0:07

What's up everybody, and welcome to the latest edition

0:09

of the Falcons Final Whistle Podcast, presented

0:12

by Zaxby's. I'm Scott Behar, alongside

0:14

as always Taron Walk and Tory

0:17

mclaney and joining us for the first time

0:19

ever another one of our

0:21

writers. I'm sure that you've read her work on Atlantafalcons

0:24

dot com. Omna Subhan is going to

0:26

join us. Hello and welcome.

0:29

Hey y'all. Happy to be here alongside

0:31

you.

0:32

And we're going to come to Omna later on to

0:34

discuss the Falcons injury

0:36

situation and everything that

0:38

she wrote for an article that's up on the

0:40

website about how the Falcon's depth

0:43

was definitely tested. It was tested

0:45

and it ultimately came through, but the Falcons

0:47

as a team did not. They ended up losing

0:49

to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers twenty nine to

0:51

twenty five here on Sunday at Mercedes

0:54

Benz Stadium where we are talking to

0:56

you right now. And

0:58

this was a big one. There's no if

1:01

ands or butts about it. The Falcons had

1:04

a one game advantage in the NFC.

1:06

Salvin had an opportunity to create

1:08

separation within the within the division

1:11

and be the pace car for the NFC self to

1:13

go a game above five hundred and

1:15

fight for that above five hundred more

1:17

respectable record. Ultimately, what

1:20

happened was a loss that really has muddied

1:22

the waters. Now the Falcons, Bucks,

1:24

and New Orleans Saints are all sitting at six

1:26

and seven and things got

1:28

a lot more complicated after this one. Tori,

1:31

you wrote about this, and I think that you're ultimately right

1:34

this. There's a lot

1:36

of people, I think who are holding up their hands

1:38

saying that I'm accountable. I think

1:40

there's there you could point fingers,

1:42

but you shouldn't. That this loss

1:44

is on the entire team. Yeah.

1:46

It was Arthur Smith after the game who

1:48

said, you know, we're not into

1:51

playing the blame game, and I agree

1:53

with that because to this when

1:55

it comes to this game, there was a

1:57

lot of blame to go around, and I think

2:00

every single unit from offense to defense

2:02

to special teams had a moment

2:05

or multiple moments where

2:07

there was a misqueue or a mistake

2:09

that ultimately took points off

2:12

the boarder in the defense's perspective, allowed

2:15

the Bucks to.

2:16

Put points on the board. So for me,

2:18

when you.

2:19

Are looking at the grand scope of this game,

2:22

yng Way Kumus's two field goals.

2:25

That's six points.

2:26

He said in the locker room, And I know Terren's going to talk

2:28

about this later, but said in the locker room, you know that's

2:30

on me.

2:31

I feel like this loss is

2:33

on me.

2:33

So he says that, And then this offense

2:36

goes an entire third quarter without

2:39

being able to put any type of points

2:41

on the board, despite the fact that they

2:43

had really really good field position on

2:46

three of those four drives in the third quarter.

2:48

Then there's the safety.

2:49

Then there's the interception that ultimately set

2:52

up the bucks first touchdown. And

2:54

then there's the defense, who I thought played very

2:56

very well up until the last quarter

2:59

when you needed them to stand

3:02

on what they were standing on for the first

3:04

three quarters and so and

3:06

they ultimately give up what goes

3:09

on to be a game winning touchdown

3:11

for the Bucks. And from

3:14

top to bottom, I felt like it was a

3:16

disappointing outing. And you

3:18

know, guys in the locker room talked about how

3:21

this one stings, This one's frustrated,

3:24

like we're frustrated, and I think

3:26

those are the right words to describe this, especially

3:28

because the goal of today

3:30

was to sit atop the NFC South unimpeded

3:34

with other teams. That's

3:36

not what happened. The Falcons are now

3:39

a top. There's still a top the NFC South, but with

3:41

the Saints and the Bucks, that's not.

3:43

Really a top.

3:44

So I think that's

3:46

kind of where this game has landed

3:49

us, and it's a disappointing feeling for

3:52

a team that I thought, you

3:54

know, perhaps was picking up steam in the

3:56

last two weeks, having beaten the Saints

3:58

and beaten the Jets.

4:00

I'd partially like to say I called it last

4:02

week. I said this game is

4:04

beyond important because of the

4:07

repercussions that could have not only in the standings,

4:09

but also like mental and emotional

4:12

confidence, because they still

4:14

haven't strung together three wins in a row, and

4:17

now they're also in a three way quote

4:19

unquote tie for the NFC South, which

4:22

is bonkers to me. Let's begin with that.

4:25

So this loss,

4:27

it feels heavier than the other.

4:29

Losses in my opinion, maybe it kind of rivals

4:32

the third in a row when it came

4:34

right before the bye.

4:35

Yeah, yeah, I think

4:37

that that's fair. And the more that you think about

4:39

this, all three phases thing, you

4:42

throw an interception deep

4:44

in your own territory. That

4:47

leads turnover. Yeah, that ultimately

4:49

leads to points. And this defense for as

4:52

much praise as it's gotten, and deservedly so.

4:54

They've given up decisive fourth quarter touchdowns

4:57

in three of the last four games. And you

4:59

can say you want about okay, like they

5:02

are doing better. They are tough to play against.

5:04

They have lots of stats that tell

5:07

you that this is a good unit,

5:09

but there are ways to

5:11

close out games and I and the

5:14

Falcons defense hasn't been doing enough

5:16

of that, And there are lots of little moments

5:18

where things leak

5:21

out and ultimately results

5:23

in losses that frankly, the Falcons

5:25

expect to win. And yeah,

5:28

I'm sure everyone's sick of me bringing this up

5:30

at this point because I

5:33

feel like I bring up this cave now, this quote all

5:35

the time, probably three straight pods now.

5:37

But I think it's so important because during

5:39

that three game losing streak, he said, we expected

5:41

to go on a run after we beat Tampa Bay.

5:44

They lose three in a row to LEAs

5:47

Campbell said after this one, they expected to win

5:49

this game. They walked in feeling like they could

5:51

have and should have beat this team despite

5:53

all the injuries, which we'll get to later. That there

5:56

was a real sense that they're

5:58

going to take this division and really

6:00

take control of it, and that's ultimately

6:02

not what happened. And look, nobody cares about

6:05

style points, nobody cares about outside

6:07

respectability or fun

6:10

ridiculous memes on social media. But there was

6:12

also an opportunity here for the Falcons

6:15

to go on a run, win three in a row

6:17

and really add some respectability to this

6:19

NFC self. And what you get now is you get

6:21

a bunch of memes where there's three teams below

6:23

five hundred and one of them gets to host a

6:25

playoff game. The Falcons shouldn't give back that

6:27

opportunity, but they need to start playing

6:30

better if they are going to assert themselves. And

6:32

last part of my rants, but so much

6:35

at the end of the last few seasons,

6:37

we've heard a lot about the Falcons being in

6:40

quote unquote playoff contention or fighting

6:42

for a spot right, but really what that

6:44

was that was they need a late game surge

6:46

and a lot of help. They were finally at a

6:48

position where they didn't need any help. They

6:51

just had to take control of

6:53

their own destiny, take control of this

6:55

division. Ultimately, that's

6:57

not what happened, and I think that that

7:00

should constitute a disappointment and

7:02

frustration and all of these other words

7:04

that you've heard. Everything is still

7:06

out there in front of them, but now it becomes

7:08

who can finish better, Saints, Bucks

7:11

or Falcons at this point, and every

7:13

game, like Jesse Bates said, every

7:15

game essentially is a playoff game to this

7:17

point. That's a slight exaggeration that shouldn't

7:19

be taken literally, but I get his point. That has

7:22

to be the mentality moving forward.

7:25

I agree, no notes on your rent, no

7:29

notes on that rant.

7:31

So let's dive a little bit farther

7:33

into somebody who's been automatic for this

7:35

team and is so trustworthy

7:38

and confidence inspiring. And that's kicker Young

7:40

Waiku miss two field goals

7:42

that started a run of

7:47

unsuccessful possessions. They went

7:49

missfield goal, safety, miss field goal, and

7:52

then four consecutive punts until

7:54

they got to the fourth quarter. Young Way raised

7:56

his hand and said, Hey, this one's on

7:58

me. Did that surprise you? Don't?

8:01

No, Just because knowing his character, I'm

8:03

not surprised that he kind of took the blank for maybe

8:06

I'm surprised a little bit how blunt he was about

8:08

us being like, quote, I cost us today,

8:10

that's all me end quote. But

8:13

he was put in not ideal

8:15

situations, which Desmond Ritter

8:18

acknowledged, saying we shouldn't be putting him at fifty

8:20

plus yards every single time he has to kick a

8:22

field goal, because the two kicks he missed

8:24

were from fifty and fifty two yards

8:26

out. The only other field goal

8:29

he had missed this year was fifty

8:34

something, toy, what is it?

8:36

I thought it was forty eight or forty thirty.

8:38

Seven, forty seven? I found it in my story

8:40

forty seven. I just assumed it was over fifty

8:43

because otherwise Coup is clutch.

8:45

He's made all of he's three for three for beyond

8:47

the fifty yard mark this season. Actually, so yeah,

8:49

the only other one he has missed the season was a forty

8:51

seven yard are during the loss to the Lions.

8:54

But that's three kicks this season

8:56

alone. This was only the second time in

8:59

his entire career he missed more than one field

9:01

goal in a single game, and the only other time

9:03

was a rookie when he was with the

9:06

Charger. So it's been

9:08

a really pretty minute since he's done this that

9:10

I'm sure he's feeling pretty

9:12

down, but that's probably why he took

9:14

bail personally, but

9:17

everyone has always praised young Way so much of

9:20

just getting back into routine and sticking

9:22

to his fundamentals and moving

9:25

on from any mistakes.

9:27

And look, I don't think that any I don't

9:29

think Young Way is sitting there like trying

9:31

to make excuses or anything like that. I'm not

9:33

going to sit here and make any excuses either,

9:36

you know that Young Way who wants

9:38

to go out and be as automatic

9:41

as what we've kind of known him to

9:43

be. And Drake London in the locker room, we

9:45

were talking to him and he was like, I don't I'm

9:47

not.

9:47

Worried about Young Way. He was like, no one

9:50

is.

9:50

Yeah, he was like, he's automatic, and I consider this

9:52

to be a fluke.

9:53

You know, some people just have bad days. Heck,

9:55

I feel like I have bad just as any bad

9:57

days as he has good days.

9:59

You know like that, We yeah, that's

10:01

just how life is. And it's the same for you

10:03

know NFL kickers. But in

10:06

young Way's defense, and this

10:08

goes back to what I was saying before, the

10:10

Falcons had way more opportunities than just

10:12

those missfield goals.

10:14

To put points on the board.

10:16

And it's the thing, it's something

10:18

that we've been talking about this entire season.

10:21

Touchdowns not field goals.

10:23

There are so many games that this Falcons

10:25

team it's come down to a kick

10:28

because they couldn't get in the end zone. It's

10:30

come down to one score

10:33

and they're not able.

10:35

To get in the end zone, and like that.

10:37

That's the frustrating part to this is, yes,

10:40

Young Waiku needs to make those field goals.

10:43

He knows that. Everybody knows that. That's

10:45

not we're not discounting that. But again,

10:48

you can't have this offense in the third quarter

10:51

just not show up, which there have been many

10:53

times in the third quarter where this

10:55

team has struggled offensively

10:58

to score. And when you're not putting points on

11:00

the board beyond three

11:02

points, that's

11:05

not necessarily a recipe for success.

11:07

You've got to get in the end zone. I

11:09

mean the pendulum swings both ways. If young

11:11

guy makes both those field goals, they

11:13

win. But say instead of that one

11:15

field goal he did make, that was a touchdown

11:18

wings back the other way. If my math checks

11:20

out on the spot, but well

11:23

it would have been tied. But then they could have done something

11:25

and it also it's not as

11:27

simple as saying, like, hey, he makes those they win,

11:30

that would mean everything else has to go

11:32

the exact same. That's not how this would work

11:34

because then momentum would have built. So

11:36

it's just not as simple as saying, you

11:38

make those games a completely

11:41

different outcome.

11:42

Yeah, And ultimately, the Falcons

11:44

were have been relatively

11:48

fortunate when it comes to health, outside of losing

11:50

Troy Anderson and Grady Jarrett for the seasons,

11:52

which are two huge blows, but they've

11:55

been weathering a real injury

11:57

storm lately. Now that we're going to bring Omna

11:59

back end. They were playing at one

12:01

point with Matt bergeron as their only starter

12:04

along the offensive line. That generally

12:06

spells trouble. How you know, like what was

12:08

said postgame about how they are, how

12:10

they were able to deal with all these injury issues.

12:14

You know, the things that were said post

12:16

game were very similar to what we hear every

12:19

day at the practice facility. If you

12:21

go to you know, pop up any presser,

12:24

whether that's Ryan Nielsen or

12:26

Arthur Smith or any player, they'll tell you

12:28

that they treat everybody like a starter.

12:31

It's next man up mentality. This

12:33

is the NFL. Their injuries, I mean, today

12:36

was it was it got a little bit

12:38

like, okay, that's that's a little bit too much,

12:41

But that's exactly what they said. Chris

12:44

Lindstrom, who exited shortly, talked

12:47

a lot about how, you know, we've had a hundred

12:49

of reps with these guys, and he

12:51

was just happy that guys like Ryan Nuzl

12:54

who got his first star, and Stor Norton

12:56

who came in and you know, Tyler

12:58

Rabel who was elevated from practice squad

13:01

got a chance to show what they can do on the

13:03

field and show them that they've been doing this, you

13:05

know, throughout the whole entire season on

13:07

the practice field. But

13:09

yeah, it was there was a

13:11

ton of injuries and that just is

13:14

not going to help you.

13:15

And then there were there were what four

13:18

during the game as well to kind

13:20

of add to that thing. It's one thing where you can kind of prep

13:22

during the week. It's another bam,

13:25

sudden change and you're all of a sudden in there.

13:28

What about you also talked to Clark

13:31

Phillips. What was his kind of take after

13:33

what I thought was a pretty good game.

13:35

Yeah, he said that he feels like

13:37

he embodies that, you

13:39

know, that mentality and then embodies

13:41

the fact basically where they're at in

13:44

this point of the season to

13:47

the point where you know there is just like a

13:49

Matt bergeron as one starter in there,

13:51

and and he came in last

13:53

game for a J. Terrell and then this game played

13:55

opposite Ajterrell, and

13:57

he he had a pretty impressive game, Like

13:59

he said, I just had that, you know,

14:01

that one penalty that didn't

14:05

cost him the entire touchdown at

14:07

the end there. But that's just

14:10

the way it goes, I suppose.

14:12

Now the real question is how much of this stuff is going to be

14:14

long term. We don't have a good grasp

14:17

of any of those things yet. We're gonna have to see imaging

14:19

and stuff like that. But there's a lot of

14:22

missing pieces. I think they missed Caleb

14:24

McGarry in the run game. I feel like they missed

14:26

Nate Landman's physicality on the

14:28

interior though on Andre Smith

14:32

didn't play half bad either, but you

14:34

lose your iron man Jake Matthews,

14:36

you know, and Tyler Rabel has to step

14:39

in. Ultimately. The one

14:41

thing that I did like, not like I would expect

14:43

it any other way, but there was No, everybody

14:45

was hurt. That's why we didn't win. Like I

14:48

didn't hear a lot of excuses come out of that locker

14:50

room, and I think that's that's pretty

14:52

important as they move forward.

14:55

Yeah, absolutely not. And even you

14:57

know, Tyler Augier said that I trust

14:59

every single one of those guys on the line, no matter who

15:01

it is, and I'm not going to feel any differently.

15:04

Andsman Rider said the same thing.

15:07

Yeah, And like all those things I think

15:09

are important. Another big blow was

15:11

actually the

15:13

fact that interior defensive lineman Katavia

15:15

Street was lost

15:18

to a shoulder injury, but before he went out,

15:20

he was able to get a sack, which

15:22

is good news for Atlanta area Falcons

15:25

fans because this podcast is brought to you by Zaxby's.

15:28

Since the Falcons did sack an opposing quarterback,

15:32

you can go to any Atlanta area Zaxby's

15:34

for a buy one, get one big Zach

15:37

snack meal the day after the game, so

15:39

on Monday for those of you listening right now,

15:41

use the code atl Sack

15:44

twenty three. That

15:46

was the only opportunity, or

15:48

like, that was the only sack of the game. Despite

15:51

the fact that they were able to get pressure on an

15:53

around Baker Mayfield. I thought they

15:55

did a good job with dealing

15:58

with Mike Evans and shadowing coverage because Mike

16:00

Evins has been a real thorn in their side. I think Ad

16:02

Treell shadowed him a

16:04

little bit. But ultimately, when you look at

16:06

it, and this is like Tory's least

16:08

favorite phrase of the year, maybe

16:11

is like missed opportunities, right

16:13

that like that was used a lot, But

16:15

I think this is one of those things where if you're looking

16:17

at the evidence presented, and of course you have to give

16:20

the Bucks credit, but ultimately,

16:22

I think a lot of these wounds were self inflicted

16:24

and some of these everything is

16:26

its own story, but I go back to that

16:28

interception early on that

16:31

gave Buck's possession in the red zone,

16:33

and I think those are the types of critical

16:36

mistakes that you can't have.

16:37

Now.

16:37

Look you, Desmond Riter made some amazing

16:40

throws and Drake Lindon was awesome, right,

16:42

But I think too often they're they're

16:45

hurting themselves that so much

16:47

of this stuff is self inflicted.

16:49

There was a.

16:49

Point, and I want to say it was right before halftime,

16:52

where I tweeted out the

16:54

only thing standing in Atlanta's way in

16:56

this game is Atlanta. Yeah, and

16:59

I stand by that now two quarters

17:02

later at the end of the game, feeling that way

17:04

still, I completely agreed that

17:07

there were so many missed

17:09

opportunities.

17:09

That's a phrase that.

17:10

We hear over and over and over again, that

17:13

it's either there are too many

17:15

missed opportunities or you

17:18

know, the moments where the Falcons

17:20

didn't play to the best of their ability was

17:22

that it accumulated to

17:25

towards the loss.

17:25

Like those are the running themes

17:28

of this season.

17:28

I feel like when we're talking about losses for this team,

17:31

and today was no different,

17:33

and they needed this

17:36

win, and in a way that I

17:38

kind of go back to what Taren was talking about before,

17:41

that felt a little bit different than

17:43

maybe some of the other games that they've

17:45

played. I remember going into the Saints

17:48

game and feeling like that game

17:50

had such potential to

17:52

alter how you felt about the season.

17:55

And I don't necessarily think

17:57

that that changes with the Bucks

17:59

loss, but it changes the way that the

18:01

next four weeks kind

18:03

of roll out for you, because the Bucks

18:06

hold the tiebreaker at

18:08

this moment, and so it

18:10

almost it's like you go and do all

18:12

you can do, but if the bucks hold a tiebreaker

18:15

over you what else, like you're.

18:18

I mean, what else can you do?

18:19

So the missed opportunity?

18:21

Just throw it in the bag.

18:23

I just like, don't hate. I hate

18:25

that term, and it's getting old

18:27

for me.

18:28

And yeah, because at what point, at

18:30

what point do you stop using it?

18:31

At what point do you.

18:34

Just acknowledge the fact that these aren't

18:36

necessarily missed opportunities?

18:38

But more so like maybe this is where they're

18:40

at they're six and seven.

18:42

Yeah, And I think Arthur Smith has said it many times

18:44

before where he says the

18:47

the record and said, yeah,

18:50

this is where we are, and this is where obviously

18:52

we should be because this is our record.

18:54

So it's frustrating.

18:56

It's frustrating to hear that word missed or

18:58

those words missed opportunities over and over again.

19:02

And I know that they probably don't want to

19:04

keep using them in the locker room and Arthur, Arthur

19:06

Smith doesn't want to keep using it at the podium.

19:09

But if that's what it is,

19:11

that's what it is.

19:12

I don't know.

19:12

I'm just having a hard time like with

19:15

that phrasing at this day, right.

19:17

Completely are Yeah, because

19:20

ultimately, just like the phrase critical

19:23

mistakes, you look at it, and that's

19:25

just like, I mean, we're in week

19:27

fourteen. That's part of what

19:29

the Falcons are in like in this

19:32

like in this iteration, is that not

19:34

taking enough advantage And that's why

19:36

we're sitting here at this late

19:39

of a date and everything is so it's

19:42

so kind of muddied in the nsc

19:45

SE.

19:45

Well, this is in this game. I literally

19:48

tweeted this not too long ago.

19:50

The Falcons out and gained the Bucks four hundred

19:52

and thirty four total yards to two

19:54

hundred and ninety. Like

19:57

the only thing you can point back to

19:59

to be like, oh, this is why we lost are

20:01

the turnovers, the missfield

20:04

goals, the giving up the touchdown, and the

20:06

like last minute of the game. To

20:10

look at the just the

20:13

total yards, to look at the stat line,

20:16

it's like the stat line doesn't necessarily

20:19

point to all that

20:21

was that game, because

20:24

if you're just looking at the stat line of total

20:26

yardage, the Falcons should have won by like two

20:28

touchdowns.

20:29

Yeah, And I think ultimately one

20:32

thing that I did want to address or

20:34

at least discussed before we get

20:36

out of here, is that I think shows

20:38

the emotional magnitude of this game. How

20:40

important it was for the Falcons. There

20:43

was something that I thought, I thought Tory

20:45

captured well in her

20:47

story that nobody can

20:49

read in a box score or saw on

20:52

the broadcast feed. There was something everybody

20:54

saw the play. At the end, Desmond

20:57

Rider throws a fastball to Drake London trying

20:59

to win the game, essentially as time expires,

21:01

he ends up just a couple of yards short,

21:04

and then that's when the broadcast breaks away,

21:07

right, But that's not but

21:09

Tory kind of fill us in on like what

21:11

what Drake London did after that?

21:14

That I think really expresses how much these

21:16

guys wanted it and how disappointed they are that they

21:18

ultimately didn't get it.

21:19

Yeah, So as everybody's you know, going out

21:21

to the middle of the field to shake hands and

21:23

all that, and Drake London

21:26

just doesn't move. He stands up and he's on the

21:28

five yard line and he just does

21:30

it. He's bent over, hands on his knees,

21:32

he takes a couple of breaths, he stands up, he's

21:34

talking to Kyle Pitts, and Kyle Pitts

21:37

walks away. It's just Drake London standing on

21:39

the five yard line. Essentially

21:41

where this game ended for Atlanta and

21:44

he's just breathing. He's just standing

21:47

there and it was almost like a post lost

21:49

stupor, is kind of how I explained it.

21:51

And then it was probably I said it

21:54

was like three and a half minutes, is kind of

21:56

when I look down at my clock on

21:58

my phone and when I look back and when he then

22:01

it was like Desmond Ritter walks over to

22:03

him and does have towel

22:06

over his head. He taps Drake

22:08

on the side, does keeps walking

22:10

and finally it almost like took Drake

22:12

out of that stupor and he walked towards

22:14

the Falcons locker room.

22:17

And it was a.

22:17

Very it was a very like stoic moment

22:20

that I felt like spoke volumes

22:22

to the frustration of a guy

22:24

like Drake London who did everything

22:27

he could have done to put to

22:29

put the Falcons in the best position they could

22:31

be in. This is a team sport.

22:34

And it goes again, it goes back to what I was saying

22:36

before, you win as a team, you lose as a team. I

22:38

know that's a cliche and I hate using

22:40

cliche. It's like missed opportunities. I

22:42

get that, but I will say

22:46

Drake London had one hundred

22:48

and seventy two receiving yards. The

22:50

percentage that he alone had

22:53

of the Falcon's total offensive.

22:55

Yards was great, so.

22:59

For him to stand there on the five

23:01

yard line and visibly

23:04

you can see the disappointment that he had

23:06

to not get the next three

23:08

yards to get into the end zone to

23:10

essentially put the Falcons with

23:13

a win instead of a loss. That hurt

23:15

him And I think this loss

23:18

hurts the Falcons and

23:21

they all, that's not something that I'm just

23:23

sitting here saying, that's something.

23:24

That they said.

23:26

Yeah, I think this is a big moment

23:28

for for Falcons leadership now

23:30

in terms of the response and not having one

23:33

loss turned into two. Arthur Smith had a very

23:35

good point when he said, just look at our actions

23:37

over the course of the year, and our actions

23:39

are in like during the practice

23:41

week, and I don't have a doubt that they're going

23:43

to be able to respond and work hard like we've

23:46

like we've seen those types of things.

23:48

But I do think that it's important and I

23:50

think we saw evidence of it in

23:53

like in the locker room where where

23:55

why am I escaping?

23:58

On the name Kalais Campbell's talking to

24:00

Zach Harrison trying to get his mind

24:02

right. You know, it was very clear

24:04

that he was doing that with some of these younger

24:06

players, and I think that's going to be important for their

24:08

minds to be right understanding. Next

24:12

week's game at Carolina is essentially

24:14

a must win at this point, and they've got to start

24:17

building some positive momentum. They've got to

24:19

start stacking these wins and really assembling

24:21

it because, as you pointed out, ultimately

24:24

they have to do better than New Orleans and Tampa

24:26

and find a way to take

24:29

control of this division. I think anything less

24:31

than that it's going to be a disappointment considering where

24:33

they were at Week thirteen, and if

24:35

they end up anywhere except for first,

24:38

I think that's not a good thing.

24:40

Yeah, and just think about how we talked

24:42

about the NFC South leading into this

24:45

season, right, it really

24:47

did feel like if the Falcons were not at the top

24:49

of this NFC South, when

24:52

were they ever going to be at the top of this NFC

24:54

South Because that's just where

24:56

this division.

24:57

Is, right it

25:00

would be interesting to see how it unfolds. Arthur

25:02

Smith said that there's it's gonna get crazy

25:05

down the stretch. I have no doubt

25:07

that he is correct, so we will come to

25:09

you again after the Panthers

25:12

game next week. So thank

25:14

you so much for joining the Atlanta

25:16

the Falcons Final Whistle Podcast. Let's

25:19

try to get this right. Please rate, review,

25:21

subscribe to the Atlanta Falcons Podcast Network,

25:23

and thanks again for joining the Final Whistle

25:25

Podcast presented by Zaxby's I'm

25:28

Scott for Tory

25:30

and Tarren and Omna special guests. Thank

25:32

you so much for joining in. We will talk to you again

25:34

after the Panthers game.

25:35

See you