 I never said that Will was going to be the starter. Both of them will play if Ryan can't. We'll see how Ryan feels. He may do a little bit of work later in practice today. But that's how we are. That's where we're at right now. Obviously, Will, I guess improve maybe, especially in the last week, getting some extra reps and practice. I think just getting more comfortable. I think both those guys got good work in, really good work. And whether it was third down or two minute, red zone, some of the stuff that we were able to cover last week. Situational awareness or feel for the game and the play where he stayed in bounds, for example, late in the game. I feel like he's made enough progress in that area. Well, I mentioned before I thought that that, again, for a young quarterback, I think anyone coming off in a backup role, it probably wasn't the easiest situation. But we do have to start understanding some of those things and where we're at and making great decisions and trying to understand that there's more to the game. Just the first, second, and third down, things are pretty clean. And then when things go off schedule, situationally, we all have to be better. For those guys who didn't practice this time of year, you obviously had so much time with them in the spring and summer. Is there anything new you can see with these reps and these practices, or is it kind of the same as before? No, I think that things change. Things are always going to change. And how they execute the game plan, the command of the huddle, the formationally, operationally, and then just the ability to deliver the ball on time and nowhere to go with the football, have an idea, anticipate throws, being smart with the football, taking a profit, all those things that we think lead to efficiency. In that sense, the anticipation for Willis, is there something you guys can do to maybe speed up the process and maybe help him see things open before the action open? Whereas you're throwing to a spot, as opposed to waiting for the receiver to open. I would say that there's things that we can do on all levels to help our players, and we need to keep doing that. Before Willis specifically, is there something that you can do to help him out? Is there something more that can be done, whether it's play calling or just more? Play calling can help anticipation? Maybe. I think when you talk about anticipation, the timing mechanism, where you're looking in the coverage, right, is it man or is it tone? The receivers, I think it is its total process, being able to have protection, to be able to, one, if it's not there on the first read, to be able to progress, know where guys are going to be, throwing it out in front of guys, allowing guys to catch a run. What's the biggest challenge for a guy who's not played in an NFL game, basically, to be able to go out and execute at the quarterback position? I don't know, I've never played quarterback, so I have to ask the guys that played quarterback and started their first game, go play. Go find a way to help us beat the Falcons. That's where we're at. On the both quarterbacks playing? I'm going to focus on the Falcons. Yeah, good. And we're going to talk about the Falcons, Joe. Why are you holding your hands like that? I'm trying to get a question in here. Well, then ask the question. No, I'm just saying, like, you look ridiculous. Just ask the question, Joe. OK, let me ask you a question. On the two quarterback thing, would that be against a really good defense? We'll have to run the football, whoever plays quarterback. OK, that'd be switching series, or that'd be like one guy's the starter, or one guy's the switcher. We'll figure out the game plan as we work through the week. You know, we may run the plays in with them. It could be by series. It could be every two series. It could have certain things that we like. We'll see where one where Ryan is. But again, I'm excited if Ryan can't play, that we're going to look at both of those quarterbacks. And we'll need both of them to help us win. Falcons are doing some really good things. You don't buy the adage. If you have two quarterbacks, you don't have a quarterback? No, I don't buy that adage. We've got three on the roster, and we'll see where Ryan is with his ankle, and go from there. When it comes to Desmond Ritter, the tackle might go a little up in the. Kayla, go ahead. When it comes to Desmond Ritter, and just in terms of how he's coming along, what do you see positive out of him? And then just in terms of he has had some issues with holding on to the football, and how can you take advantage of that? We have to. I mean, I think that he's made some really, really outstanding plays. Anticipate the quarterback exchange that he had. But teams have done a good job trying to get the ball away from him. We have to do a better job of that. Defensively, we understand that. And we've done some good things on defense. I would say that we're not turning the ball over as much as we should or attempting it. So again, he's made some really nice throws. He's throwing where guys can run. He's throwing good scene balls. But he's also athletic, and he'll take off and run and convert. Go ahead, John. You said that the hip drop tackle seemed to be in the news quite a bit of something in the league. I guess it's going to take a look at it. I'm curious, is it somebody on the competition committee? Your thoughts on that? And was that one that injured Tanya? It was. It was. And in the pocket, and I don't know what the answer is. I don't want players to get hurt. But I also want to give defenders an opportunity to make a play. It's hard on skilled players. It's hard sometimes in space. That was not in space. And so there's going to be defenders that are smaller or bigger, maybe not as fast as other players with football. I don't know what the answer is. I know the answer is that we want to try to make the game as good as we can possibly make it, but also as safe as possible. Just not sure what that is right now. Are you and your staff unable to discern which quarterback is better at this stage? No, I'm not able to. Taking a look at two young quarterbacks. And again, if Ryan is unavailable for the game, take a look at both of them. Is one better than the other? I don't know if I'm ready to answer that. There's always stress in getting the run game going. But in this particular situation, is it even more important to try and help alleviate some of the stress on the shoulders of two young quarterbacks? Whoever our quarterback is going to end up being, we'll have to be able to control the line of scrimmage. They did a nice job, a really nice job against the run in the last three games. Very good defensive front play with technique. They play with power. So yeah, that'll be critical whoever plays quarterback for us. And sometimes we've had good opportunities. We've hit some double-digit runs. Guys are finishing, and then other times we're just more than able to get things started in a run game. So it's a consistency thing. Any different challenge or concern when you go against Arthur Smith and him having been intimately familiar with how you guys operate and do things? I guess no more so than us having an idea of who Arthur is and what they want to do. Got some good weapons on offense and try to use the Bijon out of the backfield. They'll run it with them. They'll throw it to them. They'll scheme some plays up. Drake London seems to be a receiver that's competitive and strong. And Pitz and Johnny, when they get running, build really good speed. And Algeo runs hard. And so I think it'll just be critical that we're aware of the different personnel that's in the game. On what you've seen based on practice, et cetera. But given what you're trying to do as a football team, shouldn't you know which one is better at this point? I mean, Will didn't play many preseason snaps. So I think that would be hard to determine. Malik's a young quarterback that hasn't had a whole lot of snaps. So I don't know. You can say whatever you want. I don't know. We're just trying to figure out who's going to be available. And if that's Ryan, then we'll have a plan. And if that's not Ryan, then we'll have two quarterbacks that we'll have a role in the football game. With that drop-back dancing game that you wanted to avoid because of some of the prejudices up front for a while? Routinely and over and over and over and redundant. You know what I mean? When you get down in a game and you have to just basically go into a passing game, a drop-back passing game, much sooner than you would like, I guess, to try to clarify that. Right. I'm saying you had mentioned the seven-step drops. And just a little longer development, please. And so what I was going to ask you is, you know, what's the amount of guys out in the route? You know what I mean? We can drop back and throw it with two guys in a route. Right? Yeah. I mean, so it's like it's just the how you build some of these things. But with that, when you have a rookie like Levis back there, does it come even more important to make sure you stay out of a situation or avoid them as much as possible? Yeah. I mean, we want to try to avoid those as much as possible. Being down in the game and forcing ourselves to throw. And I mean, you get into third down. And sometimes it's what you have to do. And so again, I just was talking about it. First and second down, normal offense is there's just not a whole lot of teams from my exposure of watching that just routinely live in that. That's, you know, or second and long for that matter. And guys are changing their mentality. Their coverage changes. The pass rush mentality changes on second and 10, versus second and two. Chris Moore and Josh Wiley coming out of the protocol. Both, I think, are still in it just because they have to practice fully and then get cleared. Chris will be out there today. I don't think Josh will be out there. Mike, there's six games. How do you evaluate your own pass rushing and what you guys have accomplished so far? Are you happy with it or do you want more? We hit the quarterback three times the last two games. So that's not going to be good enough to affect the quarterback. Would you expect Terrell Edmonds to be able to be this week with the quick turner? Showed up with a fantastic attitude, played in a football game Sunday night, showed up here ready to go, was excited, had a great attitude, did some stuff yesterday. So I would say that if he keeps progressing like he has in just the short amount of time that he's been here, he could potentially play. Nicholas yesterday, what's the adjustment? Like him getting used to playing maybe on the left side is from a technique standpoint. I have an opportunity to ask him how he feels, but I think that there is some certainly differences in playing one side and the other. It's not like we haven't asked him to be ready to go or prepare on both sides throughout the off season or training camp and his time away. So again, there's some things that you got to be able to stay inside out. You got to be able to punch. You got to be able to redirect. So maybe some of the footwork is a little different, but it's confident that he'll be ready to go. What's happened with the past rush in these two games, Mike? Got to win. You got to win. You got to beat somebody. And that's what the past rush is. It's what this whole league is. Can only double team so many guys and that's what happens. Mike, the familiarity that you have with some of the personnel that are now in Atlanta, does that help at all? Or is it how they're being used in the schemes that they're playing there in Atlanta that matters more? Well, I think having familiarity helps. I mean, understanding what their skill set is and what they can do. But you'll also have to adjust to the play based on what coverage we have or what they're running to know what each guy's strengths are, I think is somewhat obvious. Where to add, as you just mentioned, what are you hoping to see out of some guys in the tight end room, maybe in terms of their production and running routes and things of that nature for the quarterback situation this week? Tight end's job is to execute the blocking scheme when we call the run, catch the ball when we throw it to them, be able to get open, to be able to have some route craft when it's man coverage, to be able to get into the zones, be able to get into seams in post-safety defense, post-safety zone. So have a great day. Everything's getting better. It's been a process to get to where I'm at now, but we're training in the right direction and everything's feeling a lot better than it did a week ago. How's it compared to last time? It's definitely healing. It's helped to compare exactly, right? It's a little bit different, but frustrating that it happened. But it's training in the right direction and healing. And I can tell that it's healing. It's feeling a lot better. Every couple of days, I can notice a big difference. Hope to keep on the trend. Was there ever a question of surgery this time around? Or was it not severe enough? No, never a question this time. I mean, basically, how different is it from last year? Is it the same spot exactly? Or is it a different spot a little bit? It's a high ankle sprain. So yeah, a little bit different, though, because I had the surgery on it last year. The force got spread a little differently. But it's a high ankle sprain. So the surgery kind of helps if you do it again later? Yeah, basically. What's the balance of responsibility like you this week trying to get out there and plan something? But also, if not making sure that the younger guys are as ready as possible? Yeah, doing everything I can physically to heal and recover, be on top of the game plan mentally, and then just helping prepare those guys and meetings going over all the different looks, what we're looking for in the past game, the different looks we could see in the run game and making sure we're all on the same page. What are the challenges playing with the ankle injury as far as limiting you on what you do and kind of being yourself? Yeah, anytime you deal with an injury, you're not able to move like you want to. And that's kind of the determining factor of being able to play, right, is being able to do your job effectively and keep yourself out of harm's way, and being able to move enough to be effective and not just be a sitting duck back there. How about the push off, which was the thing that you said kind of took you out of the game in terms of the mechanics of throwing? Yeah, no question. You've got to be able to push off, not only to throw, but to step up in the pocket and get away from center, all those types of things. So definitely a big part of it. What are the steps you want to progress? Yeah, just working with the rehab team in here. They're doing a great job with all the modalities and treatments, so steady on that and just going to keep down that path. Is that pretty much a level of frustration you just have when you go through this again? Definitely frustrated, right? It's not a situation you want to be in, but it's the cards that I've been dealt. So trying to keep a positive attitude as much as I can and take advantage of every day and physically get myself on the right track and then mentally stay engaged and be ready to go when the time comes. Is it concerning also that not only a game set for Sunday, but then a short week turnaround right after that Thursday in Pittsburgh? Yeah, it'll be a quick week next week and we'll see where we're at when we get there. Was this a hip drop tackle, Ryan, I guess, in your opinion, and I wonder also, was the last time you got hurt on that ankle, was that maybe a hip drop tackle as well? Yeah, it was definitely a hip drop tackle this time. Kind of the same thing in LA at the end of the season last year, so tough on there. Should something be dumb? I mean, I know the NFL is considering making changes there. Is that something you think should be removed from the game or can it be? I don't know. I don't have to study more. I know a lot of injuries, especially high ankle sprains, come from the hip drop tackle. But then at the same time, you look at defensively, how do you fully eliminate it from being in that position? So I'm probably not the guy to ask because I'm not on the defensive side of the ball. But yeah, it's definitely an area where injuries are caused, but it's not an easy elimination if there were to do that. What's your progression been like as far as recovery? You went from, I guess, walking boot and crutches to Mike said you want a scooter. When did you get off that and started to keep walking? Yeah, I was in a cast for a few days into the weekend. Then I was in a walking boot and scooter for a few days and then just got off the scooter and into a shoe. Right, you know, the suture that was put in place in the last surgery, is that still in place doing its job effectively to your understanding right now? Yeah, yeah, no question. I had the tightrope as part of my ankle surgery at the end of the year. So I still have those cables in there doing their job. Brian, what are you most remembered from your first ankle start at the most difficult aspect of somebody who's never gone through that before? Maybe after. It's different for everybody. Mine was a long time ago. It's tough to think back 12 years ago now, but it's a fun experience. You're learning a lot. You're taking it all in and trying to do your best. So every person has to cross that bridge when the time comes. Brian, in terms of the fire, just your thoughts on finding out he was traded in, how big is it with that leadership void in the locker room to continue to have guys step up in that? Yeah, no doubt going to be tough to replace, Kevin, a guy who has meant a lot to this organization, to the city, to this locker room for, as long as I've been here and before that, you know? So definitely a tough loss for us and tough to wrap your mind around, but we have great leaders in this locker room. We can hopefully fill that void as much as possible. It's tough, right? Like I said, Kevin was such a good quality cornerstone of this locker room, but we have other great leaders on this team, myself included, that we can hopefully fill that void as much as we can. And just keep our heads down and keep working. That's all we can do at this point. How hard is it, though, when a team does move one of its cornerstone pieces to kind of just turn around and say, okay, one of our best guys is gone. Still same expectations. Is that a challenge to do when it's not like an injury from the team? Yeah, no doubt it's tough. No doubt it's tough. But unfortunately that's the nature of the business and as players, that's our responsibility is to come to work and do our best to go out and play quality football and find a way to win. Some things are out of our hands. May not like it, may not understand it, but you have to control what you can control and go out and do the best job you can. Ryan, we do a fun, Mike said you're not practicing today, but will you be out there on the field the entire time or will you get treatment or what's your plan? Yeah, a little bit of a combination. I'll get some treatment, make sure I'm doing everything I can and then also want to stay engaged and in tune with the game plan and with everything that we're doing out on the field. Thank you.