 Welcome back to another edition of the Falcons audible presented by AT&T with my guys Dave Archer and DJ Shockley I'm Derek Rackley. We are here each and every week. We are here on a Thanksgiving week for you Hopefully you guys are doing all of your festivities Hopefully working out burning some calories before the big meal happens on Thursday. You know, you got a prep It's all between the ears, okay, so, you know, we feel like if you put in the work Then you can actually does their way on Thursday. You've never tried this Mine's between the ribcages There will be plenty between the ribcages come Thursday. All right, here's the quick rundown of what we're gonna talk about this week We're gonna ask the guys what to watch out for in the Falcons match up this week against Jacksonville They're gonna say a player that they think is primed for a breakout performance in the next game We're gonna talk about the defense having a being a strength for the Falcons in their last game Even though they ended up losing there were some things some positives that came out of it from a defensive standpoint We'll talk a little bit about that We'll get into a bigger picture about the division and what has been happening around the NFC's health We'll look ahead to the Jaguars and then maybe the best part I'm gonna ask the guys one of their favorite Thanksgiving traditions or dishes that they cannot live without I know so you can think about yours and so when we get to that segment you can say if these guys don't say They ain't real. All right. All right, so that's gonna do it guys. Let's let's get into it here What to watch out for here's how I'm gonna set it up Who is a Falcons player that is primed for an explosive performance this coming week against Jacksonville could be offense It could be defense But somebody that you guys think needs to step up or you've seen enough Dave To where I think this guy's gonna take the next step in his development. I'm the guinea pig here. Let's go ours I'm gonna I'm gonna go with the run game because Lord knows we need to be able to run the football Right. We have not run the ball at all this year. I'm gonna go Mike Davis Mike Davis is a guy that I think has the ability For whatever reason his numbers have been cut down because it may be some ineffective So we did see quadrioles and step in and play pretty well I'm gonna say Mike Davis on a Thanksgiving Mike Davis is gonna get it. He's maybe he's one of those guys that accepts the challenge and says, you know what? I need to do more. I need to find a way to make more plays for my offense DJ You got another guy's it offense is a defense. What do you think? Yeah, right? I'm gonna stay on that side of the ball I'm gonna say a guy in Russell gauge. Okay. You think about what he did last year You know, it's in him You know, he has the capabilities to be a guy that can step up and catch a bunch of balls for you last three games He's got 19 targets in the last three games that tells you there's an emphasis on trying to get him to football Now you got 12 receptions for, you know, only 113 yards But he is a guy that can get seven eight nine catches in a ball game and be a difference maker As we both talked about want to get the run game going. Absolutely We got cow pits. We got a couple guys hurt. We don't know if court. They'll be back We hope he does but if he doesn't we need another guy to step in that mode and say, all right I'm gonna take a little pressure off my quarterback and I'm gonna get open for you because we know He's played inside he's played outside Russell gauge. Come on, baby be that dude I hear you and and guys I'm gonna kind of stay on the same wavelength here Dave You talked about run game dj passing game. I'm gonna go into passing game as well And I'm gonna say alameda to zakias. He made a really nice catch in the game last week I think it was towards the end of the second quarter Ball had to get out of matt's hands quickly was running the crossing route great adjustment finds the football catches It gets up field. I think he got a little short of the first down there But he's another guy where maybe he's somebody that says, okay I got to get off the line of scrimmage quickly. Ball's probably gonna be coming out I got to find a way to show my jersey to matt. I got to find a way to get open Whether it's on a shallow crossing route a quick speed out whatever it ends up being He's another one of those guys. Look when you don't have calvin ridley One of the most explosive wide receivers in the game It's the old adage somebody's got to step up. You say gauge. I say zakias Maybe it's both of those guys Mike davis steps in helps out with a little bit of run game Keep the defense as honest with some play action, Dave And maybe we can start moving the ball down the field a little bit So we're staying offense here. If you got one make sure you send it into us Let us know what you're thinking a guy that's going to have an explosive performance this weekend against jackson veil Well, we didn't talk about defense But there were some positives even though you end up in a game That's truly lopsided like it was against the patriots. There were some things that were better Okay, the dallas game was one of those that you want to just forget as a defense So how was the defense get improved from one week to the next and dave? I'll come back to you What things did you see on the defensive side of the ball that gave you reason to be encouraged? Can't sit there and say that the falcons have arrived, right? It's been a struggle of a season But what did you see defensively that you felt like they made progress? Maybe they're starting to get it a little bit. Yeah, I think money down is where you go. You go third down There was uh new england was 12 uh four of 12 on third down You also won in the red zone you forced field goals and that's Ultimately in the national football league defensively. You're not going to shut people down But can you win the money down situations? And that's the conversion down third down and when they get in the red zone Can you limit their scoring to three points? They did that It was a it was a winning defensive performance to me that's encouraging and they've we've seen signs of before Where they've done something similar and i'll go back to the dallas game guys I think we get skewed a little bit because the dallas game got so sideways That was a what that was one quarter of football It was the second quarter where things got a little weird Obviously defense getting any stops the offense didn't help them any didn't get any first down So I would say the defense is coming and I would point to those those situations third down in the red zone DJ a quote from arthur smith after the game He says I thought the defense fought and played pretty well against the patriots And we haven't put a game together recently with all three phases playing well He basically said they gave us a chance and we didn't take advantage So he saw it during the game. Yeah, he knew that the defense played better But we did not get the performance from an offensive and special team standpoint to be able to help compliment What did you see defensively that gives promise the thing that's encouraging for me is the falcons defense ability to become more multiple in the ball game And we got three sacks in the ball game. We got an interception in the ball game But I remember hearing dps talking maybe a week or two ago. He talked about hey We only got 30 percent of our defense in right now But i'm gonna start giving these guys more and when you turn on the table you watch the ball game You look at some of the things they're doing defensively as far as scheme wise or guys are blitzing from where guys are lining up There times where you got all guys standing up at one point in time or you got Maybe a safety coming down. You're thinking he's gonna play in a a flat zone He ends up going back playing middle field or cover two I mean there are a lot of different things that going on pre snap as as opposed to post snap That gives you a little confidence to say, okay Maybe this defense is starting to understand where they fit They are starting to understand where each guy is supposed to be and I heard Eric Harris talk about it Way back in training camp where he said each guy on his defense has to know what the other guy is doing And then there's times where if i'm playing safety sometimes I may be lined up as a corner I may be a nickel On the inside and I got to know what the guy on the outside of me doing So I love the fact that these guys are starting to understand What d&p's is trying to do and they're coming up with creative ways and we talked about it on the officer side of How do we get creative to you know get some production? I think d&p's is trying he's found a couple ways where he could be creative on the defensive side of the ball We talked before we came on the air about maybe some creativity needs to happen You mentioned it a little bit on the defensive side of the ball I feel like these are seasons where coaches truly get challenged This is where they have to learn how to adapt because Arthur Smith coming from Tennessee And he might be saying you know what when I was there or what I rely on is x y and z Well, that's just not working this year. So you got to find u and w right just for a lack of a better term But you got to find a different answer to it. You guys talked a little bit about What you felt was the strength we've talked this season about pass rush has not been consistent enough And there's been some time especially the Dallas game where the pass defense has not been great But I'm going to give some credit to foyer and deon at the linebacker position because I feel like If there's one spot right now, you could say that the falcons are in pretty good shape It's probably linebackers. I think those two guys are playing at a really high level They don't miss a ton of tackles. They can both run sideline to sideline And foyer knows what everybody's doing and where everybody's supposed to be and that's the kind of quarterback That you need on that side of the ball doesn't look like he panics gets everybody lined up And once that you know all three levels of that defense continues to play together They're going to make some strides. Am I going to sit here and say that they're shut down? No, we're not going to go that far yet But every week something has to get a little bit better So those are some of the things that we felt like were the positives that came out of the defense or performance Right, right. I add one last thing to that is Usually when we watch the defense or we watch things go on and we say, all right There's a two three four plays in the ball game where you're like, oh man, that guy's running wide open There's nobody around him. Well, I don't know if you guys can remember maybe Just one play on the touchdown where you had one guy running wide open and you know, Maybe it wasn't man. Maybe it wasn't zone But this defense doesn't have that where you got guys running scot-free in this secondary or scot-free through To to make some plays So I love the fact that you're limiting those you're cutting back on those at least So that doesn't happen, you know, four or five times a game I want to go a little off script here guys because we talked about the defense But I think I think we're kind of ignoring the elephant in the room if we don't discuss a little bit more offensively So what I'm going to do here, davis I'm going to tell you you get your chance to be a little bit of a monday morning quarterback here Right and everybody wants to be a monday morning quarterback Everybody wants and thinks that they have the answer But until your name is arthur smith or terry fontano, you actually have to do it You don't understand how challenging it is But some of the creativity that comes to your mind What will be some of the things offensively that you would start Experimenting with whether it's in practice whether it's in the games that you feel like might be that change of pace That would help atlanta move the ball down the field whether it get whether it happens or not We have no idea but you've been around this game your entire life What are some of the things that you think they could make as a change up? Well, I got to try to supplement our run game somehow I've got to spread the defense and I've got to get people out of the box to create that opportunity That means I've got to create some run opportunities along the line of scrimmage I would I would like to see a little bit more screen game. I'd like to see a little more bubble screen game We've got a wide receiver core that it kind of fits them Alameda is a kiosk good in short spaces small guy Certainly russell gauge has the ability to do those kind of things. I think even kyle pits You could set something up for kyle pits. He's got good good quick area short area quickness You could do it for the backs Wayne gallman, uh, certainly mike davis is outstanding at 51 receptions a year ago as a carolina panther I think you could do some of those things but still have being a run set to a certain extent Just to spread people out a little bit. I think that's one thing and I'd also like to see More of a tempo scenario. I think that I think that we get a little bit bogged down because we've got a lot of personnel groups A lot of tight ends coming in and out of the game and stuff I think you lock in a certain personnel group and that's why the cordial patterson injury becomes So significant is because you and and hayden hurst. He didn't play in this game either That 22 personnel that you can play with in any capacity, right five wides two backs two tight ends Whatever you want to do that kind of went away in this game I think that her Arthur smith from a play call standpoint to be able to use that versatile group To just keep them on the field and I can go tempo. I can be tight. I can be wide I can do a lot of things Yeah, your dj still probably hamstrung a little bit by the pressure coming up front But there are ways to kind of get around it some things that come to mind I think about a play call. We oddly enough just played new england when tom brady was there Remember when they used to either take a receiver or a tight end and they would split him out They would run it on the goal line a lot. Remember they'd run the short motion Brady would catch it and just throw it right out and you basically took right in behind the wide receiver That's blocking in front. What does that end up doing? It helps the quarterback get the ball out of his hands quickly Maybe it's speed sweep Maybe it's run a ride receiver across the formation in motion and throw it to him Right when he gets stacked behind the receiver or tight end that's on the line is scrimmage, right? So these are some of the little ideas again Maybe that doesn't sit map behind the offensive line where he's got to wait two three Four to sort out the defense Other the other ways dj you can think of that they can move the ball but get the ball out of matt's hands No, I think you guys are spot on with some of the things you guys talk about I think the one of the biggest things that we have all emphasized is trying to find ways to run the football And the quick hitters I think are the way you can do the extensions of the running like you just mentioned the jet Sleeves the little bubble screens Getting it out quick, you know just getting something where it's first down and you throw it out Then you get three four yards that helps you those are the type of things that are good for a quarterback But it also keeps those D linemen their eyes are always on the swivel like okay the balls I got to go I got to go east and west to try to go make a tackle And you know that maybe not rush up feel as much all the time So I love the fact that you guys mentioned some of those quick hitters because those are some of the I think we have missed out on and we haven't really done as much because we're trying to be more vertical We're trying to create the run game But anything we can do to extend the run game with with backs with tight ends with receivers I mean they're all athletic enough to do the speed sweeps to run the quick bubble out there When you get three four yards get a big physical tight end out there We got four or five um get them out there blocking on the edge I think all those things are are are advantageous for us Things that we definitely will look forward to and maybe this is a time where we've done that We've been on a a mini buy and usually on these mini buys you go in and say okay What are the things that we can do better? What are the things that we've struggled with and maybe these are things that they already have thought about And say okay, we're gonna implement going into next week I know I know one thing that can happen and I think that people don't realize this is Confidence ebbs and flows on both sides of the football but it ebbs and flows at every position Offensive lines need to have confidence you think okay, they're big big rough guys and so it really doesn't matter Yeah, it does if you have negative plays you begin to play tight Now all of a sudden your steps aren't quite where they're supposed to be Your landmarks aren't where they're supposed to be You start to kind of guess where you're because you want it you don't want to get beat And that that permeates a run game and I I don't think we're playing With any confidence up front because the quarterbacks on the ground behind me a number of times It might not be my fault But one of the other guys missed a guy and then maybe it's my turn run game negative plays on first down So I think Arthur's really battling Arthur Smith's really battling as a play caller to try to build confidence in the unit To get first down string first year three for 22 the last two games on third down Get first downs it might be as simple as stringing first downs together in a drive And all of a sudden that confidence begins to flow back in it can ebb and flow in a game And certainly this is a young offensive line Jake Matthews the one veteran really on this team Everybody else is a bunch of young guys up there And I think their confidence is not really good right right Yeah And I think Arthur Smith was asked after the game about the offensive line and it basically his His comment was anything is on the table right now as far as options And maybe not necessarily from a personnel standpoint changing up what he's been doing from a play calling perspective Maybe that's going to be on the table as well as we move forward. Let's talk a little bit about the division Let's step away from the Falcons per se Because if there's one good thing you could say about it is that the division is not creating a ton of Separation with Atlanta because the division is losing a little bit too outside of Tampa So let's talk about the saints first they end up losing 40 to 29 against the eagles Of course Falcons know about Philadelphia from earlier this season third loss in a row dj for the New Orleans Saints Yeah, it's been one of those kind of seasons for them where Obviously when james was in things are rolling a little bit better. Uh, they had consistent play I mean the senior key is trying to hold on. I mean be honest I mean, he's you know, he's playing a decent ball for them But in the day they're not getting it done and they're right there sitting with five wins We're sitting with four. I mean it tells you this division is still there for the taken Tampa just lost two in a row. No, they just won on Monday night, but they're not just world beaters But in this division, you still get the saints at home You'll still get the bucks at home So you have opportunities there to close that gap and feel better about yourself Dave a couple of weeks ago Falcons played Carolina Carolina loses to Washington and kind of a similar theme from when Atlanta played Carolina Panthers allow 190 rushing yards in the game That was the issue for Atlanta when they played against Carolina. So they almost got a taste of their own medicine against Washington, what sticks out to you about that that game with Carolina? Well one the cam played pretty well cam newton came in and I think it was 21 to 27 through a couple of touchdowns Or a touchdown and then also ran for a touchdown in the game For caroline on offense Do you think wow if we get a little bit of a bump offensively because of all the struggles sam darnell went through We're playing well enough on defense we can go win some games and then all of a sudden your defense gets run over I mean they gave up what 36 six minutes of time of possession Washington held the football You know two-thirds of the game and and and really controlled the football game And then their inability to rush the pass or taylor heinecki a local product went off and do three touchdowns in the game So this was a game when you look at the stats other than the time of possession and the rush yards that That uh, Washington had you thought how'd carolina lose this game because Because they really and it was a close game That uh, washington ended up winning at the at the end of the game, but uh pretty good homecoming for ron reverie Yeah, and it's it's one of those games where for the panthers They're facing at the time a three and six washington and they end up losing the game I mean sometimes just some crazy things happen Uh in the national football league and dj i'll finish this discussion with you you did mention the The uh buccaneers playing on monday night against the giants We talked the last couple of weeks about are there issues with tampa bay? And or is this just kind of a blip in the radar? It looks like they were able to get things turned around Against the giants anything stick out to you about the buccaneers performance. Well, I just think it's you know an embarrassment Which is what they got over there. I think brady hit like 10 different guys in the ball game They got grunk back Uh, obviously until neil browns not playing but you think about everyone's you think about godwin I mean O.J. Howard was a big part of the ball game I mean they the defense has always been something that's been a stalemate form Something that they can you know kind of be a linchpin for but this is a an offense that I think brady said on monday night that they kind of started to Find their way in that ball game and with the amount of guys he has around them and if they take care of the football They're going to be tough to beat. Yeah, to me. It's their defense We know brady's going to go get his he had 30 completions in the game And he's got that wealth of talent But their defense had not played very well the last couple of weeks in their losses their defense holds The giants to just 66 yards rushings they go on barkley back on the field It was a non factor and they took the ball away three times that's to me That's where their breads buttered if you go back to super bowl and look how they harass pat patrick holmes Mahomes that to me that's the key for them because because brady's going to do what he does But can you limit the opportunities for the other teams offense? They did miss game Yeah, so nfc south as it currently stands Tampa Bay seven and three new orland sains five and five carolina five and six Atlanta four and six so not necessarily going to get into a playoff discussion here But even though the falcons have struggled the last couple of weeks There's not been a lot of separation created in the division with still a lot of football left to play This episode in part brought to you by the home depot everything you need for your next home Improvement project is just a tap away on the home depot app The home depot app digital toolbox gives you access to how-to guides project calculators and image search So you'll know exactly what you need to pick up with the tap of the finger You can rent and reserve the right tools for the job Also browse through millions of items from top brands that you can have delivered right to your door Whatever your project find exactly what you need with the home depot app download the home depot app today Dave i'm going to come right back to you as we look ahead to next week because that's what this organization is doing right now They're looking ahead to next week facing Jacksonville Things probably have not gone the way the jaguars anticipated after drafting trevor lorenz this year Obviously had some issues with urban meyer But what is it going to take for atlanta to get back on track and put a win in the column this weekend against the jaguars I think it's simply about atlanta going out and getting first downs I think if you string first downs together the old adage is if i can move the chains enough The goal line is going to hit me in the face and and you've got your three for 22 on third down the last two two games You've got to go get third downs. You got to convert on third down They're not bad on the defensive side of the football not great, but they're not bad They're offensive side of the football struggled much like atlanta's has this is the number two 30 It's the number 32 ranked team on third down conversion on offense Well, atlanta's 30th in the league run in the football 29th in the league on offense So these are two offenses that are trying to find some foothold And this will be the game where one of them does and one of them doesn't so I think it's more about trying to go out and just put first downs together And if you do that, I think that you'll get some confidence like I talked about on the offensive side of the football And things will be and begin to go your way dj. We talked about this previously atlanta one and four at home three and two on the road Um, and the the jaguars are coming off a couple of losses themselves So they're probably sitting in a similar situation maybe questioning themselves a little bit What do we need to do to get back on track? But I ask you once again because it always gets talked about it's not about what the opponent does It's what the falcons do and I think that's probably more or less the point for anything this year for atlanta is They've got to worry about themselves But what do you think are some of the keys for them to get back on track against jacksonville? I think what arch mentioned on offense Is tremendous and I think we talk about what we do on the defensive side of the ball And with having The ability to maybe get more first downs I think if we're able to take the football away from you that gives the offense more opportunities and Lawrence has got nine interceptions on the season. He's been sacked 19 times So the guy's been under some duress as you know, we've seen in here been under duress It does not a does not bow well for for anybody But if you're able to turn the football over Then you start giving your offense more confidence because they're gonna have more opportunities to do great things or do better things On that side of the ball. So I think we built we started to build on the last week Well, we got three sacks aj terrell finally went up He got one took the ball away and you could see it kind of give that whole entire sideline A lot of confidence when you have those type of plays So if you can do this on the road, it gives you I think better It gives you a better chance to win this ball game DJ you mentioned the the issues with pass protection and the interceptions for trevor laurence So opportunities are going to be there for atlanta. Can they make the plays? Can they get the the opposing offense off the field and just try to find ways For matt to get back on the field and like you said string together first downs and see if they can end up getting It score in territory. All right last but not least it is Thanksgiving week All right, dj said that he has been working out. Dave. No, I hasn't got to that point yet All right guys. I want you to give me your Your dish or two on Thanksgiving that is non-negotiable Okay, so like let's just say your your wife is going to invite some family over Maybe it's a family that you've never celebrated this hot this holiday with and and they call up and they say, okay We're going to bring x y and z And dj you and dave say all right But we are going to have this because these two things one thing whatever it is is non-negotiable and you can't just say turkey Okay, that's the easy copper. What do you got for me? Yeah, so i'm gonna go ahead and jump off I gotta have dressing dressing is number one for me. I don't do the cranberry song do all that I just need some dressing with some good gravy on it and i'm good. We already got the fried turkey We got smoked turkey. We got a little bit of everything. We got a little bit of everything But we got to have the dressing. I need the mac and cheese. Okay, and then to finish me off Okay, go ahead and knock me all the way out I need some good old peach cobble. Okay. I knew the sweets were coming I didn't know if he was gonna add another side, but I was thinking the dessert was coming Right because Thanksgiving's not Thanksgiving without the dessert spread. No doubt. Okay, Dave What do you got here? Yeah, I really I'm ride with shock Cornbread dressing, okay You can do you can even have the turkey if you want to As long as I got cornbread dressing. I'm good. It's a meal in itself I cannot eat the turkey without the cornbread dressing Sprinkle in some of the you know sweet potato casseroles. We sprinkle in some uh, some uh, what green bean casserole Yes, you want to yes, but cornbread. It's my mother's cornbread dressing. My wife has learned how to make it She makes it extremely well Gotta have the dress. Hey, y'all can't see if y'all can't see yards. He about to cry right now. I'm thinking about it Right, right. I know one thing I'm about to say he might be crying, but I'm gonna have a hard time finishing over here All right, y'all are hungry. We don't brought it. What you got here? You know what's interesting is is I guess it's kind of traditional But like we were growing up like we had mashed potatoes and gravy for Thanksgiving And I moved to the south and that's not a big deal It's not a big deal at all a big deal in my house and like my my wife's family They'll make mashed potatoes, but they wouldn't have gravy. That's just and I was like that's criminal That's criminal. That's like peanut butter jelly sandwich. Yeah, that's criminal without the jelly Need the gravy you know, I have gravy so that afterwards they started like as a token adding the gravy for me as a token That ain't no token. Right. Come on, man. It's a staple gravy. I thought gravy was like the turkey. No doubt Um, I like your green bean casserole. I like it with the the fried onions on top of it Just gotta give it a little bit of a crunch just a little bit of a consistency Oh, yeah, not a fan But actually I set the rules here, but I'm gonna break them slightly. Okay My wife's family is not a turkey family. Oh They don't have a turkey at all So like the like the first couple of years like I made a turkey and they're like, oh, okay, good. Like I'll try a little bit And then like the next couple years it was like We we don't really like turkey and I just had one of these with my life Blank stare Oh, no, excuse me. What what the last they so they eat ham Okay, when have you ever seen like if you type up Thanksgiving on your smartphone? A turkey comes up. Yeah. It's not a pig. No, okay. It's not a slice of ham. No It's a turkey. Yeah, I never heard. I've never heard of Thanksgiving ham So it's a rite of passage. Okay, so they will have ham But the wrackley side of the family will be making You make you make sure the turkey's gonna be there. Yay. Do you guys have Thanksgiving without turkey? Ridiculous if you do Enjoy though if you do enjoy it. I'm starting to get stressed out for a little work out. We're good. We're good. Okay I did get two workouts in this week. I'm gonna do one more tomorrow. So I feel like I earned my meal Wait a minute this week. Yeah, where are we at in the week? We're kind of early in the week, aren't we? Tuesday? Yeah, kind of get started on never miss Monday. So when I understand that I got my work in Monday But that's one workout for this week Now we know this is gonna with this gonna this gonna air like maybe when we when we go into air with our with our broadcast It'll be later today. Okay. So coming out today. Yep. So we only had one day in this week No, no, no, no Wrecks a yard of god We are finishing it's about 12 20, okay So Dave there's plenty of time left for you to get cuz listen to me here Okay, you're green bean casserole that one workout is only taking care of that Is that all you're going to eat this week? Well, the green bean casual is the least of our words. Ha! I'm going to the Shucks. I'm going to beat Cobbler. Okay. So how many workouts have you gotten in this week to help shed off some of that Thanksgiving? Or maybe you're going to wait until afterwards? Or maybe you're going to say, guess what? I ain't doing it. Sorry. It's Thanksgiving. Hey, that's going to wrap it up for us this week. Hopefully you enjoy all of your favorite dishes, whether it's some of the things that we talked about. Eat you a turkey, people. Or maybe you got something different. I'm sure you have a turkey on Thanksgiving, everybody. Thanks so much for joining us. We will be back next week to recap the Falcons game with Jacksonville. On behalf of DJ Shockley, Dave Archer, I'm Derek Rackley. Thanks so much for watching the Falcons Audible presented by AT&T. Take care, everyone. Peach Cobbler, right, Jim? No doubt. All day, baby.