 What's up everybody and welcome to another edition of the Falcons final whistle podcast I'm Scott Bayer alongside Ashton Edmonds and Tori McElaney coming to you From Mercedes-Benz stadium the roof has been closed the sun has gone down and the Falcons have ultimately lost their week 9 matchup 20 to 17 to the Los Angeles Chargers. What a shock. This was another dramatic one This is the sarcasm was very happy. I mean it all but two games have been one score have come down to the end Last week against Carolina. They emerged victorious from one of these tight ball games This time they did not we are gonna break down exactly what happened. What went right? What went wrong for the Falcons including going over their running game? The really stark difference between the first and third quarters for the Falcons and the second and the fourth We're gonna dive into their defense and third down conversions We are obviously going to talk about that two crazy turnover sequences kind of back and forth Especially when Austin Eckler fumbles to Quangran picks it up loses possession and that sets up the game winning field goal So we're gonna get into all that and of course as we like to do put this thing in big picture perspective. Yeah Capital J journalism capital J. Actually, that's more of that's not like journalism. That's more of just like talking About what is? Yeah, I feel about to happen. Well, well Tori give me some capital a analysis About what you thought of how this game played out And how we ended up at a final result that was unwelcome for the home team Yeah, I think the word that I would use to describe this game was Frustrating I think it was a very frustrating game and I think it honestly I felt just as frustrated watching this game as I did watching last Sunday's game for almost the same Reasons and I'll say this the the defense is still having issues Getting off the field on third down. That is what they are still having issues the offense what I will say about the offense I know last time on the podcast I talked about the need for the Falcons offense to start quicker They did that however, they did not sustain that through four quarters Which I know that we're gonna talk about and and then of course you have young waiku missing a 50-yard field goal Which I know is 50 yards, but we've seen him make those in the past and he's become this reliable figure. And so I Was very frustrated in the fact that the Falcons had every opportunity I think to win this game and instead of having every opportunity to win this game and still somehow pulling it out like they Did against Carolina That's not what we saw happen here. And it will it was something that I thought that the Falcons Just really had moments of not executing on offense defense and special teams and it was the accumulation of all three of those Misadventures if you will that kind of brought you to a last second field goal to win it for the Chargers Ashen, what did you think of everything that went down in the fourth quarter? They I believe the Falcons took a Lead into the fourth does that sound correct to anyone else? I know it was 17 all with like five minutes left to go Right. Yeah, so yeah, it was 17 14 late in the third quarter. So oh, yeah, they did It's a slim lead. Yeah your thoughts on on What happened in the fourth quarter and where things broke down? Yeah, honestly the offense just wasn't executing at all I think Mario to he threw a lot of incomplete passes a lot of deep throws To cow pits to Drake London, you know what I'm saying? It was just a lot of things on offense that that wasn't working the defense again, I feel like the defense was Doing okay, but they they weren't executing at all. They you know, Justin Herbert We're still in a lot of short passes that resulted in a lot of chunky art each. I feel like Joshua Palmer He had a big day. He was open, you know, majority of the game I think he had over a hundred receiving yards. So that really hurt the defense a lot But I just think late in the fourth quarter, you know, we didn't see that consistency that we saw in the first quarter Translated to the fourth quarter. I just think the Falcons didn't finish through for four quarters Here's here's a wild thing and I'm trying to do math while I'm recording this so it never goes. Well Marcus Mariota threw 11 in completions And if I'm counting correctly nine of those 11 incompletions were targeting Kyle pits and Drake London Kyle pits two receptions 27 yards on seven targets Drake London three receptions for 23 yards on Seven targets. That's inefficient to your best targets. Yeah guys who you would think now Of course, you're probably more likely to throw them Lower percentage ball thinking that those guys are gonna make a play ultimately Those guys didn't make a lot of plays or weren't in sync with their quarterback in a way That could have been more impactful. I think too like this is something that has come up a lot It's not the Falcons lack of throwing the ball But they're not gonna throw the ball 40 times in a game, but it's not necessarily the the lack of Thought to throw the ball. It's the lack of execution When they do throw the ball and that is something that has come up time and time again Over the course of the first nine weeks of this season It's a problem an issue that the Falcons if they want to be competitive and win some of these games like this one It's something they got a fix. Yeah, and it was a great Stat I read in nerdy birds, which you can find on Fridays Written by John Dayton and Matt Haley And I think a stat that wowed me is that they run into heavy boxes, which is eight or more individuals in the box and and NFL high 46% of the time going into This game the reason why I bring that up and is just to try to say the way that you Keep defenses honest right is being able to not only throw but convert those deeper shots It was something that they did better against Carolina It's something that they didn't do very well here And I think ultimately it was costly Tori and I the running dialogue during the game needs to be on a Twitter Like that we said someone should give us a headset during the game. Yeah, just just to hear our ramblings, but then I was like maybe don't do that Yeah Tori and Scott and Ashton unfiltered. Maybe that's a bad idea. Yeah, nonetheless That just that if they're not staying on schedule. Yeah with a productive first down if they fall behind early It's hard for them to convert with the way that this passing game is going That's something a point that I think Tori has brought up a number of different times And I think it showed up here during this game that when they were able to get three plus again This is your number. Not it's this is not my idea. I want this to be very clear I'm regurgitating the smartness from this Are we all clear on that? Appreciate the credit but I but I think that it's a good point and I think that until they get this passing game To become more efficient. Yeah, it's gonna be harder for them You know to because sometimes you have to make off-schedule plays Yeah, sometimes you're gonna have like the Chargers did first in 25 and they convert You have to be able to to do that not because sometimes everything won't go perfect Does anyone understand what I'm saying? I feel like I'm losing myself No, no, no and another point that I would make you're gonna have teams that are gonna load the box to take the run Away when you have a guy like Tyler Algier who is running at a clip where he is averaging 9.9 yards a carry 9.9 yards a carry people is that good when he is doing that You're gonna have teams that are gonna load the box You have to be able to take some of that pressure off of the run game And I think it goes back to also running the ball is not a problem. No, it is the Falcons ran for 201 Yards rushing today 5.7 a clip to touchdowns. That is a wild number to lose the game And so I I really am sitting here kind of I go back to the whole frustrating thing That what I said at the top. It's like with this Offense and I think this is something we talked about actually in the Bengals loss where it's like is there a formula for Defending the Falcons offense and I think it's interesting because I asked Marcus Marriott about the the three and out in the fourth Quarter the the the with five minutes to go in the game where they ran the ball on first down He takes a deep shot to Kyle pits It's an incompletion and then I can't remember what that they threw an Incompletion on third down and then punted right and he was talking about that play that whole sequence In a nutshell and he kind of said, you know, they go to the pass on second down because they load the box And you try and get some pressure off of your running backs and your offensive line So you try and hit hit Kyle pits deep and you don't hit him And I feel like that probably happened more times than not when you're looking at, you know Those targets that you were talking about to Drake London and Kyle pits How many how much of that is to set up what the Falcons can do in the run game? I feel like for years. We've been talking about how the Pass is set up by the run and I feel like now we have switched that in this year Where it's like the pass has to set up the run because right now the run is the one thing that is Consistently successful for the Falcons this year. Yeah, and when I kind of look at it I look if they can solve that problem and they don't have to be You know the run and shoot anything, right? They don't have to throw the ball 35 or they can throw the ball 23 times Yeah, be just fine. Totally. They just have to be more efficient with it And I think that if they can solve that problem this offense could be really good. Yeah, we've seen we've seen that Yeah, during individual drives You will see those moments where they connect on a pass and they're consistently running the football and you're like That's how it's supposed to look. Yeah, because this is offense is I mean Arthur Smith It's well coached and it's well orchestrated on game day and he comes with a good plan But if so if the exit at the execution can improve just a little bit I think a lot of these other problems that we're talking about that are being exposed aren't that big of a deal I think maybe not everything has to be a last-minute A last-minute thing question is can they do it, right? And that's the real issue Mm-hmm So when it comes to the running game, that's in a good spot. We've identified You know kind of what the issues were in this game in particular Ashton you look at the first quarter Falcons dominated you look at the third quarter. They were better second and fourth did not go well and Arthur Smith Talking about the difference between the first and the second quarter said we certainly allowed them to go back out there as we You feel like that you have the momentum you get them on the ropes a little bit But that's the NFL we have to find a way and we'll continue to do that as they get back to work Finding that consistency. That's another one of these themes, right? This team is both inconsistent in games and between games, right it seems like you know How do you know like how do you I guess how do you solve that is a terrible question? But how much of an impact is in consistency and was inconsistency in this game? Yeah, I mean I go back to what Torrey said. I think those miss plays Was the determining factor in this game? I the Falcons They definitely have to stay consistent I mean, you know when they start when they start fast and they and they execute in the first quarter I feel like you know that brings some type of momentum to the Falcons offense and defense I think the defense executed well also in the first quarter limiting Justin Herbert limiting Echler on a run But those inconsistent Quarters the second and fourth quarter that's what hurt the most and you can't let a quarterback like Justin Herbert get hot You can't let a running back like Echler find, you know open holes or Run a deep route or catch a short pass that that might result in a 20-yard game from Herbert the Falcons have to limit those specific things and and I think if we're going to Contend for a playoff spot or continue to stay at top of the NFC South we have to clean up those things You know, it's a wild stat is if you look at I have it pulled up So I'm gonna read it sweet in the first quarter Atlanta had 145 yards and scored 10 points the Chargers had 16 yards and scored no points Then it was completely flipped on its head in the second quarter The Falcons had negative five yards in the second quarter. No points. The Chargers had 166 yards and scored 14 points. Wow. Wow. That is when you look at that stat Just without any other context at all that is a wild to me how you could go from so hot to So not it's in the span of like One one to two quarters and this wasn't like a half-time break where so meet some adjustments It was just the clock struck zero the quarter number changed and then we kept going Yeah, it's it was crazy to me and I think even kind of looking at this was something This was an idea that I wrote about post game Something that kept coming up when I was talk when we all were talking to players and coaches and etc They kept saying like talking about the ebb and the flow of a game and how there's always going to be an ebb and a Flow of the game and I I think we can all agree on that However, when the Falcons ebb It it's it's a big ebb. I don't know how else to describe it But it's like the ebb of the entire second quarter Put them in a position to where you're going into the third quarter and even though you play better in the third quarter You ebb again in the fourth quarter offensively and defensively and it's almost like these ebb's are Creating situations that make it more difficult for the Falcons to flow offensively and defensively They are at their best when they are kind of flowing where it's not terrible. It's not Fantastic, they're just kind of moving the ball. They're coming up with some key stops Even if they they have defensive drives that last The full length of the the field or 20 to 20 When they start ebbing and when they start getting in these negative yard situations and giving up 166 yards and 14 points in one singular quarter. That is where the ebb becomes almost Insurmountable right tidal wave style. Yeah, it just kind of hits you and knocks you back And can you recover and the Falcons ultimately did recover For a while and we're gonna get to I'm sure what everybody wants to hear about and that is the Austin Echler fumble recovered by Takwan Graham, which was he dropped the football as he was Trying to get a big return set up a big play for his team Ashton wrote about this Ashton we're gonna go over some of the quotes That Arthur Smith and Takwan Graham said because I know this is a flash point for fans Be before we do that Can we just all have like a gen have like a genuine human moment here to Quan Graham as We all have gotten to know him over the last two years is just a genuinely good dude Yeah, who cares and wants to make plays for this team and and does is a good football player and a heavy Contributor on a defensive line as Tori pointed out before we started recording defensive line stats They're not showing up on your fantasy team And they're not something that you're gonna tangibly notice especially with the way the Falcons play their defensive front Okay, so we we have to deal with this singular negative Moment in his season, but I did not want to dive into it One we're not blaming him for anything no to his contribution his positive contributions in this game and really throughout the course of This season must be noted and they greatly outweigh this one moment that he had in my opinion, right? So all those things being said Ashton. What was the post game conversation first from Graham? And then for Arthur Smith the head coach who really stood up for his good young player Yeah, for sure. I'm Graham honestly was in was in great spirits. You know what I'm saying? He his head wasn't down He wasn't sad, you know, he was the gist of what he was saying is you know I have to move on from this situation is football the ball slipped You know, he really wanted to make a play but the ball just came out and you know, he couldn't really do anything about it Arthur Smith was extremely proud of to to Kwan and the quote from Arthur says I back to Q 100,000% he wanted to make a play. It's a funny shape the ball, but I love to Q He should never hang his head down. He scooped the ball up and it slipped out He's a defense to lemon and the ball takes funny bounces sometimes and I just think you know TQ He's going to learn from this moment. This was his first NFL Fumble recovery and you know, he just he even joked and he said maybe switch out the leather palm gloves to stick He's maybe he even said that after the after the game So I think you know to Kwan isn't he's not going to dwell on something like this He felt like he contributed to the loss, but we all know he didn't well I mean he he definitely contributed to the loss. Okay. Yeah, but I wouldn't say that That's the soul. That was it. Yeah, right. That's true But I would just all in all would just say TQ was was in great spirits after the game And there's something that he looks to build upon. Yeah, I'll say this too about TQ And it goes back to kind of what Scott was saying when we were talking about it I was I did say, you know, if a defensive lineman isn't getting a sack. It's like It it in the eyes of people I think sometimes watching the games. It's like, oh, well, they didn't do anything I never heard their name called so they didn't do anything But with that position particularly and I think Dean Pease has talked about this a lot is like they are contributing to a lot of different factors as Just getting the quarterback off their spot And I think that we have over the course of these first nine games We've seen I think the Falcons defensive line be better at doing that in comparison to what they did last year I think last year was a huge issue that they that the quarterbacks were just way too comfortable in the pocket against this Defense I feel like at this point now even against Justin Herbert I did feel like played, you know Fairly well and in there were moments that I think he did maybe have too much time in the pocket But I do think that you are seeing this defensive line get after quarterbacks and in at a better rate than not But before TQ And for what he's been to the Falcons this year. I mean you think about just how The Falcons let go of Tyler Davidson in the offseason right they Think that they're gonna go into the 2022 season with Grady Jarrett Marlon Davidson kind of hoping that Marlon Davidson was gonna get a Have a good help the year for them, and then you have TQ kind of acting as your reserve guy And Vincent Taylor Vincent Taylor who you get off the street who you would think was coming off of an injury Was really excited to get out there someone who could provide depth for you That was your core of defensive and Anthony Rush and Anthony rush that was your core of interior defensive linemen and now you look at where this group is nine weeks into the season and TQ and Grady Jarrett alongside each other Have been such an important part of what this defense is doing when they are successful And you look at Anthony rushes no longer here Marlon Davidson is no longer here obviously Tyler Davidson is no longer here He was let go in it before the season even started Vincent Taylor got hurt All of these names you now have Abdullah Anderson and Jalen Dalton who was just elevated from the practice squad like all of these names and Even in all of this change and everything. I think feel like TQ has been a solid contributor From the from week one to where we are at week nine and I don't want I say all this to say like I don't want people and yes, he should not have fumbled the ball We can all agree on that he would agree on that everybody would agree You have to hold on to the ball in that situation and that it was costly and that it was costly But I will say this I hope people don't take this one moment and kind of have it ruin What TQ has been for this defense over the course of these nine games is what essentially and what he could be For defenses down the road you know 100% So let's set the magnifying glass aside take the eye off of the microscope and try to go big picture here We are recording this in the late seven o'clock hour on Sunday as we have been recording The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came back and beat the Los Angeles Rams Did they really now that they now have the same record as the Falcons at four and five Technically because of that of a head-to-head you'll see Tampa Bay on top of the division Carolina lost badly to Cincinnati Cincinnati will make a lot of teams look bad and you have the New Orleans Saints Coming up their record, which was just in front of me their record is three and five They play the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night So as we as we look at this from a higher perspective and I wrote a column about this is that look This wasn't a division game, but this was a winnable game that the Falcons didn't win Mm-hmm, and they're three and four and one score games There are seven and and two last year that's not a translatable thing between year-to-year So the experts tell me but nonetheless when you have an opportunity like the Falcons had today with a couple of better results on critical downs Offense defense and special teams this outcome is different. Yeah, just is and You cannot let opportunity slip or you're gonna get to early January with some with some regrets And the Falcons cannot afford to let opportunities slip away. You won't have an opportunity every week Sometimes will dominate sometimes you're gonna get dominated. It's the league It's the way that it is losing out on this golden opportunity is Hurtful I think to their quest to win the division which whatever I get it's week 10 They are playoff contenders meaning they are a contender for a playoff spot. Let's get the definition They are playoff contenders To win this division they have to do better when they are given opportunities like this when they are in games And they have a chance to get a W and maybe start seriously stacking wins This goes back to the consistency problem. Yep that they've had and it showed up again today Maybe some people might say they got a little lucky against Carolina I think they made one more play than Carolina did their kicker is pretty good, right? So so I think that when you add it all up You can't continue to let these opportunities slip at this rate and expect to be standing atop this division That's where I think they stand, of course They have a huge if every game matters as Alameda is a key is pointed out to me every game matters Division games matter even more and they have that Thursday night game kind of Tory We're at the pivot point in the season. We can say that we're heading into the second half of the year Evaluate maybe kind of where the Falcons are like maybe nobody expected them to be in this division race But here they are if they do the right things they Which they can control they could win this whole thing. Yeah, I I think it's really I look at this I don't want to get too far ahead and speculating too far ahead But if you are just looking at this Thursday night game coming up against Carolina It's a big game for many reasons But mainly for I mean for just the NFC standings NFC South standings. I'm sorry You look at what Tampa Bay just did again beating the Rams You look at what the Saints have an opportunity to do on Monday night Maybe maybe we know by the time you're listening to this is what they do on Monday night You but then you look at the Falcons And it really does feel like in this division because of the way that the league is kind of playing right now That every team kind of has Their destiny in their hands, you know I really do feel that way because it is kind of the old saying on any given Sunday Like anyone can beat anyone and I feel like more than ever these last few years have really been Dictated by that old cliche and so for that reason Thursday nights game the more the more division wins You get the easier it is for you to get a playoff first and that's just how it is So because of all that this is a very very important game on Thursday night It's gonna be very interesting to see how the Falcons bounce back on a short week It's also gonna be very interesting to see what changes both teams make after playing each other What ten days ago, right? That is gonna be it is a quick turnaround It is very fascinating I think to to see because it almost becomes like a Coaching chess match when you have when you have two teams that know a lot about each other, especially Recent knowledge of each other. I think getting Cordero Patterson back The this time around may make a difference in terms of what the Falcons can do offensively I think that that is kind of advantage Atlanta But an advantage for Carolina is that we don't know who the heck's gonna be under center for them Yeah, it could be Baker Mayfield. It could be PJ Walker. It literally could be He either of the two at any point in time during four quarters of the game. We don't know that so that's advantage I think Carolina there is so many storylines that are going into this Thursday night game and the outcome of it I think very much dictates Where the Falcons go moving forward in their division just in their division, right? Yeah And I think that that's a good way to look at it. It's week 10 Let's not start thinking about the week 18 matchup against Tampa and really hone in on What's coming up here and Richie Grant called it a must win. Yeah as week 10 Maybe it is maybe it isn't but it seems like that's where their head is that Ashton Let's kind of wrap it up here Did what were your takeaways from what the guys were saying in in the locker room about moving on from this loss and Having a game against Carolina on a Thursday night seems like every Everybody was just kind of kept harping on the fact that hey got to turn the page got to turn the page Yeah, got to turn the page. That was literally the quote of the night from literally every player even CQ They they're not they're not really harping on this loss They're looking forward to Carolina like Tori mentioned Baker Mayfield might be under center He had two touchdowns today against the the Bengals and the last two quarters of the game You know player. It's a short week, you know what I'm saying Monday Tuesday Wednesday They got practice Thursday. They have the game So they can't really harp on this loss against the Chargers who are not in their division They have to learn from it and they have to move on and win this divisional game This is gonna be very crucial and very important on Thursday in I just think players You know, they're they already moved on to Thursday's game And you know, I think you know this week in practice how they practice And and how they what they learn from watching this games film will be critical Against the Panthers on Thursday. It's interesting too because Arthur Smith said in his postgame press conference He's like as soon as I leave here. We're moving on to Carolina and I believe him when he says it Yeah, 100% I bet As we're recording this on a Sunday night He is probably at the office or in front of an iPad Watching film trying to get this team as Grady Jarrett always says you cannot let one loss turn into two That is the Falcons quest as they move towards Thursday night's game against Carolina We're gonna be in Charlotte. Of course, we are all three of us as a matter of fact Cover in this game a huge divisional game prime time should it should be a fun one and We will talk to you after that one gosh in just a few days time So thank you all for downloading listening Subscribing to the Falcons podcast network if you haven't done that do it right now see who play I Love I've officially lost my mind So I'm gonna get out of here before before I say any more crazy stuff. I'm Scott Ashton Tori Thank you guys so much. We'll talk to you again after that Panthers game