 I think it was a year that was relatively unexpected. It's been an interesting year for Arthur Smith. It's a defense, a dean piece, and an amazing job at trying to dial in, find a way to keep them in games. To come into this organization into year one and try to establish your particular identity or culture, what's going to be hard? What's going to be tough? Arthur Smith set a tone right at the beginning. There are no excuses. This is going to be a tough and physical football team. Winning mentality can be something that can really help this team moving forward. You really are turning a page in the organization's story. They're bringing in talented guys, but they're also bringing in talented guys who are really hungry. They did a hell of a job with the draft. All those so-called experts love what we did at the draft. I think you have a new coaching staff. You have a new front office coming in and there's a lot of changes. But I think even in those changes, you saw a foundation that was being laid. They established key philosophies that are going to carry the Falcons through as they attempt to usher in a period of sustained success. And it's building upon that in 2022 that's going to be the marker of where this organization goes. It's an exciting time when we're looking at the future. You feel good about the progression of where this organization is going because of those two guys at the top. We get it. You can make all excuses. We're not going to make one damn excuse. It is football season time. And his training camp has officially opened up. There's just new energy. And whether you want to buy into it or not, I want to see my team improve, get better, and I want to ride with them along the way as we get back to hopefully a championship. Mike, it's not that hard. When it comes to training camp, it's really important that you get individual evaluations and also collective team evaluations. What is the vision for these two draft classes and how are we actively seeing that in this training camp? So who is the face of the franchise? That's kind of what I'm excited to see. Who is ready to step up and say, I'm going to be the leader of this team? Dave established a theme over the course of the entire off season and it's prove it. Earn your respect. Go out and get it. It's getting the rookies ready. It's getting these free agents assimilated into this locker room in this culture that you already kind of have built in Atlanta. You think about a guy like Lorenzo Carter coming in here. What kind of role is he going to have? You think about Casey Hayward in that backside. How is he going to help that young secondary that you just talked about? Who's going to be the guy on the outside who's going to get to the quarterback? I think this has been one of the most important Falcons training camps that we've seen in a long time and maybe one of the most intriguing in the entire NFL because of the level of competition, because of the opportunity available to young draft picks to older guys coming in on a one year deal. There's opportunity everywhere, but it will only be given to the guys that earn it. That's a staple of an Arthur Smith Falcons. It has been important for the entire roster to compete, compete, compete. This is a team in transition. There are a lot of spots on this roster that are up for grabs. So can you go out and earn it? Because if not, somebody from behind will take your job. These coaches are really kind of hammering it. You need to be aggressive. They would rather pull you back than have to push you forward. It's not going to be mediocre. It's not going to be average. It's not going to be in the bottom half of the league. This team's got a chip on the shoulder. We're ready to go out there and improve ourselves. It seemed like this team is already so connected. Watch practice, Zach. And you can feel the energy. Where y'all at? How are we here? Y'all taking it now. We need it. We need it. When you have competition within a team, especially between offense and defense, I think that's nothing but a good thing. Everyone is trying to prove something here. They're working on details. They're working on fits. They're working together. How are you going to get better? How are you not going to make the same mistake twice? Fischer, encouraging signs for a team that sees the expectations, wants to give expectations a giant double middle finger. And really push beyond that. And this crowd here at Ford Field on a unique start time on a Friday. Year two for both Arthur Smith and Dan Campbell kind of begins here tonight. It's about the work. This is about can we protect the quarterback? Can we maybe run the football a couple of times? Can Drake London and company catch the ball or two? closer you get to the 53 man cut down is when you really start getting these very nitty gritty evaluations of where players are. I think the first pre-season game is key because it's the first time we're seeing so many of these new guys come together. Can we all agree that with a lot of new faces how some of these guys play is going to matter as to how they're viewed, what they do on this team and whether they're going to be there week one or not. There's only so much that you can learn in training camp. There's only so much that you can learn without live tackling. That Lions game it's a good baseline report card about where you are and what you need to do moving forward to get this team to come together and play better when it matters most which is week one against the Saints. And here is Marcus Mariota's first snap as an Atlanta Falcon. Play fake Mariota gonna boot back to the right and he will turn the corner and look out take a big leg got knocked out of bounds. Marcus Mariota showed me a little bit of everything on that first drive against the Lions. They'll hand to Williams left side Damian slips through first down out to the 30 yard line. He threw a couple of absolute strikes. Mariota play fake to Williams Mariota on the boot back here to the right gonna zip it down the field under the catch in stride out to the 45 a strong throw and a great catch by the first round pick Drake London. There's a difference between guys who are fast and guys who play fast. Marcus Mariota is quick quick quick. Let's coming Mariota takes a clear run around the near side and skips out across the midfield line. He is going to play with a level of physicality that we haven't really seen at the position in a long time. Empty backfield snap to Marcus he'll look across the middle and a sliding catch is held on to by Cudarrow Hodge at the 11 yard line in the first down. Second and goal at the 6th for Atlanta turning 7 nothing here's Mariota play fake he'll move the pocket to the left has an alley turns the corner and hits the pylon touchdown Atlanta. Marcus Mariota passed effectively and used his feet beautifully in this drive that gets Atlanta on the board with 31 seconds to play first period. It's a dimension that this offense is not seen in a long time. Ion's on the attack and here is Boyle slipping across the middle and Dorian Etheridge stuck a hand in. You were able to actively see as the game went on a shift in what the defense was able to do and able to stop. You had guys who were flashing. When you look at the statue though you look at the ball game you say okay 48's always around the football. And Atlanta with some sure tackling by Dorian Etheridge. D'Alfred is a guy kind of coming out of nowhere and that's where he really made his name. Boyle up in the pocket trying to slip it back and it's intercepted. Picked off and headed for the end zone as D'Alfred. You have a guy like Arnold Ebiketti who really emerged and did some really good things even though the stat line's not there you saw what he could be. And Atlanta's recovered and it's picked up by Timmy Horne. You know the difference in the game you know we have to get those turnovers and get points off of turnovers so you know to create sudden change and to be able to to reward the defense to put points on the board. And I think Marcus Mariotta's night is over here is Desmond Ritter. Well well well. What you saw from Desmond Ritter in that Detroit game was a guy who is just a gamer who just wants to win. Desmond sets throws caught and another big catch that's Demir Byrd. Came in there and you want to see these guys out of the handle that verse it wasn't perfect. A lot to learn from but he kept swinging. First performance up there I thought it was pretty solid. Leifeng looks right gonna loop it for Hesse. Caught it. Touchdown Atlanta with Parker Hesse on the back end. In the preseason you never look at records. You very rarely look at the score but Arthur Smith just trying to set a tone and a standard here that no matter what you're going to go win the football game. We want to build a program that that value is winning no matter when we get a chance to go compete whether it's preseason regular season. There are a lot of things they had to overcome throughout the game. They had adversity through the game. Arthur Smith could have said let's run five more plays and we're out of here and who cares. He was like let's go win. The ball of the 26 yard line it's third and 14. Ritter underneath that's Branks knocked down after the catch at the 21. Fourth down and nine at the 21. Here's Ritter. Pressure coming. Flushed from the pocket to the right. Ritter gonna throw it up. Trying to come back. Burnhard catches it. Touchdown Atlanta. Holy smokes. This team they are going to be physical in every single game. Being able to put those players in those situations that's everything that you need. We saw a quarterback and Desmond Ritter a wide out in Jared Bernhardt that they were not afraid of that big moment. Now this week is kind of interesting because the Jets are up next and they're going to go up to New York. Practice with the Jets you're going to have this combined team combination thing that goes on. Joint practices are really a great opportunity to finally see what you look like versus somebody else. What individuals look like versus other individuals in the league. It's intensely competitive. It was good work. Different scheme, different fronts. Probably held up pretty well. There's different juice. Yeah okay if you don't know their system they don't know your system. The excitement of seeing somebody else a different color jersey and going out there and competing. You forget that is a practice and it kind of feels like a game. Competitive, fun, high emotion, going out against a different team. So many new guys, a new quarterback, a new defensive signal caller. That's why they're so key for this group in particular. All right guys what are we watching tonight? Falcon's taking on the Jets 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. You want to see constant progress. You want to see more chemistry. We saw more of the first team offense. We saw more of the first team defense. You want to see better run fits. You want to see everything get a little bit tighter and you want the operation of how they run the offense and defense to start being more like at a regular season level. Marcus looking left side, oh my heavens, wide open and caught. The play of Jalen Hawkins has improved exponentially. I thought we were efficient, made some plays, got some points on the board. Looks left, gonna throw it. I think that's what's great about preseason is it allows you to get into these real game situations and find where you can improve it. Final preseason game back at home. Last chance to make an impression on the coaching staff. For some of these guys it's the biggest week of their lives. You really are coming down to the wire in terms of who is going to make your initial 53 man roster. This is the week where it really takes shape. I get one more chance to show this organization that I need to be here. Desmond Ritter is a guy who you can describe with one word and that's poise. So Ritter's first throw is picked by Thomas. We have one guy on the front called the wrong way. He let one mistake become two. So he understood that. He didn't hit him palp, put his head down, comes out the next drive. I thought he was very solid. Ritter looking to throw, shoots it, caught. Desmond looks right, slips it to Algiers. He'll catch it and fall into the end zone for the Atlanta touchdown. Tyler Algiers for the Atlanta touchdown. The backs mentality, the way they run and we've seen Tyler Algiers today. I saw what the Falcons really need especially in short yarded situations and obvious running downs. Somebody who was willing to take a hit and keep going. They're going to hand it straight ahead and Al Jere plunges in. Touchdown Atlanta. Yeah they ran hard. I thought the line, the receivers, they blocked. You're able to get a lead and you get these guys in a flow and there's nothing I enjoy more. From the defense, I think I saw some encouraging sides. You want to see are they better than they were in late July and I think the answer with so many of these young guys is yes. I was excited. I mean a lot of the two is not just the sacks but when you're running certain pressure packages in games everybody being in the same place. Tackles for a loss, getting their hands on passes, tipping it at the line of scrimmage. Anderson got to him, put the fly ball in the end and Perry in his intercept. Bernard stands at the Atlanta 30 with 3-42 to play in his block and it is scooped up, rolling into the end zone. The end slow move for the touchdown. Is it going to be a touchdown? I made him kick field goals and we were able to score touchdowns on the red zone. This was a good way to cap the preseason for us. Preseason or not, it could be the winner at home. It is hot off the press. Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot have just released their initial 53-man roster. That 53-man roster is very fluid and it will continue to be throughout the season. Every guy we got in that locker room, I appreciate their effort. The entire spring, summer camp, these guys worked extremely hard. Those guys efforts. The expectations are what they are and the Falcons don't care about what they are. They see the outside expectations and that allows them the opportunity to play with a chip on their shoulder. The one thing I've come away with since camp open, mindset. Seems like that message is clear and defined in year two. The mentality, you like the mentality, there's a heart in those mentality about this team. This is a team that is going to show up, they're not going to back down from taking the lick or taking it on the chin. You can certainly see that Arthur Smith's guidance on that. We're starting to make that transition. They're about going out and they're about proving to themselves, proving to their supporters that they're as good as they believe. They're going to go out there and they're going to play hard and they're going to be physical in the moments when it matters. This team is going to give it to you for four straight quarters. They will not give up. That is the identity of this team. They will never stop coming at you.