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Speaker 1: Thirty birds, What's Up and Welcome to another edition of

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Speaker 1: Falcons Final Whistle, presented by Zaxby's I'm your host Will McFadden,

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Speaker 1: joined by Tory mclaney.

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Speaker 2: Tory, Tory, Tory, We Will, Will, Will.

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Speaker 1: I've been in this podcast studio for what feels like ever.

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Speaker 1: We were here bright and early this morning, or I was,

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Speaker 1: and then you know you and I chatted about the

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Speaker 1: Matthew Judon hold on.

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Speaker 3: I just want to tell the people what the last

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Speaker 3: twenty four hours has been like for me. I know

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Speaker 3: this podcast isn't about me, but I'm about to make

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Speaker 3: it about me for five seconds. Last night, we get

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Speaker 3: the Matthew Judon news breaking, write that story, get that up,

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Speaker 3: start the analysis.

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Speaker 2: You all get pulled off the road.

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Speaker 3: Right I was in a parking lot outside of a brewery.

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Speaker 3: Was in Lawrenceville. Was where I wrote that story. Woke

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Speaker 3: up this morning. We recorded a podcast. I sent in

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Speaker 3: scripts for Fox five, the show that I do with

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Speaker 3: Kelly Price called Rise Up Tonight. Check it out Midnight's

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Speaker 3: Thursday Night Fox and five Atlanta wrote scripts We Get

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Speaker 3: on a podcast which you can check out on our

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Speaker 3: Spotify and Apple podcast feed. It was audio only because

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Speaker 3: we were literally running around like crazy people trying to

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Speaker 3: dissect and analyze the Matthew Judont trade and him agreeing

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Speaker 3: to terms and everything that was happening. Wrote a story

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Speaker 3: about how he fits within this Falcons defense, shot the

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Speaker 3: show with Kelly Drove out here. You and I then

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Speaker 3: proceeded to chat about this Justin Simmons stuff for the

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Speaker 3: next two hours. Wrote a news story, have another story

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Speaker 3: probably coming really soon, about how he fits with Jesse Baits,

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Speaker 3: the third in this Atlanta secondary.

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Speaker 4: Probably at some point I'll come up with a column

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Speaker 4: about what.

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Speaker 3: This twenty four hours was like and why it literally

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Speaker 3: feels like a night and day from where we were

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Speaker 3: on Saturday night after that Miami preseason game.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, that's a great that's a great way

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Speaker 1: to frame it, and thanks Toy's twenty four hours.

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Speaker 2: I will read that them all day long.

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Speaker 1: But the way that everybody felt, I think after the

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Speaker 1: Miami preseason game and coming off of the heels of

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Speaker 1: what were three pretty big blows to you know, Braylan

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Speaker 1: tries to Marco Hellams in the aftermath of Rondell Moore

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Speaker 1: like those were three players. And it's interesting because I've

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Speaker 1: started almost thinking in my mind like scholarships and walk ons,

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Speaker 1: because that's just easy for me to like, as we're

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Speaker 1: thinking about a fifty three man roster cut down and like,

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Speaker 1: who do I feel really good about having spots and roles?

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Speaker 1: It's like those are your scholarship guys, and then we've

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Speaker 1: got walk ons trying to make the.

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Speaker 2: Team transfer portal guys. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: It's just like there's so many different ways you can

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Speaker 1: label people now, but it's like Ronel Moore, Marco Helms,

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Speaker 1: and Braylan Trice were all scholarship guys. Yeah, like those

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Speaker 1: were those were players that you were going to have

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Speaker 1: to have step up and play big roles and so

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Speaker 1: kind of feeling like, okay, this this season, there's still

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Speaker 1: excitement because you have Kirk Cousins and like his presence

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Speaker 1: has been real, and like the defensive line making strides,

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Speaker 1: their presence has been real. But it was a little

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Speaker 1: bit like, all right, so now is this going to

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Speaker 1: be another big slog for the NFC South And not

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Speaker 1: to put the cart before the horse.

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Speaker 2: It may still be this is football.

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Speaker 1: Anything can happen on Sundays, but who man, it feels

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Speaker 1: so much better sitting here talking about Justin Simmons and

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Speaker 1: Matthew Judon ahead of the season.

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Speaker 3: So let's talk about Justin Simmons, because we've already talked

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Speaker 3: at nauseum about Matthew Judon, like we already know kind

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Speaker 3: of the sack machines.

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Speaker 2: He's a minotaur.

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Speaker 1: If anybody has missed, you just coming off the edge,

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Speaker 1: the strongest man alive, I swear.

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Speaker 3: But now you've bring in Justin Simmons to pair with

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Speaker 3: Jesse Bates the third and you actually pulled up this

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Speaker 3: stat and while we were talking about Justin Simmons and

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Speaker 3: as we were getting everything together to talk about this

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Speaker 3: the signing, and it was so interesting.

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Speaker 4: I had no idea.

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Speaker 3: Since he joined the league in twenty sixteen, his thirty

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Speaker 3: interceptions are the most by any player since that year.

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Speaker 3: Is a banana stat, especially when you add it to

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Speaker 3: Jesse Bates' twenty career interception six last year, He's tied

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Speaker 3: for thirteenth on the list. Okay, and then you add

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Speaker 3: on the fact that Jesse Bates was a top eighty

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Speaker 3: player on the NFL Top one hundred, Justin Simmons was

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Speaker 3: a top sixty.

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Speaker 4: Player on the NFL Top one hundred.

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Speaker 3: The way that people talk about them, it's it's very

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Speaker 3: similar because of their instincts and the way that they

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Speaker 3: carry themselves and how they see the play happening in

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Speaker 3: front of them and their reaction to it. I would

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Speaker 3: argue that this is one of Again, this is happening

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Speaker 3: as we're talking about this, This news is breaking as

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Speaker 3: we're talking about this. But I off the top of

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Speaker 3: my head, I'm having a really hard time being like,

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Speaker 3: how many other safety pairings in the league are better

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Speaker 3: than these two?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question. I mean I think so.

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Speaker 1: The Bills have always had really good Micah Hyde and

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Speaker 1: Jordan Poyer, but now Jordan is down in Miami. Although

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Speaker 1: they've got a great one with Jordan and Xavian Howard.

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Speaker 1: Actually it's funny Xavian Howard. Let me pull back up

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Speaker 1: that list. He is seconds since twenty sixteen with twenty

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Speaker 1: nine interceptions, So they've got a good one if you

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Speaker 1: like the Eagles have, you know, had really good secondaries.

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Speaker 1: But you're right, like, like.

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Speaker 4: You had put the Falcons on a short list now.

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Speaker 2: For best unquestionable Yeah, yes.

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Speaker 4: For best safety pairings in the league.

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Speaker 1: Because I like, I think that so when they when

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Speaker 1: they initially made the move to acquire Jesse Bates. I

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Speaker 1: was like, even though he's in the AFC, I'd been

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Speaker 1: very well acquainted with Jesse, Like he is somebody who

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Speaker 1: I watched a lot of when he was coming out

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Speaker 1: in the draft because the Falcons were kind of maybe

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Speaker 1: looking at adding help to their secondary at the time,

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Speaker 1: and he just seemed like such a cerebral and smart

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Speaker 1: player coming out of Wake Forest. And Justin Simmons is

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Speaker 1: the exact same way. Like he's a little bit more height,

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Speaker 1: yeah he's just six. Yeah, but it's like he was

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Speaker 1: drafted initially as kind of part of that Vic Fangio defense,

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Speaker 1: which is very taxing mentally on a safety because of

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Speaker 1: the way that they're going to roll their coverages afterwards

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Speaker 1: and what could look like a too highs and all

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Speaker 1: of a sudden, we got a robber and we've got

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Speaker 1: a cloud corner and all this different stuff going on.

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Speaker 1: Look at just I'm just trying to impress everybody out

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Speaker 1: there with two different phrases that I learned, but having

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Speaker 1: both of those guys, yeah, like that is really smart

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Speaker 1: and that's intelligence that's going to be able to equal

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Speaker 1: any quarterback in the NFL.

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Speaker 2: That is going to be facing them.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm and the fact, I mean you have to

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Speaker 3: kind of give credit where credit is due that the

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Speaker 3: front office, Terry Fonteau, Kyle Smith, Ryan Pace, that group,

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Speaker 3: the work that they've done, not just in the last

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Speaker 3: twenty four hours when the news is actually breaking, but

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Speaker 3: this has been a long time coming, and they for

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Speaker 3: these two players specifically, these two players are players that

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Speaker 3: we were talking about in the summer months, what contracts

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Speaker 3: could look like.

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Speaker 4: These are two players whose.

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Speaker 3: Future in twenty twenty four was a little bit of

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Speaker 3: a question mark. There were a good number of teams

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Speaker 3: that were really honing in on trying to get these

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Speaker 3: guys on the roster, and the Falcons found a way

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Speaker 3: to do that with let's be honest, a couple of

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Speaker 3: days ago, they had the least amount.

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Speaker 4: Of cap space in the league.

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Speaker 3: So they have been maneuvering the cap in order to

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Speaker 3: make these signings happen or trades happen. With Matthew Judon

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Speaker 3: using a third round draft pick, that can't go unnoticed,

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Speaker 3: you know, It's reported that the Falcons took Chris Linstrom's

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Speaker 3: contract and restructured it to make room for these guys

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Speaker 3: and to take on their salaries and everything like that.

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Speaker 3: And I'll be honest too. Reportedly, again, there is something

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Speaker 3: to be said about these aren't at this point in

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Speaker 3: time we're recording, you know, on Thursday afternoon. These are

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Speaker 3: not reported to be long term deals, which I find

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Speaker 3: to be very very interesting in the content of what

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Speaker 3: these guys were looking for. I think that to me

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Speaker 3: also speaks to the way the Falcons were able to

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Speaker 3: sell these guys on what's happening here in Atlanta.

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Speaker 1: You know, the whole kind of off season. I've been

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Speaker 1: trying to think about what are the different elements of

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Speaker 1: his time out in La that Raheem is bringing back

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Speaker 1: here to Atlanta. And I think that this now, this

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Speaker 1: approach can qualify as one because three four years ago

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Speaker 1: the Rams, everybody was talking about them giving up all

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Speaker 1: their drafts capital to acquire veteran players, star players on

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Speaker 1: kind of these short term contracts in a chance to

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Speaker 1: go win now, and that did result in a Super

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Speaker 1: Bowl for them.

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Speaker 3: It's exactly what we talked about this morning when we

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Speaker 3: were on the when we were talking about Matthew Judon,

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Speaker 3: and we're kind of making this point about how it

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Speaker 3: is mimicking what the Rams did, and Rahim.

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Speaker 1: Brought up von Miller specifically during the press conference in

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Speaker 1: kind of like, hey, that acquisition allowed us to get

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Speaker 1: a game wreck around the roster. Maybe the hope is

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Speaker 1: that the Judon can kind of turn into a similar

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Speaker 1: player on the front end, but now on the back end,

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Speaker 1: I think it's safe to say they've got a game

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Speaker 1: wrecker as well, Like they've got.

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Speaker 3: Two of them, right, I mean, this morning we talked

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Speaker 3: about how the acquisition of Matthew Judon changes the way

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Speaker 3: that you view the expectations.

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Speaker 4: Of this pass rush.

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Speaker 3: Inserting Justin Simmons into this secondary changes the level of

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Speaker 3: expectations that I have for interceptions, PBUs and the fact

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Speaker 3: that we're talking about the two most fundamental parts of

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Speaker 3: defensive disruption with these two acquisitions that happened within twenty

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Speaker 3: four hours of each other. I don't know if we've

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Speaker 3: had a twenty four hours quite like this in I mean,

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Speaker 3: I'm trying to think, like especially thinking about it not

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Speaker 3: in like a true free agency window, not in a

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Speaker 3: first wave of a free agency, but happening in a

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Speaker 3: training camp, preseason.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely not in a training camp or Preseason's kind.

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Speaker 4: Of like unprecedented for this this franchise.

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Speaker 1: But I kind of dig sorry, like the fact the

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Speaker 1: fact that we've got football in fifteen twenty days and

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Speaker 1: it's like, oh cool, now we get to like open

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Speaker 1: up some presents almost early. It's like when you get

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Speaker 1: to like open your Christmas present like the day before

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Speaker 1: Christmas and then your parents let you have just one

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Speaker 1: two that's yeah exactly, It's like that's that is very

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Speaker 1: just like I think invigorating for a fan base that again,

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Speaker 1: like the Kirk Cousins signing initially was really I think

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Speaker 1: what everybody wanted to see. But then you'll almost got

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Speaker 1: the momentum stalled from that a little bit during the draft,

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Speaker 1: and you and I have been very clear that like

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Speaker 1: we understand the Penox pick. We I think in a

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Speaker 1: lot of ways agree with the Penox pick, but there

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Speaker 1: is no doubt in my mind that the fan base

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Speaker 1: when that was the selection on Night one was kind

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Speaker 1: of like a little bit wrong footed. And again, the

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Speaker 1: momentum of the offseason hit a little bit of a

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Speaker 1: patch right there, but this feels like it's brought it

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Speaker 1: completely back. I was looking at social so many people

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Speaker 1: are like, we're so back, baby, let's go, like me

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Speaker 1: booking my ticket to the Super Bowl parade.

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Speaker 2: There's so much.

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Speaker 1: Energy and excitement right now, and I think that mirror

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Speaker 1: is the energy and excitement that we have felt kind

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Speaker 1: of on the field really throughout training camp. And it

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Speaker 1: starts with Raheem. Today's episode of Falcons Final Whistle is

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Speaker 1: brought to you by Zaxby's. And after a long game,

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Speaker 1: when I'm tired and I need to refuel, I turned

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Speaker 1: to Zaxbies. They're marinated, handbreaded, fried to perfection chicken fingers.

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Speaker 1: They hit the spot every time. Get yours with seasoned

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Speaker 1: crinkle fries, a nice drink in whichever of their twelve

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Speaker 1: signature sauces you're feeling at the moment, but it always

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Speaker 1: hits just right. So next time you need to refuel,

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Speaker 1: go get yourself some Zaxbies.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, before any of these guys got in here, it

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Speaker 3: was day one of Raheem's press Conference's introductory press conference.

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Speaker 4: You felt that energy, and you felt kind.

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Speaker 3: Of that shift and almost like fun culture, Like they're

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Speaker 3: gonna go and get their work done, but they're gonna

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Speaker 3: have a lot of fun doing it. Yeah, And I've

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Speaker 3: thoroughly enjoyed watching this team act in that manner and

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Speaker 3: these two acquisitions that we're talking about here. I mean,

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Speaker 3: I just can't help but think that if everything goes right,

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Speaker 3: this defense is significantly better with those two in it.

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Speaker 3: And I don't know, I think about two your star

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Speaker 3: power on this defense. It's not that often in the

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Speaker 3: last few years have you kind of been able to say,

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Speaker 3: maybe even outside of Grady Jarrett and AJ Trail, like that,

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Speaker 3: there's some star power, some star punch in this defense.

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Speaker 3: And now you look at it and it's at every

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Speaker 3: single level. It's Grady Jarrett, it's AJ Traill, it's Jesse Bates,

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Speaker 3: it's Matthew Judon. I know, but for like the league

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Speaker 3: get large, think about it, like from a national perspective.

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Speaker 2: Guys on that top one hundred list or like on

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Speaker 2: the short list to be on that top.

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Speaker 3: Of Yeah, I just think that there's something to be

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Speaker 3: said about that that now you have this kind of

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Speaker 3: star power, that that kind of packs a little bit

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Speaker 3: of a punch.

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Speaker 2: Yes that I don't know.

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Speaker 3: I think it should make you excited and it should

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Speaker 3: make you expect more from this defense that I'm going

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Speaker 3: to be completely honest, even going into the twenty twenty

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Speaker 3: four season, I already had high expectations for this defense,

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Speaker 3: especially with Grady Jarrett coming back with Jimmy Lake's new scheme,

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Speaker 3: with kind of what we saw Jesse Bates do in

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty three, there was a lot to be excited

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Speaker 3: for Aj Traill kind of playing on this fifth year deal.

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Speaker 3: You don't know what's going to happen with him, Like,

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Speaker 3: obviously there's a lot that you need to think about.

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Speaker 3: And you if you're Aj, You're like, I want to

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Speaker 3: get that bag too. So all of these things are

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Speaker 3: happening simultaneously, which I think accumulates to me having big

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Speaker 3: expectations for this defense. Adding these two guys specifically only

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Speaker 3: heightens that for me.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because if there was a group that we felt

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Speaker 1: most probably like the highest floor but also a decent,

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Speaker 1: decently high ceiling, was the linebackers, that inside linebacker group,

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Speaker 1: And so now you're addressing the group in front of

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Speaker 1: him and the group behind them. And so really, when

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Speaker 1: you look at all three levels of Atlanta's defense, to

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Speaker 1: your point, there are names. Now there's names where when

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Speaker 1: you looked offensively and you could be like go up

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Speaker 1: and down the offensive line, you know the guys there

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Speaker 1: go with the wide receivers, tight ends skill position guys

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Speaker 1: you know them there. Now we've got Kirk cut It's

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Speaker 1: like the same thing on the defense, where you look

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Speaker 1: around and you're like cool, Justin Simmons cool, There's Lorenzo

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Speaker 1: Carter cool, There's Grady Jared cool, there's aj Treill. Like

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Speaker 1: you just maybe feel a little bit better. And it's

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Speaker 1: all to a far cry from kind of where they

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Speaker 1: have been over the last couple of years.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, not to to no, you know,

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Speaker 3: any disrespect to anybody who's come through here in the

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Speaker 3: last few years.

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Speaker 1: That was just the you and I raved for a

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Speaker 1: second about Casey Hayward like he got hurt, right.

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Speaker 4: It's just kind of the nature of the thing.

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Speaker 3: I loved getting to know, uh, John Harmon and Eric

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Speaker 3: Harris and what they.

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Speaker 2: Hugely influential, I think kin a lot of young guys.

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Speaker 3: Even last year Bud Dupre Kaleis Campbell, those guys, I

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Speaker 3: mean Kalaias Campbell had his hundred sack here like themselves. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: there's nothing to be said about said bad about those

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Speaker 3: guys who have come through here and been on these

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Speaker 3: short term deals and the impact that they made on

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Speaker 3: some of these younger guys who have grown up within

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Speaker 3: the last four years as well. It's just now you

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Speaker 3: talk about Matthew Judon, you can talk about, you know,

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Speaker 3: Justin Simmons along with again the names that I keep

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Speaker 3: talking about, Jesse Bates. I again, I go back to

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Speaker 3: what Jesse Bates and Justin Simmons can do together. These

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Speaker 3: are two guys who are playing who were voted to

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Speaker 3: the Pro Bowl last year together but not together but

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Speaker 3: like opposite different divisions.

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Speaker 1: It's crazy that when you look though at kind of

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Speaker 1: like the list of where all the safeties and the

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Speaker 1: defensive backs are ranking, like Jesse Bates is up there

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Speaker 1: as well.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just like.

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Speaker 1: Justin Simmons is a little bit higher in each of

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Speaker 1: those categories. So that's where when you're when we already

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Speaker 1: know that Jesse kind of like I know he didn't,

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Speaker 1: but it felt like he single handedly like won the

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Speaker 1: Falcons two games last year. Imagine just now if you

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Speaker 1: have Justin Simmons also doing the same thing, and that's

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Speaker 1: projecting and that's not how everything is going to play out.

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Speaker 1: But you feel so so much better again about those

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Speaker 1: two guys. And I saw Aaron Schatz who formerly of

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Speaker 1: Football Outsiders now with FT and Fantasy, but they do

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Speaker 1: all the DVOA, and he tweeted, if the Falcons are

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Speaker 1: signing Justin Simmons, their mean defensive DVOA projection has gone

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Speaker 1: from nine point nine percent, which is bad. The higher

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Speaker 1: your DVOA is defense, it's a little bit worse. So

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Speaker 1: they had that projection of nine point nine percent as

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Speaker 1: last among all defenses in DVA projections for the season.

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Speaker 1: With these two moves, they're projected to be twenty fourth

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Speaker 1: now at two point nine percent. So that's an eight

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Speaker 1: spot swing from two players. And again that's you and

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Speaker 1: I are higher on this group than I think DVOA

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Speaker 1: is a lot of the other people because we have

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Speaker 1: seen it in practice. We've seen guys like Antonio Hamilton

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Speaker 1: step up. We've seen Kevin King make some plays. And

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Speaker 1: I don't think everybody is factoring that in. But even

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Speaker 1: just these two moves, you can see how greatly that

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Speaker 1: has swung. Just what the prognosticators are saying.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, words are.

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Speaker 4: Hard, man.

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Speaker 3: This has been a crazy twenty four hours, so much fun.

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Speaker 3: I mean, not even twenty four hours has been less.

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Speaker 2: Than twenty four hours.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean at this point yesterday, you still we

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Speaker 1: weren't sitting in the parking lot outside of that brewery,

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Speaker 1: are you?

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Speaker 3: No?

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Speaker 4: Not yet.

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Speaker 3: I still had a few hours to go until I

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Speaker 3: was doing that. I feel like I've aged ten years

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Speaker 3: in the last twenty four hours. But no, this has

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Speaker 3: been a crazy day, and you know, I'm honestly just

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Speaker 3: sitting here, like watching tweets roll in and like seeing

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Speaker 3: it's easy.

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Speaker 2: To forget there's a preseason game in two days.

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Speaker 4: Oh yeah, that's right.

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Speaker 3: We do. We leave for Baltimore on Friday, like tomorrow,

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Speaker 3: literally tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: Oh my god, time is a flat circle. So what

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Speaker 1: do you say we go ahead and wrap up this one?

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Speaker 1: It was emergency podcast. I'm sure we're going to have

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Speaker 1: a lot more thoughts on both Matthew Judon and Justin

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Speaker 1: Simmons once we hear from them, once we get a

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Speaker 1: chance to see them out there on the defense. Last

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Speaker 1: thing I'll add, though, is that both of these guys

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Speaker 1: are clear fits for what Atlanta is trying to do defensively.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think some people could be like all right,

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Speaker 1: but again, the fact that the season's only a few

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Speaker 1: weeks away, I'm counting as a good thing, But it

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Speaker 1: could be looked at as do you have enough time

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Speaker 1: to get these guys ready, to get them acclimated with

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Speaker 1: a new team, with a new group of coaching staff.

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Speaker 1: I kind of think they're going to come in and

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Speaker 1: know exactly what they're going to be asked to do

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Speaker 1: to plug in, and it's gonna be Here's.

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Speaker 3: Solid the thing. Some of the best advice or not advice.

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Speaker 3: One of my favorite things that Danp's ever told me.

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Speaker 3: And if you've been listening to this podcast, you know

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Speaker 3: how much I really enjoyed the time I got to

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Speaker 3: spend covering Danp's and getting to know him.

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Speaker 2: Like P's and carrots right, truly two.

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Speaker 4: Peas in a pod if you would.

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Speaker 3: But he said time and time again, it's like, you

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Speaker 3: don't fit the scheme to You don't fit the player

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Speaker 3: to the scheme.

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Speaker 4: You fit the scheme to the player.

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Speaker 3: And when I look at what the insertion of Matthew

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Speaker 3: Judon and Justin Simmons is, it's like, you know the

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Speaker 3: caliber player that you're getting, you do whatever you can

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Speaker 3: to free them up to be the playmakers that you

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Speaker 3: are paying them to be.

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Speaker 4: And that's where I kind of sit.

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Speaker 3: It's like Yeah, we're a few weeks away from the

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Speaker 3: start of the season, but have just get those two guys,

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Speaker 3: specifically to the point where they feel comfortable enough to

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Speaker 3: just play freely.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Once you do that, they've shown, especially in the last

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Speaker 3: like five years, they can go make some plays.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you've shown that you can make some plays

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Speaker 1: in front of the microphone. I always appreciate your time, Toy.

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Speaker 1: It was so much fun, honestly going through today with

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Speaker 1: you and with the whole team and seeing everybody operate

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Speaker 1: up close.

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Speaker 2: It was great.

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Speaker 1: So please check out Atlanta Falcons dot com for all

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Speaker 1: of the news that has happened in the last twenty

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Speaker 1: four hours and we'll continue to happen because we're going

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Speaker 1: to be breaking it all down. But that will do

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Speaker 1: it for this special edition of Falcon's Final Whistle, presented

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Speaker 1: by Zaxby's. Welcome to Atlanta, Justin Simmons, Welcome to Atlanta,

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Speaker 1: Matthew Judhon. Get ready for a great season, guys. This

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Speaker 1: is going to be a lot of fun. So for

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Speaker 1: Tory mclaney, I'm Will McFadden.

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Speaker 2: We'll see you guys later.