 It's Friday night in the A. You know what that means. Kelly Price and Troy McElhady coming at you on Rise Up Tonight. Presented by AT&T. Y'all, I know it's Halloween week, but dang, Sunday was full of tricks and treats. What a spooky game, wasn't it? You know, it really felt like it had everything. It was wild, it was chaotic. Pick any adjective you want to describe it. That's what this game was. That game truly had everything. Well, my favorite line of the weekend was Kayla Puntley. She said, I don't even drink and I need a bottle of tequila after that game. And Arthur Smith said some more hairs on his head turned gray. Falcons fans at the risk of stating the obvious. I know you can relate. Let's huddle up about it. Let's huddle up with Kelly and Sorry on the world of Falcons football. What a spooky game for kickers in particular, right? Eddie Pinheiro misses two game-winning field goals for Carolina, which sets the stage for Youngway Koo's fourth career game-winning score. You and I have been around Koo as long as he's been here. And he really is, well, cool. These moments never seem too big for him. And he really does seem to have ice in his veins. Relying on him isn't something you want to have to do to win a game, of course. But it's incredible how consistent he's been. Yeah, I think Sunday's game really shows the value in having a good kicker, right? In a game that saw an opposing kicker miss not one, but two game-winners, and then to have Youngway Koo go out there and split the uprights with ease, there's so much value in that. Particularly in games that are being decided by less than seven points this year. There's a lot of them. Yeah, and as Marcus Mariotta said, Koo isn't just good for this team. He and his story is just good for football. Well, you don't get to that spot in the game and you don't get to overtime at all without some defensiveness adventures, let's call them. A lot to unpack regarding the Falcons' defense in this game, it's shortcomings. And yes, injuries are a factor, but they're never an excuse. And it's not like the injury situation is just gonna magically get better this week. So what can this young squad do now, Tori? They've put some stuff on film that the chargers and opponents coming up here are gonna look to take advantage of, which is something I feel like I've been saying for two weeks now, what's next? Yeah, what's standing in the way of this defensive potential, in my opinion, is getting off the field on third down. Let's use last Sunday as an example. The defense did a good job getting Carolina in third and medium situations, a good spot to be in, right? Well, not when Carolina converts said third downs and doesn't just pick up four or five yards needed to get the first down, but picks up 20 or 30 yards with third down explosives. Limiting those big chunk plays will be the difference for this defense. Those Monday film sessions are always a little nicer after a win and when you're atop your division, but let's be freaking for real. There is a lot of ugly film to review from that Panthers game. What have the Falcons been saying about what they maybe learned from Sunday and what they're gonna take forward? Yeah, so that's one of the many questions that I had post-game. How do you weigh in your head that yes, you did win, but it didn't have to be the fight that it ended up being? A few Falcons players, particularly the guys on offense, have spoken a bit this week and even post-game about the need to start games faster. We'll get into that later in the show, but that has been a theme in some of these games, particularly the ones that the Falcons have lost where they're just not productive through the first quarter or so. That's something they're hoping to rectify moving forward. As we talked about spooky things going on during that game on Sunday, but there were some Halloween vibes before the game too. We're walking in presented by Ross Fargo. You can't really tell, but that is Mike Ford. Not only did he score at the costume shop with the creepy mask, but I think because it's such a showstopper, the tie-dye go-shirt gets a little overlooked, and I think that's actually my favorite part of this look. Here, I'm actually gonna be really honest with you that I didn't even see the shirt that he was wearing until this moment right now. I just couldn't get past the mask, but now that you point out the shirt, I actually kind of love it. Can I have it? Because it's cute, so cute. And we have a glow-in-the-dark moment, which we love. Well, when you're about to make your first NFL start, you gotta show out, right? That's exactly what Cornell Armstrong did. Creamy, soft leather jacket, pops with some black shirt and jeans. The black and white kicks so fresh, so clean. Cornell Armstrong may be facing test after test on the field, having to face receivers like Jamar Chase and DJ Moore, but man, he is acing these fit tests pregame. Absolutely. Well, look at the expression on Michael Pruitt's face. He already knows he was gonna be a star of our Falcon's Fits coverage this week. We have no choice but to stand this incredible animal print dress shirt, which also has a really great collar I adore, but can we also get a little commotion for the Louis Vuitton sneakers? They really bring the Cheetah vibes full circle. They do, and y'all already know if someone is wearing Cheetah print or any animal print for that matter, that Kelly and I are going to include them. We have to, and this bit shows exactly why we have to, because, oh my gosh, look at it. He gave us no choice. We had to go with it. Well, we're gonna take a little trip down memory lane now, guys, as we ask them what their favorite TV shows were as a kid in our question of the week. I had to say Drinking Josh. Oh, it's me for my life. Drinking Josh is good. That was a good one. That's a lovely, good one. Yeah, Drinking Josh. As a kid, SpongeBob. Right there, down, right there, down! Definitely. I say my favorite show is probably Rugrats. I watch Rugrats all the time. I'm too old for that silly kid stuff. Too old? Yeah, I got responsibilities now. Sponsored batteries. That means I'm not allowed to have fun anymore for the rest of my life. And Rugrats all grown up. Yeah, I wish, I liked it. Mine probably was a mixture of Phineas and Ferb and Jimmy Newfoundland. Dang, that's a tough one. I would say either Ed Edd and Eddie is a set of cartoons, but other than that, or the Bulldogs. Got so many, bro. I'll top my head, I'll probably say proud of them. Tudai! Ask about mine. Tudai! But I got root TV shows. I was a big Disney channel guy, so we'll go Sweet Life of Zack and Cody, for sure. So many good ones. Boy Meets Royal, Lizzie McGuire come to mind for me, but for me, Kim Possible was really my red-headed representation in cartoons growing up. And speaking of Halloween, I'm dressed up as Kim Possible more than a couple of times. Here's the thing, I've always wanted to dress up as she go. So, next Halloween, you go as Kim Possible, I'll go as her villainous counterpart. Perfect, I love it. I love a themed costume, and we've got it figured out for next shoot. Well, coming up, maybe my favorite guest so far this season we've had on rapper, producer, New York Times bestseller, huge Atlanta sports fan, LaCray, pulls up later in the show for a great conversation about his new album, which is out today, and much more. Stick around for that, y'all won't want to miss it. Plus, the Falcons had some fun with service members from Dobbin Air Reserve base this week on their off day. That story is coming up next on Rise Up Tonight. Rise Up Tonight is presented by AT&T and brought to you by Georgia Lottery. Today could be the day. By Home Depot, how doers get more done? By Mercedes Benz, the best of nothing, and by Truist, committed to a better future. As part of the NFL's Salute to Service Initiative, the Falcons spent their off day on Tuesday with 40 service members from Dobbin's Air Reserve base for a day of bowling, laser tag, and arcade games in Swanee. Victor Prieto has that story, as we Rise Up for Atlanta, brought to you by Truist. Pick it up with a spin. You know what I'm saying, see if I still got it. I'm hungry, I'm hungry. Richie Grant and the Falcons had the opportunity to showcase their bowling skills earlier this week, joining 20 Army and 20 Air Force service members from Dobbin's Air Reserve base. Best man. Seemed some Falcons players didn't share the same confidence level as Richie in their talents to perform in front of the troops. Been a while since I bowed last, so, you know, kind of knocked the rust off a little bit. And we're out here bowling. I'm not doing too well right now, but we'll get better. 10 players, including Kyle Pitts and Alameda Zakias, joined the 40 active military members for food and games as part of the NFL's Salute to Service Initiative. And like everything with athletes, there had to be some friendly competition. All smiles now, I don't know about later. Yeah, somebody going to be mad. You know, they make the ultimate sacrifices for us and for our country and for everyone. So just having that little bit of ability just to give back and kind of make them smile or make their day or do anything really to help them in any way. I feel like the Falcons are all on board for it. It's super near here to my heart. I got a lot of family members there in the service between cousins, uncles, grandparents. I mean, one of my grandparents in Purple Heart. So this means it's really, really, really, really means a lot to me. Just be out here and just to show them that we love them and that we're there for them and they're not alone. Not only in the bowling alley, but here in the arcade as well. You can see the impact the Falcons players have on the servicemen and the servicemen on the Falcons player, boosting me around for both teams. I'm gonna walk off with y'all. You could see our smiles. Look at them. They're all happy. So this is a morale booster. We need this. We've been cooked up for COVID. We're playing and we're talking food and bowling, good or bad, right? It's a wonderful thing. I'm just so happy that this is happening. Roll it up! And so on, Victor Preto, Fox 5 Sports. That's awesome. What was another slow burn Sunday for the Falcons offense? They had five possessions in that first half against Carolina. As you pointed out in your notebook this week, Tori, if you take out their scoring drive that ended with that Kyle Pitts touchdown, they only had about 50 yards of total offense. Not great. And to their credit, the Falcons know it. They've talked about it, but how do they actually kind of kickstart this offensive operation sooner? Right, so that's the question, right? I don't think it has a straightforward answer either if I'm being honest, because I think the slow starts the Falcons have had actually have different causes. That being said, the most obvious way this can change is that the Falcons do not give up negative plays as an offense. So, tackles for a loss or sacks. On Sunday, those negative plays accumulated to Atlanta, like what you said, only having 50 net yards of total offense by the end of the first half. For Atlanta to have the start that it wants and needs, that number needs to be over 100. Yeah. Well, we have a secret ingredient the Falcons may be able to use on Sunday. Maybe it's not exactly a secret, but it would help this offense. We'll tell you more about it later on during our hot takes. And multi-grammy winning rapper and producer, Michael McCrae, goes in the nest, coming up next. Rise Up Tonight is presented by AT&T and brought to you by Georgia Lottery. Today could be the day. By Home Depot, how doers get more done? By Mercedes-Benz, the best of nothing. And by Truett's, committed to a better future. Welcome back to Rise Up Tonight. Let's head in the nest with Kelly Torrey and this week's special guest, brought to you by Mercedes-Benz. Well, in the nest of this night, I am really excited to welcome multi-grammy winning rapper, record executive, entrepreneur, activist, the New York Times best-selling author, LaCrae. There is a lot on your resume, man. Also an undrafted free agent. There you go, there you go. You know that as well. So many things on the resume. What is something that you were kind of the most proud of on your, of among those things? Oh man, I think, you know, honestly, for me, it's being able to be a New York Times best-selling author. Even though I'm a musician, I've been doing music so long, I never realized that I would be able to write and be able to tell my story in that way. So that was, that was pretty amazing. Yeah, that's pretty dope to be able to say that. That's pretty awesome. Well, Church Clothes 4 comes out today or came out today, I should say. Well, let's talk about the inspiration for this album for you. I mean the pandemic, the racial reckoning in America over the last kind of year and a half, two years. How much of that inspired this album and how much of it was something you're kind of pouring that all into? Yeah, I think I went through a lot of healing from a lot of the things that have gone on since the pandemic. And I wanted to put forth some of that healing. You know, I think there, we need more unity. We need more cohesiveness. We need to work together to see change happen in society. And I wanted to articulate that because, you know, there's no, there's not a good guy and a bad guy in America, you know, in terms of political agendas or ethnicities. There's really just humanity and we've got to learn how to work together despite our differences. And that's really what I wanted to wrestle with. Well, you had one of the NFL Sons of the Seasons back in 2020. What was that like to see your song on that platform, seeing it during the playoffs, during the Super Bowl and all that kind of stuff? That was phenomenal. You know, I mean, I'm a big sports fan. You know, I grew up playing football, basketball, ranch rack. And so for me to, that integration of music and sports, first of all, all athletes want to be artists and all artists want to be athletes. I'm actually the fusion, so. Back to the fusion. Exactly. I don't know why I haven't been drafted. So all the major league sports are missing out on me. But it's cool. I understand the intimidation. You can't do it all. Yes. But that was really cool to see the NFL use the music like that. We were talking before we got on here about how big of a sports fan you are and how big of a sports fan your wife is. Oh my God. Huge Falcons fan. Oh my God. Talk about kind of that fandom. Listen, she's next level. Like, you think in the household, the husband is usually the one. No, my wife is the one. My wife rides around listening to sports radio all day long. Gets excited when she finds out about trades and players. And her birthday gift was tickets to the Super Bowl. She was like, oh my gosh. This is a big deal for her. She's a huge Falcons fan. Back in the day, we got into, not got into it, but we, I felt like Matt Ryan, he did his thing and it was time to move on. And she thought that I needed to slow my road. You know, I won that one. I won that one. Well, I will refrain from commenting on that. Who's her favorite player now and maybe your favorite player on this team? That's a good question. You know, I would probably say that she's a huge Ridley fan and that's just been her thing, you know what I mean? So, you know, I know it's a rough one. So, you know, past the present. I'm a, I'm loving Pitts. I'm a, Kyle Pitts is amazing. And I mean, I don't know about my favorite, but, you know, and then also the kicker, oh my gosh. Youngly too. Yes. She loves cool. It's weird. How can you not? I was like, the kicker's like your favorite player. She's like, she's endeared to him. It's like a thing. And so I'm cool, stay away from my wife. But yeah, so it's crazy. It's funny you mentioned that I feel like a lot of fans have gravitated towards him because he has a really interesting kind of story. So it's funny and obviously game winner, fourth game winner this week. So, very timely fandom there. The thoughts on this team, I mean, you've tweeted about the Falcons before. Obviously it's been a rough ride for a lot of Falcons fans for a couple years, but to be atop the NFC South right now, four and four, what's it like to kind of ride with that? Yeah. I mean, you know, it's kind of that catch 22. You're excited, but then you're also nervous because, you know, the Falcons will keep you on the edge of your seat. It's like they're going to fight hard to the very end, but sometimes a mistake may happen that puts you in an overtime with the current line of Panthers of all teams. And so you're like, well, what is going on right now? So I'm excited. I'm, you know, looking forward to seeing what happens. I was nervous after the Saints game and just like, hey, what's going on Falcons? But I'm excited to see, you know, how we pull out at the end of it all, being atop of the NFC South. And I think as they gel, as they figure some stuff out, it'll be better seeing Mario to throw the ball more. You got two phenomenal receivers. And so I know he's a runner, but you know, hey man, use the arm and let's see what we can do out here. I'm then switching it to a basketball. I've read that you signed a 10 day contract with the Hawks back in the day. Tell me about that. See the Hawks, man, the Hawks are a phenomenal organization because, you know, they respect the skill that is within me, okay? And that's the smart, that's what's really smart about them. It just didn't work out because I was a little bit too intimidating for a lot of the players. You know, I had Grammys and book sales and it was like distracting for a lot of them. Can't be a distraction. I couldn't be a distraction. And so it was kind of like, you know, I was like, all right, no big deal. I'll fall back and give Trey his shine. So that's kind of, you know, and now we got Murray and Trey. And so I told Trey, listen, Murray's here. That's a, you guys run it because if I was there, neither one of you guys would get the love you deserve. And so I want them to get that. All right, well thank you so much for joining us. What an awesome conversation. If anyone wants to catch the full thing, head to fox5atlanta.com. The full conversation will be on there and we'll be right back on Rise Up Tonight. Atlanta, this is Ed Crack talking and you watch it rise up tonight presented by AT&T. It's like I don't get caught up in whatever narrative is after four weeks of the daily narratives. You can almost write some of these narratives and live and die every week by the narratives because it sets up bad narratives. You can frame the narrative, you can write narratives. Those are easy narratives. While Arthur Smith told us earlier this year he doesn't run his offense to cater to your fantasy team, but Cordero Patterson said if he is eager to get back if he can on this Sunday, but for himself and his team obviously, but also to satisfy all those fantasy owners that keep asking when he's coming back. He is a man of people after all. And both of our hot takes revolve around CP today. Yeah, no, if I think if Cordero Patterson plays I think he's gonna get in the end zone and that's my hot take for today. If he's been on IR for the last four games and you can tell that he's just itching to come back. That also means that he's likely itching to get in the end zone. If the Falcons find themselves inside the 10 I'm thinking the ball will find CP one way or another. Girl, I could not agree more. And for my hot sake, I'm just gonna add on to that. There's room for all the running backs to run free from the Falcons stable. Arthur Smith and company are very clear about what they want to do here. They want to keep running the ball down opponents' throats and it's their strength. Three productive running backs, obviously better than one. So look for them to keep Tyler Algier and Caleb Huntley very involved. As CP even said himself this week, there's room for all three of them to shine and help this team. Also this week, a wild NFL trade deadline, one of the most notable moves across the league, Calvin Ridley being trade to the Jags for a kind of complicated compensation package that's dependent on what really becomes of Ridley in Jags. Ridley, as we know, suspended this spring for violating the league's gambling policy. What did you kind of make of this trade, Tori? Yeah, so I was actually really surprised because I thought that his value would be better once he's reinstated, which could be as early as February 15th, 2023. But Arthur Smith said this week, it's been an ongoing discussion for a while now and that it wasn't just a decision that popped up at the trade deadline. If you really look at it, there's a chance that it could be a win-win for both sides. Ridley gets a fresh start and the Falcons potentially get a day two draft pick. Yeah, that's for sure. Well, that'll do it for us here on Rise Up Tonight. Thanks for staying up late with us here and we'll see you next Friday night. Good night.