00:00And Seth coming up, Seth Emerson, let me hear Alex Van Pelt.
00:03Guys, he's the quarterback's coach for our Atlanta Falcons.
00:06And I want to state this right now because I think you Falcon fans need to know this.
00:10He is the most important guy in the development of Michael Penix.
00:15It is not going to be Tommy Reese.
00:17He'll be there.
00:18It is not going to be Kevin Stefanski.
00:20He'll be there.
00:21It is this guy.
00:22And I respect Alex.
00:24I've talked to people who've been around him.
00:26He's been on various other teams and coaching staffs.
00:28Obviously, Kevin Stefanski was very, you know, close with him.
00:32And he comes and now he's joined this staff.
00:34And the bottom line is whatever development that you think Penix needs to get that he didn't get is going
00:40to come from him.
00:41So when asked yesterday about being under center, here is what Alex Van Pelt said.
00:46Yeah, we have a certain route trees that we have.
00:49And then we'll tie certain footwork in with those exact routes.
00:53So making sure those guys are in rhythm and in time in the passing game, the ball's coming out.
00:56So we have really four different drops from the gun.
01:00You know, it matches different routes and different depths.
01:03Just staying on top of those guys because we have a big sign in our room that says, trust your
01:06feet.
01:07And if your feet are right, then you're going to make good decisions.
01:10And when you get in trouble is when you don't trust your feet.
01:11You hang too long and you're off and then you throw bad balls or interceptions.
01:15So footwork's a huge part of us.
01:17It's a West Coast philosophy that I was brought up in.
01:20I think Kevin the same with Kubiak.
01:22So it's ingrained in our room and that's how we teach.
01:25Okay, so footwork.
01:26And that then translates to being under center.
01:30Here's what he said about it.
01:31Yeah, I think somebody's getting a good feel for it.
01:34We work the drills daily so I can get to put him through some drill work and drop him from
01:37under center.
01:38Which is what he needs after not doing it much last year.
01:42But I think it's only going to help our offense be better when we get our quarterbacks under.
01:46What he needs.
01:49We're not saying it.
01:51The quarterback's coach is saying it.
01:53You're going to trigger somebody.
01:55This is what he needs.
01:56And then he caught himself and said, well, you know, after not being there a lot last year.
01:59Yeah, we know, Alex.
02:01He wasn't under center a whole lot.
02:03Now, you inherited this as we said.
02:05Zach Robinson went with the path of least resistance because he's never coached a young quarterback.
02:09He was with Matthew Stafford.
02:10He was on the staff with the Rams with Matthew Stafford.
02:12And Sean McVay, dare I say, did the lion's share of the game planning.
02:17So you come into, again, it's crying over spilt milk, but it is still part of the overall story.
02:21Because Michael Penix Jr. did not get the coaching and was not pushed the way he needed to be the
02:25first two seasons in the NFL.
02:27And now in year three, he's got to do this.
02:29Yeah.
02:29Off a bad knee.
02:30He's got a recovering knee.
02:33Two.
02:33Two.
02:33Well, again, you're going to get...
02:35Am I lying?
02:36Carl said two knees.
02:38You're the one who said you don't trust a guy with three knee surgeries.
02:40Well, I don't.
02:42I just don't.
02:44So, two.
02:45But...
02:46See, don't laugh.
02:46See, right now, you're laughing at a man's troubles.
02:50Man's got knee issues.
02:52You're laughing at his misfortune.
02:53You cruel SOBs.
02:55That's the way some people are with this.
02:57I'm just telling you, man.
02:59That's the reality, Jack.
03:00I don't like...
03:01I hate Michael Paddickson.
03:02His misfortunes.
03:04You and Dukes got jokes.
03:06Man can't walk.
03:07Got jokes.
03:08That's the stuff that we get.
03:09Man, I'm telling you.
03:11There'll be a guy in three, two, one on the text line right now.
03:14That's what we...
03:15Here's...
03:15We say it, but that's how they hear it.
03:17We at least didn't say the dumbest thing ever, which is what Stephen A said.
03:22I believe in Michael Paddick's Jr.
03:24No.
03:24That's Mike.
03:25That's Mike.
03:26Stephen A, though, had the audacity to say, you can't bend your knees.
03:30Like, come on.
03:31We didn't say that.
03:32We haven't gone there.
03:33You mean to tell me you can't bend your knees to be under center?
03:37But I'm just...
03:38I'm stating facts.
03:38Quite frankly.
03:39I'm stating facts.
03:41It's Dukes and Bell.
03:42You can't line up behind center because you'd have to bend your knees as much.
03:46I don't want to hear that.
03:47You're there, sir.
03:48I don't want to hear it, either.
03:50I don't want to hear it, either.
03:51But this...
03:52Alec, now again, maybe this is why Alex Van Pelt has moved around a lot of teams,
03:56because he's not telling the company lies.
03:57He's just telling it like it is.
03:59He's telling what's up.
03:59But he's telling what's what.
04:01Tua has an advantage, because he can do everything.
04:02Michael Penich can't do everything yet.
04:04Then he'll have a competition.
04:05All right.
04:06What about the time...
04:07Or check that.
04:08Is Penich showing...
04:10What's he showing, Alex Van Pelt, so far?
04:12Does he feel good about what he's seeing?
04:13Listen to this.
04:14Absolutely.
04:15You know, I think that with Mike, he's an accurate passer.
04:18You know, just waking up in the morning, which is a good thing, Tua is as well.
04:21But when they do become inaccurate, it generally has a lot to do with their footwork
04:25or just being out of rhythm.
04:27Bingo!
04:29What's wrong with that?
04:31That's what we saw.
04:32Why is your head about to blow?
04:34No, because when we say, you're hating on Penich.
04:36You don't like Penich.
04:37No!
04:38I can tell you his footwork looked weird.
04:40Everything looked strange in the backfield.
04:42Nothing...
04:43There's no fluidity.
04:43He looked good in Washington.
04:45He didn't look good with us.
04:47You know?
04:47And I think a lot...
04:47He looked better, I thought, his true rookie season against Washington.
04:51Yeah.
04:51And against the Carolina Panthers back in 24.
04:53Later in the show, we're going to let you hear who Alex Van Pelt says he has these guys
04:58watching all the time.
04:59And I thought that was fascinating.
05:02404-726-0929.
05:04Again, the new information is...
05:07The new news.
05:09His footwork matters.
05:11Not us.
05:11We're not telling you that.
05:12That's the quarterback's coach.
05:14And Penich's under center and what he's doing.
05:17And he needs to work on it.
05:19And yes, we're getting these reps.
05:20And also the fact that Alex said, look, he's showing us good stuff under center so far.
05:24And you know, he's doing what he needs to do.
05:26But let's not deny the elephant in the room.
05:28It's the most obvious thing when this offense rolls around.
05:32And for the first time, whether you get a chance to go to camp or you're going to watch it
05:35in the preseason, whatever, the first time you see this offense, you know what you're
05:38going to do?
05:39Is he under center?
05:40You're going to say that to yourself.
05:42Right, right.
05:42You will say that to yourself.
05:44Dukes and Bell, is he under center?
05:45Is he in the pistol?
05:47Is he in the shotgun?
05:47That's what you're going to be asking.
05:48Francis hits us up watching on YouTube and Twitch.
05:50That is what you guys have been saying for a while.
05:52Exactly.
05:53We watch football.
05:54You know, here you're getting a quarterback's coach who's been around the league, who's
05:57got a tremendous reputation in developing quarterbacks, and here's how it's got to go.
06:01Period.
06:02Period.
06:03And the competition thing, as we said, now we're not trying to judge, oh, it can't work
06:07or it won't work for Pennix Jr., but here's what he has to do.
06:10That's all I think you and I have ever said.
06:11And it's how it gets interpreted drives me crazy.
06:13Because it does get people literally in their bag that somehow we're anti-Pennix Jr.
06:17We're just telling you, this is the mountain he has to climb to be the starter for this
06:21team.
06:22And by the way, if you want to be mad at somebody, you know, the Falcons didn't have to sign
06:30Tua.
06:31They could have went and signed a buster, Mike.
06:33They could have went and signed a guy that had really no shot to lead our team and basically
06:38by default, given Michael Pennix the job, and you would have been crying about that.
06:43But instead, the organization looked out for its best interest in saying, you know what,
06:47we need a guy that can play and maybe have to win some big games for us along the way.
06:54Yeah, he's cheap because the other team blew it.
06:56But that's not why they went and signed Tua Tungabailoa.
07:00They could have went and signed any buster out there, Mike, a journeyman who's been a quarterback
07:03around the league and went, you know what?
07:04This is Pennix's job.
07:06And we would still be having these same conversations, not knowing what he's capable of, when he's
07:10going to be capable of it.
07:12Right.
07:12So the organization did the right thing by going out and getting a guy that could play.
07:17You Pennix fans want to be upset about that.
07:20That's what you should be upset about.
07:21They should have went and got a buster and gave this guy the job.
07:23Right.
07:23They went and, you know, there's a realization between Ian Cunningham and Matt Ryan and,
07:28to a degree, Stefanski that, you know, Pennix Jr., this might not work here.
07:32It may work.
07:33It may not.
07:33And we've said it.
07:35That's good management.
07:36Do we have wishful thinking?
07:37We're going to jam that round peg in the square hole.
07:39Forget that noise.
07:40Can't do it, Mike.
07:41No.
07:41I mean, I do think that there's a way that Pennix can win this job.
07:44He's got, look, it's all on him.
07:46It's all on him.
07:47He's got to take some steps.
07:49There are things that have to get better.
07:50The accuracy.
07:51You think there's any, let's be honest.
07:53Any correlation for Stefanski specifically mentioning accuracy?
07:57One of the first times he's speaking on a microphone about watching his quarterback throw?
08:01So, I mean, that's got to be there.
08:03So, I know that there's fans out there.
08:06I get it.
08:07Whether you specifically want to root for the black quarterback, I don't care what color he is,
08:10but there's no agenda with the Falcons.
08:11The Falcons want to win.
08:13Right?
08:13And I do think that you can find a way for Pennix to get out there and do all those
08:17things,
08:17but there's a lot of work that has to go along.
08:19And, Carl, it's a short period of time.
08:20No, it is a short period of time.
08:21This is, and it's even shorter because you're not healthy enough to do all the things you need to do.
08:29That's the other part about the shortness of this.
08:32You know, we think like, oh, camp, you know, we were talking about this the other day.
08:35We get to next week and basically, you know, you've got a month before camp starts in late July.
08:40And all of a sudden, you know, it's like, okay, where's he at in this process?
08:44Which is why they've been uncommitted or not committed to telling us a timetable or date as to his return.
08:50Hey, man, as we talk about this, and again, just responding and reacting to Alex Van Pelt's comments yesterday.
08:56And it's good.
08:57All these coaches are laying it out, man.
08:59I mean, you know, Coach Ollie, the D-line coach, is talking about the D-line yesterday
09:02and all the good things that he feels like they're going to be able to do and the size has
09:06gotten better.
09:06And, okay, that's what we want to hear.
09:08What is it that this looks like right now?
09:12And, Mike, is it going to be better than what we've seen?
09:15That's all we care about.
09:16As fans, like, is it going to be better?
09:18There are certain guys you know that are just going to show up.
09:20Drake, Bijon.
09:20I'm not worried about that.
09:22What about this other stuff that we've been concerned about?
09:25How does it look?
09:25And is it going to be better?
09:26Look, we've got a defense that produced the second most out of sacks.
09:29Now, you did lose Caden Ellis, and Pierce Jr.
09:31We're still waiting to see how many games he's going to be out.
09:33But it's still a pretty good core of a defense.
09:35I mean, that's a good defensive unit.
09:37You've got some big-time playmakers.
09:39Bijon doesn't grow on trees.
09:40You've got a guy that not everybody in the NFL has.
09:42But we're still 120-1 to win the Super Bowl.
09:45The over-under is at 7.5 because it's all right there at the quarterback.
09:48That's it.
09:49Vegas looks at us and says, hey, I have a quarterback right now.
09:52Somebody's going to emerge.
09:53Yeah.
09:54And, look, that's why they go play these games.
09:56Hopefully they can change all of that.
09:57And as the season gets underway.
09:59But more on this coming up as we'll play some other things,
10:02including Matthew Bergeron talking about Tua, the quarterbacks,
10:05and Coach Callahan, who's the offensive line coach.
10:08There is an adjustment there, guys,
10:09because they're asking some of these guys to do some things a little bit differently.
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