00:00Oh Atlanta, we got so much work to do. What's really changed with this football team? We want
00:07to hear from you today. It is a Falcon Monday. We are Dukes and Bell. We start off every day
00:12and every hour by saying, Hey man, I would tell you happy Monday, but it's hard to be happy after
00:17seeing a performance like that in Pittsburgh. And there are so many questions that still loom.
00:22Forget about thinking about Sunday. I'm talking about our home opener. Let's just focus on the
00:28now. And Mike, there's a lot to focus on and a lot of questions that remain about what's
00:33going to happen at this quarterback position. Look, Cooper Rush got here the first day of
00:39camp. We questioned that whole ordeal, how this all played out, but it was what it is.
00:43But guys, the offense yesterday is still a problem. And Mike, on so many levels from the
00:49offensive line to how the play calling happened and people will say, well, he was limited Tommy
00:53Reese because he didn't have a quarterback. At the end of the day, this was another embarrassing
00:57performance. Now, the crazy thing is, Mike, you said it today on our pre-show, we still
01:01had a chance to win this game. That's the thing. I mean, if you'd gone up to Pittsburgh
01:05and they beat us 35-7, okay. All right, fine. But it's like everything else with this Falcon
01:10team. And I hate to break the past into the conversation because we thought we had a clean
01:15slate, but it's all the Falcon stuff that always comes up. The quarterback situation is a joke.
01:19It's a fiasco. I got Tua and Mike sitting on the sideline. Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?
01:24I don't know. Beats me. Maybe I'll be cleared then. Wait a minute. I
01:27am cleared. How's your back? Oh, sore, man. Beats working for a living. I mean, that's
01:34like the guys that should be playing quarterback. Then I get to Cooper Rush, who quite clearly
01:39is just not that good. And again, there's a reason he was available on the float, Carl,
01:43as late as July 31st. But you've got to look at the Falcons and say, not again, man. We
01:49signed the best kicker in free agency and he can't make two big kicks. Special teams wasn't
01:54great as always. It just, you got Drake London and you got Kyle Pitts and Zachary Branch and
01:59they can't do anything because the quarterback can't throw the ball more than five yards.
02:02Or you didn't trust the idea to try to get them a short pass to allow them to work. You
02:08know, get our playmakers in space. We always hear this. Guys, the phone lines are wide open
02:13and they will be all day. 404-726-0929. Not only are your thoughts welcome, but how do you solve
02:19this problem? And many of you are going to say, well, this problem is simple, Dukes and
02:23Bill. As soon as Michael Penix gets back, I have no faith that that fixes everything.
02:30I just don't. And again, we go back to the summer when we were arguing, Mike and I, to many
02:36of you, and even to Mike and I amongst ourselves about what is he? If he was a proven commodity,
02:42I'd feel a lot better. But Michael's in this still prove it stage. So I just don't know
02:46if that solves everything like, oh, well, he's back and all of a sudden the offense is
02:50going to take off. All right. With that said, Mike, look, we had nine penalties for 96 yards.
02:57This is not where I'm starting. I'm just laying out certain things. Guys, you can't hurt yourself,
03:03especially on the road. And when you have nine penalties for 96 yards and the offense accounted
03:08for seven, that doesn't help anything. That certainly doesn't help you moving the ball,
03:13moving the chains, Mike, or attempting to get in the red zone, which, oh, by the way,
03:16we didn't yesterday. So there are things fundamentally wrong that we thought, hey,
03:22this stuff will be fixed, Mike. First game of the season, the offense will look a lot better.
03:25Oh, it doesn't matter who quarterback is. We just need a guy to be in there and, you know,
03:29get the ball to the plate. And we couldn't even function. So the penalties hurt you.
03:33Mike mentioned Nick Folk. Thanks for nothing. And by the way, do you guys remember us interviewing
03:37him early in camp? And I said, take me through your process. I want to know exactly what you do
03:43every kick. And he said, oh, I do the same thing mentally. And well, Nick, you didn't do it
03:47yesterday. Two for four, Mike. Yeah. Look, we know that Pittsburgh is a difficult place to kick,
03:52but that doesn't matter because it just brings back bad memories of all the nonsense we went through
03:55with the position last year. So it's just, it's just so aggravating because, you know,
03:59it is funny this year I said I wasn't going to be a hype machine and I'm glad I didn't
04:02overhype it,
04:03but there's still a level of, of, of your fan feelings. You can't suppress. You're in this
04:08game. You're like, what we got there. We got a shot at this Cooper rush. I mean, this is what's
04:14so frustrating. Don't tease me by putting the backup, the guy that's undrafted on the roster
04:20because people are going to want to see him because they saw him do things in the preseason
04:25under whatever circumstance you want to quantify it by who he was up against and what base defenses
04:28he was up against, whatever he can run. He could at least move the ball forward.
04:33five or six yards. So basically you could have run a single wing with, with, with Jack Strand and
04:38Bichon and maybe won this game. Okay. It's just so exasperating. I'm, I'm screaming at the TV.
04:45Please put Strand in, please put Strand in. And look, Stefanski, he's old school. You're not going
04:50to get anything from him. It's all coach speak. It's 110% coach speak after the game. It's just very
04:54frustrating. And to say that, and by the way, one last note before I stopped screaming is everybody
04:59wants to say, Oh, it's a long season. Yeah. And, and everybody in our fricking division lost. And Oh,
05:04by the way, this division has come down to one game the last four years. Every year. I mean,
05:08give me a break. I mean, if you think this doesn't matter, you don't know what the hell you're talking
05:11about. Yeah. The strand thing, Mike is, is, is interesting. I will just simply ask this for
05:16everybody who says you're crazy as hell Dukes. Cause I said last week started, what's it hurt? And after
05:23yesterday, you guys got to ask yourself the question, could it have been any worse? Could
05:28it have been any worse? Could he have thrown that pick six to TJ Watt? Absolutely. But you
05:32would be saying, all right, he's an undrafted free agent. No big deal. Not a guy that's been
05:36in the league and should have seen that Cooper rush says he didn't even see TJ Watt. Yeah.
05:41So to your point about that, they don't have the balls. Let's be honest to roll the dice
05:46in a situation where guys, this isn't going to get any better. And so, you know what Cooper,
05:51we know you got late to the party, but let's just try the kid and see what happens. And,
05:55and nobody expected us to win anyway. So roll the dice, but they didn't. And now here we
06:01find ourselves in this waiting game for Michael Penix. Mike, I want to ask you this before we
06:04jump on the phones. 404-726-0929. Falcons lose to the Steelers 2013, but guys, there's so much
06:10to this. It's just more than the score. Mike's right. It's the same crap we've been watching
06:15and I just can't get out of my head. You tell me what's different from art to raw to Kevin.
06:26You guys tell me, I've seen every first game of their, their, their tenure and they look the
06:31damn same mistakes, kicking mistakes, coaching mistakes. Like you tell me. So Mike, if you
06:37are Michael Penix, what are you thinking today? I think, and I could be the answer to the problem.
06:42I could establish myself as the starting quarterback and maybe my team president won't
06:46be in Stillwater, Oklahoma looking at other quarterbacks. Okay guys, I don't care where
06:53you stand on this anymore. This is quite clearly obvious to anyone who's ever competed at any
06:58level. You've been cleared. You can play, get your ass out there and win this job and establish
07:05yourself as the man. So they don't have to draft a quarterback next year. And then don't listen
07:10to Cam Newton for career advice. Everyone's got their own path in this world. Okay. Your
07:14path is supposed to be starting quarterback for the Falcons. You got a lot of the city
07:17pulling for you and a lot of the city going, you know what? I washed my hands of this guy.
07:21If he can't get his butt out there next week against Carolina, do yourself a favor, Mike
07:25and do your job.
07:27So you mean when I said some of you were questioning his heart last week and many of you were
07:31offended.
07:31You mean that actually is happening. You mean that actually is going on with some Falcon
07:35fans who are wondering where's the desire and the urgency to get out there and attempt
07:40to help your team, especially since the medical staff is good. You're saying that's actually
07:45going on now.
07:46Yes.
07:46Amazing. Because that's what I said last week and many of you tried to kill us for saying,
07:51oh, you shouldn't say that about him. But after this game, all of a sudden, Mike, now,
07:56oh my goodness, what's he waiting for?
07:59Right. Now again, I said this on our pre-show on Twitch. There's some cussing in there too if
08:03you want to get your money's worth. It's on YouTube and Twitch. But no, we were saying
08:07about, I don't know if there was other parts of the game, if guys have video of that, please
08:11forward it to us, where Mike and Tua were involved on the sideline and they were talking
08:15to Cooper Rush or engaged with the coaching staff. And if that happened, great. But it's
08:20just, you know, one piece of video, it does unfortunately create a lot of buzz. And when
08:23you see the two quarterbacks sitting like they're at a park bench or waiting for a train,
08:27you know, and the game's going on, it just seems like they're just not connected.
08:30Or engaged. Like, that's the part. It's not that we expect you to do anything, but be
08:36engaged. They should have been shaking their heads or nodding their heads on the play calls
08:40and saying, oh man, okay. Nothing. At least that's what we saw. And again, not being on
08:46the sidelines 200% of the time and seeing every interaction. But Mike's right about that.
08:51That's the problem. And that's why it's rubbing so many people the wrong way.
08:54All right. Let's grab Josh and Takula. Josh, welcome
08:58in to Sports Radio 92.9 The Game. Hey man, what are you thinking
09:00about the Falcons? And what's your answers to any
09:03of this? I don't really have any answers.
09:06I will tell you this. Saturday, Saturday evening, I got engaged
09:09this weekend. Congratulations. Thank you.
09:12Thank you. Thank you. I watched Cooper Rush
09:14play football for the Atlanta Falcons and it ruined
09:16my whole weekend. I don't have anything productive, but
09:19hey, we got to turn it around. It's been
09:2210 years of nonsense. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.
09:25Thanks for the, for, should I say, thanks to, not thanks, but
09:30congratulations to you and sorry that your weekend was ruined that way.
09:33Well, I mean, we knew there was some, I don't know, call it, what is your
09:37definition of realistic expectations? Some guys always expect this team to win
09:4010 games, but how weird the offseason was. I thought that as the game, as the
09:44game evolved and progressed, you saw that, you know, hey, despite AJ Terrell
09:48looking like, wow, maybe he's the number two and not the number one, you know,
09:51and, and the offensive line with all the penalties, we're still in this game
09:54because the Steelers offense is still not, nothing great. It's nothing special,
09:58you know, and Zedaria Smith came in with two sacks and guys are making plays,
10:02but I mean, you're still in this game. You just need the quarterback. You and I
10:05have said this phrase last three years, competent quarterback play baseline. I
10:10mean, you're telling me that Jack Strand couldn't have done any, you tell me
10:13Jack Strand could have had one hot read like Mike Vick in the old days. Not okay. You
10:16know, if he's not there, pull it, pull it and go. I think that could have
10:19worked. I do too. Joe in Buford, you're on Sports Radio 92.9 The Game on a Falcon
10:24Monday. It's Dukes and Bell. What's going on, Joe? Hey guys, it's Joe from the
10:28Cuse originally. Hey brother. How are you doing, Mike? Anyway, the more things try to
10:34change, the more they stay the same. This is like somebody ignoring repairs that
10:40need to be done on a house and then within two months you need a new roof, a new
10:45air conditioner, a furnace. Next thing you know, you're 60 grand upside down and nothing's
10:50changed in nine years because you ignored it. Mike, all I can say in closing is, I hope
10:56you got it in the under before the season started.
11:00I will never bet against my Falcon team. Florida State, I'll bet against it. I'll never bet
11:04against the Falcons, Carl.
11:05Yeah.
11:05I didn't get in on that because I didn't go over or under on it because I was so indecisive.
11:11I only go in on stuff that I absolutely feel 100% on. When it dropped to 6.5, I
11:15took
11:15the over because I figured we're 7-10. Correct. And with competent quarterback play, you would
11:21feel like that's very possible. Right. I mean, the division, as we know, guys, is so
11:25winnable. And again, it's pretty simple. Michael Penix Jr. And by the way, if you struggle,
11:32at least you'll be out there. I'll give you some slack. I would have taken Michael Penix
11:36on one leg at 50% over Cooper Rush yesterday. And now you, you got a chance to be the
11:42hero
11:42here. Okay. You've had, I mean, let's go. It's go time, Mike. This is your career on the
11:48line here, but let's go.
11:50What Tommy Reese didn't do yesterday, that's on the way. Want to remind you, Falcons Monday
11:55on Sports Radio 92.9 The Game.
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