00:00And yesterday, we got to talk to Falcons head coach, Kevin Stefanski.
00:04First time talking to him, but Bo asked him about the quarterback spot
00:08and if injury can make it more difficult to absorb a new offense.
00:12I don't think so, and the reason I say that is so much of what we do,
00:15I mean, well, we do a lot, but in that meeting room,
00:19that's where the crux, the majority of that teaching is happening in that meeting room,
00:23especially until we get on the field.
00:25But even what we'll do when we're on the field,
00:27when somebody's getting a rep, those reps are like gold, right?
00:32But even if you're not getting that rep,
00:34even if you're not on the field for that particular rep,
00:37there's so much you can do to learn from that.
00:40Obviously, there's learning by doing, but there's also learning by observing.
00:44There's watching others.
00:46When we get on the field, and even if you're not in,
00:49and I'll make this point to all of our players when they're not in,
00:51you've got to get that mental rep.
00:52You can't let a play go by where you didn't get a piece of that,
00:56even if you're not out there.
00:57So we'll be real creative in terms of how we structure the offseason
01:01to make sure we get.
01:02But the idea for us is making sure that we have an entire offseason
01:07where the guys can get multiple reps, whether they're getting that play or not.
01:11I don't think that he is.
01:14First of all, he's spot on that those reps, even when you're not in,
01:17are a huge deal.
01:19You're not going to get every rep,
01:20and your play script is not going to be the same as another player's play script.
01:25If I'm trying to play guard, they might get a different blitz look in the other group,
01:28and I've got to be ready for that blitz look if it hits me.
01:31So that is important.
01:32I'm not saying he lied, but I do think that in his own head,
01:35he is almost comforting himself with what he is saying about getting those reps mentally.
01:41There's nothing, nothing that takes the place of actually doing those things yourself.
01:47And I think he kind of softened the blow, and he's like, well, not really.
01:50You know, you're going to watch, and you're going to watch the film,
01:53and you're going to do certain things, as you just heard him say,
01:56of, you know, it's not that big of a deal.
01:58I completely, that kind of caught me off guard because I was like,
02:01it's a massive deal to miss those reps, those physical reps.
02:06Different players react in different ways.
02:08Some do it better on paper.
02:09Some do it better on film.
02:10Some do it better in a walkthrough.
02:12But, man, that is, to me, that's going to be the talking point of this offseason.
02:16Do you think it's not, though, like, that it doesn't change based on the individual?
02:23Because some people are, some people you can tell, I want you to go seven yards,
02:31stop, hesitate to the left, cut right, and then turn and be there.
02:37And, like, and then they can do it just, you tell them how to do something,
02:42and they do it.
02:44But some people are, like, have to go through it.
02:48Like, you show them, and then they have to do it, like, a few times to get that rep done.
02:54We're all different types of learners, and everybody does things differently, right?
02:58Yes.
02:59Yeah, I completely agree with that.
03:00Like, I'm more of a, you show me to, if you tell me I do something, I'll be like, show
03:04me.
03:04And when you show me, I'll do it.
03:06There's going to be guys, like I said, that are going to get a playbook or whatever,
03:09however, whatever form that comes in, and they're going to look at it and be able to write on it
03:13and be able to look at different things, and they'll pick it up that way.
03:16Others will view it on film, oh, hey, this happened against whatever team last year
03:21or two years ago, and this is how we picked it up, and this is what we want to do.
03:24And there's other guys.
03:25The problem, though, therein lies is, let me take that another step.
03:30Who's having that conversation with the wide receiver who needs to run eight yards
03:34and cut it out, all right?
03:35So you go through the layer of the coach that's installing what the play should look like.
03:39But then you get, you go another step, right?
03:41You get more finite details.
03:43You get more, hey, I need this route to be a split-second more delayed.
03:48And that can come from the quarterback, right?
03:51Matt Ryan and Roddy and Julio used to have, and Tony, God, they used to have conversations
03:55that were at whatever's above a doctorate in football.
03:58It was the craziest thing to listen to those guys talk about route running and timing
04:02and where this ball is going to be, and the outside shoulder, the inside shoulder,
04:05the number, the hand.
04:07Those conversations can't happen if you're not on the field, though.
04:10If you're not the guy throwing that ball, you're never going to be able to walk up
04:14to Drake and go, hey, I thought that we were a little bit fast this.
04:17I thought that guy had you shaded outside, so I wanted you to do this with the route.
04:21Those conversations can't happen.
04:23And I appreciate what Kevin was saying.
04:25I'm not saying that he's doing it on purpose.
04:27I'm saying the way he looks at it is not the way I look at it.
04:29I think those reps are the most valuable thing you can have in the offseason
04:34as a player is those on-field reps.
04:36And if you're not getting them and operate at 100%, I do think it's a detriment.
04:41Who do you think needs the reps more right now, Tua or Michael Penix?
04:47That's actually really – that's a harder question to answer than I thought it was going to be.
04:51Well, one thing I'll say, and I had this conversation – Arch and I had this conversation
04:56the other day, and it was just – sometimes I wish we could –
04:59I could just record our conversations and play them because –
05:05I'm glad you can't because I'd be out of a job.
05:06Because he – well, I would – he doesn't really – we got into this,
05:14and we got into this whole thing, and we were talking about –
05:17I think I brought this up.
05:18You know, back in the day, there used to be like five or six distinctly different offenses.
05:24Like, there was Eric Coriel, right, with the Chargers ran with the Kellen Winslow days
05:29and Dan Fouts.
05:30And then you looked at, like, Bill Walsh at the same time was running the West Coast,
05:34the true West Coast.
05:36Joe Gibbs at the same time was running this pro-style, run-heavy type offense.
05:41And then, like, in Atlanta, we were running – and it was a little bit later,
05:46but like in the early 90s, we were running that run-and-shoot,
05:48which is a little bit like Eric Coriel, but it was its own type of offense.
05:54And Sam Weiss in Cincinnati was running something a little bit taken from all of them
06:01with, like, the hurry-up, sugar-huddle type stuff, type mix-in.
06:05All these guys were running these different offenses.
06:07And so when you went to a new system, you wholeheartedly had to learn
06:11a completely new, like, system.
06:15But you look at today, and there is a – it is a lot of West Coast
06:22turned into the Mike Shanahan system, which is a version of the West Coast,
06:28which Sean McVay, Kevin Stefanski, Kevin O'Connell, Zach Robbins, you know,
06:33now down in Tampa with Liam Cohen.
06:36Did I mention Sean McVay yet?
06:39Kubiak's kid, Clint.
06:42Just name them.
06:44And all these guys are running the Mike Shanahan system, which,
06:51with their own little twist to it.
06:54So some of the actual offense is going to be the same.
07:00Now, the difference is the verbiage.
07:02So how much different is what Kevin Stefanski really wants to run as far as –
07:08just let's talk about the passing game part.
07:10How much different is it than what maybe Pennix already kind of knows from what
07:15Zach had, but they're just adding different nuances to it and maybe verbiage?
07:20I think it's – I think it's impossible to answer that.
07:25And it's kind of a hypothetical to begin with.
07:28Yeah, and the thing is, like – and this is why I'm struggling to answer your question.
07:32I think it's a phenomenal question.
07:34Michael Pennix is not developed as a quarterback.
07:36Right.
07:37Right?
07:37We haven't seen whatever is even close to the finished product of what Michael Pennix is.
07:41So he needs those reps badly, as any young player does who's only had –
07:46how many starts are we up to with him now?
07:48I think 12, maybe.
07:4912.
07:49Okay.
07:50Any young player who's had that few starts at the quarterback position needs every rep possible,
07:54especially installing a new offense.
07:57But Michael Pennix also knows Kyle Pitts.
07:59He also knows Drake Lennon.
08:01He also knows Bajon.
08:02You know, he also knows a number of these guys and understands how to go about his business
08:07in a way that Tua doesn't.
08:08So Tua is a veteran presence and does know these offenses, maybe not the terminology,
08:12but understands at a deeper level.
08:15But he doesn't know Drake Lennon.
08:16He doesn't know how much Drake is going to climb the ladder to go get a ball up top
08:19or who he can trust in a one-on-one situation or, you know, how Kyle Pitts is going to
08:24go
08:24about breaking off a route.
08:26I mean, there's so much to be said in both kind of ways that I don't know how to answer
08:30the question.
08:31Well, when you were discussing it and going back and forth about the reps and they need the
08:35reps, they need that experience.
08:36I mean, it's Iowa's having a hard time placing who you're referencing because they both do.
08:40Yeah.
08:41And I think, what is Stefanski's, how is he going to, like, him and Tommy Reese are going
08:48to get down.
08:49They're not, it's not going to be the exact same offense that Cleveland are in.
08:51I mean, it's going to be very much the same, but they're going to do things differently
08:55because they have different players.
08:58And, yes.
08:59So, is that going to fit more of what Tua likes to do, or is that going to, because
09:06the thing that I get to is that I feel like they're completely different quarterbacks as
09:11far as how they like to play.
09:15Tua likes to run a, I mean, I think what fits him and what fit him in Miami was quick
09:20passing
09:21game.
09:21You know, a lot of intermediate stuff.
09:23And, yeah, he can air it out.
09:26Penix likes to air it out.
09:28That's what fit him in college.
09:29It was an air-it-out offense, more deep.
09:32Tua's going to be more middle of the field.
09:33And Penix is, you know, more college and a little bit of the pros has been an outside
09:39the numbers guy.
09:40Yeah, I agree.
09:42It's Tua more of a point guard, you know, Chris Paul style, I guess.
09:48And maybe, you know, not that he is, but Russell Westbrook style for Michael Penix.
09:52A singles and Penix is a home run.
09:55He wants to be explosive, yeah.
09:56I want to go back real quick to you talking about the personnel.
09:58And I don't want to get too far into the football weeds, but when you talk about the G scheme
10:03that he brought up, just out of nowhere, right?
10:05We've talked so much on this show about gap scheme versus zone.
10:10And to an extent, a G scheme is a gap scheme play, but for guards, instead of pulling from
10:16the back side around to the front side, as you would in most gap scheme plays, the guards
10:21in a G scheme are pulling towards their side.
10:23So the right guard will pull right and will lean on down blocks from who?
10:27Tight ends, right?
10:29And that's why when he said that yesterday, my alarm bell started going off because you're
10:32talking about the tight end position and how it can be utilized.
10:35If you don't have a tight end who can put a down block on, you know, a defensive end,
10:40then you can't run G scheme plays.
10:42And Chris Lindstrom for the money he's making and what his ability level is should be, I
10:49mean, copy and paste to run a G scheme.
10:52It should be what he is very, very good at.
10:55And yet I don't think we've had the exterior blocking to really be able to take advantage
10:59of that in years past.
11:01So when I heard him say G scheme, I'm sitting there going, Oh my God, it's getting a down
11:05block from, you know, from Austin Hooper and whoever else is at the tackle position and
11:11getting, allowing Chris Lindstrom to get out on the exterior and block some of these guys
11:14in the alley.
11:14It's just, it's awesome.
11:16I love it.
11:17Well, that's why when he was talking to you or he answered one of our questions about the
11:21offensive line and he said this quote and I wrote it down because it was weird to me
11:25that he said it goes, we got to see where we're at coming out of the draft.
11:29I don't think that they're going to necessarily go and get an offensive lineman at 48.
11:34I think Juwan Taylor is here to be the starter next year.
11:36Um, I don't necessarily think though that they won't look for depth that position, but I
11:41also wouldn't be surprised if, if, if an Oscar dealt was there in the third round that he's
11:45not wearing red and black again next year.
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