 What's up everybody and welcome to episode two of Falcons final whistle coming at you live from Raymond James stadium Very close to midnight after the Atlanta Falcons lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48 to 25 That's not a close result. It got really messy there at the end It got really close in the third quarter But ultimately the Falcons fall to 0 and 2 a place that they don't want to be and we're going to dissect What happened in this game where things went right where they went wrong for the Atlanta Falcons and what it means in the grand scheme and Like I was last time and like I always will be I am joined by Atlanta Falcons be reporter and analyst Tori McElaney and Also Atlanta Falcons long-form feature reporter Chris rim who's joining us Via fancy technology back from the home base in Atlanta Tori and I are here in Tampa and Chris You were very close to missing out on a full. Oh, yeah jet skied or jet ski excursion yesterday They were right next to our hotel $99 per hour. Yeah, we almost did it, but we didn't want to leave you out. That was the big problem Yeah, that that was it That was the problem not the fact that there was like a guide and we couldn't go over like 25 miles per hour And we were worried we were worried that we wouldn't be able to hit 45 because that was that was the only way We're gonna do it is if we could go all out with jets That's great to hear. I appreciate you you thinking of me. Yeah, I mean would you have gotten on there? You know, even if you had to go through a no-wake zone like would you have gone full speed? I? Don't know water scares me a little bit Well at the speed that we were allowed to go they probably wouldn't have scared. Oh, yeah No, definitely. Yeah, but that didn't happen Nor did the Falcons come down to Tampa Bay and come out with a win And we're gonna break this thing down the way that we always do and that is over four quarters five minutes each And I don't think you guys realized it, but there's actually a final whistle sound effect. Here's the thing Here's the thing I was unprepared for there to actually be a whistle and then I listened back to it and I Loved it. I thought it was so great It actually because we're just using our phones to time ourselves like we don't have an actual whistle just like Blaring in our ear. So I loved it. I thought it was great beware of the chicken clock. That's for sure And we're gonna get right to it. Why don't we go ahead and bang the sound effect right now as we head to the first quarter? Coming up in the first quarter. We're gonna look at How and weather the Atlanta Falcons improved from week one to week two week one. We know is a 32 to six Mess of a game against the Philadelphia Eagles this game by the final score and by the box score 40 to 25 Doesn't look a whole lot better Chris rim. Was it better? And if so, why are we not? I? Think it was a lot better. I mean in terms of the offense Because I thought that this game the chances I thought that this game It would be a great game if we just saw the Falcons score points and do what we expected them to do coming into The season which is score points and I didn't score like 35 or 40 points But I thought once they got into their groove and they got things going kind of after that, you know 25 to 10 mark. I thought they looked I thought they looked really good And I thought that even with the loss like that was a sign of things going in the right direction Kyle Pitts was heavily involved yet, you know 75 reception in 73 yards So I thought I thought it was a step in the right direction, especially how they looked last week Yeah, I tend to agree and I think a lot of the success Hinged upon their ability to convert on third downs Like I know we were talking to Matt Ryan after the game and he he brought it up as saying that was such a difference between Even the first half to the second half that they got into the third quarter and they started converting on third downs And he even he even said like we were converting on third downs that you know arguably were difficult third downs to convert on so I think that was a big Improvement from week one to week two. I also thought that they ran a much cleaner operation I know that there was like that false start on second down that Jalen Mayfield had and then there was that series where Arthur Smith had to call two time two timeouts because of Clock and not enough men on the field, but other than that I thought that the operation was very clean I didn't think that there were nearly as many. I mean, honestly, they were there was near Wasn't nearly as many penalties as there were in week one and I thought that was really really important And I will say this I know that the Buccaneers put up for over 40 points on the Falcons Defense, but I wasn't incredibly disappointed in what I saw from this Falcons defense because I think Arthur Smith said it Best where he was like the score got at a hand because of the offense not the defense and I agree with that 100% Okay, so I'm gonna be the Debbie downer here. Yeah, go ahead. That's my role Yeah, it looks better and it's a cleaner operation, but we're taking it from kind of a low standard, right? Oh, yeah And and that is part of the problem and the bar is on the ground And bar so low that you can step over it And I think that if we're looking at it from that vantage, it looks better, but it's still not nearly good enough Yes, they played the Super Bowl champs the number one team and Scott Bears Undisputed power rankings that are coming out But nonetheless, I don't think this beats the number 16 team I really don't that while they looked better and they showed fight and there there's reasons to be encouraged The offensive lines still have problems too many batted balls and while Jalen Mayfield's name was only called once They still weren't good. They have a right tackle problem. Yeah, they have a rushing efficiency problem Yeah, and that's not me just I guess I am being a pessimist here But I think that yes, it did improve, but I think we're a Ways from being good now all that Terribleness said Chris. I think we did see a couple of good signs from two emerging offensive weapons that you wrote about for the website Yeah, and in Correo Paterson and Kyle Pitts, which you can check out on a land of focus outcome First one, but but yeah, I thought I thought they both impressed and both did I mean career Patterson on the on as far as returning. He was just effective by just being there I mean, he was just on the field and they didn't kick to him which gave Avery Williams some opportunity To get some return. So I thought you know getting getting them and you know into the offense today was great Seeing Correo Patterson score. I thought he only had 11 yards on the game, but the numbers I don't think showed exactly how effective he was. I thought him and Kyle both made important plays When the team needed it, it didn't turn into a win But Cordell Patterson got them a touchdown and then a two-point aversion on the Matt Ryan zone read which I was that was crazy But yeah, so so I thought I was really impressed by by them by Cordell more than Kyle I think I kind of expected this kind of stuff from Kyle But I think the past two weeks Cordell has really surprised me and yeah, I think he's amazing Yeah, and so I think that we can all admit that we did see progress Maybe I wanted a bit more a bit faster and this is might be slower going as they continue to pick up the pace and hopefully Continue improvement. That's what Arthur Smith definitely wants to see We're on to quarter number two and the clock has started Five minutes to discuss what still needs to improve the answer cannot be everything That's my one rule here the answer cannot be everything although everything does need to get better so they can improve results But nonetheless, let's get granular here, Tori You had Tori's takeaways. You talked about Jamal's plug number two for you Nonetheless in what areas do you think that this team needs to get better fast? Oh gosh Well, you brought up the offensive line. I think I would be just I have to bring it up Like, you know, it's one of those things that it's an issue that we cannot overlook You talked about the issues now that are kind of emerging at right tackle I think that there were some glaring mistakes that Caleb McGarry made tonight And I think one of the main ones was on third down Right before the second shanked punt that I'm sure we will talk about that whole entire situation later in quarter three Shame don't touch that dial. We'll be there We'll be talking about that soon. No, but like for real Caleb McGarry just kind of whiffed on on that And I think that was the reason that you saw Corderoil Patterson have a loss of three yards on that third down. It's why they had to punt so For me, it's protection, but it's also you were talking about the run game as well Having more productivity in the run game I was really wanting to see more out of Mike Davis than I think what we've seen up and to this point And I think a lot of that is in run blocking I mean, I think so many issues kind of stem from the offensive line right now Yeah, if if I'm gonna look at this thing as a whole I don't know if this is a cop-out answer or not probably but I'm so gonna give myself points for it and When we're not keeping an actual score, but nonetheless it I do feel like Consistency is a problem that we saw better from the defense in spurts. We saw better tackling We saw pressure mostly with blitzes, but whatever as long as you get to Tom Brady That's all that matters But early in the game that I think Tom Brady had three Exposed to pass plays on the first drive alone right and and they fell behind quickly. So I I'm talking myself into this now, but let's just say better starts that that they need to start better They need to finish more. I was encouraged by the red zone. Yeah here today But getting behind to a quarterback like that is gonna be nothing but trouble Chris, what do you think? Needs to get fixed here as they head towards a very winnable game against the New York Giants Yeah, I just I just think the offensive line would be my main thing I think when you look at Tom Brady's performance and you just opposed that with Matt Ryan's I think I Honestly believe that not saying that Matt Ryan is Tom Brady or better than Tom Brady But Matt Ryan is a good quarterback. He's throwing for 4,000 yards to pass, you know, 10 season. He's he's not he's not a scrub Yeah, he's not he's not a guy who throws, you know, three interceptions in a game That's not, you know, when you the numbers say that but if you watch the game It was it was, you know, many reasons why that happened So I think when you look at Tom Brady and the fact that he can just sit there in the pocket and the one Time that one of the few times where there was pressure on him It was there was a fumble force and there's a turnover So I think if if the offensive in order for Matt Ryan and for the offense to be successful The offensive line has to improve. I also thought there were some questionable play calls today like the fourth and three Where they they did a sneak on fourth and three and then punted on fourth and one And then they they tried to get people to jump off sides on a punt But but I but those are just a few few different plays But I think overall the first thing that comes to my mind is this offensive line Especially when you look at two non-mobile guys playing against each other and one is sitting back there and just dotting The defense defensive backs getting all day while the other one doesn't have as much time and because of that he you know had interceptions and and things like that So I think the offensive line I think has to get better I think when you look at this defensive backfield, which we don't know what the status of AJ Terrell is he suffered a concussion in the second half After a stellar play stellar like he put his body on the line like that was amazing I love that it was and he saved two touchdowns really over the course of this game And really showed what the three of us had seen from him throughout training camp that this guy was even before then, right? He was on the verge of kind of doing special things that we saw here on Sunday night But I think that there are too many opportunities and the big chunk plays are a major problem where it's just too much cushion For to be consistently productive I think you know Russian coverage come together, but nonetheless it needs to come together better needs to come together faster Starting off the third quarter with a question. I'm going to point directly to Miss McElaney What was the turning point in this game? Oh, can you identify it? Yes, right away? Yes, I can now everyone Listen up just setting the scene I wish I had some dramatic music playing in the background like as I'm describing this as the editor Now you're challenging me to go find it. Yeah, go find it and add it underneath this voiceover But you know, it's third down at the end of the third quarter The Falcons are only down by three points and you are third in like in a couple inches Even Arthur Smith said third in inches I think he made a point to say third in inches and you don't convert and you don't you know Not only don't convert you get a loss of three on a handoff to Cordero Patterson and then there's a shank of a punt that only goes 33 yards and Tampa Bay gets the ball back Inside the 50 and you're looking at it and then Tom Brady just picks off This Falcons secondary and has three. It's a three-play drive a three-play drive to get into the end zone That to me was the swing If you're pointing to a momentum swing a momentum change That was it when the Falcons don't convert on offense The bad punt and then three plays for Tom Brady to get into the end zone that that was just That was the moment that I think I hung on like post game. It was the moment that I wrote about post game And now I'm sitting here talking about it and in scene You can stop you can stop the music now. Yeah And but I I do think that you're almost so right that instead of us trying to argue maybe something else Why don't we get into that a little bit more? Let's go off script here a little bit and dive into kind of that The swing that you're talking about right that obviously and let's go to special teams special teams Hurt the Falcons. Yeah today most notably The the punter had a couple of missteps. Yeah, right and how much of an effect does that have on this game? How much of an effect does it have on this team? It seems it seems very clear that Bruce Arians was not going to let Cordero Patterson. Oh, yeah them Yeah kicking away from him and You know and and Bradley pinion the the bucks punter was excellent pinning the team inside the 20 That was something that that was a weapon that the Falcons didn't I mean That's what set them up for that that three and out was they were pinned all the way inside their tin and Couldn't come out. That's that was what happened, right? And that that's the same exact play that we're talking about where they go third They go three and out after he pins them back like I'm pretty positive That was the that was the same thing that we're talking about So like you have the punter pinning them inside the tin then they can't get out They're on three and out and then you're having to have Cameron Nysle like punning almost from the end zone And only goes 33 yards like that's tough Yeah, it definitely is and what while we can look at special teams Chris also the rushing efficiency that you were talking about right that The overall numbers aren't very good And yeah, I think Mike Davis had a third and one that he wasn't able to convert earlier in the game What it like when it matters most is this run game doing enough, you know, especially in obvious rushing situations Yeah, well, well, yeah, I don't I don't think I think the challenge when looking at the run game and evaluating the run game after two weeks Is that you're talking about a banged up offensive line a young offensive line that has played against two of the best defensive lines in the league? So I think that plays a role in the run game. So I think before we Yes to answer your question. Yes, but I think before we really evaluate the one game We need to see how it performs in the next few weeks against some of the some of the weaker defensive lines Yeah, and and I do think that that's fair because going up against Philly we Philly's defensive line had a good day against San Francisco and we know how Stout the Tampa Bay interior defense is from Defensive tackle all the way through the defensive backfield. So I do think that that is important here to worry But how do you put this, you know, like over the next, you know, 40 seconds or so that we got How do you put what what happened here in kind of a greater context that the Falcons were surging and then one missed up And the wheels kind of came off here Where do you you know, like, why do you think that that this turning point that you're talking about ended up in an absolute? Collapse in the fourth quarter. Yeah, I also think I mean it's just It's tough because I think we've seen this with the Falcons even in years past where one thing goes wrong and then it's just like a cascading effect of Something else going wrong like what you said the wheels falling off It's like it wants something quote-unquote bad happens It's almost like they can't stop it because then after, you know, Tampa Bay goes down and scores Matt Ryan throws a pick six. So and then there's another pick six later on I mean, it's just one thing after the other after the other and also something that we're not talking about is like during that time Like AJ Turrell goes out with a concussion like and we know he's not coming back So it's just like one thing after another it's almost like, you know, you always hear like the injury bug Like that it's a bug bite that goes around the entire team. That's exactly what I feel like is happening in Just all this kind of stuff We're heading into the fourth and final quarter and trying to look at this game as a whole It's a good question that toy wrote down here. Are we satisfied our Falcons fans sat Satisfied not just the ones on Twitter. They satisfied by seeing progress even with a night even with a night another negative results finally got that Even if they didn't win, can you be pleased with the night as a whole or do you have to get real granular? To find signs for optimism I think if you look at the point the Falcons are now Anything was better than what we saw last week Anything is better than what we saw in week one and I think you know I wrote down that question and I'm almost rethinking the word satisfied because I don't think it's the right word Because I don't think like you're obviously not satisfied in a loss like that But I think we have to look at this game for what it was It's the Falcons coming off a game where they did not score a touchdown coming in to play the super the reigning Super Bowl champions At home that to me Anything that they did that was progress That was gonna be important to see and I was looking for any type of progress I was like you can only go up you cannot go down and I think I did see progress in certain areas I think the Falcons were competitive with Tampa Bay At least for the third quarter, you know, like they they did they came back and cut it down to a three-point swing I mean that's that was impressive that whole entire run was impressive But it's making sure that this is something that they are impressive for four quarters Not one quarter not a half all four quarters and I feel like that's something I wrote about all last year It's something I thought about last year. It's something that I still think about now So that to me is just that's just where my head is that like I was looking for progress I saw progress. Does that mean I'm satisfied me Chris well, then where where is your head at after this one in relation to how they played and Also incorporating the fact that that they're still oh and to heading into a trio of What we would assume would be winnable games against the Giants Washington and the Jets Well, I would say to answer the question about satisfy I don't I don't think fans are satisfied or should be satisfied like I think I don't I don't know Yeah, I don't know how you how you could be I think any anything I think from last week to this week Obviously, there's progress and there's things to point to In terms of you know, all you have to do this week will score a touchdown, you know for there to be progress But I think in terms of this week that like we said earlier the offense got going So I think if we think about fans there I think they're they're thinking this is a Super Bowl champs and we we scored 25 points against them but for me I just can't get the thought out of my mind of The moment when on the broadcast at least when Matt Ryan through the the first pick that he threw that was batted up in the air and call He just looks so defeated at that time when it was just 41 He looks so defeated the second one. He looked even more defeated and and that that's the thought I think there was so much progress going into that point And then once he threw that first pick and just looking at the image of him on the ground His face was red and he screamed something. I think that we can't say on here And it just it's just like man everything was going Everything was seeming to go in well right before that the pun happened But everything seemingly was going in the right direction and then this happened So I think there's definitely some positives to take away But I don't think you can be satisfied But I think you feel a lot better than you felt after Philly. Yeah I mean, isn't it just like more frustrating to see them do so well, you know, like they did so well in that third quarter and then for the The ending to be what it was. I think In terms of satisfaction versus frustration, it's way more on the other side of Frustration, I mean you can be satisfied that they did better than they did in week one but you can be frustrated into knowing that they can look as good as they did in that third quarter and Lose the game. Yeah, I think that's an interesting point that I tried to explore for 800 words of cyberspace That I took up with a column shameless plug shameless plug. We need a sound effect. We surely do. Yeah Yeah, more sound effects eventually. It'll just be the Falcon sound effect. Yeah podcast with Chris story. It's got Nonetheless the fight versus the final result, right? That's what we're trying to figure out here And I think ultimately the fight was encouraging because they could have curled up and died After going down 28 to 10 and they didn't but to Chris's point, right? What happened after that? Imagine if if a team in better standing did that the vans would be like going completely insane But we're grading this team on a different curve So that's where I think you really have to adjust your your insight and like and the way that you look at this thing And try to figure out exactly where this team stands what it means and that's why it is kind of murky And that was four quarters of the Falcons final whistle Another sound effect. I didn't have to I think I'm just gonna do the sound effects like moving forward from now on Yeah, are you gonna sing the dramatic music too? Oh, but I can't do I can't do the dramatic music and speak at the same time not that talented Okay, as talented as I am come up with like a loop or something. I don't know. We'll figure out. Yeah We have so many weeks of this season to figure it out. Talk to Sam. Talk to Sam Absolutely, and we're gonna work on that and we're gonna work on that in between episodes the next one Chris rim and I are gonna going to be coming to you live from MetLife Stadium in the Big Apple After Falcons Giants, that's gonna be interesting But in between those times in between the time you're listening to this podcast and then you know what you got to do Right, you got to go give us a rating. Give us a review subscribe on Spotify iTunes click on YouTube if that's your preferred medium to consume podcasts do it We would appreciate it and yeah, man More sound effects next next time. Yeah, that's leave a review about the sound effects Yeah, tell me what sound effects you want to hear next week next week Okay, it's now officially 1133 we've all lost our minds. I'm gonna hit stop before we go even crazier Thank you guys so much for listening. It's been a joy bringing this to you so far Thanks for all the positive reviews and remarks to the last episode and we look forward to talking to you next week