 What's up everybody and welcome to another edition of the Falcons final whistle podcast I'm Scott Bayer alongside Tori McElhaney say hi Tori. Hi and Ashton Edmunds say hi Ashton Hey, and Falcons fans should be in a pretty good mood. We are Because the Atlanta Falcons put together and I'm quoting Rashawn Evans here our most complete game thus far 2018-14 They they established firm control they weathered a mid-game momentum shift and won by multiple scores I've mentioned this before as someone who turns in a story right at the buzzer all of these cardiac dramatic finishes make my life Very difficult today. It was pretty easy. Yeah pretty buttoned up and yet. We still have so much to talk about Yeah, we still have so much to talk about and what was I think a really good win They won in all phases offense defense special teams and we're going to get into all that stuff most notably quarterback Marcus Mariota who was awesome on the field and in the press conference room We're gonna talk about how close to complete this game was the run game efficiency and Takeaways takeaways takeaways on defense. They have 10 through six games. My goodness all positive things This is gonna be a positivity podcast Wow at this point tour your your overall Thoughts and impressions after this one. Yeah, I think this in terms of games that I feel like I've seen The Falcons play in the last three years that I've been covering this team This has started to feel like this team has started to feel like Week in and week out that they are fun to watch I've thoroughly enjoyed covering this team in a way that I haven't the last two years and I feel as though like I'm sure people are like oh like like let's be all dramatic from the reporter girl Like I'm sure that's what you think but truly I've had more fun covering this team in the games of which we've seen Even when they lose Then I have in the last two years and that's just the truth. That's just how I feel Ashton there the Falcons are three and three after this one Having watched this team play the 49ers, but also progressed throughout the course of the first six weeks What are your takeaways about where the Falcons stand after this victory man? I the Falcons I would say Played first. They played a really great game but I think you see you really see the belief in The Falcons players Grady Jarrah mentioned that after the game, but I think you're starting to see that belief amongst each other that Chemistry and that camaraderie amongst each other and I think man like today against the 49ers man Like you said they played great in all three phases on offense special teams and defense and Just going into this game, you know, they knew it was gonna be a tough match up against the 49ers But the defense stepped up major only limit limiting limited. Yeah. Yeah, that's a tongue twister Limiting limiting them to just 14 points and and man I mean, I think everybody played a great game Deftly Marcus played a great game and they had two key players that were out, you know and Michael Walker and Adé Ogonday's you so Everybody stepped up in there what they needed to do and I think man going into this next game in week seven Going to be great for the Falcons. Here's the thing. I feel as though we're bearing the lead here red helmets came back today Oh, yes, and I will say I will go on the record to say and Challenge the Falcons to just stay wearing them. Just keep wearing. I think so too I mean, they won't but I wish they would because they looked so good I really I mean, that's the best that I think the Falcons have looked in a while. I said what I said Play good feel good Do better and and and really that's that's what this team has been doing and they've been getting contributions Ashton was talking about some some guys being out a Cordero Patterson, Damie Williams still on injured reserve and they're they're getting contributions from like Abdullah Anderson It was funny because at one point. Yeah at one point. I looked over to Scott and I said Look at who's in in terms of like this defense right now They didn't have Casey Hayward. They didn't have AJ Terrell. Grady Jarrett was not on the field neither Neither was Lorenzo Carter. It was literally like Arnold ebuketti, D'Angelo Malone Timmy Horn Abdullah Anderson Darren Hall Darren Hall Deoffered like it was guys who I swear 90. Well, I say I'll give the I'll give the fan base more credit 70% of probably just the casual Falcons watchers could not name those guys just by looking out there They're they are getting help from a lot of different guys in a lot of different spots in their own careers Yeah, and I think a guy who is I it's fair to say a household name Marcus Mariota was a major major contributor here to the tune of six rushes for 50 yards That's 8.3 a clip a rushing touchdown Oh, and by the way, he threw his first incomplete pass with 10 minutes and 52 seconds left in the fourth quarter The man was 13 to 14 For 129 yards to passing touchdowns a paltry passer rating of 144.6 Tori you wrote extensively about Marcus after the game And what is a must watch press conference all the way He was really good there. He was great on the field Yeah, I would definitely recommend to everybody to go back and watch Marcus Mariota's press conference after the game because it was truly fascinating and I'll sum it up kind of here But and I also summed it up in writing form. So definitely go and read that too But essentially it was really interesting because we were talking to Marcus actually during the middle of the week And he was talking about feeling more confident because when he knows this offense He feels confident in the scheme but also feeling confident as a veteran player in this league and how a lot of times Early on when he was at Tennessee, he didn't feel like he had a voice He didn't feel comfortable or confident in speaking up And it was something that he learned from Derek Carr and being his backup With the Raiders the last two years that he said now he feels comfortable and confident speaking up in meetings to coaches Etc etc He said it's helped his relationship with Arthur Smith as the offensive playcaller But I say all of that to say that this conversation of Marcus feeling confident and comfortable Continued into this game and then into his post game press conference because as we were talking To him post game and he brought this up. He was like, you know Three years ago to the week it was week six that I got benched when I was with Tennessee for Ryan Tannehill and Talk about a poetic Almost like full circle moment Not many guys get the opportunity to do what Marcus Mario is doing and Trying to prove that he is good enough to be a starting caliber quarterback in this league It's a second chance for him with this organization after being benched and being a backup for the last two years For Marcus to have that cognizant understanding of three years ago This is the position that I was in and this is now the position that I'm in now and Making the most of that opportunity. I mean stats alone, but Arthur Smith even said after the game He's like this is a locker room that believes in Marcus Mario And that's not something that's gonna pop up on any stat sheet All of this happened kind of in post game and I'm sitting there kind of just thinking about the story that this is Of course, this is just one game And of course like people are going to be like, well, what about the four other games and the the issues that you saw there I understand that but For this moment for this specific player I think this game meant a lot to him because of the overall Context of what he was talking about. I think it's very fascinating and I I think it's something that should be Noted because it's to me in terms of like being a storyteller that story That almost like redemption arc of which he's working towards It's fascinating and that's something that he brought up unprompted in his press conference talking about that the Time that he got benched and look anybody who reads bear bail knows I've been Pretty critical of his critical mistakes Putting the ball on the ground too much finding the other team too often But I I think one thing that that was brought up by Marcus and Arthur Smith as well And it sounds like an excuse, but it's really not Is that he's getting back into the flow after two plus seasons Not playing very much at all making cameo appearances and doing little things like Knowing when to tuck and when to run and getting more comfortable in the flow of being an offensive field general And I think that we're starting to see those improvements. Obviously, he was he was near perfect Today and I thought he was really impressive. It was interesting too. I looked this up So over the last two and a half years. He has since being benched at tennessee He's made 30 attempts passing attempts 30. Wow That's how That's how much you've seen marcus mariotta in the last two and a half years For him to come out and play in these first six games I think it goes without saying that there was going to be moments where rust is being knocked off And there was going to be moments of almost essentially like growing pains again You know, you talk about growing pains that young players have growing pains getting back into The shape that you need to be in mentally physically all that stuff to be a starting quarterback in the nfl All of that we're actively seeing kind of transpire transpire Over the course of these first six games And I think it does from arthur smith to say what he did about look. This is a guy who hasn't played in two years What he's doing is really important to our offensive operation I think you now see the falcons offense as a whole Looking more like how arthur smith wants them to look and a lot of that I do think is because you have marcus mariotta in the pocket Yeah, and he's so explosive running the football. Yes That dynamic I think kind of really adds a level to what they're trying to do Um with their running game as a whole. So we've talked about marcus mariotta his his Effectiveness. I don't think there's any argument even the most diehard 49ers fan can admit that san francisco got beat in all three phases today Full stop period. We have been talking on this podcast For multiple seasons about about the falcons playing a complete game The the elusive complete game that I remember arthur smith said at one point Like it's not as elusive of a concept as you may think it is But the falcons I felt like the falcons never really got there. All right. Well ashton was this a truly complete game No game is perfect, right? Yeah There's a difference and I've written this if you go back to last year I whole I wrote a whole story about there is a difference between being complete and perfect Those two things are not synonymous with each other. They are different things you can be complete and not be perfect Like that's I feel like I should say that On the record here, everybody listened to me complete. It's not equal perfect Yeah, I mean I would agree with that rashan evans even said there's room for improvement Um with this falcons team grady jerry said the same thing But I do think they played this was their first game of the season where they played a complete game I would say on offense defense and special teams. Um, everybody stepped up and did their job today You know, it was really minimal mistakes made throughout the game But you know, they played an effective and efficient game throughout the whole throughout all four quarters And just finishing throughout all four quarters is something that the defense has been preaching You know all season and I think we've seen that from the first quarter to the fourth quarter the defense You know, they play with the same intensity throughout four quarters I think a word that you brought up is efficient. That was something that arthur smith brought up It's something that marcus mariota brought up Jalen hawkins when I was talking to him in the locker and he brought it up The word efficient like being efficient and making sure that they are doing what they need to do when they need to do it executing at a level Consistently through four quarters like that is being efficient And I think we did see efficiency with this team at a clip that Maybe we haven't seen up until this point and I think it's a reason why You saw them be as productive as they were and in the moments where they obviously weren't as efficient And they were getting penalized and they were going backwards on offense or we're making mistakes on assignments on defense You saw what happens when they don't play clean when these when this team plays clean I think we have seen in those moments that they are Fairly competitive with whoever that they're playing It's when they kind of are getting in their own way that we see Things kind of stumble or falter a little bit. So that efficiency word efficiency is I think very important For this operation both defensively and offensively and since we're talking about efficiency Um the run game efficient again This is now the fourth time in six attempts that the falcons have been above 150 yards. That's good I would have never thought that as someone who's been adjacent to like the Atlanta area And falcons football for years I think I speak for a lot of falcons fans and saying that I don't think anybody thought that the falcons Were ever going to have a run game that looked like this Wow Like and I I agree right like you're from Atlanta too like you know, you know this I've been around you've been around like That I truly can't it's been decade a decade since I feel like the falcons have established the run in the way that Arthur Smith wants this team to establish the run in the way they have Through the first six games of the season. Yeah, I mean five or 4.9 yards a clip They entered this game third in rushing offense. Yeah, and they're and they're and they're gonna maintain that I like how they run even when the whole world knows that they're gonna run and seeing Kyle Shanahan who is Widely respected and known for having an innovative creative doesn't matter who the running back is effective run game Arthur Smith's run game run scheming is on par with anybody It's so well choreographed. You got no idea where the ball is going They're selling one thing They're doing something else and then they find ways to get tough yards after contact Plus you have to defend the quarterback running too. I like how Arthur Smith said I don't think he was talking about the run game specifically I think he was talking about Marcus, but there's a lot to defend on every play and that makes them more difficult to deal with Um, but you know, you you look at this 16 rushes for Caleb Huntley for 59 15 rushes for Tyler for Tyler Algier with 51 Both of their top two running backs have been out for a while How are these what are these young backs showing you Ashton that kind of really has has allowed them to stay efficient Stay effective even without their top two guys. Yeah, I think first off I think nobody had no idea that Cordeaux Patterson or Damien Williams was going to be out And tell our teller Algier and Caleb Huntley was going to be leading the charge But these guys I feel like these guys are just hungry, you know, they are ready for the moment. They're ready To to lead and you know, I think they just believe in themselves And we see that we've been seeing that through the last four games Caleb Huntley man who was elevated from the practice squad He he talked about that belief in himself and and just working in the offseason and um, I think we're starting to see I mean, we're starting to see the work that he's put in, you know in in these games so it was interesting because Marcus was asked post game about like replacing Cordeaux Patterson's production And he made the comment that I thought was really well said he was like, you know Because of the player that cp is and because of the way that we use him as a receiver as a running back just all over the field That production was not going to be replicated by one singular person It was going to be replicated by receivers and running backs And I think the Falcons for the most part have done a really good job of kind of spreading out that idea of like spreading Cordeaux Patterson's production out And I think that it really is you're seeing Tyler Algier and Caleb Huntley kind of go at this as a tandem And let's be honest like they run with the physicality that cp does like they are getting hit Sometimes at the line of scrimmage sometimes behind the line of scrimmage And they're still getting two or three yards like these are really important physical runs And it's you go back to the word hunger and I think they are just kind of like I don't know just like beating the run game hungry for those yards over and over again And I think that's something that you know sometimes goes overlooked. It's like When they are breaking these tackles and getting Two or three yards on first or second down. That was something that I wrote about during the week It's like they needed more of those they needed more of against Tampa Bay They were really struggling on first and second down to Run the ball at that clip, which is not a huge clip. It's two or three yards, but it means a lot to your overall um offensive production and Arthur Smith said it's something that keeps this offense on track and so Being able to have two very physical runners That can go out and get those two or three garbage yards like that is very very important It's something that it's been they're fun. They're two fun young guys to watch run as someone who I love I love defense and I love when someone runs over somebody else Seeing them kind of carry some guys on their back is really fun to watch They uh, the Falcons had 56 offensive plays 40 of them were runs. This is this is 1975. That's crazy. Yeah, this is the identity of this team though 100% like we came into this season questioning what this offense was going to look like without matt ryan And without julio jones and without calvin ridley and all of these playmakers that we have Kind of associated with atlanta falcons for the last few years None of them are here. None of them are out there playing. So what was this offense going to look like? Well physical I think I said the other day like physicality is their calling card and physicality is their identity What's more physical than running the ball up the gut? Like, you know, and that's what we're seeing That's what we're seeing them do. Yeah, and I I think for their defensive identity We've heard a lot of benba don't break if you if you look at their total defense Which is a yardage metric They're pretty They're towards the bottom of the of the league as we've said time and time again d&p's cares not about that The thing that I think they're good at and tour you've mentioned this as well But they're they're pretty tough in the red zone. Yep tougher than average in the red zone And as I mentioned at the top of the broadcast, they're taking the ball away 10 times in six games This is this is a team that that didn't have that luxury or advantage Arthur Smith talked about it being a mindset and coaches don't mind if you make a mistake being aggressive And they are aggressive to the ball. They are aggressive trying to strip it and ashton they they they scored a touchdown Today fun fun times scored a touchdown had a couple picks They're getting contributions from it from everybody, but you're but you're cutting three drives short Right and turning it around scoring in one. I mean obviously so impactful when you're taking the ball away that often Yep, yep, and they had they held the 49ers to just 50 yards rushing um, and I think you know if you go back like like I said, um, two key players are a oak and daisy and um Michael walker. Michael walker. Yes, um, you know, they were out and troy anderson stepped up big He led the team with 12s that was tying with rashaun evans You know, they needed him to step up big in this game because michael walker, of course has been the most efficient defensive player this year and What we saw from troy anderson today, man It it brings more depth to the linebacker core and I think you know, it just it shows how how you know How much chemistry they have amongst each other? Arnold evocati, man, he's been playing his tail off these last two games and I think we're starting to see him grow and his consistency in the game, but Um, I think the falcons defense man. They're they're like they're super tight They're like a brotherhood and I think everybody's just on one accord like you see it From the defensive line all the way back to the secondary something that scott you were saying about They're gonna make mistakes, but they're gonna do so aggressively That was actually a quote from dean peas this past week during his uh midweek availability where he was talking about Troy Anderson and that's right. He was like this is a guy who is going to make mistakes But he's gonna make it going like a hundred miles an hour He's gonna be aggressive and as a coach you would rather that happen You would rather someone have Arthur Smith has said it all the time I would rather pull someone back than have to push them forward And I think that's kind of what you're seeing with this defense. They're really young Especially when you have guys Cut that are going down like a j. Terrell and kasey hayward like what we saw in that game and then Tokwan Graham He was out for a few series with a knee injury but came back in You see some guys going down michael walker Audio gendaji and all of those guys are even young, you know, we're talking about guys who are still on their rookie deals All all of those guys that I just mentioned outside of kasey hayward are all still on their rookie deal Is it very young defense? They are going to have moments where they miss they have miscues and they misstep and all those kinds of things But if they're doing so aggressively, it's like at one point The knowledge will catch up to the physicality if that makes sense. Yeah, and if you look at the 49ers drive chart in the second half when it matters most punt punt interception turn over on downs end of game Zero points in the second half. They've been good. Later. We've seen even against Tampa Bay They should have had the opportunity To give their offense a chance to come back. They've won three of the last four games now Um, we're starting to see the type of progress here and just one last thing as we're kind of like wrapping this up I thought the wind was impressive. I thought the falcons reaction to it was equal to that meaning that Nobody was like this is a statement wind. Oh, yeah, of course like people were Celebrating someone go watch the video of the line having bud lights with uh with arthur smith But I think it was important because So many guys said look. Yeah, it's a bit of a confidence builder But we didn't come here to win three games and we how can you be happy at three and three? And I think that that type of perspective Which is a word that arthur smith used is that they're taking a proper perspective to these results when Or loss and kind of applying it that the jake matthew said that they try to take a lesson from every game And then apply it to the future. Well, I I I think that those lessons are being learned They're being absorbed and they're being applied now. Are they going to play as well as they did here Um in the future, maybe not it's a week to week league We have no idea how they're going to play against sincenady, but I just liked it They seem to have their heads on straight Despite playing so well here. Yeah, I mean and I think that's something that arthur smith has talked about like even He's like sometimes the hardest things that you can do is like after a win to still be like critical of yourself Because you feel good about the win But you also have to be real and be like, yeah, we made mistakes and I will say this like I know this podcast has been fairly positive, but like Even sitting here now. It's like the falcons can get better You know, it's not like we're sitting here like same exact thing like oh, they did so many great things Yay, but like at the exact same time It's like there are things that need to be cleaned up and there are moments that Penalties are still biting this team in the butt. So for all of that It's like this team is you have to take a what is it that arthur smith smith always says It's like critical. You have to be critical of yourself objective He uses the word objective all the time you have to be objective When you're looking at what you did and I think that is something that the falcons So far this year have been relatively good at I think they've gone from week to week and in their preparation Reset fairly well. Yeah, and it's all about finding consistency consistency With the outcome. It's no longer good enough to fight till the end Right now and and that was kind of ditched after week two like great. We fight of course we do But let's turn over these results that's happening more often. Can it continue? They have a tough game against Cincinnati and then in theory things get a little bit easier after that But I think in theory in theory, but I think this is an opportunity here for them to gain some Some momentum and I know it's week to weekly. There's no such thing as momentum between weeks But if they can continue to gain Confidence continue to progress. I think all that would be a positive for this unit as they move forward I'm done talking. So is torey and ashton and thanks To everyone for downloading listening on the atlanta falcons podcast network Please subscribe to that the falcons final whistle Channel has been closed. We're merging everything together so you can get falcons in focus falcons audible And falcons final whistle all in one convenient location Also, go watch a falcons in focus with kayla mcgary. You'll learn a lot about bears And swords and swords and we have a good one coming up It's arnold ebukaty who is fascinating. Please keep an eye out for that and we will talk to you next week after The falcons play the bank