 Ahead on early birds, the Falcons are trying to start the New Year off right with a win over the Cardinals. How it can happen, plus go one-on-one with Desmond Ritter. Don't want to miss the quarterback, and before we get to New Year's Day, it's a showdown on New Year's Eve. We're talking all things Peach Bowl. Georgia, Ohio State tonight on Early Birds. Happy your favorite, Joe, and let's talk Falcons football on Early Birds, presented by Mercedes-Benz. Good morning and welcome into Early Birds. He's DJ. I'm Justin. Happy New Year's Eve. Shock your Aida countdown. You got any plans tonight? Happy new year. Maybe a little bit of playing, something going on a little bit later, but I'll go with that soon. Watch a little football if you can. There's a good game, I think, and there's a good one tomorrow. Let's start 2023 with a win. Let's get things started here with the opening drive. Falcons and Cardinals tomorrow on Fox 5. It'll be start number three shock for Desmond Ritter at quarterback. The rookie seemed like he took some strides last weekend in Baltimore. What do you see from him? Yeah, more poise this week. I thought the pass game was a little bit more efficient in this game. It's a good job of getting out and making plays down the field. Obviously more efficient 22 or 33, over 200 yards, and guys made plays. I thought he had complete control of the line of scrimmage. I thought he did a lot of things at the line of scrimmage. That was really good. Changing plays. So you saw him grow, not only at the line of scrimmage, but also down the field. Now he finally gets to play a game at home. Two games. I am pressed with the rookie, offensive coordinator Dave Ragone. There's things to grow from. There's things to learn from, but there's things in which he handled for his first start. I've been around Ricky quarterbacks, including myself. And I thought he did a really, really good job of the parts that aren't seen in terms of Des is up for another challenge. And we have to prepare him that way. And it'll be great for not just him, but the other ten guys in the huddle with him. Tomorrow, and as we continue on the opening drive, something we're not watching for, a return to the playoffs. Yeah, it's off the table now. Everybody else in the NFC South won last week, so the foul officially eliminated. So DJ, two games to play. Of course they want to win. They're not tanking for draft picks. But do you worry that motivation might slip a little? No, not at all, because you've got a lot of guys who are one year deal. A lot of guys who are trying to make other teams or trying to make this organization and play on the team next year. So you want to put good things on tape. If you go out and you don't play well or you're not going to the playoffs, guess what? You probably won't be on a team next year. So you're playing for your NFL life and NFL career going forward. And Arthur Smith knows there's still a ton to play for in the next two games. It's important to win, regardless of building short term. Obviously we came up short of our goal, you know. But we need to finish this outright. We need to win. And then we need to go into the off season. We'll have areas to address there. But this week is the most important thing for us professionally and every guy in that locker room. That's the culture you're trying to, you know, the competition you have. And can you go back and look at these games and get close? But obviously we came up short. But we're here to win. And win this week and we'll get the best guys out there. And as we wrap up the opening drive, let's talk a little cardinal, shall we? One of their best players is about to retire. J.J. Watt just announced this is going to be his last season. It's not like the big guy slowed down at all. Nine and a half sacks this year. And he's not somebody that Desmond Ritter wants to spend a whole lot of face time with tomorrow. No, you're talking about a guy who's a three time defensive player to your five time I'll pro. He understands what it takes to get to the quarterback. And you know, he wants to go out with a bang in the last two ball games. So you got to make sure you know where he's at at all times and don't do things like this, like not blocking. He is one of those type of guys that can absolutely still change the game. Even though he's about to retire, he is absolutely one of the best and will be in Canton pretty soon. Block him. Easier said than done for J.J. Watt. Well, welcome into Early Birds alongside DJ Shockley. I'm Justin Felder. We've got the New Year's decorations. And let me ask you for any Falcons fans who are resolving to see their team lose these last couple in order to get a better draft pick. What would your message be to those fans? I say I understand, but it's not going to happen. These guys are playing for their NFL careers like I just talked about. So there's no way these guys go out and say, let's lose for a guy that we don't even know. That's going to be on our team next year. They're going to play hard. They're going to play just as hard as they played all year. So don't expect them to give up any. That's certainly the attitude of the team. Well, DJ from Phoenix, Arizona, all the way to Tacoma. Keep on rocking over to the film room. That was from our producer, Miles Garrett. I thought it was pretty good. Okay, Miles, you're coming through with it. Miles, I'm going to tip my hat to you. In the film room in just a few. But first, we haven't had the chance to sit down too often with the Falcons. Rookie quarterback Desmond Ritter. Now that he's the starter though, we're getting to learn a little bit more about the Falcons third round draft pick out of Cincinnati, including how he feels getting the chance to play in front of his home fans at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a place that before this season, he was met with more booze than cheers. Our Kelly Price went one-on-one with Ritter this week. Is it crazy to think about your first start at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and then one of the last times kind of that you played there was when you were at Cincinnati in a bowl game? Yeah, obviously, you know, I try not to look back to that game a little bit because, you know, it's a tough, tough, tough mouth or tough taste in your mouth and, you know, I kind of got two guys, Shaefer and Fitz here that were on that team. So I get told about it a lot. So now it'll be exciting to go into Mercedes-Benz and get a win and finally wipe that slate of the loss out of here. And to not have, you know, opposing fans and to not have the weather situation, are you excited to have kind of a little bit more of a normal situation to walk into for start three? Of course, a quarterback, you know, will be happy with perfect conditions and I know Koo will be happy too with, you know, the roof closed and everything. So, you know, there's a certain few positions on the field that like when it's perfect weather and then others like it a little dirty. So, you know, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter, but obviously it helps out. I think the most interesting thing to me that you said last week was about how the pocket was cleaner than you're maybe used to at Cincinnati or in your previous years. And you wanted to let the picture kind of develop more in this last start. How do you feel like you did with that? I feel like I did pretty well, you know, going back and watching the film. And it wasn't, you know, necessarily rushing out of the pocket like up and through the pocket more so just pushing up in the pocket. Whereas if you went back and watched the film this past week, I felt like I did a good job of just staying subtle within the pocket, just slowly climbing instead of, you know, urgently pushing up forward. And I thought I did a good job of letting everything develop kind of behind you and just see it. What's kind of your goal in these last two games this season? To finish. You know, I think that's my goal. I think that's our team's goal. This is just finish these last throughout strong. Obviously, we want to get a win. You know, we've been on a little losing streak, but we want to finish this season, you know, on top and on a high. We've had an up and down roller coaster type of year and everyone just kind of wants to finish, you know, on the good note. And so that's, you know, with these two wins and, you know, we're taking it day by day. And like I said out there, just kind of, you know, being where our feet are daily. It's time to get some game intel from shock. You're invited into the film room. So cut the lights and let's get started. All right, we've talked about the offense a lot and how they have kind of progressed and things have gone well with Desmond Ritter now and the fold. But let's talk about this defense. This defense has played really well throughout these last couple of ballgames and really inside the red zone is where they really have done a good job. Now, this is a second play down the red zone where you're going to get him across the backside and it's just a play-acting. You're trying to funnel this guy out here to get him here. But the defense has such a good job of keeping eyes on the quarterback and watching the play get started. There's going to be nowhere for him to go at the football. Look, he has clamped up. Nowhere for him to go. Nowhere for him to go. And he has a good job of now sticking to him. And now, look at the defensive players' eyes here. Look at everybody's eyes. They're looking in the backfield, looking at the quarterback. Even Troy Anderson, the young rookie, has come back off the play-action and now as the play continues, you're going to see there's really nowhere for him to go. Now, the quarterback wants to scramble and look at these guys still plastering to their guys. Still plastering to their guys on the backside. But best thing is, look at these eyes of the guys on the backside. This is what you like down here. This is what I'm talking about. It's so stingy in the red zone. They're not allowing their defenders to get open. They're offering to get open. And now, even when he scrambles, nowhere for him to go to football. Nowhere for him to go to football. This is just a nice job of rallying into the football. I'm doing a good job of not allowing him to get it. So this Falcons defense has been really good in the red zone. We need to keep it up for the next two games, Justin. Yeah, Shucks. Defensive are going to take another step forward tomorrow against Arizona. Well, what or what will we discuss in the college football segment this week? I think we'll find something, maybe a deep dive on the Peach Bowl, Stetson Bennett and Company, Georgia and Ohio State tonight, plus. I think a huge part of it is pre-snap. And so understanding the play and then the track of the back. It's not about the destination. It's how you get there. That's Chris Lindstrom's mentality in run blocking. He shows you next and going deep. Hey Falcons fans, score a touchdown with low tire prices at Mavis Tires and Bricks. The official tire retailer of the Atlanta Falcons. Visit MavisTire.com to find a store near you. This is presented by Mercedes Benz, the best or none. And brought to you by Georgia Latter. Today could be the day. By Truist, committed to a better future. And by Home Depot, how doers get more done? Which gears and talk a little college ball brought to you by Truist? BB&T and Suntrust are now Truist. Here again is Fox 5's Justin Felder. Welcome back into Early Birds here with former Ohio State legend Michael Jenkins. We got a little college football game tonight. How are you feeling? A little something. I feel great. It's going to be a good one. Your buck guys, DJ's, dogs. Hopefully you guys can keep it civil, at least for the length of this show. Let's talk about the Peach Bowl semifinals tonight. Might just end this game when the ball drops. It's starting late. Let's go deep on this game. We'll start things off when Georgia has the ball. You got Stetson Bennett and you had an Ohio State defense that gave up 45 their last time out. So what's going to be the buck guys' game plan against Georgia? We have to limit the big plays. These guys with the running game, Akintosh, those guys back there, they obviously Brock Bowers. McConkie has always hit big plays. Seems to always get a big play. So just limiting the big plays and getting off the field on third down for Ohio State defense. Stetson Bennett, lots of good things to say about this buck guy defense. Here's a listen. First of all, they have really good players and they execute their system. You know, they try to cause havoc. They can come from a lot of different places. You know, they do their assignment and in order for us to be successful, we have to do ours. Let me go back to a point you made a moment ago. Those Georgia tight ends, Brock Bowers, Darnell Washington particularly, how might your buck guys try to slow them down? It's a tough task. I mean, you know, Washington is, is he human? I don't know. Bowers is probably one of the fastest tight ends I've ever seen. So it's going to be a tough challenge for those guys, but they face some good tight ends. You know, a tight end up in Notre Dame, a great tight end, but they're going to have to be on their A game at all times because Georgia does a great job of getting those guys the ball. Let's flip things over to when your buck guys have the ball and this is really going to be two great units, right? Ohio State, the number two scoring offense in the FBS. Georgia, the number two scoring defense. So who's got the edge because it seems like a strength against strength. It really is strength against strength. And we're going to have to try to match the physicality of that Jalen Carter and that front seven that they have. Obviously some great plays on the back end with Ringo and Smith and all Americans. So it's going to be a tough task on offense to move the ball consistently and stay on schedule. Here's what the dogs have been telling us this week. He's an elite passer, very poised with his game. And you could tell they run everything through him. So like I say, like you say, coach say he got legs. He could pretty much do it all. You know, he was a hard man following this. And that just says enough for the kind of player he is. We do what we do. But Ohio State's up and down the field in the first half. Michigan got off the field on third down and they had a couple of turnovers. Let's talk a little bit more about your Buckeyes. One thing hearing from them talking all week long here in Atlanta is they're really embracing this whole underdog thing. I see that smile right there. Because it's Ohio State, man. They're never underdogs. It's been years since Vegas has thought they were underdogs. So can that little bit of motivation help them? I think so. You go back to the Clemson College Football Playoff where they were underdogs in that game. End up winning 49-28. So they're embracing this underdog role. They know it's more of a home game for Georgia. But they're ready. They're going to be prepared to kind of show and show out from the last game they had that second half against Michigan. Boy, are they tired of talking about that. Michigan game here's to Ohio State's players talking about facing the number one team in the land. Me personally. I'm glad we could play them in Atlanta in their kind of home arena. Kind of always like being an underdog in the game. So I'm just excited. I do feel like people are counting us out with that. That's fine. I mean we've been counting out plenty of times. This is how you want to play Georgia here. Their house pretty much. And yeah, since I've been here it's pretty much been Ohio against the world. So I think this game even exemplifies that as well. Ohio against the world. Our Zaxby's indescribably good game of the week. We'll take a guess. Come on, there's another playoff game, but whatever. Ohio State and Georgia APM tonight at the Ben's pretty good way to ring in the new year. So we know how DJ feels about this one. Before we send it over to him, you got a message for your buddy, the former Georgia player. Yeah, I mean, he said 45-28 was going to be the score in Georgia. I don't think that's going to happen. That's what he's saying. DJ, any response? Well, I didn't say that they were going to win either. So, all good, baby. So, Jake, looking forward to it tonight, baby. All right, nonetheless, the Season Falcons offensive line of Chris Lichom has been one of the best at his position all season. Part of the reason for that has been his ability to navigate himself and to block his assignments that fit where the play is going. He explains in this week's Going Deep. I think a huge part of it is pre-snap. And so understanding the play and then the track of the back. Where the back's going to go and how that's going to affect the defense. So if I'm the, we call it covered or like uncovered guy, so if I'm the guy who I know I'm going to, or pre-snap, I'm thinking I'm the one coming off the combination. I like to paint an X in my mind of where the linebacker is going to be. So like, you can never go where the guy is. And so, say it's like wide zone outside or something like that. I'll usually try and go one guy past so I'll look one guy past. And I'm like, okay, I'm going to beat that guy to this spot. And that's kind of how I think about it as a guy coming up to linebackers. Interesting stuff there from Chris Lindstrom. All right, coming up, we dive a little further into the process of Desmond Ritter. DJ will help break it down later in the show. Well, last week we showed you the inside of the Falcons Spark Laboratory over in Flowery Branch, but that was just a little sneak peek. There's an entire room inside the lab dedicated to enhancing athlete performance in addition to helping those same athletes recover later. And that's the focus of this week's Emery Road to Recovery. This is a motion analysis lab that's embedded with cameras throughout. So we have this large volume that allows us to measure athlete performance as they're doing a variety of athlete tasks. As you see, our athlete here is performing a quarterback task in virtual reality where they're competing against avatars to measure their performance, but also we can measure their biome and can'ts with high fidelity. So what the biggest problem in the NFL today is soft tissue injuries, and particularly hamstring injuries. Those are causing the most time loss in sport. So what we're doing here at the Falcons is we're trying to find ways that we can better predict who's going to have an injury and better guide them on when they should return to sport. So what we see here is a multi-level assessment of an athlete's muscular function and structural integrity. By doing that, we can come over here and we can combine it with their running mechanics. So we had the athletes running at maximum max speed and we can quantify how they're moving with how their muscle structure and function and we can bring that together and we think that we can better predict who's going to have a hamstring injury and better guide them return to sport once they have had that. Alright, as a forward QB I know a thing or two about pre-snap reads but what goes on through the mind of Desmond Ritter doing that process? I'll break it down next. This has been presented to you by Mercedes-Benz, the best or nothing. Hey Falcons fans score a touchdown with low tire prices at Mavis tires and brakes the official tire retailer of the Atlanta Falcons. Visit MavisTire.com to find a store near you. Alright, time for our play of the day presented by Lucra, the new friendly competition app. The question this week Shock, will Tyler Algier rush for over 100 yards against the Cardinals? Yes, the Cardinals are not good and we're ready for it so we will absolutely give up over 100 yards. The rookie's got a chance at a thousand yards. If you want to compete head to head with your friends just scan the QR code on your screen and Shock, there's one thing that you asked our Kelly Price to ask Desmond Ritter about when they sat down this week for the first time in his process before a snap. Take a listen, we'll get your reaction. Here's what Ritter said. For me it's coming out ID in the front checking whether it's four down, five down and then checking the safeties whether it's one high, two high looking out to the corners seeing if they're in the man's zone teller or not whether they're eyes on them impressed the man or kind of eyes inside whether it's corner and then you know you got a lot of teams especially in the NFL who do a lot of you know false rotation sometimes those backers tell you a lot too. That's pretty interesting. Number one, DJ, your reaction and number two maybe translated into English for the rest of us. I love it. In translation, he has to see the entire field and see everything happening for one particular play to another so I love the process he's going through before the ball is even snapping. It gives a phase, a little snapshot into all the things that goes in for a quarterback before the ball even snaps. We hear about so often as a mature beyond his years maybe that's just a little bit of a taste of being at their facility all year long. Well, that's it for us here on Early Birds. Happy New Year to everybody. Enjoy the peaceful those of you watching. Thanks for joining us. Have a good morning and a great 2023.