 Welcome to The Official 2023 Schedule Release Show presented by Ticketmaster. I'm Taylor Vismore, that's Scott Baird, and of course, Derek Rackley. And guys, I don't think we really need to do a lot of chatting to get into the schedule. I mean, it is schedule release. Schedule release? I mean, I enjoy chatting. I mean, sometimes it's fun. But let's get into what they call schedule release. By releasing the schedule. Yeah, so let's just go ahead and get right. Let's just get into it. As we know, the Atlanta Falcons will host the Carolina Panthers September the 10th. And there's a lot of new players and coaches on both of these teams. So guys, what do we think about this season kickoff matchup? I think it's great. You start off with a divisional game against a great quarterback coming in. Obviously, Carolina's got some expectations, some excitement themselves this year. When you bring in a one of the best quarterbacks in the college game, you think that things are changing for your organization. But what Bryce Young does Atlanta see in week one? Is this the same one that we saw taking the Crimson tie to championships? Or do we see a quarterback that needs a little bit of time, Scott, to get up to speed? Maybe he doesn't quite have the timing yet. Maybe he doesn't understand the speed of the NFL game. Maybe he throws a couple of picks to the other color jersey, which wouldn't be so bad for Atlanta. Yeah, and there's an unknown surrounding Carolina's quarterback. I think there's an unknown surrounding the Falcons defensive coordinator because Ryan Nielsen has never called an NFL defensive game. Bryce Young could be seeing a lot of plays and elements of defense that he hasn't seen before. I think that's going to be a really intriguing matchup. New Carolina head coach in Frank Reich, new quarterback in Bryce Young versus new defensive coordinator in Ryan Nielsen. There's a lot of new for both of these teams, but Falcons are home two weeks in a row and that second game, that second week is going to be against the Green Bay Packers. What do we think about this kind of new, if you will, Green Bay Packers? Yeah, I mean, they're turning the page. I mean, this is life after Aaron Rodgers. He obviously takes his talents, if you will, out to New York. And we think it's going to be Jordan Love playing quarterback, but it's just going to be a different looking Green Bay Packers. Maybe not going to be taking through the air so much, but Atlanta needs to take advantage of them in transition. Yeah, transition and the Falcons will transition from two home games to two away games. Not first away game is going to be against the Detroit Lions. What do you think about this matchup in Detroit? I think almost any other year you point to that Lions game and you write a big Green W on it, right? But that's not the case anymore after what we saw last year. I think, I think the Detroit Lions are building a bully up front on the defensive side and on the offensive side. Jared Goff has found second life and this game could be tougher than most people think. Yeah, so an away game in week three. And then of course week four is the big away game for the Falcons. In London, they're going to be taking on the Jacksonville Jaguars for week four, October 1st. Guys, what do we think about going to London for the second time in three seasons? I think it adds an element of excitement for the fan base. But just dealing with the Jaguars is going to be difficult enough. You have to do with time zones. You have to do with a new stadium, all these new elements. But Trevor Lawrence has really become that true number one overall pick. I think they have a dynamic offense. Doug Peterson has really turned that team around pretty quickly. That's going to be a very tough game. Is it winnable? You're going to have to go out and see what the Falcons can do over the first three weeks to know how they're going to play against the tough Jack Jacksonville team. Interesting, Scott, that you mentioned Detroit, usually a W. Sometimes when you're playing Jacksonville, you think, well, maybe this is going to be a W as well. But we're talking about a Jaguars team that went to the postseason last year. They're coming off a lot of excitement. They got a quarterback that absolutely knows what he's doing now. Travis Etn can be an absolute stud in the backfield. So definitely going to have their hands full going across the pond, trying to get adjusted to the time and everything. They've done it before, but a lot of the new guys have never done that trip, so it's going to be a challenge. It's going to be a huge challenge. But the thing that, you know, the bright side to look on this is that they're going to play the following Sunday. It's not going to be a short week. It's not going to be a bye week. It's going to be just another regular week in week five. When the Atlanta Falcons take on the Houston Texans and they had two first round picks, of course, we know that they traded back into the first round, not just into the first round, but in the top five, they had the third, the second overall and the third overall pick with CJ Stroud and Will Anderson. So what do we think about this kind of new team that we have in Houston? Yeah, I mean, this is this is now a team that is going to be really exciting. You're looking at a guy in CJ Stroud and I was fortunate enough to cover a lot of his college games at Ohio State. This guy plays with great anticipation. He's got great touch. He's got a great arm. Will all that translate immediately to the offense? But this is the first time I can remember in a few years. There's like some excitement offensively for Houston because they finally have their signal caller and then they've got a guy that knows how to come off the edge as well. They've got a legit pass rusher coming from Alabama and Will Anderson. So the offensive line is going to make sure they're on the same page when they're facing up against that guy. D'Amico Ryan's. I dealt with him some when he was with the 49ers. Dynamic energy filled coach. I think he's trying to build a program there and it starts with that defensive front. It's going to start with Will Anderson and I think that's a great matchup. Tough physical Falcons offensive line against and emerging Texans. Really young talent. Really young talent could be really exciting game. The next game week six is going to be a home game against the Washington commanders. Obviously there's their quarterback that was in her center last season is now with the Falcons. So what could this game look like against this commander team. That's interesting. It's I think in the NFL you just never want to take any team for granted. Maybe not the team that you're looking at in the post season for making a ton of splashes but each and every week is going to have its challenges. We just talked about them traveling overseas then coming back and playing directly the week after against a really emerging young team and then this could end up being a sleeper game if you will. If you don't come each and every week in the NFL somebody's going to smack you in the mouth and that could be Washington if they don't come prepared for that game. You talk about a sleeper team. I think a lot of people a team that a lot of people are sleeping on this year could be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers because they've lost Tom Brady. So what does this team in your opinion Scott look like in this post Brady era if you will for one if you think about how long it's been since we've talked about an NFC South opponent. It's been since week one. So it's been a long time coming. This is another divisional game. Is it going to be Baker Mayfield Kyle Trask. We don't know about what's going to happen in the post Tom Brady era. We do know that those two quarterbacks are still throwing to Chris Godwin and Mike Evans. Those guys are pretty good. So they've got elements on offense and defense that will make this a challenge. But can the quarterback get in the football. That's the big question mark for me. Yeah. So then in week eight it's another away game in Nashville Tennessee Titans. What do we think about this team with Derek Henry? Yeah. A little bit of reunion for a couple of members of the organization obviously Arthur Smith and now the new tight end John O'smith getting a chance to go back to Tennessee to face a lot of familiar faces. Definitely going to have some extra motivation that week. I don't know. Arthur always coaches hard. I just have this feeling that that week he's going to have a little bit more energy in his tank as he goes back to Tennessee. I think this is going to be a really interesting game especially because of the homecomings with Arthur Smith and John O'smith I think like you said the coaching might be a little bit more interesting and I think that offense will be really fun to watch especially in that game against Tennessee. But let's move on to week nine and 10 just really quickly because there's a buy at week 11 week nine against the Minnesota Vikings. This is a very good Vikings team. Scott, what do you think about them? Yeah. The Minnesota Vikings had an impressive record last year. They won a bunch of close games. Can they do it again? Is Kurt Cousins their long-term answer anymore? I look at Dalvin Cook and Justin Jefferson is two of the best at their positions. Those guys can change a game especially in the fourth quarter. This is one of those games where the Falcons may look at it and if they have some momentum going into it maybe they can get this one but Minnesota is not going to lie down easily and between them and the Lions could be atop the NSE Nord. Yeah, no more Adam Thielen but when Minnesota is healthy with all those playmakers that they have they are definitely a talented offense when you're facing them. Yeah, Adam Thielen is now with the Panthers so it could be interesting and week one and then later in week 15 against the Panthers. But let's talk about week 10 really fast. The game right before the buy. It's against the Cardinals, excuse me and it's in Arizona. So what could be difficult about this game for the Falcons? Well, what's interesting is again we talked about the trip overseas and we talked about the fact that they have not had their buy week yet and right before then they have to travel out to the West Coast. So this could be the time of the year where the nicks, the bumps, the bruises they kind of start to manifest themselves a little bit starting to see some guys not in the lineup out of the lineup. So what does the health look like at that time of the year? Because as a player, I can tell you it just comes a point when you're ready for the buy week. You just need to take an exhale and you need kind of a week off to rest your body a little bit. But as we know in the NFL, you got to go bring it each and every week so they got to make sure they're focused on this game and then after they get that W you could take a little bit of time off. Yeah, I like how you mentioned a lot of players are kind of waiting for that buy. And I think if you take the buy in week five that's really early and last year the Falcons had it in like week 14. That's pretty late. I think week 11 is a great time for a buy because you hit the buy and then come week 12 you're playing the Saints at home. What kind of advantage could that give the Falcons this year? Especially coming off of their only west coast their true west coast road trip. They can come home, rest before a big divisional game against the Saints. One that could be monumental as they try to figure out division hierarchies. Normally you come back from London, you take your buy. The Falcons not having one in a weird way I think can ultimately help them down the stretch because this stretch that we're getting ready to talk about is a pretty big deal. But a little bit of extra time to prepare for a rival like the Saints, that is welcome. They will definitely take that. I'm sure Ryan Mielsen and some of those other Saints that are on the defense now are looking forward to a little extra time to play their former team. Yeah, and I want to talk about this rivalry and specific here for just a second. I mean, look at what the Falcons have done in this offseason and who they've brought on in the past teams that they have been with, including the coaching staff. Does this kind of amp the rivalry up a little bit? What could this game be like in Mercedes-Benz Stadium? Here's from my experience, what I'll tell you, if you ask David Anyamata, Katie and Ellis, you ask Ryan Mielsen, they're going to tell you that you approach this just like every other game. Yeah, that's right. This is just another game on the schedule. That's what's going to be on the press conference. That's what they're going to tell every single reporter that asks him the question. Sounds like there's a butt coming. That's not the case. That's not the case. They want to prove to the world. They want to prove to their team. They want to prove to the other team that they made the right decision. I'm ready to be a defensive coordinator. I moved from New Orleans to Atlanta because I looked at this opportunity as something special. It's a team on the rise. I really like the fit and I want to go show my former team that I still got plenty left in the tank. I think it could be one of the best Saints games that we've seen in a while, especially in Mercedes-Benz. Again, that's week 12, so get your tickets fast because this one might sell out pretty quickly in my opinion. But talking about going from one team to another, let's talk about a quarterback that went from one green to a different shade and Aaron Rodgers from the Packers to the Jets. This is a really exciting move for Aaron Rodgers in specific. What excites you about this matchup between the Falcons and the Jets this year? It's kind of become Aaron Rodgers and his Merry Men because he brings Alan Lazard, right? And Randall Cobb and a bunch of guys that he's worked with. But Robert Sala, another 49ers guy that I know, he stacks that defense. That defensive line can play. But the Jets are like a marquee attraction for the first time, I don't know, Namath or Sanchez at least. But nonetheless, I think it's going to bring a lot of eyeballs to this matchup. I don't like doing wins and losses on a schedule release show. But it's very possible that you could have two contending teams going up against each other in the Big Apple. Could have a lot of eyeballs on that one. It's interesting that you talked about the former wide receivers from Green Bay that are over there. Garrett Wilson, he's pretty good. He's the one. Sauce Gardner on the defense side. He's pretty good. This is a Jets team that has kind of gone all in. They've got a lot of young talent. They bring in the quarterback that obviously knows how to win Super Bowls and MVP's. Atlanta is definitely going to have their hands full now. Yeah, you know, I've even figured out the trajectory that the Jets want to be on and hope to be on this season. I don't know what you've been reading and watching during the offseason, But let's move right along to week 14. Another NFC South, excuse me, match up against the Tampa Bay Bucks this time at home. Could this change from the time that you saw Tampa the first time to the second time? I don't think it's, it's not a huge gap. Like you can still use that game tape, but these coaches are good enough that you understand who you're facing at this point. I think that amps things up. We're definitely gonna know who their quarterback is. We've talked about their offensive skill players. Still like I named Vitevea, sitting in the middle of that Tampa Bay defensive line. They have a lot of talented players that you can never count out. And that's why as much as you think post-Tom Brady Bucks gonna be down, but I'm just not ready to count them out. I still think this is gonna end up being a big game in the division picture. Yeah, you talk about, you know, you could still watch the tape. And with a team that I don't think you could watch the tape anymore is that next game against the Carolina Panthers. They haven't seen each other for 13 weeks at that point. You go from week one to week 15. What's the difference of playing a Bryce Young possibly who's still under center week 15 in Charlotte? Yeah, this is the time when he's probably got his feet underneath himself a little bit. The game has probably started to slow down. He's learned from almost an entire season long of game tape, has been around the leaders in the locker room. He's learned from his coaching staff. And this is a time when, like I said, things slow down for him. So you're gonna start to see him taking some more chances down the field. So maybe if they started the season with more higher percentage throws, getting the ball out to the perimeter, trying to find a tight end and a medium to short range. Now you're gonna start seeing Bryce Young take the skinny post downfield, take the downfield shots on a nine route because he's starting to feel comfortable and he's gonna let it loose a little bit. And probably the coaching staff opening things up for him a little bit more too. Could be a big game for Bryce Young to really prove himself and maybe, you know, possibly beat the Atlanta Falcons could go to and no against the Carolina Panthers. We'll see come week 15, but let's move on to week 16 because you play CJ Stroud, you're playing Bryce Young. And then in week 16, you're gonna play the Indianapolis Colts and maybe Anthony Richardson who could be under center. What do we think about this matchup? That's a big maybe right now because right now they have Gardner Minshew who could be in the mix there. Anthony Richardson, we know how much talent, raw talent that he has. Will he be present late? If they were playing in the early, I'd say probably not. But at this stage, you don't know how that season is gonna go for the Colts. So I think that this is a big kind of unknown game and it all revolves around that quarterback spot. Yeah, I totally agree. And then you go in a week 17, you get a break from the NFC South for just a second. You're gonna play the Chicago Bears, of course, and at the NFC North. What could be interesting about this team? I know that they, you know, gave a lot away in this draft, but what could they bring to the table against the Falcons? Well, it's gonna be a challenge. Obviously we know who their quarterback is in Justin Fields, but what I kind of go to, and I don't know why I'm like this, but I look at the date and I look at at Chicago, and I have played two games in my career in December in Chicago, and they were two of the coldest and the most bitter games that I've ever played. Now you can sit here and say, football's a good game that's played outside from there, used to playing in the cold. Listen to me, there's something different about playing in December in Chicago right next to the lake. Wind. And the wind cuts through you, and it can just change things. I mean, you just look at game plans, they, a lot of times they condense, they start running the ball more, they're not taking the shots down field because the weather can have a big issue in that game. Yeah, that's gonna be one game that I don't think I'm gonna request to travel to. I don't do well in the cold, okay? I just can't do it, but one game I think I will be begging to go to is the last game of the season, week 18 at New Orleans. Look, I think that this NFC South could be very tight, especially towards the back half of the season. And I think it could really come down to this specific game, Falcons versus Saints. What has to happen in this game? It's, when it comes down to week 18, one, it's who's healthy, and two, if this is for all the marbles, it's sort of like a game seven in some of these other sports. Like if it's do or die, it's who shows up, it's who's ready to go, and it's absolute maximum effort, which generally leads to absolute maximum entertainment. And I think that's what you're looking for. And that's what you could get. Look, the NFC South is wide open. We honestly don't know how it's gonna play out, and that's not lip service, right? But I think it's very possible that you could have Carr versus Ritter, right? Smith versus Allen. All the way down the line with these teams that know each other so well, even in the front office, could all come down to that game. If it does, could be pretty special. What's interesting to me is we saw in our graphic that it was a TBD, and I hope it is TBD. That's a great point. Because I hope that the division is on the line, and the NFL makes the decision to put them in the spotlight. Put them in prime time so where everybody can see this rivalry matchup, and which team ends up winning the division, and hopefully ends up setting themself up for the post-season. Yeah, I gotta ask you this in particular. As a past player, if you get this schedule and you see that the same to the last one that you're gonna play, what kind of goes through your head when you get that? I mean, you look at it and you say, okay, hopefully at the end of the season this one is for all the marbles. This one is for the division. And I don't wanna sit here and give you all the cliches, but you ask as a former player, you're worried about the first game of the season. And then after that, you're worried about the next one. Because it's not like the college game where you go play a smaller conference, and you're supposed to win by 50. It's a game of parody. It's a league of parody. Everybody brings in new players. They have free agency. They have the draft. You gotta worry about each and every opponent every single week. But yes, you hope that that last game against a bitter rival is for the division. Yeah, I think a lot of teams, especially the Falcons, are gonna have to really hit the ground. Not just running, but sprinting. They gotta get those wins pretty early to solidify themselves in their own division. But a quick question I wanna ask both of you really fast. When you look at the schedule as a whole, maybe the home games and away games doesn't matter. What game do you look at and you're like, I gotta get a ticket. That's gonna be the game. That's, to a home game, I always look at the Saints game, right? Because of how electric the crowd is. And there would have been a little bit of momentum to build if they do start stacking wins that that game coming off of a buy could be a huge one. I don't know if I ever would have said this, but the New York Jets, that game is just interesting now. With the talent that they have, the fact that I mentioned the Jets have gone all in. They brought in Aaron Rodgers. He's gonna test every level of this defense. I just hope both teams are healthy at that point of the year because your corners are gonna get tested against Garrett Wilson. Your wide receivers are gonna have their hands full going up against Sauce Gardner. You've got some really talented players that I didn't think a Falcons Jets game was the one I'd wanna go see, but sign me up. You know, for me personally, I would wanna go to all of these games because I just enjoy football, but that's just me. And if I had to pick one game though, it'd probably be that Carolina Panthers kickoff game. Again, that's gonna be September the 10th. So don't miss it. You're gonna wanna buy these tickets. And it could be a very fast race to the NFC South to see who wins and who even makes the playoffs. So we'll just have to see what happens starting September the 10th. Again, don't forget it. So go ahead, go online, AtlantaFalcons.com buy all of those tickets. I think that we might have a video out of our schedule release. So go ahead and check that out. Thank you guys for hanging out with us today. I'm Telia Vizmor, of course, Scott Bear and Derek Crackley. This has been the Falcon schedule release presented by Ticketmaster.