- 2 days ago
The Morning Shift spent time with former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Dave Archer. Ali, Mike, Beau, and Dave discuss what game Dave would have circled on the Falcons 2026-27 schedule if he was still playing.
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00:00Hey Dave, thanks for joining us. Finally know the win on all the games. I'm curious as a former quarterback
00:06what you like about this schedule and which matchup you would have circled as a quarterback.
00:12Yeah, I think there's a lot of good ones, Allie. Good to be on with you guys.
00:16This is when it kind of comes to life. You know, you do the draft, you go through free agency,
00:21then you do the draft, and you start, you know, your offseason process to start trying to come together as
00:26a team.
00:26And it feels like, and Mike, I'm interested to hear what you have to say about it.
00:30From a player's standpoint, everything seems real because you're obviously, you know,
00:35you're trying to blend with your teammates and you're trying to, you know,
00:39relieve some of the anxieties about trying to make an NFL football team.
00:42But when the schedule comes out, all of a sudden, it all says that the season comes to life
00:46because now you know where you're going, when you're going, all that kind of stuff.
00:50And I always enjoyed that piece of it.
00:52I don't know that I necessarily circled any game in particular.
00:58The start in Pittsburgh is an interesting start.
01:02There's a lot of history there.
01:03Atlanta has not played very well in Pittsburgh.
01:06In fact, we've never won in Pittsburgh.
01:08We're 0-7-1 in Pittsburgh.
01:10That's kind of been a house of horrors.
01:12Last time Atlanta opened in Pittsburgh was in 2010.
01:16Went up there and lost in overtime.
01:18Troy Palomalo made an unbelievable play.
01:20Mike, you might remember this.
01:22They came out of the middle of the field and intercepted Matt Ryan on a comeback route.
01:27I don't know how he made the play.
01:29They won in overtime, beat us 15-9.
01:32And that team went on and went 13-3, the Atlanta team.
01:35So it doesn't necessarily mean that's the end of your season or anything like that.
01:39But Pittsburgh is going to be a tough place to go play to start the season.
01:43Arch, I've been telling Allie and Mike about the meatballs up there, that place they always go to.
01:48I can't remember the name of it, but I was trying to tell them.
01:50They were looking at me like I was crazy about it.
01:52I'm like, dude, the meatball place is legit in Pittsburgh.
01:54Yeah.
01:55Imperios.
01:56Imperios.
01:56Yeah.
01:56They're the meatball place.
01:58They don't allow you to go in anymore.
01:59I think that you didn't fit the Heights Regiment to get in the building.
02:02It's not like riding a ride at Disney and stuff like that.
02:04I don't think you're allowed in the building anymore.
02:05All right.
02:06I believe in.
02:06It's May, guys.
02:08It's May.
02:08I mean, trust me.
02:10He's got hell coming.
02:12Speaking of which, how do you like the way they did kind of the middle of the schedule
02:17where you go to Tampa and then you come home and you get ready, you pack up, off to Spain
02:23we go, and then you don't get the immediate bye.
02:26You've got to come home and play Kansas City before you get the bye, Arch.
02:29Well, it was similar last year, wasn't it, Bo?
02:31We went to New England and then came home and then had to go to Berlin.
02:34We played Carolina the next weekend, so I think it's very similar last year.
02:40In fact, the timing of it is very similar from a time of the season standpoint.
02:46I think it almost feels like these international games, they're kind of trying to feed them
02:51in almost like they're just regular games, and they're starting to get down, I think,
02:56the timing of how to travel because we'll go in, and I'm sure, Bo, you've gone through
03:02it, we go out Thursday night, kind of a red-eye flight, that's what we did to go to Berlin.
03:08We'll do a very similar thing here when we go to Spain, and then you come back right
03:12after the game.
03:13Should you get the bye week afterward, that makes a ton of sense, but for whatever reason,
03:18they're not doing that.
03:19It's not just to Atlanta, they're doing it to other teams as well, so this is the way
03:23we did it last year, and I think we'll handle it fine.
03:26Arch, I think one of the more interesting two-game stretches for me is the week three Thursday
03:30night game.
03:30I'm stoked you have a Thursday night, I'm stoked that you're at Green Bay in week three
03:34in September so that it's not so cold, and then you back that up and you head down in
03:38New Orleans for the 20th anniversary of the Dome coming game, the Steve Gleason game.
03:44Interesting two-game set because it's an early Thursday, September, and then the extended
03:49bye week with the next Monday Night Football, but talk a little bit about the emotions you'll
03:53expect down there in New Orleans and what you think those 11 days will look like.
03:58Yeah, well, the first piece of it is that you play three times in 11 days to start the
04:03season, and two of those are on the road, and of course, we all know that it's tough to
04:07go on the road and play at night.
04:10It's nice that that game four, the Monday night game, you do get the extended time to play
04:16a divisional opponent, which is fun.
04:20Mike, you played in this series, I played in this series.
04:22When you play New Orleans, there's a different fever that's attached to it, and of course,
04:27whenever you start attaching historical events like the Gleason game, the block punt where
04:33Steve came through, blocked the punt.
04:35They were coming off of Hurricane Katrina and everything that that city had gone through.
04:39There was a lot of emotion and stuff attached to it.
04:43I'm sure that they'll try to reach that emotion again.
04:46I don't think that they can get anywhere near the level of fervor that was going on in the
04:52building that night, but whenever it's Atlanta, New Orleans, you always know it's going to
04:56be ratcheted up.
04:57And in knowing that New Orleans feels like they're much better, they got their young quarterback
05:02in Tyler Shuck, who played well, played well against us in week 18.
05:06They ended up losing here in Atlanta, but it was a very close game, one-score game.
05:10He played extremely well, a guy that I don't know if he was their Rookie of the Year nominee.
05:16I think he was right in the mix to be Rookie of the Year, only playing half the season.
05:20So I think New Orleans feels like they're a better team, and you don't have to put that
05:24on a special night.
05:25We could play that in the parking lot on the middle of June, and that thing would be jacked
05:31up.
05:31Well, I want to stretch that two-game set out to the three, because what do you make of three
05:36straight primetime games?
05:37How much pressure does that put on the team?
05:40Yeah, I don't know if it puts any more pressure on them, Allie.
05:43I mean, obviously all the players like to play in those games.
05:46You know, you're usually the one show that night, so everybody's watching.
05:52It would have been nice to be able to stretch them out a little bit more, where you're featured
05:57throughout the season, where you kind of see maybe the fans throughout the country get
06:01a chance to see the growth of the team over a 17-, 18-week schedule, as opposed to jamming
06:07them all together like that.
06:09But I think the players enjoy those games.
06:13I think that you get a little bit more juice in the building.
06:17There's a little bit more juice under the helmet a little bit with guys having a chance
06:20to be the only show in town when the rest of their peers are watching around the country.
06:25But I don't think there's any more pressure.
06:26I mean, I think Atlanta went 4-1 last year in primetime games, so I think they'll be jacked
06:31up and ready to go.
06:32I just wish they'd spread out a little bit more.
06:35All right, Sha, the December schedule is kind of, it's interesting, because you start off
06:40in two cold-weather games, or not start off, you start on the 13th, and then the 20th,
06:46you have two cold-weather games out of division.
06:49And then it's division, division, division to end the season, including in January in Carolina.
06:56I feel like it's a little weird having three straight division games jammed in there at
07:00the end of the regular season.
07:03Well, it's kind of what we've watched it happen, haven't we, over the last several seasons,
07:07where the league has begun to try to backload those divisional games at the end to kind
07:14of accentuate the drive to try to win your division.
07:17Obviously, this division's been extremely close over the last several years.
07:22So Tampa, New Orleans, Carolina, down the stretch, you're probably going to find out who's going
07:26to win the division based on the way things have gone over the last few years, especially
07:31with Tampa and Carolina.
07:33All three of those teams with Atlanta were eight and nine a year ago, and had Atlanta
07:37been able to win one more game, you win the division, and you could have lost both games
07:41to Carolina.
07:42So it's just a, it's been fun to have how tight it's been in the division, and I think
07:47that that's something they're doing around the league.
07:49It's not just with our guys, but around the league trying to backload schedules.
07:54So you do have division versus division stuff down the stretch.
07:59It'll be a lot of fun.
08:00As far as the cold weather games, going to Cleveland, going to Washington, I think the thing that's
08:04very interesting about the, a couple things about the schedule, is the teams that are
08:09coming off injuries with their quarterbacks.
08:12When you start looking at, you know, Baltimore and Cincinnati and Kansas City and Minnesota
08:17and Washington being one of those teams at the end of the year, with the quarterback injuries
08:22and guys coming back, and can they be the guy they were?
08:25Rodgers at the beginning of the year, we're assuming he's going to play, you know, Deshaun
08:28Watson.
08:29Is Deshaun Watson ready to go?
08:31Is he the guy that wins the job in Cleveland?
08:33And there's some interesting stories in backup scenarios there.
08:37Justin Fields is in Kansas City to back up Patrick Mahomes.
08:40He's not ready.
08:40Kyler Murray, is he going to be the guy in Minnesota for J.J.
08:43McCarthy?
08:44So there's a lot going on with quarterbacks, not just here in Atlanta.
08:49I know there's a lot of conversation about Tua and Michael Penix, but there's a lot of
08:53teams that are trying to kind of figure out what's going on at the quarterback, whether
08:56it's because of injury or somebody they've signed in free agency.
08:59So some pretty intriguing stories that are attached to our schedule and some of the teams
09:04we're going to play.
09:05Arch, I did the reaction video yesterday on 929, the game's Twitter account, and I was
09:10pretty upbeat when I saw the bye week.
09:12Like week 11 bye, I know it's not after the Madrid game, but I actually liked that a lot,
09:17and I was kind of shocked to see that some fans didn't feel that way.
09:21Some of the reaction was, oh, it's a late bye.
09:23To me, week 11, though, is perfect timing, and I don't know if you had a preference when
09:27you played or now as a broadcaster on when you think bye week should be, but week 11's
09:32not bad to me.
09:33No, I agree with you, Mike.
09:35We were really early a year ago, and then you've got that long stretch to try to keep
09:40people healthy.
09:41I think that the bye week coming somewhere in November, and usually that mid to late November
09:47area seems to be the perfect time.
09:48I would agree with you.
09:49I think that that's one of those scenarios where we look at it as players.
09:54I know the fans don't necessarily feel the bumps and the bruises, especially for an offensive
10:00lineman like yourself.
10:01I mean, man, it's a battle of attrition for you guys.
10:04It's a hand-to-hand combat for 17 weeks over an 18-week period, so being able to find some
10:11respite in the middle of the season as opposed to when you play three games and all of a sudden
10:15you're in a bye week, that doesn't make a lot of sense.
10:18So I would agree with you.
10:19I think it falls in a really good spot.
10:21You kind of regroup after the Kansas City game, and then you make your stretch drive.
10:25You know, you've got, what, you've got four on the road, and you've got three at home.
10:29You make that stretch drive, especially with those three games at the end of the season,
10:33as Bo was talking about, in conference, but they're in division.
10:36So I think, you know, when you look, guys, you know, I started trying to break it down
10:41in, okay, who are you facing top 10 scoring offenses?
10:44You get three top 10 scoring offenses from a year ago, two top 10 scoring defenses.
10:48So you're not overloaded with the top end of the National Football League in any category.
10:55I think the one category I saw, you get five of the top 10 third-down offenses.
11:02I mean, I was really trying to break it down as far as I could, and I really like the
11:06way
11:06the schedule sets up.
11:07It's difficult to start off with.
11:09You're on the road three of the first four, and five of the first seven are teams that
11:13were in the playoffs a year ago, but we know that doesn't mean anything, because we get
11:17the Ravens, the Bears, and the Niners.
11:19You know, one of those teams made the playoffs last year or so, or two, I guess two of them
11:23made the playoffs.
11:24I think everybody would predict those teams to go to the playoffs.
11:27The Ravens on Sunday night's an interesting, too.
11:30Bo can tell you the last time we played the Ravens on Sunday night was in 2010, much like
11:35the Pittsburgh opening game.
11:37Matt Ryan makes an unbelievable play, rolling to his left to find Roddy White with about
11:41a minute 20 left in the game.
11:43Roddy scores to win the game 26-21.
11:46Great ball game against the Ravens.
11:47Really, really excited about the schedule.
11:49I think there's going to be a lot of fun stuff.
11:50It's funny that you mentioned that stretch.
11:52I was literally about to ask you about that stretch, and I do remember that primetime game
11:56against the Ravens with Roddy, because, I mean, Roddy was...
12:00It's a push-off game.
12:01Well, you know, that...
12:02He said it.
12:03I know, but I mean, I still don't admit it.
12:06You know, one game that I've got circled is coming off the bar, Arch, and you go to
12:10Minnesota, and we've been to Minnesota the last two years.
12:13This will be the third year in a row, if I'm not mistaken.
12:17And I don't know what to make of it, because they have a quarterback situation going
12:21there with Kyler Murray versus J.J.
12:23McCarthy, but, dude, that is a house of horrors at time to play in.
12:28I know we conquered it last year, but if you will, just talk about maybe that game and
12:33what you think is the toughest road game because of the environment they'll play, because I
12:38think Minnesota is definitely in the running for one of the toughest road environments
12:41they're going to play in this year.
12:43Yeah, it's a good one, Bo.
12:45I mean, you get...
12:46I mean, the part that's fun about it, and I wish fans could all go up there and experience
12:50it with us, because when they begin the game, they start with...
12:55They dim the lights in the building.
12:57There's a feel of...
12:59They have this fake snow that starts to fall from the ceiling.
13:03It's really dark.
13:05It almost feels like it starts getting colder in the building.
13:07You get this Game of Thrones entrance where Jon Snow, they're fighting again.
13:12I mean, it's just unbelievable.
13:14If you watch it, if you like that, if you like the Game of Thrones theme, it just kind
13:20of builds in here, and then all of a sudden, here comes the drums and all that kind of stuff.
13:24So the beginning of the game is really kind of fun to be a part of, but Minnesota's tough
13:29in their building.
13:30There's no question.
13:30It's one of the really good home crowds.
13:32Green Bay is not an easy place to go play.
13:35Lambeau Field on a Thursday night, you know that place is going to be juiced.
13:38We just talked about New Orleans.
13:41Tampa Bay is going to be irritated with us.
13:44We came down there and ruined their season last year on a Thursday night.
13:48There's so many good places to go play in this league.
13:53Washington is always a great place to go play as well.
13:55Jaden Daniels should be back.
13:57He had another one of those quarterbacks coming off injury.
13:59I mean, there's a lot of fun stuff about the schedule, and that's just what the National
14:03Football League is.
14:05But certainly Minnesota, we're going to be one of those fun places to go.
14:07Hey, Arch, before we let you go, how did you like the release video?
14:10How did your team over there put together with those ESPN commercials?
14:15It's unbelievable the way the Atlanta Falcon group, from a media standpoint, is off the
14:21charts anyway.
14:22I mean, you go in their building, and they've got Emmy Awards and stuff.
14:26They've got a big trophy case of their own, just the media department does.
14:29They're just incredible.
14:31Austin Hiddle and all of Ginny Ross and all the people that put that stuff together there
14:35for the Falcons.
14:36I loved it.
14:37I thought it was great.
14:37Good acting by all the guys.
14:40I mean, Bajon Robinson, Matt Ryan, all those guys that did that acting.
14:45Stefanski, we have to get those guys maybe some Screen Actors Guild cards, and maybe we
14:49can get them in a movie or two.
14:50So it was a lot of fun.
14:51I thought they did a great job.
14:52A lot of teams do a good job around the league.
14:54But our group is as good as there is in the league as far as putting that stuff together.
14:58Yeah, they did such a good job.
14:59Every scene was hysterical.
15:01Arch, we've got a lot to look forward to.
15:03Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
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