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Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Falcon's Final Whistle podcast.

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Speaker 1: Now I know what you are thinking. This is not

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Speaker 1: the voice of Scott Bear, and you would be correct.

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Speaker 1: This is not Scott Bear. This is Tory mclahaney. I'm

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Speaker 1: here with Ashton Edmunds. And yes there is no Scott Bear.

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Speaker 1: He's going to be inactive for a little bit. And Scott,

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Speaker 1: if you're listening, one high and two, see you soon.

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Speaker 1: We miss you. But all of that aside, let's actually

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Speaker 1: get into this game right off the bat, this twenty seven,

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Speaker 1: twenty four win against the Bears at home. Ashton, you

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Speaker 1: are not across from me, but you are in a

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Speaker 1: different radio booth at Mercedes been Stadium. We are currently

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Speaker 1: trying to make this work via zoom. So Ashton, for

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Speaker 1: you what we're kind of your major takeaways from this

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Speaker 1: win that I felt like kind of had a little

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Speaker 1: bit of everything. Yeah, for sure. I think one of

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Speaker 1: my biggest takeaways and I think it was obvious split

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Speaker 1: just containing Justin Fields. Last week he had one hundred

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Speaker 1: and forty seven rushing yards alone. This week, the Bears

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Speaker 1: rushing attack only had one sixty all together. Um And

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Speaker 1: and the Falcons did a great job at just limiting

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Speaker 1: his running ability. I think he finished with eighty five

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Speaker 1: yards under a hundred yards UM. And he's just you know,

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Speaker 1: over the last two weeks, like you said, he's been

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Speaker 1: going on. It's here and UM, I think you know

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Speaker 1: what DMP said this past week about just containing Justin Fields, um,

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Speaker 1: and with Arthur Smith was emphasizing all week. Um. You know,

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Speaker 1: I think the Falcons defense really came out and did

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Speaker 1: that really well today. And UM, you know post game players,

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Speaker 1: you know, they were people like Grady Jared, people like

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Speaker 1: Jayla Hawkins. UM. You know, they were just saying that

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Speaker 1: they came together as a unit, and you know you

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Speaker 1: could see that on the field today against the Bears.

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Speaker 1: They truly, you know, stuck together until the end. They

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Speaker 1: played through all requarters. Um, it was like you said,

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Speaker 1: it was some it was some minor mistakes here and here,

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Speaker 1: but I think the Falcons finished really strong at the end,

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Speaker 1: and just containing a dual three quarterback like Justin Phills

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Speaker 1: was very very important today. I will see. Yeah, No,

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Speaker 1: I absolutely agree, And this is something that we're actually

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Speaker 1: going to get into a bit more in depth in

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Speaker 1: detail later in the podcast. But I think for me.

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Speaker 1: When I look back on this game, it was definitely

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Speaker 1: a defensive story. I felt like, I mean, I wrote

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Speaker 1: that after the game. My whole story was about the

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Speaker 1: defense and what I thought they were able to do

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Speaker 1: on Sunday in the win. But I also I think

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Speaker 1: something that's going to be overlooked to a certain extent

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Speaker 1: in this game is how balanced the Falcons offense was.

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Speaker 1: I was very surprised by the balance of which I

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Speaker 1: saw this offensive half because you're coming off of a

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Speaker 1: game where Marcus Mariota, let's be honest, didn't play at

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Speaker 1: the level he knows he needs to play, the Falcons

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Speaker 1: know he needs to play, and the Falcons have over

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Speaker 1: the course of this year really relied on the run.

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Speaker 1: And so when you're looking at coming into this game

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Speaker 1: with two teams that you know, for a actor wanting

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Speaker 1: to run the ball at a exceptionally high clip, two

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Speaker 1: of the leading rushing offenses in the league, I mean,

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Speaker 1: you knew what the game plan was coming in, and

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Speaker 1: I thought the fact that the Falcons I thought did

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Speaker 1: a really good job offensively of creating a more balanced

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Speaker 1: attack in a way that we really haven't seen them

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Speaker 1: do in I'm gonna be honest the last probably four

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Speaker 1: or five weeks. So that for me, that for me

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Speaker 1: was something that I kind of just took from this game,

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Speaker 1: defensive stuff aside. But we are going to get into

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Speaker 1: and this is we're leading this podcast off with the

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Speaker 1: play and the moment that I feel like everyone is

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Speaker 1: talking about, and not just everyone for the Falcons in

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Speaker 1: the Falcons fandom, but also everyone I think looking at

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Speaker 1: the Falcons from the league at large, and that moment

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Speaker 1: is in the second quarter, Cordill Patterson he breaks away

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Speaker 1: on a nineteen yard run and gets the ball punched

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Speaker 1: out of his hands and the Bears go and score

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Speaker 1: a touchdown and lead at I think it was seventeen seven. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: with about four minutes and thirty seconds left in the

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Speaker 1: second quarter, and they kick off and CP the ball

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Speaker 1: hand the ball lands in his hands and he proceeds

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Speaker 1: to run the ball back for a one hundred and

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Speaker 1: three yard kickoff return for a touchdown. That is the

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Speaker 1: ninth of his career and it's a new NFL record. Ashton,

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Speaker 1: you were actually in the locker room talking to CP

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Speaker 1: after the game. What were his I guess emotions like

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Speaker 1: because I feel like this was a very emotional moment

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Speaker 1: for him to kind of I don't know, he's in

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Speaker 1: the record books now in terms of the league at large.

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Speaker 1: I mean I feel like that in and of itself

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Speaker 1: is a pretty emotional moment for him. Yeah, for sure,

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Speaker 1: Cepe was such in a great move. Um, he was

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Speaker 1: just so happy. I think, you know, he was just

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Speaker 1: I think that moment for him just really surreal for him. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, like he mentioned guys like Josh Scribbs and

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Speaker 1: Leon Washington U who are amazing you know, kickoff and

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Speaker 1: pump returners. You know, he gave them credit and he

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Speaker 1: said that, you know, I'm sure these guys are having

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Speaker 1: for me. But he was just so honored to be

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Speaker 1: in this position. Um, he was honored to have people mentioned,

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Speaker 1: you know, Hall of Fame, like mentioning him in Hall

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Speaker 1: of Fame. Um uh was the Hall of Fame? Uh yeah?

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Speaker 1: Just contact Yeah yeah yeah, just conversations. But um, overall,

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Speaker 1: Cordell was such in a great move. He said that

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Speaker 1: he was going to give the game ball to his

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Speaker 1: kid or the kickoff ball to his kids, and um,

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Speaker 1: you know, he he was he was just you know,

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Speaker 1: just such a in an amazing move. But I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, The main thing that he talked about was

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Speaker 1: just the team and how the team came together, um

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Speaker 1: and and how he didn't the well on that fumble

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Speaker 1: because he said when he was on the sideline, you know,

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Speaker 1: it was kind of replaying in his head and it

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Speaker 1: was kind of getting to him. But he said, as

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Speaker 1: a football player, you can't do Wolan Will type of thing,

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Speaker 1: those types of things. And you know, when the ball

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Speaker 1: ended in CP's hands, I mean, he literally, you know,

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Speaker 1: took off and it was it was to the racist

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Speaker 1: from there. But he was surprised that the Bears kapts

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Speaker 1: him up. He was happy that they did because he

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Speaker 1: knew once he got the ball back in his hands,

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Speaker 1: you know, he was going to make a play for

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Speaker 1: the Falcons. Yeah. What's interesting is I think I tweeted

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Speaker 1: this a couple of times just talking about how, you know,

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Speaker 1: CP an angry. CP is not somebody that you want

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Speaker 1: to be running full speed at you. And I guarantee

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Speaker 1: you after that fumble, like there was kind of a

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Speaker 1: flip switched of like, you know what, I'm gonna take

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Speaker 1: this to the house, like I have nothing to lose,

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Speaker 1: I am, I'm going all the way And and he

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Speaker 1: did and what I'll say too was really interesting after

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Speaker 1: the game was hearing his teammates talk about him, and

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Speaker 1: you know, Arthur Smith of course always speaks very highly

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Speaker 1: of Cordarell Patterson and what he's been able to do

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Speaker 1: for the Falcons the last two years. But it was

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Speaker 1: funny because Marcus Mariota talked about it and he kind

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Speaker 1: of said the exact same thing where it was like

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Speaker 1: it felt you could feel when CP ran out there

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Speaker 1: and the ball landed in his hands that he was

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Speaker 1: going to return it. And then I think it was

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Speaker 1: Grady Jarrett who also was asked about kind of being

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Speaker 1: on the field for that moment because it is a

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Speaker 1: history making moment, and he even said he was like,

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Speaker 1: we are a different team with Cordill Patterson on the

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Speaker 1: field with us. And I thought that was a fantastic

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Speaker 1: quote because I do think that it's true. We have

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Speaker 1: seen games where CP has not been active as he

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Speaker 1: was on High R missed four games, had to have

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Speaker 1: that knee surgery procedure, and the Falcons missed him, and

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Speaker 1: even though the Falcons were still able to run the ball,

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Speaker 1: I think had a relatively good in productive clip without CP.

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Speaker 1: There there are just things that CP does that especially

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Speaker 1: over the last two years, you look at kind of

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Speaker 1: this guy who has a decade long career in the

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Speaker 1: league and has had like this renaissance for himself. It's

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Speaker 1: it's very fascinating because he just he's still explosive. And

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Speaker 1: I think that is something that you always hear, especially

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Speaker 1: these type of playmakers for running backs receivers, that they

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Speaker 1: lose a certain sense of explosiveness as they age. I

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Speaker 1: don't think we can say that about CP. I think

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Speaker 1: he is just as explosive, if not more so now

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Speaker 1: than maybe he was eight years ago. Yep. And that's

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Speaker 1: something that he emphasized in the locker rooms, like he

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Speaker 1: still has so much football ahead of him. I think

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Speaker 1: he somebody made a joke about him like once he

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Speaker 1: reached the ninth kickoff and turn touchdown that he was

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Speaker 1: you know that he'll be done with special teams. But

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Speaker 1: he was like, nah, I still got many more left

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Speaker 1: in me. Says he has fresh legs, and like you said,

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Speaker 1: he's a team year vet, but like it seems like

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Speaker 1: he gets more and more explosive by the year. So

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Speaker 1: it was just great to SECP reached the smilestone and

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Speaker 1: you know, it truly was definitely a turning point in

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Speaker 1: the game for the Falcons. Yeah, in another not necessarily

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Speaker 1: a turning point, but something that you've already mentioned that

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Speaker 1: I think we're going to go into more depth here

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Speaker 1: is the fact that this defense I thought played as

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Speaker 1: collective and as productive as we have seen them play,

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Speaker 1: especially in the last four weeks. But I mean, I

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Speaker 1: would go as far as even to say that this

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Speaker 1: defense performed at a level today that I would put

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Speaker 1: up there with a few of their wins, the Browns win,

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Speaker 1: the forty nine Ers win. They I thought this defense

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Speaker 1: came in with a very specific game plan, and that

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Speaker 1: was something that I was talking to Abdullah Anderson about

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Speaker 1: after the game, where we were talking and he kind

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Speaker 1: of was talking about how they felt like they needed

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Speaker 1: that win and they needed to do it in a

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Speaker 1: way that they were holding justin fields. Because let's be honest,

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Speaker 1: they're coming off of a loss to Carolina where they

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Speaker 1: allowed Carolina to run for over two hundred yards. You

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Speaker 1: knew that you were facing a Bear's offense had a

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Speaker 1: very specific game plan, and that they also want to

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Speaker 1: run the ball at a very high clip. They're the

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Speaker 1: number one rushing offense in the league. So all of

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Speaker 1: that to say that the Falcons knew what they were

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Speaker 1: getting into with this game. And it was funny because

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Speaker 1: the way that Abdula Anderson was talking, it really made

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Speaker 1: it feel like the Falcons game plan was to make

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Speaker 1: sure that Justin Fields didn't beat them, and I think

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Speaker 1: that was like that to me was something that rang true.

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Speaker 1: I think in many of my conversations with some of

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Speaker 1: the defenders in the locker room, and you know, just

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Speaker 1: the stats of it is very interesting because, like what

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Speaker 1: you said, they held Justin Fields to eighty five rushing

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Speaker 1: yards held the Bears offense to one hundred and sixty

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Speaker 1: rushing yards. And I know both of those stat lines

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Speaker 1: seem like a lot, but I think we have to

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Speaker 1: put it in the context of the Bears haven't been

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Speaker 1: below two hundred rushing yards as an offense in over

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Speaker 1: five weeks. And that's also the lowest per carry average

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Speaker 1: for Justin Fields since two week two. So that to me,

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Speaker 1: in and of itself, should show you kind of what

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Speaker 1: the Falcons were able to do this week against against

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Speaker 1: this team, after playing the way that they played against Carolina.

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Speaker 1: Now what's interesting in all this as well, is that

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Speaker 1: they did it with some guys that I guarantee you

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Speaker 1: a lot of people don't know and couldn't name just

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Speaker 1: by looking at them. And I'm talking about Abdullah Anderson,

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Speaker 1: I'm talking about Jalen Dalton, I'm talking about Timmy Horne.

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Speaker 1: These are guys who, at one point or another were

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Speaker 1: bubble guys. You didn't think that they may even have

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Speaker 1: had a chance to make the team. I mean, heck,

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Speaker 1: Jalen Dalton was cut after the preseason. So these are

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Speaker 1: all guys who the Falcons have kind of collected and

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Speaker 1: pieced together over the course of this season and this offseason.

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Speaker 1: And it's really interesting to see them work alongside Grady

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Speaker 1: Jarrett because you see to Quon Graham go down with

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Speaker 1: a knee injury and we don't have an update on that,

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Speaker 1: and you hope that it's something that he can come

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Speaker 1: back from, but he was carded off and so you

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Speaker 1: really were relying on your depth at defensive line. And

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Speaker 1: I will say this, it's very interesting to see this

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Speaker 1: evolution of this position group specifically because if you think

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Speaker 1: about it, this is not the way this group was

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Speaker 1: originally supposed to look. Before the season started. You had yes,

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Speaker 1: you had Grady Jarrett and t Quon Graham coming back,

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Speaker 1: but you also had Anthony Rush and Marlon Davidson and

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Speaker 1: Vincent Taylor. Three of those five guys are no longer

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Speaker 1: even available or on the team because of that. Like

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Speaker 1: that's wild to me because now you have to Quon

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Speaker 1: Graham going out and three guys who I think a

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Speaker 1: lot of people wouldn't be able to name in a lineup.

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Speaker 1: Like that's really what it feels like. And so all

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Speaker 1: of that to say, asking the question I have is like,

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Speaker 1: what does this say about the depth? Like that? Excuse me?

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Speaker 1: What does this say about the depth that this defensive

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Speaker 1: line has a crewed this year? Yeah? For sure, Um,

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Speaker 1: I think you hit the nail on the head. But UM,

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Speaker 1: I would say, all of these, all of the guys

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Speaker 1: that you mentioned, you know, when their name was called,

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Speaker 1: they stepped up to the plate. Um you know, to

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Speaker 1: Kwan Graham, you know, he went down. I was a

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Speaker 1: terrible loss for the team, But like you said, abdula Um,

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Speaker 1: Timmy and Jalen they all stepped up and they and

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Speaker 1: they were a force on that defensive line today. And

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Speaker 1: we saw that, you know, that was clear was evident. Um,

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Speaker 1: and it was like you said, these were bubble players,

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Speaker 1: but you know, these guys, what they've showed today alongside

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Speaker 1: Grady Jared is that they can play in that that

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Speaker 1: they can compete at a high level. And um, I

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Speaker 1: think that's what we needed to see because you know,

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Speaker 1: injuries do happen. Injuries do happen with whether it's a

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Speaker 1: key player or not. You know, players have to be

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Speaker 1: Everybody on the fifty three men roster has to be

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Speaker 1: ready to step up. And I feel like those three

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Speaker 1: guys alongside Grady Jared and they just been amazing to

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Speaker 1: and I had a talk to them for sure. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and I think it really was. You know, we can

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Speaker 1: talk all day long about the defensive line, but I

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Speaker 1: also think you have to give credit where credit is

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Speaker 1: due to the guys around them too. I thought Lorenzo Carter,

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Speaker 1: Arnold Evac, Katie Audiogan, Daiji, I thought they played a

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Speaker 1: really good game. I also thought, you're inside linebackers Michael Walker,

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Speaker 1: Rashaun Evans, Troy Anderson had one of the best plays

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Speaker 1: I thought of the whole entire day. That is probably

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Speaker 1: gonna go overlooked, but it was a important third down stop.

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Speaker 1: So all of that to say, like, I was very

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Speaker 1: impressed by what we saw this defense due today, and

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Speaker 1: I know people are going to look at the stats

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Speaker 1: and be like, how are you impressed? Like this is

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Speaker 1: a pretty normal rushing attack, But it's not when you

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Speaker 1: think in the context of all of these things that

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Speaker 1: we've been talking about. So all of that we've hit

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Speaker 1: on CP, we've hit on this defense. Now in true

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Speaker 1: Scott Bear form, we've got to look ahead and we've

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Speaker 1: got to ask the question of what's next kind of

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Speaker 1: for the Falcons. And right now Falcons are five and six.

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Speaker 1: They have two weeks to go until the bye week.

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Speaker 1: Good lord, I need the bye week to get here.

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Speaker 1: I am so tired. I can only imagine how these

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Speaker 1: players feel. But they have to face the Commanders and

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Speaker 1: the Steelers before we get to the bye week. Now,

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Speaker 1: with the win today, they have extended their lead in

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Speaker 1: the NFC South to two games ahead of the Panthers

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Speaker 1: and a game ahead at the Saints. The Bucks are

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Speaker 1: on a bye this week and sit at five and five,

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Speaker 1: so they're still technically leading the division. Now, this really

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Speaker 1: feels like when we talk about this division that it's

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Speaker 1: going to come down to the wire. I feel like

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Speaker 1: we've kind of been talking about this on every postgame

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Speaker 1: podcast for the last few weeks, because it really does

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Speaker 1: feel like it's anyone's division at this point. I mean,

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Speaker 1: Ashton with two games to go until the bye week.

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Speaker 1: How important are these games as we get into the

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Speaker 1: back half of the season. Yeah, for sure. I think

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Speaker 1: for one, this Commander's game is extremely important. We've seen

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Speaker 1: how they've played over the last two weeks. They beat

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Speaker 1: the Eagle, they snapped the Eagles industry. That was that

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Speaker 1: was big. And nobody, I'm sure nobody had the Commanders

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Speaker 1: winning that game because just because you know, you look

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Speaker 1: at their record, you look at the Eagles record. But um,

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Speaker 1: you know, Heinik's he stepped up his quarterback and you

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Speaker 1: see the team coming around him, and UM, you see

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Speaker 1: the chemistry starting to just grow and flow within that team.

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Speaker 1: And I think if the Falcons can win against the Commanders, um,

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Speaker 1: and they can capitalize um against this Washington team that's

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Speaker 1: been doing amazing these last two weeks, I think the

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Speaker 1: momentum will continue to grow. UM. And it's good we

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Speaker 1: have a j two row back, which was amazing for

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Speaker 1: the defense. UM. I think just his veteran leadership and

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Speaker 1: his presence um definitely provided something for the defense as

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Speaker 1: well as you know, guys like Rashaan Evans and guys

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Speaker 1: like Evacati and Grady Jerry, you know, everybody that stepped up.

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Speaker 1: But I think this one, I mean, I think this week,

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Speaker 1: going into going against the Washington Commanders, it's going to

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Speaker 1: be very, very important, and of course against the Steelers team,

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Speaker 1: I just think, you know, of course, the Falcons have

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Speaker 1: to take a week by week, but I think starting

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Speaker 1: with the win against the Commanders, will I feel like,

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Speaker 1: eventually lead into a win against the Pittsburgh still lose. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: here's the thing about these next two games, like, I

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Speaker 1: feel like, on paper, yes, they're winnable games. But as

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Speaker 1: we've seen in this league, it doesn't matter who's the

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Speaker 1: top contender on paper, really doesn't matter. Everybody can be

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Speaker 1: anybody on any given Sunday. We have seen that happen

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Speaker 1: this year. I mean that that's what's so fascinating about

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Speaker 1: the league right now. I love it. It makes for

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Speaker 1: really good, good games in my opinion, But when I

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Speaker 1: look at these next two games for the Falcons, it

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Speaker 1: really boils down to the fact that I don't think

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Speaker 1: they can drop them. I don't think that they can

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Speaker 1: afford to lose to either the Commanders or the Steelers

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Speaker 1: in the next two weeks. You need to be able

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Speaker 1: to go from this point on, which is only two games,

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Speaker 1: but go undefeated to get to the bye week. If

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Speaker 1: the Falcons would have beat Carolina on Thursday night, I

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Speaker 1: probably would feel a little bit differently, but they didn't.

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Speaker 1: They lost, and so I think because of that, I'm

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Speaker 1: putting more pressure essentially on the Falcons to beat the

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Speaker 1: Commanders and the Steelers so that you do go into

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Speaker 1: the bye week feeling pretty good, and essentially you would

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Speaker 1: get to over five hundred because you're at five and

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Speaker 1: six right now. If you beat both of those teams,

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Speaker 1: that's simple math, seven and six, the Falcons would be

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Speaker 1: above five hundred for the first time in a very

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Speaker 1: long time. So I say all of that because I

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Speaker 1: really do put a lot on these next two weeks.

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Speaker 1: I think the Falcons it was important that they won

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Speaker 1: this game. I think they got that got the next

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Speaker 1: three weeks on the right track with a win here,

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Speaker 1: especially to do it in a way that I thought

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Speaker 1: was a very collective win, especially after the way the

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Speaker 1: first half kind of started. But I do think that

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Speaker 1: this is something that we're gonna look back on after

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Speaker 1: the bye week. According to how these next two weeks

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Speaker 1: go and feel, it's gonna make us feel very differently

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Speaker 1: about the back half of this season once you do

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Speaker 1: get past the bye week. So that is nice feel.

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Speaker 1: We are going to let you get on with your day.

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Speaker 1: I hope that you are having a good one. It's

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Speaker 1: probably you're listening to this on Monday, which is the

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Speaker 1: best time to listen to a postgame podcast. We again,

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Speaker 1: we wish Scott all the best. He's inactive for a

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Speaker 1: little bit, but we're hoping to get him back really soon.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us, and do all the things

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Speaker 1: that Scott Barrett tells you to do all the time,

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Speaker 1: like subscribe, leave a comment, just make sure you listen. Honestly,

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Speaker 1: I'm not piggy, but all of that to say, thank

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Speaker 1: you for joining us. We will be back next week

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Speaker 1: as we return from Washington, d C. Looking forward to

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Speaker 1: that one.