00:00I'm sorry, we're just examining the information in front of us.
00:03Yes.
00:04And the information says that Tua may have hurt himself at practice today.
00:13Atlanta! What's going on? It's Dukes and Bell on Sports Radio 92.9 The Game.
00:17We start off every day and every hour by saying,
00:20Hey, man! We're not making this up.
00:22We are simply reporting what's being reported, and that is during the media portion.
00:27So understand, the media only gets a chance to see the first few minutes of practice,
00:30and then they go, All right! Everybody inside!
00:32Because, again, it's game week.
00:34We're not trying to disclose game plans or what we're doing,
00:36and then guys speak afterwards.
00:39So during the media portion of practice, which is where guys were witnessing what was going on,
00:43and we've seen this. You've been up to camp.
00:45They're throwing the ball around. They're getting warmed up. They're ready to go.
00:48Tua touched his back, sat down on the grass, Mike,
00:51and then briefly during individual drills, this is when this was going on,
00:55we do not know what happened. A lot of the reporters who are up there,
00:58our guys that report on the team every day, Joe Patrick, Mark Romandik,
01:02they don't know what happened. They're just witnessing this.
01:04And then he didn't seem to throw again,
01:07but the media only got a chance to see a small portion of this.
01:11So, again, don't want to rush to judgment here and say,
01:13Oh, he's hurt, and he won't be available Sunday.
01:15We'll wait for the injury report.
01:17But, Mike, certainly not good news.
01:19I mean, this is the definition of being a Falcons fan.
01:22The level of, I mean, the aggravation, the frustration.
01:25First of all, we didn't get a quarterback battle.
01:26That never happened.
01:28Then we got a guy, the doctors have cleared, but he's not ready.
01:30And everyone says, you know, that's a profile in courage.
01:32You don't go until you're ready.
01:33And the good news is, now you have a chance, if you wanted to.
01:37They could refigure the designation to active,
01:41and you could hypothetically, you know, rescue the day.
01:44Come to the rescue if you were needed.
01:46Now, again, as you said, we don't know the severity of what's going on with Tua.
01:49It might just be something which, you know, it's not serious,
01:52or maybe it is serious.
01:54Because if it's serious and they stay with the plan,
01:55then it's Cooper Rush starting in Pittsburgh.
01:57Which is nuts.
01:59And, look, I've been saying all offseason, we're a play away.
02:01Like, with the Strand thing, Frost, right?
02:03If, in fact, he's your emergency quarterback, and, again, if Tua is tight,
02:08and this goes back to, let's, Mike, let's rewind a bit.
02:11Beginning of camp, and this is something that national media really didn't talk about
02:15because Tua missed, you know, that first week, week and a half
02:17because of tightness in his back.
02:20And, Mike, if this is a lingering thing, which it's very possible it could be,
02:25especially if it's muscle-related or whatever, okay, that's not going to go away,
02:30especially if he's re-aggravated it potentially today.
02:32So that's part of this discussion, guys, as we talk about, hey, what happened?
02:37You know, he's fragile.
02:38No, he was dealing with some back issues as camp got underway, but then they said,
02:42you know, Kevin Stefanski, oh, so, you know, day-to-day, he'll be back, he'll be fine.
02:46He came back.
02:47He went through the rest of camp.
02:48We really hadn't talked about it until today.
02:50So that is where this is right now.
02:54But, guys, the Steelers are getting ready for Sunday 1 o'clock, and here we are right now
02:59wondering about a guy's back, one guy not playing because he's inactive,
03:03an undrafted rookie who's the emergency guy, and a guy that none of you think can go win
03:08a football game for us in Cooper Rush.
03:09That's the reality, right, Mike?
03:10I think people know Cooper's played in the NFL, but you hadn't talked about Cooper Rush at all.
03:15Man, Cooper Rush, remember, Jack Strand got the extra reps because nobody was really ready
03:19to go when camp started, and then Cooper came in last minute on the plane, but he is a guy
03:23with experience.
03:24He had a couple of, you know, he won games for the Cowboys, you know, when he was pressed
03:27into service, so he's serviceable.
03:28The question we had is, and it started last night with Mike Florio, and then, if you didn't
03:33see it, Mike Tomlin said the only interesting thing last night of that entire pre- and post-game
03:37show on NBC.
03:38You didn't like the way I was broadcasting?
03:40No, he was good.
03:41It's just, that's nothing.
03:42I mean, there's no juice.
03:43I brought what I brought.
03:44You know, there's nothing going on on that pre-game show, man.
03:47It was like, that was vanilla with mayonnaise on white bread.
03:50But anyway, I had my tape warm.
03:52What are you talking about?
03:52But as far as coach, you know, saying, the last time we saw Tua, obviously it didn't go
03:56so well for him, and he was there in the stadium, we all know.
03:59Yeah.
03:59But then Florio goes and says, well, if Tua doesn't do well, he'll be cut.
04:02You know, well, first off, you have to take that with a grain of salt, because Florio has
04:05had a mean on for the Falcons for whatever reason.
04:08I never quite understood what that was about, but he loves to throw some stuff at us.
04:11But you and I both agree, I didn't think we were going to have four quarterbacks.
04:14You know, a quarter, a half way into the season on the roster, did you?
04:17No, no.
04:18But Tua getting cut, if he completely lays an egg up in Pittsburgh, or the first, I don't
04:24know, whenever Penix gets back, when Tua plays, if he plays poorly, he'd be cut.
04:29Okay.
04:30And however this plays out, what we see Sunday is not going to be what we see week 15.
04:36Okay?
04:37It's just not.
04:38It's like the start of the Braves season.
04:40What the rotation is is not what the rotation is now.
04:42It's going to change.
04:44And look, the football gods have not looked upon us, Mike, in a way where our quarterback
04:49situation has been so sewed up that we have not had to worry about it.
04:52It's been the thing we've worried about as Falcon fans for the last six or seven years.
04:56So, if you told me right now, one, we're not going to have four quarterbacks by the
05:00end of the season, duh.
05:01Two, Tua may or may not be here.
05:03Okay.
05:04None of this surprises me.
05:07Because the instability at the position, Mike, has caused us to be here.
05:11The decision-making has caused us to be here.
05:14Right.
05:15It all goes hand-in-hand.
05:16Everybody wants to point to Tua and I don't like him.
05:19Guess what?
05:19Matt Ryan and Ian Cunningham brought him here.
05:21It's all hand-in-hand.
05:22And so, if it doesn't work out, guys, it doesn't.
05:24But we've been saying this.
05:26If it doesn't, there will be change next year anyway.
05:28Yeah.
05:29I mean, that's why, you know, when we had this argument, people go, you can't tell Penix
05:32when he's ready.
05:33No, I can't.
05:33Okay.
05:34And by the way, let Penix take until freaking Halloween.
05:37Okay.
05:37Because if he stinks, you guys are going to say, he rushed back.
05:40And there'll be that BS excuse pulled in by the guys who will only accept Penix as the
05:44starting quarterback, right, despite his injury history.
05:47So, take as long as you want.
05:48Because the excuses are built in for Camp Penix.
05:51Not that he and his family, talk about the guys that are killing us on Twitter because
05:54we're being hard about expecting a guy who's medically cleared to go.
05:58Yeah.
05:58You know, but as far as Tua, as you said, touched his back, sat down on the grass briefly.
06:04Okay.
06:05So, it's Thursday.
06:07The game is Sunday.
06:08You know, if this was the starting to establish quarterback, he'd get treatment and maybe
06:11you figure he'd go.
06:12But in this weird, nebulous situation, we're in who knows what we're going to do in quarterback.
06:18And that uncertainty has us wondering.
06:20It's Thursday.
06:22Tomorrow, guys should be locked in.
06:24Game plan's in.
06:25You feel good, Mike.
06:27You can get on the plane Saturday.
06:28Like, this should be easy riding right now.
06:33And hopefully it will be.
06:34But if you're just joining us, that news coming down as the guys are practicing the day.
06:40And literally, it just happened about 15 minutes ago or so.
06:43So, again, we're not going to get any new information because they're on the field.
06:47And they're not going to release any medical information right now.
06:50Nor will they do that, guys, before the game unless it's absolutely necessary.
06:55So, my guess is, Mike, they'll ask coach.
06:58They'll ask about this.
06:59He'll be listed as day-to-day.
07:00And even if it's worse than that, they're not going to.
07:03Now, we're not going to play our hand because guess what?
07:05Steelers may get ready for Tua.
07:06And if he's not going to be available already, and now we've got to make a decision.
07:10So, there's some juggling that may have to go on here.
07:13But I do not expect the Falcons to release anything on this.
07:16All right.
07:17So, you could.
07:19Now, hypothetically, guys set us up already on the text line saying could they reactivate?
07:22Yeah, they can change the designation for Michael.
07:24There's still a window for that, right, Dede?
07:26I believe you.
07:27By the way, you talk about a story.
07:30You talk about a story.
07:32Right?
07:32Like, Thursday, this guy gets injured in some way and is maybe not able to go for whatever reason.
07:39And you talk about a story.
07:40Now, he's available.
07:42He's ready.
07:43He can play.
07:44I mean, he's right.
07:45It would be a hell of a chance to save the day.
07:47You know, look, it's a long season.
07:48I heard Rusty Mansell talk.
07:49It sure is.
07:49It's a long season.
07:50But, you know, we've had long seasons that were defined by one freaking game.
07:54One game.
07:55Cost us.
07:55One game.
07:56Cost us the division last year.
07:58It was two games two years ago.
07:59You know, it's the margins of the NFL.
08:02So, yes, while it is a long season, there's no such thing as throwaway weekends, you know,
08:06in a division which has been so nip-tocked for the last couple of seasons.
08:09Hmm.
08:10404-726-0929.
08:12No.
08:13You can't make this stuff up.
08:15We're not making it up.
08:16Divine Diablo is going to join us.
08:17I said Divine Diablo.
08:20At 250-ish.
08:21Okay?
08:22So, stay tuned.
08:23We'll talk to the big dude.
08:25He is the green dot guy calling the defenses, and I'm curious to get his thoughts on what
08:30he thinks this defense can do.
08:32And, look, yes, we'll ask, but understand the defense is on another field.
08:36Okay?
08:37They're not on the same field as the quarterbacks in the offense, so he may or may not be aware
08:41until after practice, but we'll certainly ask and see if he knows anything because I
08:44know you're already going, well, ask Divine.
08:46We will.
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