 Welcome to Falcons Audible. This is our training camp edition, and I know you recognize that Derek Rackley is not with us. Derek is out on the West Coast supporting his daughter, who's in a softball tournament out there. So we're proud of you, Daddy. Derek Rackley out there. But we have brought in a heavy hitter that will sub in for Derek today. And it's our managing digital editor from AtlantaFalcons.com. Scott Baer. Scott has his own podcast as well. You're here at the final whistle. He and Tori McElhaney do a great job on that. Scott, I appreciate you being with us, my man. This is a crossover episode. Like they did in the old days of the network television. Like that's what we're doing. Cross-promotion. Scott, I want to be honest. I love that. You recognize this guy? That former Falcon quarterback and SEC Player of the Year and Fox 5 sports anchor. What else do you want me to leave it out? I'm never dead as well. I'm not talking about DJ Shockley. I'm talking about Scott. I'm not talking about that title. You? It's unbelievable. Yeah, I know it's fancy. Say that again. Say one more time. No, one more time. One more time, Mark. Managing, managing, managing digital editor. Yeah, that's all encompassing. There's a lot of senior in that. That's when you get title bumps, not salary bumps. But it still sounds good. Looks good on a business card and a resume. Good deal, man. Glad to be here, bro. This is our first chance to get together with you since training camp began. We had a pre-training camp about a week ago. But this is training camp. And we are fully in training camp. And I've got the guys here to discuss some things. And we've got some things to cover for you. What are you most surprised about training camp as we begin to think about what this thing looks like? How far? What have you seen so far? And how does that translate to the season coming up? The running game. I know a lot of people are interested in the running game. Maybe how you stop the run as well, and now what the pads are on. And the physical and aggression, the physicality and aggression we've seen in practice so far. It's telling. We've seen it to the tune of maybe even some guys in the fisticuffs who are going to dive in to all that. So guys, let's start off real quickly. Scott, when you think about training camp and just first cuff off the cuff, what has surprised you so far about training camp? I knew that Kyle Pitts was going to be Kyle Pitts, right? After how good he was last year and how much over the course of the off season he talked about getting better as a route runner and those types of things. But this is not just a one-man band right now. I see a group of skilled players that are scrappers that can be explosive. Brian Edwards, 17.5 yards per catch, we're seeing him make catches in traffic. Drake London looks a bit, I hate overhyping rookies, looks a bit like the number eight overall pick. He's very consistent. And I think that there's depth to the skill player group that we didn't have last year. I think it's going to be fascinating to see them come together and see if they can start taking yards in bigger chunks. Jock, what surprised you so far about camp? Or what have you seen from camp so far? You know what, I know they've had OTAs. I know they've had many camp. But the thing that's really surprised me, fellas, is it seemed like this team is already so connected. And you watch practice and you can feel the energy. You can kind of feel the excitement. You can see guys going up to each other, laughing, joking, having a good time. You can see guys encouraging guys. It looks like guys are having a good time. It doesn't feel like it's training camp. It doesn't feel like you got a bunch of one-year guys that signed on this team. So it looks like this team is already connected and we're only six, seven days in the camp. So it's fun to watch it right now. And I don't know if a lot of fans have been out, but it looks like this team has been together for a while. Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. I think that the position camaraderie that we're seeing, when a DB makes a play, all the DBs run out on the field. When a receiver makes a play, all the receivers run in. And whatever position group that might be, that's certainly something that's jumped out to me. I'll tell you another thing, guys, for me that's jumped off the page is how big the team is. And this is a big football team, much bigger than it was a year ago. Scott mentioned Kyle Pitts and Drake London and Brian Edwards. Those guys are 6'3", 6'4", 6'5", wide receivers. It translates to the offensive line as well. Jermaine Affetti, some of the guys they brought in, Schaefer, the big kid out of Georgia. He's a gigantic human being. The size is big and it even transfers the defensive side of the football. When you talk about Troy Anderson, the linebacker from Montana State, big dude and can run. And then you talk about some of the guys they brought in that have helped in other places as well. But so I think the size is what sticks out to me. And so those are kind of the quick reactions we've had from training camp. So guys, let's dig in a little bit here. What have you seen so far? Give me an idea of what, Scott, when you talk to these guys, what are they generally, what are they working on? I know it can be different from position group to position group. Well, what are some of the things you're hearing overridingly that they're working on? I like hearing from some of these guys that they're very detail oriented, that these coaches are really kind of hammering in. You need to be aggressive. They would rather pull you back than have to push you forward. And we're seeing that. And I think from, again, I'm gonna talk about those skill guys again, that they're doing little things. I think Drake London has a little bag of tricks to create subtle separation, just enough to make catches. They're working on details, they're working on fits, they're working together, which is all part of this chemistry thing. Right? I think those are encouraging signs for a team that sees the expectations, wants to give the expectations a giant double middle finger and really push beyond that. I think that's key. It's funny you say that because every guy I've talked to, I've kind of asked him the question of, okay, you guys hear what's going on on the outside. You hear people talking about what this team supposedly should be. And what's interesting to me is, I already noticed, but these guys listen, they hear it. And they don't wanna be talked about in that light. So to be in that kind of vantage point of saying, all right, I know what you guys are saying about me, but we're gonna make sure we put our best foot forward and say, hey, that's not what the outcome gonna be. Well, and if you want anything to listen to, go find Dean Pease's press conference from what, a couple of days ago. Was he passionate? Yeah. Oh my gosh, just a little passionate. Just a little passionate. Just a little passionate. Just a little passionate. Like, I'm just gonna let him do his thing here. Yeah, Dean pretty much laid it out and he didn't spare any words, by the way. I think we had to bleep out some words. I think our editors, maybe Scott was a part of that as well. I think the thing that jumps out to me guys, when I think about what are they working on and how does the reps translate maybe to the regular season is, I heard Arthur talk about this in his presser and I hear him emphasizing it when we can get close enough to a drill is do your job, just do your job. And I know it's kind of a simple, cliched way of, if you do your job and 11 guys are doing their job, things begin to work out. But when you start talking about culture and changing things and stuff like that, those are work to the whistle, all the things that you hear said, but are you living up to it? And I think that doing their job, that's what makes the wheel turn, right? And so if I'm in the right place in the secondary, then that quarterback's gotta come off that ring and he's gotta go someplace else. And if I got another guy there, we're gonna rally and make the tackle and all of a sudden it's third or it's fourth and five and we're off the field. Little things like that, and we talk about that a lot of times, little things make the big thing happen, but I see it happening on the field and I think that translates to game day guys where I think game day, you're a much better product to yourself, right? And here's something that, while I'm watching practice that I look for, especially once you get into practice six, practice seven is okay, you're installing certain amount of things each and every day, but then you see most of these, you'll go back to what you learned in day one and day two and I wanna see which guys are playing fast, which guys are not thinking as much and you can see, okay, that guy's not making that same mistake. And it's simple, what ours just said about what Coach Smith says is, hey, do your job and it goes direct to the correlation of you wanna make sure you don't make the same mistake twice. Those are the guys you're looking at to have a impact on this team is if you go out and you're making the same mistake two, three, four times, that's not gonna be a guy we can depend on. So when I'm watching practice, I'm seeing, okay, this guy make the right step because this guy get beat on the same route each and every time they running against him. Things are starting to click for you where you're not thinking as much out there. You see guys really playing fast and going and doing what it's supposed to be doing. I go back and I think to, I think Kyle Pitts talked to the press a couple of days back and he mentioned something that Coach Smith has been emphasizing and it was a term that really stuck out to me that I hadn't heard. It was practice ethics, right? Like how do you practice? What do you stand for when it's hot and you're in the 11th period and where are your practice ethics? How are you going to get better? How are you not going to make the same mistake twice? I think that Arthur Smith is looking for guys who have good ethics when nobody's watching. How often does he say he doesn't wanna see you work out on Instagram, right? He wants to see you work out when there's hardly any fans there. Are you getting better when there's no attention on you? I think that's a quality that this team has and I think that quality will make this team better. I think that's a great point because we're sitting there listening to Grady today. And aren't you asked a question to him about what he's doing in the off season that helps him get ready for week 14, week 15, week 16. And I think it goes back to those same things, those ethics. What are you doing in those times where nobody's watching or what are you doing in practice when you could take a playoff or you're not doing anything. So maybe you could just relax. Guys like Grady, and you heard him today, we were really impressed. This guy never takes that time off. He's always thinking about how I can get better. And it's a guy who just got a new contract and he's still trying to figure out ways that only he can get better in practice but he can be there for his team in week 15, week 16, week 17 down the road. Yeah, and how many guys can you drag along with you, right? At some point you're not dragging guys. Guys are trying to set the bar themselves and I think Scott, you make a great point in the fact the ethics of the bar, whatever you wanna call it and where we're gonna get set and where we're gonna work from, that becomes what your expectation level is and now everybody has to reach that expectation level or you begin calling one another out. And that's where those team oriented scenarios where the players are kind of dictating how this thing goes, which is kind of where you want it. Okay, is it too early for us to know anything about the run game? I don't think so. I still think there's things that you can look at in practice and say, okay, that was a good cut or that was a good run. I'll be honest, I saw yesterday, you had a 11-up, 11 period and you go a little inside run and Tyler, I jeered low as his shoulder runs over a guy. I think you know that some guys are ready for the moment of that physicality or ready for the moment to be able to, you know, they're hitting the right steps. I heard we're gonna, Coach Dave, we're gonna talk about there's a lot of things they can see even in just, with just T-shirts and helmets on that have helped them understand does this guy have good vision? Can he see what's happening? Can he see the double team get up on that backer and which way he has to cut? There are a lot of things you can see from the run game, watching practice that gives you a little confidence saying, okay, we got a bunch of guys who are made differently. I mean, you got, you got Al Jir, he's a big bruising guy. You got Demi Williams, he's a different looking player. David Williams over. I mean, Quadre is a bigger dude. I mean, you got a lot of different guys that can do a lot of things for his offense. I think they're definitely gonna have to run game, but I think we gotta be honest. I mean, it's gonna come down to the big boys up front being able to move guys, but also I think you got a couple guys there if it's a stalemate or if it's somebody gets missed, you can make a guy missing the hole and you can get you two or three, four yards. Scott, you do such a good job of responding to fans. By the way, the mailbag that Scott does on AlanaFalcos.com is outstanding. If you wanna ask a question or whatever, reach out to scottonalanafalcos.com. Give the title again, you don't get the title again. Bear mail. It's bear mail, but it's managing digital editors. Yeah. Which has nothing to do with. I know, I know, but I just, I just like to hear you give the title. I do too, kind of, it kind of gives me a little, I'm like, man, is that me? Are we just talking about me? But he does do a good job with the fans. So fans have been asking this question a lot. Are we gonna be able to run to football? What's the offensive line look like? Your assessment of that. Yeah, you do hear that quite a bit because we all watched last season and too often, it's third and one, and you punt. Or fourth and one. Oh, we in a shotgun. Yeah, and you're not getting those tough yards. And I think that getting those one or two yards is gonna change things. How are they gonna block on the inside? Are they gonna get good push? The fifth round draft pick out of BYU, who we've been talking about, he's one of the guys that I'm most intrigued to see because of that physicality. Is he gonna get two yards? This is a guy that averaged more than three and a half yards after contact, right? You need push, but I cover Marseille Lynch. And they're, I'm not saying he's beast mode, but I'm saying there are times when Marseille gets hit, the second that he gets the ball, and he gains four yards, right? That I, and I think Arthur Smith likes those dudes. Nobody's Marseille, okay? Very few will ever be Derek Henry, but can you get guys who can get tough yards? That's what I'm looking for over the course of this preseason, right? They're gonna have explosive runs. You got Patterson, you got Williams, but can they get the tough ones? Four yards, cloud of dust when the whole world knows that you're gonna run in between the like tackles. Does the line, do these backs have the ability and the want to to get those tough yards? That's what I'm looking for. Now you heard it from Scott. He buys Skittles for Tyler L. Geer. I do. And Tyler L. Geer. I should. Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes. So head over to the sideline, pour it right down. But you guys make a good point in the fact. It's way too, in my opinion, it's way too early to tell. Because there's limited hitting in practice and that's by design. So what they do is they practice much smarter. There's much more learning, much more technique involved in what's going on. But ultimately you gotta be physical. And so the backs, as Scott points out, the physicality of the backs and the training of the backs, guys. If I'm, if you're the running backs in that room, I want to know that the dirty yards go okay to get. When I say dirty yards, as you just mentioned, Scott, it's third and two. I gotta go get two. I don't need to bounce it and potentially get 10, but I may get tackled for two yard loss. Let's move the chains. And I see an education level of the way these guys run, whether it's Allyson, who had a pretty good day today. As we were watching out there. Guys that want to run with that intelligence and that physicality, as you talked about, run where expected. Now it's not create something that's not there. I think those are all part of the learning process that's gonna have to go in to where the Run Gate translates to something more viable this year along that front. Archer, I also think you got some guys who, you can depend to get those quote unquote dirty yards that we talk about. And sometimes when I say depend, it's like there's a coach trust, it's second and seven, it's second and eight, and you run the football because you're trying to get to third in matters. You're trying to get to third and four or five or something like that. Can those guys go get those three or four yards? And like you mentioned, try to bounce it and try to make a big play. All we need is three or four yards here. We need you to fall forward and get those yards, those physical yards right in between the tackles and make sure that, hey, you put us in a good position. Not trying to do too much on a play. 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. Scott, you talked about physicality and this is a Falcon's Auto presented by AT&T. Scott Baird, TJ Shacklam, Dave Archer. The physicality and aggression has been probably two operative words, including competition, which probably all factors in together. I think competition has been, the word has been mentioned the most, but not very far behind them is the physicality and aggression. Is this something that you feel like has been managed properly? Is this something that's gotten out of hand? How do you feel like the team's practicing, Scott, and from an intelligence standpoint? Yeah, I think that, I mean, us media types, I guess sometimes make a little bit too big of a deal with two offensive linemen who have been going at it all day, take issue with something. I think sometimes that can be made too big a deal out of that. I look at it and I feel like you wanna be right on that edge, don't you? You wanna be teetering like let's be aggressive, let's push, but let's not cross a line. I think they've done a good job of that. I focus less on maybe some squabbles between linemen and more about the emotion of, as was brought up earlier, if a defensive back makes a play, everybody in the secondary is run into that guy. Marcus Mariota, Chuck DeBal, after running for a touchdown, Chuck DeBal about 40 yards into the crowd because he was so pumped. It's that level of emotion and intensity for day five of training camp, right? That's what I wanna see and that's where I think that line is, is we're seeing guys who are competing where we are seeing them be physical, the cross is over, pull it back, but I like that line and I think a lot of that is coaching, right? Maintaining that line, getting those guys aggressive and working hard against each other. Cause let's not forget, there's a lot of starting spots and rotational spots on the line. I think all that plays into it. Chuck, we're not far away from the first game. I mean, we're a little more than a week when you're gonna tee it up against the Lions in Detroit. And we know that's gotta be physical because it's game time. Can you create a physicality or can you create a persona that you're a physical football team without banging on each other in training camp? It's tough because I feel like that is something where you just can't turn it on. It can't be a switch. And I think it's a lot tougher to do it in training camp because at the end of the day, you wanna make sure you take care of your guys because obviously these are guys you're gonna have to go to battle with. These are guys you're gonna have to, you know, strap it on with. You're gonna make sure those guys are good to go. In the game, you wanna finish guys. You wanna put them on, drop a guy on his neck and say, all right, come back again. So I think it's a little bit tougher to do that. I mean, when I was here with the Falcons, I had guys like Tyson Claybowl, you know, Harvey Dahl, Todd McClure, who just went into the ring of honor. I mean, those kind of guys, they were at the whistle and sometimes a little bit over. But when you watch those guys, when you turned on the tape, you knew exactly what kind of dudes you were going against. So guess what? You knew you had to bring it from an opposing standpoint. And I think you can have that kind of physicality that can go on, but I think it's a lot tougher to do it in the day and age we are now, especially in practice because you don't wanna get anybody too injured. You don't wanna, you know, push that edge a little bit too far. So I think it's tougher to do it, but I think either it's in you or it's not. And some of those guys, when they get into a ball game, sometimes it is a switch for them. They can turn it on. But I think it's harder to do it in training camp with you're trying to take care of your other guy. Expectations, attitude, setting a bar, all that is happening here in the first week of training camp as the Falcons are in pads and they're banging on each other as much as they can within reason, smart, making sure they're taking care of one another, but still getting something out of it. Before we get out of here, and I'm gonna surprise you guys with this one, give me a guy that might not, and maybe he's on the radar that has stood out in practice. I know you've mentioned London and hey, that's great. He better be showing out because he's got to be the guy. Is there a guy for each one of you guys that has kind of come out of nowhere a little bit? Or you kind of, we're looking for to make something happen. Can I have two? Sure. Because I feel like I can't make a choice. One, and I try not to have recency bias because I really think that Interior defensive lineman Derek Tangelo has really kind of shown up. He's knocked some balls down and that's a position group now that has lost Vincent Taylor, right? That needs some of these young guys to step up and I think he's one of those guys, he gets good push, he gets his hand up and he's in the right spots a lot. I wanna see more of that, obviously. Offensive side, the wide receiver group, however many they pick, there's gonna be a good guy who gets cut. And I look at Kaderra Hodge as a guy, he's just a scrapper, right? He's always around the ball, he's fighting for everything, he's good on special teams, he's one of those guys that maybe in my first 53 man, right, wedding on there, and I'm starting to cross out and make some changes. I just like his attitude. I have never spoken to him, but I will soon. I like the way he plays, his personality and his attitude comes out. This is a guy who's fought for a 53 man spot, probably his whole NFL tenure and I like the way he plays. I love it. Good call. I'm gonna stay on the defensive side of the ball and this guy, it seems like every day I'm out here, I'm looking at this guy, and I'm like, God, that was a good play. Or you see him running around, flying around, and you see the hair flopping everywhere and we were talking about him. I said, Mike Ford, this guy, you know, is a guy you're watching, you say, man, this guy's trying to earn his spot, he's trying to bump into that number one spot. And, you know, obviously he's in a nickel spot right now and he's playing really well, but he's a guy that just, every time you see him in one-on-one or you see him in Team Drew, you see him in 7-0-7, the guy's fighting, the guy's always around the football. Not many guys have caught the ball on him, to be honest, but this is a guy that, you know, you look at and say, okay, you play 85% nickel in his league and you got a guy like that who will stick his head in there but of course will also can cover, you want that guy out there. And I think Mike Ford has had a great camp so far. I'll be honest with you guys, I came into camp not really knowing what that offensive line competition would look like. I certainly didn't think that Elijah Wilkerson would be lined up as my number one guard a weekend camp. I didn't think that, okay? And don't take too much for granted. Scott, I'll tell you, when they release depth charts, they don't really mean a lot, but what means a lot is if repetitive days, he's with the first unit, he has been. He's a big body dude that has the nastiness that you want. And so he is a guy that stuck out to me and I'll give you another name that you hope would stand out. And that's Richie Grant. I think Richie Grant has been really good. He's made a lot of plays on the ball, contested plays. He's gotten the ball out. He has an understanding of how to punch the ball out, kind of like that peanut Tillman punch that ball out, get that ball out on the ground. So there's a couple of guys that to me have stuck out. So good guys for you guys. Those are guys to watch for as we get further along in camp, we'll get into a game week next week. What do you anticipate real quickly? What do you anticipate from a game week scenario? Give me an idea of something that you're really looking for as we start to get closer to a game where some of these young guys say, wait a minute, we're gonna play in a game this week. Yeah, I wanna see push with that offensive front, right? Like as you get into that game, are they getting prepped? Are they going to show, all right, this is live tackling. We can really get after it. What are we gonna see from those young guys, I think. For me, it's the obvious. I wanna see consistency. I wanna see accuracy out of the quarterbacks. I mean, this is a big deal. Obviously, everybody knows what has transpired. Now we've got two guys in here now. We know what, you know, Mary Yoda and Reddy. We've watched them in practice, but I wanna see as the game week goes on, regardless of what happens on the outside, regardless of what happens in front of them, those guys are putting the ball in a place where they're supposed to be and they're making the right decisions. So this quarterback spot is a big call. So I wanna see these guys play well. There you go. It's Falcons Audible right here. Training Camp Edition presented by AT&T. Scott Baer, DJ Shockland, Dave Archer. Thanks for being with us.