00:00Coach Kevin Stefanski on with us right at 8 30 but we did get to hear from him yesterday had
00:04a
00:04presser at Flowery Branch and he talked about the advantages and disadvantages of doing this
00:10voluntary program as a head coach in the first year with a new team. First year in Cleveland
00:14was COVID so there wasn't an off-season program so I guess this is my first time doing this as
00:18a first year. Yeah I think as you guys all know anytime you get new faces together there's an
00:23energy that comes from that and I'm talking players coaches and even guys that have been
00:26here and maybe do things a little bit differently. There's plenty of good that has been going on in
00:30this building we're going to continue those things but there's plenty that we also want to you know do
00:34it in a way that is maybe a little bit different so you are going to ask some players and
00:38coaches
00:38to do things maybe a little bit different I think there's great growth that can come from those type
00:42of things. And let's go let's go like everything that I heard from him and multiple clips and you
00:49know all the words coming out from I can't wait to talk to him today obviously we'll get him in
00:54a
00:54little bit but it just screams new chapter he talked about new energy getting all these pieces
01:00in there and you guys anybody that's out there you know that's gotten a job understands what it's like
01:06if there's a new boss all of a sudden the shoulders get pushed back in the chair all of a
01:10sudden you
01:10might scoot up a couple rows in that first meeting all of a sudden you know you're you're you're locked
01:15in your eyes are locked in there's no haziness like you're ready to go and it's a it's a whole
01:19new
01:19beginning for a new season so I'm excited about that energy being in that building I think that
01:24you know we felt that way with Raheem I'm not going to say that you know we know at this
01:27point
01:27that this is any different but I just think you know as a fan base looking at it from that
01:31aspect
01:32and him talking about it feels good. I wonder what it's like for him being in a being in this
01:37building
01:37now with you know Matt and Ian as opposed to and I'm not saying that it was a bad relationship
01:43but
01:44opposed to what it was in Cleveland with an owner who clearly is metal more than way more and I'm
01:53I know Arthur Blank gets kind of a bad rap at times for about it when he said things like
01:57you
01:57know Falcon for life and that kind of stuff and then the Deshaun Watson stuff but he's he does a
02:01good job of staying out of the fray and um so I wonder what it's like for Stefanski to be
02:07in there
02:07with a guy like Matt and Ian just because a you know there's a lot of respect for matter in
02:11the
02:11league because of being uh what'll probably be a future hall of famers I'm assuming and do the CBS
02:17stuff so he's learned both sides of the business uh I just wonder if it's refreshing for him
02:22maybe that's the question we had you know is it can you because look these guys the problem is
02:26these guys don't they're not gonna he's not gonna say anything about Cleveland that would be that
02:29probably be even come off remotely derogatory but I do wonder what the differences is are in our
02:37different buildings if that's energizing for him as a coach you know coming into the different
02:41building and seeing things being done differently sometimes it it is an energizing thing well it
02:46seems like and Bo you brought up the video that the Falcons released of his first team meeting
02:50it did seem like Kevin Stefanski had so much passion and it did feel like a nice reset and he
02:56was
02:56trying to clarify what the goals for this team are immediately yeah he used the used the word
03:02identity a lot user and that goes back to the you know everything we've heard since Ray Morris left
03:08the building and we would listen to Arthur Blank talk about vision and we listen to Matt Ryan talk
03:12about what this team's going to be and how comfortable he used to be being able to turn and hand
03:16the ball
03:16off to Michael Turner and so yeah I think it it's it's unique listening to him and because I had
03:23not
03:24thought about before he said it about how COVID was affecting his first year in Cleveland and that was
03:28you know not something that he could really do and take the bull by the horns and we talked about
03:32it a
03:32little bit earlier having the chance to talk to him today I'd be curious to know like what what is
03:38your interaction as far as the weight program and how often are you in the weight room and and how
03:42much
03:42input did you have on the program they're going through right now yeah that's something I want
03:45and I thought about you know who who puts those plans together um uh I also want to get a
03:52um kind
03:53of uh his input on or his thought process on how much the development of a quarterback in a new
04:02system
04:02and not just really development but this is the absorption of of taking in a new system because
04:07it's funny I I I um you weren't here yesterday Mike but I talked to Archie the other day we
04:12we had
04:13a we we do these we'll we'll we'll call each other for a question hey I got a quick question
04:18and then 40
04:20minutes later it is this we've gotten down this rabbit hole and we were talking about Matt Ryan's
04:28comments saying that Michael Penix has been there asking him about learning new offenses Matt Ryan had six
04:33offensive coordinators in Atlanta he had in total he had Malarkey he had Cutter he had Kyle he had
04:42Sark he had Cutter again so five but six six stints and then he had Arthur Smith okay so Cutter
04:51Malarkey's offense was different than Cutter's yep Cutter's was different than Kyle's yep Sark's was
04:57basically based off of Kyle's and Cutter ran a version of Kyle's as well his own twist and then Arthur's
05:06was completely different but back in the day like and and we talked about this but these days there
05:12feels like there's like three offenses because in in the and and predominantly it is the Kyle the the
05:21the Mike Shanahan and then there's the Kyle version there's the McVay version there's the O'Connell
05:27version Stefanski's got a his own version Zach's now got a version so it's but it's all one offense
05:33it's just tweaked here and there but back in the day like when Arch played there were like because
05:39this I asked Arch I was like dude you had like five or six different offenses back when you played
05:43there was Eric Coriel there was like the run and shoot there was the West Coast there was the Joe
05:49Gibbs
05:49run heavy stuff right um Sam Weiss had a version of what Walsh did but he started kind of the
05:57the
05:57sugar huddle stuff and kind of hurry up and I went down a whole whole thing but I but I
06:04you know that's
06:05why I want to ask coach Stefanski what how hard is it is it different for him to absorb it
06:13not being
06:13able to do some of the walk-through stuff and some of the OTA and mini camp stuff where you
06:19know
06:19you're you're out there on the field for it does it does it slow you down I'm just curious where
06:23he
06:24go what his thought process is on that and again he will be joining us at 8 30 so we
06:28can talk to him
06:28about that we also got to hear from Jesse Bates yesterday and he made his goals clear when it
06:34comes to retirement have you had any conversations about an extension or anything like that uh no not
06:39yet is that something you'd be interested in yeah absolutely you know I want to retire as a Falcon
06:45I have a beautiful house here beautiful family my family loves it here why would I not want to be
06:49a
06:49Falcon you know it's it's interesting because I do wonder if that's a possibility I think we've all
06:55become huge fans of Jesse Bates here recently but when you look at how this team over the last couple
07:00months this front office has gone about its business I do have questions about that and you're
07:06going to talk about Drake and talk about Bajon and talk about these extensions coming up and Jesse
07:10Bates just hasn't seemed to be a topic of conversation with that as a matter of fact I
07:14think a lot of people have wondered if the Falcons would you know possibly trade him or whatever else
07:19may go on I hope he's a Falcon for life and I hope that means that he's played well this
07:23year and
07:23that Jeff Olberg really values what he brings because I think he brings something that we desperately need
07:28with this franchise but including leadership that's what I mean that is that's what you mean yeah I
07:33mean the the leadership and his ability to bring along younger players and you know everything else that he's
07:40done with the Xavier Watts of the world and we had that conversation with him last year but
07:43he he brings something that we desperately need in that locker room and um I hope he's around for
07:49the long haul I really do I don't know what their vision is for him but his personality is something
07:53we desperately need everything Jeff Olberg said about Caden Ellis can literally be copy and pasted onto the
08:00description of what Jesse Bates is to a locker room he's only 29 years old he was I feel like
08:09he
08:09I feel like he actually hit his peak prime here when he when he when he's walked stepped on the
08:14field
08:15week one of 2023 I believe it was um he signed a four-year deal this will be year four
08:22I have seen him do things on buses and in and in you know in behind the scene areas to
08:31bring along
08:32young players like you wouldn't believe I've watched this team lose a game and he's sitting on a bus in
08:37a
08:37crowded bus and sit next to a younger player and have his iPad open re-watching the game film right
08:44there and we haven't even we haven't even left the stadium yet to head to the plane to leave the
08:50city
08:50that we were playing in he's that dude and when I hear him say about how much his family loves
08:57I know
08:57this is this is a business and he's he's making money but I would love to think that he would
09:02sign a
09:03deal that would help not only him stay here and achieve the goal he just said about retiring a
09:10Falcon but maybe help this team win as well but I'll tell you this real quick it Xavier Watts is
09:15not
09:15the the doesn't have the impact that he did without Jesse Bates in that secondary and in that room with
09:22him and that is not taking a thing away from Xavier Watts but he had a guy like that to
09:29bring him along
09:29that cannot be understated now after the pressers the news broke that right tackle Caleb McGarry will
09:35be retiring and they have agreed to terms with Jawan Taylor so we now have the opportunity to ask
09:40Kevin Stefanski about Caleb and Jawan at 8 30.
Comments