 What's up everybody and welcome to a special edition of the Falcons Final Whistle podcast presented by Windows 11 and we are here to talk schedule which was just released by the NFL. We know what we have long known who the Falcons were going to play and where but not the win. The win has now been unveiled for weeks one through 18. We have the preseason slate. We know exactly how things are going to be laid out here. So in the spirit of really good radio and podcasting I'm gonna read from a list. Okay just like just to start out there for those of you that don't have a second screen, which you should, this video on YouTube on like your 85 inch plasma is still a thing. I don't know. I don't know something. Don't think so. Yeah something. Anyway put it up big and then have a second screen on the schedule for reference after I read this thing off. But basically they have the preseason slate that starts at the Lions at the Jets home against the Jaguars and then they have the regular season they have nine home games. They have eight road games including playing the entire NFC West. So here we go. They start week one at home against the Saints then at the Rams at the Seahawks home against the Browns at the Bucks 49ers home. Bengals away. Panthers home. Chargers home at Carolina Panthers on a Thursday night. That one's gonna be a fun one followed by home against the Bears in week 11 week 12 is at Washington week 13 home against Pittsburgh then the buy took me a long time to say that word and then in week 15 at New Orleans week 16 at Baltimore home against Arizona home against Tampa Bay. If you couldn't remember that again just head on over to the website. Check it out. And basically we're here to kind of break this schedule down right that now we know the exact order of how they're going to play these teams. And I guess instant reaction here guys. Tori what are your first thoughts on this schedule kind of seeing it all play out right here in front of you. Yeah I mean I think it's really interesting to look at I think schedule release in general is a very interesting day and I know that people are really excited about it and as you should be you should be excited about it. But to me schedule release is not really a big as big of a deal as what I think many think it is because when you're looking at schedule release it's exciting to know when and where you're going who you're playing when but it's not the time to count the W's and the L's and to really like get into the nitty gritty of prediction because I have an issue and I feel like I've said this on the podcast for I have a problem with predictions like I think predicting things is so stupid and because it's just like one of those things where it's like you can try and predict all day long but no one knows what the heck's going on. I think we I said that in the draft it's like we can go and make as many mock drafts as what we want to make but no one knows how it's actually going to shake out on draft night. Same thing with season same thing with schedule release. It's like we can look at this all day long and be like oh yeah you're playing this person then you don't have a bye we can till here at the end of the day it's how prepared this team is to actually play their opponents and with the NFL being how it is especially in the last couple of years we have seen where anybody can be anyone on any given Thursday Saturday Sunday Monday any of it like anyone can be anybody at any time and so that's why I'm kind of anti predictions when it comes to schedule release day though I do know it's exciting everyone should be excited. Yeah and I mean when you look at this slate I just think now you can kind of see how the Falcons fall and winter is going to play out right because they have so much roster turnover heading into it that my natural thought is how are they gonna start how are they gonna use that preseason to kind of get going Chris especially because they have a new quarterback Matt Ryan obviously in Indianapolis not a part of this schedule as an opponent or obviously as the home teams quarterback when you look at the at the first section there Saints at Rams at Seahawks home against the Browns obviously you have the preseason how key is that for the for the first all these new contributors to kind of hit the ground running do you think it's possible to start hot even against that section of opposition with so many new guys yeah I think starting hot can also look different ways I don't think starting hot necessarily I mean not saying that if you start 0-1 for obviously that would be disappointing and could you know hinder momentum going into later in the season but I think starting hot can mean this is gonna sound weird but I've heard people say this phrase before but like there's a way to lose a game versus like losing and versus if you lose like 40 to nothing or you lose 25 to 24 or 27 to 23 or you played really hard at the end of the game right so there's a way to to build momentum within the first four games I think there's this team is brand new there's a lot of new faces all over so to be through the first four games you'll see are these guys is bought in as guys last season work because it seemed like last season guys were bought in guys were playing till the end of games and playing hard they believed in what was happening now you bring in a bunch of new faces you lost the staple at quarterback our guys still going to be bought in and you'll learn that through the first four games which I think could arguably be the toughest part of their schedule yeah and and we're gonna get into tough stretches we are going to get into some tough teams that they play outside of the NFC South we're gonna take a look at their bye week and not make bold predictions I promise you that but before we get to all that stuff a big thank you to our sponsor Microsoft Windows 11 I love the logo the official operating system of the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons the all-new Windows 11 is here to bring you closer to what you love like this Falcons final whistle podcast learn all about the awesome new features of Windows 11 at windows.com so my first reaction and I said it as I was reading over the schedule is bye week week 14 so long that seems so far away that seems like now last year they they kind of had to have it early because they played London the New York Jets in London they had a bye week so that would have been week six right yeah that seems too early week 14 seems too late like a long time away now I'm sure right before we get there everybody will say that it's a great time to have the buy because that's what they always say but it seems too late right it just seems I mean there's only four games left after that one yeah I mean I think I'm all about the bye week being right in the middle of the season you know right if it's just I think that we should collectively as the league just say that everyone's off in one weekend just everybody's done everybody's just gonna take the weekend off and that be it I'm all about work-life balance and chill action when you can I kind of dig that right fair I think I just think it makes sense because I do think that according to where your bye week falls dictates how the games before and the games after kind of work out because these are guys who are literally putting their bodies on the lawn every single week it's I feel like people are like oh well they're paid to do this well yeah they are paid to do this but they're also still humans they're really big strong fast humans but they're still humans and they're gonna get tired and they're gonna have some they're gonna get tired they're gonna have some bumps and bruises so I'm very like I don't know if I would rather have a bye week early like how it was last year or bye week late how it is this coming here because both suck in my opinion like you know like both both bye weeks being so far on one side is tough and I think about like the first few like the first two months of the season those are like what Chris is saying those are some tough games to have to play right off the bat and so you think you have that chunk of games in the first two months and then you got to go until December until you can just get a break that's tough yeah I think though I think our early bye week would probably I'd probably prefer because I think in terms of like rookies and simply for rookies it gives you a chance to take a breath yeah and you know recalibrate and like okay it's like you're ripping and running but they're running for 13 weeks so yeah I think the universal bye week we should send that to the commissioner yeah I'm gonna call him up yeah just type that up cuz there is I think there is some advantage of I mean you could also say on the back end like you could have momentum from a win but I think there's some advantage if you have some lingering injuries which everyone does in the league you can get taped up you can get stuff right get your body right if you're rejuvenated and you could be coming off you could be playing a team who's coming off having all those entries so there is some advantage so maybe Tory needs to maybe I'll send in my application to be commissioner in 2029 let's do it you heard it here first another thing think of the amount of rookies that are gonna be playing for the Falcons was just thinking that yeah how many games they play in college and how many weeks they have until the bye week and then to tack on four more games after that that that's really a shock to the system for some of these rookies who are going to be playing a lot we know that that's just how this roster is constructed at the current time that's that's a really interesting part and it's something that I know Arthur Smith talked about last year too when he was talking about the reps that Kyle Pitts was taking Jalen Mayfield was taking I think I remember talking at one point Jalen Mayfield and him towards the end of the season and there was still like another two months left of the season and he was like yeah I've already played more this year than I did in the last like two years of college like and that's kind of the that's kind of how it was especially with the COVID year too and some guys didn't play I mean that's I feel like that's a really interesting part of this too that maybe not as many people are talking about yeah and not only that but all these first year guys that they've been doing the pre-deaf process for the whole time so there hasn't been any break and you talk about the big break between years one and two these guys don't get that and the I know that we're only talking about one week for the buy but when it's also a whole you know four-day stretch off and they have a quote-unquote mini buy they play Carolina on a Thursday night on Amazon Prime that's the Falcons only prime time game that's not a shock right that normally prime time games you can have a max of five those games generally go to the more marquee teams the teams that have been in the playoffs especially recently that's not the Falcons at this point if they want though if they want more prime time games and I'm sure fans want more prime time games at home those games are fun those games are live but you need to do a little bit better and then you get that that's that privilege kind of in that following year when you're looking at this and I was going to say rough stretches but just stretches where you think maybe they can make hay or maybe or maybe they're really gonna have to be ready for a two or three or four game stretch here there are some kind of different options based upon where you look does anything stand out and just as you guys are looking at it I'll just go first maybe take the easiest one because are you going the first week then on because that's I literally think the first week all the way to like week six is a tough stretch and I know that's what Chris was talking about earlier right yeah I mean I was gonna start it when they played at Tampa and then at home against San Francisco and I and then at the Bengals but it's funny because when we talk about tough stretches we're talking about like what a team did last year so I'm looking at the AFC champion right right maybe not what they are this year that's why don't hold this against us as we move through but that one seems difficult you know although I'm gonna argue against myself here San Francisco has probably a first-year starter in them and you don't know how the how the Bengals are gonna come back but to me that looks tough yeah you guys think the start of the year could be a little difficult yeah I think kind of to go away from your question because I'll yeah like I got it answers before I think that but to answer I think like the first stretch of games are tough like right until you get like Tori was and when you get to Carolina I think it's up but I think to kind of turn it around I think the easiest stretch or I guess relatively easy is when you look at 10 to 13 right before the bye week the if you look at that and we're talking about last year's teams obviously and on paper what what teams look like those are the teams that you think like the Falcons could get some wins there and you know you look at the Steelers you think you know they might be the lowest team that division or you know the Bears Washington who knows they have Carson Wentz so I think that's the stretch we look at and they and you say they can get some wins there but also I just think in general when you draw the AFC North and NFC West right now like it's it's just pretty hard it's just tough like you when you have the Ravens the Cardinals the Chargers Steelers the Browns Rams on your schedule there's not a lot of games where you can look at and no game is it give me like Tori said especially last season where teams were beating each other weird things were happening last year so things can happen this year but when you draw those teams on paper you don't look at that and say there are a lot of give me so I think the entire schedule is really tough and that week right before the bye week I think they have some games there though that look winnable on paper not that others don't look winnable but more winnable and I was looking at it and I was gonna mention the fact that that they had to play the entire NFC West because they have to travel all the way to the West Coast twice and they do that in weeks two and three and they play back to back on the West Coast that would seem likely if we were to follow a pattern back from 2019 that they played Houston and then they played the the Cardinals and they just kept going West that could be in theory an opportunity for them to stay on the West Coast yeah I mean I think that works works for me in my schedule yeah I mean if you want us to just hang out in Los Angeles and Seattle for right yeah I've never been to Seattle so I'm cool with that no I think that makes sense it'll be interesting to see kind of how that does shake out I think that it makes I said that it makes sense to just stay out there that way because you think about it play on Sunday come back on let's say Sunday night Monday morning whenever it is that you come back and then immediately turn around and have to go back and lose four hours and I mean or gain four hours or whatever it is yeah just just stay out there to make it just easier that way but having to I was gonna focus so much on playing the NFC West because they have the Super Bowl champs in the Rams they have the the NFC runners up in the 49ers but playing the AFC North what Chris just said kind of sparked something that yeah that's a pretty tough four-team division from top to bottom but the way that they play football you know I mean not every team is the same as they were five years ago but that's known as a very physically taxing demanding hit you under the chin strap type of division that that could play an impact too it's gonna be some physical football there and I think that division is better than the NFC West from top to bottom yes definitely better I think the worst team and that if you I who's the worst team at the vision the Steelers yeah maybe and Steelers and the Seahawks so I think I'd probably take the Steelers over the Seahawks so I think you that you have to there's some great quarterbacks in that division they have Kenny Pickett they also have Mr. Mr. risky over there but most importantly like you said it's physical and they got some physical guys this year so you know and they're and it's not like the focus aren't a physical team but in terms of the wear and tear on your body that we talked about in a week 14 by week yeah the AFC North is trouble I think too like it's I go back to kind of this is a little bit off the wall and this analogy may not even work but when Terry font knows that you know we're gonna take it on the chin this year when he was talking about the salary cap and having the dead money of Matt Ryan Julio and kind of just tacking all that dead money on he's like we're gonna take it on the chin this year to a certain degree I feel this way about the first the rookies in the second year guys kind of looking at the schedule it's like you're gonna take it on the chin with some of these guys like with some of these teams because that's how they play and that's kind of the pedigree of which they play with I don't know I don't know exactly what I'm saying but like you're gonna take it on the chin and I would like to think that because the Falcons are taking it on the chin with the salary cap this year taking on the chin with the schedule I do think it sets you up for more prosperity down the road I think it's good for these rookies I think it's good for even these second year guys to get this level of physicality and so that it's like welcome to the NFL it's a moment you're welcome to the NFL moment almost turns into an entire season and it's like get ready because these two draft classes specifically are the direction of which this organization is going in so the quicker that they can get live reps good live reps under their belt the better the Falcons are gonna be in 2024 and 2025 yeah I also like to say to I think well not I think but the Falcons first-round pick you he'll be rested so he hasn't played since October Drake hasn't played since October so in terms of the the long bye week the Falcons lucked up with the first-round pick cuz he he's fresh he did ready to go yeah he did a pro day did a private workout his family says the rest he needed so he'll be ready to go any physical any lowers the shoulders so yeah if you turn on his highlights he's lowering the shoulder so he'll be ready for all of that I think they got a guy there who will feed into that cow too yeah yeah and and if you want to get to where the Falcons are trying to go you got to measure up physically and Arthur Smith talks so much about building that building that physical culture being able to yeah like maybe take it on the chin but also give it back and I think that we're gonna learn through this schedule a lot about who the Falcons have and then who they need to go get right yes who is a true foundational player of these last two drafts I don't think they're necessarily committed to anything that except for continuing to add good players and to keep trying to add good players knowing sometimes you're gonna swing sometimes you're gonna miss and I think that when you look at this slate it's gonna be a great test for them moving forward no matter what their record ends up being just because they're gonna be tested by all these different things while they aren't traveling as much as you think by by dealing with the NFC West especially if they end up staying on the West Coast they're traveling 15,648 miles that would be cut down if they stayed on the West Coast that's not a lot but by by relative standards I think the Seattle Seahawks travel the most because they're on the far stretch of the country but I just think I think it I think it's a good test overall for the Falcons to see where they are and where they need to go and who is the type of player that they want to have around I think you look at a Drake London type you know Kyle Pitts is one of those he's gonna go hard on every play that they're trying to build an offensive and defensive lines that way let's find these things out to your point during this season and then you can say all right here's where we are here's where we need to go it's not that far it's a great distance and who can we keep from all these proven deals Arthur Smith was on 92 nine earlier this week and he's saying once this salary cap opens up then we can reward those guys who committed to us in 2022 he was talking about Lorenzo Carter right is that if he goes out and balls out the Falcons will be more excited to reward a guy like that and I think that that's what you're trying to figure out now we know the order of which they're going to go the fact they have to play a full college season before they can take a chill pill in a bowl in a bowl game in a bowl game and a bowl game you know as they kind of move through this thing but look it's hard but I don't think the Falcons signed up to do easy right yeah I was gonna say also I don't think I don't know I don't think we should just write off this season like right because it's like it looks difficult on paper I think we've been around them as I say them I mean Arthur and Terry and enough to know that you know they really believe they don't believe in throwing in the towel like they're not looking they're not looking to 2023 I think you know in saying that they've talked about wanting guys to come in because they know they have that money and to reward guys and all that but that doesn't mean that they're not trying to win games like they're trying to win these games are trying to make the playoffs they're not like Arthur has said many times and and I think he said it enough and we've seen it enough we saw it last year enough to know that it's not just coach speak or lip service like they're trying to win. And they won seven last year yeah they weren't expected to win seven last year. Well you think about it this way too I mean if you don't want to be competitive now you don't keep Jake Matthews you don't keep Grady Jarrett like those guys want to win like you don't want to waste Grady Jarrett's years a player of that caliber the Falcons re-signed him they re-signed him and he stayed here because he wants to win games here. And I think that goes like to your point it's like they're not going to throw in the towel like even in games that they lost last year I do think they were they showed signs of the physicality of which Arthur Smith wants them to play with the toughness that he wants them to play with. And so I think like going back to I think what you said right off the top of the podcast like taking no matter the outcome but taking building blocks from every single game and being like okay this is who we are this is who we want to be like continue being that. So yeah but to your point like yeah Grady Jarrett didn't want to lose games like he they wouldn't have re-signed him they could have traded him they could have packaged him and sent him on his way for a draft fix they didn't do that they wanted to keep him here that to me is telling that they want to be as competitive as they can be while building this thing. Yeah and if if they can get in more situations like where they thrived in terms of one-square games and then they can find that fire now that fire is not I mean it has to be found and earned and then manipulated and you know done over and over and over again those type of one-score wins but there are a lot of guys who know that they can win this way and if you get into a tough fourth quarter fight you might end up on the right side of it you might start hot you might look at yourself because nobody expected the Falcons last year to be on December 1st even saying the word postseason right but somehow they found their way to be in it so can they find their way to be in it that's going to be a fascinating thing and who's going to contribute to this effort in a significant way that's what we're going to be looking for as we head towards the rookie minicamp which is at the end of this week and on towards training camp in the offseason program and that's going to be fun to watch. The difficult part about that is not being able to watch it with our good pal Chris Rimm. Dang it I'm gonna cry. But nonetheless we I'm sure he hates me even bringing this up but nonetheless we you know at least wanted to remind everyone that Chris Rimm is moving on to a little paper called the called the New York Times. A little paper. Did I get that right? Yeah. Yeah and he's moving on to a great opportunity and I know he was only here for about 12 months but I mean just go spend like a couple days and read the profiles on Kyle Pitts and Cordero Patterson and Drake London there's a fantastic one out there. How else can I embarrass him? I'm gonna miss all the fruity drinks we consume. If anyone some everybody should know that Chris Chris and I became friends initially because we bonded over neither of us liking any like hard like drink that didn't taste good. You know if there wasn't a little fruit or a little sweetness in it we were like nah. A little bit of lemonade. Yeah or lemonade. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah it's gonna be tough and then I'm not gonna cry on the podcast. I'm not gonna cry on the podcast but yeah we've had a great a great year I think. Yeah for sure. I just think about like this collective group and I love how much we bounce off of each other and how I think we compliment each other and Chris is a third of that. And I think it was cool how quickly the the Falcons fans really seem to engage with your stories and some of the things and it seems like that you've gotten a chance to interact with a lot of good fans over the course of it. I think you got recognized too when you were out with your life friends. Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah I got that. Yeah that was good that was good. I mean it was yeah one time I was allowed to eat somewhere if the waiter's watching if you're out there. Thank you. I mean it was it was cool but I mean I wish you were I've been my girlfriend for a while now like four years so it was kind of like she was kind of like oh I got to deal with this ego but basically I was out to eat and the waiter recognized me I was with my girlfriend he was like man you do great stuff for the Falcons you know and I was kind of like yeah it's like okay then my girlfriend was like oh my god. She's like gosh his head just bloomed up. Exactly yeah so it was cool but yeah it's been fun everyone's cool this is a cool market my first time in the south in Atlanta it's been it's a great city I love not having to shovel and do all that and meet in y'all and Sam is our producer back there in the cut you know all those people the the men and women who don't get to be on camera they're all great and talented and make us look good so just a great team and hopefully I built a lot of friends here hopefully I did build a lot of friends here and hopefully we stay connected so yeah and also yeah we with the pre-season everything like yeah the week two of the pre-season yeah everybody's sleeping on Chris's floor. I already called the couch yeah everybody else on the floor. Oh my gosh I'm bringing my own sleeping bag. All right well we could talk about this forever and embarrass the heck out of them but we're gonna go ahead and sign off right now guys thank you so much for joining us and definitely hit us up on our social channels in the youtube comments about your thoughts on this schedule your thoughts on our thoughts on this schedule it's gonna be a very interesting year for the Falcons as we move forward to see how this whole thing plays out plenty more to discuss on this podcast and you know on the website and everywhere else that you can find Atlanta Falcons content most notably on Atlanta Falcons.com so you know what to do right now five star rating five star review oh and subscribe to Falcons Audible please those guys rip make sure you check out all the schedule release content Falcons are putting out. Heck yeah yeah lots of it to do and there's going to be some awesome home opponents stealers bears yeah tons of good stuff go check out the game it's super fun so anyway thank you guys so much for joining us and we'll talk to you soon