 What's up everybody and welcome to another edition of the Falcons final whistle podcast where we break down everything that happens after every single game of The Atlanta Falcon season and the weak-aid installment was not a positive development They lost to the Carolina Panthers here at Mercedes-Benz Stadium by a score of 19 to 13 It was not an outcome that the Falcons were looking for they had an opportunity to go above 500 for the first time since 2017 and that opportunity slipped away Chris rim. What was your biggest takeaway from this game? Why do you think that? What were the causes of what happened here? Well, I think there are many causes in terms of start starting off I think this was just a challenging day for the team from The the from losing a player at the start, you know the day coming into it and having those adjustments But I thought you know the missed opportunity in the red zone and they're struggling to convert on Third down and then turnovers as well. Just really I think killed the team So I think overall I'll probably say from those three I would probably say the turnovers were probably the my biggest takeaway that kind of hurt the team Yeah, I when I look back at this game It was just kind of there were just so many missed opportunities that I think I look back on and I know we'll get into Kind of the moments that we all kind of thought was The catalyst of those missed opportunities But I think like Matt Ryan after the game said it best when he was talking about they knew coming in that The way that Carolina wanted to run the ball against them And he was like and when you know that you know that there's you're gonna be short on time and your possession Time is gonna be short and and you have to take a hold of those opportunities that you have and the Falcons Really didn't do that tonight. Yeah Over the course of these four quarters, which we're gonna spend five minutes on a number of different topics Number one, we're gonna take out a magic wand and wave it and if there was one play or sequence of plays That could get taken away. Which one would that be? We are going to talk about the aspect of the Falcons Offense or defense that hurt the most we're gonna delve into a Day to forget maybe for rookie tight and Kyle Pitts who'd been so good He was less than less impactful in this one and then obviously in the fourth quarter as we always do we will Take a look at this opportunity mist and we will try to project it forward for the Falcons as they have a two-game road trip coming up With the New Orleans Saints and then the Dallas Cowboys But before we do that, we do want to say 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 Including the Falcons final whistle podcast learn all about the awesome new features of Windows 11 at windows dot com And when we come back, we're going straight to quarter number one We're starting off the first quarter waving our magic wands pulling back a play or a sequence of plays That could have helped the Falcons Reverse this outcome and let's start with Tori McElaney who I did not introduce off the top. Where are my manners? It's fine. I would not approve. Well, I feel like at this point. They're like that girl I know her I know that I know who that is I at least hope so at this point if y'all been listening for eight weeks and you don't know my voice yet shame on you And so Tori, uh, you can bust out the I assume you're from house griffin door Oh, no, I'm no. I'm hufflepuff hufflepuff. Yeah, I like people that don't automatically go griffin door and see there on the Quidditch team. It's nice to mix it up. Yeah, but so if you were Uh, what not a muggle a muggle now. I'm going to find out I have no clue where we're at Let's reel it back in All right, somehow because I could go off on Harry Potter forever But I will not do that instead ask directly the question I was trying to get to in a roundabout way, which is can you identify That that play sequence or a specific play that you think if you could take it back change it that the outcome might be different Yeah, for me it was right at the start of the fourth quarter when the Falcons are They have a third and long situation and they're in the red zone and and you know The Falcons couldn't hadn't really gotten anything going Offensively that much up until that point and you really saw them like at the end of the third quarter putting a pretty good drive together They had some momentum going and then they get down really close to the red zone and Matt Ryan tries to hit Cal pits And it would have been a first down convergent and put them probably inside Definitely inside the 10 probably inside the five. I'm remembering correctly And the ball just kind of lands in his arms and then just pops out and then the Falcons have to Kick the ball and it was a 45 yard kick And young waiku misses the kick and I think first time all season first time all season And I think like that sequence where you had an opportunity to get a first down and be in Really really good scoring position and then to not only get that first down But to miss the field goal. I think those two plays back to back Where it was the moment for me that really changed the scope of this game And it was something that even arthur smith talked about post game as Kind of the moment that he thought the momentum started to swing Here's the wacky part is that's two of the most automatic guys on this team Young way doesn't miss and kyle doesn't drop really and to have those things happen back to back I agree. We're definitely Impactful chris is there any part of this game that you could identify that fits what we're talking about here Yeah, the part that the play or the play that resonated with me was the drive that the Falcons had Well the first drive of the game that came after the fumble just because I think You know momentum matters in football games momentum matters Especially in a division game against a division rival and when you start the first playoff from scrimmage and get a fumble You would like to see a touchdown there and kind of You know the phrase is I guess punch them in the face or You know what I mean from the you from the opening drive So it was just it was not to say that the Falcons would have won the game if they Score on that drive, but I right. I really do think it would have been it would have felt differently The crowd would have been more energized, but to and then the way that the drive went They got negative two yards on that drive that ended with the young way coup field goal There's a pass to cow he was he was in double coverage Mike Davis run So I really just thought that drive was kind of an example of It's kind of the theme of this entire game Which I think tory pointed out was missed opportunities And I think that's something that like you said Arthur Smith talked about all the players talked about post game And I think that's something they'll reflect on when they watch film this week is at these certain plays and drives and think We had some missed opportunities and these are things that we can easily fix Yeah, and it's it's crazy that you could look back on it and they missed all those opportunities But we're still right in the thick of it in the fourth quarter because caroline As for as much as they were moving the ball consistently, especially on the ground They couldn't punch it in they had 12 points all on field goals. And then in the fourth Quarter here at the start of the fourth quarter It's one of these drives that you look just at the bottom line You're like 15 plays 65 yards the like the efficiency is not there But the ultimate result was because they ended up scoring a touchdown and I'm not going to talk about that touchdown play I'm going to talk about third and nine Sam darnold who isn't a track star but has some mobility and showed it over the course of sunday's game scrambled left to the tune of 11 Yards converted to first down with his legs Got free and then they ended up scoring that touchdown now if you go back and and you exchange Seven points for three now It's only a one score game and the falcons don't have to kick a field goal and try and Onside kick that they just need to put it in punch it in that they could erase a lot of wrong doing here And then they weren't able to do it So I think you know wave your magic one change any one of those three plays Maybe we're talking about a much different income and we are moving on here to quarter number two Now we're going to spend five minutes talking about the aspect of the falcons game that seem to hurt them the most And we have a couple of options here one on offense one on defense That ultimately if you can shore those things up, maybe this outcome is different And the reason why we we keep talking about how to create a different outcome It was very close to having a different outcome and over the last five games It's been a one score game heading into the fourth quarter the falcons have done well generally speaking in those moments They didn't handle them there. They just kind of seemed to wear down But in this one tori Is is there an aspect of the falcons game that you really thought really hurt them? Yeah, I thought the offensive like inefficiencies on third down was really tough to overlook When you're looking at a third down conversion rate of 30 percent. That's that's not good That's not what you want and then also on top of that when you look at the The way that the first like when you're looking at the first downs that the falcons had And I think there was 17 that they had and of the 17 four came off of Carolina penalties. Wow, like that also that was also a number that I was like, you don't like that either Like that to me shows that like you're you don't have you're not moving the ball On your own terms and I think that's always what you want to do as an offense I mean even going back to last week when Arthur Smith was saying post game Where you're in the final minutes of the Miami game and and you as an offense want the ball in your hands Well, the ball really wasn't in their hands at all today I mean the carolina had the ball for 10 more minutes than they did and you really really felt that And I think a lot of that was because the falcons offense couldn't Convert on third down. They couldn't really get any momentum going At times when they really really needed to and I think for me that was that was Kind of what I'm looking at in this game. And that's the biggest missed opportunity for me Yeah, and I think on the defensive side We saw the the panthers just able to continue Well, the panthers just stuck with running the ball and then running the ball became effective and it wore the defense down Like you said, they had the ball for almost 40 minutes Think it was 30 36 minutes of some change and you know, they were getting You know four yards to carry which that the falcons were getting on the other end as well But it felt a lot different. Yeah, it didn't feel the same at all and it just seemed like um We each time as the game went on it seemed like they were you know getting You know long breaking off long runs with ease almost and I just thought from the they were on the field for a long time And that's what griger kind of said after the game is tough when you're on the field for that long You got the 16 play they had I think they had three There was one. Yeah, there was one back. It was like back to back It was like one was eight and a half minutes long and one was seven and a half minutes That's tough. Yeah, it's tough when you're doing that for you to For you to be an effective defensive line just to be an effective defense So but when I did look at the when I was looking at just the stats and just the numbers one thing that did stood stand out to me was just the fact that The panthers had 47 rushing attempts and the falcons had 20 rushing attempts And obviously you could look at the stats and say certain things but that just made me think Averaging around the same yards per carry could You know the falcons have ran the ball a little bit more and could that have helped the offense at all because cp and and Mike davis they they're looking better than they've looked in in other games today So that that was something that stood out to me, but I think like we said the run defense was You know left some room to be better. I think today. Yeah Carolina ran 72 offensive plays 72 offensive plays the falcons ran 50. Yeah, they're they're they're per play average pretty similar The falcons at four points. I'm sorry the panthers at 4.6 the falcons at 4.3 So it's very similar in terms of efficiency But in terms of volume it does wear you down And I think that these two things that we're talking about kind of work hand in hand Right because it could have been evened out had the falcons done better on third down It couldn't have been so lopsided if maybe the falcons defense was better in those areas I just think it's always concerning when you get beat on the ground when you know, the ground is coming now They were working inside. They were doing stretch runs the sam darnold was hurting them with his legs somewhat But the fact that the run defense wasn't able to get right even when you know that it's coming that That I think is a troubling point. I mean that was yeah, that was what matt ron was saying post game, too He was like uh We knew this coming in because we knew that this was this had a potential to be a lopsided time of possession For us and we knew that our opportunities were going to be small The opportunities were going to be smaller in the grand scheme of the game And I think you knew like what you said you knew that coming in with this Yeah, and we're going to delve more into matt ryan's performance in the third quarter coming up right now Now We're going to delve into the performance of qb1 matt ryan in quarter number three spend five minutes talking about a performance That was unlike his recent showings matt ryan's been borderline invincible Over the course of games where the falcons won three or four A little more mortal this time. He was 20 for 27 for 146 yards one touchdown two interceptions And a 67.8 pastel rating. That's not great. It's also a bit uncharacteristic He was sacked. I believe three times. I'm not staring at that number right now But nonetheless, uh, what were your guys's impressions of how the quarterback Fared he was under a good amount of pressure for the most uh for the most part. How do you think that matt did? Today yeah, I think I think he could at my best No, no, you're I think he could like I said, I think obviously he says and he'll probably admit that he probably could have played better I think there were some mistakes like especially on the on the The pick that came in the fourth quarter to gilmore or I was He was pressured from the front, but it kind of seemed like gilmore was like that was just a throw It seemed like that was just a throw that wasn't there Um, so that's one I think that it stands out to me where I'm sure he might be thinking I wish I had that play back But he was under pressure and and I think and I think overall Like he had the cut on his hand. He had a bloody towel. His his white pants had the blood Took it like the halloween Theme to a whole new level. Yeah, but but yeah, so I think I think yes He struggled today and um, there's room for him to be better But yeah, there the one play that stood out to me as far as like that I'm thinking about is that that interception at gilmore in the fourth quarter because it just seemed like he was There yeah, I know like I was looking at the numbers in the stats post game And I was like, okay, when was the last time that matt had I can't remember what his total What was it like 143 was how many total passing yards he had today 146 146 When I was looking at that number and I was like When was the last time that he's gotten around that number and I had to go I went back to 2018 It was against baltimore and he was in the 130s. I think it was like 131 Or 139 I can't remember off the top of my head, but it was in the 30 130s And I was like that's a long time. We're in 2021 to have to go all the way back to 2018 To find a moment that kind of parallels this This just like overall stat line. I think is just Very interesting and it makes sense as to why the falcons weren't successful today Is when matt ryan doesn't have the day that we normally expect from him And that's not against that's not solely on matt ryan shoulders. It's really tough when You're not you don't have as much time in the pocket as you want to have or receivers aren't open or you know give carolina credit for what they did to defensively they looked pretty good and So all of those things but it just goes to show like how important matt ryan is to this operation Yeah, and I think that you that you spoke directly to a major issue Is that he didn't have as much time in the pocket to work and we've seen that when he does he's pretty Yeah, he's pretty good at picking defenses apart matt ryan was also without one of his primary targets Calvin really was out of this game with a personal matter. We're not going to delve into That personal matter and we're going to respect exactly what that was But from a football perspective They didn't have one of their top targets there and cal and and carolina just got stafan Freakin gilmore back involved in the fray. How how much do you think that not having calvin was it's an obvious disadvantage, right? He's he's he's an amazing talent But not having him there. How do you think that his absence affected the game that we saw here on sunday? Well, I mean Gilmore was lined up with pits for a lot of the games and Arthur smith mentioned post game that That he didn't say directly, but he said, you know without ridley being there He thought that that likely changed their man-to-man scheme Which I think what he was hinting at was that gilmore likely would have shadowed calvin a lot more than he shadowed Kyle and then kyle spoke about post game that that was his welcome to the NFL moment shy wrote about But shameless blood But yeah, so I think I think that affected, you know, kyle's performance for for sure But also really not being there was significant for sure, but they also got checked checked. Yeah, and he was He was everywhere. He had a pick. He was I mean mike davis did run him over but But he was he was everywhere. So I thought them two being back Really energized his defense And that's what arthur smith said. He was like it changes their defense when those guys are out there Yeah, so overall, I think that you see carolina. They're coming off of four straight losses But that defense didn't look like that type of unit. I thought they were pretty strong and ultimately That's was a part of the reason why carolina came out on top of this one We're going into quarter number four here looking forward as we always do during the final period After the falcons lost a game that they definitely Wanted to have against carolina What was and it's fair to be considered a very winnable game for the idlanda falcons They'd won two straight that as I said off the top they were going for their first above 500 records since 2017 All those things were out there Against a team that they I thought they matched up pretty well with talent wise Nonetheless, they they ended up losing this one It's not the end of the known universe. I don't think the sky is not falling Yeah, I'm looking at Mercedes-Benz stadium right now. This guy's still up there Nonetheless, they have a two game road trip coming up against the new world and saints followed by the dallas cowboys that ain't easy Tori, what do you kind of take from what you saw here and how it applies moving forward? How can they kind of get back on the right track after maybe a little stumble here? Yeah, I I know I wrote about this in My like five things to watch that runs on saturday mornings I was kind of talking about how good of an opportunity this game was for the falcons and how much I thought that A win today would be such a catalyst going into the next two weeks where you go You travel to new orleans and you face the saints and I even said I was like the entire narrative of that game changes if the falcons are coming off a win against carolina And now it just feels a little different It does and I think the way that this game kind of turned out where there were so many moments that the falcons could have pulled through and ended up winning this game the fact that There were moments where they there were so many missed opportunities that kind of accumulated I think that is going into the saints game You really really want to see them perform as well as they have all season. I know I do I want to see them perform in a way that You take kind of all the good things that I think we have pieced together over the first, you know, few games and then finally getting a collective Game, I don't know if that means they win But I would love to see just a very clean well put together everything Everything's running on all cylinders and firing on all cylinders. I don't know if that's possible um, I Really don't but I think that it's something to strive for and and having that consistency because The consistency issues is something that I feel like we've talked about even in wins With this team and so I think being able to co to go to norlands and play a consistent four quarters Is what I really would like to see from this team. Yeah, I think I think for moving forward I think they need to figure out the the running game uh issue that we saw today look moving forward because you playing mark mark Ingram and alvin kamara Who mark even they and the saints don't throw the ball? I mean don't run don't throw the ball much this year when they do throw the ball It's usually to alvin kamara and with james who just had an injury before we started recording They'd be running the ball a lot more. Yeah, so The way that tuba hubbard was today against the defense I think they definitely need to figure out if that was if there was an issue with the scheme Like what went wrong today so that that does not happen Yeah in the next two weeks because after them is izikio elion. Yeah, you're you're about to have pilars So it's so many running so many dominant running backs and I think what happened today Is not something you want to deal with each week in terms of 15 16 play wearing your defensive line down and then having every time you get the ball you're you're almost pressure You feel the pressure to really make an opportunity out of which causes mistakes like we saw today So I think really figuring out that run game issue is the key for moving forward in the next two games Yeah, if you can't stop the run, it's hard to do much of anything The one thing that I that you would hate to see is to be back in january and everything's close And it's decided by a tiebreaker or by one game and you look back at this carolina game and you think Gosh, what if what if we had a tiebreaker in the division or within the conference or something that could have helped them there The one thing is my mind goes back to that washington game and I stand by the fact They could have and should have won that game period full stop end of discussion right But they didn't and then the two games afterward Took away some of the conviction that I had because they found a way to get hot maybe That you just can't go off of the w's and l's you put next to names in april and may and even august That the season evolves and they may get hot in this game Its magnitude may not feel as strong as it does right now right now. It feels like Yeah, they should have had that one and maybe in two or three weeks if they can get hot They can fix this run defense issue, which is an absolute core thing that they have to do If they can get that rectified get the passing game and the protection things worked out Then maybe they can get hot and win some games that you wouldn't expect And we're gonna have to keep a close eye on that The one thing that I do know is arthur smith's falcons rebound and respond consistently well These guys fight they handle their practice week well And maybe they could come out and get some positive outcomes positive outcomes out of what was Essentially a negative result here at mercedes-benz stadium and with that we're going to end quarter number four And say thank you and bid you adieu after another episode of falcons final whistle podcast comes to its conclusion So you guys know what to do at this point head over to itunes or spotify subscribe Give us a five star rating and a nice review. Please pretty please with sugar on top and Subscribe definitely look forward to talking to you guys after they play the saint's big time rivalry game I know you guys will all be tuned in be sure to listen in after that one As we break down this falcon season game by game