'm

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Speaker 1: seeing now. I think he's an impressive player. And you

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Speaker 1: and we talk about Pits, right, he needs somebody to

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Speaker 1: take pressure off of him, And you talk about AJ,

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Speaker 1: and Drake needs to go up against AJ. AJ's still

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Speaker 1: win in most of those battles, right, but you need

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Speaker 1: him to be tested in that way. I think AJ's

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Speaker 1: being tested. I think that's a good thing. I think

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Speaker 1: Drake London is showing up early and it's at least

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Speaker 1: a positive sign that maybe he can show up in

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Speaker 1: September and October and be a force for this team

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Speaker 1: and really fit in with the scheme as well as

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Speaker 1: the Falcons think he can be. He was the first

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Speaker 1: receiver off the board. How many draftnicks were like, well,

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Speaker 1: they should have taken X, Y or Z, Garrett Wilson

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Speaker 1: or Chris literally anyone else. There are a lot of

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Speaker 1: people that are like, what in the world, Like this

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Speaker 1: doesn't make any sense, And it's like, but it makes

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Speaker 1: sense for what the Falcons want and need right now?

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Speaker 1: Thank you. You're welcome point for Tory right there. Um,

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Speaker 1: But the only way that these guys can operate is

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Speaker 1: if the line of scrimmage does its thing. Heyo, right,

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Speaker 1: how about that for a transition? I loved it, honestly.

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Speaker 1: But there are position battles across the offensive line. We

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Speaker 1: talk a lot about right tackle, center, left guard, right tackle.

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Speaker 1: We've seen Caleb McGarry be with the first team all

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Speaker 1: the time, Jermaine Nafetti be with the second team all

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Speaker 1: the time. The other two have not been that way.

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Speaker 1: Now we've seen Drew Dalman and Matt Hennessy rotate. They

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Speaker 1: and I will say this, they are rotating daily. Like

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Speaker 1: Arthur Smith made the comment on the very very first

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Speaker 1: day of practice that they wanted to get a fair

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Speaker 1: assessment of those two and that they were going to

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Speaker 1: be getting as equal reps as they possibly could. And

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Speaker 1: sometimes I'm like, yeah, sure, okay, but no, they are

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Speaker 1: tracking this and they don't. I really believe that they

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Speaker 1: are looking at it like this is Drew Damon's day,

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Speaker 1: this is Matt Hennessy's day, and they are legit going

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Speaker 1: back and forth every day. Then let's let's talk more

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Speaker 1: about that. Because you asked Arthur Smith during his Tuesday

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Speaker 1: press conference kind of what differentiates them. What was his

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Speaker 1: answer there? Yeah, I asked him, you know, at some

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Speaker 1: point you're going to have to make a decision as

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Speaker 1: to who you want to be the starting center. And

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Speaker 1: I was like, so, what do you need to see

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Speaker 1: over the course of the next three to four weeks

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Speaker 1: from both of these guys in order to make that

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Speaker 1: decision come week one of the season, and he said

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Speaker 1: he was like, you know, the physical stuff obviously goes

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Speaker 1: without saying. He was like, but I really want to

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Speaker 1: see their command. And I thought that was really important,

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Speaker 1: Like can they come and this offensive line? Can they

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Speaker 1: help out Marcus Mariota or Desmond Ritter when they need to?

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Speaker 1: And that was something that I asked both Drew Dalmont

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Speaker 1: and Matt Hennessey about after practice. I was like, what

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Speaker 1: does that look like for you? And both of them

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Speaker 1: said something similar in that, like they want to be

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Speaker 1: the people that others come to when they have a

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Speaker 1: question about the offense, and they want to be able

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Speaker 1: to command in the meeting rooms as much as they

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Speaker 1: want to be able to command on the field. And

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Speaker 1: I thought that was a really interesting point that Arthur

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Speaker 1: Smith made about really wanting to see that command happen

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Speaker 1: and how Drew Domon and Matt Henessey are kind of

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Speaker 1: enacting that in and of themselves day in and day out.

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Speaker 1: And think about how spoiled this franchise has been at

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Speaker 1: that center spot. Yes, going from Todd McClure essentially to

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Speaker 1: Alex Mack I'm not saying, you know, but there were

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Speaker 1: some missteps along the way, right, But they've had two

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Speaker 1: generational type centers are looking for that next player, and

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Speaker 1: I think intellectually, center, you just have to have it.

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Speaker 1: Elijah Wilkinson, he's got some starting experience, He's played lots

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Speaker 1: of right tackle. Right, he's kind of like asserting himself

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Speaker 1: in that spot as they try to find the front

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Speaker 1: five that they can run with all season. Yeah, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think it's really interesting because when it comes to

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Speaker 1: Elijah Wilkinson and Jalen Mayfield, because that's what we essentially

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Speaker 1: believe the competition to be. I think that it was

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Speaker 1: interesting that we have seen so much of Elijah Wilkinson.

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Speaker 1: I'm not saying that I'm willing to call the left

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Speaker 1: guard position now and that it's, you know, Elijah Wilkinson's spot.

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Speaker 1: Can I foresee him being the starter absolutely at that spot,

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Speaker 1: But am I willing to call it yet? Not necessarily

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Speaker 1: because I just I need to see more and right now.

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Speaker 1: I think a big misconception of training camp is that

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Speaker 1: we can see so much and we learn so much.

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Speaker 1: And while we do learn a lot, I really don't

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Speaker 1: think you learn as much as you do until you

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Speaker 1: get to those like live preseason games, especially for the

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Speaker 1: line of scrimmage. And I'm talking offensive line and I'm

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Speaker 1: talking defensive line too, and so I'm really interested to

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Speaker 1: see how Elijah Wilkinson works with that collective five whatever

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Speaker 1: five that is. That's something that I'm very interested to

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Speaker 1: see in the preseason games because I think right now

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Speaker 1: it's a little bit like, oh okay, like we're seeing them,

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Speaker 1: you know, bump pads every now and again, but there's

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Speaker 1: no live tackling right now. Guys are not going one

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Speaker 1: hundred percent right now. So to get to that point,

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Speaker 1: I'll be very, very interested to watch the offensive line,

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Speaker 1: but particularly that left guard spot. And there's gonna be

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Speaker 1: plenty of good opportunities for it, not only over the

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Speaker 1: course of the three game preseason slate, but they have

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Speaker 1: joint practices against the Jets and the Jaguars, so we're

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Speaker 1: gonna see some guys differentiate themselves. I still think Jermaine

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Speaker 1: if Fetti's going to have an impact on this line somewhere.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that we'll see him at all over

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Speaker 1: the course of the next couple weeks rotate in there

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Speaker 1: with the first team. He hasn't at all, not yet

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Speaker 1: at right tackle. I talked to Caleb earlier Tuesday. He

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Speaker 1: seems very confident and where he is physically, where he

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Speaker 1: is mentally, in the fact that he's grown each and

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Speaker 1: every year. I think he looks at this as a

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Speaker 1: big year, and he doesn't look at them not picking

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Speaker 1: up his fifth year option as like a mortal insult.

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Speaker 1: He seems to take it as like, yes, it's a

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Speaker 1: piece of motivation, but he's not going to let that

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Speaker 1: cloud his judgment or his emotions or get in the

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Speaker 1: way of his work. And I think that's a really

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Speaker 1: good outlook to have as he tries to really establish

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Speaker 1: himself there. He's going to compete like heck, that's just

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Speaker 1: in his nature, and I think it's going to be

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Speaker 1: interesting to see how that shakes out. The reason why

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Speaker 1: I brought up Jermaine is that he's played inside too,

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Speaker 1: so I think that at some point he could factor in.

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Speaker 1: But we do need to see more. You know, the

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Speaker 1: one thing we talk about this offensive line, Ashton has

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Speaker 1: to get the running game going, yeah a little bit.

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Speaker 1: You know, you got Patterson back there, like those like

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Speaker 1: those two things have to work hand in hand. That's true.

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Speaker 1: That's very true. Man. Um, this offensive you know, Matt

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Speaker 1: Ryan was set forty times last year. This offensive line

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Speaker 1: has to improve, you know, not only in the past

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Speaker 1: passing game, but in the Russian game. Um. Cordell Patterson,

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Speaker 1: he's he's a veteran, you know, and you have some

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Speaker 1: young guys back there. But you know, I think that's

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Speaker 1: gonna be a focal point going into this season. Is

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Speaker 1: the running game. I think that needs to improve drastically.

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Speaker 1: And um, you know, I think that right tackle spot

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Speaker 1: and the left tackle spot is going to be something

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Speaker 1: that Arthur Smith is going to focus on for this

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Speaker 1: offensive line. Yeah. And when you look at it across

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Speaker 1: the board, right, we're talking about position battles up front,

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Speaker 1: there's some sorting to be done in the running back

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Speaker 1: room and everywhere else. Competition, competition, competition, Right, we keep

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Speaker 1: hearing it. It's often coach speak, but it's kind of

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Speaker 1: real right at this point, and we've definitely seen it

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Speaker 1: play out, and it's pretty intense practices for being this

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Speaker 1: early point in camp. Yeah, the actice on Saturday so awesome,

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Speaker 1: Oh so great. It was, without question, one of the

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Speaker 1: most fun practices that I feel like I have gotten

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Speaker 1: a chance to watch in a long time now. Granted

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Speaker 1: I add a little asterisk to the side because COVID

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Speaker 1: protocols makes things made things so difficult over the course

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Speaker 1: of the last two years to like I don't know,

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Speaker 1: but it was. So I'm trying to like accurately explain

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Speaker 1: like that practice and how competitive I felt like it was,

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Speaker 1: because there were so many moments that really stuck out

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Speaker 1: to me. I know everybody's gonna everybody already knows about

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Speaker 1: there were two fads and someone got kicked out, blah

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Speaker 1: blah blah. I know, I know that. But outside of that,

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Speaker 1: it was a very competitive practice. And there was one

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Speaker 1: moment in particular where they were running some dbs versus

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Speaker 1: receivers and it was Drake London versus d Alfred and

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Speaker 1: d got Drake just went up over him in the

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Speaker 1: end zone and it was it was a fantastic play.

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Speaker 1: Is one of those that you're like, oh, that's why

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Speaker 1: they got Drake London. Well, then de Alfred goes over

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Speaker 1: to John Hook who's the secondaries coach, and they're talking.

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Speaker 1: They're talking, and then two plays later, same play, not

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Speaker 1: with Drake London, but same exact play, same ball, placement,

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Speaker 1: same route and de Alfred goes out there and knocks

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Speaker 1: the ball down. It was it was back and forth

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Speaker 1: the whole practice, but it was it was a super

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Speaker 1: clean practice. Like it was intense, but like you can tell,

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Speaker 1: all all of the players were in the right positions.

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Speaker 1: Everybody knew what they were doing. And I think, you know,

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Speaker 1: if this that Falcons team or this Falcons team can

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Speaker 1: go into the season with that mindset, with that intensity

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Speaker 1: and aggressiveness, I think they can really be good. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: You see Marcus Mariota, who isn't a super emotional guy,

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Speaker 1: he runs the ball in which they're allowing him to

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Speaker 1: run in practice because they want the defense to get

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Speaker 1: used to it, and he chucks the ball a lot

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Speaker 1: sixty yards onto the hill into a crowd of twenty

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Speaker 1: five people. If the person who dove for the ball

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Speaker 1: and then missed it and then didn't end up getting

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Speaker 1: it back, there were some there were some people rolling

427
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:08,200
Speaker 1: down the hill. Yeah, there were some squabbles. Yeah, someone

428
00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,840
Speaker 1: got it. Yeah, but I love seeing that from Marcus.

429
00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:14,480
Speaker 1: There was another touchdown pass that he threw to Drakelin

430
00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:16,240
Speaker 1: and where he gave like an uppercut, like he was

431
00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:18,600
Speaker 1: really into it, and I think that it feeds into

432
00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:22,360
Speaker 1: that level of intensity that that you need. And not

433
00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:27,040
Speaker 1: only is it competition between this team, but we're also

434
00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:31,480
Speaker 1: hearing a lot about low expectations, right, And those low expectations.

435
00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:33,240
Speaker 1: I mean, when you have this much turnover and this

436
00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:36,440
Speaker 1: much dead money, the low expectations come with it. But

437
00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:39,280
Speaker 1: the coaching staff and this team want to give a

438
00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:41,960
Speaker 1: giant middle finger to those expectations, and I think are

439
00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:45,040
Speaker 1: using it as motivation. But they also are kind of

440
00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:47,520
Speaker 1: sick of hearing about it. And I think that's the

441
00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:51,400
Speaker 1: that's a fine attitude to have, right, they know it exists.

442
00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:53,320
Speaker 1: You can act like they don't hear it. They know

443
00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:56,600
Speaker 1: that it exists. They're they're getting act They're getting asked

444
00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:59,600
Speaker 1: about it all the time, and they don't have any

445
00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:02,199
Speaker 1: they don't have any interest in it. I think that

446
00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:05,719
Speaker 1: there's everybody talks about prove it, prove it competition. They

447
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:07,920
Speaker 1: want to go out there and compete, improve people wrong.

448
00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:10,120
Speaker 1: They're better than what they think. Whether it turns out

449
00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:13,800
Speaker 1: the truth or not. I think it's definitely fueling them.

450
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:16,760
Speaker 1: And they got that big chip on their shoulder for sure. Yeah.

451
00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:18,440
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's something that we talked about

452
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:21,040
Speaker 1: when even when we're talking about this draft class, and

453
00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:23,000
Speaker 1: how a theme of the draft class was that they

454
00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:24,760
Speaker 1: all have something to prove, and they all have a

455
00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:26,960
Speaker 1: chip on their shoulder, and they all have a chance

456
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:28,959
Speaker 1: to go out and play, which I think is something

457
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:33,879
Speaker 1: that doesn't always happen. But I think you set me

458
00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,320
Speaker 1: up perfectly to talk about what Dean Peas was talking about.

459
00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:39,320
Speaker 1: And I know everybody's like, no, Tori, don't, but I'm

460
00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:42,119
Speaker 1: going there. I thought his if you haven't listened to

461
00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:46,760
Speaker 1: his speech from over the weekend about wanting to change

462
00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:52,159
Speaker 1: the mindset and the culture of defenses in Atlanta and

463
00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:55,359
Speaker 1: the way that you think about defenses in Atlanta, go

464
00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:57,320
Speaker 1: listen to it. I don't want to like put words

465
00:23:57,320 --> 00:23:58,840
Speaker 1: in his mouth or anything like that, but just go

466
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:02,880
Speaker 1: listen to it. And I think his sentiment about how

467
00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:07,200
Speaker 1: he knows that this defense is perceived from the outside

468
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:10,199
Speaker 1: looking in and how he wants to change that I

469
00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,479
Speaker 1: thought was very It was a very riveting conversation I

470
00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,879
Speaker 1: think overall, and it's one that it's like Okay, yeah,

471
00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,240
Speaker 1: like we all can say that, they all can say

472
00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:22,280
Speaker 1: this and everything, and I still believe that this is

473
00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:26,320
Speaker 1: something that's gonna be a two three year transition, not

474
00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:29,040
Speaker 1: just like one year. But they no one on the

475
00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,800
Speaker 1: field wants to hear that. No, Casey Hayward doesn't didn't

476
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:36,480
Speaker 1: come to Atlanta to lose games and to be like, oh,

477
00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:40,160
Speaker 1: like you're on You're on Atlanta's defense, Like that's not

478
00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:43,920
Speaker 1: what Casey Hayward came to do. And I think like

479
00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:47,600
Speaker 1: that's the point that this coaching staff is trying to make.

480
00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:49,840
Speaker 1: It's like you keep telling them like, oh, they're bad,

481
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:52,280
Speaker 1: they're bad, like they'll start to believe it. Casey Hayward

482
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:54,080
Speaker 1: didn't come here to play on a bad defense. Casey

483
00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:57,120
Speaker 1: Hayward came in here to lead a team and lead

484
00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:02,160
Speaker 1: a secondary. So I think that is kind of where

485
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,520
Speaker 1: the conversation is right now. Yeah, And I think Marlon

486
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:08,240
Speaker 1: Davidson he talked a lot about that. Um he said

487
00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:10,720
Speaker 1: he sees the headlines, he sees things on social media,

488
00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:13,320
Speaker 1: but his coaches tell them, you know, don't pay attention

489
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:15,480
Speaker 1: to those things because they could really mess up their mind.

490
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:18,680
Speaker 1: So I think everybody on defense has that mindset of,

491
00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,560
Speaker 1: you know, just blocking out the noise and focusing on

492
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:25,240
Speaker 1: what they can control and improving upon that. And um

493
00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:28,200
Speaker 1: you know, I think what DMPs said in a press conference,

494
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:29,760
Speaker 1: you know you could tell he really wanted to get

495
00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:31,800
Speaker 1: that out and he really wanted to address that for

496
00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:35,159
Speaker 1: a long time. So, um man, I'm excited for this defense,

497
00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:38,240
Speaker 1: like it's so many great pieces, and you know, I

498
00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:41,399
Speaker 1: really have a good feeling about what they're going to

499
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:44,520
Speaker 1: do this season. Yeah, I think Dean has done it

500
00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:47,000
Speaker 1: a couple of times now. Or he's right, He's clearly

501
00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:51,000
Speaker 1: been thinking about something beforehand, has an opportunity to talk

502
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:52,800
Speaker 1: about it, and really takes advantage of the fact, and

503
00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:56,440
Speaker 1: he just why why would you accept mediocrity? Why would

504
00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:58,920
Speaker 1: you accept anything less? Um And I think that that's

505
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,080
Speaker 1: a good attitude to have. They continue to build this

506
00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:03,199
Speaker 1: thing and change the culture and all that kind of stuff.

507
00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:06,280
Speaker 1: So much of their competitive success is going to depend

508
00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:10,760
Speaker 1: upon the guy's under center throwing the football. Going back

509
00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:14,080
Speaker 1: to the first day, Charles London and kind of mentioned

510
00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:18,080
Speaker 1: that Marcus Mariota was the quote unquote starter. I think

511
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,960
Speaker 1: he sort of meant was the starter maybe dot dot

512
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,120
Speaker 1: dot right now or if you were to go into

513
00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:26,600
Speaker 1: the season right now, I think it is Marcus Mariota

514
00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 1: is It's kind of the clear and obvious QB one here,

515
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:32,840
Speaker 1: Tory and I have been saying that for months. Yep,

516
00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:36,000
Speaker 1: now that that was the expectation, and I think it

517
00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:39,600
Speaker 1: still is the expectation. But I guess I'll just open

518
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:44,719
Speaker 1: it up impressions of Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ritter, and

519
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:47,440
Speaker 1: it's really just two quarterbacks throwing a lot of passes.

520
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:50,800
Speaker 1: Kind of a what are everybody's thoughts about how these

521
00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:54,000
Speaker 1: guys are doing as we progress through the summer. Yeah,

522
00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:57,280
Speaker 1: I think again it goes back to I just want

523
00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:01,400
Speaker 1: to see more. I think I think that from watching them,

524
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:03,280
Speaker 1: I think they have a we talk about the command

525
00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,439
Speaker 1: of this center position, and Arthur Smith has talked a

526
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:08,159
Speaker 1: lot about the command of the quarterbacks, and that was

527
00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:10,320
Speaker 1: something that Charles London when we're talking to him, he

528
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:12,760
Speaker 1: was like, I want to He was like, I want

529
00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:15,200
Speaker 1: to be able to see that the install is there

530
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:16,840
Speaker 1: and they just go out and do it, and that

531
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:18,919
Speaker 1: there is no and if or butts. They do it,

532
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:22,200
Speaker 1: they perform and we can see them perform. And I

533
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:25,879
Speaker 1: think like in that regard, I feel pretty confident in

534
00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,240
Speaker 1: saying that they're at a good spot that Marcus Mariota

535
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:32,320
Speaker 1: and Desmond Ritter are understanding the playbook, understanding why they're

536
00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:36,520
Speaker 1: running certain things. I feel good about saying that. Now,

537
00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:41,440
Speaker 1: I still need to see so much more from these guys,

538
00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:44,080
Speaker 1: because again, we're not seeing a lot of like hundred

539
00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,800
Speaker 1: percent eleven on eleven series. I think today was the

540
00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:50,720
Speaker 1: first day we're talking on Tuesday. Today was the first

541
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:54,000
Speaker 1: day that we actually got to see a hurry up session,

542
00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:57,520
Speaker 1: like a two minute drill like. Today was the first

543
00:27:57,600 --> 00:27:59,720
Speaker 1: day that we got to actually see that. And so

544
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:01,800
Speaker 1: I think the more that I'll be able to see that,

545
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:04,400
Speaker 1: the more I'll be able to give a better answer

546
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:07,800
Speaker 1: as to where I think they are and how I

547
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,360
Speaker 1: think they're doing. But for right now, I do think

548
00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:12,800
Speaker 1: they have a good understanding of the scheme and what

549
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:15,439
Speaker 1: Arthur Smith wants them to do. I think there are

550
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:19,000
Speaker 1: still times when I'll watch a play and I'll think,

551
00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:21,960
Speaker 1: was that a bad throw or was that a bad break?

552
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,359
Speaker 1: Or are they not a yeah, or are they working

553
00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:27,600
Speaker 1: on something that they're not quite in sync with and

554
00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:30,040
Speaker 1: they're working on new things that That's why it's tough

555
00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:32,480
Speaker 1: to judge over the course of a couple of practices

556
00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:34,640
Speaker 1: with They've only had two in pads to say exactly

557
00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:37,200
Speaker 1: where everybody is. I will say that I think Marcus

558
00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:41,440
Speaker 1: Mariota looks very comfortable in what he's being asked to do,

559
00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:45,280
Speaker 1: and I think that's a good thing for this point,

560
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,600
Speaker 1: being in command, hearing some of the offensive line talk

561
00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:50,600
Speaker 1: about the fact he's taken him out the dinner, he's

562
00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:52,880
Speaker 1: playing golf with with with Kyle Pitts, he's getting to

563
00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:55,240
Speaker 1: know this team, he's being a good leader, and all

564
00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:57,800
Speaker 1: these other types of things. I think all those things

565
00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:01,440
Speaker 1: are important as he tries to re establish himself as

566
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:04,800
Speaker 1: an as an NFL starter. So I feel comfortable at

567
00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:08,240
Speaker 1: least saying that that he seems comfortable. He seems like

568
00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:11,320
Speaker 1: a good not a raw, raw guy, but somebody who

569
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:15,080
Speaker 1: is capable of leading this offense. You know, so um,

570
00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:17,160
Speaker 1: you know how it all turns out, you know, we

571
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:20,239
Speaker 1: don't know, but tbd, Yeah, yeah, tbd. But what are

572
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:24,200
Speaker 1: your initial impressions of Ritter or yeah, Mariota definite. I

573
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:26,000
Speaker 1: want to go back to what you said earlier about

574
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,000
Speaker 1: when he threw the ball in the crowd. I think

575
00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:31,000
Speaker 1: you could tell that Marcus Mariota is starting to feel confident,

576
00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 1: really confident in getting to and get into his element. Um,

577
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:36,120
Speaker 1: and I think, you know, if he continues to carry

578
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:38,960
Speaker 1: that same passion, that same confidence, um, you know, he

579
00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:41,720
Speaker 1: can be really great this season. You know, like there

580
00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:45,240
Speaker 1: were there are some low expectations for this offense, but UM,

581
00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:48,520
Speaker 1: I think Marcus Mariota is is truly tunnel vision going

582
00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:50,880
Speaker 1: into this season. And you know, in these couple of

583
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:53,560
Speaker 1: weeks of training camp, and UM, I think the more

584
00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:55,880
Speaker 1: he continues to learn this offense, the more he continues

585
00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:57,960
Speaker 1: to learn this scheme, and um, just to put the

586
00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:00,720
Speaker 1: pieces that are around him, He's I think he can

587
00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:03,360
Speaker 1: be really great. Yeah. And he was talking in his

588
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:06,120
Speaker 1: Monday press conference that he doesn't take this opportunity lately,

589
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:08,640
Speaker 1: that he understands what's at stake here. I think he

590
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:12,720
Speaker 1: knows that times running out to re establish yourself as

591
00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:15,400
Speaker 1: a starting quarterback in this league. Yeah, there's definitely that

592
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:19,520
Speaker 1: that hourglass because he was a strictly a number two

593
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:22,800
Speaker 1: in Vegas and that's two years. Yeah, if you don't

594
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:25,200
Speaker 1: take advantage of the next opportunity, will you get the

595
00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:27,480
Speaker 1: next one? Yeah? Will you get another one? He seems

596
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,320
Speaker 1: to understand the gravity of all that. I think he

597
00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:34,400
Speaker 1: ended up in a pretty good position to be able

598
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:36,480
Speaker 1: to take advantage of this chance. So it's all going

599
00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:39,560
Speaker 1: to be interesting to see and watch as we continue

600
00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:42,920
Speaker 1: to march through this training camp. We have a bunch

601
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:45,200
Speaker 1: more time to go in a bunch more podcasts to

602
00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:49,760
Speaker 1: discuss everything that's going on. Welcome again, Ashton joining the crew.

603
00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:55,040
Speaker 1: Were so excited and again Rate Review, subscribe all that

604
00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:57,640
Speaker 1: fun stuff and we're going to come back and talk

605
00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:11,160
Speaker 1: to you again next week.