 a 37 34 overtime victory for the Atlanta Falcons has them in soul possession of NFC South. Welcome to the Falcons audible presented by AT&T I'm Derek Rackley with my guys Dave Archer DJ Shockley and this question is for you guys watching us wherever you are watching us through eight weeks in the season. Did you think the Atlanta Falcons would be number one in the NFC South? If you did raise your hand. Because you probably won the line probably won the lottery too. Guys, what a game right? You guys were there. We were all there. DJ, by the way, you're looking sharp at half time to present Todd McClure his jacket for getting inducted to the Atlanta Falcons. Ring of Honor. Congratulations, Todd. I know we talked a little bit about it last week. Mudduck a big part of this franchise for the better part of two decades. Here's what we're going to cover in this game. We'll get our reactions. We're going to size up the performance of the Falcons. We're going to talk some keys to beating the chargers coming to town and then maybe maybe we'll talk a little bit about some games that were too close. But we're going to start with the guys are going to do a little game. They're going to finish a sentence for me. DJ, you're up first. Let's go. Okay. It's going to be real simple. Finish the sentence. That game was ham. Bananas worth watching twice. I mean, I mean, I couldn't imagine being on the call like Arch was and the absent flow, the back and forth. I mean, it was an unbelievable game. And I think regardless of what side you end up on, I'm glad we came out on the right side. But this was a game that, you know, obviously was talked about around the entire league. And I'm glad we was able to come out on top. But it was crazy. Can I just get clarity? It was it was ham ham ham and bananas. Ham. Bananas. Okay. It was it was ham, but it also was banana. So we get a little pre Thanksgiving lunch or something. Arch, do you have any food particles that are that game? What is the word attached to how I was feeling emotionally exhausted? Okay, okay. There we go. Yeah, we got the food. I'll talk about the emotions. It's not the same thing. I mean, they go hand in hand and I would finish the sentence of that game was wildly entertaining. And it was the way that that thing finished. I couldn't believe it a couple times over. So let's get into it. Let's talk about some of these positives from let's start on the offensive side of the ball. I mean, we've been talking about the mantra of this team all season long as they're going to continue to fight no matter what the situation is, right? And they got faced with adversity again in this game, but like probably not the way that we thought it was going to happen. Dave, let me just start with you. What were some of the biggest positives you took away from the offensive side of the ball and that performance on Sunday? I thought guys stepping up in and being counted. I mean, obviously we knew Marcus Mariota has done that. Marcus had to create a lot of stuff away from the schedule. There weren't a lot of scheduled plays that happened in this game. But Drake was there. Damir Byrd was there. Pitz was there. Tyler Algier was there. And that's that's kind of that when you're starting to kind of galvanize the team, right? Where guys step up. We talked about that. And there's a bunch of things as Arthur likes to say we need to fix to get cleaned up. There's a bunch of that, but it's fun to be able to clean that stuff up. We talk about this all the time when you win. And so there's some things to do that with, but that's what I saw where guys when you needed them guys stepped up and made plays. I agree. And you mentioned some of the performances. I mean, I thought it was great to see Kyle Pitts and more of a featured role really kind of trying to get them. Now granted, Marcus probably had to throw the ball a little bit more in this game, maybe then we've seen in games past, but they made a concerted effort to get in the ball and he made a couple of fantastic catches to keep drives alive and make some big plays. Who impressed you offensively in this game? I mean, the same suspects are just talked about. Add Huntley to that. I think he, you know, with 80, 90 yards in the ball game, the physicality he ran with. There were two guys that I thought on, you know, these particular plays I thought were kind of a microcosm of how good these guys can be and how good, you know, Jake Matthews has been there a couple of times where they were running outside zone and they got the edge because what Matthews and McGarry were able to do on the edge. There were a couple of times they had some reach blocks and they literally, you have a wide nine and people don't know why nine is the defensive end who's outside of the tackle and you have to reach him and turn him so that the running back can get the corner at edge. There were a couple of times where both guys were able to do that and you can clearly see their butt to the sideline. So that tells you they reached them and then they were able to turn them and then you were able to turn the corner. There was one time Caleb McGarry just absolutely mauled the defensive end and literally threw him to the ground, went down after him and hit him again. Just the physicality up front was huge and I think that's why the run game was big. And you talk about a concerted effort getting Kyle pissed the football. There were a couple of times where by formation, by motion, they were able to get a one on one with Kyle on a couple of those quick slants. There was one time where you talk about Mariota having to create the play he throws to, he throws to Kyle pitch out in the left flat and nobody's out there. The panther was in like cover four and the linebacker didn't get all the way out. He comes on a little orbit motion all the way around and Mariota has to climb in the pocket. And to be honest when it happened, I had no idea how he even saw him to his left side because he climbed all the way up in the pocket, got dudes all around him and he throws it to his left while like jumping and Kyle pitch is wide open and then Kyle goes to another 35 yards with yards after yards out of catch. So it was a lot of good things going on offensively and I thought guys played to that standard. Nine targets for pits, five catches, 80 yards did have the long of 33 in the game. You talked about one catch. I know you guys saw this one. I like the one that he snagged over the middle, got blasted by somebody, got hit really hard. And yeah, he was the one that was still laid down on the turf. But not only that, like pits knew how big of a moment was and he got up and it was kind of like first damn. Like first damn. Like he kept telling them it was first down. Here's the unique part of that play and Arch, me and Archus QB's, we love this. This was, it was a hard play action. It was a backside, supposed to be like a skinny post, a little bang, eight on the backside and he flattens it off. And if he doesn't flatten it off, the safety is going to, he's going to probably break this up or it's not going to be a catch. But the nuance of understanding, I see the safety and I'm not going to keep that same angle. And that's the one where he goes like this because Mariodas throwing him like it's a post, but he snags it out there and stays flat down the line and leaves all this open. And still catches it, bangs it. Small stuff like that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. But when we watch the film, we appreciate those type of things. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, if you, you talked about the little nuance, you don't flatten that out underneath the safety, that ball could end up getting picked. Right. But those are things that you, and I'll even remember as a reserve tight end when I was playing for Dan Reeves, the little things that you learn with experience in the NFL that you probably get away with in college just because they're not that good yet. Right. And defensive backs don't play with the same type of anticipation in college that they do in the NFL. But these are the little things that you have to do. Number one, if you want to stay on the field, like on a third down or anything like that, but to be elite at your position. If you want to get the football, if you want to make catches, this is what you have to do against veterans in the NFL. Otherwise, they're going to break it up. They're going to find a way to get that football. Hit that first down again. Hit that first down again. Yeah. Got a feel for it. I like the passion and the excitement that he showed off of that catch. You mentioned Caleb Huntley, 16 carries, 91 yards in the game. Al Geerd, 39 yards also got involved in the passing game, catching a receiving touchdown, which was big for Atlanta. Let's flip it over and talk about the defense because still light in the secondary, but we saw enough plays like Lorenzo Carter before halftime making a huge play. I brought my daughter to the game guys, because it was an alumni weekend, right? And so she's 10 years old. She likes all the cool stuff. So fortunately, the Falcons put us in one of the club levels. So I came downstairs right before halftime because I wanted her to go outside to see like you're on field level. There's players right there. And as soon as we walk out, like the crowd goes nuts. And all of a sudden I see Carter just like streaking down the field and she's like, what happened? I was like, it's good. It's a good play. Dave, defensively, what stuck out to you? We talked last week about the secondary struggles, albeit a different beast with the opponent that they were playing, but it almost seemed like the secondary played a little bit more comfortable. Maybe Scheme helped out a little bit, even though we're missing some studs still in the backfield. Yeah, I thought they competed hard. I think that that's the thing that sticks out to you. I didn't think they played that great defensively, to be honest with you. I thought they struggled against the run game. I thought that began to wear on them the run game. I do think that the linebacker core continues to play at a high level. Rashawn Evans is playing out of this world. I mean, he did a great job on a delayed blitz, got home, got a sack. Michael Walker is the guy that forces the play that Lorenzo Carter picks off. Walker gets a delayed blitz, gets in the face of PJ Walker, gets his hands elevated, and Walker tries to throw it over him and doesn't see Zoh standing in behind, and Zoh makes a heck of a play. But they struggled. They struggled a good bit defensively. I thought they hold on to the rope, especially early in the game, because Atlanta started really slow offensively again. And there's some reasons for that if we can talk about that. But the defense held the rope early in the game. And then once Zoh made his play, it kind of kickstarted the off. For whatever reason, that kind of kickstarted the offense in the second half. You got that score you needed right before the end of the half, which was what Arthur was trying to get done on offense and couldn't get it done. And so now it's 14-10 at halftime. You come out and your offense operates at a much higher clip. They shift gears a little bit. They start spreading out a little bit, throwing the ball a little bit. And I thought that was a good thing. Huntley was banging. But defensively, I think they still have some places to go. I thought they fought. That's what I like about them as they continue to fight. Yeah, you talk about struggling against the run. Foreman from Carolina, 26 carries, 118 yards, three touchdowns on the ground. A couple of them seemed like he kind of just walked into the end zone. In that game. And yeah, that's some of the areas that they struggled. They're going to have to shore up. What did you see defensively, DJ, that you thought was either really good or needs to be shored up? Some of the things that need to be fixed? Well, I thought we still gave up too many explosives. We saw it in the week before. We're Cincinnati. And it kind of rears head again this week. And if PJ Walker, you know, could, you know, find a rhythm at all, he had two or three plays at first half where guys were wide open. That could have been big plays. And obviously, you know, cutters and wooders, all that kind of stuff. But that just shows you those are the areas where if you play a better quarterback, he's going to hit those plays and it's going to be even more explosive. And talked about starting slower. That could have been put you behind the A ball really early in the ballgame. So you got to got to kind of sum up some of the stuff that you're doing on the back end and find ways not to let guys be running free into the secondary. But again, you got another takeaway. We talked about that with Lorenzo. I think he had 11 takeaways on the year and a seven defender with the interception. I saw that stat, which is pretty cool. Yes. Leased NFL. But also, give some give some credit to Cornel Armstrong on the outside. He had two fade balls against him with Terrence Marshall over there. I thought he defended really well, was able to knock the ball away. Because though they definitely were going after him, they were touching him. I thought those were two good plays by him that, you know, he's starting to kind of feel it get his foot in here in the second game being able to start. DJ, you said too many explosives. DJ Moore, obviously we'll get to him a little bit later, but six catches 152 yards and he did have a 62 yard catch in that game with a touchdown. And the touchdown, again, we'll talk about it here in a second. But Dave, I want to go back to your point about the offense and getting off to a sluggish start. Obviously, one of the biggest keys that all coaches talk about, get off to a fast start, whether that's to open the game, that's coming out of the halftime break in the third quarter, just kind of establishes a tone. Anything that you're seeing that's got you worried, or is it just going to take continual evolution of this offense for them to be able to start fast consistently? Not to say that that's easy by any means. Yeah, not worried, but attention to detail, certainly. And I'll take this the first play of the game. You get a nice little play where Kyle comes across in motion. You're going to flip him in the flat. You're going to bootleg off of it. And you're going to get your big time or the ball in the flat with room to run. And Marcus makes a poor throw. He throws it behind a six-foot-six guy. Now, Kyle, probably the first guy to tell you, I should have caught it, but you're spinning a dude around that's 245 pounds at six-six. Just hitting him on that downfield shoulder and letting him roll up the field. Marcus has got to be better in that situation. He'd be the first guy to tell you that. I thought that competing, you got to compete for the football, too. I thought that the throw deep to Demir Byrd. You know, Demir was kind of getting his arm pulled down a little bit, so it probably was PI. But it almost looked like Demir was the defender and Jackson was the receiver in the intercept of the path. So I think some of those things that are very clean, you can very well clean those up. Just be a little bit more attention to detail. Because it paid dividends later on. Byrd's touchdown comes off of that route. He ran the deep post early in the game through the interception. He runs a post curl. He drives up the field and goes to the post. Both defenders fly out and he hooks it up. Marcus floats to his right and puts it on him. And now he's got the ball with all sorts of room to run. And then how about the guys blocking for him? London, Pitts, all these guys got into blocking and he creases them in that great speed. That's a pretty cool team concept there. But what you did early in the game, if you're looking for it as fans go, why would you do that? Why'd you throw it down there? They weren't trying to get it intercepted, but it did play dividends later on because it created the crease and the hole that the bird was in on that post curl route wide open that he gave him the room to run for a touchdown. Well, Carolina saw it on tape a week or two prior. They obviously saw it earlier in the game. They know the scouting report on him with a speed. So it's a good play concept to use his speed to their advantage. Like get all their shoulders turned the other direction. And then like you said, turn around and stop. You should have a big hole. So let's talk a little bit about, and maybe this is more kind of a discussion about emotions at the end of the game. So I talked about DJ Moore. Looks like they're going to win the game, right? Carolina scores a touchdown. Got to kick an extra point. They're going to go up. And DJ Moore takes his lid off in celebration, gets called for a penalty, backs it up. It ends up being of what? 48 yard extra point. And DJ, at that moment you are thinking, Oh, we got a great chance because there's a good chance he could miss this. And I figured I'll just think of the same thing. Oh, no, we're not going to wait until the kickoff. We don't want to try our chances there. Let's give this guy a little bit more pressure. And it absolutely worked. It is part of the game. It's part of having that option of choice. And he took it and it worked out for it. So I got no problems with that. The other thing I'll say this is, I think DJ Moore understands he can't do that. But for a lot of people who's like, how does he do that? In an instance in that moment where he had just dropped the big fourth down play and he comes back and thinks, man, that's the ball game. And now he gets another opportunity and he thinks he's won the game for his team. Sometimes your emotions gets the best of you and things happen. So, you know, it was tough for them. I'm glad it happened because it gave us a chance to win the ball game. But when you're in the heat of the game and you make a monster play, sometimes you may black out. And I think DJ Moore blacked out that point by taking this coming off. All right. So then they missed the extra point. We go to overtime, right? Atlanta starts, they get the ball, they start driving down and Marcus throws a pick. And Dave, you are thinking... Oh, no. Oh, no. Not only that, but the ball game is tackling. He ran all the way back down to the 20-yard line. If you go back and look at the play, Ionitis wins to the inside. And as Marcus is getting ready to try to unload it, he hits him about thigh high, completely blows him up. So if you're thinking, OK, what a horrible throw. Yeah, because you had 315 pounds wrapped around your waist as you're trying to let it go. Go back and take a look at that if you have an opportunity to look at the tape. Again, another opportunity to compete for the football. And I thought that that was... was Damir interfered with, maybe. But the corner had leverage over the top. They're never going to call that unless it's an under throw. And so he kind of fought through him. And Damir kind of lost his balance, and he picks it off. So yeah, at that point, you're thinking, tackling. Yeah. Oh, no. Right. In this field position that they have. Your head goes like this. I was beating my head on the desk. All right. So DJ, back to you. So after the interception, Carolina runs a couple of plays and outruns Eddie Pinheiro, which looks like it's going to be a chip shot. What was 33 yards? Isn't that what we're talking about? Because it turns out an extra point attempt. Yes. Which it should have been after the touchdown. So Carolina is lining up for what looks like a chip shot. Extra point distance field goal to win the game. And your thinking? He ain't going to miss it twice. Ain't no way he's going to miss it again. He's getting a second chance. But then there's also like, he did just miss one. So it could be in his brain. He might try to overcook this thing just a little bit because he's on that hash over there. And when it happened, I said, oh my God, he just missed it. I could not believe it. And I said, hey, we still got life. All right. So Dave, I know you guys have experimented with a camera in the booth, right? So if we could recreate this camera when he misses the field goal from 33 yards, you and Wes are doing what in the booth? It wasn't even, no, it was notable. In fact, I've seen the footage. I didn't do anything. I just had to set the... Arch, are you kidding me? Arch, were you starting to get your stuff together to get ready to go downstairs? I packed my stuff twice. I packed my stuff up after Young Way kicked his field goal, which was a mistake, to make it 34-28. And then when DJ made his deal, then I started putting the rest of my stuff away. And then they missed, went to overtime, and started digging my stuff back up. But anyway, it was a crazy sequence. Give... In that emotional roller coaster, and I asked Arthur this on Monday in his coach's show. I said, you're a human being. It's like everybody else is watching at home. Everybody... You've got players that are probably riding the emotional roller coaster. Damir Byrd told me, yeah, we... He said, I thought we... I thought it was over, and then I thought, oh, shoot, we got another chance, and then, oh, damn, we don't have another chance. So he was doing the same thing we were doing. I asked, and he was cold as an assassin. Nah, man, I'm looking over on my play sheet. I'm getting ready for the next play, the call and stuff. And he just was completely... And that's who you got as your head coach, folks. I mean, this dude is thinking... He doesn't let anything bother him. He's to the next step. I asked him, I said, well, you call time out when Pinheiro came out. He says, that was the only thing I had left to do. I'd gone through my checklist. The only thing I had left to do was burn a time out there, and make him think about it. But he's thinking about that. And then when the miss went, boom, he immediately had the thought process in place as to what they wanted to do offensively to go win the football game, how aggressive they wanted to be. He says, nobody wants to go home with a tie. Right. There's only like two minutes left. We got to go win the game. Yep. You know? And then Marcus makes an unbelievable play on the zone read to get you in field game. So, DJ, here's my last one. Man. Okay? So, Marcus Mario to scrambles for 30 yards, gets deep into Carolina territory, and you are thinking... Ooh! I believe in my guy. I didn't seen Koo do this before. And I was like, oh, ball game. So, he ran out of bounds, and I saw Marcus with the emotional, you know, going crazy over there. You see Marcus had that kind of fire about him. And then Koo comes running out. Ball game. I knew... I'll be honest, 100% in my heart, I knew Koo would knock that thing down because we've seen it happen so many times that we believe in Koo. So, I was glad to see it happen. Glad to see Koo come out and bang that thing through. And send Carolina home with the sad face. One more quick thing. My daughter says, Dad, what do you think is going to happen here? I said, this one's going through, man. No doubt. He ain't missing this. I'm sorry. I mean, you just kind of think about it like the chances they ended up getting. And Koo was just so chill, right? He just doesn't look like he ever gets overwhelmed by the moment, and he steps up and nails it. So, we kind of went through some emotions there. I thought we'd have fun with a little bit. Because that's what even people that are part of the organization, that's what I'm sure all the fans were feeling. But it's fun to be able to come out of that one with an overtime win, as you mentioned, and not a tie. This episode, in part, brought to you by the Home Depot. Everything you need for your next home improvement project is just a tap away on the Home Depot app. The Home Depot app digital toolbox gives you access to how-to guides, project calculators, and image search. So, you'll know exactly what you need to pick up. With the tap of the finger, you can rent and reserve the right tools for the job. Also, browse through millions of items from top brands that you can have delivered right to your door. Whatever your project, find exactly what you need with the Home Depot app. Download the Home Depot app today. Arch, let me come back to you. Let's fast forward to next week. Chargers coming to town. Where, how do you see this one shaking out? Because I like how you've, the last couple of weeks, we talked about Cincinnati, Carolina, pretty good chances here. They got a good defense. So, would it, maybe it was after that week that you felt. All right, so give us kind of a breakdown of what Atlanta's going to see this week. Yeah, you're going to need to possess the football in this game. Because this guy, a quarterback's legit. You're talking about one of the, one of the six, seven best quarterbacks in the league, in my opinion. I think Justin Herbert's got all of that. Now, is he going to get his receivers back? Mike Williams has been hurt. Keenan Allen's been banged up. There's some talk that Allen will be back and ready to play. I don't know if Williams will be ready to go. Eckler's a guy that's a problem in the run game and in the past game. This is a good offense. They're struggling stopping the run defensively. I mean, mightily stopping the run. Okay, so this is one of those games where if you're ever going to bang on somebody for the tune of about 35, 36 minutes with the time of possession, this is the game you want to do that. Yeah, so it kind of plays into strengths of what Atlanta does, what they want to do, keep the football out of the air, meaning not try to throw the ball 30 to 40 times and use this tandem of running backs and your quarterback to... Don't forget, CP's going to be back. Yeah. You can bank on the fact. I mean, I don't want to let the cat out of the bag or anything like that, but I don't... He's out, baby. Well, I don't think there's any doubt. And they have to make that decision. They have not made that decision. Right. They get to make that on Wednesday or whenever to pull him off IR. He's coming off IR. You can get ready. CP will be back in the lineup this week. I'm going to break that right now. And nobody's told me that. I didn't talk to Arthur Smith about that. I didn't talk to Jerry Fonten about that. CP will be back, baby. Arch is doing what you call going out on a limb. And it might be a really small one, but he's going out on it saying CP will be back. And look, I hope he is. And I hope he's feeling great. And I hope he's rested. And I hope he's ready to go on over some people. He looked good from a Twitter video. I know that. Twitter video. He wrote it. What sticks out to you in this matchup? What needs to happen in Atlanta's favor for them to come away with a win? Well, when we played the Browns, there was one guy who had an accident and obviously didn't play in the game. And we're so glad he didn't. Yeah. Well, this game, they got a dude who might be just as good and Khalil might. We got to get him blocked up. That's for one. Because he can be a game record in so many different ways. And we talked about being able just to lean on in a run game. I hope so. Because then that, you know, maybe slows him down a little bit. He always finds a way to get to the quarterback. He's done it his entire career. And he's one of those guys. I mean, during James is another on the back. He's got two sacks as well. Really good play on the back end. I've been watching him since he came in. And I already mentioned Eckler, man. Eckler has got 53 receptions leading the team. Yeah. I mean, from the running back spot. Yeah. So that tells you, goes back to the Tampa game when Fornet had 10 catches in that ballgame. It was just simple, a little just check down, check down, check down. But this guy is way different to Leonard Fornet. You give him space for a check down. There's a chance he can go with it. It's a chance he's going to make a lot of big plays. So we have to be conscious of where he is at all times in the run game and pass game. And Arch talked about the linebackers have really played well. Well, this is going to be a similar game where you got a guy like an Alvin Kamara who, if he gets a ball in space, makes things happen, makes things happen. Yeah. Arch, I want to come back to you with one last question. For the fans that are, that are listening and watching, is there anything that Atlanta, I mean, they're not going to talk about this, but from your perspective, Charger's coming off a bye week. Okay. Does that help them? Does it hurt them? Obviously they get more chance to look at Atlanta. They get more chance to potentially get people back. But them coming off a bye week Atlanta, not any, does it factor into the equation at all? I always like being able to come off of a rest week, especially if you're a team that's banged up and you've got veteran players and they have veteran players. But I mean, I think if you throw it up in the air, it kind of comes down pretty close to even as to who wins these games. You're on a roll. You've won three straight in your own building. All of a sudden it starts, it's now feeling like Atlanta Falcons home field and the advantage. The fans are digging it. You're going to get this team in here in this building. This is not a place they're familiar with. All of that stuff factors in. And I think it helps Atlanta, but I don't know that there's a distinct advantage either way. So potentially getting CP back positive. I get a couple of guys blocked on defense. Okay. That's obviously going to be key in this one. Run the football and come away with another victory. Sounds like a plan to me. By the way, chargers come into this one, four in three sitting second in their current, their division behind the Chiefs right now. And I mentioned they are coming off a bye week. So, and then just a refresher, Falcons four and four number one in the division, Tampa Bay sitting behind them at three and five real quick. Let me ask you this. Did you ever, did you see that one coming before the season? Not necessarily Atlanta number one, but Tampa struggling at three and five right now. No, I didn't. I mean, you know, once they had a couple guys go down a front, then you started to see, okay, well, this is not the same team. Obviously you got the same kind of characters on the outside. But as we've stressed, if you don't have the big five guys up front, it doesn't matter what kind of skill guys you have. It doesn't matter really how good everybody else is. If you can't get them blocked up, you got time to throw it. You don't have any room to run it. So then it starts to, okay, well, this is why they're struggling. And it's ultimately the reason why they aren't. One other thing I'll say before we wrap up, get the ball to Kyle Pitts this week. So he can. I'll just count that for Tampa. Kowski not playing for them. Yeah, huge deal for sure. Safety blanket for Brady. We got our guy here that wants that first down. You got the little hesitation. I know the fire that he had. I just, I feel you young fella. All right. That's going to wrap it up for the Falcons. Ottawa presented by AT&T. We appreciate you watching on whichever platform you do Atlanta Falcons.com, Spotify, YouTube, iTunes. Thank you so much. We'll be back next week. Just like we are each and every week. This is my man, DJ Shockley, Dave Archer. I'm Derek Rackley. We're signing out. Thanks for watching everyone. Go dogs. Go dogs. Go show.