 What's up everybody and welcome to the latest edition of the Falcons final whistle podcast and wow Do we have things to talk about after a 27 to 25 victory the Falcons victory? Over the rival New Orleans Saints at the Superdome. We are not at the Superdome actually right now Because the Superdome in Saints fashion Had the Wi-Fi stop working. They probably didn't want all those positive Falcons stories heading out into the world So we are at the JW Marriott executive lounge So if you happen to hear somebody playing pool behind us, or you hear some Ariana Grande pumping Yeah, know that that's the reason for that, but let's get back to this game here again so much So much fun to talk about here. I'm your host Scott bear I'm here with Tori McElaney and Chris rim as always Chris rim I will start with you What was your big takeaway from a game that the Falcons controlled for a long time and then lost complete control? Of and then gained back right there at the end Yeah, I thought for me that the biggest takeaway was Arthur Smith's play calling At the end of the game He made a call that we now know was this was the same Was the same play that they ran on the first drive of the game to win the game But earlier in the game, I thought, you know, there were probably some plays They what part some plays that he called that he might have wished he had back Throughout the game, but ultimately at the end, he made the call that set the team up to win the game So I thought at the end of the day it was it was his play calling us to talk to me Tori. What's What was your big takeaway from an absolute? It's cliche, but a roller coaster. Yeah I mean, I think the fact that the Falcons even pulled the game out that they came they come out of New Orleans With a win. I think that That more than anything I think shows me that the Falcons are at least heading in the right direction I think even Arthur Smith said after the game. He was like, yeah, it feels ugly at times But the fact that we got the win. I mean at the end of the day No one's gonna remember Exactly what happened when it happened, but they will remember when you know a record stands longer than a moment So it's like they at least came out with the one that that is true And we're gonna talk about all that and so much more you guys know the format by now Four quarters five minutes each and we're gonna touch on CP's big 64-yard catch What happened in the fourth quarter and some unsung heroes from this Falcons victory and also where the Falcons stand Yes, they are in the playoff picture true freakin story We're gonna get to all that over the course of this podcast But before we do we want to give a big thank you to our sponsor Microsoft Windows 11 the official operating system of the NFL And the Atlanta Falcons the all-new Windows 11 is here to bring you closer to what you love Including yeah, this Falcons final whistle podcast learn all about the awesome new features of Windows 11 at windows.com With that we head to quarter number one Now we're gonna take five minutes to break down that really decisive 54. I'm sorry 64 yard Absolute dime from Matt Ryan to speed demon Corridor L Patterson how we're calling him a speed demon. I mean I really like our social team They do scored scored a rail. Yeah, like that's my favorite nickname. I think of this season so far. Yeah, I think that's a good one Chris you wrote about this play What were your you know kind of thoughts on it how it developed and how it was executed when they absolutely had to make a Big play Ryan and CP came through Yeah, well, I thought it was cool to hear the thought process behind the play post-game When Matt Ryan kind of he kind of said how him and Arthur Smith in general for plays Arthur kind of asked him if he likes this look and if he doesn't like it they decide which works and as soon as he heard this this play call he knew that it was one that he liked and CP also knew it was one that he liked and if you look at the plays You know side by side. It was the exact same Even even CP's route was the like the way he ran it was the exact same way Planned his left foot in the ground one step in and just burnt the guy and the first time it was a linebacker Second time it was a defensive back and then he tiptoed down the sideline and and took it down field and On a ball and if I network broadcast He said the the silence in the Superdome was was his fate like but like nothing was better than that sound like the silence It was it was crazy because like it was this is my first time in the Superdome like in New Orleans and in a Saints game environment And it was so loud like so so loud and then as soon as he caught that and it was it was silent He wasn't wrong at all. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah, I just thought From from that play. I thought I thought it was a great play obviously in another example of like again Matt Ryan heroics, I thought it was a great ball. He probably won't get enough credit for the ball Very usual, but he put it in a good spot and CP does what he does and also about CP He the blue he had 126 yards and that was the most yards. He's had in it receiving yards He's had in the game since his rookie year. So he's just been on a tear Yeah, yeah, and Chris you you've written a lot about mr. Patterson over the last week in including a Feature a feature a very well-timed one. Oh, yeah now How like how does he feel about being in Atlanta's offense being with the Falcons and really kind of having a coaching staff and a team Unlock his athleticism to this degree Yeah, I think he I think he loves it and he said that in the in the future. He feels like it's at home He's only a few hours away from South Carolina So his mom's always at the house the sister is always at the house his brother's nearby And they're always at every game. So not only is does he have his his actual, you know, blood family related family? But he has he feels at home in Atlanta and he feel I mean he said since the summertime I was his training camp. I should say he said who doesn't want to play for a guy like our so I guess We should have seen the signs then yeah, but he he is you know They're using him a lot more in the rushing attack as you point out to me Scott and then he's in this game He dominated as a wide receiver. So, you know, there's something special about here and and I don't know I'm excited to see where he goes from here throughout the season It's it's just so crazy I covered him for a season when he was with the Oakland Raiders And they would design plays to get him in space and it was like he'd get a couple touches per game He was more of a special teams player and you've seen so many different teams and coaches try to unlock this guy And I've seen him beat somebody downfield and have the ball clank off of his hands before but now he just seems so Automatic there is something he talked in Chris's feature about having the not cocky, but supreme confidence in his ability And despite the fact that he hasn't always been this type of player, but to see him now I mean he's doing things that should captivate the entire league here and like this is just another Another chapter in this thing. I mean Can he do this over the course of 17? I mean, he's already done it through the course of the first chunk of it What's what's stopping him from doing it the last half of the season? Yeah, I mean, it's funny that back in camp There's so much of a debate right to see you're running back to see why receiver like I like in the story that I wrote today I just said Falcon's offensive weapon. Yeah, I mean He wants he wants to be known as like, you know, I think he said in the future like a baller Like he's like, I don't want to be a running back. I don't want to be a receiver I just want to be an athlete a baller like that's that's awesome. Like that's a great quote Yeah, and Chris just before we run out of here. We're almost up time But tell him about that legendary quote about him playing three different positions. Oh, yeah I sent I sent that in my one of my friends sent me that in a group chat in all caps that he said if If if my mom could work three jobs like a play-through position, so amazing Saw today. Yeah, absolutely did and he was everywhere. He was huge for the Falcons instrumental in this victory And we're starting quarter number two talking about that I Don't know what you want to call the fourth quarter. It was it was absolutely insane. I actually tweeted at one point I'm not even sure how to process everything that happened During the last 30 minutes during that final fourth quarter just a cliff notes version for you here that's In the fourth quarter with 11 minutes left the Falcons went up 24 to 6. Okay, and then With a minute Remaining so nine and a half minutes later. They were down 25 to 24 WTF that's insane, right? Right. Yeah, like I get it and it all happened so fast It was like the Saints couldn't cross the goal line and now they were making a habit of it Overnight and the Falcons offense was totally stalled and all these things that everybody who watched the game saw How do you process this story you've covered this team for longer than the rest of us With everything that happened including what happened afterward where Matt Ryan throws a dime to Patterson they win the game on Young Wake who's third field goal. Yeah third game-winning field goal Absolutely amazing. How do you process it? Yeah, so I think for me when I was kind of just Decompressing after the game it was one of those things where I was sitting there being like, you know what like I have seen them Lose games where they had significant leads in the fourth quarter. I've covered many of them because a lot of them happened last year, but it in those moments and When I'm looking back at last year and in those moments where they're in the fourth quarter and they are have a team That's coming back and they have a chance to either go win it or to ice it and they can't do it And I think the difference now is that we have seen now for three times and four times If you include the Jets game where they did ice it on a final Drive offensive drive if you look at those four games those four games. They have finished I hate that word because it is such a narrative of this Falcons team and people honest You use like falconing like oh, they're pulling a falcon like it. It's it's such a narrative of this team And yet this year Against the Dolphins against the Giants against the Jets against now the Saints which the Saints are five and two coming in Here they have turned the narrative around and I think the best example of that is this game And the fact that they have one minute and one second to go down and win it essentially and they did it Like they did it and so I think that's why you're kind of seeing I'm spending a lot of time on this but it's because you have seen this shift and They have a confidence that they're gonna go down and and punch the ball in or have coup kick it I mean that that's where they are and it Arthur Smith said it best against Miami He was like, you know as an offense. We want the ball in our hands in the final two minutes Same thing here when you have an offense that's like give us the ball so we can go clinch this thing That's huge as a mindset. That's huge and it's a mindset that the Falcons haven't had in a couple years I think that's the biggest of that we're through eight games now That's the biggest development of this team under Arthur Smith is that transition to give us the Give us the ball please so we can go in yeah, and we all know that Matt Ryan's done this 41 times now That's a lot tied for seventh all-time Above John Elway of all people right my goodness That he projects confidence, but he was talking about it in his press conference success breeds more success Yeah, the confidence is growing in the guys around him And I think that's just as important as having a quarterback back there. Yeah, that said Chris You mentioned Matt Ryan and maybe him not getting enough credit for for what he did But now you you've seen him lead all these comeback drives What do you think has been key? Why do you think he's so good in the like in these types of moments? Oh, I think I think when you when you have a certain amount of time in the league There's a level of comfort that I think players have that others don't and when even Defenses or players on your team get a little bit nervous. You have that guy in the huddle who is even killed He's not you know, you're not looking at extra quarterback and his hands not shaking his pulse. He's not stuttering. He's He's calm cool collect. He's Matt. He's Maddie ice so if you're you know, Kyle Pitts if you're You know Russell Gage, I guess he's been a bound for but if you're a younger guy for example If you're a guy who hasn't been in this moment and you look to your leader and he's as cool as can be It makes everyone else also embody that so I think that's what makes the team go in these moments Yeah I think he does a good job of Reminding everyone do your job whether it's protection making a read running a route Do your one job and minute and he has a good way of taking all of the context out of it Right just execute this simple thing and I think the projection of confidence is absolutely key The Falcons continue to do this. Let's be honest. They would not do this with a lesser quarterback We would be looking at a drastically different record without number two And really even in this game, which could have been a disastrous loss instead Matt Ryan in the offense flipped the script in One giant play and go four and four with a victory over an NFC rival We're moving on to quarter number three and we're gonna talk about unsung heroes Tori that was something that Arthur Smith talked about in his postgame press conference that this wasn't all just Matt Ryan And CP that a lot of guys contributed. Yeah. Yeah, you're absolutely, right I mean he literally said there are a lot of unsung heroes on this football team When you talk about this win and when you talk about what it took to get them the win And I thought it was really really interesting that and I'll just read this quote because I think it's really good It's it's Arthur Smith breaking down some guys whose names Majority of Falcons fans I guarantee you do not either a Know or be even know or on this team and he said he was like you bring in James Fodders He made an enormous play tonight James Fodders is the one with strip sack that Stephen means returned to the what was it six yard line, right? He said Mike Pinnell. He's been pretty solid Anthony Rush. Gosh almighty. He made some good plays There's two defensive linemen that the Falcons have brought up in have been active in recent weeks And he said these are guys that as you continue to turn the roster These are the guys that step up and I think that's so important when you're talking about also what the front office is doing During this season, you know, you take somebody like a James Fodders that he was not on the team He was a practice squad guy that had been elevated two weeks in a row And you run out of practice squad elevations per the league rules and so you have to sign this guy So he was signed this week and he goes out and he makes a game-changing play. I mean You know, this is the guy essentially off the streets like and I think that's really really important I think it's what we knew that Terry font. No does best. He did it with the Saints He finds guys who can be game changers who other people kind of tend to overlook And I think this was such an example of that granted we can talk about the defense and and kind of not Performing as well as you wanted to in the fourth quarter But you also have to take that for her fourth quarter But you also have to take that first half for what it was to holding the Saints to six like that's pretty impressive Yeah, and I think that part's gonna get overlooked in the when you're comparing it to the fourth quarter But we also we have to look at this game for what it was through four quarters And I think you you have to look at that first half and how well this defense played in that in that regard, too It's it's always wild to me how many Raiders connections there are on this Falcons roster But that includes Anthony rush who the Raiders signed as an undrafted free agent and he didn't make the team out of camp But you could just see he had a great preseason the guy had some juice on the inside And he obviously a huge body that I really thought was gonna make it and he's kind of bounced around the league He's gone to Philadelphia. He's gone to a couple different places and never really landed solid footing But I think he somehow a practice squad guy Offers an upgrade to what they're doing on the inside and it's those little things right that that do change things It's sure all the drama that you made a great point all the drama at the end is what is what's gonna be on the headlines Right, but if they don't limit the Saints to field goals early, it doesn't we don't even get to that point, right? It's it's a completely different thing so and D&P's always says I'm paraphrasing but yards don't matter points do right and this was a perfect the first half first three quarters We're a perfect example of that, but we're talking lots about defense here. Chris. What about on the offense? It's the first game since Calvin Ridley's been put on the non football injury list You know, obviously we're where we're talking a lot about Matt Ryan and CP anybody else Jump out to you on the offensive side Yeah, I thought a lot of they had a good game and I'm the key is am I seeing that right? Oh, yeah OZ Alameda is a key is yeah, if I'm not John John Dighton's gonna Tell me about that, but I'm yeah He had he had a great game I'm he had two touchdowns and three receptions 58 yards and he hadn't scored since they played the Giants And he I thought his second touchdown was especially impressive because he just Left March on latimore in the dust He shook him into the back of the end zone and scored there and Russell gauge to played a while He had seven catches for 64 yards and earlier in the week gauge even said, you know I'm ready to fill that role if need be that that Ridley leaves But he also said it can't just be me It's going to take all of us and it was a collective effort from CP to Russ to Alameda And Kyle Pitts did his thing like he always does but the receiving core really stepped up Yeah, I think it was Matt Ryan who said at some point during the week He was like this is gonna be a by committee type of endeavor type of attack And I think you absolutely saw that play out today. It was really nice to see Russell gauge. It was become more active He didn't have a target. He's obviously had some injury issues in including he was limited with the growing injury early in the week He's always or last year. He was a third down target. Yeah, I said all the time I was like Russell gauges Matt Ryan's favorite third down target Yeah, and and he was on a couple of key third downs in the first half So it was nice to see him get going lots of unsung heroes in this victory And I think it's important to point those guys out We're starting quarter number four talking about this victory and where the Falcons stand after eight games and What they need to do moving forward. They have a very tough game against Dallas coming up next week That should be interesting, but we did it again. We've done this before we did it again We typed on NFL comm playoff and then picture. Yeah, and the webpage I'm staring at is NFL playoff picture. And yeah, the Falcons are in that seven seats. I Know I know it does the season end today near it. It does not as a matter of fact a week Yeah, there's a long way to go. Yeah, there's a lot of tough teams coming up on this schedule Yeah, so nonetheless where the Falcons are four and four at this point your progress report and How they can I don't know it's hard to say build on this moving forward. It's such a week-to-week league Right, you look at Carolina Carolina look like world beaters last week and they can't do anything at all. They were awful Yeah, it blows my mind. Anyway, I had digress Back on track goes on tangent. Yeah. All right. Sorry. Help me stop talking Where do you think the Falcons are at at four and four? You know in the in the 70s, yeah So I remember before the season even started someone asked me like what do you think is a good season for the Falcons in 2021 and I remember saying then and I still believe it if the Falcons can stay around 500 that's a win for this team at this point in time in where the organization is with Arthur Smith and Terry Fauner coming in in year one They're at 500 right now and you know, there are some games. I guarantee you that they want back They want that Washington game back. They want that Carolina game back But you have an opportunity going forward where you have some teams that you if you're looking at it You're like, you know what like we can get some more wins. Is Dallas one of those teams? I don't know and going to Dallas next week is gonna be quite the test And I think it would be I think it would be really really interesting to see How what Falcons team shows up on Sunday against Dallas and if they can be Competitive with Dallas. I think that's in and of itself. Even if they don't come away with the win I'm okay with that because I think that would be progress from where they were even two three weeks ago playing like Washington So that's where I'm at head space wise there's a lot that has to happen and there's a lot that has to happen with other teams too to kind of for the Falcons to Kind of continue to stay right there, but where we are right now. I'm good with them being around 500 No, obviously the Falcons seem to be on the road to a convincing victory here through three and a half quarters They were cruising I had written the lead that got torn to shreds and never saw the light of day Because things got interesting at the end, but Chris. Here's my question to you, right? so they beat the Jets and the Giants and I'm spacing dolphins and and again the dolphins that those teams don't strike fear in many right the Saints do they were five and two entering this game Does this victory mean more? Does it tell you something more Chris because it came against quality opposition and yeah in New Orleans? That's a big two. Well, well, I think we got we have to look at it, too and I think I Think sure. I think I think it does a win in New Orleans is a great win But also their quarterback wasn't the guy who's playing quarterback and he might not and he might not be the guy who's playing quarterback in the future He hasn't been the guys were playing quarterback for most of the season I know he played most of the game last week against the Buccaneers Not saying this is what I think is great about the win is the way the offense looked against the Saints defense Yes, right good because you know the Saints defense has been so stout all year. They made Brady Frustrated last week. I think it through two interceptions last week He looked like a shell of himself and Matt Ryan just did whatever he wanted to do Against this defense which says a lot And I think I was most impressed by what that defense did and looking at what Teddy Bridgewater did against the Cowboys defense today, right? think that For Falcons fans and people who support this team. I think should be excited to see Him that this offense looking like the way they did today against this defense because That's what this team was supposed to be. You know a team that can score points So if they can if the if the Falcons offense can score points, I think they will win games Yeah, and they've been scoring a lot Except for that Carolina game. Yeah, they've been scoring a lot of points in in high volumes I you know, I do think that at 4 and 4 is probably an appropriate record and it's a positive thing for a team That's in transition that's learning new schemes learning how to operate under head coach Arthur Smith Learning learning learning right and they've made some mistakes. Sure that happens. They have corrected some they Most important thing they continue to fight. There's no flinch in these guys That's a quote from Arthur Smith as well And I think that that will help them moving forward who knows what their record is going to end up being But I think that's gonna help them bring out the best version of themselves and set them up set themselves up Long term for Arthur Smith to get the type of buy-in from the roster that is required for this team to really turn a corner And not just flash So with that we have hit another buzzer here That's the end of the fourth quarter that also brings an end to the Falcons final whistle podcast after a 27 to 25 victory over the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans at the Superdome huge win No matter how you slice it incredibly dramatic Patterson even said that we don't need to give our fans heart attacks every single week They're kind of doing that right now. I saw a tweet that said he hasn't been here long enough to realize that that's not funny And that's probably not going to change anytime soon because this team wins in crazy and dramatic ways But you guys know what to do at this point right head over to iTunes or Spotify even YouTube subscribe to the channel rate review all that fun stuff and Be sure to tune air be sure to download this again next week after the Falcons play the Cowboys That's when the next episode is coming at you