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Speaker 1: You are listening to the End a Round podcast on

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Speaker 1: Atlanta Falcons dot Com. I am Matt tubecon today tonight

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Speaker 1: we are joined by Derek Rackley, former Falcon, former Seahawk too.

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Speaker 1: That's it, ye, most of my career was here in Atlanta,

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Speaker 1: six years of the eight Well thrilled to have you, Derek,

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Speaker 1: and not so thrilled with this final score though today

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Speaker 1: thirty four thirty three out in Phoenix Falcons fault to

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Speaker 1: one in five. But man, they lost in heartbreaking fashion today.

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Speaker 1: They got down in you know, made it, made it

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Speaker 1: a one point game, and Matt Bryant just hooked that

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Speaker 1: extra point left the snap and the hold look good, Derek,

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Speaker 1: but they end up falling thirty four thirty three. Your

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Speaker 1: thoughts on just the way they lost this? Yees. So

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Speaker 1: obviously there's a lot of onus, and there's gonna be

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Speaker 1: a lot to talk about Matt Bryan. But I think

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Speaker 1: everybody would agree that Matt Bryant has been tremendous for

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Speaker 1: this franchise, So it's unfortunate that it kind of goes

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Speaker 1: down like this. This is the reason why coaches always

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Speaker 1: talk about there being three phases of the game. Offense,

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Speaker 1: defense and special teams, and you never know when that

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Speaker 1: third phase special teams with Matt Bryant the miss kick

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Speaker 1: and there's really not a whole lot of coaching that

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Speaker 1: goes around that Matt when you go back and look

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Speaker 1: at it on tape, the snap was great, the hold

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Speaker 1: was great. Matt just ended up pulling the ball a

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Speaker 1: little bit to the left and that's kind of you know,

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Speaker 1: it comes at the expense of the Falcons, but this

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Speaker 1: is what the NFL was looking for when they changed

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Speaker 1: the rule. They wanted to make extra points. That's something

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Speaker 1: that people have to work for a little bit more.

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Speaker 1: It's not just a chip shot, because to be quite

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Speaker 1: frank that kick that he made from the old distance

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Speaker 1: was still going to be good. You can kind of

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Speaker 1: shank one as a kicker on an old extra point

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Speaker 1: and you would still make it. So, yes, it comes

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Speaker 1: at the expense of another Falcon's loss and heartbreaking fashion,

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Speaker 1: but this is kind of what the NFL wanted was

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Speaker 1: these kickers have to kind of work focus, especially in

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Speaker 1: a game tying, potentially game winning situation, and you'd think

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Speaker 1: a guy like Matt Bryant, this is not going to

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Speaker 1: phase him, but unfortunately it did so not only was

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Speaker 1: it on the kick, we'll talk about it a little

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Speaker 1: bit more, but there was there was a special team's

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Speaker 1: penalty on the fair catch interference which kind of changed

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Speaker 1: a little bit of momentum as well. So that's that's

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Speaker 1: why that third phase of the game is ever so

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Speaker 1: important because you never know how it's going to factor

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Speaker 1: into how game plays out. Excellent points, and yes, it

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Speaker 1: was just heartbreaking to watch Money Matt on the sideline.

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Speaker 1: You could just tell the pain in his face. You know,

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Speaker 1: any kicker misses that kick is gonna feel horrible. But

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Speaker 1: you're right, though, I mean, he's just he's got he's

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Speaker 1: got the Money Moniker, the Money nickname for a reason.

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Speaker 1: He is just almost automatic. And uh, you know, I

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Speaker 1: didn't even think about, you know, them changing the rule

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Speaker 1: a few years ago and changing the distance on that.

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Speaker 1: And you're right, that's a that's a fabulous point. But yes,

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Speaker 1: heartbreaking loss. They follow the one in five Falcons now

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Speaker 1: are left to come home and they've got two game

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Speaker 1: homestretch coming up. We'll get into that in a second,

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Speaker 1: but lots to unwrap in this game. Rack you brought up.

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Speaker 1: Might as well just talk about it now. You talk

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Speaker 1: about that. I hate to blame any loss, and we're

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Speaker 1: not doing that on a penalty, but it was a

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Speaker 1: pivotal call, and I'm talking about the interference call on

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Speaker 1: the fair catch. It looked to me like the ball

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Speaker 1: hit the returner in the foot and that no one

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Speaker 1: ran into him, and it looked to me that he

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Speaker 1: had enough space the catch. Yeah, it looked like he

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Speaker 1: had two yards at least maybe, and he ran up

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Speaker 1: for it. And that's what Mike Pereire on the broadcast

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Speaker 1: was talking about, is that he basically gave up on

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Speaker 1: the catch. But when you go back and look at it,

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Speaker 1: like fair catch interference generally means the guy that the

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Speaker 1: guy on the punt coverage team is right in his

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Speaker 1: face or he makes some type of contact with him.

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Speaker 1: But there was probably a good two yards of distance

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Speaker 1: in between, which trust me, I've seen a lot tighter

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Speaker 1: space where a returner runs up and he makes the

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Speaker 1: catch and there's a guy maybe a yard away from

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Speaker 1: him and there's no call. Yeah, no call. So it

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Speaker 1: was it was a quick call that was made. Yes,

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Speaker 1: it was it one that you could argue, I'm sure,

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Speaker 1: and that would have been one that I would have

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Speaker 1: liked to seen the flags stay back in his back pocket,

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Speaker 1: but nonetheless it got called. To your point, we're not

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Speaker 1: going to blame this loss on that play, but there

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Speaker 1: are some plays, there's always five or six plays throughout

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Speaker 1: the course of the game that can change momentum. And

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Speaker 1: you really thought that the Falcons were starting to gather

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Speaker 1: it at that point, but that penalty gave Arizona a

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Speaker 1: tremendous field position and it really kind of was one

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Speaker 1: of those deflating things. Now, your defense that had played

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Speaker 1: better in the second half, but they were reeling in

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Speaker 1: the first half. Now they're coming back on the field

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Speaker 1: and saying this offense with Kyler Murray, who can run

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Speaker 1: all over the fields, not only got fifty yards to

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Speaker 1: go to score ye, and so now their work has

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Speaker 1: cut out for him even more. Very unfortunate penalty be

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Speaker 1: called against Atlanta, but one that you can definitely talk

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Speaker 1: about now after the game. Maybe it shouldn't have been called.

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Speaker 1: Still at that point, you know they go down. Well,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to rewind a little bit back to when

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Speaker 1: the Falcons came up short, missed the extra point. There

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Speaker 1: was still three minutes, three nineteen left in the game,

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Speaker 1: and so there was still hope the game. Really it

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Speaker 1: felt like it was over, but it wasn't over at

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Speaker 1: that point. Hence, and then we all know what happened

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Speaker 1: lost in the game though, rack Um, there were there

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Speaker 1: were some amazing performances. But before we get into the

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Speaker 1: individual performances, this defense has been under a lot of criticism,

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Speaker 1: and you know rightfully so, Um, but the Cardinals, excuse me.

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Speaker 1: The Cardinals scored on their first five possessions and then

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Speaker 1: the defense something happened. Um. They had three straight stops

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Speaker 1: and they were gaining confidence and that sideline came alive.

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Speaker 1: It was it was really good to see. Now you're

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Speaker 1: saying to yourself, how come I can hear the fans now?

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Speaker 1: Why why can't they put a full game together? Regardless,

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Speaker 1: they they they made the necessary adjustments, They tightened up,

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Speaker 1: they erased a seventeen point deficit, they got back in

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Speaker 1: this game, and you felt like, Okay, the Falcons have

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Speaker 1: got this figured out. They've got something. It felt like

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Speaker 1: this is going to be the game that they kind

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Speaker 1: of come together offensively and figure it out on defense

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Speaker 1: and pull it out on the road. It's going to

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Speaker 1: be a feel good game. But there were some good

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Speaker 1: things to take away on the defensive side, especially in

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Speaker 1: that second half. Yeah, there was some really good plays.

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Speaker 1: You like the stops that they get on third down,

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Speaker 1: because it looked like in the first half that Arizona

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Speaker 1: was just they were going to get the ball and

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Speaker 1: they were going to either come down and score in

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Speaker 1: one way or fashion. And that's what they did in

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Speaker 1: the first half. Five possessions, five scores, combinations between yeah,

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Speaker 1: combination between field goals and touchdowns, and spilling over into

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Speaker 1: the third quarter as well. But you saw the things

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Speaker 1: finally started to kind of go their way. They had

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Speaker 1: There was a dropped pass that should have been a

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Speaker 1: first down for Arizona Cooper, right, Yeah, I think it

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Speaker 1: was well, I think it was. Yeah, I mean it

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Speaker 1: should have been a first down. I mean he had

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Speaker 1: the ball and as he was trying to tuck it away,

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Speaker 1: it just falls down. And those are for a reeling defense.

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Speaker 1: Those are the plays that you need sometimes to just

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Speaker 1: go in your favor. Yeah. Right, So they finally started

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Speaker 1: to get it back. In the first half, they didn't

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Speaker 1: get any of those plays. A Zone was making every catch,

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Speaker 1: every read. I mean, Cliff Kingsbury was in a groove

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Speaker 1: as a play caller. I mean, he was dialing up

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Speaker 1: everything and it was working. Their checkdowns were going for

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Speaker 1: thirty yards. I mean, David Johnson was catching a checkdown

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Speaker 1: on the back of the backfield for five yards and

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Speaker 1: turning up field and there wasn't a Falcon defender in sight.

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Speaker 1: But then things started to kind of tighten down a

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Speaker 1: little bit in the second half. You just need some momentum,

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Speaker 1: just a little bit to go your way, especially defensively,

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Speaker 1: for these guys to get re energized. And they started

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Speaker 1: to feel a little bit of it. They got the stops,

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Speaker 1: they got the ball back, and then they feed off

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Speaker 1: each other, right Matt Ryan takes the offense down and scores.

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Speaker 1: Now the defense is excited to come back out on

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Speaker 1: the field instead of here we go again, you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean. And it started to feel that, yeah,

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Speaker 1: and you they had every reason, I mean here there

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Speaker 1: in one and four on the road down twenty seven

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Speaker 1: ten and you know the Arizona scores in the third

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Speaker 1: quarter there, and they could have mailed it in, but

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Speaker 1: they didn't. Yes, And so that was to me, like

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Speaker 1: you to just to piggyback on your point, that was

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Speaker 1: really encouraging to see if I'm a Falcons fan, that energy.

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Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, this is what we expected in

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Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. I don't want to overdo it, but it

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Speaker 1: fell good to watch them climb back, to see the

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Speaker 1: offense clicking on all cylinders. Let me know, because it

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Speaker 1: was great to see DeVante Freeman get a steady you

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Speaker 1: know what, he finished with what nineteen carries eighty eight yards.

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Speaker 1: But it was a strong performance by him, you know,

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Speaker 1: and and you know, Austin Hooper he ended up with

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Speaker 1: what eight catches, one hundred and seventeen yards a touchdown,

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Speaker 1: Julio big day, and just Matt was just doing a

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Speaker 1: great job spread the ball around. He ended up thirty

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Speaker 1: thirty six thirty for thirty six, three hundred and fifty

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Speaker 1: six yards, four touchdowns, just a great day. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: you want to talk about any of those individual performances, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean it's I think Matt Ryan's performance was tremendous.

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Speaker 1: I mean the thirty of thirty six on the road,

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Speaker 1: four touchdowns and no picks. Because I was kind of

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Speaker 1: thinking to myself to because we were watching the game,

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Speaker 1: especially late in the game, the only thing that could

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Speaker 1: have hurt and the Falcons, as far as their comeback

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Speaker 1: is some type of turnover, you get a bad decision.

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Speaker 1: There was one time that Matt Ryan got rushed a

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Speaker 1: little bit stepping up in the pocket. He had some

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Speaker 1: people down on his legs and he kind of heaved

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Speaker 1: one over the middle late, which those are the players

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Speaker 1: where you're like, oh my gosh, that generally end up

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Speaker 1: an interception. But fortunately that ball fell harmlessly to the turf.

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Speaker 1: But you're thinking, Okay, the only thing that can kind

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Speaker 1: of disrupt this rhythm that they had on offense was

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Speaker 1: some type of turnover. But everybody, the ball carriers were

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Speaker 1: securing the football. The guys were catching it out on

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Speaker 1: the perimeter. When they turned up field, they were securing it.

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Speaker 1: So everything was rolling for them. That's why Matt Ryan

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Speaker 1: completes thirty of thirty six. I mean, I believe that's

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Speaker 1: eighty three percent little over eighty three percent, which in

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Speaker 1: the NFL is extremely difficult. You want to say, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was against the team that was one three and

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Speaker 1: one coming into the game. I don't care. They got

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Speaker 1: guys that are getting paid a lot of money to

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Speaker 1: play defense. So I think that performance is one that

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Speaker 1: you can say we can win with that. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you can win with every If you score thirty three

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Speaker 1: points in the NFL, you'd like your chances to win

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Speaker 1: the game. Yeah, just to you hit on that point.

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Speaker 1: Matt Ryan is the first quarterback in NFL history to

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Speaker 1: complete eighty plus percent of his passes for over three

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Speaker 1: hundred yards with four tds and no interceptions and lose. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: which that's not necessarily one that you want to be

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Speaker 1: the only quarterback for. If we could just change that

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Speaker 1: last four letter word to a three letter word, yeah,

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Speaker 1: win that great. Zero turnovers correct, which had been a

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Speaker 1: problem with this team penalties. The Falcons were penalized just

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Speaker 1: five times for thirty two yards. They cleaned that up. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: So there was a lot of encouraging things now just

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Speaker 1: the defense though did give up four hundred yards, correct,

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Speaker 1: but most of them were in the first half. And

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Speaker 1: you mentioned Hooper two. That was one thing I'm glad

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Speaker 1: to see the Falcons kind of utilizing a part of

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Speaker 1: their offense, which is something that Arizona had struggled with

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Speaker 1: and it was an area coming too the game, and

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Speaker 1: they showed it during the game that Arizona had given

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Speaker 1: up more yardage to tight ends than any other team

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Speaker 1: in the National Football League, and so Matt Ryan number one,

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Speaker 1: not necessarily. Now, I will tell you this, the quarterback

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Speaker 1: doesn't sit back in the pocket and say, oh, Arizona

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Speaker 1: gives up the most yards to a tight end in

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Speaker 1: the NFL. He's going to read the defense and he's

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Speaker 1: going to see what works out. But in the second half,

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Speaker 1: he was seeing that Austin Hooper was a huge weapon

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Speaker 1: form every time that he got into a route, he

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Speaker 1: was looking in his direction. Even on the touchdown to Freeman,

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Speaker 1: it was he along the same side with Hooper, using

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Speaker 1: Hooper to kind of pull the defense out and he

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Speaker 1: ends up getting the ball and goes into the end zone.

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Speaker 1: So I think it was a great performance by Hooper

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Speaker 1: as well. Eight for one seventeen and a touchdown. I mean,

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Speaker 1: those are wide receiver type numbers, and I think that's

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Speaker 1: one of the reasons why the Falcons have a really

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Speaker 1: good gift in the fact that they got a tight

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Speaker 1: end that can be a difference maker. Julio Jones, as

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Speaker 1: you mentioned, also eight for a one hundred and eight.

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Speaker 1: He does not score, but those two guys were pivotal

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Speaker 1: in Matt Ryan racking up three hundred and fifty six

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Speaker 1: passing yards. Yeah, I don't know if I misstated the

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Speaker 1: total yards, but the Falcons ended up with four hundred

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Speaker 1: and forty two yards of total offense. The Cardinals had

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Speaker 1: four hundred and forty four. A lot of offense in

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Speaker 1: this game, which is what we expected coming into this one.

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Speaker 1: Both defenses have had their moments where you know, they've

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Speaker 1: been struggling this year. But again, I just I think

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Speaker 1: it's important to focus on what happened in the second

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Speaker 1: half of this team because they were down, they were

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Speaker 1: there was, you know, facing adversity, and they tightened their belt.

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Speaker 1: They played well enough to win this game and they

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Speaker 1: just okay, they just didn't. So and you brought up

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Speaker 1: the penalties there were, like you said, there's a handful

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Speaker 1: of plays every game that just can be game changing plays.

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Speaker 1: And and you know, you go back to the first half,

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Speaker 1: even their first possession where the Cardinals it was to Sherefield.

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Speaker 1: It looked like he had just had one foot down. Um.

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Speaker 1: Not to again not to cry over the officiating, because

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Speaker 1: those things tend to balance themselves out. I feel like

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Speaker 1: in the core the game. Sure, yeah, there were just

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Speaker 1: some bad calls in this game. Inconsistence. You gotta play

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Speaker 1: through it. You gotta play through it because you know

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Speaker 1: I've trust me. We're here in the Atlanta Falcons headquarters

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Speaker 1: building and we're right on top of the meeting rooms,

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Speaker 1: and I could tell you from a player that sat

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Speaker 1: in these meeting rooms before, the coaches are never going

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Speaker 1: to say that this is the reason why we lost

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Speaker 1: the game. You gotta play through the officials, You got

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Speaker 1: to play through adversity, and you just have to find

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Speaker 1: a way to make more plays. And I don't know

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Speaker 1: about you, and obviously we're just kind of foreshadowing here,

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Speaker 1: but that game goes into overtime, and I like the

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Speaker 1: way that the Falcons were playing and that stretch call

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Speaker 1: it the fourth quarter, maybe halfway through the third quarter.

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Speaker 1: I like their momentum going into overtime a little bit

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Speaker 1: more than I liked Arizona. Unfortunately, with the missed extra point,

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Speaker 1: we didn't get a chance to feel that. But if

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Speaker 1: they go in overtime, who knows what's going to happen. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we actually debated, hey, do they go for two or

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Speaker 1: take the tie and go in overtime, and we both

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Speaker 1: said definitely take the points, tie it because we liked

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Speaker 1: how the team was playing. Yeah, I mean Matt Ryan

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Speaker 1: was moving the football up and down the field like it,

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Speaker 1: you know, kind of at will if you will. I

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Speaker 1: mean he was spreading the football all around. Davante Freeman

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Speaker 1: had three catches out of the backfield, two of them

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Speaker 1: went for touchdowns. I mean, just finding who was open

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Speaker 1: and continuing to dissect this defense, even though there was

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Speaker 1: plenty of times when he was under pressure. I mean

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Speaker 1: runner around from Chandler Jones and Terrell Suggs. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's not easy. It's two pretty good edge rushers there

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Speaker 1: that he's going up against, and he kept stepping up

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Speaker 1: in the pocket, finding the right read and making the

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Speaker 1: an accurate throw for sure. So here we are one

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Speaker 1: in five ten games left, and the Falcons have back

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Speaker 1: to back home games against NFC West teams, the Rams

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Speaker 1: and the Seahawks before they head into their bye. You Know,

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Speaker 1: I said when the schedule came out, I love the

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Speaker 1: fact that the bye was right in the middle of

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Speaker 1: the season. I actually liked the idea that all six

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Speaker 1: of their division games during the second half the season,

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Speaker 1: because if you need to if you need to figure

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Speaker 1: some things out or figure out your offensive line rotation

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Speaker 1: or just you know, just continue to grow because they

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Speaker 1: were they had some setbacks in training camp and you

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Speaker 1: just kind of felt like, Okay, this team's gonna need

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Speaker 1: to figure out some things early on in the season.

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Speaker 1: It was, and it was a strong start the season.

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Speaker 1: I mean, they were Minnesota, Philly, Indie, you know, in Houston,

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Speaker 1: right they just kind of popped out as it Okay,

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Speaker 1: this is gonna be a tough opening stretch, but everything

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Speaker 1: is still on the table. I said, if they can

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Speaker 1: even go five hundred, they're not going to be able

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Speaker 1: to do that now. So here we are in all

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Speaker 1: that matters now. It's yes, yes, it's the Rams and

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Speaker 1: the Seahawks and the Saints and the Panthers coming up.

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Speaker 1: But this team rack they just need to focus on

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Speaker 1: the Rams right now exactly. That's you know, we said, hey,

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Speaker 1: if they can stack a win here, get this win

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Speaker 1: out in the Desert Bury this three game skid, and

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Speaker 1: just get one and start stacking wins. They didn't get it,

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Speaker 1: but they've Look. You know, some people, I get the frustration.

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Speaker 1: I'm already getting the emails. But it's not over. It's

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Speaker 1: not over. And it's they've got the Rams here with

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Speaker 1: ten games left, your thoughts on where this team is

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Speaker 1: right now? Yeah, and it's it's tough in this situation

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Speaker 1: when you're sitting at one in five and you're talking

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Speaker 1: about a ProTeam that's kind of reeling a little bit.

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Speaker 1: But well, here's what I will tell you. And I'll

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Speaker 1: try to not get coach speak here because nobody wants

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Speaker 1: to hear coach speak. But these guys are professionals. This

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Speaker 1: is your job. So they have to show up every

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Speaker 1: day willing to correct the mistakes that they've made and

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Speaker 1: go out onto that practice field and find a way

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Speaker 1: to be a better football team, whether that's correcting them

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Speaker 1: as the defensive mistakes that were made in the first

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Speaker 1: half against Arizona, guys were coming out of the backfield

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Speaker 1: wide open. Okay, what's the responsibility, what's our adjustment and

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Speaker 1: how do we make sure that we don't make that

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Speaker 1: mistake again? Is it personnel or is it play call? Okay?

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Speaker 1: So that's what they've got to kind of decipher, if

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Speaker 1: you will. But then at every moment is one thing

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Speaker 1: I've always said is that players are always evaluated, whether

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Speaker 1: it's it's the actual numbers that you put up or

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Speaker 1: it's how you go to work. And one thing I

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Speaker 1: will tell you is they want to continue to build

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Speaker 1: a team around guys that will fight right. And so

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Speaker 1: the leaders of this team, the Matt Ryan's, the Julio Jones,

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Speaker 1: the Ricardo Allens, those guys need to continue to come

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Speaker 1: back to Alex Max of the world and say we

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Speaker 1: need to stick together because everybody outside the walls of

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Speaker 1: this building is going to try to tear us apart.

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Speaker 1: Because I've been on teams like this. When I was

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Speaker 1: with the Falcons in the early two thousands, we were

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Speaker 1: losing as well. And guess what, all of the media

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Speaker 1: outlets and it's even more now because there's so many

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Speaker 1: more media outlets, they want to tear the team apart.

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Speaker 1: They want to find ways that this guy shouldn't be

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Speaker 1: back and that guy shouldn't be back. They've got to

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Speaker 1: come together as out there. Yeah, and they they got

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Speaker 1: to come together as a team and say, guys, this performance,

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Speaker 1: we didn't get it done, but there was plenty of

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Speaker 1: good things. Now let's build on top of that and

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Speaker 1: let's come back home in this two game stand before

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Speaker 1: our bye week. Let's put a great product out on

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Speaker 1: the field. Let's get a couple of wins, get healthy,

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Speaker 1: get re energized in the bye week, and then you'll

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Speaker 1: never know what happens the second half of the year.

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Speaker 1: Does it on a little coach speak? I don't know,

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Speaker 1: but that's what you have to do when you still

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Speaker 1: have ten games left in the season. Well, hey, the

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Speaker 1: Rams lost twenty to seven today. They're reeling a little bit.

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Speaker 1: They're beatable. The Bucks hung fifty I think fifty four

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Speaker 1: on them. I forget fifty three. They they hung fifty

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Speaker 1: plus on them. That you know, that doesn't mean the

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Speaker 1: Falcons are automat thing going to do that. But what

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Speaker 1: I am saying is that they are beatable. Every every

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Speaker 1: team is beatable. Ye, But they've got to somehow focus,

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Speaker 1: get it together, like you said, build on the positives.

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Speaker 1: And they got the Rams and the Seahawks at home,

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Speaker 1: which is a lot better than heading out west and

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Speaker 1: and just start stacking some wins. And you know, a

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Speaker 1: lot of people, like you said, there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: experts out there and a lot of people that have

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Speaker 1: all the answers and what to how to fix this

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Speaker 1: team right now. And of course yeah, they've got they've

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Speaker 1: got to block that out. Block out the noise, and

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Speaker 1: there were some there were some really good things that

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Speaker 1: happened today on the field. Yeah yeah. I mean, if

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Speaker 1: you're talking about an offensive performance where they scored thirty

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Speaker 1: three points, but that was like seventeen of them came

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Speaker 1: off with turnovers in short fields, you're saying, Okay, well,

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Speaker 1: maybe this team is not as talented as they truly are,

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Speaker 1: But this was not the case. A lot of these

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Speaker 1: were long drives. I mean, I know one of them.

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Speaker 1: They started back at their own seven yard line and

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Speaker 1: drove ninety three yards down the field and put the

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Speaker 1: ball in the end zone. So in the NFL that's

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Speaker 1: extremely difficult. I mean, that's called you gotta stack up

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Speaker 1: first downs, you gotta get a couple expulsive plays. Everybody's

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Speaker 1: got to be on the same page. You're protecting the football.

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Speaker 1: So those things are positives. It's not like they were

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Speaker 1: just gifted the ball on the road on the opponent's

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Speaker 1: seventeen yard line and they had one place scoring drive.

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Speaker 1: They put together drives to put the ball in the

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Speaker 1: end zone. So build off of those things. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: you're right, it's difficult in this point in the season

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Speaker 1: to find the positives. But you have to figure out

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Speaker 1: a way to come back to work and get better.

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Speaker 1: The Colts start off one in five last year. The

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Speaker 1: fans hate it, The readers hate it when I point

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Speaker 1: that out. They don't like those kind effects. But they

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Speaker 1: ended up making the playoffs last year, and here we

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Speaker 1: are one in five. The offense the last two games

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Speaker 1: that scored thirty three thirty two points. They seem to

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Speaker 1: be clicking, and the defense looked good in the second half. Yea,

430
00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:22,720
Speaker 1: you know, against a decent little offense. Yeah. Kyler Murder's

431
00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:25,320
Speaker 1: a heck of an athlete. Now he's gonna We talked

432
00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:26,960
Speaker 1: about this during the game. There was a couple of

433
00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:29,520
Speaker 1: plays that he probably should have been sacked from the backside,

434
00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:32,879
Speaker 1: but because of his athleticism and his speed, even the

435
00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:35,160
Speaker 1: last play where he ends up picking up the first down,

436
00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:38,680
Speaker 1: where granted, you know, we're gonna replay it, we're gonna

437
00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:41,359
Speaker 1: take a look at it, which listen, I didn't see

438
00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:44,080
Speaker 1: an angle that was definitive. But when you're kind of

439
00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:46,680
Speaker 1: looking at this through the prism of a falcon standpoint,

440
00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:49,440
Speaker 1: you're saying he was short. The Cardinals are gonna say, yeah,

441
00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:51,720
Speaker 1: he got it by a half a yard. Yeah, but

442
00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:54,919
Speaker 1: there wasn't enough on that review to reverse that. Right,

443
00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:58,240
Speaker 1: But if there's another quarterback, right, if there's a if

444
00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,040
Speaker 1: this is um you know, Aaron Rodd or somebody else,

445
00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:03,560
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, they're not getting outside the pocket to pick

446
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,200
Speaker 1: up that first down. So you're dealing with a quarterback

447
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:09,080
Speaker 1: that's got tremendous athleticism. Was number one overall pick for

448
00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:11,000
Speaker 1: a reason, and he made a few plays today that

449
00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:12,800
Speaker 1: kind of justified why he was one of the best

450
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:15,880
Speaker 1: players coming out of college last year for sure. All Right,

451
00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:17,879
Speaker 1: so I'm just gonna we're gonna wrap it up here

452
00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:23,240
Speaker 1: with this final thought. Did you see enough out of

453
00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:29,399
Speaker 1: this team today to where, being a former player, a fan,

454
00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:32,680
Speaker 1: an analyst, did you see enough out of this team

455
00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:36,560
Speaker 1: where you said, you know, this team has enough going

456
00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:40,400
Speaker 1: and this team there's enough here to provide some hope.

457
00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:42,960
Speaker 1: There's some hope for this team. There's I can I

458
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,679
Speaker 1: can see this team beating LA next week. Yes. In

459
00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:49,720
Speaker 1: building on that, Yes, again, you talked about some of

460
00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:53,320
Speaker 1: the offensive performances and when you score thirty three points,

461
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:57,320
Speaker 1: when you score thirty two points offensively, that should give

462
00:22:57,359 --> 00:22:59,840
Speaker 1: you a chance to win football games. Again, we're not

463
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:03,000
Speaker 1: talking about an offense that scoring nine points, twelve points,

464
00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:07,040
Speaker 1: seven points, fifteen points. Okay, they're scoring in the twenties

465
00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:10,120
Speaker 1: and thirties, and that's generally enough to get you a win.

466
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:13,080
Speaker 1: So if the offense continues what they're doing, the defense

467
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:16,160
Speaker 1: makes some adjustments to what they did in the second half,

468
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,720
Speaker 1: and then they can hold the Rams to seventeen points. Okay,

469
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,199
Speaker 1: you score thirty next week and they scored seventeen. That's

470
00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:24,879
Speaker 1: a pretty good victory. You're feeling good about yourself. I

471
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:27,960
Speaker 1: would be in a different position here if we're talking

472
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,560
Speaker 1: about an offense that scoring eleven points a game. But

473
00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:35,119
Speaker 1: that's not the case. I'm with you and that. The

474
00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:38,159
Speaker 1: other encouraging sign outside of the defense is what we

475
00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:42,080
Speaker 1: also touched on is the fact that there weren't a

476
00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:45,159
Speaker 1: lot of penalties, There were no turnovers. Matt Ryan was

477
00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:51,439
Speaker 1: under duress, you know, he was sacked twice, but it

478
00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:54,680
Speaker 1: wasn't a four five sack game, and he wasn't taking

479
00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:58,680
Speaker 1: a beating, and there just weren't a lot of mistakes

480
00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:01,480
Speaker 1: by the Falcons. I felt six to ten on third down,

481
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,000
Speaker 1: and I'll tell you that inside locker rooms in the NFL,

482
00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:06,439
Speaker 1: they're looking for forty percent or more. Forty percent or

483
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,119
Speaker 1: more is a winning style performance on third downs, and

484
00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:12,280
Speaker 1: they on the road they were sixty percent today. You're

485
00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:14,600
Speaker 1: gonna win football games when you convert on third down

486
00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:16,159
Speaker 1: like that, When you punch the ball into the end

487
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:18,439
Speaker 1: zone like they were able to do, and not settle

488
00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:21,040
Speaker 1: for field goals constantly, you're going to give yourself a

489
00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:24,000
Speaker 1: chance to win. Look, I'm not going to sugarcoat it.

490
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:25,879
Speaker 1: They got to get better on defense. They have to

491
00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:27,520
Speaker 1: be able to keep people out of the end zone.

492
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:29,560
Speaker 1: They've got to be able to halt momentum a lot

493
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:32,080
Speaker 1: quicker and not find themselves in a hole in the

494
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:34,040
Speaker 1: first half like they did. It's hard to dig your

495
00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:37,080
Speaker 1: way out of that in the NFL. So again, I

496
00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:38,919
Speaker 1: don't want to sit here and try to give you

497
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:42,520
Speaker 1: all these lollipops and flowers that things are going to

498
00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:45,359
Speaker 1: be great, because they've got to make adjustments defensively to

499
00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:47,080
Speaker 1: where they keep people out of the end zone, keep

500
00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:50,119
Speaker 1: points off the board. But there's enough to where you

501
00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:53,200
Speaker 1: can say, all right, Matt Ryan's playing well, Julio Jones

502
00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:57,400
Speaker 1: is playing well, Freeman's playing well, Hooper's playing well. They've

503
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:00,280
Speaker 1: got weapons to score points on offense, and that's they've

504
00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:02,280
Speaker 1: got to look at the season. They have to just

505
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:05,000
Speaker 1: they are in a one in five hole. They have

506
00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:08,680
Speaker 1: to the only way they're going to dig themselves out

507
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,840
Speaker 1: is to stack one win at a time. One win?

508
00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:15,360
Speaker 1: Can they there's ten up for grab? Will they get

509
00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:17,000
Speaker 1: out ten? I don't know, but they're gonna need to

510
00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:20,480
Speaker 1: get the majority of those if they're gonna, um, you know,

511
00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:22,439
Speaker 1: do anything substantial at the end of the year. But

512
00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:24,840
Speaker 1: they can't think like that. It's just got to be

513
00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,440
Speaker 1: one at a time. Oh yeah, shoot, right now, they're

514
00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,120
Speaker 1: thinking about practice, they're thinking about that next time they're

515
00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:32,560
Speaker 1: on the field. That's the most important day that's coming up.

516
00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:35,119
Speaker 1: And we'll wrap it up right there. Hey, thanks so

517
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:37,520
Speaker 1: much for joining us and hopefully hope to have you

518
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:39,760
Speaker 1: in again this season. Thanks man,