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

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Speaker 1: the Falcons Final Whistle Podcast, presented by Zaxby's. I'm Scott

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Speaker 1: Behar alongside Taryn Walk and Tory mclhaney. Coming to you

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Speaker 1: from Mercedes Benz Stadium after a twenty one to nineteen

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Speaker 1: come from behind victory Falcons over the visiting Houston Texans,

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Speaker 1: where young Wayku nailed a thirty seven yard game winning

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Speaker 1: field goal and Desmond Ritter was pretty freaking awesome and

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Speaker 1: helping the Falcons get to three and two.

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Speaker 2: The quarterback.

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Speaker 1: Had a pair of subpar performances I feel like it's

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Speaker 1: fair to say against the Lions and the Jaguars, and

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Speaker 1: he rebounded about as well as you could have. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: what was his best performance as a pro?

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Speaker 3: Well, that's the thing is like, coming into this game,

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Speaker 3: this was the question was how is Desmond Ridder going

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Speaker 3: to bounce back from what the last two games had been?

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Speaker 3: And I think what we saw was something that I

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Speaker 3: go back to that Arthur Smith has always said about

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Speaker 3: Desmond Ritter is that he is really good in the

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Speaker 3: like critical moments. He's really good when the pressure is on,

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Speaker 3: and I personally feel like he was under as much

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Speaker 3: pressure in this week leading up to this game as

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Speaker 3: he's been since taking over the starting job last season.

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Speaker 3: With four games left in the season, there were a

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Speaker 3: lot of people questioning whether or not he should be

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Speaker 3: the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, not just right now,

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Speaker 3: but obviously moving forward. And I think that as we

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Speaker 3: look back on this game, you know, was it perfect. No,

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Speaker 3: I'm sure there were a lot of moments that I

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Speaker 3: think the offense would have liked more production than what

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Speaker 3: they had. The first drive, the first drive, yeah, but

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Speaker 3: then they come out in that second drive and it

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Speaker 3: was one of the most fun drives that I think

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Speaker 3: this group has put together this year, and that's something

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Speaker 3: that has been missing. And then you give them less

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Speaker 3: than two minutes to go down and essentially win the game.

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Speaker 3: And Desmonder was part of all of that. And not

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Speaker 3: just that, but he had what he he was three

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Speaker 3: hundred and had three hundred and twenty nine passing yards

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Speaker 3: on twenty eight completions. His leading receivers were Kyle Pitts

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Speaker 3: and Drake London, which I know a lot of people

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Speaker 3: have been missing over the last few weeks. I know

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Speaker 3: Arthur Smith said that he was pretty damn good on Sunday,

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Speaker 3: and I agree with that, and that was something that

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Speaker 3: he really needed to be I.

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Speaker 4: Think you saw him having some fun with it too.

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Speaker 4: I mean one play, even though it's not anything miraculous

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Speaker 4: on paper, but in the moment that really stood out

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Speaker 4: to me and kind of said enough or a little

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Speaker 4: about does was when the.

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Speaker 5: I know exactly what I'm talking about. It was it.

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Speaker 4: I think it was a full starter encroachment one of

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Speaker 4: the two where they got flagged and Des just stood

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Speaker 4: there in his like stance around him is moving and

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Speaker 4: he's still there already waiting for the snap, as if

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Speaker 4: like I'm dying with his lie or something like they moved,

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Speaker 4: I'm not moving.

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Speaker 3: It's funny too, because even in his postgame press conference,

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Speaker 3: you know, he comes in with this uh backwards the

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Speaker 3: Falcons like pull over on and he was asked, which

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Speaker 3: was really funny. He was asked, you know on that

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Speaker 3: touchdown shovel pass that you had to Bejon, you know,

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Speaker 3: did you did you mean to put it there or

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Speaker 3: something along the lines, and he goes, yeah, I definitely

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Speaker 3: meant to put it in, like right into his back.

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Speaker 3: That's absolutely what I wanted to do. And he's like no,

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Speaker 3: so even like it's nice to see because I do

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Speaker 3: think like this is a guy who has had a

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Speaker 3: lot of pressure in the last two weeks. Especially to

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Speaker 3: see him kind of exactly what you're talking about, having

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Speaker 3: a little bit of fun and having a little bit

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Speaker 3: of success, it's it's kind of a refreshing.

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Speaker 5: It's just refreshing.

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Speaker 4: The timing of it's a little odd considering people work

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Speaker 4: questioning his status and I think we saw him.

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Speaker 5: Looser today than ever.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's like, wait a minute, shouldn't have been

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Speaker 4: when YO were winning not losing again.

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Speaker 3: It goes back to that main point that I was

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Speaker 3: making about, like the fact that Arthur Smith has said

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Speaker 3: this is a guy who turns it on in critical moments.

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Speaker 3: This was his critical a moment of his career up

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Speaker 3: to this.

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Speaker 5: Point, and he's having fun with it, right, Like what if.

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Speaker 1: There's I know that lots of athletes say that they

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Speaker 1: tune out the outside noise and they don't care about

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Speaker 1: what other people say.

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Speaker 2: I think he hears it. Everyone does.

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Speaker 1: He's at press conferences, he has to answer these questions

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Speaker 1: about his job status.

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Speaker 2: But I really don't think he.

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Speaker 1: Cares much about like he hears it, but I I

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Speaker 1: really don't think that that's terribly important to him, and

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Speaker 1: I think that that is another reason why the pressures

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Speaker 1: off a little bit because they invested heavily in a

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Speaker 1: backup in Taylor Heineke Ryeah six plus million dollars, and.

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Speaker 3: Taylor Heineke has proved that he can play some good

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Speaker 3: football exactly and lead a team will.

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Speaker 1: And I think that the big question for the Falcons

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Speaker 1: after getting to two and two is you sort of

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Speaker 1: felt like, man, this team.

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Speaker 2: Could be really really good if they got.

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Speaker 1: Consistent quarterback play right that there's a lot of talent

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Speaker 1: around that spot. But ultimately, you know, I think Desmond

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Speaker 1: Ridder really stood tall here. It was also interesting talked

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Speaker 1: a little bit to Taylor Heinike after the game that

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Speaker 1: dude was just overwhelmingly supportive of his guy, knowing, hey,

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Speaker 1: he's from the state of Georgia. He probably wants to

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Speaker 1: start here. He's a competitor. But I thought the way

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Speaker 1: that Taylor talked about Desmond during the week and their

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Speaker 1: conversations and their mindset in the quarterback room was just

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Speaker 1: a really stand up thing to do. Because obviously, in

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Speaker 1: self interest, Taylor wants to play right, and of course

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Speaker 1: he does.

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Speaker 2: But he did.

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Speaker 1: Everything that he could to help this young player be

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Speaker 1: in the best position to succeed, and I thought he

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Speaker 1: was really successful. Again, was it perfect? It most certainly

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Speaker 1: was not. But in terms of the passing game and

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Speaker 1: how you and how you were to like draw it up,

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Speaker 1: this is how it's supposed to look. Yeah, he had

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Speaker 1: so many people had receptions. Yeah, today a ton he

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Speaker 1: spread the ball around. Pitts in London were stars. Johnny

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Speaker 1: Smith was really good.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting. I'm sorry I cut you off, but

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Speaker 3: it's funny to me. And maybe funny's not the right word,

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Speaker 3: but you go, I know, Falcons fans know what. I'm

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Speaker 3: about to bring out the comment from Jimmy Ward from

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Speaker 3: the locker room in Texas this week where he said, yeah,

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Speaker 3: the Falcons have good receivers if they use them, and

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Speaker 3: they ain't gonna throw it, and that was the whole point.

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Speaker 3: And it wasn't that he was I think dissing desmon Ritter,

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Speaker 3: which I think a lot of people took it that way.

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Speaker 3: I really do think, and this is what I wrote

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Speaker 3: in my five Things to Watch. I really do think

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Speaker 3: that comment was more along the lines of this run

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Speaker 3: game is the foundation of what this offense wants to

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Speaker 3: be and wants to do, so they want to out

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Speaker 3: physical you at the line of scrimmage. Well, give Texas

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Speaker 3: credit because outside of a few runs here and there,

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Speaker 3: they really stopped their run pretty well. I mean, it

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Speaker 3: was a pretty impressive what they were able to do

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Speaker 3: in stopping the run, and they did. They forced Desmond

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Speaker 3: Ridder to make the plays with his arm in two

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Speaker 3: Desmond Ridders' credit he did.

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Speaker 4: I mean you just look at the net yards for

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Speaker 4: both categories ninety six rushing, three hundred and fifty one passing.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, clearly skewed right right.

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Speaker 1: And ultimately there were some throws. The throw to Keith

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Speaker 1: Smith really stands out. Keith wasn't open necessarily, but Desmond

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Speaker 1: put it in a position where only his guy could

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Speaker 1: catch it, and I think that there were a couple

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Speaker 1: of different passes. There was also that there was a

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Speaker 1: big play to Drake London down the sideline where he

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Speaker 1: just let Drake go make a play. Yeah, and we've

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Speaker 1: been talking about that a lot.

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Speaker 3: He did the same with Kyle I think on a

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Speaker 3: couple plays too, just threw it up to him and

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Speaker 3: those are the fifty to fifty balls that I think

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Speaker 3: we've been wanting to see, because that's the whole reason

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Speaker 3: we have guys like Kyle Pitts and Drake Linden is

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Speaker 3: because of the advantage that you know they have in

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Speaker 3: fifty to fifty ball situations. You know you trust that

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Speaker 3: if it's in a situation like that, even though it's

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Speaker 3: technically fifty to fifty, you sometimes feel like it's seventy thirty.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and now we're having a much different conversation, even

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Speaker 1: if it's positive about Desmond Rider, if he doesn't do

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Speaker 1: what he did on the final drive, there's what right

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Speaker 1: about two minutes left, three timeouts. I think does call

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Speaker 1: that and eternity in this league, And he's kind of

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Speaker 1: right right, but his execution was darn near flawless on

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Speaker 1: that drive that to set up a young Way's game winner.

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Speaker 5: I feel like I'm thinking back to the Packers game.

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Speaker 4: Isn't this like a conversation we basically had then where

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Speaker 4: it was like, oh, does.

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Speaker 5: Leed the game winning drive? Yeah, it peaked at the

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Speaker 5: way moment.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, he turned it on when he needed to, But

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Speaker 3: I think it was just overall, if we're talking about

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Speaker 3: this offense or this final drive that set up the

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Speaker 3: young way Who game winning field goal. To me, you

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Speaker 3: love seeing that from desmonda or you love seeing the

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Speaker 3: production of the offense in that moment just to be

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Speaker 3: able to get down there and set up Yung Waku.

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Speaker 5: For a manageable field goal.

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Speaker 3: But to me, that moment was just as much about

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Speaker 3: the defense watching on the sideline, because if you are

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Speaker 3: this defense, and you know, I don't want to put

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Speaker 3: words into anybody's bout, but it's just the feeling that

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Speaker 3: I have if you are this defense, you have gone

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Speaker 3: out for four weeks and you have played very well.

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Speaker 3: This defense has played as well as I think just

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Speaker 3: about any defense in Atlanta for the last long time.

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Speaker 3: Like I'm not gonna put it, I'm not gonna put

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Speaker 3: a date on it, but long time, you have played

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Speaker 3: very very well. You've not only played very well, but

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Speaker 3: you have been the reason that the Falcons as a

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Speaker 3: team has been able to stay alive in games and too, honestly,

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Speaker 3: in the first two games of the season, come back

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Speaker 3: and have a chance to win the game. So you're

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Speaker 3: sitting there on the sideline knowing that you just gave

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Speaker 3: up a touchdown that you definitely didn't want to give up.

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Speaker 3: You are down by one now and there's a minute

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Speaker 3: and forty nine seconds left on the clock. You as

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Speaker 3: a defense can do nothing at this point. All you

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Speaker 3: can do is give the ball is now back in

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Speaker 3: the offense stands, and you just have to trust that

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Speaker 3: they're gonna go hold up their end of the bargain.

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Speaker 3: And I think for a lot, and I wrote about

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Speaker 3: this on Monday in my notebook, there have been a

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Speaker 3: lot of times in the last two games where the

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Speaker 3: offense did not do that. They did not score points

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Speaker 3: when they needed to, and it really put this defense

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Speaker 3: in a bind because they're going out in all what

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Speaker 3: feels like over and over and over again and making

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Speaker 3: stop after stop after stop and making these defensive stands

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Speaker 3: without offensive answers. And that's tough on that unit. So

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Speaker 3: what the offense did in being able to go down

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Speaker 3: and I know it's just a field goal, it's on touchdown,

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Speaker 3: but to be able to go down and essentially win

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Speaker 3: this game, that has to mean a lot. And it

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Speaker 3: has to go a long way for trust within both units,

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Speaker 3: whether it's the defense trusting the offense, to the offense

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Speaker 3: trusting the defense I think that moment really spoke to

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Speaker 3: the offense kind of taking it within themselves and being like, hey,

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Speaker 3: y'all have done a lot for us in these four games.

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Speaker 3: In this fifth game too, I mean, can't overlook the

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Speaker 3: performance they had in this game too, despite that final touchdown.

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Speaker 3: But you've done so much fresh we appreciate you. Let

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Speaker 3: us go out and take the burden and go win

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Speaker 3: this game.

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Speaker 4: Well, in the last two games, I just looked at

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Speaker 4: it quickly, the time of possession has been skewed pretty

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Speaker 4: significantly toward the winning team aka not the Falcons. That

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Speaker 4: goes to what you're saying about the defense having spent

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Speaker 4: more time on the field than the offense. That's not

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Speaker 4: the case today when it was thirty five thirty two

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Speaker 4: Atlanta twenty four to twenty eight Houston. So that the

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Speaker 4: numbers are there, I go with the numbers, you go

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Speaker 4: with the storylines.

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Speaker 5: I'm like, where are the hard facts for this? Like,

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Speaker 5: where are the stats? You need the numbers.

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Speaker 4: The only other time that the Falcons had a longer

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Speaker 4: time of possession than their opponent was the Backers game.

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Speaker 4: But again that's when the offense showed up, and it's

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Speaker 4: felt like the most balanced game. I think we're seeing

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Speaker 4: a lot of that in this game.

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Speaker 1: I think there's a really good quote from Tory's story

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Speaker 1: kind of diving into the final drive, a quote from

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Speaker 1: Drake London. I feel like as an offense, we've been

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Speaker 1: letting the defense down in a sense. To go out

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Speaker 1: there and have their backs this time was big for us.

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Speaker 1: I think to have somebody like that say something like that,

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Speaker 1: I think it shows how much it meant in that moment,

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Speaker 1: because while the Falcons defense hasn't been generating a lot

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Speaker 1: of those kind of game changing plays in terms of

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Speaker 1: sacks and takeaways and things like that, they have been

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Speaker 1: so tough. They are a tough team to gain yards

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Speaker 1: on and I think that they're really good on critical downs.

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Speaker 1: So it was important for the Falcons offense to really

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Speaker 1: kind of turn it on there. And we were talking

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Speaker 1: so much about Pitts and London, but Jon Robinson did

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Speaker 1: a b Jon Robinson thing.

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Speaker 5: Here's the thing.

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Speaker 3: We can't go through this podcast without bringing up a

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Speaker 3: section on Jean Robinson.

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Speaker 2: We're to that point now.

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Speaker 4: But he's human, guys. We learned today he is capable

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Speaker 4: of making a mistake. Yeah, he fumbled and lost it

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Speaker 4: would have been different if he recovered his own fumble,

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Speaker 4: then it would have been like, well, he's still perfect.

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Speaker 4: But no, he fumbled and lost the ball, and he

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Speaker 4: actually like owned up to that and whatnot and said

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Speaker 4: he's glad it happened because it taught him how to

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Speaker 4: bounce back in that moment and to be more aware

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Speaker 4: of what's going on around him, because I think he,

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Speaker 4: along with all of us, know about his as he says,

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Speaker 4: God given abilities, and that he normally doesn't get put

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Speaker 4: in situations like that.

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Speaker 5: He gets tackled and that's about.

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Speaker 4: It, or he makes a jukey move and he doesn't

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Speaker 4: get Yeah, he doesn't get put in those situations where

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Speaker 4: it can get knocked out like that. He normally has

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Speaker 4: solid possession and so I think it was a learning

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Speaker 4: moment for him. I mean, he's a rookie that's bound

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Speaker 4: to happen eventually in his career. And when it comes

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Speaker 4: to his production, he did surpass Andrew Williams. I always

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Speaker 4: pup the names because they're both like first yeah, and

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Speaker 4: I kept saying Andrews william But he passed him when

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Speaker 4: it comes to rookies with the yards from scrimmage within

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Speaker 4: five games, and now Bajon is ahead of that. But

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Speaker 4: when you look at the previous guys who's named I'm

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Speaker 4: not gonna flip flop. He had five fumbles in his

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Speaker 4: first season, so it's like even the best have issues.

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Speaker 4: He's human, and as I said in my story, you

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Speaker 4: can't spell superhuman without human.

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Speaker 2: Yes.

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Speaker 4: Then he had that touchdown where he caught the ball

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Speaker 4: one handed behind his back. Even it goes I just

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Speaker 4: let my God give an abilities kick in, I'm like, okay.

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Speaker 3: Wow, my god given abilities look very different than that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And like that's another one of those plays that

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Speaker 1: it was big in the moment and those contribute to

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Speaker 1: a positive result in a close game.

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Speaker 3: What was it that Arthur Smith said after the game

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Speaker 3: about Bajon where he was kind of like the he

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Speaker 3: called ridiculous?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: First off, he called the play ridiculous, which I loved.

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Speaker 3: Second off, he made the comment something along the lines

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Speaker 3: of the good or the best players.

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Speaker 5: Oh, I got it. Great players make the hard plays

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Speaker 5: look easy.

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Speaker 2: That's it.

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Speaker 3: And that is to me that if you put Bajon

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Speaker 3: Robinson in the dictionary, that's.

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Speaker 5: What should follow it as the definition the definition.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, he's been really good. We saw Tyler

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Speaker 1: Algier get going a little bit more in the second

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Speaker 1: half where he's kind of struggle with some inefficiencies.

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Speaker 2: The only injury of note, I.

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Speaker 1: Think is right tackle Caleb McCary who suffered a knee

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Speaker 1: injury and didn't return. That's something to kind of keep

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Speaker 1: an eye on. As the Falcons turned the page, they

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Speaker 1: are at three and two. They have another home game

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Speaker 1: in Week six against the Washington Commanders, who just give

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Speaker 1: up forty to the Bears, but has also gone toe

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Speaker 1: to toe with the Eagles so week to week league

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Speaker 1: man week to week league, and it's I think it's

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Speaker 1: going to be interesting to have that match up here

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Speaker 1: at Mercedes Benz Stadium. I thought the crowd was really impactful,

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Speaker 1: especially in the second half, and they're gonna have to

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Speaker 1: deal with Sam Howell and Terry McLaurin Chase Young.

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Speaker 3: And here's the thing, though, I will say this, I've

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Speaker 3: been covering this team for this is now my fourth year,

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Speaker 3: and you know, even before then, I've been at Mercedes

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Speaker 3: Been Stadium or even in the Georgia Dome coming to games.

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Speaker 3: And granted two of the years that I was covering

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Speaker 3: this team was COVID protocol years, but it has been

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Speaker 3: so refreshing, I think to see how the Falcons have

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Speaker 3: been able to establish a home field advantage. That's not

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Speaker 3: necessarily something that I have felt over the last couple

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Speaker 3: of years, but it is something that against Carolina, against

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Speaker 3: Green Bay and today on Sunday against the Texans, you

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Speaker 3: felt that. And I think that is something that I

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Speaker 3: know for a fact. This coaching staff and this team

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Speaker 3: and this front office has been actively wanting to change.

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Speaker 3: They want to make Mercedes Been Stadium a place that

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Speaker 3: people fear coming and playing in. And so far they've

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Speaker 3: won three games at home here, so let's see what

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Speaker 3: happens in another week.

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Speaker 5: It's been loud. I feel like I'm gonna bring advilid

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Speaker 5: to prevent headaches.

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Speaker 3: It is also nice that we no longer have the

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Speaker 3: glass in the press box that we can actually hear everything,

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Speaker 3: the legit everything. It's been really nice and I've enjoyed it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think it's gonna be an interesting game

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Speaker 1: to break down over the course of the week, and

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Speaker 1: we'll see if Desmond Ritter can put another solid performance together.

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Speaker 1: And what is a talent like, There's lots of talent

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Speaker 1: on that commander's defense. Yeah, and I think it's going

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Speaker 1: to be an interesting matchup as we move forward. So

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Speaker 1: let's wrap this thing up. Another episode of the Falcons

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Speaker 1: Final Whistle podcast presented by Zaxby's Please Do what You Do,

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Speaker 1: Rate review, Subscribe to the Atlanta Falcons Podcast Network on

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and please, oh please, oh please,

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Speaker 1: why don't you subscribe to our YouTube page where there's

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Speaker 1: lots of awesome offerings Falcons related for you.

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Speaker 2: I need to stop talking and get out of this

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Speaker 2: podcast on.

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Speaker 3: I I'm not even I'm not even looking at you.

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Speaker 2: I'm looking at my phone.

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Speaker 5: I'm so sorry. I am ready to go home for

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Speaker 5: for Tarana Torreu.

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Speaker 2: I'm Scott. We'll see you next week.

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Speaker 1: M hm