 What's up everybody and welcome to another edition of the Falcons Final Whistle podcast I'm Scott Bayer and here with me Tori McElaney and Chris Rimm and we are going to break down a 30 to 17 Falcons loss here at Mercedes Benz Stadium to the NFC South leading Tampa Bay Buccaneers and over the course of this 4-quarter podcast where you're gonna spend five minutes talking about the stats of the game the plays that the Falcons would definitely like to Have back. We're gonna take a deep dive into the run game and as always in the fourth quarter We are going to look ahead to what the Falcons must do to get back Into the playoff mix to finish this season. Well all those types of things but before we get to all that Tori, what was your biggest takeaway from this loss to Tampa here at home? Yeah, I was thinking a lot about when the Falcons play Tampa in Tampa and what that game looked like and comparing it to what we saw Today and while I do think that there were steps taken in the right direction in some areas I would say that Seeing the production in the run game was really good to see now for the second week in a row The Falcons getting over 100 yards in a game rushing yards in a game Even in saying that I still feel like there were areas in which the Buccaneers showed that they were just more Dominant and and I think that we'll get more into it when we're talking about the stats of the game and the plays of the game But that to me was I really saw I think like discrepancy between What the Buccaneers were able to do on offense and defense versus what the Falcons were able to do Chris What was your take away number one from this game? Yeah, last time we did as I think I talked about consistency and the Falcons needing to over the stretch play four-quarters of Good football and today was an example of them not executing that they started the game off hot the Buccaneer scored They responded quickly with a score of their own six plays 75 yards, you know running down the teams That's the best Russian defense that we'll get into later, but then After that we kind of saw that sputter out and not be the same So again, I think my biggest takeaway still the consistency here is that for some reason they can start to start a game That way or play a quarter that way But how can they do that over the course of four quarters is still what this team needs to figure out through the final five Yeah, and we're gonna break this game down and look ahead as we always do But before we get to that a big thank you to our sponsor Microsoft Windows 11 the official operating system of the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons The all-new Windows 11 is here to bring you closer to what you love like this Falcons final whistle Podcast and learn all about the awesome new features of Windows 11 at windows.com And we are starting a quarter number one talking about the stats that tell the story of this game and Tori McElaney You've got you have a pretty good one that you also wrote about on the website. That is very Revealing and Arthur Smith agreed with you. Yeah, what I was looking at mainly was the play of The the guys at the line of scrimmage and so the offensive and defensive lines Really essentially what I was kind of looking at was the fact that Tampa Bay's defensive line By the end of the game Matt Ryan had been sacked five times for a loss of 38 yards He was hit 11 times the Falcons were dropped for a for a loss six different times and in comparison The Falcons had one quarterback hit from Grady Jarrett. Wow, and that's it There was nothing else that could be even remotely compared to what the Buccaneers defensive line Was doing to the Falcons offensive line and then vice versa the Falcons defensive line to the Buccaneers offensive line It was very interesting because I did feel like and I feel like the stats back this up And I feel like even Arthur Smith saying that yeah, if you look at the stat line It really kind of shows you why the game ended up being how it is is that there was to me The Buccaneers showed that they were more dominant at the line of scrimmage Today and I think that that was a huge reason why the game turned out the way that it did why the score turned out The way that it did why the Falcons couldn't punch it in at all after the first drive So that to me was where I kind of really looked and and saw I was talking about at the top like the discrepancy and I really felt like there was a discrepancy between The plays of the guys in the line of scrimmage. Yeah, and I kind of looked at these third down Conversions right it seemed like the Falcons were converting some pretty dramatic third downs. That's a third and long Yeah, a lot of third-longs on on I believe their their second drive that they would have hoped would have ended in a touchdown They feel go instead. They had three third down conversions of third and seven plus They ultimately though for as great as it felt the fact they were over 50% Still worse than Tampa Bay Tampa Bay was eight for 13 If you go to halftime Tampa Bay was still better at at three for five and the Falcons were five for nine And the Falcons for as well as they ran and we'll get to that in time They were still kind of off schedule a little bit But they found a way to get rust gauge involved to move the chains and keep it keep Everything kind of going in a positive direction, but so I really thought watching the game live I thought the Falcons are doing a good job on third down So to look at the box score now and be like the bucks did better even in that Area where I thought that Atlanta still did pretty well. I thought that was pretty eye-opening that yeah, okay Maybe they had some big conversions But they were still not on Tampa Bay's level even when they were doing well And that is the type of thing where it's just really tough to keep up with a team like this with as many mistakes as you make ultimately Even when they did well they didn't do well enough Yeah, and I think for me what stands out is their the red zone efficiency And it's been a thing that's just stood out in the past three out of the past four games one two of which that they played at home at Mercedes Benz against One against the Patriots where they got to the red zone twice and we're over two and then against the Cowboys They only got to the red zone once which was a way And they didn't score in that game. They just got a field goal But tonight they were one for three in the red zone and we saw what happened there was a fourth down Misk you there that we will get into later But I think overall that what we're seeing from the Falcons and their in their last few games It's just not being able to put the ball in the end zone And I think this is a theme that they definitely want to end moving forward Yeah, it was interesting because I know Matt Ryan was talking about it after the game and he kind of said if His quote was if we're looking for areas of improvement That's definitely one of them just not being able to punch it in and I think he made a good point that when you're playing a team like The Bucks that are going to score points. They are one of the most potent Offenses in the league. I mean you can't say you can't not say that when Tom Brady's the quarterback You know like they're going to go out and score points They're going to go out and do what they need to do to get in the end zone And so if you're not matching that step for step What's going to happen is what actually ended up happening tonight? Yeah, and I think it's even it's even more odd because the I think well, obviously there are stretches in the season where you struggle and this might just be that stretch And maybe the next five games are on different stretch But the Falcons have scored points this year again They scored points here at Mercedes-Benz M1, but that Washington game I think that they want to have back that they might have felt like they should have won They scored what 30 points in that game scored 30 points against the Dolphins 27 in New Orleans, so the focus could score points It's just figuring out, you know, if the if the right thing is working for you sticking to that thing or you know Making making the right decision here or like we talked about a fumble in a certain situation. So yeah And you know ultimately what it comes down to is this was a close game until the fourth quarter And then it was a two-score game. I'm sorry at the end of the third quarter a two-score game And then things kind of got awry and we are moving on to a quarter number two where we're going to talk about plays The Falcons want to take back In this quarter number two, we're gonna talk about plays or in Torrey's case Who will go first a sequence of plays that was that was pivotal when against the Falcons that if they could Wave a magic wand and do it all over again. They probably would yeah I think we can't start this segment off without talking about how the Falcons had a first and goal from the one-yard line at the beginning of the second quarter and Did not punch it in had to settle for a 21-yard field goal and just kind of going through and looking at that sequence you know there was an incompletion from the one and then you follow that on second down with a Fumbled snap and and there was a kind of a just a not a miscommunication, but they just There was drew Dalman was in at center. My Ryan didn't catch the snap Like, you know, it was just one of those things you just dropped it. And so I think That it was interesting that after the game Arthur Smith was a porous asked about this moment Because you know the Falcons dropped the snap and fall on it and then now you're looking at a third and three And then they throw in another incompletion then it's fourth down and he was asked, you know Like why didn't you run the ball and he said that on that second down play when they drop the drop the snap that that was going to be a run play and You had an opportunity to punch it in there But you drop the snap and then what ends up happening is From the looking at a touchdown Potentially from the one-yard line versus a touchdown from the three-yard line It does kind of change the way that you look at a play call in that sense And so I really don't have a problem with the incompletion on third down But the fact that there was an incompletion on first down from the one followed by the drop snap I mean though it was just kind of it just seemed like things like melted down for them in that moment And and I think that kind of it was so early in the game that I think if you punch it in right there And you kind of and you get you probably potentially go ahead 14 to 13, right? That changes the rhythm of how the rest of that half goes. Yeah, and To stay on this sequence. It was it was very Interesting to watch I would say from the entire sequence that that they get that roughing the pass or call that puts Essentially at the one and then the first down plays from the shotgun right which was an eyebrow razor only to the extent that that seems Unorthodox from that position then you have a called run that doesn't work out and you ultimately have to kick a field goal and I think that that's That's a difficult thing to take considering how well the Falcons did marching up to that point I said in the previous segment that they had three-third in the long issues three Third and seven plus and they converted on those things. It felt like it was really positive Momentum that they had built after a good first Opening salvo and that really kind of I think really hurt Atlanta overall Chris if you could pick a play That you think the Falcons would like back which one is it? Yeah, I think it's coming out of the The second half right after that big Marlon Davidson Interception for a touchdown, which was so fun. Yeah, so awesome by the way love, you know big man touchdown any I didn't even look like He was supposed to do it look like no pure instinct, but There was you know big possession the big big momentum shift Possibility there for the Falcons and it was a third and 13 and Matt Ryan makes to throw Russell Gage catches the pass and then who had a great day by the way arguably his best game all year 11 catches for 130 yards And he fumbled the ball and 10 big out the ball didn't score but Converting a third down like that might have again like you were talking about feelings matter plays matter conversions matter So maybe converting on that play can shift the momentum give some confidence to the team And maybe they get points on that drive But that's a mistake that I think are the Smith mentioned post game that they had some opportunities that they gave up He didn't mention things specifically But I have to imagine he was thinking about this CP mentioned mistakes about him things that he did wrong But also that the team as a whole did after imagine he might be thinking about this too But I think this was a pivotal moment in the game for them Yeah, I'm I'm gonna go back to the first drive of the game And I know a lot of things happen after that But Tampa Bay's got a fourth and four on the Atlanta 38 That's on the very fringe of field goal range I'm sure that the analytics would say that you go for it there and Tampa Bay did and that sort of makes sense They were able to convert at that point and then they went down and scored a touchdown on their opening drive if you go back to Dallas Dallas essentially did the same thing. Yeah, they had a critical fourth down right at that where analytics say that you should go for it But I also think that that was one of those Daring the Falcons to stop them and they couldn't so instead you could have a huge momentum swing right off the top and Instead you end up giving up seven points that I think that if we're talking about individual plays that like that can really swing things That's a real statement play Yeah, and the fact that it was pretty easy allowed that drive to continue put them in a hole kind of took some of the Thunder away from a great opening drive by the Falcons I think even though that was an that was an early one. It still was impactful on this game We're to spend the third quarter of the Falcons final whistle podcast talking about a run game that has come to life for the Atlanta Falcons, oh really over the last couple of weeks, but not only did they do well against Jacksonville But they came out and we're able to Efficiently move the ball downfield on the ground against the NFL's number one run defense that ain't nothing If you look at total stats here, they are pretty darn good I would say it's a total of a hundred and twenty one rushing yards on 23 carries That's a five point three yard per carry clip Cordero Patterson moving the ball on the ground 13 attempts 78 yards and Mike Davis Looked pretty good on the ground as well Chris What was your impression of how they're able to move the ground? How they were able to move the ball on the ground both with the backs and the offensive line I thought it was really impressive the way they were able to move the ball, especially on that opening drive I thought the the numbers the numbers say they had a hundred and twenty one yards But the bulk of that came in The first quarter and then like the beginning of the second quarter and then after around like eight minutes in the second quarter I think they were at almost a hundred yards So that that says something about bucking ears adjustments and also how the game shifted But again what we talked about my takeaway was about consistency if they can figure out a way to make that happen over You know four quarters it would be much improved and better, but at the end of the day I think we're talking to CP post game and Mike Davis post game If there's one thing that they weren't smiling and you know both full like kind of like last game I'll CP was yeah, you know kind of feeling himself with the shades of stuff like that But but what he did say in the in the disappointment and the flatement that was evident from him was that What we're doing is good It's a sign of a step in the right direction like if we can keep helping out Matt running the ball Then our passing game opens up gauge can get 11 catches for 130 yards if we continue to run the ball this way So they got 63 yards on the ground in the opening drive and this is the first game with back to back a hundred yard Russian games so they're finding a rhythm and this is the perfect time to find a rhythm and having that balance attack We'll just help a quarterback like man help the receivers as we saw today so I think overalls a step in the right direction, but Have to make it happen over four quarters because I think it was around 90 yards at the beginning of the second Right, and I do think that you know the the flow of the game kind of goes into it, too I think that they really didn't have that many opportunities in the fourth quarter Just with the way that the way the score was to run the ball But but still you want to be in better positions going into the fourth quarter so that you can do that And I know like for me when I'm thinking about this run game and You know, maybe this is me feeling bad that I was mean to the offensive line early in the first quarter of this game Or this game of this podcast and kind of being like you gave up so many sacks I will say that's something that has pleased me with this run game in general is that Mike Davis and Cordero Patterson are not getting hit as much at the line of scrimmage, right? like that's such a big deal because For probably a month and a half like we just people kept asking me about like Mike Davis's production and Cordero Patterson's Production and why they can't run the ball and I said over and over it's they are getting hit at the line of scrimmage It doesn't matter how good of a running back you are if you're getting hit immediately after you get the ball handed off to you There's not a lot that you can do about that Now we have seen in the last two games that there are holes being made for these running backs and it's it's why you're seeing the success that they are having because Cordero Patterson has the ability to break tackles. He's a very physical runner. It's one of the things that I think Makes him so different as a runner But he also does such a good job of like seeing holes and seeing how things play out And so if you can give him just a little bit of space He can make a defense pay for that and I think that's what we're slowly starting to see happen of the course of the last two games Yeah, I think Arthur Smith talked during the week about his commitment to getting the run game going that he wasn't going to Abandon ship and throw 55 times per game and what he said is he said people forget that in Tennessee in 2018 It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows It may have ended up that way But it took them a half season to get his run game activated and he remained committed to it Even if it wasn't terribly efficient and now we're starting to see not only a better per Per carry clip, but we're starting to see those big explosive runs And that's because the lanes are getting better the run fits are getting better The offensive line is doing a better job working together. That's something that happens over time This is a young group that needs to be that needs to come together So I think the fact that Arthur Smith didn't give up on it is a huge reason why we're seeing these dividends now now One game is pretty nice two games shows that it is repeatable But to Chris's point from the start of this segment is can they do it consistently over four quarters? That's been the missing element for this team across the board Including the the run game, but that is the next step for how to progress on on the ground And we're going to kick off the fourth quarter like we always do Taking the result putting it in context and looking forward to what the Falcons need to do moving on from it now um I wrote a column for the website basically saying that look Arthur Smith is telling his players and he told the media We're still in it. There's still five games to go. All of our goals are in front of us All of those things are mathematically true But so we could look at it as there are still five games to go Or we could look at it as there are only five games to go And basically my column is just sort of about that they got to get hot now their margin for error is gone Now did that stop that tweet from getting ratio? It absolutely did not It sure didn't because after a game like this Fans don't want to think about sunshine and rainbows. They want to think about draft picks But nonetheless, it's still out there in front of them. But the hour's getting late the Sand in the hourglass mostly on the bottom here. Are we It's not too late, but it's definitely getting close. Tori. Yeah, no, you're absolutely right And I think it's something that we were talking about post game Like something that arthur smith has kind of said as the season has gone on it's like You know, we still have 10 games left. We still have seven games left Like that's that's been a consistent like talking point of his is kind of almost like counting down how many games they have left So to kind of get things where they want them But now you're at five and five is very different than 10 or nine And I think you're absolutely right that things need to kind of pick up now and I think that there still is an opportunity to do that because Carolina they're they're going to charlotte on sunday the next time we all talk the next time you listen to This podcast it'll be after that game That's a winnable game. They just fired their offensive coordinator That that is that to me is a very winnable game Christian mccaffrey is Not gonna he's not gonna make a difference in that game because he's not gonna play in that game that changes how the panthers play That is a winnable game Then you go to san francisco Then you come back home and you're playing the lions which even though the lions won today That's still a winnable game. So you have opportunities in front of you To to go out and put some good games together Get a couple more wins and kind of just see how things shake out over the course of the next month Month and a half. Yeah, and things are getting really like even as we recorded this san francisco just lost To seattle. There you go. Right. So it just gets even this even more compacted. It's been so weird Right. Yeah, and I think I think too when you look at the the remaining games on the schedule And you have the the benefit of that panthers game too is that they've seen the panthers already though It might be a different quarterback that they see depending if cam newton plays or not They've played this team already and that's the benefit It's a double-edged short because they've also seen you Um, and they they have the saints again But who have seen them and and were close and they won that game at the wire So I think like you said, you know, some games look winnable on paper But the nfl and especially this year anything can happen. So I think you know regardless Regardless of of how a team looks or or how Their record look I think the biggest thing and that we've all talked about Throughout is just figuring out the identity and figuring out how to be consistent to that identity And I don't know. I'm not sure if the identity I'm not the coach I'm not sure if I know what the identity is or if we can define it But it but how they're going to beat teams what what they're going to do great Each week. Um, and I think that's what they need to figure out or and rely on that right I mean to be completely honest the falcons haven't put together a complete game yet They just haven't and that's gonna be the difference when we finally see that And I hope that we do see that at some point over the course of the next month and a half of this season That to me is we will be able to know more about what their identity is if they can put together a complete game Yeah, and that's been the ever elusive quest we we talk a lot about You know how there's a lot of season left that we've been reminded a lot of how much season that there is We've also been reminded that they're still looking for that Four quarter game even in wins sometimes it's been a little closer. So that is the objective and that is The hope for this for this falcons team that if they can do that if they can play four quarters consistently Then they can find a space where they can put some wins together Ultimately, there are some games left on the schedule like we've all broken down You can get away with a little more against Detroit Maybe the saints in week 18, then you can against Buffalo in Buffalo Right, so so there are some windows, but they're gonna have to figure it out soon Go into carolina. They they cannot make any mistakes there Margin for error is too small, but it is not dusted It's not gone and I think that that's what is uh gonna make these next couple games intriguing It's uh, it's down to the wire backs against the wall. You name your cliche It's time for the falcons to respond and rebound as they have done, but they need to do so more consistently And that'll do it for the falcons final whistle podcast. Thank you guys so much for joining us Thank you in advance for going to itunes or spotify or youtube and subscribing Leaving us a kind review. Hopefully and a five star rating. That would be super awesome So if you if you guys could do that and also I remind you guys every week that We take you through the game that just happened Dave Archer dj. Shockley dj. Wrackley with falcons audible get you set up for the game that is about to come up So be sure to subscribe to every offering that we have in the falcons podcast network And we will as tori mentioned earlier. We will talk to you again from charlotte next week after an absolutely Totally crucial game and guess who's coming to charlotte chris rim chris rim is gonna be there We are really excited that the whole team will be together for an away game It's gonna be awesome tune in it. It'll be fun. Thanks as always for joining us talk to you next week