00:00So the Falcons do sign Zach Harrison, and Mike and I had discussed this
00:04back to the practice squad, and you said it.
00:06They gave him rave reviews.
00:08I mean, hearing from Ian Cunningham and talking about the makeup of the person
00:11that he is and how hard he works, and there is a personal relationship there.
00:14They were trying to keep him, and they were able to get him back.
00:18They released Kobe Bryant, Mike.
00:19That was the kid we were talking about over the last couple of years
00:22who, again, was undrafted, but we thought he might have had some promise.
00:25Corner, and then Cam Sample also released.
00:28But they added, and when Ian was asked today at his presser,
00:31the general manager for the Falcons, about, hey, how much of this is going to change
00:34between now and the start of the season?
00:35He was like, not much with the 53.
00:37Practice squad guys, that could change.
00:40Yeah, I mean, sometimes it's injuries.
00:42I mean, again, the uniqueness of having four quarterbacks does sort of hamstring you,
00:45but you have seen guys, especially over the years, I mean, we talked about,
00:48you know, that special teamer, the Kaderil-Hodge type guy,
00:50if he's not under contract, bouncing back and forth.
00:53Only so many times you can move him, by the way,
00:54so you've got to basically blanking it off the pot with some of your practice squad people.
00:58But this is, you know, a system that is set up for guys to practice,
01:02and they make a decent coin, and then hopefully you can be a practice squad guy
01:06and then become a starter and emerge.
01:08Now, the idea that Zach Harrison, who was just coming into his own with the injuries,
01:11guys, don't take it from me.
01:12Take it from Nate Olley, his position coach, who said they love the effort.
01:15It's all about the health.
01:16They just were disappointed he couldn't stay on the field last year.
01:18Yeah, and look, the size thing is real.
01:23We are bigger up front.
01:24When you talk about Nose and Doorless and, you know, Smith, Mason Smith,
01:28all these guys are bigger.
01:30Great.
01:31Can we stop the run?
01:32That's what I want to know, and we'll figure that out and find out here pretty quickly.
01:35But if you're wondering, all right, man, did they name the starter today?
01:38No, they did not.
01:39The general manager said they are still evaluating.
01:42As a matter of fact, he was asked, how do you evaluate Pennix without seeing him in a live setting?
01:48Here's what he said.
01:48Those are the cards that we were dealt, right?
01:50And I think that's where you've got to be able to evaluate the practice, evaluate, you know, the operation,
01:59evaluate the accuracy, the anticipation, the movement, the comfortability in the pocket.
02:05So, you know, those things that we're going to be evaluating in the game, too.
02:09It's just we weren't – we didn't have the luxury to do so, right?
02:13So, at the end of the day, it's like we've got to evaluate what we can in the scope of
02:19what we have.
02:20And then, you know, when he's ready, when the other guys are ready, we'll make that decision.
02:28So, basically, feeling good enough to throw him out there in a real-game situation,
02:33even though you haven't had him be in those real-game situations.
02:37Right.
02:38As best we could, the 11-on-11s.
02:40And, again, we've debated – never have 11-on-11s versus 7-on-7s been broken down more than on
02:44this program.
02:45But now it's just a matter of the coaches.
02:48Are you going to throw some blitz packages?
02:50Obviously, there's no contact.
02:51But are you going to throw some things which get him off the spot, which create, you know, some reactions?
02:55And how does he do and how do you evaluate?
02:57That's the best guess I could give you, right?
02:59And how you do anything other than that in an 11-on-11.
03:03Otherwise, it's the same old, same old, isn't it?
03:05I think so.
03:06It doesn't tell you anything.
03:06No, I don't think it tells you more or less.
03:09I'm not expecting that the fans can say what Dabo said.
03:11Well, we're going to go up against LSU and we're going to see what we got.
03:14You know, you've got to know what you've got going up into Pittsburgh.
03:17Yeah, I'm with you, Mike.
03:18I don't know if it changes anything.
03:19Here's the good news.
03:21If you're cheering for Michael Penix, and we all are, I would hope, whoever's going to be on the center,
03:26you want him to have success.
03:27Right?
03:28It's been the thing.
03:29Whether you like or dislike a guy, that's been my whole thing.
03:33And part of this is, he has played in the NFL.
03:36He started games.
03:38He knows what it feels like.
03:39The issue for all of us right now is, how is it going to look coming off of this third
03:44ACL?
03:46That's the issue.
03:47It's not that Michael Penix is like, you know, deer in the headlights.
03:50Oh my God, what do I don't know what to expect?
03:52He's done this.
03:53But what does it look like, and does he trust it enough to make the plays necessary?
03:58Or as one of our callers said yesterday, he plays scared, man.
04:02Is that the situation?
04:04Because I'm not holding on this damn ball.
04:06I've got to get rid of it.
04:06Yeah, I mean, the ball's got to come out quickly.
04:08He's got to process quickly.
04:09And he's also going to make the determination to pick it up and put him down.
04:12Take four yards, take three or four yards, get out of bounds.
04:14You know, give with your slide.
04:16You know, take what that defense has given you.
04:18But, I mean, the reason I'm down with him getting the job,
04:21that's why for all the things that's been said,
04:23and we've had fun talking about the quarterback battle,
04:25and some guys don't get it,
04:26the best thing for the franchise is for him to establish himself as the man.
04:30And then we have traction with this guy.
04:31Or not.
04:32And then we get off the pot, and we move on.
04:34Right.
04:34Because, guys, look at the Jets.
04:36All right, the Jets have gone decades without having their quarterback.
04:38All right, without having a guy.
04:40All right?
04:40The Dolphins, since Dan Marino.
04:43The Saints are hoping now that it's a five-year playoff draft for New Orleans.
04:46They're trying to find the guy after Drew Brees.
04:48Right?
04:49And we're trying to find the guy after Matt Ryan.
04:51And this is where we've got to get this right.
04:55And we've got to know.
04:56That's why we are so upset about not knowing who this quarterback is going to be
04:59two weeks out, ten days out.
05:01I don't disagree.
05:03You guys can chime in on that.
05:05404-726-0929.
05:07Coach Jerry Mack's going to join us here in about ten minutes from Kennesaw State.
05:10Season opener tomorrow against the University of West Georgia.
05:13And we'll be up at Twin Peaks, guys.
05:14If you're going to the game, stop by.
05:16Have a cold brew and stop in, man.
05:18We'd love to get a chance to see you tomorrow.
05:19We'll be up that way.
05:21I also want to play this for you, which was Ian talking about competing for the playoffs.
05:26And I thought this was important.
05:27Like, guys, we're just not going through the motions.
05:30These guys work too hard to just show up and go, yeah, we're going to lose ten games.
05:35If you lose ten games, then you just weren't that good.
05:37And that's what happens in the NFL.
05:38But, Mike, nobody right now, even the worst team.
05:41Who do you think the worst team is?
05:43Whoever you think it is.
05:44Is not showing up week one going, yeah, I know we're about to lose ten games.
05:48It's just, that's not how these guys are built.
05:50So, when asked today about, hey, are you competing for the playoffs?
05:54Because this notion like, well, you haven't figured this quarterback thing out.
05:57So, you guys might just be, as Mike said, is this a gap year?
06:01And here's his response to competing for the playoffs.
06:03We're competing to make the playoffs.
06:06That's what we're doing.
06:07That's why we play, right?
06:08You want as many shots on net to allow yourself the opportunity to get into the dance.
06:12And once you get in, who knows what may happen.
06:15So, we're constantly, we're going to continue to invest in the roster.
06:21That's the main goal.
06:22That's why we do what we're doing.
06:24So, whatever we can do to continue to push us forward, that's what we'll do.
06:28That's Ian Cunningham.
06:30And, look, as a general manager, again, supply the players.
06:34Last year, or even the last two years, Mike, some people will say that the players have been on the
06:39field.
06:39It was the coaching that failed us.
06:41Right?
06:42It's been the coaching that has failed us or our inability to get over the hump and win a couple
06:46of games that would have gotten us in the playoffs.
06:48Yeah, I mean, you know, the 49ers game we've talked about, you know, just basic stuff late in the game.
06:52You know, not having a kicker to get you to overtime in the first game of the season.
06:55Not having a guy that can, you know, get you a kick you need, an extra point against the Patriots
06:59to force it over.
07:00I mean, the kicking game alone.
07:02See, that's on the general manager.
07:03Fontenot and Raheem Morris had their heads up their butts when it came to the kicking game.
07:08And we had this publicity stunt of some German guy, Lenny Krieg, nice guy.
07:12You know, he could kick it 70 yards.
07:14No idea where it was going to go.
07:15Nein!
07:16You know?
07:16You know, but that's it.
07:18Because there's no adults.
07:20That's why when we talk about adults in the room, that's a prime example.
07:23Koo lost it.
07:24Everyone knew it.
07:25And you didn't bring in real competition.
07:27So guess what?
07:28Koo screws up again.
07:29You cut Koo.
07:29And then you go to that revolving door of, let's be honest, journeyman kickers who have their run.
07:35And then they crap out, too, because they're not any good.
07:37So that's the franchise.
07:38So there's two games right there.
07:39Well, those two wins make us division champions.
07:42But that's how this team has been run.
07:45And it took Arthur Blank having to spend millions on a consultant having to go, you hired some idiots, you
07:49know, who really didn't have their ducks in a row.
07:51And now we're trying to clean up.
07:53There were some good, some guys who are drafted have really done well, you know, but some have not.
07:58The 2024 draft class is looking like a freaking disaster, save for Brandon Dorliss.
08:01It's true.
08:02No, I mean, if you go man by man right now, it's not cute.
08:06Right.
08:07So that's when I said gap year to you a couple weeks back.
08:10I think there's elements to that.
08:11I think you've got to – they're trying to get better against the run.
08:14They're going to, I guess, eschew some sacks to get better against the run.
08:18He was asked about that today in the press conference.
08:21He sure was.
08:22We've got a lot more to play.
08:23Mike, one more thing here before we talk to Coach Mack, and that is Ian was asked about the collaboration
08:30thing.
08:31And I use that word – look, this goes back some years, okay?
08:35For those of you who have listened to us for, I don't know, five, six, ten years, whatever it's been,
08:40every new front office has used this word, and it's a pet peeve.
08:46It's sort of like my two things can be true, okay?
08:50No, they're not, all right?
08:52And when we talk about this collaboration, my thing has always been, you talk about the top companies in this
08:58country,
08:58the Fortune 500 companies, when decisions happen, Mike, comes from one place, one voice.
09:07I can get all the collaboration I want from everybody, and you can tell me what you think,
09:12but at the end of the day, you've got to have one dude making the decision, or one lady.
09:18And that's why when we hear this collaboration thing, for Mike and I, it's like, ah, don't do that.
09:24Because we've been in this mode of we're collaborating, and what the hell?
09:29What have we achieved?
09:30We haven't gone to the playoffs with this collaboration thing.
09:33I need decisions, and I need it to come from one guy and one guy only.
09:38That's me.
09:38That's how I feel.
09:39All right.
09:40All right.
