 What's up everybody and welcome to the latest edition of the Falcons final whistle podcast I'm Scott Bayer across from me in the workroom adjacent to the chairman's suite Wow the Falcons team hotel is Tori McElaney We just got off of a plane then got on to a bus then got off of off of a bus right checked into the rooms It immediately came here to record a podcast for you fine fellows, you know, you're welcome Atlanta Falcons fans obviously trying to break down and Analyze figure out what happened after a 31 to 27 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Inglewood, California, Los Angeles a city that we that we really just in right have now left because the falcons are on a Two-game road swing across the West Coast playing the Rams and the Seahawks We're not going to get into the Seahawks just yet. You will have a week's worth of coverage for that. Let's dive into Tori this game Against the Rams which didn't start well, right? They fell down 25 points in the second half They were down 21 to 3 in the first half then came roaring back Thanks to some opportune defense and an excellent special teams play and found themselves ever so close to winning this game I just said a whole lot of things in a row. You did Give me your impression of what it was like to experience and then listen to others speak and react to what was a crazy finish Yeah, it was a really honestly from start to finish It felt like the first two quarters of the game were just vastly different than the last two quarters, obviously but being there and watching it it didn't feel it was crazy because It didn't feel like there was a comeback mounting until Troy Anderson blocked the punt and Lorenzo Carter ran it in for a touchdown. I thought I was with five minutes to Yeah, that was a five minutes to go and even before then I never felt like this was like a mounting comeback But as soon as that happened, I was like, oh shoot like we've got ourselves a game here Now does that negate what happened in the first half? No, and I'm sure we're gonna get into all of that but like for me It was a fun game to cover and as much as I think people are probably upset by the outcome I mean that's this this type of craziness is what we love about football from start to finish So I don't hate it. Yeah, and this is the kind of craziness that Falcons fans experienced a lot last year They lost games by some significant margins. They won a bunch of them It's almost like they they flipped it from last week like last week They play three quarters of great football and then kind of like fall off the the the wheels fall off in the fourth quarter And then you switch it and now it's like play not great in the first half and then the second half in the fourth quarter It's like like what you said they come roaring back and so it's kind of flipping It's on on its head. Yeah, and I don't and so we are going to address a number of different topics on this Falcons final whistle Which is taking place at 10 19 p.m. That's specific time. So everybody in Atlanta is is Snuggled up tight in their beds very If you can't tell by our voices, we're very tired, but we were not gonna skip that's that's not what we do here It's Falcons final whistle what we are going to do on this episode is we're going to kind of break this thing down Get a get a bit deeper into what was a pretty significant comeback where the Falcons had Three minutes to score a touchdown to win it not just to tie it but to win it They had all of the big mo they had all the momentum We're also going to talk about some things that happened in the first half That allowed them to fall into such a deep hole namely their red zone Inefficiency their struggles on third down and then we're going to get into two specific individuals Number one Kyle Pitts who to this point only has four catches for 38 yards on 10 targets And Drake London who has more than a hundred and fifty yeah and scored a touchdown in his NFL debut So we're going to we're going to get to all of that over the course of the next 15 ish minutes or until until we stop talking right Or maybe till we just you know fall asleep. That's that's true, whichever one comes first So let's let's start this podcast at the end of the game Okay, we talked a little bit about this comeback and when it kind of felt real And it's weird because if you look at it and the tide kind of turned By by scoring, you know Drake London scores his first NFL touchdown in the third quarter with three minutes left That felt like a kind of like a garbage time touchdown Yeah, and then the defense which it has done a lot over the first two games Made a big play yep, Michael Walker huge interception that turns into that Drake London touchdown Alameda is the key a scores a touchdown. I think I was writing frantically. I'm not even sure if I knew that that had happened Yeah, no, I think I said they scored another touchdown. You're like, oh, okay, great And then all of a sudden when everything got really really real and so five stadium got really tense Yeah, is when Troy Anderson busts through the Rams defensive line or I'm sorry They're Rams kind of put coverage line blocks the punt So Carter picks it up runs it in for a touchdown and then and then you're looking at it And you're like this is a whole different can of worms now, right and they were in it I think that was what was I mean for so long it felt like Watching the game was just kind of it felt like it was dragging and it was like they and it did feel like there Certain points in the first half where it was like if the Falcons would just get out of their own way They would be able to do some things and and I think that was like That once you got to the second half in that third that fourth quarter specifically you saw The defense kind of come alive and you saw the offense get moving in a way that they hadn't been moving before And so I it really did feel like the atmosphere Kind of shifted especially after that blocked punt and here's the crazy thing There's still more crazy things to at least bring up now We all know that you watched it But I think something that That gets forgotten and all of these wacky plays is that so after that The block punt and the touchdown scored the Rams get the ball They have a third down Stafford to Cooper cup is automatic as it is Cooper cup converts the third down which seems like end of the road right until Darren Hall Punches the ball out and then it kind of just rolls around for like a couple seconds And then he's the one that ends up grabbing it before he steps out of bounds that play In terms of just like not giving up like I know Arthur Smith talks a lot about like if there's one thing This team is like we're going to play until the end like until the last whistle blows until the last minute Second has ticked off the clock like we're going to be physical and we're going to fight until the end And that play I think was indicative of that mindset I think you completely personified this never say die attitude that I talked to Michael Walker after the game and Jake Matthews and Kyle Pitt said it just this this willingness to continue to swing even when they're down 31 to 10 In the fourth quarter the continuing effort that is there. Okay effort is great We're not giving out greats for effort here right not in a zero sum game like the NFL you can discuss gray areas That's what we do for a living But when it comes down to it did you win or did you lose and the Falcons ultimately lost this game because after Darren Darren Hall recovered his own fumble, right The falcons had three minutes plenty of time to drive Marcus mariota throws an interception on third and 13. I believe and it was one of those balls that We're gonna have to go back and watch the tape But it just felt to me so Jalen Ramsey goes over the top and plucks it it sort of seemed like you you'd mentioned that Yeah, it felt like that maybe like yeah that brian edwards Maybe jumped too early or too late like it just felt like the timing of his jump was also off And it allowed Jalen Ramsey to kind of have an easier time getting to the ball and that that play was I think really frustrating because At in that moment the Falcons actually had time on their side It was they they honestly they didn't need to score too early And because they didn't want to give the ball back to the Rams and then but you don't want to like waste too much time And you're looking at a third and long situation Which isn't great, but in that scenario you know that you have two tries at it And so you think okay You can pick up six and then try on fourth down and then you know that's for all the marbles But to throw an interception In that moment I think was really tough and that that was I think the moment that it really like sucked the the air out of The for lack of a better word like the falcon sales, you know Yeah, and then they still had and then they still had a chance and then they still had a chance because the Rams can't convert They they score a safety on themselves free kick it out of bounds setting up a 50 yard essentially One play hail mary. Yeah that never got off the ground. Marcus mariota doesn't even get that the pass off and ultimately The falcons lose this one and just a quick note about about the brian edwards play We're talking about this in an instant reaction format We haven't been a fit of slowing it down on coach's film so we can evaluate that a lot more in the future We're just giving you initial impressions there So with all that kind of being said there were opportunities for the falcons to finish this game outright We've seen arthur smith falcons teams do that before But the head coach would be the first to say that each team is its own unique thing And everyone's tired of hearing me say how how performance in close games is not always translatable Right unless you have um an erin rogers type elite quarterback then it remains with that individual But nonetheless when like when you look at it how like how do you look at it because because you were saying You didn't even really feel like this was like a real serious comeback attempt until five minutes left in like in in the fourth quarter Yeah, do you view it as like opportunity lost? Do you view it as Man, they had to come back from so much. How do you view? These comeback attempt that we're talking about independent of everything that we're going to talk about next that happened earlier on I think if i'm only looking at the fourth quarter alone I'm very impressed by what I saw from this team both offensively and defensively like when you look at the the first like what 10 to 13 minutes of the Of the fourth quarter you see a team that is very much fighting and very much in the game If you ask me that in of the first half, I'm like, no I don't feel like they're in the game because it didn't feel that way There were a lot of moments where I I wanted to see the falcons play cleaner football Particularly in the red zone But then you get them in the fourth quarter and it feels like a different group it feels like a group that's re rejuvenated and and Having something to prove and wanting to out and play well and I I I wish that we could just talk about the fourth quarter without the context of the other three Same exact way that I felt like we I wanted to be able to talk about the first three quarters of the saint's loss and not talk about the fourth But when you're talking about these games The fair way to do it is to talk about it in the full context of the game and all four quarters And it's I think you know, arthur smith has said it before and it's like one play Even though sometimes a lot of games come down to one play that one play isn't the maker break deal of the game You have to take into context all of the plays that led up to it and and so for us it was like That was why after the game I was like, yeah the comeback's great and everything and you love to see that fight, but it doesn't negate Going 50 percent in the red zone and not scoring a touchdown until what three minutes left to go in the third Like that to me if you are battling it out through four quarters It's a different conversation than having to come to put a lot of pressure on yourself to come back in the fourth Yeah, and that's you are the queen of podcast Podcast transitions because it leads us directly in like into this next topic something I touched on ever so briefly in the instant replay go read that and and and you delve into in great detail um in torey's takeaways and I think it's worthy of Everybody going back to torey's story and really taking a close. Oh, you're just saying that Yeah, I mean I want the page view for you and for me Yeah, and plus I wrote mine during the game when i'm frantically typing as fast humanly possible You had a chance to ponder I did I got to sit and just kind of sink it let it all sink in But I do go back to those those first two drives where the falcons got deep in the deep into the red zone They had medium length distance to either score a touchdown or convert a first down penalties put them in long distances And ultimately left them with two field goal attempts one went through one which of which did not That's if you're a best-case scenario you get forced 14 points Nearly worst-case scenario was what the falcons had you only get three and they and like and they hurt themselves and that was an issue Youngway was very busy against the saints. This is a continuing issue a trend that that simply has to be rectified yeah for the last two weeks the falcons have gone They have a 50 touchdown conversion rate inside the red zone not good enough not good enough and arthur smith has said that Like that's not going to win games in this league Where everybody else is it's just not and you have to convert And as much and I've said this before and I'll say it again as much as I think this fan base loves and adores Young waiku it'd be great to see less of him and it'd be great to not put so much pressure On him I would love to see six or seven points not three and I think jake matthews said it best after the game It's like the goal is to score touchdowns when you're in the red zone Like that's that's the goal the goal isn't to kick field goals Even though that's all well and good you get points on the board But the goal is to get it in the end zone and I think it was really those drives Where you're looking at the the rams had a 14 to 3 lead in After those two drives and it was like 14 to 3 is very different than 14 to 10 14 to 7 like if they score a touchdown on one of those In and then also going back to what you're saying in terms of the penalties inside the red zone I mean those hurt you as much as anything And and I think that was the frustrating part and that was what I was looking at after the game. It's like You can't go back you can't say what if what if what if but it's like if you put any points on the board on that first drive To not come away with any points like we were talking last week and Arthur Smith was talking about the red zone inefficiencies in the fourth quarter against the saints and not being able to punch it in He was like, you know you you when you only settle for three It mounts up and that can hurt you later We saw that actively happen in week two against the rams They don't score in the first half And then you go or don't score a touchdown in the first half And then you go into the fourth quarter and you're playing super well. I mean you those points You miss them. You really do you go back to this first drive and I'm not going to get super Uh micro on this but 13 plays eight minutes six Second drive 54 yards zero points That's that's a hard pit will swallow that the rams turned into a touchdown the next drive They go forward I think on fourth and two turn it over on downs the rams turn that Into a touchdown. Yeah, and now you're down 14 nothing and you're not exactly sure what happened because you feel like you're playing Pretty well, but somehow you're down two scores And then then everything changes then game plans alter and then you have to Find heroic ways, but I do like again the way the falcon stuck with it, but I think tory I think what I think we've I think what I think that I think that's too many things It's like on friends like they don't know that we know that they know exactly but I I believe I'm not gonna say don't think again I I believe it's important that we showed what was good late What was missing early? Yeah, and when you have these things that are missing on a team In transition with a lot of dead money not spent on talent and a and a team that has to fight and scrap for everything They don't have the luxury of of margin for error that some of these better teams naturally do So when you give away these opportunities, it hurts the falcons in their current state More than it would another team. I hope that that makes sense to everybody But I I think ultimately that's an issue here. Yeah, I think also too like when you think about it The falcons were not only in these games, but could have won these games right and if you were I don't know who said it may again it may have been jake matthews That was like if we make one more player if we do what we need to do correctly in the moments that matter This is a completely different conversation that we're having that means that the falcons would be Have two games won against two very very good teams and that's a completely different conversation Obviously, that's not the conversation that we're having right now But they're not there. I mean they lost these games by what a total of five points right That's That's crazy to me to think about it because I think a lot of people think that Have thought that this team wouldn't be competitive In a lot of regards because of the transition that it's going through But we are seeing them play competitive football. It's not pretty all the time It's not perfect all the time, but they're in the last two games now Of course, no moral victories being in games when you don't pull them out But I mean there is stuff that you can take from this Yeah, and this is game two of a 17 game season Then this team has to find a way to take that next step which is Finishing games and I wrote one version of a headline of my column that's why I was like Don't include the word finish. It's kind of a four letter word and like in this fan base It doesn't make it any less important right just because it triggers something in the fan base And if we're looking at this you team as its own individual entity and what arthur smith and terry fun Or trying to do building it they're trying to Change some of these not narratives. They don't like they don't care about narratives But they don't want to like that like they want to finish they want to be known as a team that can finish Yeah, they want to be known as an explosive team um Something that has come up at the end of this game was that kyle pits the Who turned in the second best season ever by a rookie tied in last year who had a fantastic Training camp and I don't use that word lightly right Four catches for 38 yards on 10 targets through two games He was targeted seven times in the first game He was targeted three times in this one one of those targets through a 36 yard pass interference Call Let's add that to his total. What the heck call it 70 yards And it's still when like when you're losing games and your best player regardless of position I think that's fair to say Isn't producing steadily or isn't overwhelmingly targeted and you're losing that the questions naturally come up And they have come up about why kyle is more actively involved in the game um, it was a I don't know a flash points too much of a term But it was a topic of conversation After this one, it's something that we're going to explore more. Yeah, it's something that I think that we need to explore more um Yeah, because I mean Arthur was asked about it after the game as well Yeah, and I know I have a lot of questions too because like, you know We are talking about this within a couple hours of this game being over. We haven't seen an all 22 film We don't know how the ram's defense was Pressuring kyle pits how much they were shading coverage to him how that impacted what the falcons could or couldn't do There are a lot of things. I think that go into The targets that we didn't see kyle pits have tonight if if i'm being honest and you're right like arthur smith was asked about it And his his whole thing is he said he was like kyle's a huge part of our offense and the thing is You have to take it with context. It's the same thing. We're trying to win and he has a huge impact on the game and he was going through it and he was talking about him being an important piece and how essentially he used the example of Kadarra hodge who who had a really great play I can't remember what quarter it was all of its first half first half. Yeah And arthur smith says, you know, here's the example you target him On a play and if they cover him or they account for him then kadarra hodge comes in and makes a big play It happened a few a few times things like that. It's not fantasy football We're just trying to win and we'll continue to look at everything and try to get better And that was his quote and like that's kind of where We are I think there's a lot more analyzing to do a lot more conversations to have about What is happening whether it's at the quarterback position tied in position secondary They have a say in where a quarterback goes with the ball. I mean all of these questions I think are valid to ask and and also valid to try and figure out an answer Yeah, because he's an impact player and The falcons need him to be that impact player in ways beyond look He's doing better as a blocker. He's drawing coverage away all those types of things The falcons again in their current state like they need their stars to really produce the how court How paterson has done to this point And also like we were talking to kyle in the locker room after the game and I mean he was getting grilled on this lack of targets and if he was upset about it and he kept saying like Like what do you want me to do you want me to go and scream at arthur? And or do you want me to go and scream at marcus for not getting them down? He's like, I don't operate like that He's like i'm that's true. That's not that's not no That's not his personality and like he kept saying I think he said it three or four times while we're standing there talking to him Like i'm not a selfish player. I want to win. I'm not a selfish player I want to win if and that's like the mantra that came from him after only being targeted a handful number of times today, right and I can I transition to drake london and then and then moving on to our our final topic, which is drake london He's got again. I don't have the full stats in front of me. I apologize. It's late But drake london has had at least 70 yards receiving in both games to this point. He had 86 today I believe 74 last week. That sounds very right. He scored his He scored his uh first league touchdown first nfl touchdown He saved the ball. He said it's going in a case not going to his parents house is going to his house He's gonna keep it with him. Um, that's a big moment, but this wasn't this wasn't um a cause for Universal celebration because they lost and drake london understands that that you can have individual accolades And he can be proud of some good moments that he had But they still lost the game and he seemed to find the right balance of that when he was talking When I was there too and when he was talking to me and some other Reporters as well seemed to strike a good tone there But something that arthur smith said on Sunday night and he said before is it's confirming why they drafted him. Yeah, because he's going out there I even asked him It's just feel like this nfl transit this nfl thing is easier. Maybe then you thought he's like no It's not easy It's just it shows that they're putting me in positions to win and I think a lot of hard detail oriented work I've been doing on my own with the team Sent from the spring and the summer is starting to pay off that it's not oh, I walked in and now I'm good now It's he's really worked on his craft on subtle Things that help him get open and help him be what is He has the complete package of traits to make him a complete receiver. Yeah Um and what he's done to this point has been good, of course again, he wants them in winning effort, right? and I I think I go back to something that You know, he was coming off of that knee injury and I think I even said it on the last podcast Like I don't think anybody really realized how much that injury was impacting him in the pre season Because when he was talking it it really did feel like it was a pretty significant injury that It almost it didn't feel that way in the moment And so to see him come out and do what he's done the last two weeks I think is very commendable, but there was a moment was one of the first times that we saw him back out on the field after after the injury and he was talking to tj8's who is the falcons wide receivers coach and Their conversation it was very it was like watching two People like just trying to figure each other out and like what works what doesn't work and I it And I'm standing kind of like off to the side, you know, I can't hear what they're saying but They're literally talking about like arm movements and like how you would move like your wrist and your elbow Like to get by a defender. It was really fascinating to see them working on something as small and minute as That's your arm placement and it's that type of stuff that and also just Drake London is a lot more, you know, we watch him in the pre draft process and see the highlights and everything Drake London I'll say this about Drake London Drake London is Way more of a fierce competitor than I originally thought he was because when we talk to him He's a very calm very quiet cool collected. Just chill On the field he is he like gets mad like he he wants like there was a moment where Marcus threw a quote-unquote interception, but it was called A pass interference. It was intended for a long days a kiosk and it lands and I can't remember whose hands And drake comes up and like kind of like punches the ball And he comes over to the side and he has his helmet on he kind of slaps it and it's like this guy is a very fierce Competitor, this is a guy who really really wants to win not saying that everybody doesn't want to win Everybody does want to win but to see kind of how drake London operates in these game scenarios and how Fierce and heated he gets it's very fun. He's a very very fun player to watch. I mean even Hurdling a guy down the sideline. I mean he's making these plays that it's like, okay This all makes sense. He's the guy that they they wanted to go after in the draft Yeah, and I think ultimately look kyle pits is going to get his yeah, he just will he's he's too good to not yeah 100% so he's going to get his drake London is is going to get his the falcons are going to win some games They're going to lose some or two But they're going to win and this team these individuals are going to continue to evolve and grow and what I think fans should really try to keep an eye on big picture-wise is how are they progressing week to week? How are they continuing to get better and Arthur Smith said it it's time for a breakthrough and a breakthrough is a win jake math He said I don't care if it's three to not there 55 to 54. That is our next step No more we're doing some good things dot dot dot But the next thing is we are doing some good things that resulted in a victory And that's what we're going to be looking on throughout the course this week. We're going to be a complete game I very much want to see a complete game and we're going to be keeping an eye out for all of those types of things We're going to be in the great state of washington for the entire week tori macalani and I look forward to a lots of exclusive content They're going to be practicing up here and we're going to have Full coverage on atlanta falcons dot com. Do your thing y'all great great review subscribe All that it is so late It's so late. Scott has thrown out of y'all. Yeah, and Now falcons final whistle is part of one individual channel. If you subscribe to falcons final whistle, awesome Thank you. Uh, we have something called the atlanta falcons podcast network, which is falcons audible Our new podcast falcons in focus and falcons final whistle all on one channel subscribe to one Get all the good stuff go over to youtube do your thing There's a bunch of different ways you can consume this content appreciate you sticking around Probably on a monday morning at this point listening to this and know that it's 1045. I haven't edited this thing yet So i'm staying up late for you people Anyway, bless it. We're all getting ready to go to bed. Uh, thank you so much tori And thank you guys for downloading and listening talk to you next week