 The Falcons audible presented by AT&T is back once again I'm Derek Rackley joined by my fellas Dave Archer and DJ Shockley and we are back here after a Falcons victory as we talked about last Night they went across the pond and they got off to a great start against the New York Jets and came home with a victory We will dive into that performance. We'll just dissect it a little bit But first let's give them a little bit of a rundown of what we're gonna be covering We will get into our kind of our one-word answer short and sweet and the question is gonna be what are the Falcons so far that we've seen this year I'm gonna have the guys kind of be short and sweet with that one. Tell us what they think the Falcons are We saw an emergence of Kyle Pitts fellas. Yeah, numb the first round draft choice for the Atlanta Falcons And I think this is what everybody was waiting for will dive into Kyle Pitts a little bit more Arthur Smith Is he changing the identity of this team this offense? We'll talk a little bit more about that the defense rising to the challenge Especially with some injuries on hand and then we'll get into a little bit of story time and talk special teams talk some kickers As we had your wheel house interesting stuff going on this past weekend And then we'll look ahead for the Atlanta Falcons of course on a bye week this week But what happens after the Falcons finished with a bye? So that's kind of the schedule the rundown for the show So let's get to you guys here because they didn't come here to listen to me, right? You got your hope You got your one word too. So we got a stick to you got a stick to all right All right, I'm gonna start with you So one word answer and then you got one or two sentences to support it Okay, now our producer has said like I have the ability to deduct 500 points if you break the rules Okay, what I'm deducting them from I have no idea Okay, yeah, so but I'll let you know if the points get deducted Okay, so one word answer quick support. What are the Falcons as you see them right now evolving? Okay is my word And I think that we saw that this weekend is we begin to see an expanse of what Kyle Pitts can be We see the ability of the depth on this team to adapt to what Dean Pease wants to do defensively I think he's evolving as to what they want to look like Pressure group non-pressure group bend. Don't break red zone toughness. I think you're evolving on both sides of the ball Okay, that was short. I mean, I mean, but did that have commas or anything? It was a little it might have been borderline run-off sentence. Were you a punctuation? I'm just saying he said one sentence. I gave him to he can have to so I think there was one period in there One and then like 16 commas, but it's okay. He was still in didn't have to take away any points DJ careful now because you went you started criticizing so you gotta make sure you stay short and sweet what you got I'm going with intriguing Okay, and I say intriguing because the way this team is starting to play some of the players are starting to play and improve It's intriguing to me where this team can go Yes, you think about what we had go on a couple weeks ago where you go get a win now You got another win this week. You didn't play the way you wanted to last week But now it's intriguing to see what this offense can be it's intriguing what Dean Pease can do when everybody plays together So I'm gonna go with intriguing and I'm way shorted What you just did a full paragraph His was two sentences might have had Okay, my turn and I see when you host you get to bend the rules Mine is work in progress, but there's there's two hyphens in it Okay, it's still just one word, right? It's there's no break. There's no space or anything like that They're a work in progress and it kind of builds on what you guys are talking about We're seeing good things happen on occasion Yeah, but it's work in progress because it's not snap after snap, right? And there's not a perfect team out there in the NFL But you want to see a whole lot more of the positive plays where all 11 are working together more than the fragments So it's work in progress. We're definitely seeing flashes, but as we know it's got to get better Okay, now work in progress some of those good pieces we saw was the first round draft choice Kyle Pitts had a fantastic game against the Jets kind of had to right without Ridley in the lineup without gauge in the lineup It was where is the offense gonna come from specifically in a passing game? And you'd like to think the Jets probably were Anticipating it was gonna be Kyle Pitts still couldn't stop him What did you see in the game DJ and what should Falcons fans be excited for in weeks to come after what he showed On the field in London, right? I think the number one thing that comes to mind for me What is to think is the versatility in the way you used him and then also the way that Arthur Smith uses him Creatively in this offense. I mean they do run a freaking post For God's sake, so on the outside and ran by a corner. I mean there are times you see him split out You see him all over the field, but I love the versatility the way he's playing I think he's becoming a little bit more comfortable Playing in the national footballing I think people forget just because this guy is a number four overall pick and this guy comes in with all his hype that it doesn't Tell it doesn't take him time to get used to the speed of the game or how he can use his body versus these NFL style of players and even I can hear the comfort level starting to get better when he talks to you Aren't I remember going back and listen to him week one when you interview him everything was short Everything was you know, I'm just trying to figure it out and now yesterday The other day when you talk to him felt like this guy's been around for a year So I love the fact that he's becoming a more versatile, but also just you can see him selling in and being more Comfortable and I think father fans are gonna like it week in and week out I think he even mentioned he said that to you is I'm starting to understand My role in this offense and I'm starting to understand what I can do within this league and He can only grow with the kind of game he had, you know, I think he had nine catches on 10 targets I mean, that's pretty efficient. Yeah nine catches 119 yards in a touchdown DJ It's a great point because that's kind of what I thought too is he's getting comfortable Finding his role in this offense You might say how does that happen with a guy that has the amount of talent that he does But I'll give you a comparison and I think it has a lot to do with personality I've never met him. Maybe you can end up compounding on this But but how pits kind of seems more like the like he's a nice guy kind of you know He doesn't he doesn't come across to me as like the pit bull that comes in the locker room And he says I'm gonna take this. Yeah, right So and I'm not I'm gonna give you a comparison But when we were playing algae crumpler one of my good buddies He had a little bit different mentality when he stepped in between the lines through algae when he came in Was like when I'm on the field, I'm gonna catch every ball that's thrown my direction He had a little bit of a like I'm gonna attack you. I'm gonna compete with you. This is my game type mentality And I could be wrong Arch But maybe that's not quite it for pits at the start, but that's what he's growing into Would you agree or or what did you see that's maybe different on Sunday? It's a good analogy with him and Crump because obviously I had a chance to call a good number of Crump's games And so Crump was that guy when when you blew the whistle and said let's go play He wants you to throw every ball to him. Yeah, I think that pits has that in him I think that as a young and maybe we're if you start trying to judge him on crump It's you saw him as a young player and then I seem as evolving and maybe you're trying to you combine some of those years together At least I do We're just get the first taste of this kid. Yeah, and I think he has that in I think it's a great comparison Crump was an outstanding player here for the Falcons He was Michael Vick's go-to guy and I think this guy could evolve into that this game certainly doesn't hurt that scenario But I think that's a good analogy and I think he's got that in him And to add on what shock was saying let's not forget. There was a plan for this kid to do a lot of stuff Okay, we all played the game. This is a complicated game on an offensive side of the football and Then multiply that by the fact. He's playing probably four different positions Yes, so he's not just lining up on the end of the line of scrimmage You got him off the ball. You got him in the slot You got him out out wide by the numbers and you guys we all know Those are different positions. Those are that isn't just the tight in flexed out. He's now the z receiver He's now playing h. He's playing y. I mean you're going Wow, that's a lot. And so I've been using the analogy. He's been drinking through a fire hose They've been trying to give David Jones been trying to give him as much as he can give him But once you learn what you're kind of supposed to do We all know the game adjusts on the fly based on what you see coverage So there's adjustments out of every one of those positions is the where your routes going to go So he's trying to get that and at the line of scrimmage if Ryan changes the play He's got to be able to absorb that wait a minute the wheels are spinning. Wait a minute. That's not what I got anymore I don't have what he called in the hubble anymore. I got something else. That's what this kid has been going through So to get impatient say wow it took till five games for him to get off Think about what the dude has been trying to absorb and do and then just use his physical talents Which are off the charts and we saw it again this week So let me throw this back to you guys on pits because I think this is something where a lot of people are interested in this What is the next development for him because I think everybody up to this point knew that he was really talented talking about the Opponents right knew that he was really talented, but he hadn't quite produced He hadn't quite taken over a game now that he kind of took over a game and Miami in a couple weeks gonna turn on the game take and they're gonna start preparing for Kyle Pitts So what's the adjustment DJ back from the Atlanta's offense to where he's still able to be productive now that they're gonna be keying on it I think the big thing is finding ways for him to be consistent within his offense and you look around the league regardless of Who you're playing you think about a Travis Kelsie you think about a Darren Waller You think about a Rob Gronkowski. It doesn't matter what game you go into these guys gonna get their touches And I think Arthur Smith already has shown the ability to be creative enough Where he could find ways to get this guy the football he can feature him you think about coming to a game where you don't have your top two receivers and Ridley engage and this guy still has ten targets and nine catches and you mentioned to come out the top They still couldn't guard it. Yeah, so the fact that you come into every ball game knowing I got to get this guy touches I can find ways to get him touches and You can dictate that for the most part coming to a ball game We all know you're coming to a game plan and you know what they're gonna do on second to third I know they're gonna do first down or in red zone and you can find those matches to get him easy catches And I think they're doing that and I think they will continue that so the consistency of Arthur Smith trying to get him The football I think will continue because you gotta be real He's gonna be a big part of these offense and what we do well I think there's a confidence aspect for Matt Ryan to now arch because he's like I got to keep feeding them the ball Even if I do feed it to him in the next game ten times and he only comes away with five or six catches I would still like to take my chances with Kyle Pitts on those five or six catches But in your opinion like is there any adjustments that need to be made or is it just a matter of? Matt having confidence and then the rest of the supporting cast doing their job so the entire defense can't just focus on him Yeah, no, I think that that's that's a big part of it guys And I think that he's got to maintain the workout level that he's had where he continues to refine his game Could be a little bit sharper on this on the on the post route Can I be a little bit more? Can I give a little bit better of an indicators of where I'm gonna come out of my break so Matt can let the ball go a Little bit further shock and I will tell you that receivers have body language And they have indicators at the top of routes or in routes where you know You can throw him open because he's coming out of the break That's part of what Ryan's been trying to learn about this guy. Okay, what what is his body language? Tell me on a post route. Okay, now I can let it go and I can throw him open or I can get it Ryan told me post game when I talked to him in our radio broadcast. I said look like Maybe he out rainy. He says I I had forgotten how well the guy runs and I didn't want to miss him on the post route I didn't want to overthrow him because it was gonna be a touchdown. Yeah, so I threw it So I knew he could so he gears him down. Of course Kyle's is caught there and stopped But he runs like a wide receiver. That's kind of different. Yeah seeing a guy that's six foot six running 245 250 pounds wait a minute. I can let that one go like that's Ridley or whoever out there I can let him go get it. So those adjustments are still being made but for him specifically I think it's about okay. Let me work on me. I've got a really good Absorb the offense and a multitude of different positions, but let me continue to refine my route right Let me make sure I'm making it easy for Matt Ryan. So let me talk to Matt Matt What am I doing? Are you getting enough an indicator for me on these different routes? I think that's where he continues to evolve. Yeah Let me add one last thing to I mean what what ours just brought up because it sparks up in me And I want people to realize from the quarterback standpoint and people say on that ball is underthrowing that ball is For years Quarterbacks have been taught for receive up for running backs tight ends. Just give them a chance Just put it in the area. Don't try to lead them Don't try to let them go get it But now it's totally different now like you mentioned you got this dude I hear who can actually run like a receiver now your mindset has to change from I'm not throwing to a tight end I'm throwing to a guy who can go and get it So those are some of the things as a quarterback Matt is going through with him And they're still learning each other on those particular plays like throwing a go-round or throwing a post right to him So it's different still learning still developing that chemistry and like you talked about the anticipation once Matt starts reading that body Language and he can just start throwing the ball before Kyle pits even comes out of whatever break like I'm interested to see some back Shoulder throws with these two now me. Can you imagine through back shoulder throw with pits against a strong safety? That's six one or something like that. That's seems like it's pretty fun to match up there I mean, yeah, absolutely. You see it now dudes are already grabbing him because he's such a big dude They're trying to find a way to get around him. It's gonna be tough for defenders No matter you play safety corner linebacker. It's gonna be tough Well, and you mentioned rack and it's a good analogy in the fact Okay, he just caught nine for one. We can't let that guy do that. Yeah So what are we gonna do to take him away? This was a jet team that wanted to play a lot of man coverage Well, it hurt them. Yeah, because they tried to play man coverage in a lot of places whether it was on CP Cordell Patterson whether it was whether it was on Hayden Hurst They struggled with it Ryan through for 345 completed 35 balls or whatever it was in the game So teams are gonna say, okay We need to adjust what we're doing a little bit And and so that will be something that you'll see and it's gonna open other guys up, you know But you have to catch the football. Yeah, okay Alameda Zaccheus makes a huge catch in the game on the slant route on third and 13 to get 15 yards And a first down that extended the drive for Atlanta to seal the football game But he dropped two balls prior to you cannot drop balls. There's not a margin of error for this offense We're not elite right now an offense evolving was the word they're evolving But you have to make catches you have to solidify first downs and that's something they're gonna have to continue to get better That's the difference between like teams that are good and excellent teams are really good ones Don't drop the ball right and the excellent ones make the really tough catches right then bail a quarterback out Right sometimes you got to just help them out Yeah, quarterbacks are really good in this league, but they don't always make the greatest throw sometimes You just got to have that circus catch you guys talked about some of the supporting cast We had it was pretty good game for the tight ends not just Kyle Pitts, right? We saw at least myth We saw Hayden Hurst contribute in that game Some of the issues previously has been closing finishing Do you guys feel like DJ? We're starting to see Arthur Smith Learn this team and create an identity on how he's gonna close games out I mean it I know we're just talking about one more game with the Jets But like are you starting to see more of an identity with Arthur Smith? And how he's gonna continue to call plays and manage things towards the end of the game I do and I think he will continue to be aggressive in the style in which he calls plays to end ball games and For me, I think about it in this way a team needs to go through it before they can believe it Like we could talk about it all day You can get into me rules We can say our here three or four plays that if we do X Y and Z we win the ball game It takes for you to go out and do it for things to feel differently And I think for this team you're going through those moments You're going through those times where you say Alright, if we go out of here, we do what we're supposed to at the end of a ball game This is the outcome and now you could actually put it on field and say alright Here's an instance where we did it and now guys can say alright. Well, okay if I did my little job here I gotta play to win and they did that so I I love the fact that they're finishing these games now Obviously you want to it's hard to do it every single week in the national football league But if you go out and you play the way that they played it's Tremendous and it'll give you a chance to win and I keep saying this about Arthur Smith is I Think he will continue to coach to the strength of players as opposed to just calling plays And I think right now he's using this personnel To the strength that helps his team and not just calling plays because we know what kind of system He brought coming in and you knew the kind of players he had But now he's using the strength and the personality of these guys to win ball games And not just calling plays that he feels like our winners that he's using the past he's using this personnel I think to his advantage and ultimately that's gonna help you down the stretch All right, you got to be able to finish right nine play 75 yard drive took over four minutes off the clock Capped it off with a touchdown like that's that's how you win games at any level right not just in the NFL Did you start to see things as far as Arthur Smith and how maybe how he's calling plays How he's managing down a distance to where you you think he's starting to kind of figure things out a little bit I think that again use the word evolving. I think that he's evolving as well Remember didn't get it done two weeks ago Yeah, we talked about finishing games had a really poor last offensive drive where you went three and out Which is included negative play on first down and you punted the football and the defense couldn't get the stop And you lost the football game go back three weeks ago, and you did get it You got the defensive stop you got the offensive team goes down to field kicks the field goal wins the football game So it's kind of a as you said I'll use your phrase work in progress There is some stuff there where he's trying to mold this team and what there's also trying to mold How he attacks the game shock talk about being aggressive, you know We all know there's an aggressive there's a level of aggressiveness That is can be over the top when you you're aren't you aren't taking advantage of of moving the clock and working the clock and making You burn timeouts, but I don't want to just settle into the fact that okay I'm gonna do this and we'll make you burn your and then we'll kick it to you Yeah, you got to have those times where you can reach out and strike up And so I still think he's trying to work through that as well as a play call are here It's not Tennessee is shock said this is not Tennessee. That's here in the personnel grippy house here I don't know if you guys You guys may remember this better than I do. Maybe I'm confused But I think the jets go down and they make it 2017 And we get the ball back and I believe first or second play is where we throw the poster pits. Is that correct? Yeah, I can't remember the sequence there Yeah, I'm just thinking of they go down to score they got all the momentum and instead of like you just mentioned being Conservative known it. Yeah be a conservative. Hey, you go attack Before right did that the week before in a cost shift, right? I think you'd like to have your offense on the field no offense to the defense Most teams I think would like to finish the game with their offense on the field Well, you're salting the game away or you're going down to get a game-winning score You want that group on the field because let's face it. We're not the only team that struggle down the stretch I'm gonna saw it saw it on the Monday night game, right? That's a game that that probably for all intent purposes and a lot of people's minds over the culture way ahead And here comes Lamar Jackson. They come down the field and they win the football game So with a number of scores in that fourth quarter, so it happens to everybody you want to be able to settle the score No pun intended with your offense and get it done And I think it speaks exactly what you just talked about what Arthur Smith was the week before There was a different plan going in trying to solve the game away and this week He totally changes how he goes about that plan So you can see just from a coach's standpoint of how he's evolving like art says and for me It's intriguing. Yeah. Oh, see see that They keep coming back Well, that was we were told we told it was right I mean, I knew it was gonna happen at the beginning Like how good you are at your job like no doubt no doubt. 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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 All right speaking of crushing we're gonna segue over to the defensive side of the ball Right now we talked about pieces for the Falcons offense That was not on the field this past weekend making it difficult maybe to find consistent production same could be said Defensively they're missing some pieces on that side of the ball, too But I want to ask you arch are you excited granted when you get to your second and third string at any position It can be a little bit worrisome, right? You can spend some sleepless nights because you're like, I don't know But there is a benefit because we're starting to see some of the younger players forced into action and you develop depth Right. Are you happy with how the depth building on the defensive side of the ball is coming along? Yeah, no question. I thought that this was an interesting weekend yet your number one and two nickels are out of the game So we know as a Oliver's gone from season and we're praying for him And hopefully he can get back as quickly as he can with the injury Avery Williams had a hamstring. He's out So that's your backup nickel those Rarely do you use that's kind of that's an auxiliary position or maybe that? 23rd starter on your defense that nickel spot because we play what 65% of the game and nickel You're down to your third guy there So Darren Hall the rookie is forced into play you had Richie Grant playing some of the nickel spots when they Wanted to go big nickel with an extra safety on the field Jalen Hawkins makes a play Yes in place of Eric Harris who was out with an injury So that's secondary who's kind of been maligned a little bit and was talked about as being a weak link on the defense I thought came up big in this game now. I get it in the fans of homestand. Well, wait a minute You're playing against a rookie quarterback And all that and and that is true You were playing against a rookie quarterback and I but I thought you made him look Really bad in the game. I thought he they were going into their final drive Which became trash time after that touchdown you talked about rack. Yep, they had less than 200 yards of offense in the game Yeah, I mean they had they ran I think six plays in the first quarter. I mean that's getting teams off the field That's a national football league team. That's not, you know, Kent State. You're playing. Yes You got somebody no offense to Kent State But but no you went out and you take so that part of it with younger players and Different guys that had not played a lot of meaningful minutes for you stepped up big and that's from a confidence level You guys know as young players As an older player, you know, you have a nice game. You say, okay, you're kind of confident when you're a young player Your confidence goes exponentially through the roof. I'm Darren Hall. I'm Richie Grant. I was on the field I made plays. I'm Jalen Hawkins. Boom. I'm right here. I got this. Yeah, I got in this league Yes, I belong here. Yeah. So I mean DJ same type of deal like You always want to go into a game in the NFL with starters, right? Like obviously, it's usually the guys that are making a lot of money. They have proven themselves They have made those plays and if you're Dean P's like you got younger guys, maybe more inexperienced guys You have to understand that some mistakes are going to happen But you throw them into the fire where you pleased with the performance and how you could build on that moving forward No doubt about it. I mean you're talking about putting these guys in positions Where they can be successful and they went where they can win and you can see D&P's drove some stuff in this ballgame where it wasn't Really exotic at times. There's a lot of things where you saw a couple zone blitz it here a lot of coverage You also play man here and there but I thought they did a good job of understanding their role inside this defense And the one thing I always go back to is when you're trying to improve your depth or try and improve Younger guys the older veteran guys have to be the standard every single week And I think every single week we've seen Grady make a play we've seen Dion and foyer they're lean tocklers when you have your core guys making plays The other guys around them feel like okay I got to make sure I pulled the end of this rope as well because if not guess what it's gonna be very visible on film And these veterans will go to coaches and say look this guy ain't get it done I need somebody I do I could depend on and I'm glad to see in this ballgame These guys had a moment in the game or have moments where they had to make plays and they made them I mean Jalen Hawkins easily in a cover two could drop that ball We've seen guys not come up with those type of plays But he came up with that play in the ballgame and I love the fact that that he was able to do that And like Arches mentioned it's gonna be a tremendous confidence for these guys to know that they got a chance to play 50 60 snaps in an NFL game and show that hey, I do belong it's the same instance when we talked about with Kyle These guys have to go through the same maturation process of understanding how they belong on that side of the ball But also that they belong in a national football league regardless of how you know talented you feel you are There's moments where you feel like okay. I can actually play with these dudes out here I've been watching for years. So it's fun To be able to see those guys kind of thrive two positions You guys probably agree maybe you don't but that I've always felt like you got to have the most swagger in the NFL And it's wide receiver and it's defensive back right and a lot of these younger guys we're talking about are db So let's hope that some of this experience Helps them go play with that swagger on the field because when you're locked up on somebody you're out on an island You play a man-to-man coverage. It's just time, you know Who wants it more who wants to compete more and if you got that swagger you can do that Give a give a man, uh, audio. Good days. You a little love too. I mean, he's another young guy I think you had a sack in the game. He had a nice open field tackle versus Carter I mean, that's a guy who we saw in preseason who was making a name for himself and you know Got a chance to play some more too DJ you mentioned guys that we can depend on Segway here. Okay Young way coup is a guy the Falcons can depend on right. He's been really good. However The story for kickers in the weekend or on sunday was very interesting to say the least So we're gonna have a little bit of fun here We're gonna do some story time and I'm gonna have these guys Talk to some about some kicker stories that they have and and arch. I'm gonna start with you You've you long storied career playing in college playing in the nfl covering it As a broadcaster You've got to have some good ones of some kickers that you've seen throughout your time Well, story is probably right with my career a lot of stories I don't know how storied it was but a lot of stories Uh, a couple come to mind. First of all, okay I've always kind of kept the kickers at arms length and I know you had to play you were very close You were part of the battery. You had to be kind of a psychologist. Yes, I would assume with your position No, no, you can make this kick. I'll put it right there So, uh, I've always felt like if you don't have to wash a guy's uniform after the game He shouldn't you know, is he actually a football player? I mean, I don't know That's just kind of stuck in my head there, you know, because they just hang the uniform back Up the locker and move on those are guys that played video games when I was playing You'd come in and they'd be in playing a sega golf on tv or something Dude we're practicing outside. Yeah, but I'm only out between periods 10 or 11 and that's it for our new viewers sega is like PlayStation and stuff like I had to keep it rolling All right, so kicker wise we had a really good one here when I was playing here in Atlanta Wouldn't they mick lockers and mick was an english fellow and you know speaking of tea having your tea Good really nice person Carried a briefcase to to practice for what I have no idea The kicker he's got a briefcase anyway. He took it on the field. No. No, you know He'd leave it in his locker, but he brought it to practice. What's he got in there? Peanut butter sandwich or something like that game plan as far as kick it between the uprights So anyway, I held for mick and he was a left-footed kicker and very particular about how he wanted the ball till the most there are You know, hey, just a little tilt to me Laces out of course, you know and and all those guys you got a good snapper. I'm gonna say that's all right They always provide that's all right. Just put it there, right? So you just do it So I just caught it and said it on the on the deal, but he wanted a little tilt to him Well, anyway We're playing the cowboys in dallas and he's made 21 in a row Okay, and at that time it's the it's the best in falcon history or he's right on the edge of breaking the record for the falcon I think it was he needed one more kick And he's closing in on the nfl record at the time for kicks in a row for one season So we get a snap into my down knee, which is tough to handle anyway So I get I get the ball up and mick we had an operation where boom Well, he saw the ball come out boom. He's coming the good ones do you are a part of good ones And so I got it down on my knee. I get it back. I set it down And he kicks it 21 in a row now And I blocked the kick My hand was I couldn't clear my hand at time and it it wobbles. It's only like a 35-yard kick It wobbles down and just hits the ground and I looked up at mick And he looked at me like what did you just do? You know, and I I felt so bad about it. Then I remembered that we're not going to wash your uniform. So it doesn't matter Is that the end of the day? We're on this team, but you're not that important So Dave's like I'm not really gonna feel that bad about it. Okay. Sorry. No, but I blocked this kick into the streak I'm sorry, mick. I know you don't want this. All right, dj. You got anything you got anything good Yeah, so what one is a quick one. I remember Might have been my rookie a second year. We had a dude everybody knows pretty well that my man mordin anderson Oh, yeah, and I remember mordin had these shoulder pads and I swear They were smaller than the ones that my little guy wears right now. He's nine I mean, I think you can call them shoulder pads. They were just like a couple pieces of plastic That's exactly what they might have been glued together like the fish of price shoulder pads I was like more or you get these things. I think he wore the helmet that came with the set But uh, the other one that I have is um, I had the opportunity to be this is kind of a good Feel kicker store. I know a lot of stuff hasn't been good for the kickers But last year I got a chance to be on the call for sarah fuller who got the kick from bandy Yeah, and all the hype that came around that and obviously, uh, she was you know, pretty Pretty pretty emotion about it. You know first woman to you know have a extra point kick or have a score A point in a power five game So it's pretty cool to be a part of that and see that kind of history go on because I got I got an 11 year old little girl and You guys know how it is that you know have girls and you know be special with them and want them to do whatever they Want and be able to do anything in life. So uh, it was cool to have that moment and and my daughter was all into it So it was pretty cool kicker moment right there where sarah fuller's they would do that after hearing you Tell me a story from football a couple weeks ago Though I don't think your wife is going to want your daughter playing Tackle football. She ain't gonna know a knee She don't want to go to my she only you want to go to her brother practice. So you know she ain't gonna be out there Oh my no, you know, it's interesting you guys talk about morton anderson. So when I come into the league He ends up being my kicker right and it's it's like a good and a bad right? So you feel like you're in a pretty good situation. You do your job. The kicker's gonna make it right? I mean morton was like an automatic right one of the best ever played a position But it's also a little bit of pressure because it's one of the best like he's been doing this for a long time Like you better do your job. Well, fortunately when I started Dan Strasinski was the punter at the time And he was the holder as well and he was really cool like He was just like dude, I got you like just put it here. We'll work on it. We'll be great Right. So he was he was kind of like the perfect intermediary between the perfectionist that morton was at his craft And the rookie coming in as rack, right? But you know, what's interesting is when you're a rookie, you guys know this like You got to go out and do like the hazing dinner, right? You got to go take your position group out and like the offensive line and defensive line I need a defensive backs like those guys spend an inordinate amount of money when they have to take their position group out So I'm thinking like they're just two of us, right? Like we're gonna we're gonna get off, right? Morton's like, oh no, we're going out. He's like, I got reservations at a steakhouse Right, and it's on me. Okay So we get there and I'm just like like inside sweating bullets like what's he gonna order, right? Sit down morton orders a bottle of wine. It's like a hundred and something Off the rip, I mean, we ain't even started having a conversation yet, right? And all of a sudden it's like chiching, right? And then server comes. It's like, can we get the seafood tower? $150 appetizer Right now like armpits like they're starting to sweat, right? Remember, I was an undrafted free agent that did not get big signing bonus money Okay, like fortunately, he let me get two or three game checks underneath my belt But then it's like, okay server comes. Let's order dinner. Um, can I get the bone in filet mignon, please? $85 steak So at the end of the day, I did it like I paid for it. It was probably over a thousand dollars or something like that But it could have been a whole lot worse if you're in an offensive line meeting room because those guys just order whatever They want and that gets to be in the thousands Yeah, uh, we could have a whole lot more conversations about kickers. We don't have enough time for it All right real quick. Let's look ahead. All right falcons off this week after playing the london game after that They're going to face miami Um, Dave, how can they take the performance they had against the jets build off of this one as they go and play the Dolphins? Well, certainly you bring confidence in and you we talked about all the different performances Kordero Patterson has been phenomenal. Kyle Pitts is probably going to be at a different level when he enters this game But from a matchup specific scenario here when you go back to the miami game go back to the pre-season game We didn't play anybody from a defensive standpoint if I remember correctly shocking that game on the defensive side from a starter standpoint They played their starters. They played their starters almost the entire first half to a tongue below was throwing the football They've got miles gaskin coming out of the backfield throw the football By the way, he had like 25 catches in this game this weekend They just kept feeding Jacoby prasett has been playing quarterback there for him because two has been banged up now They're talking about two of being able to come back this weekend for the bi week They're in london this weekend against jacksonville And then we get miami the following week after the jacksonville game So two could be back on the field. He played well against us But jacoby prasett has played pretty well as well They've got a short passing attack. They're going to attack and they did it in the pre-season game And I watched this game this last weekend with miami knowing we got them next They're they're throwing the ball underneath sprinkling it now They have a chance to throw it down the field some jalen wattles on his team. They've got some guys that can go get it But they've been wearing people out with a short passing attack now They haven't won a lot of games yet. They're kind of in our boat You know where they hadn't kind of kind of come to flourishing for them and on the defensive side of the football They got some guys that can come be at the pass or some so This will be another challenge another set of circumstances styles make fights They've got a different style and so you got to adjust to it What I like about our team going in is you go in with some confidence a little more confidence than you had the week before And that that makes you a little bit better team a little bit different team than you were the week before Yeah, our uh shock same type of thing like he's talking about different Attack right we talked about some of the younger players like maybe now They're going to have to change their focus up not as much turning and running in coverage Now it's coming up making the play not missing tackles Which is something that can happen for younger players. How do you see this one playing out against Miami? I think similar thing what ours talked about obviously this is going to be A matchup that you're excited for because you're going to have a bio week Going to have time to kind of recharge and refresh your body and recharge and refresh your brain And you're going to get a chance to go back out and play the game um That you think is I think pivotal for you at that moment because it's the next one and You go back to the preseason like ours mentioned the number one thing that everybody talked about coming out of those Couple practices was they were physical matchups. They were physical practices those guys went after and Even though they didn't play in the game The practices were just an intense as probably a game would be so I think both teams know coming to this game What to expect and both teams are a little bit different obviously because of the season started and guys in different roles But I think the overall factor is these guys understand what kind of ball club is coming and they are In a position where they want to win ball games just like the Jets came in and I thought the Falcons did a great job of being focused and business Oriented going into the london game and taking care of business is going to be the same thing because after that You know, they don't look for but we get a chance to look forward. Hey, it comes a couple division opponents You got to make sure you're going into those games feeling confident as well Go ahead. Well, I just was going to go back to the jet game. We didn't really talk about we talked about kyle Pitts and and what he did Did everybody recognize the the little t thing they did after they scored the touchdown he gets That's his first touchdown. Okay, he gets his first hundred yard game of his career And they didn't really show it on tv until later But they they they were holding the little plate the little saucer. They're heading to the tea Other players who's really cool really a lot of ingenuity So from some young guys that have never been to england never been there before But their perception is that people in the afternoon are sipping the tea So they wanted to sip their tea on the touchdown As you're sipping your tea while you're watching the ailana fowls Yeah, very good. So two things real quick before we close off that I felt like by week and by week at this point of the season Get healthy Get your mind right because it's earlier in the year some of the veterans they said this has happened before right When you come into a season you look at the schedule Sometimes you love to have that by week week seven eight nine, right right in the middle of the season Obviously, it's eight nine ten now that we're playing a 70. It's not that case. It's early in the season So now they're going to have 12 straight games Right, it's a grind. It's a mental It's mental competition Not only is it physical on the field but all these young guys have got to get their mind right for what lies ahead You take it one game at a time But this is the difference between college and the nfl is playing This long into the season and have to staying that much focused But that focus for that much how you think about some guys coming in and They only play 12 games. Yeah, and now you're coming. You got to extra five more games to play. I mean that's a lot So yeah, and then you add preseason then if you're fortunate enough to play in the post season. Yeah, it's it's an absolute So fellas great job We will be off next week because the falcons are not playing a game So we're gonna we're gonna be off So you got to wait two weeks until you can come catch us again for show But when you do catch us again, whether that's on atlanta falcons.com or spotify or itunes By the way, make sure you like subscribe and review on those because that helps everybody out Okay, make sure you do guys do that too. We will you got that And in two weeks, we will be right back here to uh Talk about the atlanta falcons latest game against the miami dolphins guys. Great job. That's good. Good job, right? It was much better than a work in progress We're evolving we're evolving but guess what it in the day this podcast is very intriguing people Very intriguing the falcons audible presented by AT&T. Thanks a lot for joining us work in progress