- 1 week ago
Daniel Flick joins Chris Thomas Tonight to analyze Michael Penix Jr.’s first 11-on-11 practice reps and the ongoing quarterback competition with Tua Tagovailoa. They discuss standouts from preseason action including Jack Strand and Kendal Daniels while evaluating the growth of the offensive line.
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00:00all right daniel with much anticipation with bated breath we are all awaiting your scouting report
00:06from how michael pennix jr looked in his first action in 11 on 11 yeah chris i mean honestly a
00:14tale of um a tale of a couple practices really is what it was i mean it was he came
00:19out of the
00:20gates really slow he was 0 for 4 um 0 for 3 i should say he finished 4 of 5
00:25and his 0 for 3
00:26wasn't a pretty 0 for 3 either it was a he had a bad miss to chris blur in a
00:30red zone period open
00:31the day and then he had a couple balls one to branch one to london that were just short at
00:35their feet
00:37um it kind of seemed like he just wasn't in rhythm he wasn't comfortable and then he got comfortable
00:40towards the end and his one in completion out of his last five attempts i believe it was was a
00:46a long ball to jahan dotson on the right side was a kind of crossing route from jahan that's probably
00:5020 25 yards downfield um that i thought to uh sorry i thought mike had jahan uh kind of overthrew
00:57him probably let him wide by about a yard or so it wasn't a bad throw was the right decision
01:03uh but
01:03he missed him but apart from that i thought he had a really good throw to drake london right right
01:08past aj terrell's outstretched arms um he had a nice ball to kyle pitts over the middle as well
01:13and he picked up a first down on what was like a fourth and five i believe it was to
01:18to end his part
01:19of the practice so collectively i thought michael was about you'd expect a little bit rusty um came
01:24out and once he got acclimated he looked more comfortable so turning in the right direction and
01:28um hopefully for his sake he's out there again tomorrow and again i thought that for him not
01:34taking an 11 on 11 snap in nine months or however long it's spent since last november um he ended
01:39up
01:40he progressed and he acclimated well how much did they let the defense do how close did they get to
01:45him
01:46closer than you would think i mean obviously it wasn't hit but one of the balls that he had to
01:51um
01:51might have been the one to drake over the middle that was short there was a defensive tackle that
01:55fell near his feet you could kind of tell that after he threw it he kind of leaned back a
02:00little
02:00bit and tried to get away from it as quickly as he could so um there was a legit pass
02:05rush yes it
02:06wasn't like it was a walk-through period with like a light pass rush they got after him a little
02:10bit he
02:10had a scramble that probably gained 10 yards or so i thought he moved well in the pocket and again
02:15once i once it looked like he kind of acclimated to having people around his feet i thought he looked
02:21pretty good what's the latest of how two is looking today was not to his best day um he also
02:27he didn't
02:27do a ton so i charted i had pennix at i think 14 snaps um and he threw the ball
02:33uh i should say in
02:35that there were nine passing plays called so he had eight passes and one scramble two had 11 plays and
02:39seven of those were you know running plays so um so he had he had a pass interference call that
02:46that hurt him in a red zone period he went 0 for 3 passing he had scramble as well so
02:49it wasn't it
02:50wasn't sharp he nearly had drake london a long ball down the right sideline but overthrew him by
02:54half yard to a yard so he was close um but no collectively it wasn't his he wasn't sharp but
03:01he also
03:01wasn't awful he just didn't have a lot of snaps either so they kind of went a little bit lighter
03:06overall at 11 11 today they did i think 26 total reps which is pretty far down from where they
03:11have
03:12been um and then they had you know rush and strand and kind of a walkthrough role so very light
03:18day in
03:19that regard to it and capitalize on his chances i felt but um a lot of people see you know
03:24i mean
03:24he went 0 for 3 right so there's only so much you can glean off of that but he wasn't
03:28sharp wasn't
03:29terrible either i thought rhetorically speaking daniel when is two gonna have a good day i want to have you
03:36you tell me that two of one sharp and he did look good all right so with that said tell
03:41us what we
03:42heard from stefanski today about the state of the competition yeah i mean my read on it chris that it's
03:49still very much open um it doesn't seem like they're ruling anybody out of it it doesn't seem
03:55like they're going to confidently say it's this guy's job or whatever else and i think you kind of look
04:00at
04:00it from the perspective of man you know they haven't named a starter yet i think in large part
04:05because they want to see what mike can do in you know live live team period so i think a
04:11lot of
04:11this is just wait and see how comfortable or how fast you can get mike comfortable um their whole
04:17philosophy on it is they've been very impressed by what mike has done up to now right i mean it's
04:22not
04:22just what he's done on the field but it's how he's attacked rehab how he's been as a leader how
04:26he's
04:26handled his work i mean he was in the facility almost every day this spring um trying to rehab and
04:32really get back there so i think he's earned a lot of respect very quickly here and so
04:36everyone's very excited for him he's excited obviously the the general vibe though like i said
04:41is they're still yes the competition is beginning in earnest but i i don't think this is going to
04:48really end particularly anytime soon i think it might be another week or so i think they might
04:53they're going to let to a play on friday night i think they'll probably let mike play a little bit
04:56as
04:56well if he keeps trending well so in that case i think you're going to want to see them both
05:00in a live
05:01game setting too and uh it's going to keep rolling but they don't feel the vibe i got from kevin
05:05today
05:06is that they're not particularly close to naming their guy it could be completely wrong but you
05:10know there was nothing that he said then or has said the last month that would lead me to believe
05:14they're going to lean one way or you know i don't think they'll pick their guy anytime before the end
05:18of friday if nothing else based on the discourse i'm almost reluctant to ask this question because of
05:24the eye roll that i'm doing right now that you can't see in the studio but jack strand look pretty
05:30good
05:30what is the latest on jack strand yeah shout out mark ramondi he uh he asked kevin today if jack
05:37has a shot at the job and kevin didn't really answer him so um unfortunately but no i thought
05:41i thought jack had a great game in india it's also telling i think that you look collectively at
05:46um what jack has done and he hasn't really been given a lot of team reps lately which in my
05:52eyes
05:52tells me that they're not i don't think he's a candidate right um so i think that's part of it
05:58but
05:58he looked great in indianapolis and it's they're in a hard spot with what to do with him i think
06:03because great great talent great prospect in the lens of he's big he's got a really good arm
06:08and he's flashed and he's getting more and more comfortable i think but the rest of the league is
06:13now well aware of jack strand too so i don't think you can cut him i think you kind of
06:16have to stash
06:17him on your roster but then again it kind of opens up a whole can of worms about what do
06:22you how do you
06:23handle cooper rush when you have a couple injury prone quarterbacks ahead of you you know it's going to be
06:27an
06:27interesting decision there i think but uh no i mean they only had jack to walk i mean through one
06:33pass in a red zone period he i will say he was the one that went in after mike and
06:37after tua when they
06:38they alternated their qbs in and out so i do think strand helped himself substantially on saturday
06:44um i don't think he's a real candidate i do think he's a very fun story though and i think
06:50that he's
06:50long term he's got um he's got a lot of intrigue i think so at least from my seat i
06:55i hope jack's
06:56around for a little while i think he's a great dude and a lot of talent and he's young and
07:00he's
07:00big and there's a lot you can dream on there so um i'll be intrigued to see how much he
07:05plays in
07:05miami and i'm very curious to see what happens with him after that talking all things falcons
07:10with our buddy daniel flick of the ajc uh one guy that might actually have a role on this team
07:15that
07:15could be a fan favorite to cheer on is cash jones i mean if he's not getting snaps at running
07:21back
07:21certainly as a special teamer yeah i think he's another one it's going to be interesting to see
07:27how they handle cash i think if nothing else what cash jones will be this year is a heck of
07:31a
07:31practice player because he can do so much right and another one he didn't really do much today at all
07:37in any team period that wasn't a walkthrough and i feel like cash is probably gonna face a bit of
07:42an
07:42uphill battle to make the roster even as impressive as he was saturday i mean he was he was tremendous
07:46against the colts you could see his shake you could see his speed um he can really wear a lot
07:51of hats so i do think cash cash will be a very valuable i think promotion this year the practice
07:57squad guy who can come up and play he can throw a lot of looks at you in practice as
08:00well so i think
08:02he's got a lot of value really good dude very well respected already and um yeah i mean he's got
08:07he's
08:08got a neat neat skill set i think chris like just how much he can do and how quick he
08:13is and and all
08:15that so um yeah he in my opinion he was one of the main winners from uh last weekend and
08:20i think
08:21he's very much trending in the right direction he'll need a big one in miami i think to kind of
08:24help his roster case because i think they're gonna end up i don't think he'll make it as a running
08:28back
08:28and we'll see what how the numbers look i mean at receiver i think they'll carry six and i'm not
08:33sure he's well positioned to be one of those guys but i do think he's got it if used correctly
08:38he can
08:39have a role how has the starting offensive line looked after what happened that first game
08:44uh of the preseason versus denver yeah trending well i think and again you know there was no
08:50juan taylor in that game i believe matthews got hurt on the opening drive so he wasn't out there so
08:55you kind of had to shift guys around even when you did have the ones out there around them and
08:59i thought
09:00wednesday in indianapolis last week in practice that was their first practice session where they
09:04had all of them together and they only had it for one drive and that one drive was fine not
09:10great and
09:10they came back seemed like kevin sofanski challenges line as a collective on wednesday night
09:15and they came out thursday afternoon in practice and i thought they were really really good and then
09:20uh you kind of saw the twos perform really well in india i thought as well on saturday came out
09:24today
09:24they were good neither pennix nor tour got sacked today they had a couple scrambles each
09:29one scramble each but apart from that their pockets were good i thought so
09:32i think juan taylor being as active as he was around the team and in walkthroughs even when he wasn't
09:38actually on the field has helped them out quite a bit where even though he wasn't
09:42out there he was still getting all the reps you know off to the side he was mentally engaged i
09:48think
09:48it helped their chemistry and camaraderie and i think it's helped them gel as a unit a lot quicker
09:52than you'd assume even when you don't have you know a key cog out there so i think juan's a
09:58good
09:58i actually think he's handled himself extremely well uh i've been impressed it sounds like the staff
10:03has been impressed as well from what kevin said last week and um i think as a unit there's a
10:07really
10:07high ceiling there i've been impressed again i thought wednesday was rough last week and they've
10:11been rock solid ever since has avion terrell who now is uh back at practice missed too much time
10:18in order to be a starter i don't think so i think week one might might be in jeopardy i
10:23think that was
10:24when i felt confident about two or three weeks ago and they had um they split their nickels in their
10:29outside corners up today and avion went with the slot guys so i think avion collectively the fact that
10:34the likes of you know homes woods mike ford those guys haven't really done enough to give you
10:41confidence they've won the job i think it's still very much open did avion miss a couple weeks where
10:46he could have really cemented himself yes but i don't think it's a lost cause yet i do think he
10:51needs to play on friday he doesn't play on friday i struggle seeing them rolling with a rookie out
10:56there in the slot and that being his first ever nfl action at all um so i do think he
11:01needs to play
11:02friday but um again i think they're extremely high on him and i think that's his his path is
11:07playing him in a slot if you can put him there they're confident in there uh he's he's more
11:12talented than the guys he's competing with and i think ultimately talent will help him play earlier
11:17than a lot of us would assume just you know again off of the fact that he hasn't practiced in
11:21two weeks
11:22right how impressive has kendall daniels been it's been pretty awesome to watch him
11:28you really can't say enough chris i mean he i want to put this into the right perspective
11:33and when he was at oklahoma even at oklahoma state before that their their communication with
11:38the sideline was through signs right it's the guys who are off to the side and they're waving their
11:43arms around and holding up those huge white signs and all that stuff he never had a coach in his
11:48ear
11:49calling out a play call until he got to atlanta and he wasn't out there in otas he wasn't out
11:55there
11:55in minicamp so then he gets out here in training camp and all of a sudden he's got the green
11:58dot
11:59on his helmet he's communicating the con you know very complex nfl playbook to the ones you know and
12:05for multiple weeks and getting better and playing well and as a unit they played well they didn't
12:11they had maybe one obvious coverage break against the colts i thought uh and that was about it right
12:16like they it's incredibly impressive i've been very very impressed by kendall is such a big i mean he
12:22every bit of six foot five 242 pound i covered basketball for three years and iu chris i've seen
12:27some tall dudes and like kendall daniels is tall and big and long and fast and he's there's a lot
12:33to be excited about there i mean if you put him and divine diablo out there together that's that's
12:37going to be hard for quarterbacks to to throw balls over them i think so um very much of all
12:43players
12:44on this roster i think kendall has probably helped himself the most from a month ago you know right now
12:49to where he's at now it's been incredibly impressive before i let you go i know there's
12:53going to be a bit of a change to the practice schedule this week with stefanski saying they're
12:57going to treat it more like a game day what do you think that looks like and especially for penix
13:01and
13:01toa yeah i mean i'll say this with us anyways too like from a media viewpoint the way they're
13:08structuring availability and whatnot is also very similar to how it'll be in season as well so
13:14legitimately every aspect of their operation is going to be how it'll look on a wednesday thursday
13:19friday in season so as much as anything i think it's just for them to get the cadence down a
13:24little
13:24bit that's part of it one and then i think two just kind of understanding how it's all going to
13:29work how you know like when they'll meet when they'll practice when they'll lift that kind of
13:33stuff i think it's very important for them um i think they're gonna end up playing their ones a
13:39decent bit friday night they're going to talk more about playing time i would imagine wednesday
13:43with kevin but i think as a general rule it's just going to be very valuable for these guys to
13:48get
13:48their reps and to get kind of a stronger understanding and with them trying to represent
13:52more of a normal game week i would assume that friday will probably sorry wednesday i guess it'll be
13:57pretty light because that's what a normal friday will be in season um so that's one and then two
14:03they're they're installing a ton of information about miami but they're probably not even going to use the
14:08majority of it so they're basically just trying to rep install and and help the guys understand kind
14:13of what they'll have to take in each week and and all that so kind of a neat idea to
14:17have that now and
14:18um very good i think for them and also even for me right to be able to kind of see
14:23what it'll look
14:24like in season so um yeah i'm high on it if nothing else daniel really appreciate it great stuff as
14:30always we'll be checking you out in the ajc we'll chat soon
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