 What's up everybody and welcome to another edition of the Falcons final whistle. I'm Scott Bayer with me Tori McElaney and Ashton Edmonds We're coming to you after a week seven result that did not go the Falcons way The Bengals beat them soundly 35 to 17 at Pay Core Stadium in Cincinnati All three of us are back home in the ATL We're gonna try to make sense of not only what happened in this game But where the Falcons go from here how they can improve and the state of affairs in the NFC South which spoiler alert It's pretty up for grabs right now shockingly so after Carolina beat Tampa Bay and The Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are still sitting atop of the division at three and four. So first of all Let's focus on this game first before we go big picture y'all Ashton your initial impressions on this game overall. It wasn't a game that went well for Atlanta Where where do you think that it went wrong? Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing was a lot of players were hurt I think that's what hurt the Falcons the most Early in the game. I mean Tyler Boyd used for the touchdown with two minutes into the game the game just started but like the secondary was beat up and I think Joe Burrow just capitalized on Knowing that I think You know, they they knew that the Falcons had a lot of injured players and you know, especially on defense And I just think they capitalized on that and and just you know Kind of made the most of that situation and you know, they had all three of their receivers were healthy So I think it was just easy to find those open pockets and and you know Capitalized like I said, Tori, what were your takeaways from this one? I had a lot of takeaways But none as big as this is the first game that the Falcons have played that I don't want to take anything from And I say that because the first six games of the season I felt like even in losses There was something kind of a redeeming quality of which you could take from it and something that you knew You could build off of this this loss to me was the first time that I felt like I would like to leave the loss where it was and After I do my notebook tomorrow like not even look at it again because I think that the Falcons are better than what they put on the field on Sunday against the Bengals I Completely agree with what Ashton was saying where I think the the Bengals played the game that they wanted to play I never felt like the Falcons were dictating the game I always felt like the game was in Cincinnati's hands to to change and to dictate and for that and that alone It's that that to me was my biggest takeaway on top of of course The statistical day that the Bengals had in comparison to what it was for the Falcons I mean, I'm sure we'll get into all of that later But just that was my overarching feelings as we kind of headed back to Atlanta. Yeah I mean, I I understand what you're saying Jake Matthews was saying I spoke to him in the postgame locker and he said that the one thing that we can't do is not learn from this Pardon the double negative But we have to correct everything and not let those mistakes happen again But so I can understand what he's saying. Okay, I can also understand what you're saying and I don't think that they're completely Disparate, right? I think when it comes down to it is that there were errors of execution Right, and then now we can bring Ashton's opinion into this thing that they were super beat up in the secondary and that fact was compounded by AJ Terrell leaving in the first quarter with a hamstring injury and being ruled out of that game Their secondary was decimated and it seemed like the Bengals Didn't even really feel like running very much And they and and they saw a weakness. They exposed it Right. Well, then since we're on this topic right now Okay, have the Bengals created some game tape that other opponents can use or do you think that this is a situation of Cincinnati knew what it had Joe Burrow Jamarche's Tyler Boyd and T Higgins and Against the beat-up secondary. Is this an individual matchup situation or are there things? Positive or negative that can be extrapolated about the Falcons and how they defend Like to understand my question like is there like yeah, was it this matchup or is it something grander at play here? I Think it's honestly probably a little bit of both I think that we have seen moments where the Falcons defense has struggled to stop In offense that kind of looks like how the Bengals operate. I think about the Rams I think about the Tampa Bay game and how these quarterbacks have been able to take advantage of the Falcons secondary At moments now is this a formula that other teams can replicate down the road? And I believe that's kind of what you're asking. It's like right honestly It it kind of does that is the one thing that does worry me Moving forward because it's now we've seen games a few games where the Falcons secondary and the past rush not getting there and kind of this problem extrapolating a Circumstance and and so it's not just defense too I know I'm harping on defense a lot because of the statistics that was Joe Burrow and those three receivers for the Bengals But it was an offensive problem too when the run is not working the Falcons Struggle to move the ball and when they are in obvious passing Situations, they struggle to move the ball and to move the chains because of that I think there is almost this formulaic type of look at the Falcons where it's like if you put them in passing Situations and then also if you as an offense are passing the ball is that a recipe for success against the Falcons? I think that is a big much bigger question that I'm not sure I can answer fully yet But there have been moments where it has felt like that over the course of the first seven weeks of the season Yeah, and just kind of as you were talking I was briefly thinking back about the quarterbacks that I've seen face the Falcons this year And Joe Burrow was the best better than a 45-year-old Tom Brady at that on at that particular week better than Matthew Stafford back in week two No offense to Gino Smith and his comeback player of the year Run right now, but Ashton looking at what Joe Burrow was able to do we you and I talked a lot during the week kind of away from things that record Just about how how the bangles kind of take advantage of those passes within Zero to nine yards in the air and turn it into 15 20-yard plays What did you think about kind of Joe Burrow's operation and Do you need an elite quarterback to kind of execute this? This strategy like that we're talking about Yeah, and I think Joe Burrow did a great job in the air today I think he found the Falcons weak spots on defense as soon as Cornell Armstrong came in a game I mean he started targeting Jamar Jamar Chase, you know, I think maybe like two or three times back to back And he's an experienced quarterback, you know, he played in the Super Bowl last year He's relatively young but he still has the NFL experience and he can read defenses and know Who to throw it to win the throw it to him and you know, he knew AJ Terrell was was banged up He knew Casey Hayward wasn't in and I'm sure that you know his coaches and a player study The secondary and knew that we had a lot of young players in the secondary, you know, Richie Grand Jalen Hawkins Like these are relatively young guys So I think Joe Burrow knew the weapons that he has in the trio with Tyler Boyd T. Higgins and Jamar Chase and you know, he utilized his weapons and you know, I think he like I said, I think he found He found all the weak spots in the Falcon secondary and just you know capitalized from there Yeah, I think AJ Terrell's status is gonna be something to monitor closely as we move forward here with Casey Hayward who And I guess you can come at me in the comments but who I think has been or was the best Falcons cornerback not the most talented but the best most consistent Falcons cornerback through the first six weeks wait with him being on injured reserve and Even a rookie like D. Alford who's good in space and good making place on the ball him being unavailable and then AJ Terrell Going out and being ruled out quickly. That's generally not a great sign But that secondary which was a strength and had a lot of depth Is just in a different place right now I think Darren Hall has some talent Cornell Armstrong was kind of thrown to the wolves talking to him afterward He said he wouldn't have given up the opportunity no matter who he was playing And he wants to do better next week Isaiah Oliver just came back. They just got the secondary together Only to see injury kind of fall apart there You know, I just think that that was definitely difficult and kind of going back to everything that we're saying here is it was Coaching for the bangles understanding the state of the secondary where it was at how much it got worse with AJ out and an elite level quarterback with Elite level targets taking advantage of their strengths and ultimately it came down to it It's not like this game was without fight for the Falcons The second quarter flurry there with a 16-play drive. That was a touchdown and then a 75 Yard strike to Demir bird followed by the amazing Avery Williams punt return to set up young way coups field goal Which also gets to a point. I'm not kind of abandoning the script Tori. I'm sorry Go ahead. No, you're good But I'm gonna let you kind of take it from there because you asked Arthur Smith a Question and we talked about all these explosive plays and all these stats and all these big-name players doing big-name things There was a part in this game that you brought up to Arthur Smith That I think is really important because it's boring and you could overlook it in a box score But there was a pivotal series in this game that really changed it more than anything else Which series and which kind of sequence were you talking about there with coach? Yeah, so it was the opening three drives of the third quarter and You look at where the Falcons were they were down 28 17 They had just you know, you just talk about Avery Williams setting up young way coups field goal They had got it within 28 17. You go into halftime. You kind of feel the momentum You know, you get the ball coming out After halftime and then you get the ball and you go three and out Tyler Algeria runs the ball for one yard Two incompletions punt then and so that in and of itself that three and out is not what you want but then it was also Cincinnati gets the ball in their own 42 yard line and The defense comes up with a with a stop. They you have for Sean Evans who Allowed like no gain on second down and then you had Cornel Armstrong with a pass break up on third down and so Cincinnati gives the ball back to The Falcons they it was a turnover on downs I'm pretty sure on on fourth down if I'm remembering correctly and then so Atlanta gets the ball back So now you're like, okay Well, the that first drive of the third quarter It didn't go as you wanted to but then they get the ball back and they don't do anything with it Not only do they not do anything with it Tyler Algiers dropped for three on first down Mario to a sack for a loss of one on second down and then you're I mean, you're looking at third and very long and It's a situation where you had two good chances Offensively to do something with a defensive stop in sandwich between those two three and out that to me Was a moment that was the most discouraging I know we could talk a lot about the yards that were garnered throughout the whole entire four quarters, but that probably Let's say five minutes swing was really tough for me to move past because I felt as though the Falcons scored touchdown in that opening Drive. I mean, you're looking at a diff you're looking at a one-score game a Little ways through the third quarter that completely changes how you feel Moving forward, it gives you a little bit moment of momentum It puts you back into the game because then after that it just kind of went I mean Cincinnati went and scored on their Second drive of the third quarter. So it really to me that moment that five minute period was kind of what Sealed the deal for the Falcons in this game If I'm reading this correctly in the second half I hope I'm reading this correctly had the Falcons had drives of net yards net yards of one yard gained Seven yards gained and nine yards gained over the course of the third quarter where the Bengals have been really good this season In the fourth quarter again, if I'm reading this right, it looks like they only had 23 Net yards in the fourth quarter and that's that's where we're gonna shift a little bit to the offense here And I just wanted to bring up a couple of numbers number one The the Falcons ran 45 offensive plays to Cincinnati 66 Average gain at 4.8 yards And here's the interesting thing right that I've mentioned I feel like we all have kind of talked about this that there might be a time where The Falcons are gonna have to go get a win or press to get a win by throwing 35 times right by really trying to work the ball through the air to try to make it up and you look at the play disparity Here and we're talking about 29 runs. They ran more than the Bengals for the same per carry average and I only see now there could be penalties that have would have eliminated drop backs, but there were only 13 attempts So even when they're behind multiple scores the Falcons still aren't passing I want to make this very very clear before we go forward. This is not a question of we are not questioning play calling That's not what's happening here. I don't do that. We don't do that on this podcast It's dumb. Okay, what what I think that we're doing is try to extrapolate truths about this team, right? And that's where I want people to focus and understand what we're talking about here We're not saying should have called the pass when you call the run Arthur that ain't it. Okay, that's base level Rhetoric that doesn't have any place here diet tribe over This this type of play disparity. I think it does speak to what the Falcons do Well, they they run the ball well But they have not found that type of consistent passing rhythm without the benefit of a play action pass or a big strike or something like that This team is not, you know, kind of balanced in that same way right now. I mean, that's just the way that it is Yeah, it's funny too because I feel like we've been saying this about the Falcons But in like the opposite conversation like with the Matt Ryan in the pocket It was always a conversation of oh, they're not balanced because they can't run the ball Like they're not running the ball as an offense. I feel like for the last I don't even know how many years that has been the problem is it wouldn't when you're talking about the balance of the offense now it's kind of flipped on its head and it's Kind of the other side of the coin where it's like the Falcons can run the ball and and do find success doing that But again going back to what I was saying earlier when earlier when they are in obvious passing downs It's it feels like it's either hit a llama days the key as their bus Do you know like that's kind of what it feels like? but I I think when you look at this offense, it is something that they have to Clean up because we go back to now. There's a formula for how to defend this team When you look at it How much can this offense kind of take the more film that is put on other teams radars? Because the Falcons are at their best when they do have a bit of mystery in what they're doing offensively Can we say that they were still mysterious? You know getting into the third and fourth quarter of of this game and I I mean and then it even goes back to The Rams game in week two this scene this start this has started to feel like a similar topic of conversation over the course of seven games is like The Falcons are having trouble in those obvious passing downs Yeah, and I mean but the other side of it is if you go back to the Browns game, right? They were in trouble and they weren't passing the ball well and they barely threw the ball at all and then they decided to you know to run the Run the ball a lot. Shall we say I'm not going to repeat? I will say I will say too with with that like it I felt like the game was different Like in this game in this game, you're fighting from behind at one point You're down by what 18 and you're still running the ball like that is It's not wild to me because I can understand doing it because it was it was what was working for you And it's kind of your roots as an offense, but it does make me wonder like What's the confidence level in being able to throw the ball and when you know That was something that not to like compare apples to oranges But when you talk about what the what this offense was last year It could go out and get big chunks of yards throwing the ball downfield now. Can we say the same thing here? Yes, I mean you can because Marcus Mariota connected for Demir or bird a 75-yard touchdown, but it's like doing it consistently That's the difference. It's like one play is great, but can you do it through four quarters? Right, and I mean if you're throwing in completions on first and second and ten and setting up third and long That's not good either But I I do think that if the Falcons are playing their game if they set the tone and can dictate tempo And create turnovers something that they didn't do Yeah Against the Bengals then you create Situations and recipes that are ripe for victory And I don't think that it's outlandish to say that that is a winning formula for them They need but they can't get in these types of situations against I mean I joe borough's elite level quarterback, right? I was searching for my adjective there, but nonetheless Um, I do think that that the Falcons have a winning formula Um, I think that I'm sure other teams probably think that they have a beatable formula But do you have joe borough is pj. Walker joe borough? Is Yeah, it is can't because even the rams who I think had a similar Um concept even matt stafford couldn't execute at the level that was required to put that game away So I will also say though. I do think the trio of receivers that the bangles have Very different than what matthew stafford has with the rams. I I do think that this was honestly a recipe for Uh, it was it was yeah, it was gonna be it was gonna be really tough for the falcons Like going in you knew that this matchup like wasn't one that really Like turned in the falcons favor at all and the bangles are hot You know, they're hot. This is cornel armstrong's first like very first game of the season, right? Yeah practice quite elevation Yeah, uh, yeah, I mean like you said he was thrown into the wolves. I think this is probably the toughest game I mean, I think it's only gonna make him better. But like him getting thrown against the bangles You know, I think though it was just like you said a recipe for disaster Yeah, so I mean, you know kind of perfect storm situation with the falcons secondary Being severely hindered by injury plus joe burrell plus the bangles being hot plus the three targets that are all kind of Next level. Okay. I think we've done a pretty good job deciphering what this game was Um, and maybe some question marks are things to identify About, you know, how the falcons can win maybe how they can be beaten What means to get fixed in order to eliminate those strategies? All that said, right Arthur Smith said in his press conference making no excuses And I think that was important that they're they're also thankful that this only counts as one You lose 35 to 34 you lose like this still just one loss Um in a wild result considering everything that carolina has been through recently Tampa bay lost to carolina by multiple scores So go figure new orleans lost to arizona on thursday night We are in the middle of an nfc south race that is looking strange Yeah The falcons lost a game But didn't lose any ground in the division is really what i'm trying to get at and I think that that's something I wrote about in my column I think after the initial frustration of the fan base wears off from what they saw today They will come to realize that opportunity Still exists and maybe that the not only are the buccaneers vulnerable But maybe the falcons can fix what fix the problems that they have find ways to surge and scrap out and get victories and be alive in december And find some consistency find some rhythm. That's something that they haven't found yet something that rachawn evans Said ashton. I just said all that stuff, but really kind of entering week eight here with with an ability To go out there. They get carolina twice chargers who lost today and then yeah, this isn't in order, but chicago washington um Pittsburgh that That they they do have an opportunity to get in rhythm and kind of establish themselves You know as a uh as a contender in this division Oh, yeah, most definitely. Um, I mean they beat a really good brown steam a really good seahawks team already These are really good teams that have been winning, you know consistently over the last few weeks But I think going into week eight against the panthers the panthers, you know, they don't have baker mayfield They have a lot of young players Their team is kind of pieced together as well. Um, they did execute against the bugs But I think the falcons do have a great chance at winning That this this upcoming sunday against the panthers to go for and for I think this was the toughest three game stretch And I think they played relatively well through it. Um, but I think this last game, you know, it kind of hurt them But like I said, they were hurt For the most part all around with the defense and you know, the offense just wasn't executing And I think after they watched film this week, I think they when they see What they can clean up going into week eight against the panthers at home They, you know, they went to at home already. So they have that momentum. I think, um, I mean, I think the falcons have a great chance at Going above 500 going into week eight, honestly Yeah Go ahead. Go ahead. No go for it. All right I was just gonna say like, you know of of the places where I feel like this team has been over the last like three years The fact that they're three and four right now is not like the end of the world I mean to be completely honest, I feel like there are a lot of people that did not think that they would get to Week eight at three and four. Um, I would have win against the bingles have been fantastic Yeah, I would have but that didn't happen and it showed this team what it has to work on and I mean, it's not I think Arthur Smith has said it before and I think I even said it like last week on the podcast where it's like Being objective after a win is just as important as being objective after a loss And I think the falcons probably learned more about themselves in this loss than maybe even the win last week and Because I mean it goes back to what we were saying about like formula for winning versus a formula for getting beat Like what is the difference in that for the falcons? and I will say like heading into this stretch of games over the course of the next probably like month I feel like it's a good opportunity for the falcons to we talk about identity a lot to against some of these teams Really capitalize on who they are As a team and as a as units and and all of those things. I I think it's really important That they solidify that over the course of the next month because like what you're saying if you're getting into december And you're playing pretty hot. That's that's the perfect time. I mean we talk about it with uh scott's a padres fan And so we we were talking about baseball like in the context of it's like all about who's hot At the end of the season that it really does feel that way And I feel they I feel like there are kind of sprinklings of that in Then fl season two, especially right now where anyone can beat anyone on any given sunday I think that is so important. There's not a lot of Parity in in NFL football right now. There's a lot that of just people being kind of on similar levels I mean you just saw the panthers beat the bucks and I eat the falcons are three and four, you know, there are there are a lot of things across the league that I think make it Interesting when we're looking at where this team goes from here Yeah, I mean you you bring up unexpected losses. Washington beat green bay today, right? What? Yeah That makes it makes zero logical sense if you were to analyze that game heading into it. Um, Taylor hynicky versus erin rogers seems like a lopsided outcome turned out to not be that way and But nonetheless, that's why they play the games. That's why So many of these teams even the bangles which look like an absolute juggernaut In week seven or four and three they've stumbled A lot of these teams have stumbled so uh, hi like how you recover how you kind of bounce through it um, and if you can get on a couple Two three game hot streak and go three out of four like the falcons just did you can find yourself in a good position Um, you know and those are all things to monitor. Um, you can definitely always Keep an eye on and monitor this falcons final whistle podcast by subscribing to the falcons podcast network Please do it on apple podcast spotify if you're a night owl Come to our channel or just subscribe but come to our channel around 10 30 11 And you can be like the first one to get it or if you're more of a youtube subscriber They go up at 6 a.m. Right and early and they're with you for the rest of the week So thank you guys so much for engaging interacting With the podcast. Uh, we definitely appreciate everybody downloading and listening and we'll talk to you all again next week