- 14 hours ago
Atlanta Falcons reporter Joe Patrick speaks about why the Falcons as an organization are in a better spot even if their roster might not be, what QB's will be at rookie minicamp, being enthused by Michael Penix's wedding dance video, and Terry Fontenot being at the wedding.
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00:00Falcons Insider Smokin' Joe Patrick. How are you, Joe?
00:03I'm doing good, guys. In fact, I'm going to be going over to Bobby Jones' golf course a little bit
00:08later today.
00:09Way to go. How about that?
00:10Way to rub it in, Joe.
00:11Hitting some balls, or what are we doing? Having a beer at the bar?
00:14A bit of a range.
00:15What's going to do?
00:16Hit up the range, yeah. Maybe, you know, I'm meeting somebody over there, so maybe play nine holes or something.
00:21Oh.
00:22Golf day? Golf day, Joe.
00:24And then, of course, it rains for the first time in, like, a month.
00:27So, I was like, what luck do I have here?
00:29But I think we'll be able to get out.
00:30What are we talking about?
00:32Is it a date? Is this networking? Are you working the source? Like, what are we doing here?
00:37Well, there is a, it's practice. I was invited to an event for the Atlanta Humane Society that will be
00:45taking place a little bit later.
00:47So, I'm actually going to be giving a lesson to somebody. So, we'll see how that goes.
00:52Have you ever played with Joe?
00:54One time in Florida.
00:55Me and him and Brian Jordan.
00:57Oh, that's right.
00:57That's right.
00:58We can tell that story, honestly. We played with Brian Jordan.
01:00Yeah.
01:01And we played at the, one of the worst golf courses I've ever played, booked by yours truly.
01:05It's the worst golf course in the whole state.
01:06And he looked up at BJ and looked at Joe like, what?
01:09We were, yeah, we, he was, he was embarrassed.
01:12We brought our clubs. We brought our clubs. We had to, he had to get the rentals from the worst
01:17golf course I've ever played in my life,
01:19which meant that it was basically like a kid's whiffle club or something. Like, he was wiggling the club and
01:25it's just going all over the place.
01:26But he had, I can hit a wedge. Those baseball players have those strong forearms.
01:30They got ripped the wedges.
01:32The funny thing about Brian Jordan being so damn athletic is he did. And he had a rental set from
01:36a, just an awful golf course.
01:38And it was like the, the driver's shaft was probably like senior flex. So it's like a, it's like a
01:43wet noodle.
01:44But by like the fourth hole, he figured it out and just slowed his swing down.
01:47Exactly. And he's pounding it 320 down the middle. And it's like, good Lord. Like guy doesn't even have his
01:53own clubs and he's still pounding it.
01:55In Brian Jordan fashion, he like, while we're playing, he gets a call from the Missouri State Athletic Association,
02:01letting him know that he's inducted into their Hall of Fame. He's like, oh, I got inducted to the Missouri
02:06State Athletic Hall of Fame.
02:09Yeah, that was great. He's like, hang on, you guys putt, I got to take this. And then we're on
02:12the next tee.
02:13He's like, what happened? He's like, I got inducted to another Hall of Fame.
02:17And then at the end, cause he's such a nice person at the end. He was like, Hey, if you
02:20guys next time,
02:21if you guys want, like I can call some of the courses I know to play this horrible golf course.
02:28Anyway, have fun golfing later today. Let's talk some Falcons. Let me just ask you this big picture.
02:33Cause I know that rookie minicamp starts tomorrow and we can get into some of that stuff.
02:36You might be able to talk about up there, but 365 days. Are the Falcons better today as a team
02:44roster wise,
02:45you can get into the coaching staff. If you want, you can get into the front office. If you want,
02:48however you want to take it. Is the Falcons organization better off today than they were a
02:52year ago? Organization, a hundred percent. Yes. In my opinion, I think the coaching staff is better.
02:59I think the roster is debatable because, and I think that the difference is, I think that
03:04we've seen in some previous seasons, even going back to like 2023 season, that the top end of the
03:10roster maybe had more talent. They had more money to spend at that point in time. But I don't think
03:16that any of those teams really had the adequate depth that they needed in order to truly be a
03:22successful team. And so when I look at this Falcon team and what they did in free agency, obviously a
03:27huge part of it was trying to, I think kind of just get the books in order, kind of get
03:31a clean slate
03:32for them to do some bigger deals going forward. But they also just added a lot of depth with some
03:39of these NFL bets who, you know, I think it makes sense for a lot of these guys to have
03:43signed with
03:43the Falcons on these short-term deals so that they can go out and prove themselves and get a bigger
03:47deal, whether it's with the Falcons or somebody else after that. But I think in doing so, the team
03:52has, you know, financially done well. And then, then they've added that depth. And sometimes that depth
03:56is actually what can carry you through, you know, those hard months in October and November when
04:01I feel like year in, year out, guys, these last three years, we've seen the Falcons really lose
04:07bad games at that point in the season when injuries do start to kind of add up on them. And
04:13so hopefully
04:14the way they built this roster can maybe potentially avoid some of that. Hey, Joe, I know you just
04:18mentioned it, that the rookie minicamp is this weekend. Who's throwing the ball to these receivers?
04:24Uh, that's a great question. I know, uh, the, the guy strand, I know all these last names. I don't
04:29know the first names. I know they've got a UDFA quarterback strand. Who's like this physical phenom
04:34out there. Um, and Jack strand, Jack, Jack strand. Yeah. Yeah. So he's like six foot, like this like
04:40big athletic guy. Uh, he'll be out there. Um, gosh, I don't know if Trevor Simeon will be out there
04:47not throwing footballs. I mean, you wouldn't need to be, uh, as, as it's rookie minicamp, but, uh, at least
04:51they'll have one quarterback out there. I don't know. Good question. I was curious. I'm like,
04:56I do think there we go. They might have, yeah, they might have some workout quarterbacks out
05:02there or something. Um, I wouldn't say though, that I think that like, what, you know, I know
05:06this isn't your question, Randy, about this weekend, but I'm pretty encouraged by what I
05:10saw from Michael Penix on Instagram. You know, and I think, don't do that, Joe. Don't do that.
05:16I think that that at least tells, I think that that shows that he's going to be during
05:22OTAs at least out in the field. He's going to be limited, of course, but I think back
05:26to Kirk cousins. And when he, you know, he came back after the, after the Achilles with
05:29the Falcons and it's exactly what he did. He was out there during OTAs in a limited, uh,
05:34you know, and just limited, not really doing much, but he was throwing the football here
05:38in the plays kind of being out on the grass. And then he was ready to go for day one
05:41of training
05:41camp. So I wouldn't be surprised if it's something similar to that for, for Mike.
05:44So just so we're clear for people that may not know, you're talking about Michael Penix's
05:48wedding video where he's dancing.
05:50That is what I'm talking about. I'm talking about him dancing.
05:52That's where we're at, man. Cause I'll be honest with you, Joe. I had three questions
05:56written down and one of them was Penix's wedding dance video.
05:59Unbelievable.
06:00That's what we got. But Kirk cousins couldn't dance when he was fully healthy and 25.
06:05Like why, why would, you know, how are we, how are we applying dance videos to quarterback
06:09performance?
06:10That's right. Kirk was playing some tennis. That's that, those were the videos we saw
06:14of, of, of Kirk.
06:17Yeah, that was tabletop.
06:21Randy remembers. Hey, were you guys surprised that, uh, Terry Fontenot was at the, uh, at
06:26the wedding. He was pictured with the Falcons. I was not surprised at all. I was not because
06:30I saw, we remember when Terry was doing like hits on, um, I think it was NFL network or
06:34something.
06:35That's right.
06:35And he was talking about how much like the personal relationship he had with Michael.
06:39Not only that, but you look at those videos in the background, there was a Penix jersey.
06:43There's a pitch jersey. There's a London jersey. There's a Bijon jersey. I think those, I mean,
06:48he's the, like I, Randy always says this, like somebody was going to draft him and pay him
06:51all that money, but it was the dolphins that did it. So there's a special place in your heart
06:55for it. I mean, those Terry Fontenot drafted those guys that changed their lives. You know
06:59what I mean? Like there's a, and the other thing too, is like no one's ever said Terry
07:03wasn't an awesome dude. Like we all, Terry Fontenot is an awesome guy. And, and that's
07:08just a, that you get an invite to a wedding because of a personal relationship. He didn't
07:13win enough games as a general manager. The team didn't win enough games for him to remain
07:16the general manager, but I'm not surprised.
07:18And obviously Michael thinks highly. Terry just didn't show up. Hey Mike, what up, baby?
07:22Me and Terry!
07:24What if, what if, what if Terry was the plus one of someone Michael actually invited?
07:29Oh no. Oh my God. We think the wedding invites were sent out before he lost the gig? Oh,
07:35that's true. That's true. Wedding invites were sent out pretty far in advance. Pretty far
07:39in advance. That's actually a really good point. That could very well be. Because think about
07:42it. That could very well be. Think about it. The wedding was what? Last week. So that's
07:45like late April, right? Terry Fontenot was fired in January. Yeah. Dude, you definitely
07:50send wedding invites out more than three months in advance. Yeah. Really?
07:53Yeah. I wish we did. Like we got married in August. I bet we sent the wedding invites
07:57out. Because you send like the first, you know, you send the first one, like the first
08:00overall picks. Oh yeah, I don't know that about all that. And then the people that say no,
08:04then you go to the second tier. And then late, it's like, all right, we got like five spots
08:08left. And then you invite the people that you kind of, you know, whatever, maybe. But
08:12those people all come. Right. Like the third, the third stringers all come. I'm not
08:16believing that. What? One of the reasons I'm surprised, like, did you guys invite your
08:22boss to your wedding? I mean, is Terry Fontenot Michael Peng's boss? I don't
08:25know. But like, cause it's weird. It's a different dynamic in the NFL where it's
08:28like, yeah, he might be above you on the hierarchy of the organization, but he's
08:32also giving you a huge opportunity and willing to pay you, you know, a bunch of
08:36money, sign you, you know, sign you to a contract. So I guess it was a little bit
08:39different. At the time I was too new here. But like, if I was getting married right
08:42now, I'd probably invite a lot of people from here. I think, I mean, certainly all the
08:46people on the show, but I think I would invite Conti probably, but I had not been
08:51probably. You get the probably. All right. He might be the second tier. Like I just
08:55said, with all the people that aren't going to travel. Well, you didn't invite
08:57me. Well, we weren't really like that then. We didn't even work together. I
09:01invited you to my house and we weren't like that. It's different, man. I've invited you
09:05to my damn house. I've invited a lot of people to my house. Hey, Andy, we're having
09:09something at the house. You want to come by? Yeah. That's not the same as a wedding,
09:12man. When we were playing golf with Brian Jordan, Andy was also in the middle of buying
09:20his house that he currently lives in right now. That's true. I was. There was a lot
09:23going on on the golf course with Brian Jordan that week. I'm so glad I missed that trip.
09:28No, it was a good trip. It just, we should have had better. Me and Joe were so poor.
09:32It was very cool. I know we're not talking Falcons here. I know we're not talking Falcons
09:36here, but you were nothing to say about the Falcons. Thank you. Thank you. It was very
09:40cool to hear Brian Jordan talk about how I hadn't put this together. He was on deck
09:44the entire season for the year that Mark McGuire hit 70 homers. Every time Mark McGuire
09:49were on those bases, it was Brian Jordan kind of giving them the pound or whatever
09:53when they crossed home plate and got to witness all of them, basically. Pretty cool.
09:57He's MVP protection because he was right behind McGuire the year that he did that. Now,
10:02McGuire didn't win the MVP that year. Sosa did, but he was also batting right behind
10:07Chipper the year that Chipper won the MVP here as well. So Brian on deck, you'll have
10:11a good year. I mean, he protects him. It's not going to hurt. He protects him. Sign him
10:15and put him behind Riley today. Yeah. He protects him. All right. Well, I think that's the best
10:20we could do. Well done, Joe. Enjoy golf and enjoy rookie minicamp. Hope it rains. All
10:25right. We'll have some stuff to talk about a little bit more next week. We are kind of in
10:31that part of the year where no news is good news. And they ain't going to make up nothing
10:35to talk about. Yeah. No, we're not going to. We're not talking about who they signed
10:38Darren Hall. They signed Darren Hall. The Falcons did. Well, okay. So that did happen
10:44today. That is news. Okay. Really? I don't think Joe maybe didn't even know that. So
10:48we didn't want to throw it at him. You know what I mean? Of course not. Plus Joe and Darren
10:51had a pretty rough locker room relationship. So we're going to let them fix that before we start
10:57asking him about Darren Hall. No, we don't want no issues, man. I think, you know, the
11:01one thing about, you know, the media, you and Joe and players, the relationship, the
11:09cooler you are, the more you'll get. I honestly do believe that. Like if I was cool with you,
11:14I would, you know, be more receptive to it. Now you would never get my phone number. And
11:17now, and I never, ever have given any media person, because then they'll use that, you
11:23know. Were you asked? Yeah. Really? Okay. You know what? How about I get your number and
11:29I never, I've never, because I've never really been like a beat reporter. So I never really
11:33had to try that, but I never, I always thought like, how do you even broach that? Yeah. I
11:37had one time. How do you ask an athlete for their phone number when you're covering the
11:42team? One time when I was young. And I know some people do. Ethan Skolnick, because Ethan
11:44did a piece on me. And so he wanted to come see how and everything. So that was the only
11:48time that I've ever, and Ethan never used it outside of that. That's good. Yeah. That's
11:52good. He was responsible. Yeah. That's the worst. It's like when you get it and then you
11:55start trying to be buddies with them. Yeah. But that's like, like Joe and Arthur Smith.
11:59Like, I, like, like, cause you know, very rarely do I do hits for other stations. Very
12:04rarely do I do. If you ask me to do it, if Abe asks me, I'll do it for y
12:06'all. But like,
12:07if I had done it previous to this and like, you just be, I ain't talked to you in two
12:11years
12:11that you just random, a random Abe, just take, Hey, Randy and so-and-so from the, you went
12:16like, no, I don't remember. I don't remember. I don't remember talking to you. The only
12:20time now that I do, if you ask me or if Abe asks me to do it, I'll do it.
12:23I will
12:23say that was my least favorite part of being a producer because I produced for a show that
12:27really wanted guests. So you'd have to try to book like three or four guests a day. And
12:31it's just like that. It's like, I've never talked to this person before. All right, here
12:35it goes. I'm about to call, uh, Mike Tirico. See what he says. Have you been cussed out?
12:40Hey, uh, lose this number. I've definitely got those. Yeah. Like, Hey, you know, I got
12:45that one time. Delete this number. I got to lose this number one time. Yeah. I got. Wow.
12:50Yeah. You just call the wrong person at the wrong time. I would never rude or anything
12:55like that. Right. But some people are just like, Hey, I don't know you. Like you don't,
12:58you know, please don't ever call me or text me again. Okay. Easy peasy. Damn. Don't have
13:06to worry about me. You will never hear from me ever again.
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