00:00and uh new falcons quarterback to how are you doing well how are y'all what's up man what's up
00:06well welcome to atlanta and you know we'll get right into it because obviously you just finished
00:09doing with uh dealing with the meat and everything so tell us to you get an opportunity you know that
00:14you're not no longer going to be in miami what was the deciding factor to uh to be a uh
00:19becoming
00:19atlanta falcon well i think you look at you look at the squad first right uh you look at the
00:26guys
00:26that you have an opportunity to throw to you have the guys that are going to be protecting you you
00:33know you got drake london you got kyle pitts you got bijon you got all these weapons that surround you
00:39as well but outside of that i think the the coolest thing about it was regardless of where i decided
00:44to
00:45go competition was going to be there and so being able to compete against mike i thought would have
00:52been one of the coolest things mike has had a good relationship with my brother as they were
00:57both coming out into the draft and so i know i'm a bit through that but i i you know
01:03i i think it it's
01:05it's going to be something that that could be really cool uh in terms of two lefties you know working
01:11together and and whatnot in terms of helping the the team's ultimate goal you know which is win
01:17playoff games get to the super bowl and win a super bowl what are all of the things that go
01:23into
01:23winning a quarterback competition
01:28well i think the biggest thing that goes into winning a quarterback competition is getting to
01:33know your guys first you got to know the guys you're you're working with different personalities
01:40there's understanding of how certain guys want the ball when you're throwing it to them i think
01:45there's a lot of things that go into it your relationship with them off the field
01:50and so i i would say it's it's all of that and playing good football that's what it is i
01:59you know
01:59too i think one of the uh the most overrated things in the world and i think it's saying we
02:04have a chip
02:04on our shoulder but obviously you're coming in with a whole lot of motivation to maybe prove people
02:08wrong and prove yourself right tell me what has it been like this transition for you mentally coming
02:13because you were you did you know drafted by man and lived down there your whole family's there
02:17to like your mindset turning to i'm moving to atlanta baby pack up the kids and we're moving
02:22you know we got to jump on a flight before the lottery don't get up here yeah i don't think
02:27there
02:28there's a change of mindset okay i think at the end of the day you're either a competitor or you're
02:32not
02:34i think the biggest difference would be perspective on and and the outlook of the game
02:40having kids having a wife now it does change change i think who you are and i think it's all
02:48good i think
02:48it's all for the best um you know some would call it growth okay but in in terms of the
02:55the aspect of
02:56the game you either love to do this or you don't and if you don't you're gonna get you're gonna
03:03get
03:03found there's no there there's no two ways two ways about it you know when it comes to the nfl
03:11falcons quarterback to a tongue of iloa joining us here on the midday show with andy and randy
03:16i i don't know if there's people that you reach out to there's not that many people maybe that even
03:22understand the experience but did you talk to any quarterbacks that maybe went through kind of what
03:27you went through last year and if so what did you what did you hear from them you know i
03:32got this
03:32same question um but i've got i've gotten to talk to veteran quarterbacks who aren't in the league
03:38anymore um you know just about my my experience and they've shared their experience and what they
03:44were feeling when when they were going through that and best thing about it is nothing is new
03:51under the sun there's nothing that you go through that someone else didn't go through and didn't
03:58overcome and i think that was empowering uh for me to hear that from a couple of of the guys
04:04that i
04:04talked to you uh earlier in the interview you talked about your teammates your new teammates as far as
04:10drake and kyle and bajon what do you know about kevin stefanski and his offense i mean how because we
04:16know that uh the offensive with mike was playing down there in miami quick people balls out your hands
04:21things like that would have you and him sat down he you him and the office of coordinator sat down
04:25and
04:25talked about as far as uh some different things you might have to do in this offense
04:30yeah well i i don't think it's it's anything outside of how i play the quarterback position
04:37now talking to tommy and talking to stefanski the coolest thing was like hey we're we're gonna have a
04:46reason as to why we're doing everything um you know probably won't be motioning as much as y'all did
04:52in miami but we're gonna have a reason as to why we're doing everything and so i i think that's
04:58going to be cool marrying the run game with the play action game with the pass game getting guys
05:04the ball being able to distribute it be a point guard for these guys you know i i think that's
05:10that's
05:10all these guys could ask for that's all you could ask for and you got weapons to take care of
05:15all of
05:15that to anybody that even pays a little bit of attention to football has seen some of the the
05:22hits that you've taken over the last handful of years um the hits are unavoidable it's football but
05:28we we heard about some stuff you were doing like was it jujitsu or something like that to try to
05:32mitigate some of it like what are some of the things that you've done to try to avoid those scary
05:37moments yeah jujitsu for sure um that's helped a lot with break falling uh knowing how to fall in
05:46awkward positions to get out of them and then outside of that just as you play the game and
05:53you're more aware um just the awareness aspect of it um you know with all right taking a hit or
06:01how
06:01i'm gonna take this hit if i'm gonna slide or is it worth it is it not things of that
06:06nature
06:06but as you said at the end of the day this is football and contact is it is not avoidable
06:13you have to take contact on unless unless you're a kicker or punter or you know what i'm saying
06:20so it is not unavoidable what's in your experience because we were last year you came in here and i
06:26got after pretty good against uh the falcons and obviously being a dog bulldog loyalist and lover and
06:33all those lum and all those things you obviously to throw to uh to davante smith and all those
06:38different things but how tell me about what it's going to be like for you because it is a it
06:41is a
06:42two i lived in miami for a long time it's a completely different fan base they love you and you
06:46got to
06:47earn that respect these fans here to us so i mean what is it you know do you want to
06:51tell the atlanta
06:51falcons fans because we're curious about what it's going to be because we're looking at from a
06:56standpoint it's going to be a quarterback competition between you and mike to see who the starting guy is
07:00going to be for sure well one thing that i can say is i'm grateful for this opportunity you know
07:07i'm
07:07grateful for the opportunity that you know arthur blank stefanski the the falcons organization have
07:15taken on bringing me here i can't promise anything to to the fans in terms of how many wins or
07:21or
07:21whatnot but i can promise that i will give you my all you will get the best version of to
07:27a tongue of
07:27i loa and another thing i i hope i hope that we can do a big with the falcons organization
07:36that is
07:36my hope that is my dream to do that for these guys so i'm excited to be a part of
07:42the organization
07:43let me ask you kind of uh an off the uh like not not just about today question or next
07:49year question
07:49like you have to be one of the most talked about athletes in the last decade right between alabama and
07:56all the winning there and then tank for tua and then miami and and everything that's happened like
08:02i know you don't have social media and i know you do a good job of trying to like block
08:06that stuff out
08:06but what's it like to be so scrutinized well i think it's it's i don't think it's just scrutinized i
08:15think it's polarized yeah i think it's polarized where when it's good it is it is the position of the
08:24quarterback when it's good it's because of the quarterback the quarterback gets more praise
08:28than than he deserves and when it's bad oh my gosh it's bad right but it comes with the position
08:36right at when i look back to to growing up as a kid in hawaii and then going to alabama
08:43i prayed for
08:44opportunities like this and so you you you can't take the good without the bad it just doesn't work
08:51like that in this life and so when the good comes you allow it to come you be grateful to
08:57the good
08:57lord above that that it's here that that you had this opportunity that you have it and when it's when
09:02it's bad you continue to be grateful it's because through those struggles that you go through you are
09:09made strong by him so i would say there's beauty in all of it there you go there's beauty in
09:17all of
09:18that's a great perspective we uh we appreciate the time to it thank you appreciate you too
09:21stay healthy brother guys thank you appreciate it to a tongue of iloa there atlanta falcons uh
09:27quarterback obviously he spoke about it we know the deal it's a quarterback competition him and
09:32michael pennix will be competing throughout the summer and in training camp and preseason and all
09:36that to see who gets to be the starter and um i mean you know for a guy that's 28
09:43been around a long time and you were at the right thing i think the polarizing part about it because
09:48we to a burst on the scene throwing a damn touchdown pass in the national championship right and over
09:53time to win who's this guy and then all of a sudden all the different things i remember he got
09:57hurt
09:57against mississippi state and that helicopter and all these tanks the two you're absolutely correct
10:01and now he's in a position where uh fresh start you know um i mean it's hard to walk away
10:08from what
10:08we've seen yeah because we've seen him on the on the ground and all those different things but
10:13it's a new thing for him he's never been here before exactly like he's been five star alabama recruit
10:19yes come in at halftime save the you know what i mean yes and then backed it up the next
10:24year
10:24through like 43 touchdowns and was you know and then first round draft pick 200 million dollar contract
10:29like all that that's what that's what you pray for and he's like well the other part of it
10:33you know you're you're you're you get that you're paid 50 million to leave yeah you get that too
10:38um and now he's here with with a lot to prove like you said and um it'll be interesting no
10:43doubt about
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