 Good morning. Good afternoon or good evening. Whatever time of day you happen to be checking us out right here on the Falcons Ottawa presented by AT&T. He's DJ Shockley. That's Dave Archer And I am Derek Rackley back once again to talk about all things Falcons and guys We actually have some action to talk about on the field. We have joined each other a few times throughout the course of the Offseason to talk wrap-up of last year draft Preparation what are the Falcons gonna look like this year and guess what? We got a chance to see what they looked like this year. So here's a quick rundown of what we're going to be covering today Of course, we'll look back at the Atlanta's game against the Detroit Lions Players who are standing out already These guys are going to be a great resource because they're at practice a whole lot more than I am so they can see not Only what are these guys are doing on the practice field, but how that transitioned over into the game against the Lions joint Practices coming up. I'm sure we've all got various experiences with some joint practices coming up with The New York Jets and then we will talk a little bit about the Jets preseason game. So guys, let's dive back into the Detroit Lions game It's what it's interesting because in preseason, it's not necessarily about wins, but in the NFL It's always about you wins and losses, right? You're some still somewhat judged by that but Dave I want to start with you How important is it just more? 30,000 foot view that that Atlanta starts off the preseason with the wind that the guys that were out on the field Found a way to come away with a victory at the end Yeah, I think you've got it's such a young team rack that I think that when you go out and have success Obviously you're dictating that play to play or series to series But if you can ultimately look up at the scoreboard and what you did from a workplace standpoint with all the guys coming together You you finished on top. I think that's a big deal, especially with a young football team It's an older team, you know, you wouldn't carry that much about it because you know They're gonna turn it on the regular season starts for this young team Trying to develop a camaraderie a culture if you will whatever whatever you want to describe it And so I think the winning part of it at the end the dramatic fashion in which they won Getting a defensive stop at the end as well That all stuff that to me that's equity that begins to stack up a little bit and I think for a young team That's important. Yeah DJ the coaching staff is looking at a lot of things, right? They want to see reps They want to see players in action. They want to see what we call live bullets, right? Quarterbacks or can be tackled guys are coming down to the ground and everything But you're still looking for as a coaching staff how players react in situations Football as we know is one of the biggest sports. That's all about situations. How do you excel? That's why in practices that you generally segmented out. We're working on open field We're working on third along we're working on short yardage and goal line But they also want to see can players go in can we count on them to close out games? Do you feel like the coaching staff found anything out about that from the Detroit game? I think so Just to piggyback a little bit on what Arsha has talked about I think it's big that you got to win because I think in the way you want and you go back into a game He said, okay We won the game maybe because they jumped off-sides and we got the five yards and they could feel Whatever it may be whatever the mistake was that happened by them that allow you to win But this was a game that I thought the Falcons took it to them to go win the ball game There are a lot of things they had to overcome throughout the game They had adversity through the game and they found the way to win So I think that's just as big as winning the game is how you win the ball game I thought they did that another thing is when you come to this game I think the response of the team was huge like ours talked about When you go in and you have to win it in the ball game and you have to overcome some stuff Think about the first series of the game. They go right down a feeling score Your response you go right back down a field and score. You had penalties You had some long yard situations. You responded to them So this is what I think is big going into the going in the halftime at 47 seconds or something You go down you get a field goal. Those are big those situations. You're talking about in the ball game You had a lot of situations in the ball game where guys may be messed up here there And they responded the right way even in the they drive where we're really throws a touchdown Maybe it's early in the ball game. You had Allison drop a ball. You had Hesse drop a ball Yeah, those were two guys in that same drive who came up and responded So I think the response is what the coaches wanted to be able to see in this ball game with live action With coaches not being on the field yelling at them these guys responded in those moments Which were big I think if you're you're an old veteran savvy quarterback like a Matt Ryan like an Aaron Rogers You may be arch get to the point to where if a guy drops one or two balls You may not go back in his direction But when you're a young quarterback you're kind of tasked to just read the defense and take what's given to you You mentioned the drop from Hesse and then he comes back and he ends up throwing him a touchdown pass Those are the things where it's like Desmond Ritter's just kind of looking at it and seeing who is open Where do I need to throw this football? I'm gonna ask you this question arch and I'm gonna give you a choice here I'm gonna ask you either who stood stood out or what stood out. Maybe it wasn't a player Maybe it was a series. Maybe it was a situation Maybe it was something bigger picture that stood out to you that you came away impressed with well I think that the thing it's gonna be obvious that jumps off the tape at your that lattice athleticism of the two quarterbacks I mean their ability to extend play sideline the sidelines a problem. Yeah, okay That's a problem for people coming up and both of them can do it both of them are Intelligent runners they know when to take off when not to take off when to throw the ball in the move And both have the ability so that immediately jumps off the page at you and obviously it's different because Matt was more of an It was in and in the pocket guy ball comes out on time But it provides you Least for me it provides me some excitement is that everything we know everything's not gonna get blocked perfectly And most the time it's not gonna get blocked perfectly if you've got a guy An 11th athlete on the field that has a chance to do something like those two guys that immediately jumped off and then I think we've been concentrating on the offensive line Their ability to create some creases and to play on the other team side of the line of scrimmage That's a big deal when you can press the holes as a runner And you can slide to the daylight and I thought we saw that from all the backs that ran and I thought all the backs Ran really hard. Yeah, Dave I'm gonna I'm gonna agree with you because mine's more like I guess it's a what Anna who but I'd like the fact That and I'll be one of the I'll be honest I'll tell you that I feel like the offensive line still has strides to make in the passing game But when I watch these two quarterbacks to directly to your point, they give you options for when things break down So instead of it being DJ second and 13 second and 17 Maybe it's second and nine. That's a big difference if you have Mariota or Ritter that can just get away from somebody and maybe they just get past the line of scrimmage I'm not even talking about running for a first down here But again, you change the play sheet for an offensive playcaller when you're sitting at second and nine versus second and 17 Did anything else stand out to you from that game that you came away with saying gosh, we got some promise there Yeah, I would say that the second you got a little woman during efforts. I thought he was constantly around the football I thought he was a guy that you remember last year made the team because of how he played in the preseason I got that showed up and I mean he's one of those type of guys that that kind of When you look at a statue, you know, you look at the ball game you say okay 48 always around the football him and Obviously one guy that you know, we've heard the coaching staff talk about him during camp But I think for the first time people got to see him the offer. Yeah had the interception in the ball game Think he might have led the team in tackles. Yeah, so he was he was a guy that you love to see because you know he's gonna be a special teams guy but also can be that third four fifth corner for you need him and Definitely, you know took a step forward him and the rookie as well ever Katie I thought, you know, he had a misstep early the ball game loss of look attained But then also he came back later on I thought he was a guy that was constantly trying to get pressure Yeah, and upfield a lot of the game. Yeah, it's interesting on that play to the talking about a K And that was the swift bounce and score in the first drive I talked to Dean P's post game about it and that was not a K's responsibility I thought the same thing he should have kept contain or set the edge in the defense His job was to crush the edge of the line of scrimmage The linebacker was supposed to scrape and the safety had contained on the play So the safety got caught up with some of the head faking again learning during the game Some young players got some young safeties in there Learning and got caught up in some of the eye candy in the backfield and wasn't out responsible For swift when he bounced and scored learning learning process there Dean said the very same thing happened later on the game Two-yard game and so you that was what he loved about the fact that okay We made a mistake cost us seven But we really learned and immediately applied it later on in the game and snuffed the play out and got off the field Other that was pretty important a lot of times that ends up happening in film session when it's too late But you have the guy's ability to make the in-game adjustments And the coaches just want to see Don't make the same mistake twice or three times because as you mentioned it already cost seven points Now can we can we learn from those mistakes and grow his football players? I'm going to add one other actually two other guys I thought roshan evans got off to a good start early on in the game He was flying around making some plays and kadry allison. I felt ran physical And I like to see that you talked a little bit about the offense of line getting push I liked how he ended up finding seams and taking the ball up field That's what you want to see from running backs a lot of times the young ones as you guys seem they come into league And they want to dance a little bit you have got to find a way to get north and south in the nfl Even if it's just a matter of three yards real quickly Nathan landman played his rear end off to outside line inside line back and played next to etharish Those two guys were really good. You mentioned etharish around the ball landman batted the ball down In fact, he batted the ball that was almost picked off in the end zone when he was coming on coming on stunt Landman was outstanding. He's a he's a rookie free agent out of colorado They said when you throw his tape on it's unbelievable in college So they were lucky to get him as a rookie as a free agent And then I thought tyler r jeer was as advertised He ran with his shoulders square to line of scrimmage and he came downhill And he had a lot more gas when he hit the line of scrimmage Then I was gonna that I was willing to give him credit for He got downhill and had some gas to get into that third level of the defense He had a nice run about 15 yards one time was pretty good And there's gonna be some dvs now late games in the morning part of that Yes, so that'll be fun to watch as well. Yeah, dj. I saw you got to do an interview with cp oak Cordero Patterson on the sidelines and you were talking to him about Where does he see himself fitting into this offense? And I think It might be a little bit of a luxury again, assuming these running backs continue to develop because cp was kind of the answer last year like when they needed plays when they needed the ball moved They would find a way to get the ball into his hands and maybe some of these guys that we're talking about step up And he can be used more as an athlete not as just your traditional running back as he had to get used a lot last year Now let it wore him down. I think you make a great point He had career high in rushing yards and receiving yards career high in touchdowns He scored 11 touchdowns But he ran for over 600 yards and you're you're right He was asked to be some of that batting or battering ram stuff that I think that You know, you'd like to see him in week 12 or week 13 look like the same guy worked Right in week one and two and I think that that wore on him some of year ago Yeah, still have that burst to be able to make some big plays for the offense So I know it's been discussed by us and by by everybody else within the organization and outside of it as far as last week Guys, let's let's turn the page and let's focus on this week before we get to the Jets pre-season game We've actually got joint practices that happen around the nfl quite a bit And so Dave, let me ask you your your opinion like what what do players get out of joint practices that they don't get When they're just going against black and white on the practice field right outside of this building The first thing that comes off the page from iraq and we all felt it because we all participated in these Is there's different juice. Yeah, okay. It's not game juice But it's in between practice juice and in game juice, right? And so you get that then you also get A new look at something something new We all know how many times that we talk about you're squatting on that route because you know, we're running that route You've seen it all week in practice or three weeks of practice You're not gonna be able to do that here because you don't know their system. They don't know your system So you're gonna get a cleaner look which I think benefits you too It's much more of a game style look So you get a little bit of juice and you're gonna get some of that game look That maybe is better than in your own practices and there's so many times We've been through these before where you get in training camp and granted I understand the times of change that it's not as as as physical as you want to call it because they're not on pads as many But dj there's there comes that time when you get tired of practicing against your own guys, right? So that juice that I think arch is talking about not only is it the competitiveness But it's the excitement of seeing somebody else a different color jersey and going out there and competing Yeah, and I go to an example. I saw last week where you had the broncos and cowboys and joint practices And I'm sure you guys seen as well and big chubb comes down the line and he just lays out he lays out Ezekiel Elliott, I just thought that was like that's what it's about That's what happens is you forget that it's a practice You forget that it's just one of these periods where it's maybe thud But the juice is like our just said it get going and you get to see somebody else who doesn't know exactly Who you're about or what you're about especially when you're talking about technique or certain things You're trying to work on and you get in those instances and it kind of feels like a game It kind of feels it's not all the way like our says, but you feel like okay That's somebody different in front of me. It's not my same teammate who we're trying to work to the same goal again better I want to beat him. Yeah, and that's what happens in these joint practices You want to make sure you put your best foot forward versus them because you know at the end of day They not on my team. So I don't care if they do good or not So to all the the people that are watching you got a few guys that have been through these joint practices before and sometimes you say Are are these practices better for specific groups than they are others? And I'll lead this off by an experience that I had as far as special teams go And I thought these joint practices were great for punt team for punt and punt block because That is a big time competitive environment because in the NFL you don't block punts very often But when you do you have the most athletic players in the world that are going to try to block punts, right? So You drill punt block a whole lot more than you ever see it in the game, right? So I remember my experiences when we went up against Tennessee Titans And we were doing punt block and you had another team over there And you know their coach was saying guys, we got to get us one like we're going to get us one And then from our side of that like this is punt protection like we don't get punts blocked So there's an added level of focus that goes into it. You could call it competitive Whatever it is, but I'll never I'll never forget how How fiery joe decamillas was when we went against the Tennessee Titans We were going punt block versus I mean our punt protection versus their punt block and man We probably went 15 reps normally in practice you go about eight or nine, right? You get five or six with the first team three or four with the second team We went like 15 of two separate groups and they were getting after it But that probably prepared me more than a pre-season game Getting me ready for the regular season just because of how locked in everybody was arch Do you see any other things from joint practices where a specific group offense defense lines of scrimmage One-on-ones outside that maybe get more out of this than anybody else Yeah, and in just piggybacking you there's nothing more deflating get a punt block. You guys know that it deflates the team There's some screwy number where 80 of the time you get a punt block. You lose the game So it's it's as important a unit is there is offense defense. I don't care what it is Your punt protection is as good as it is as important as it is I would say if I was going to look at it I mean, I think the wide receivers and dbs get enough work Yeah, there's some nuances you can work on I would think offensive and defensive line This would be really important for them because you got different bodies that you you don't know their idiosyncrasies You don't know some of the cheat steps that they take Bring it out, man, arms So it becomes it becomes even though you're not knocking anybody to the ground Your landmarks have to be pretty solid. Your technique has to be pretty solid Because again, there's a little bit more juice that guy's trying to make his team You're trying to make your team and and I get it. It's happening here But there is a little bit more of a brother-in-law scenario in our practices Especially deep into practice when you get two three weeks in Whereas here, this is fresh and new and you can't cheat And so I think that there's there's something to that and I think an offensive and defensive alignment I think they get a lot out of this I love what art said because you know in my mind the trenches matter all the time Of course as you know, we're all skilled guys. So, you know, we don't say that too often But I'm gonna go to the quarterbacks as well because you think about art's talked about the fact of Maybe you know a guy sits on a certain route or he he knows exactly what to do for us as quarterbacks We're all always looking at little tales. We got guys in practice who we've seen for two weeks straight And we know okay. I see his eyes lean. I see him leaning to one side I know the safety is about to come down So I can see that kind of stuff and you know it for quarterbacks getting a different look at an entire defense Or a different look at secondary to where they move, you know Some guys don't tip stuff as other guys do you see in practice for the last two weeks It's huge for those guys to not say okay. I know this guy I don't I don't have to worry about reading my keys now you go against these joint practices And you have to go back to day one fundamentals of if a guy goes in motion You just gonna be man or I know if this guy is leaning one way He's gonna be an outside leverage now. You can't do that You got to make sure everything is buttoned up and it goes I think every position too but quarterbacks especially especially in this Part of uh, when you go in these joint practices becomes a cleaner look for you for a quarterback And I completely agree with dj and the fact that you can't really cheat So our our guys get to know our snap count They know what we're doing even with the d-line or the or they're trying to muddy the water in the back end They know when to rotate late. And so you don't get a clean look Now all of a sudden you got a team that doesn't know that just like it would in the beginning in a game Or they don't know your count They don't know how you shift and move and so you're getting a cleaner look And so your ideas a pre snap look are a little bit more guaranteed as they would be in practice Yeah, that that defensive end isn't getting across the line of scrimmage a lot faster than what he normally does in practice Go ahead go back to your point of talking about Where you guys went 15 reps and all this kind of stuff. We forget now Yeah, it matters to the players But it matters to the coaches too. You think about joe d saying I'm not gonna let this guy beat me Like or you think about coaches saying, okay I had all someone to work on certain things that I want us to be really good at and now I got a chance to show it off I don't want to I don't want to lose. I don't want to you know Not say that all my hard work this off season didn't pay off So I think the coaches have a little of that competitive juice as well As long as the players too because they want to win too. That's why you say you go eight nine But yeah, and this one. Oh no, I got to get one more rep to beat that guy So it definitely I think goes for coaches too 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 Did you guys get a chance to do joint practices when you were playing? Dave, do you remember anything specifically from yours? The dolphins came up here and I'm talking about in the dolphins Hey days. Yeah, we're talking dan marino. We're talking mark duper mark clayton. Yeah, all those guys, right? And so I believe my first couple years in the league and so here's marino, right? Marina's I can hear him out there texas texas. You know, he's called changes So they would have offense against our defense. We would scrimmage against them It was it was in swanee on the hill some people probably remember going out there and watching just like this setup is out here Um, and so we'd have a scrimmage right there on that field closest to the hillside But I found myself kind of moving over instead of being over with my offensive You know, we're talking through what we're going to do in the next series. This is what we're looking to do All of a sudden the coach is looking around for me. I'm the starting quarterback. I'm standing over watching marino I Needed like some some cotton candy or some popcorn. I'm sitting there watching marino marino's on the field, you know Archer you want to get over here? So that was that was the will is stuck out to me. I I got caught up doing fanboy with them marina DJ anything stick out for you? I remember uh, similar to how uh, jackson was coming here We went to jacksonville. Maybe my my my rookie or second one one early years might have been and um I remember we had I had a couple teammates from georgia on that team But they were on the defensive side of the ball So I just remember every time I came to the line of scrimmage and he played linebacker tony gibber He would come up and he would literally just be talking about stuff we did in college While I met the line of scrimmage Shocky remember that time we went downtown and you saw that girl and I met the line of scrimmage I met the line of scrimmage trying to focus and he's talking to me every single time And he used to it got me a couple times. I'm not gonna lie. So it was it was funny uh to have that kind of uh Kind of fun experience going against some guys you knew and they were messing with you when they're supposed to be serious And uh, and he was like a veteran. He was like he'd been a lead for three or four years So it didn't bother him at all. Yeah, Dave. You were talking about some of the guys that were there You know, I don't know if I'd say as You know, Dan marino s but that year that we were with the titans like that was one of the first chances I got to see steeve mcnair like I'm close and personal like I was a big fan of his in college, right? And then I watched him come out and just he had this like low But like in real control voice when he'd get to a line of scrimmage. It was like ready ready And I was just like because you know when we had chris chandler and all this like really loud Like doing all this stuff and steeve mcnair was just like cool and calm Sicko, right? And then you just watch him like the strength he had in his arm and that was the same they had albert hainsworth They had keith bullock in the linebacker position. He would never stop talking One thing we didn't mention though guys And I don't know if it happened with you guys, but joint practices There's a tendency some fights to break out, right now It happens when you're with your regular team, but because it's more competitive You get one person that just holds on to a jersey too long And then all of a sudden the arms start flying and the bows start swinging and stuff Come on everybody gonna see it. Oh tape my name. But like that's the dude we could pick on All right, yeah, so uh, we'll see hopefully they're able to keep it somewhat clean and and work with each other and get something out of it All right, so that that's the joint practices. Let's let's move forward to the actual game preseason game number two I would say we talked a little bit about things that stuck out players that stuck out dave What's something that you're looking forward to in this next one? What's maybe the next step that you want to see in this team's evolution? Yeah, I think you want to see guys start to solidify that they're the guy now We saw some rotation at center. There's still some rotation there Hennessy and dalman are trying to figure that out Hennessy started the game Uh, and I don't know that was just because he was the kind of the incumbent or what the deal was I think if you looked at the depth chart that the falcons put out. It was kind of seniority based It wasn't really based on who was the guy I think that dalman there's a chance dalman starts this game at center I think that there's there's some uh, there's some jockeying going on there But I want to see guys solidify themselves if Elijah Wilkinson is going to be the left guard I want him to solidify himself in there. Yeah, and so to me this is because there's only three of these I think you begin to solidify your starters in this game And I think that you might even see guys play a little bit longer certainly in this game Um, and so that's what I'm looking for. You got accomplished what Arthur Smith was talking about Arthur was talking about playing cleaner. He didn't have a lot of penalties There were some but not a lot of penalties There are a few mistakes defensively that dean peas talked about that cost them some points But they also took the ball over uh took over the ball and also didn't turn the ball over in this game So those things continue that's gonna how you're gonna win If you're not quite as talented as the other team on the field, but if you're playing cleaner It's going to give you an opportunity to win at the end DJ. What sticks out to you? What's the next step that you want to see somebody or a unit make in this game? It's definitely a unit for me is that that wire receiver group. I know you don't have drink London So I want to see who are the next two three four five guys that can solidify So who can win who can create space in the past game? I think Darby was the only guy who had two catches in the entire ball and everybody else had one catch Like I want to see those guys win on the outside So there's a couple times be honest the cubes had to hold on to the rock And that's why they had to you know get outside the pocket to make some plays I want to see guys win on the outside That's going to start in the joint practices as well But I want to see that position in particular Kind of stand up and say all right We got some other guys who could help cow pits who can help drink London Who are going to be those other guys that we we have seen in camp make some plays here and there But can you do it versus somebody else? Yeah, and and you guys kind of talked a little bit about the offensive side of the ball And and we talked a little bit about it earlier and a lot this off season I'd like to see some more somebody step up more pressure on the quarterback I would love to see something happen whether it's from a scheme standpoint or just a player just decides to play on fire And he finds himself in the backfield on every passing play or doesn't have to be one person But somebody find a way because I think that's one area that has to improve We've got to find a way to make the opposing quarterbacks feel more uncomfortable Get them off their spot get the ball out of their hands quicker And then throw some of those passes that we can get tipped that we can get the turnovers I think it all starts with that pass rush. You've got to make that opposing quarterback feel uncomfortable I'd like to see more development there in this game Who is going to be the guy or what is dean p is going to find from a A package a play calling standpoint that's going to find a way to get more pressure on the opposing quarterback Yeah, no question. I wouldn't be surprised to see some of the guys that played in that second defensive unit Like d allford where d is going to get started getting some snaps at nickel Where you're going to see him inside some you got the two guys outside and hayward and terrell So you're trying to solidify who that back five is going to be in a nickel situation I think there's some uh, obviously there's some consternation as to when Is isa all of are going to be available not available yet straight line run. Yes side to side. Maybe not quite yet Mike ford's been pretty good But d allford now is one of these kind of guys he might need to be on the field He's a cfl all-star from a year ago played for the winnipeg team that won the gray cup He comes in with a lot of confidence a little little light in the rear end He had to play neck close to you yesterday in the uh He did as it opened at the open practice around that sideline almost intercepted a corner right I think it was over there. That's correct Yeah, and then also climbed the ladder on a deep post route. He was folding back in Came in and play so he's got a little sense for the game And these are the kind of guys you see surface and so now solidifying where you're going to play I think d offered's in that mix as well some of these backup linebackers I think are going to have a chance as well and obviously we want to see trojanerson on the field I'm excited to see trojanerson. Hopefully we can get him back on the field this weekend Yeah, I mean this is these are the times when the coaches are they're not only looking at how well are you able to digest the content and what you're seeing But after that like can you go out and make plays? Like they just want to see who is not afraid to go out and make plays because it's real easy If you're watching on the sideline or you end up watching the tape Who is playing and I don't know if scared is the right word, but maybe robotic thinking too much Not reacting not using their natural athleticism to go out and make plays And you mentioned all for like I love the fact that he comes out and says I'm confident I play with this swagger and talking about aj durel giving him the confidence by saying you've got the ability To go do what you want now just go do it right sometimes you need somebody somebody that's already on the roster That's going to have a spot to tell you you're good enough to play and you can help us And maybe that will be the little bit that takes him to the next level So that's going to wrap it up. I know there'll be a lot more conversation here about the jets practices the jets game And guess what I'm pretty sure we'll be back next week to break it all down for you Make sure you like subscribe and review us on whatever platform it is You find our podcast material spotify itunesatlantafalcans.com or youtube Thank you so much for joining us once again right here on the falcons audible presented by at&t. Remember that's dj. That's arch I'm rack. We'll see you next time. Take care