00:00Bring in former Falcons quarterback and analyst for the Atlanta Falcons Radio Network, Dave Archer.
00:05Dave, thanks so much for joining us this morning.
00:07I'm really not even sure where to start with all the conversations around the quarterbacks right now.
00:13Obviously, you know Tua's day-to-day.
00:15How are you sizing up the situation at this point, Dave?
00:19Well, probably like everybody else is, you know, just kind of shrugging your shoulders and say,
00:24okay, what next can happen with the quarterback situation?
00:28Very difficult for coaching staff, you know, and obviously we had a training camp supposed battle
00:36or battle in the offseason that you thought would take shape.
00:40That really never did.
00:42And now you've got this situation to deal with.
00:46So, you know, fortunately you had two guys in Cooper Rush and Jack Strand that did some good stuff in
00:55the preseason
00:56that you feel like you could lean into in an emergency situation, and frankly, this could be what that is.
01:02And with that, you know, the weight doubles down on guys like Bajon Robinson and Drake London
01:10and these guys that are around whoever's going to play quarterback.
01:14Certainly you could put a plan together for Cooper.
01:17Cooper Cooper's played, you know, he started 16 games in this league,
01:21and so it's not like he hasn't been in this situation before.
01:25But it's certainly not an ideal situation, no question.
01:28Yeah, but to that point, Arsh, I mean, in your mind, I know you haven't been in those rooms,
01:33but do you think the game plan really would change that much between Rush and Tua?
01:41Or am I kind of – because to me, I just don't feel like it would, but maybe I'm wrong
01:44on that.
01:45You obviously know more than me.
01:47Well, the game plan will – they'll lean into – and you heard Kevin Stefanski,
01:52you probably heard the presser for Tommy Reese yesterday,
01:55and he talked about leaning into what guys do best, you know.
01:59And there are certain things that Tua brings to the table that maybe Cooper's not as comfortable with.
02:06And all those things, only Tommy knows that, and probably the coaching staff,
02:10Alex Van Pelt, the quarterback coach, as to what those situations are,
02:15whether it's the waggle plays or the boot plays.
02:18And I don't think that we saw anything in training camp that would lead you to believe
02:22that Cooper doesn't feel comfortable with probably similar stuff that Tua runs.
02:30Now, would you ask him – remember, you know, Tua's been absorbing this offense
02:36since he got here, you know, back in OTAs.
02:40Cooper Rush showed up at the beginning of training camp.
02:43So his ability to do things at the line of scrimmage might be, you know,
02:49significantly limited as to what we saw Tua do.
02:53We saw Tua in the game against Miami where, you know, he motioned Kyle inside –
02:59or motioned him outside, saw how Miami reacted to it, changed the play,
03:03brought Kyle back inside, and then an old screenplay,
03:06and Kyle went down the sideline for about 35 or 40 yards.
03:09Not saying that Cooper can't do that, but I don't know that if he has enough reps
03:16under his belt to be able to check into some of that kind of stuff.
03:21So that might be some of the limitations you have should Cooper have to play in the game.
03:26Arch, let's dive a little bit deeper.
03:28I mean, we don't know who the quarterback's going to be at this point,
03:30but in your mind, what do you think is the way the Falcons need to attack
03:35this really, really talented Pittsburgh defense?
03:39Well, Mike, whenever you have a team that rushes the passer,
03:42conventional wisdom from me and the things that I've learned is you've got to make them
03:46defend the run.
03:47I think you would do that anyway.
03:49I think that this was – it's a big front.
03:53So, again, traditional wisdom is that you want to make them run.
03:57I think that, you know, we're so excited about some of the new additions in the run game
04:03that Tommy and Kevin and Bill Callahan are bringing to the table with the gap scheme stuff.
04:10I'm of the opinion – I think I heard you say this, too, is that, you know,
04:14you want to make them run so that's wide zone, you know,
04:17and you want to make them get on their horse and try to get, you know, get cut off.
04:23But it's not like that this is a veteran – you know, to a certain extent,
04:26this is a veteran defense.
04:28The two linebackers are really good in the middle.
04:31Patrick Queen has seen pretty much all you're going to throw at him as a seven-year guy.
04:35I thought Peyton Wilson is a guy that's unsung only in his third year at NC State,
04:41but he had over 125 tackles last year.
04:45And we know the two edge guys, it's not like you're throwing anything at them
04:48that they haven't seen before either.
04:49But I would say that you want to try to run them.
04:53You're obviously going to try to keep them off balance.
04:55I would throw the ball on first down some, too.
04:58So you say, hey, I'm going to run the football.
04:59But I think that, you know, if you want to keep T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith
05:04and whoever else gets in there to rush the passer,
05:07for me, it'll pin his ears back.
05:09You want to stay out of third down, obvious third down in long situations
05:13where you're trying to throw the ball.
05:14So you remember the first play out of the box against Indianapolis was the hard play action.
05:20He threw the deep comeback to the wide side of the field.
05:22Those are some things Tommy will have to be really on his P's and Q's
05:26when it comes to, you know, mixing things up from series to series,
05:30maybe even from, you know, three sets of downs to three sets of downs
05:33as you move the chains.
05:36This is going to be a tough game anyway for both teams from an adjustment standpoint
05:41because you don't really know what either team is going to do.
05:44Two-node coaching staffs, Atlanta's is on the offensive side of the football,
05:48so Pittsburgh will know a little bit more about Atlanta defensively
05:52than Atlanta might know about Pittsburgh defensively.
05:55So it's going to be a major adjustment game, not just into the second half.
05:59You're going to need to make those adjustments from series to series.
06:02We're joined by Dave Archer on The Morning Shift.
06:05I'm going to ask you to put yourself in Cooper Rush's shoes at this point.
06:08You signed here to be the backup.
06:10Suddenly on Thursday in week one, you're taking first-team reps.
06:12Is this more exciting or terrifying?
06:14Where is his mindset at this point?
06:18Yeah, I don't think you're terrified.
06:19I mean, you get in this game, Allie, you want to play, you know,
06:23and you get in to want to play.
06:25He probably obviously didn't think that with Michael Penix
06:29and Tua Tungvalu competing to be the starter
06:33that he was just kind of battling to be that guy
06:35that would be the emergency guy.
06:37But he's been in this situation before,
06:39so it's not foreign territory for him as we talked about before.
06:43I don't think you're terrified.
06:45There's nervous energy, no question about it.
06:47Michael will tell you that you have nervous energy anyway.
06:50Jake Matthews is going to have nervous energy going into this game.
06:54I think Aaron Rodgers will have nervous energy.
06:56He's going into his 22nd season.
06:58Because you want to do the things right for your teammates.
07:01You want to be able to be perfect if you can.
07:04I remember Troy Aikman saying his goal in every game,
07:07in every practice, was to be perfect.
07:09Well, that was his goal.
07:10You're never going to be perfect because the other side's getting paid to play, too.
07:13They've got plans to try to disrupt what you're trying to do.
07:17So his mindset will be very important, Allie, though, and you make a good point,
07:23is that he doesn't get down on himself or allow himself to fall into some kind of funk
07:28because some things don't go right for him.
07:32I thought we got a little bit of that in the Denver game, threw a couple of picks,
07:36and I think he struggled a little bit.
07:38I didn't think he knew the offense extremely well.
07:40He's much more dialed in now than he was for the Denver game.
07:44So I think he'll be in a better place mentally as well from a confidence standpoint.
07:49Arch, when you look at the receivers that the Steelers are going to line up,
07:52they've got Metcalf, big guy.
07:54They've got Pittman, also 6'4", and then Jeremy Bernard, who's over 6'4", as well.
07:59How do you kind of neutralize the big receivers like this?
08:04Is there a certain way that maybe you think they should play them?
08:10Well, I think that there's, you know, I asked that question to Kevin Stefanski,
08:16this presser, on Wednesday.
08:18I said, this is a big receiver core.
08:19I didn't really, Bernard's 6'1", he's kind of an average side receiver nowadays,
08:23but Ben Skoranek is 6'3", 225, Pittman's 6'4", 225, and Metcalf, as you mentioned, 6'4", 235.
08:31So big guys on the outside.
08:33I don't know how quick twitch they are.
08:36Now, we know that Metcalf can run, so he'd be the one guy that's obviously big and strong and tough.
08:43I don't think that Atlanta's going to travel corners.
08:46So A.J.'s a good-sized corner at 6'1", 6'2", so he could match with somebody,
08:52but that's not really what Jeff Ulbrich does.
08:54He kind of keeps guys at home.
08:56You've got a bigger corner in C.J. Henderson that's rotating in to play as well.
09:02So you've got some guys defensively that could match up with him.
09:08This is more about Aaron Rodgers, I think, than the receivers.
09:12Aaron Rodgers has kind of transitioned to a guy that plays the game horizontally.
09:16Now, he'll still try to stretch you down the field and take shots.
09:20He's still got a big arm, and you can see it on tape,
09:24but he's a guy that wants to get the ball out of his hands.
09:26He doesn't have the ability to move around as well as he used to,
09:30and I think that was part of an unsung piece of his game early on.
09:34But he's got a big arm, and the ball comes out quickly.
09:38And so now how do you take that away?
09:40You've got to come up and hug up, and you've got to jam guys up.
09:43And usually bigger receivers from an ability to make you miss at the line of scrimmage
09:48struggle with that a little bit.
09:49Now, all of a sudden, when they get down the field and they get into top-end speed
09:52or it's a 50-50 ball, then they create problems for you.
09:56So I know the Falcons are leaning into watching the routes that they run.
10:02Now, again, this is an adjustment piece now because you've got a new offensive system here.
10:07You've got to go back and look at Green Bay tape.
10:10You've got to go back and look at the tape from the Dallas Cowboys
10:12when McCarthy was coaching there, and what did he do with C.D. Lamb
10:16and some of those guys is what they'll do with D.K. Metcalf.
10:20So you can see that it's really going to be an adjustment deal
10:22and a feeling-out period for the first quarter, certainly,
10:26and maybe into the first half.
10:28And hopefully you can do some things to keep them off the field some as well.
10:31But I'm not as concerned about the wide receiver core as I am about the two running backs
10:37because the way the ball comes out and the way the two guys played last year,
10:40Rico Dattle and Jalen Warren both ran for about 1,000 yards last year,
10:44and they're going to want to come off the ball and test Atlanta's ability to stop the run.
10:48We weren't very good against the run a year ago, and I know we're bigger,
10:51but they're going to get tested in it, and it'll be interesting to see
10:54if Atlanta can hold up there and then push McCarthy into some uncomfortable situations
10:59and make these receivers make some plays.
11:02Well, Dave, we appreciate the time.
11:04Hopefully there are no more headlines coming out of Flaury Branch
11:06before you guys get the touchdown in Pittsburgh this weekend.
11:10Yeah, that would be nice.
11:11It'd be nice to get some good news out of there.
11:13That'd be for sure.
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