 We are back on the Falcons audible presented by AT&T welcome into our studios here everybody That's DJ Shockley Dave Archer. I am Derek Rackley We are going to talk about some Falcon stuff a little bit of last week a little bit of this week and Hopefully we can create some positive good mojo mojo juju I put those two words together. I see you would you make it up new words here Right so we're gonna we're gonna create some mojo up in here, okay All right, here's what we're gonna talk about But a lot of close games with Atlanta this year. We'll kind of discuss on what the guys think Is attributing to coming up short in the close games We'll talk a little bit more about the game in Washington was a pretty good atmosphere didn't seem like it was a full house Dave I know you'll talk about it the weather conditions weren't great But still they have a they have they are loud, okay? They still came to support their team and then we will fast for we will talk about a home game against Pittsburgh Steelers So Dave, let's talk about this close games 12 games this year nine of them coming down to a single score and Sometimes you come up short. Sometimes you win them It seems like the teams that that that have the veteran quarterbacks to experience players Playmakers they find a way to win those games other teams find a way to come up short What is what is your philosophy? What is your? Kind of break down as to why Atlanta comes up short in the closer games as Opposed to finding a way to win the close ones. Well, I think we're we've made strides with that rack I think that if you looked at this team a couple years ago You lost all of those and then you started to kind of tip the scales your direction last year with some of the winds You had late in the football game close the game out or two defensively this year You've closed three out yeah on the defensive side of football with interceptions at the end of the game To win it But it tightens it tightens the noose a little bit on both both teams a little bit when you start thinking about Okay, making a play here there. You talk about making a play. That's what happens this weekend The Ron Payne is essentially blocked on the play. I talked to Chris Lindstrom post game I said what bugs you the most about that play you're blocking and the guy he says well I won the rep and so you're thinking okay. I did my job. I blocked one of the top Interior defensive linemen in the game. I Blocked him. I won the rep and he just threw his hand in the air hit the ball in the ball And that's part of this league and it's part of the things that happen in this league He made a play. I guess you could qualify it is making a play. So there's got to be a sense of urgency Shock with with guys on our team in maximizing your moments We were talking a little about this before we came on today About you know, you can't drop a pass on a screen Okay, you got it You can't get knifed on a on a short yardage run play give up your inside gap So your running back gets blown up in the backfield You know, I've got to get my head across his bow get him blocked So I can get that little bit of push that we can get that yard keep the drive going Yeah, especially when you're a team that runs a football like we do there's going to be limited Opportunities of the football you you go from 12 possessions a game to maybe 10 9 possessions a game that magnifies the importance of the possessions and that's why the games are close But it also means that you better not blow an opportunity, right? And we've blown a couple of those opportunities Yeah, and the final drive that you're alluding to I wouldn't necessarily say that you characterize it as a blown opportunity It would be more as a tough break because just like you said Lindstrom says he won the rep He had him blocked and what is a defensive lineman coach to do if you don't get to the quarterback Get your hands up in the air and like you said arches Sometimes it's just like a little a wave in the air and it just not only does it happen to hit his hand? But it goes straight up in the air, right? It's second down, right? If that ball ends up hitting the bottom of his hand and goes down, right? You live to play another down, right? If they're playing man coverage Fuller's not even there. Yeah, but they're playing a zone there on about the four-yard line Everybody's eyes are eyes are look at those so there was a guy there to make the play So yeah, it's one of those one will screw moments where everything and then you also look at The fact of in that moment They had to have two really great plays to make that happen. Yeah, like people look at it So, okay, why did you throw the ball? Why did you do this? The guy got his hand up and then the guy literally had to die Fuller and get his arm on it to catch it like those are just two great plays by those two guys And like you said, it's one of those type of instances where you know, you're just on the wrong end of that situation So, I mean to really address I mean, I've heard it, you know last couple days people saying should you do this? Should you do that? I had no problem with the call. I had no problem with the first down call You think about throughout this whole entire ball game Marcus was killing them in the zone read game. Yeah, he was crushing it And obviously down there everything shrinks to gets a little bit tighter. So, you know, they shot to go off the edge He made a good play. Okay, so what you move on to the next play But if he doesn't get his hand on the ball, we throw the ball to CP who's standing on the one yard line You don't think he's not gonna fall into the end. So he's not gonna run that guy over He gets into the end zone and the conversation is totally different right now And it just so happens you on the other side of it It's just a bad break for your team the way it happened But ultimately, you know, if he doesn't get his hand on the CP falls in the end zone touchdown We're up one and we got to go and make no mistake everybody's learning from these situations I'll be their hard lessons. Yeah The guy that's calling the plays is studying this stuff too. I talked to him on Monday at his show and His radio show on 90 to 90 game and he talked about how the evaluation process is not just for our players I'm evaluating how I'm calling the game Dave we're going and I get together and we go over what we called. Did you like that call? Did that call work that it fit in that situation? They're scrutinizing their own decisions. And so Sometimes coaches don't like to admit. Oh, I second gas and so but he's a human being and saying hey Yeah, we look at everything not that we're second guessing our strategies But we are making sure that they fit the situation properly and are we giving our guys the best chance to win? And so that that'll be they'll scrutinize that for whatever it was 24 or 48 hours going to this week against Pittsburgh So I think everybody I think we're all kind of in agreement here that there's nothing really to point your fingers on On the final drive right that it was just a stroke or maybe two strokes on one play of bad Look that every once in a while that happens as I mentioned like that Maybe that ball gets tipped and it just falls down to the turf and nobody gets hurt But that one ends up in an interception and it and it stymies the the falcons chance to not only get back in But win the football game Let me ask you this question and I'm not picking here, but this is something that I thought about Uh drake london had two catches in this game with his first one being a pop pass in the first quarter And a second one came with like I want to say it was nine and a half minutes left in the second quarter Before we came on you mentioned that he dropped the pass Do they need to find ways to get the ball into the hands of our first round pick more? I understand the identity of this team is not chucking it down the field Right, but when we do off season evaluation and pre draft evaluation Like there's a reason why we draft the guy in the first round Do they need with with pits being out dave? Did they Could atlanta use to find more ways to get the ball in the hands of drake london? Well, I think there's Yes is the answer to that and and there's probably a couple reasons why you're Not necessarily for his mental frame of mind. No, we need to get him five grabs So I'm talking more about a playmaker. No, I agree with you what you're saying and what it leads me to Is you've got to find ways to make it easier on yourself Because right now, I don't know how you guys feel when I when I'm calling the games and watch the games Okay, we got four there. Okay. We got three there So now we're third at the weekend we can manage it marcus could run it We could throw it and we could even go forward on fourth down if we want right But that's hard right you want you want some so you gotta you got to find some chunk plays And so drakes the option for that oz is an option for that certainly we saw cp We talked a little bit about this last week when we knew kyle wasn't going to play Who's going to play in that spot? Well cp caught one of those over routes from the slot that kyle has caught a couple times this year So there's no question not just to get drake the football But just to relieve the pressure right of calling the game for arthur and i'm sure he's looking They had a couple of in no shock We were watching it They had a couple rpo's called that or play action plays sometimes we get confused with what an rpo is And play action they're calling them out But they had play action on where they wanted a flash play fake throw the slant the drake and they covered it And you couldn't and that was a couple times where the two-man route and now We as quarterbacks you got to eat it because there's nothing so now marcus is scrambling trying to make something happen, right? So yeah, no question about that long answer to your question But there's no question. They need to get in the rock in addition to What arches mentioned and when you you you brought that when you pose that question the first thing that came to my mind was We are not in the meeting rooms to know. Okay. What is the plan 100 or What is designed to go to a particular player like like arches mentioned that particular play action It was designed to try to get the football to drake london How many times in a game plan that we don't even know about or fans don't know about that? The first read may be number five But then there's also a point in a game where a particular coverage doesn't fit it and like arches mentioned earlier There are so many things they study throughout a week of tenancies of first down second down What teams do in the red zone what they do on third down? And you come into the game expecting it to be a certain way. Okay. I know in third and sixth plus They're going to play this certain coverage. Here's the route combination. We like best version Here's a chance for us to get number five the football. Yeah You get to the game and guess what it's third and sixth plus and guess what that team knows exactly Oh, this is what we've done in these situations and they change the coverage So now you change the coverage. He's not only not the first read anymore He may not even be a part of the equation now So I think that's part of it that I think people have to understand is throughout a game the game plan changes Coverage is changes what defenses do to you and just because You know, this is a shot play to drag london as quarterbacks We know just because coach calls a shot play don't mean you have to throw it Right and I think this is in the game where there is is where you're trying to get him the football But coverage dictates something different or the quarterback sees something differently. He comes up He doesn't like the underneath coverage or he doesn't like whatever he sees So there's a lot of things I think factors that go into why sometimes a guy may not get as many targets or touches as People on the outside think he should well in trust me You got to tip your cap sometimes to the defense because they're studying the roster They know what the Atlanta has they know what weapons they have They're going to say in a third and medium or long situation Five or 84 is probably going to be the two best options. So let's cover those two guys up and make somebody else beat us Absolutely So don't get me wrong. I understand how the game works and I know that sometimes they're trying to take it away But there's also a part of me that says you build your roster by Draft picks right through the draft and the number one the first rounder Is the best one that you guys felt out there and that's one that like needs to find a way to touch the football more So let's we'll see if it happens. I know it's a different identity It's a different offense right now and maybe things will change as we move forward But it was just a thought that I had about Drake London. Let's move over to the other side of the ball arch I think the the biggest thing Negatively you want to point out is that they ran the rock on Atlanta, right? Nine times out of 10, maybe nine and a half times out of 10 You could go to the college game high school game if somebody runs the football well Doesn't turn it over A lot of times they're going to be in control, right? Just like we've seen with Atlanta that when they win football games when they control the line of scrimmage We can kind of stay in the game dictate the game Outside of the fact that they gave up a lot of rushing yards, which there may not be a whole lot of way to get outside of that What was positive in your mindset defensively other than the run game? They kept from heineke from effect in the game Heineke if you remember last year Did a bunch of wild scrambles in fact had a wild scramble at the end of the game and threw a jump ball That we ended up being a touchdown that won the game on He got out of the pocket one time he missed mccloren who was open for a touchdown It was a bad throw missed him other than that heineke did not affect the game at all I didn't think as far as his ability to kind of keep things alive He's not a great runner, but he is a guy that can buy time and it's kind of been with the reason There's been a resurgence their run game with bryan robinson And heineke's ability to take care of the ball not turn the ball over and make a player to in the game They kept him from doing that and I think that that you go back to looking at the chicago game What did you do the quarterback scramble round made a couple throws he didn't beat you deep But you kind of kept him himmed in and you're hitting right and so that to me is a positive Is you kind of did it back to back weeks get ready this the young kid You're going to see this weekend has the ability to do that again by time take off and run He's not just in fields But he is a guy that can go run for a first down or buy time and hit one of his receivers down the field So to me that's a positive that you take over the last couple weeks. I mean dj. What else stuck out for you I saw aj torrell a couple of times with some really good run support Nearly had the interception somewhat of a circus interception after review came back then tip of the ball was down on the ground What else stuck out to you positive that atlantic can build on it's easy after a loss guys To sit here and pick and prod and say this has got to be a whole lot better. You can't win if this is not What positives did you see that they can build on moving forward as they close out the rest of the season One thing that stood out to me was the the effort that this team showed on defense running to the football ever times where You know, it was third and you know five six plus or whatever and you're playing coverage And then they drop it down because hey nothing's there and you see five six seven guys run into the ball to aj The one you're talking about aj torrell the one he had on the falcon sideline where he pops the Running back over there and then you know, he doesn't end up making a tackle But the guy doesn't get any more yards because he got three four guys coming from the inside He got guys playing, you know proper technique running to the football I thought that was something that was that was big in his ball game and not giving up tons of points I mean not giving up those huge explosives that we used to over the past You know three four games people getting on top of you and being able to just keep thing underneath another thing is There are times where you can watch the disguise from this defense and you're seeing them Look like some pre-snap and something else go post-snap. There was a a time on that particular play. I'm talking about with aj actually Abicade actually wins on the inside. It's a four man rush It looks like they got two guys in a gap those guys bail out Abicade he hits him with a spin move and he forces He pushes heineke out to the left side and he has to just drop the ball off and there goes aj And they hit him and all that kind of stuff Those are the type of plays that are winning plays because if you can drop, you know seven in the coverage And only you can get home with four you can get pressure on the quarterback and force him off his spot I think that's even more critical than sometimes just saying hey We're going to rush five or six guys get a sack if you can do that with four It's going to bowl better for you playing top down and maybe go tackle and in tackling space When you talked about effort dj I was wondering if you were going to go specifically to deline because that's what I was thinking that there was Many of times that they didn't get to heineke, but they pushed the pocket they're contained I mean abdulla anderson great jared in the middle I mean they caused a couple of holding penalties because of the effort that they're bringing inside So that to me is all positive. Yes at the end of the day and the nfl It's all about results. Did you get there? Did you get the job done? Did you get the quarterback on the ground? I understand all that but they continue to play hard up front They continue to play if you're coaching staff like the one thing that you guys know this when you struggle And i'm not saying atlanta is in this category But you can tell when guys aren't giving you everything Or you can tell when they've checked out or when they've started thinking about the off season Because let's be honest guys and when we get into december in the nfl You start to see it a little bit, right? I'm not seeing any of that with atlanta These guys are continuing to fight and give everything that they've got now. Let's just see if it ends up Resulting in more victories This episode in part brought to you by the home depot Everything you need for your next home improvement project is just a tap away on the home depot app The home depot app digital toolbox gives you access to how-to guides project calculators and image search So you'll know exactly what you need to pick up with the tap of the finger You can rent and reserve the right tools for the job Also browse through millions of items from top brands that you can have delivered right to your door Whatever your project find exactly what you need with the home depot app Download the home depot app today. Let's fast forward. Let's talk about next week. Dave. You talked a little bit about it Quick little scouting report is atlanta comes back home What they're going to see from the pittsburgh stealers come away with a victory on monday night Well, it's a team that is going to mirror some of the stuff you do. They want to run the football I mean nausea harissa. Good back and he's a little bit banged up. He's got a foot injury I thought snell did a pretty good job if you watch the game on monday night against baltimore snell Who's kind of been left for dead a guy that was a pretty good back in the sec is is resurfaced and he played pretty well last night So they've got a couple of banger backs that are going to run the football They've got arguably one of the better tight ends in the in the national football league and for mooth He he's a guy that can that can really win on the inside. He's a big body dude He kind of reminds you a little bit more of a he's not a kyle Pits type of guy. He's more of a grok type of guy Yeah, um, but got good hands can catch the ball in traffic and they got this young quarterback Pickets now. I think started five or four or five six games for him now Um, I think he's settling in what he can and can't get away with Um, and so I think that offensively offensive line. Okay, not great up front It's not like it's the best offensive line in the league or anything like that So I think you can create some problems Now you got to make sure he doesn't get out because he can get out Again, he's not going to run 60 yards with a touchdown like Justin Fields But he's going to get out run for first downs. He's going to buy time Got to watch the fake slides himself, right? Yeah. Well, yeah, that's exactly right Yeah, he's a big body dude, but uh, I like way he's playing but on the other side of the football You know Pittsburgh normally is known for playing defense. They can rush the passer I don't think they're as good against the run as they've been They want to play a two, uh, they want to play too high and they want to play a lot of man underneath That doesn't bode well against a team that runs the football right because now it's in your vulnerable against the running You don't have enough resources in the box And if somebody breaks container gets out and you're playing man coverage There's nobody there to make the play. So it'll be interesting to see if Pittsburgh shifts gears a little bit Plays a little bit more single high, which is not necessarily their their bag They don't have Troy Palamalo running around back there anymore Um To get another guy in the box to help defend the run and are they willing to turn backs and run with receivers Knowing that somebody could break contain many the quarterback the quarterback gets out in the zone. Read. There's nobody there Four and seven the pittsburgh stealers this year dj We you know when I say we I'm saying when you and I were playing, you know, that's when Rathausberger was there tomlatt had recently taken over and pittsburgh lived in the post season Right always competing to win their division Always making runs deep into the playoffs not necessarily going to be the case with this team However, one thing that's I've always thought is interesting and this happens every once in a while When visiting teams come into the house There'll be a lot of pittsburgh stealers fans in the stadium And it's not necessarily one of those deals where you got to overthink playing crowd noise But it will be a lot more noisy when atlanta is on offense this week than normal Because stealers fans turn out no matter where they go and in my experience here in atlanta Pittsburgh stealer fans show out So that's one area that they're going to have to kind of contend with but how do you see this match up Kind of unfolding a little bit first of all that is the truest statement ever I remember might have been my rookie every play pittsburgh and We came out after you know, not the warm-ups and it felt like we were the waiting I mean Pittsburgh absolutely travels. That's something that uh, obviously Hopefully, you know falcons fans come out and you know kind of take over Take back over the bench from all the the the pittsburgh fans But I I think arson did a great job of talking about who pittsburgh is and you look at his ball game I think there's room for this falcons defense to get home And I say that because when you're a young quarterback, you don't want to make a lot of decisions But at the same time you say he's played a you know, played a fair amount of football Now that he feels a little bit more comfortable to put the ball, you know up for for grabs I think he's got eight interceptions on the season. It's only three tubs He's been sacked three 23 times though In the short amount of time he's been playing so that tells you you know, whether it's the old line Or him hold on to the football you got a chance to be able to get home And ultimately that's something that you know, bo's will for you defensively But I think demo is the same for the falcons continue to do what you've been doing We talked about it when he came on About being in all these one score games and you know, all the games being tight itself for, you know, obviously Cincinnati I think you continue along that same line because you've you know, you've been in so many those games That's how you've dictated the ball game But finishing in a game like this, I think bo's well with the experience that you have On your side of the ball as opposed to having a rookie coming here and you know, try to You know, win him a ball game on the road So it's going to be interesting to see what happens, but I think ultimately You stay who you are on both sides of the ball But I think you have more opportunity to affect this quarterback this week Yeah, forgive me for not mentioning george pickens because pickens has been pretty good for him The georgia product, uh, he's from georgia I can't believe you didn't mention But pickens pick, I mean, it would have been it would have been too obvious if I said If I said it, I'm like, oh I mean just seriously hard to where he's been he's been pretty good. He's made some circus catches this year He made a couple good grabs again on monday night for him and the he has does have He's developed a rapport with pickens, you know, the two the two young guys Who get who go to figure pickens and picket kind of getting to get it together, but look with that this weekend Yeah, I don't want to say that That would that would be an interesting deal as to what you do if you do play man coverage AJ's traveled some Not a ton a lot of times he stayed home, but we have traveled him some This is not a receiver core that jumps off the map at it other than the tight end Of course, as I mentioned for mooth and pickens pickens has been a pretty good player for him Is this a is this a weekend where you decide, okay? Hey, we're going to try to come up and stop nausea harris and snow and those guys run the football And we're going to give AJ pickens that would be a hell of a matchup now between those two one question I want to ask you aren't you you talked about a guy like troy paul amalou They have a guy in me can piss back sure do and a guy like that is he Less of a big deal in this game because you don't have the impact of having a cow piss that he probably would be on Or you still see him as a guy who like paul amalou will still affect the game in a way because of how active he is on that It's a great point because he's kind of a ball hawk guy right he kind of finds himself around the ball gets the ball out And so those are the kind of guys you love is if he's around the ball It seems like he gets it on the ground or takes it from you and he's he's continued to do that a guy that they can cover So what is what what assignment do they give him because they do play a lot of too high Is he they bring him down in the box does he draw maybe cp in the slot? That might be a matchup You see because I don't think they'll be overly concerned about Parker hessie or somebody at the tight end spot Or furks are both very very capable of doing something but from an explosive standpoint Maybe he gets one of those assignments, but that's a great point shock. He's a dude that For whatever he's got one of those knacks, you know those knack guys. It kind of is around a ball I they better be aware man. My man. My coal is coming home. He's getting the zone Pruly I want to have a little fun here, okay? Because you you had to ask arch about where a certain guy was from in georgia I saw when you talked about minke Fitzpatrick from alabama you talked about naji harris from alabama He was on social media. I saw a clip this morning or last night where he was asked about georgia guys because You know, obviously georgia going to the sec championship so on and so forth and He has asked a question about like always playing against first round draft picks in practice at alabama And he makes this dig arch or shock. I'm sure I don't know if you heard this. He said well georgia's coaches all just came from alabama anyway So so does georgia get their edge because of kerby coming from alabama or is this a georgia thing? That's a good one. That's a good one. Kerby didn't come from alabama He came from georgia, right? He played for georgia. He played for the dogs. He coached there in my last year but I mean I mean, I'm gonna keep it all the way. I mean, you know, he was He was trying to take his digs at georgia because he's like, oh, yeah, I play with minke Fitzpatrick and like You know, look at all these guys from alabama that are just dominating the nfl You know georgia, they're they're good and all but like they got what they got because their guys came from alabama That's what he was saying. I mean, it makes sense now I mean because they're not the the cream of the crop anymore. So, you know, hey see you gotta find a way You gotta find a way to you know when you're sitting in the driver's seat, right? Yeah, you know when your team georgia Is back-to-back 12 and 0 seasons number one in the country. You look at them Overwhelming number one team in the country sitting in the driver's seat for the college football player Here's a classic for your rack we're coming in today and it's all we're gonna pull the screen back here or the veil back So we're coming in and shock saying, uh, so I was after the game I said, what's up when you lose those kind of games, you know, he says, well, you know You talk to arthur post game every time and you know, how's that? You know, you get these close losses things like that and I said, well shock, you know, you you do post game for georgia You know how that is. He says no, I don't know that So he was rubbing it in the nose of everybody before we ever got in here They want what are you going to run around with you like I'm just trying to pick my guys brain on how he handled certain situations And then it you know, it kind of came to me. He just he said, I don't I don't ask those questions. I've only I've only been with it I've only you know, kind of been in the rule I have been for the last two years So the last two years it was it was more about the dogs being where they are So we're going to get shock of a mosa here as he just takes his feet off of the counter By the way, we went off the rails. This is a falcons podcast, okay? This is not about dj Shockley the georgia bulldogs, but every once in a while you got to have a little fun All right, uh lana back at home against the pittsburgh stealers They've probably got some georgia players and some alabama players But we're looking forward to uh, seeing at lana back on the field this weekend Hopefully coming away with a victory and seeing a whole bunch more smiles on the faces as we come back here And talk about falcon stuff each and every week on the falcons audible presented by AT&T Thanks so much for watching us on whatever avenue you get your podcast from Atlanta falcons.com youtube spot Spotify iTunes. Is there any other ones? I'm missing. That's it. That's the four right there Like subscribe and review and hopefully We didn't uh damage anything. We'll be back Oh, no, it's still clean, baby. It's still clean, baby. Thanks for watching watching us this week We'll get back next week right here in falcons auto presented by AT&T. See you