00:00With all that going on, obviously the Atlanta Falcons opening their season
00:04is front and center for this city.
00:07And we're the flagship, so we've been pumping this thing up for months
00:10and getting ready for it.
00:11But, boy, does this have a lot of twists and turns
00:14in terms of the quarterback room specifically, the quarterback room,
00:18a room that has had six different starters, I believe it is,
00:23once Sunday happens in that six-year stretch,
00:25and in a room where Michael Penick says,
00:28I can't go, even though I'm clear,
00:31a room where Tuatunga Valoa goes down yesterday,
00:33a room where Cooper Rush was completely unemployed,
00:36and he's starting, it looks like,
00:38and Jack Strand was coming out of Minnesota, Duluth.
00:41Minnesota Moorhead.
00:42Joining us now, Jake Fromm.
00:44He's been a backup of the NFL.
00:45He's been a starter in the NFL.
00:46He's been in multiple quarterback rooms.
00:48He's also host of a fabulous podcast, right?
00:51Yeah, punt and pass, season 10 right now.
00:53Jake and I have been having a blast.
00:54That's right.
00:55Jake, thanks for joining us, man.
00:56And, Jake, great to have you.
00:58Yeah, I was looking at the Notre Dame.
00:59Hey, Drew, thank y'all for having me.
01:01Yeah, a lot of footage this week from the Notre Dame game
01:03that Jake started.
01:04That's right.
01:04Because it was the anniversary.
01:05Yeah.
01:06What anniversary was that?
01:07Like the 10-year?
01:08Have you guys taken over that stadium or whatever it was?
01:10But let's get to the room.
01:12Let's get to the quarterback position, Jake.
01:13And thanks for joining us.
01:16Yeah, absolutely, guys.
01:18Michael Penix Jr., from on-air guys, fans, a lot of vitriol,
01:24that a guy has been cleared by doctors, and it was announced.
01:28And Michael Penix is saying, after three ACLs,
01:31I came back once before and didn't feel right.
01:34I still don't feel right yet.
01:36Is that strange to you?
01:39Is it unfair to be critical of him?
01:41Give us, best you can, what might be going on in his head,
01:44given you haven't had three, four injuries like that.
01:46But what is your thoughts on that whole situation?
01:50Yeah, I think I'm going to put on my upper-level Atlanta Falcons hat
01:55and basically say, hey, I want to give Michael Penix
01:58every opportunity to succeed,
02:01and I want him to be our franchise guy,
02:04and I want him to have a very long and successful career.
02:07So there's no reason, from their perspective,
02:09to rush him in, to play week one.
02:12We need to wait and make sure he's feeling good, feeling healthy.
02:17We're trying to look five years down the road here
02:20and not just look, hey, are we going to be 9-8 this year?
02:23Are we going to be 7-9?
02:25You know, whatever it is.
02:26And we want what's best for Michael Penix moving forward.
02:30When he says, I don't feel, I played after an ACL when I was cleared
02:37and I did not feel like myself,
02:40and I don't want to go back on the field and not feel like myself.
02:43Then there's the notion of you're an NFL player, your team needs you,
02:47you know, you've been cleared, get under center,
02:49you're in harm's way in Pittsburgh.
02:51So talk about what you think he might be feeling,
02:53what that means for a quarterback and not be able to,
02:57someone like you who's been in that position.
02:59Elaborate on that a little bit.
03:00Yeah, this is tough for me because I've never had that type of injury.
03:06But I can imagine you're torn between, hey, man,
03:11I want to get out there for my teammates,
03:13but I also have to have some type of self-preservation.
03:16And if I push myself too early, another catastrophic injury, you know,
03:21could ensue, and then, man, I'm done.
03:23I'm toast pretty much after that.
03:25Now we can get in the weeds of, hey, you know,
03:27the Atlanta Falcons, they knew that this was a possibility.
03:30They knew this guy was a little bit injury-prone when they drafted him,
03:34but they took that risk anyway.
03:35So that's a completely different conversation.
03:37But, you know, in the NFL, everyone plays injured and banged up,
03:42and you're going to have some nicks and bruises.
03:44And even going into week one, not everyone feels great and healthy.
03:48And so you're constantly battling that as a player of, hey, how much, you know,
03:53can I play with, how much pain and how much suffering can I play with, you know,
03:57throughout the rest of the season.
03:58But, you know, when you kind of start getting into the knees and the ACLs and injuries,
04:04that could take up eight, nine, ten months to a year of your time to come back and repair from.
04:09So that's a little bit of a different situation.
04:13Jake, I'm fascinated to think about what's going on inside the quarterback's room for the Atlanta Falcons.
04:18They were kind of clowned on after the last preseason game for keeping four quarterbacks.
04:23Now they're pretty much down to two.
04:25But I want to kind of compare it to the quarterback room that you were in in Detroit.
04:30Jared Goff, yourself, Hendon Hooker, Teddy Bridgewater.
04:34Where if guys were cleared to play, which Michael Penix has been cleared to play,
04:40and it was very evident that they needed you to get out there and play,
04:45yet the quarterback was saying, well, I'm not really ready.
04:48Like, what does that do for the dynamic of the quarterback room?
04:53Man, it kind of turns it into a clown show, honestly.
04:57And I hate to really say that.
04:59You know, I think it's a nightmare scenario.
05:01You know, any time any NFL roster has to put four quarterbacks on their active roster,
05:07that's a nightmare scenario already in and of itself.
05:12Because why?
05:13Because that means you don't have a real number one because you're unsteady.
05:18I mean, there's only 53 guys that can be on the active roster.
05:22And, you know, now you're taking up near the start of the season with only two running backs on active
05:27roster.
05:28And, yes, you're going to elevate guys, but you're just taking away from positions that need that roster depth.
05:34To me, it's two, possibly three at the most, and that's it.
05:38There's really not a whole lot of room for four just because you're just sacrificing somewhere else on your roster.
05:45Jake Fromm with us on Sports Radio 92.9 The Game.
05:47Okay, so it seems like, Jake, Tua Tonga-Vailoa, day-to-day now, injured yesterday in practice with an oblique.
05:53Michael Penix, we don't even know if he's going to be active.
05:55I would assume not.
05:56So the Falcons are down to Cooper Rush and or Jack Strand.
06:01Are these guys ready to play?
06:03Are they ready to go to Pittsburgh and play from an execution perspective with the game plan?
06:08Yeah, so my theory here is I think they really, really like Jack Strand.
06:13And I think they like him so much they almost don't want to throw him to the Wolves week one.
06:18They really feel good about developing this guy, keeping him around.
06:23And when he finally gets this opportunity, they want it to be a good one.
06:27And so I think they'll go out there, they'll throw Cooper Rush out there,
06:31some guy who's been in the NFL for a long time, he's been thrust into situations,
06:35and hopefully they can give, that Cooper can give the Falcons an opportunity
06:40to at least be close and win the game.
06:43So that's kind of my take on this, and I think they're just going to kind of figure it out
06:47as they go
06:47and take it week to week, and hopefully Penix is able to play sometime soon.
06:51You've been in this situation before.
06:53Is it safe to say this will be a smaller playbook?
06:59Absolutely not turning the ball over is the number one job of Cooper Rush.
07:04And just look at Bijon and look at Robinson and just look at underneath passes and go,
07:09let's survive as long as we can in this game.
07:13Yeah, I mean, when you have Bijon in the mix, I mean, that just kind of takes it to a
07:18whole other level
07:19from a perspective of a backup quarterback here getting thrust into this situation.
07:23Being the 3-4, it's, hey, do whatever you can to not lose this game.
07:28Stay in it for as long as you can.
07:30Don't turn the ball over.
07:31I mean, I think that's exactly right.
07:32You don't have to win the game, but definitely do not come in and lose the game for any reason,
07:37especially when you have Bijon back there.
07:40I mean, give him 30, 40 touches.
07:43Let him figure it out, and he's going to keep it close.
07:46If you don't have Bijon Robinson, I mean, think about a game like this.
07:49There's zero shot, right?
07:51Yeah, correct.
07:52But you have a guy that can get a five-yard swing pass and make it 73 yards the way,
07:58you know,
07:58Todd Gurley used to do that stuff.
08:00And guys, like, you're just like, get him the ball and let him take off.
08:02Yep.
08:03So I guess that's part of what we'll see.
08:06Appreciate getting the perspective, Jake, from a quarterback.
08:09And there is no easy answer, I think, is what you're up with, Michael Penix Jr.
08:13Just, I love what you said.
08:15It's a nightmare situation.
08:17Yeah, it absolutely is.
08:18When you're caring for, and you're just taking depth away from other positions.
08:21That's a great way to put it.
08:23So thanks for coming on.
08:24We look forward to talking to you down the line.
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