 Derek Rackley, I'm back with my fellas, Dave Archer and DJ Shockley. I will get to those guys in just one second, but let me give you a quick rundown of what we will be talking about throughout the next call of 20 or 30 minutes. We will get into a discussion about kickers. Yes, Youngway Koo missed one this past weekend, but we'll talk a little further beyond that. We'll talk about some interesting kicker stories the guys might have had throughout the course of their careers. We'll also get into the Falcons defense and they had a really good performance against Kansas City holding them to the lowest amount of points that they've had all season. We'll get into a discussion about whether or not the Falcons defense is good where they're at. Have the defense of woes been fixed or the guys still feel like things need to be improved on that side of the football. We're also going to talk about the guys that we'd like to see in a Falcons uniform, more specifically in the draft. We'll fast forward to 2021 and talk about some of the potential guys that could land on the Falcons as unfortunately the losses continue to pile up. That pick starts to go down, which means better player. And then we'll get into the discussion, the age old debate, DJ and Dave, about whether or not you draft for need or you draft for the best player available. I'll get the guy's opinion on that. But first, let's start with the game this past weekend and I want you guys to give me a one sentence headline about what you would say after the Falcons 17 to 14 loss to the Chiefs last weekend. Dave, let me start with you. Give me a one sentence headline. If you are running the sports column of a newspaper and a quick support behind your headline, nice effort. Learn how to win games at the end in 2021. There it is. And that's that's been the theme throughout the entire season. The Falcons just not able to close games out. I think I saw a stat during the game that with the Chiefs lost, the Falcons are now 0-7 this year on games decided by six points or less. So finishing obviously been an issue for DJ. What do you got for a headline for us? Just a few plays away is the headline for me. Back in the ball game, there were a couple of plays here and there and fumble. We know the miss field goal and miss tackles. All those things could have contributed to a big win and you were just a few plays away. Yeah, just a few plays away is definitely true there and I'll end with my headline guys and I'm kind of me and Dave were thinking on the same lines here and my headline was Falcons fight Chiefs hard, but end with familiar results. And again, just the inability to close out games and Dave kind of talked about as far as 2021 goes, whether that's the same personnel, whether that's a new coaching staff, somehow they have to change that internal mindset on finding a way to finish out football games. So like we said, we're not going to touch a whole lot on this game. It's a Falcons 4-11 season right now. I think most people are interested in where this team is going to go from here moving forward. So we'll just go ahead and we'll fast forward. We're going to push that button on the old cassette tape. You guys remember, you have those fast forward, baby, fast forward, baby. Right. Just fast forward, fast forward right into the next topic. We're going to talk about kickers and kickers doing kicker things. Now, granted, Young Way Coo did miss a very important field goal in the game last weekend, but this is not going to be a session where we're going to get on top of the shoulders of Young Way Coo. He's had a phenomenal season. He'd hit 27 in a row. He's one of two Falcons, Pro Bowl representatives this year. But what we're going to do is we're going to talk about some kicker stories that kind of make us think about kickers doing kicker things. So DJ, there's been a number of different examples out here and I'm going to just kind of leave it wide open. You can pick whatever comes to your mind, whether it was a college game, pro game about just one instance where a kicker just did something where you were like, man, that's such a kicker thing to do. And Rack, it's so funny you say why because it goes exactly with what I'm going to bring up. But first, I want to kind of piggyback on what you said. A lot of props to Young Way Coo this season. I mean, the number of 50-yard kicks that he knocks through this year to the guys would have been absolutely amazing for the Falcons. So give him a lot of credit. It's hard to come out there here and you got one instance like you know Rack to put that thing right and not come out on top. So still a lot of props to Young Way Coo. So mine is, since you said wide, how about all about the wide rights for FSU going against Miami? How many times did we see that? I think we saw it in 91 and 92. Saw it again in 2000. We saw a wide left, wide right in 0-3. How many times in that game versus one opponent with the game on the line can you go wide right or wide left and completely destroy the hopes and dreams of so many Florida State fans over the years? I remember watching the notes growing up and being like, man, there's no way he's going to miss this one again. And then you watch it 15 years later and you're like, how did that happen again? So all the wide for me with the FSU and Miami rivalry, something that sticks out for me when it comes to kickers and the end of ball games. It's amazing how two words and wide right and wide left can just become synonymous with the point game. But that has definitely happened. Arch, what do you got? Kickers doing kicker things. What comes to the top of your mind? Yeah, first thing comes to mind for me is a game, the game we were getting ready for in New England. Our kickers out, warming up, slips and falls on the field and waxes head on the turf. Concussion. He can't go. What? Can't go. He slipped and fell and hit his head on the ground. So our punter had to kick in the game. I mean, you've heard me say it for a number of times. You know, you don't even wash their uniforms. You just hang them up in the locker. They don't really need to have their uniforms washed. No offense to any kicker out there. Well, yeah, offense to all kickers out there. Let me take that back. Young Waikoo, amazing season guys. He'd hit 30 straight inside 40 yards. We all expected him to knock it through. And I know nobody feels more bad about it than he does. We've seen a number of kickers have big moments and sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn't. They're gunslingers. They only get called on once or twice, maybe three times a game. And you got to go out and try to knock it through. He's done that all year long. Just didn't happen on this game. By the way, there are a lot of other plays in this game that we could have made that wouldn't even have Young Waikoo be on the field to try to tie the football game. But yeah, you can't fall down in warm-ups and knock yourself out. That's brutal. Arch, where were you in this equation? I know you had some days of king or something. I mean, you didn't give it a try. I can punt. I could punt. I punted in high school. I was back up punt on a team, but I wasn't place kicking. I mean, that's got knee injury written all over it. I wouldn't do that. Arch wasn't going to try to jeopardize his standing in the quarterback room. Well, plus I didn't have the square toe rack. I couldn't go to the square toe shoe because I'm not coming in soccer style. That would kind of hurt you scrambling ability. All right, I'll cap off the kickers doing kicker things and guys, I'm going to go back and I talked about this a few weeks ago when I was on here with the Falcons Audible with Kelsey and Will. And we got into a discussion about some different things and I talked about the Falcons Vikings championship game from back in 1998. And the reason why I bring it up, obviously we're on a Falcons podcast, but also I'm born and raised in Minnesota. And when you're born and raised in Minnesota, unless your parents came from some part of the country where they were a Giants fan, a Steelers fan, a Cowboys fan, whatever it may be, you're just kind of born a Vikings fan, right? Well, that was the season where everything aligned perfectly for Minnesota. I told this story a few weeks ago. My parents even bought Super Bowl tickets like week 16 of the regular season. Guys, it was a foregone conclusion that the Vikings were going to the Super Bowl. They were the most untouchable team in the NFC that entire season. Gary Anderson, the kicker with the low bar single face. You can see the whole face. I don't know what that one bar down there was going to do. Anyway, if anything would have ended up coming his direction. He had missed a kick all year. And the Vikings had a seven point lead, a chance to take that game to a 10 point lead and make it maybe insurmountable for the Atlanta Falcons. And what does he end up doing? He misses. I think it was wide left on that one, DJ. He goes wide left, maybe by the length of a football or two in the entire state of Minnesota was absolutely stunned. It was the quietest I've ever seen. Number one, when he missed a field goal. And number two, when the seemingly untouchable Minnesota Vikings went down to a different Anderson, the Morton Anderson from the Falcons. And of course, the Atlanta Falcons ended up going to the Super Bowl. That was such. And again, just like the only coup, he had a phenomenal season. But Gary Anderson doing kicker things for the Vikings losing that game in Minnesota to the Falcons. I know you guys remember that one. Archie, you remember that game, right? No question about it. I would fast forward 17 years and Blair Walsh, missing the field goal against the Seattle in Minnesota again to win the football game in Knox, Seattle. That was a 26 yarder with 27 seconds left or something like that. So I guess we say all of this that, you know what, you don't like it, but it happens and it's been happening down through the ages where a lot of times you don't want to leave it up to the kicker. Most of them are really good. Certainly ours is really good in Young Waikoo. But again, I think we have to emphasize there's so many other plays in the game that kind of eliminate that being the one play that decides a football game. Yeah, I mean, you always think that these NFL kickers, they're getting paid to do this. Some of them are getting paid a ton of money to do this. You're thinking this is your job. All you got to do is make a kick, but you're right, Archie. Just like any game, there's probably a lot of plays that could have been made to where it didn't come down to a field goal even against the big bad chief. So speaking of the big bad chiefs, let's talk a little bit about it. Yeah, okay, go ahead DJ, sorry. Fellas, I just want to point out something. You guys both have mentioned my headline numerous times since we've been on the podcast. So I think the hierarchy of my headline I think would have to go first, right? Because you guys have been, you got good headlines, but for some reason you guys keep saying just a few plays away would sound like my headline. Archie, last time I checked, we weren't giving away prizes for whoever had the headline. Did you remember me saying anything about that, Archie? Oh, I thought it was always a competition, my bad, sorry. Yeah, shock is what he's done is he's gone down to one of the local five and dime stores. He's bought a bunch of those little stuffed animals and he awards himself a stuffed animal every time he gets something right. So he gets a little something. All right, we'll do something. While we set up this next topic here, you go ahead and grab whatever stuffed animals that makes you feel better as far as your headline. Choose a giraffe. Get the giraffe. That's a really nice one. They're called best so far, but let's talk a little bit about the Falcons and Chiefs game because I want to talk a little bit about the defense in this game because as we mentioned, the Falcons defense ends up holding the Chiefs to the lowest amount of points throughout the entire season for Kansas City and the lowest passer rating for Patrick Mahomes. And we've talked a lot about the improvement of the defense, Archie. So I want to start with you. Are you sold that the defensive woes have been solved for the Falcons defense? Or do you feel like there are still holes, still improvement ways for this defense to get better? No, there's certainly ways to get better. I have encouraged with the way they've played. If you take the first five games, for instance, they were giving up 32 points a game. Over the last 10 games, Atlanta has given up 20.2 points per game. That would be near the top of the National Football League if it were for a 16 game schedule. 20 points a game, you're going to win most your games. Now that puts the onus back on the offense and I know that's where you're going to take us, Rack. But no, I don't think it's fixed, but it's certainly they're playing to higher level. They got to add a few pieces to help them play with the personality they've been playing with over the last 10 games. DJ, we've always known about the playmaking ability of a guy like Grady Jarrett going to the Pro Bowl this year. Foyer Lua Khan has had a fantastic season, had a great interception in that game. Keanu Neal, when he's healthy, is probably one of the most punishing safeties that plays the game. But what are you seeing from this defense, DJ? Are you seeing enough improvement to where you feel like this is a defense that can help them win next year, or they still need to add pieces? I love the way you are, and there's always going to be pieces you need to add. And then on the back end, Keanu, you got to love how he's came back from the multiple injuries he's had in the last couple years and been a stalemate on the back end. Now, you've had some guys who have been in and out of line of Black and Ricardo, but AJ Terrell has held his own for most time. I mean, we're putting this guy as a rookie on some of the best receivers in the game that's been around for multiple years doing it. So, I think the pieces are there. There's always more complimentary pieces that you can add. I mean, look at a guy like 2EL2Mariner this year who's played a pivotal role for this defense. How about Michael Walker coming in and some key moments in playing well as well? You've got some young pieces that are here that can help you, but I just love the fact that you have those three guys at the three major levels that you need for this defense, but there's always room to grow in any defense. But what they've done over the last, like Arch mentioned, 10 weeks, and even the last three out of four ball games holding some really good offices to the under 21 points is a huge stepping point for this defense going forward. Yeah, look, like I think we're all in agreement here, guys, that we've seen improvement. We've seen some flashes of this defense playing really well. And I think I've said this comment before and I'll update it for this week because it kind of applies as well. But at the end of the day, when you're a four and 11 team, nothing is set in stone. No job should be solidified. Nobody's got anything on lock. And obviously this comes off a two seven and nine season as well. So, I feel like and to your point, DJ, you mentioned everybody. I would imagine the Super Bowl winner is going to be finding a way to get better. That's the reason why we have the draft. That's the reason why we have free agency. So, no, this defense is not there. They have found some really good pieces and guys that all three of us have talked about. But this defense still has a ways to go if it wants to be able to compete to help this team get in the postseason and that will start with our next discussion which is going to be the 2021 draft. So, that's what a lot of the fans, especially Falcons folks, are looking at right now. How does this team get better? And because of the couple of losses that we've ended up having, it has ended up making the draft position better. So, DJ, let me start with you. If we're in a 2021 draft and we're not going to get into the discussion about need versus best player available yet, we'll get there in a moment. But what do you feel is out there right now as far as personnel or player coming out of college that can help this Falcons team? I think you're still in that defense side of ball and it starts up front. I think you got to have that pass rusher that is equivalent to a guy that can change a ball game for you. You look at somebody's teams who are going to be playing in the postseason. They have one or two guys who are complete game records up front. And, you know, when you're looking at some of the guys coming out this year, a quick pay from Michigan, a really explosive guy on the edge, pass rusher guy, really well-formed. Greg Wiseau, 15 and a half sacks over his career, opted out here so you know he's going to be healthy and ready to go right away. I just think we're having a guy like Grady in the middle. You need somebody who's going to take pressure off. Now, it doesn't take foul as a guy who would expect to become that guy. It wasn't as much this year, but there's always room to grow and have extra pass rusher to go along with what you got on the back end. So, for me, it's one of those pass rusher guys I think can absolutely make come in and have a impact on what the Falcons can do, especially when it comes to rushing the pass. Yeah, Boogie Bastion, one of the guys that DJ was talking about there, a little internet connection glitches every once in a while, but he is definitely a good player that's kind of falling under the radar a little bit just because of the team that he plays for, but once he continues to work out, he'll probably end up shooting up the draft boards a little bit more. Arch, who do you got? Offense, defense, who do you like as far as draft available that's going to help this team right away? Well, I think I would go defensive side of the football. I don't think there's a pass rusher that deserves to be picked the first five picks of the draft and you're probably going to have a top five pick. So, now you've got to start evaluating what you need to where you're picking them. Do you trade back in the draft, maybe get you an extra first round pick, and then you've got to, you've targeted a pass rusher. To me, Aj Charell has proven that he's an outstanding corner on the outside. I think you need another one. I think you go get Patrick Sertan, you go get Caleb Fairley, the guy out of Virginia Tech, two long corners that can run, that can play dump, bump and run, play to the style that this team has adopted. I think that I would look in that direction. Those two guys are both rated in the top 10 in the draft. They would not be a reach. So, you've got to look that way. I know there's going to be some discussion about quarterback, potentially drafting your heir apparent to Matt Ryan. Certainly, that's something you could look at. But who's that guy? Because Trevor Lawrence is clearly the best quarterback in the draft. I'm not sure about Justin Fields. I'm not sure about Zach Wilson. I'm not sure about Trey Lance. Who is? And so, do you roll the dice in your first round pick, knowing you could get a guy that could come in and play right now in your defense, like we saw with Aj Charell? Or do you roll the dice on a guy that's not going to play for you, probably for another couple years? That will be something the Falcons really have to juggle. Yeah, and I think the bigger question, Mark, too, Dave, when you start talking about quarterbacks is like, we don't know who the head coach is going to be. We don't know who the offensive coordinator is going to be. So, what is the style fit for whatever those quarterbacks that are available in the draft? Most people are in agreement that Trevor Lawrence is the only can't miss prospect in his draft, but the Falcons likely are not going to have a chance at him. So, a lot of variables fall into the discussion. DJ, I was kind of on the same wavelength as you, his pass rusher, and I looked at a guy like Russo from Miami. Maybe he ends up being a little bit of a stretch like Arch talked about, but we just don't know because he opted out this season. He had a great year last year in 14 games. We didn't get a chance to see him in 2020. So, what has he been doing from his training regimen? All that stuff will be determined as we get down the road a little bit, but I felt like pass rusher was a big need. The other one that was interesting to me, guys, is yeah, a lot of it comes off when you play against the Chiefs, but they're kind of the bar right now, probably along with the Packers and the Bills, as far as offensive production, right? But it's hard to look past a guy like Tyree Kill, right? How can you find somebody in the middle of the draft like Kansas City did? Fifth round out of West Alabama, a guy that had some off-the-field issues, but a guy that ran 4-2-9, okay? We've always said that speed kills in the NFL. How about the mismatched nightmare that he ends up being on whatever Kansas City ends up doing? So I thought about a guy like Cadarius Tony from Florida. Didn't really do much his first few years, but this last year had a great season and he's that type of player. A guy that's a wide receiver can run routes down the field, but you can also hand him the ball off in the running game. He would probably be more of a middle-round guy, right? Isn't that where they say a lot of drafts are make or break in the middle rounds? Can you find those gems? That's probably where we're going to end up finding some of the best results for Atlanta as can they end up knocking it out of the park in the middle rounds. All right, so with that being said now, let's have the debate. All right, do you draft for need or do you draft for best available? I think this year is a really good example of it just to your point, Arch, because there's not necessarily a pass rusher that is let's say worth a fourth or fifth overall pick this year. So Dave, maybe it's this year, maybe it's overall, but what are your thoughts on draft versus need versus best player available? Well, I like certainly best player available. We saw it happen for Atlanta, like in 2018 when Calvin Ridley was still on the board, the probably one of the top 15 rated guys and you looked up at 26 and Calvin Ridley is still on the board and you went and got him. It's paid pretty good dividends now. Is it equated to wins? No, but he's he's had an outstanding year. He's going to end up with about 1,400 yards receiving this season and he's got he's going to if he gets one more touchdown, he's going to have more touchdowns than anybody in their first three seasons and he playing their play in the position. So that was a pretty good draft that was the best player available, right? It was not necessarily something you needed because your receiver core was pretty good with Sanu and Jones and you went and got Ridley. I thought that was a pretty good move, but I think you got to try to mesh the two together, playing it for there's a lot more equation here in the equation guys. It's the ability to if you see a guy or you've got some needs, whether it's corner, let's say it's one of those corners and you want to trade back somebody wants to jump up and grab a quarterback, you can grab back, you may be able to get yourself another the first round pick. That was said in your draft and inside the top 10 potentially with somebody and then you jump back in in the 20s somewhere and you get two of the top 25-30 guys in the draft and you address a corner, a pass rusher, a corner and a running back. How about Najee Harris sitting in the back end of the draft on the first round at 6-2-2-30 and you could get him at 25 because you were able to trade back and use that for some for some capital to get you a couple players. That's going to be interesting to me. Yeah, great discussion and point there, Dave, because we didn't really talk about as far as needs for Atlanta is the running back element. They've got to find some balance, they've got to find some threat to where teams are actually convinced that Atlanta is going to run the football and they're going to be able to do it effectively. They thought by bringing in Todd Gurley that would happen and it hasn't yet this year. DJ, where do you fall on this one? Best player available? Draft for need or is it some combination of the two? You know, I think Art made a bunch of the points and the thing that wits to my mind that was the running back position you guys just talked about. And when I think about the running back position and you say draft for need, I feel like need means upgrade. Need means somebody who can come in and give you value right now. And I think when you draft for need, it gives you an opportunity to get the guys that can come in right away and they can feel the void that you're missed. Like you can watch the tape, you can see them and you can see in games where you need certain spots to play better. Now, availability for guys who have been around are also are great. I mean, you go like just mentioned with Calvin, really that's an outstanding pick. I mean, I remember a few years back we traded up to get Julio Jones because he was, you know, available and we had go get him. Well, here's the time where I think need is really crucial because of some of the spots that you've seen this year that may have been a weak spot. And we mentioned a few. I love the fact we're talking about corners. You look at this league where you got receivers galore everywhere having multiple guys and we've seen it this year. Teams are going to stress your vertical teams are going to stretch you. In the run game, you need a back and I love Najee Harris and I love his ability to catch the ball in the backfield. Similar to what we saw when girly came out, big physical back, but also can hurt you in the past game. And Najee Harris fits that mode really well and I will fit this offense and what they like to do very well. Hey, Ravis. Yeah, when you start talking about about the draft and it'll be very interesting, it's going to be an important draft for the Falcons in that we know that there's some cap issues, right? So you're not going to necessarily be able to go out and shop like you want to in the open market in free agency. So I think you could probably qualify and quantify this draft as one of the most important drafts the Falcons have had in recent history. You might have to go all the way back to 2008 when Matt Ryan was in that draft. We had Curtis Lofton inside linebacker. I think Harry Douglas was in that draft as well. Guys that came in and played right away. That's what you're going to have to do in this draft. You're going to have to go get guys that could come in and plug and play because I don't think you're going to be able to go shop and as much as you would like to. Yeah and early on guys and I don't know why I just keep feeling this but like early on I feel like this is a draft to your point Dave where whoever this new general manager is might end up being creative with that first round pick but trying to stock pile picks because if he starts analyzing the salary cap situation unless there ends up being some some very creative ways that they release players that freeze up some money you're right. They're not going to be able to go out and find that pass rusher and pay them off whatever it ends up being $150 million. They just may not have the financial wherewithal to do that. So maybe they do end up trading a little bit in the first round to try to stockpile some picks and try to build this thing with some young talented players. Maybe one of the reasons why there's some cap issues is because of Julio Jones and I'll throw this one out. What about an all Alabama wide receiver court by drafting a Davante Smith. He ends up being available. Does he end up helping this offense? They have too many receivers guys. Can't have too many guys that go catch the rock. I'm playing quarterback. You got, I love guys that will go get the football. You kidding me? Look at both my quarterbacks. Couldn't wait to jump in on that one. Yeah. I'm just saying like the guy is a legitimate playmaker and if the Falcons stay where they're at I don't know maybe Davante Smith is a little bit of a reach at that four or five position depending on how things shake out in this last game but he's going to be a player that's going to be available to the Atlanta Falcons. Do they decide to go all Alabama and end up being crimson tied out wide. Who ends up knowing but I'm sure if it's Matt Ryan or whoever it ends up being they'll be happy to have those weapons outside. So I think guys we both kind of all three of us have I don't know a varying opinion but I feel like this is the year where it's going to be a little bit more about best player available because I don't know with certain teams like the Atlanta Falcons if they've got that person that's sitting there where they need them that's worth it at four or five that fits exactly what they need. So we'll end up seeing how that shakes out. We'll talk a bunch more about that as this thing ends up moving on into the off season but some very interesting decisions as you mentioned Dave and DJ for the Atlanta Falcons especially when it comes to personnel in the draft over the next few months that are going to be very important to them turning around things here in 2021. Let me give you one last second here DJ Falcons Travel to Raymond James this weekend to play the Bucks what are you thinking about for this game? It's week 17 16th game of the year what do you think for the Falcons against Tom Brady and company? Well I think it's one more opportunity for you to put something on tape matters and to put something on tape for a player standpoint Tom Brady the guy who knows exactly what this game means means a division rival go out and play your style which you played the last couple of weeks but go out and get a win man play good play solid in all three phases and put something something good if the Falcons fans something positive going into 2001 to feel really good about that hey at least we finish off the season with a win but I want the guys to go out on a high no doubt darts what kind of positivity do you are you thinking about in this final game for the Falcons I want to see Matt Hennessy on the field again guys I thought your run game improved with Hennessy and Gono in the interior offensive line I think they're more physical had a few issues with pass blocking they're going to get a nice opportunity to go get another solid defensive front get them some more play time no offense to Alex Mack but his his career is probably done here is his contracts up you drafted Hennessy for a reason I'd like to see you get some play time those two guys and see if hey those two big guys along with Quist Lindstrom young players in the interior is that the future of your offensive line yeah the opportunity in this final game of the season with really nothing as far as postseason goes on the line does Raheem Morris and company make a couple of adjustments to get some guys some playing time get some things on tape and see if they've got anything to work with who knows Raheem Morris may not even be here next year he might be on the staff but to give whoever comes in a little glimpse at what 2021 is going to look like well 20 and we apologize to our viewers for any of the technical difficulties that have come through this podcast but guess what it's 2020 and Sam Larson our fearless member of our digital team is going to do some magic and he's going to make us look and sound great so we appreciate that but with that I'll go ahead and close things out Dave DJ thanks so much for your insight once again on this podcast we will be back next week after the game against the Buccaneers hopefully things will be much more clean and Chris and we'll have some some wonderful insight for our viewers about things after the Falcons game this week guys thanks for joining us I'm Derek Rackley once again we're signing off from the Falcons Audible presented by AT&T we will see you next time take care everyone Happy New Year Happy New Year Happy New Year you're listening to Falcons Audible presented by AT&T