- 11 hours ago
John Michaels hosts mornings on 680 the Fan in Atlanta - we asked him what the reaction has been from Falcons fans after the team agreed to terms with Tua Tagovailoa yesterday.
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00:00and he hosts mornings on 680 the fan in atlanta which is of course the nfl home of quarterback
00:07to a tongue of iloa and uh john uh i'm guessing did mornings today as usual so we can get
00:14his
00:14his thoughts and and his uh his uh observations of what falcons fans are saying but but i don't
00:21want to go there yet okay i want to i want to get there i want to ask him first
00:25the to a tongue of
00:27iloa era in miami was what oh boy what kind of question is that one right off the rip the
00:35to a
00:35tongue of iloa era in miami was an error um in many different ways um we went back and forth
00:42forever
00:43should they have drafted drafted justin herbert or should they have drafted to a tongue of iloa and
00:47at times i said to a was the guy you looked at numbers you looked at this that and the
00:52other he
00:52was better but through the entirety he's not good i mean let's call it what it is the injuries when
00:58you're ineffective and you're unable to be on the field it kills you and then to compound the error
01:03and again i don't want to be a hypocrite i came on this show and said i'd absolutely give him
01:07an
01:07extension he earned it now that extension comes back to bite you in the tune of 100 million dollars in
01:13dead cap so i think the era was an error by a lot of people involved with the dolphins and
01:19bro i don't
01:20know if my uncles called you this morning on your show but they sure called me last night and they
01:24were upset about this addition how do you have a quarterback with three acl tears and also now a
01:30quarterback that's small with a bad hip a messed up ankle and concussion problems yeah it's the most
01:37falcon thing ever isn't it i mean you think about the way that they've gone about quarterbacks since
01:42they unceremoniously kind of ran matt ryan out of town you flirted with the sean watson with matt
01:48ryan under contract and you got told no which actually worked out really well but the next day
01:53matt ryan wanted out of town then you sign marcus mariotta and you tell him the day you sign him
01:57you're the starter no competition then the next year desmond ritter you're the starter with no
02:02competition then all right we're going to fix this we're going to sign kirk cousins he's going to be
02:06our guy perfect the problem is about 10 days later you go out and you draft michael penix you piss
02:12off
02:12kirk cousins who by the way had a torn achilles when you signed him you let kirk cousins come back
02:18he's your quarterback then he gets hurt he doesn't tell doctors whatever you give it to
02:21michael penix then this past year michael penix is the starter no competition now you bring a
02:27competition in michael penix has a torn acl may or may not be ready to start the year but the
02:33guy
02:33you're bringing in for competition has concussion history now i think tua currently is a better
02:38quarterback than michael penix jr and i think they're going to have a real competition in camp
02:43that tua will probably win because penix isn't 100 healthy then the question is does michael penix
02:51win the job back at some point or are the falcons going into 2027 looking for darian mensa to come
02:57in and be the savior is it all though uh negative around atlanta regarding tua or is it split i'm
03:05curious your co-hosts in the morning and callers texters like i'm curious what the vibe is because
03:11you're getting a you know a starting caliber quarterback on the absolute cheap yeah i think
03:18it's kind of split the people that are understanding the economics behind it saying wait a second we're
03:22signing a a starting level quarterback for a million three you can't beat that but it's everything
03:28involved in it that i just talked about where you go man this just hasn't worked out for this football
03:32team and god forbid something happens to two and now you're going to put back in michael penix who's
03:37dealing with an acl my co-hosts were kind of you know again under the understanding we saw this
03:42coming and then when you look at the flip side it was like okay do you wait for kyler murray
03:46to
03:47officially be cut and then maybe fight with minnesota and pittsburgh and other people to bring
03:52him in and does he look at atlanta as a place to try to go win or do you sign
03:5673 year old joe flacco
03:57who knows the offense but hadn't been a good quarterback really in about eight or nine years so
04:02to me tool was the lesser of all the evils i think there are fans that are in favor of
04:07it
04:07i think there are a lot that are saying this is the most falcon thing ever but it's definitely split
04:1150 50 but doesn't it make sense from the standpoint just this one standpoint john
04:16where the same offense you can run with tua left-handed quarterback limited mobility you don't want him to
04:23take hits then when penix is available there isn't this big transformation of the offense that has to
04:30to you know go go underway it's essentially they're the same player or similar player and one should
04:38be able to slot in for the other in the case of injury at any point in the season because
04:43of their
04:44similarities yeah absolutely and that should make it great because you don't have to change the way
04:48that you pass protect because your blind side is now going to be your right tackle oh by the way
04:53our right tackle is coming off major knee injury that's going to work out my goodness we have had the
04:59off season of off seasons here in atlanta firing coaches gms which we needed to do now getting
05:05basically a whole new team but the problem is we're bringing a lot of guys in there that are either
05:09maybe past their prime never had a prime or they played in cleveland so i don't know what the hell
05:13the direction of the franchise is but solana to your point it should fit really well because you have
05:19two immobile quarterbacks who are left-handed we're going to try to run a lot of play action
05:24fake it to be john robinson find kyle pitts bring you know austin hooper and throw to drake london
05:29and see if that works and you bring up all those names because they got some weapons
05:34be john's i think be john's the best running back in the league drake london can ball pitts
05:38hooper are they wasting up oh are they a lot of flam a lot of i think we're gonna have
05:45to play it i
05:46normally don't i normally don't want to stop a segment but that that literally sounded
05:51like you were gargling a shamrock shake so jimmy can you find the phlegm montage it's been a
05:58minute since we played this but this really necessitates it got me today
06:07he hasn't cleared his throat in 22 years and every coach oh he can still oh i mean
06:14i've been doing his thing lately love your phlegm alfredo sauce is his mouthwash of choice
06:23jack dales has always made whiskey and if they have it their way they always will
06:28uh-oh and who cares if tua goes home and uh-oh no legend has it his phlegm is more
06:33dangerous
06:34than hot lava from a volcano we will blame it on him oh my goodness i mean that is i
06:41mean is
06:42someone waterboarding you i almost died channing crowder is the phlegmiest man in the world and some
06:50of those i'm sorry i'm sorry to interrupt everything there john but that one was that was rough man
06:57they got me today they got me today where are you you're in new york what would you do you
07:03have
07:03something on the flight yeah i'm in new york i'm in brooklyn somewhere in the 25th floor i don't
07:08know i'm looking at a big dirty river would you have people you had like guys back there they were
07:15moving things around was that like your pocket cars who the hell were those two dudes they were just
07:19walking in and out of there those are my bouncers for people that fool me like y'all are
07:27i don't even know what you were asking there but that is a great
07:30i was asking are they waste are they wasting up all this young talent and the window that they have
07:38they won't be able to keep hooper and uh pitts and bijon and drake i mean uh drake london they
07:44can't
07:44keep these guys around that long but you're bringing in these quarterbacks that can't get
07:48them the damn ball right it will be interesting because i think uh drake london's going on the
07:53fifth year option they just had kyle pitts this year is on a a one-year franchise tag bijon's
07:59contract's going to come up hooper doesn't matter he's just a one-year signee they they let him walk
08:03back out the door at any point in time but they have wasted him i mean you've gone eight years
08:08without
08:08making the postseason what i mean it's the longest stretch in the nfl outside of the new york jets and
08:14anytime you're included in a storyline with the new york jets you're a terrible terrible franchise and the
08:20fact that romeo dobbs is their big signee on the outside is ridiculous but yeah they've wasted
08:25these guys drake london two years ago was like 1300 yards last year he had some injuries he had nine
08:30and change bijon you know how running backs go channing you he could be great today he could be
08:35great tomorrow and a year from now all of a sudden you know the wheels come out from under him
08:39so
08:40hopefully one of these two guys can get him the ball i'm sick of watching losing football um not as
08:45sick
08:46as i am that magic city night's going away but that's a different story for a different day
08:49i do want to get to that because i find that to be so insulting on so many levels but
08:54what about
08:55malik willis to the dolphins malik willis we talked about at the beginning of the show whether you think
09:00he's had enough of a sample size or not he was the marquee quarterback who was available in free
09:06agency the dolphins get him they will hand the reins to malik willis what do you think
09:11he's solid i i you know the money is actually fairly cheap for a starting quarterback in the nfl was
09:17about 20 some odd million no big deal um he looked good in his time right there obviously in green
09:22bay he has connections to jeff halfley i think that makes it more of a seamless transition but
09:28this was also a guy that was in tennessee that couldn't beat out will levis for whatever reason
09:32so i have a little bit of cause for concern that he is a true franchise quarterback is he going
09:37to
09:37make jaylen waddle happy is jaylen waddle going to play through three snaps and go oh i'm tired my elbow
09:43hurts will he stay out there long enough to get things done um you obviously have devon h and who
09:48you can hand the ball to a lot so it's okay i i'm not blown away by it i expect
09:52the dolphins to be
09:53picking pretty high in the draft and find out who mario crystal balls got down the road to send their
09:57way i i think the split down in miami was why go out and get a guy who's going to
10:03be the starter based
10:04on the amount of money you paid when you have a guy like quinn ewers not that he you know
10:08turned
10:09heads last year but looked fine and maybe was going to be given the opportunity to fight for
10:15that position do you think the dolphins should have had a true quarterback competition for the
10:20first time in whatever six years yeah i'm all for competition it's kind of the same conversation
10:25solana that we have up here i got tired of people just being handed the job because you spent money
10:30on
10:31free agency no you bring a guy in make him work what if quinn ewers goes through the offseason gains
10:36a
10:36couple of pounds of muscle he fits the offense perfectly and he can spin it you're just going
10:41to tell him hey you're the backup conversely what if malik willis comes down here and he's not great
10:45and all of a sudden you look you go oh we wasted more money on the quarterback position i'm always
10:50open for competition at any position on the field especially quarterback i bring a guy in almost every
10:57year even if he's a mid to late round draft choice just bring him in and let's see if a
11:00guy can work
11:01out because you let two i have the job that didn't work and now you're back at square one
11:06and with with the weaponry like you brought up um you brought up the bonnet chan and you brought
11:11up jaylen wild and all but can he succeed we don't have a titan i don't even know we've brought
11:16back dulcich or whatever his name is like does he have the weapons to succeed because i heard i think
11:21on uh dulcich's name i heard dan orloffi talking about like you're evaluating him but what are you
11:26evaluating him with right and no offensive line still i mean that's that's been the dolphins mo since
11:32marino was there they haven't had an offensive line worth a damn so until that changes no he
11:37can't succeed we watched tua who was super accurate um super anticipatory a guy that can make a lot of
11:44throws and get the ball into weapons hands not be able to see succeed why because he had defensive
11:49linemen bearing down on him as he's getting the snap sometimes didn't always get the snap from center
11:55as he's getting the snap you got guys bearing down on him and that was with an offensive genius as
12:00a
12:00head coach so i don't know that malik willis especially in year one is going to be able to
12:03succeed and i wonder how that's going to be received down in miami because we know everybody
12:08down there's got a lot of patience to give people time to grow well that's the funny that's what i
12:13was
12:13trying to tell solana yesterday solana's been super positive and saying hey whatever happens next
12:18season they're laying the groundwork for a winning organization and i'm like people aren't going to
12:23feel that way after four wins in 17 games no one's going to be talking about a winning culture
12:29not when your last playoff win was in 2000 in 2000 i weighed 175 pounds i could run a four
12:36or five
12:37now it takes me four to five minutes to get running because everything hurts so yeah there is no winning
12:43culture and waiting a couple of years now a couple of years from now if they end up being good
12:48that could
12:48be the turning point but nobody has patience anymore not when you see what the florida panthers did this
12:53year notwithstanding not what you see in what the miami hurricanes did the miami heat are actually on a
12:58winning streak right now might get out of the play-in people don't want to hear that hey two
13:02years from now we might be very good this is the nfl you got to turn it around quickly new
13:06england had
13:07four wins two years ago went to the super bowl this year nobody wants to hear that it's a winning
13:11culture a couple of years from now yeah i just think john i'm giving the new guys the benefit of
13:16the doubt considering they saw malik willis more than anybody other than the you know uh leflore up in
13:22green bay like they saw him more than anybody and the second at noon the the negotiating window opens
13:28they have a deal in place for him it just tells me they know something about him they believe in
13:34his
13:34talent and if he pans out this year great if he doesn't then you draft a quarterback next year with
13:40the highest pick you let him write out the one remaining year that's guaranteed on his contract
13:44and you have a rookie quarterback play under him i think it's a low risk high reward for a guy
13:49that
13:49they know more than anybody yeah a hundred percent and i think the relationship is the reason he's
13:55there it's amazing that legal tampering starts at noon and at 1201 they have these intricate contracts
14:00drawn out i'm sure nobody talked to the first phone call that malik willis took was from somebody from
14:06the dolphin hey it's a dolphin sign it that's kind of how that went down so under your perspective
14:12there solana you're right it is low risk high reward if it the only problem is how do you evaluate
14:17him
14:18this year do you evaluate wins and losses do you evaluate completion percentage is it big plays
14:23like i want to know what the metrics are that they try to evaluate this guy with before you say
14:28hey
14:28i'll draft a quarterback next year or he's my guy
14:30you
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