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The Atlanta Falcons announced Monday afternoon that quarterback Michael Penix Jr. would return to the starting lineup Thursday for their primetime showdown with the Green Bay Packers. What does it mean for offensive playmakers like Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts? Joe dives into that and why Penix under center salvages the season for those who tune in.
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00:03Hey Michael Penix is back to save the day everything is fine nothing else matters nothing
00:08else that happened in the last 14 days matters because Michael Penix is back as the Falcons
00:13starting quarterback he will be under center as the Falcons travel to Green Bay to take on the
00:18Packers on Thursday night football of course I'm having a little bit of fun at the news that
00:22came out this afternoon that Michael Penix has returned uh you know he's obviously not returning
00:27to practice or not cleared but he is going to play in a game now uh we are at that
00:33stage of the
00:34return so it is officially I want to say the saga is over because the saga could just be beginning
00:39if uh worse comes to worse but Michael Penix has the chance to at least allow the season to be
00:46salvageable in one way or the other uh welcome back to Joe Patrick on football please give the video a
00:53like and uh subscribe to 92.9 the game's YouTube channel I have been addicted to the YouTube
01:00channel today just watching and listening to all the takes coming out of this godforsaken football
01:06game that happened at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers uh we'll get
01:11into too much more of that although we will be reflecting on a little bit as it relates to um
01:16you
01:17know some of the benefits that Michael Penix brings to this football team again in his return this
01:23Thursday so you know let's kind of go through it a little bit you know Stefanski hinted at it this
01:27morning that you think there would that the the status quo is not going to remain with Cooper Rush
01:33as the starting quarterback he basically said that there's they'll I forget the exact terminology I
01:38don't remember if he exactly said changes but uh hinted at some sort of announcement and he even
01:44specified that that announcement could come this afternoon or potentially tomorrow obviously it came
01:49today and um you know it also lines up with some of the reporting that we've seen from Adam Schefter
01:54and
01:54Ian Rappaport I saw Ian Rappaport was the one who broke the story today right before or maybe like
01:59basically simultaneously with atlantafalcons.com who announced the news but you know they had been
02:04reporting especially on the Sunday on yesterday uh Sunday morning um leading into that Panthers game
02:11that the Falcons split reps had Michael Penix split reps with Cooper Rush during the practice week the
02:17week before to get him ready for this Packers date that obviously has a short turnaround from the
02:23Panthers game and maybe one of the reasons why they didn't want to play him in the Panthers game if
02:29he could have potentially played in it because he would have such a short turnaround to then have to
02:34play again after playing his first game in the better part of 10 months and that's also the benefit
02:39of playing him in this particular Packers game because it's on a Thursday and obviously you get the
02:44mini buy there and that's even accentuated by the fact I think this is the second time in as many
02:48years as the Falcons Monday game yeah because they had the uh the Monday night game against the Bills
02:54last year I believe anyway I'm getting off track but he gets an extra day so you basically have 11
02:59days to recover after you play that first game against the Packers I've seen people gripe with
03:04the fact that he was getting some of the first team reps and that you know you look at Cooper
03:09Rush and
03:09you say this guy didn't need every single rep and I would say you look at Cooper Rush and you
03:14could
03:14give him every single rep from every team around the NFL you could give him a million reps and I
03:20don't think there was anything that Cooper Rush was going to do to transform himself to be a
03:24quarterback that was capable of leading the Falcons to a win in that game Sunday so I've got no
03:29problems with the way the Falcons strategize this again and that's this is kind of according to the
03:35reporting that week three was quote-unquote the plan you know Kevin Stefanski's talked about a
03:39plan uh or I'm sorry the plan I don't know if this like the week three matchup against Green Bay
03:45was
03:45the plan but may have been and um I'm not even gonna hate on him for it I think it's
03:50actually a
03:50good idea like I would sacrifice a game and uh and and Cooper Rush's ability to you know fully fully
03:59prepare um how much is again you act how much you actually missing with Cooper Rush missing you know
04:05a certain portion of the refs who knows and you get Michael Pennings more prepared so that you can
04:10go out there and field a competitive football team because the Falcons have been unable to do that
04:14when they have not had Michael Pennings or Tua Tagovailoa uh involved in the action and I think
04:19that you know obviously there's going to be a lot of talk about what this means for the Falcons in
04:22terms of like how good are the Falcons now um interestingly I've been kind of paying attention or
04:27just looking up the uh the betting line the betting movement and no real change there so maybe it was
04:32baked in obviously this had been reported that this was going to occur the sequence of events
04:36that led to Michael Pennings starting week three against the Packers but um it doesn't really seem
04:42to be moving many people as far as the betting the betting markets are concerned uh and I don't know
04:48if it makes the Falcons up like yeah obviously they're going to be better and every player needs
04:55Michael Pennings to be out there but what I'm most excited for with his return is not the hope that
05:00the
05:00Falcons are suddenly going to be a great football team although I certainly hope that that's the case
05:05but it salvages the season because it allows us to actually watch this team and be able to assess some
05:12of these players and the coaches I think that's a big part of it and I think that we can't
05:17really
05:17fully assess especially well you know like I asked Kevin Stefanski about how he's assesses the new run
05:24scheme that's been instituted by Bill Callahan to this point and the response was kind of of the tone of
05:28it's it's really hard to tell obviously because you have a small sample size but because the way
05:33teams are able to defend the Falcons with Cooper Rush under center put so much pressure on every
05:38other component uh in this machine this offensive machine and it just makes them inoperable you just
05:44can't operate when you have the clamps tightened down on you like that and so how much space can
05:50this offensive line open up for Bajon Robinson in this run scheme I think we still don't really know
05:55the full extent of that and that will be help facilitated by Michael Penix being under center
06:00and the reason why you know they may have more space to operate is because Michael Penix obviously
06:05brings with him what they've needed so desperately and have not had under Cooper Rush which is the
06:10ability to have a downfield threat and force force teams off of them a little bit the Falcons have
06:16explosive players who can actually make plays down the field that just haven't been able to be used
06:21yet or be utilized in that way we saw Jahan Dotson uh with that great double move that you know
06:26had
06:26that ball been out in front of him he could be scoring on that play we've seen the flashes from
06:31Zachariah Branch even in the return game but you have to think that there's so many doors open for a
06:36player like him to get downfield and use his speed with Michael Penix under center and then you know
06:42you also have even guys like Kyle Pitts who we saw obviously have an opportunity for explosive touchdown
06:47pass in week one against the Steelers where Cooper Rush again just drastically under threw him to
06:52the point where both that pass and the Jahan Dotson pass were fully broken up like those could have
06:57been uh badly underthrown and still at least caught for completions um pretty bad really bad that they
07:05were so poorly thrown that both of the defensive backs were able to make plays on those footballs and
07:11create them incomplete so that space is just going to give all these pass catchers an opportunity but
07:16also the offensive line and Bajon Robinson and not even just in the run game but also in the pass
07:20protection you know teams are able to come after the Falcons again because they're just not worried
07:25about the Falcons being able to hit them over the top so they can get into some you know more
07:30press
07:30coverage looks or like zero coverage looks and really create problems for the Falcons whether it's
07:36organizationally or with the pressure itself on that Falcons offensive line in the pass protection game
07:40so um Pennix is going to help in that regard in such a huge way I mean I'm just I'm
07:48so much more
07:49excited to watch a Falcons game now because I feel like we can just actually assess his team and hey
07:54you know what Michael Pennix he's coming off a 10 year 10 month layoff um frankly I expect him to
08:00be
08:00to be bad I expect him to be bad but I expect him to at least be able to make
08:05some plays and even in
08:06some of his bad moments you know if it's an errant throw or something like that I just think we'll
08:10get a better look at some of the attributes some of the skills uh that some of these players bring
08:17to the offense and then go forward and kind of be able to play armchair GM and determine kind of
08:22how
08:22we think of these players fitting in the long-term picture for this team or maybe not and so that
08:27is
08:27why I'm very excited for Michael Pennix excited for this news that was unleashed upon us this afternoon
08:35uh you know I I didn't get to join uh the players I guess that Kyle Pitts and Xavier Watts
08:40spoke to
08:41media over the teleconference a little bit here this afternoon uh I had a personal reason I couldn't
08:45I just had a doctor's appointment that I couldn't move so um wasn't able to be on that but I
08:49did see
08:50a quote from Kyle Pitts just kind of you know being talking resilient like you know our season isn't
08:56defined by the first two games and uh you know I saw Xavier Watts I saw this uh from the
09:02Orlando
09:02Ledbetter with uh Xavier Watts saying that uh the Falcons got a quote good talking to by Kevin
09:08Stefanski after the 34-3 loss in the locker room and then quote he was riled up uh according to
09:14Xavier Watts so we'll be interesting in that respect to see you know how the team comes out and responds
09:20to to that kind of um you know post-game scene basically and and and I say that because I
09:28actually
09:28heard something similar from somebody I don't want to like you know say too much and I just kind of
09:31heard it through the grapevine but I heard that it was a uh a pretty loud scene there from inside
09:37the locker room um after obviously that abysmal loss where you know it's funny because you look at
09:42at Kevin Stefanski and you hear Kevin Stefanski and you see this kind of dull character this kind of
09:49monotone even keel so for me honestly I like the fact that he you you hear a story about him
09:56getting
09:56charged up there in the locker room and I mean before this news came out I was gonna one of
10:01the
10:01things I wanted to talk about the show today was just kind of drawing a contrast to the way that
10:06Kevin Stefanski um has kind of addressed the media just like his just general approach to um not the
10:13press but just in the way that he presents himself in the press versus uh Todd Munkin for the Browns
10:19who like came out swinging about you know somebody talking crap saying the Browns will be Browns I think
10:23it was um Mike Tomlin and uh and saying you know dropping an f-bomb saying f that and you
10:29know
10:30what maybe that is just for show maybe that does just fire up
10:35when you win you can only kind of pound your chest in that respect but um I think it is
10:41something that
10:42leaves the fans wanting with with Kevin Stefanski especially the way the season has started which
10:45is that they want to see almost more like emotion and and anger not necessarily like at the players I
10:52think it's just a natural frustration that people feel when you can see something is going drastically
10:57wrong and you see the leader of it not really looking like they're reacting although he obviously
11:02is as we heard here from this story and obviously you know the coaches spend almost their entire
11:09lives during a football season um you know doing their best to try to get the most out of their
11:14football team so uh but but you just don't see that and he presents as very even keel and so
11:19it'll be interesting to see how that demeanor how he carries himself kind of keeps going as the
11:24season progresses and whether the season gets better or worse and and how people feel about it
11:29but I also think that it's one of the reasons where you know one of the things that's come up
11:32one of the talking points that's that's come up in the wake of this loss because of how bad it
11:36was
11:36um is this idea of the tank you know are the Falcons in the tank are they were they tanking
11:41by
11:41like deploying the team in the way they did with Cooper Rush or Jack Strand or whatever you know it's
11:47like all these theories um and I think that like what we've experienced especially in the last 24
11:53hours shows us why tanking isn't really a thing like I mean it is it is obvious it is a
12:00it is a
12:01thing in theory but like as far as a coach like a coach isn't going to say like sit down
12:06with the GM
12:07GM says hey you know we really need a top draft pick we really need to be bad this year
12:10and the coach
12:11is like yeah you know what you're right let's be terrible I'm gonna I'm gonna make sure this team
12:15is terrible like that just doesn't happen like that's that's not the way it works because the
12:19coaches have to endure these real life effects that you see a booing you know a stadium a home
12:25stadium that's booing their own team it's just such a bad look a coach can't um trust I don't think
12:31even if a GM did sit him down and say that how could a coach like trust that he was
12:36just going
12:36to survive through that and then by the way even if you do survive even if you do get that
12:41great
12:41quarterback going into the next year you have fans on your back you have a ton of pressure on you
12:46and you've got you know this quarterback that you you know quote-unquote tanked for uh he's got to be
12:51good otherwise you know what's the point of you so you know coaches aren't just going aren't going to
12:57be up for this and and players very similarly you know they're just they're trying to make as much
13:01money as they can in their career they're trying to put as much good football on tape as possible
13:05and they don't really have any other incentives other than to play the best they can so um yes
13:10there are some things teams can do like to not you know again it's you you call it the tank
13:17or
13:17whatever but like using injuries and things like that to try to kind of keep guys out of harm's way
13:21or deploy you know just a weakened roster which is basically what the falcons had to do I mean it
13:27wasn't intentional on their part they weren't trying to be bad but it was the case that in a situation
13:31like these first two weeks you are kind of tanking because you just have a roster that on game day
13:37that's not up to par with what your opponents have and you're going to get beat so uh and by
13:42the way
13:42as we we kind of watch the season unfold the week Pittsburgh Steelers week two game yikes I mean we
13:49could see how bad the Steelers were and the fact that the Falcons couldn't even beat them but uh hey
13:53you
13:54know what this is a new Falcons team new Falcons team under Michael Penix seriously it is um I kind
13:59of
13:59I sound sarcastic because I don't think that they're going to be necessarily improved in the
14:05win loss uh going forward versus what we would have expected but I just think that it's just going to
14:11be
14:13more I don't even know if satisfying is the right word maybe satisfying we're just going to be able
14:17to take some things out of these games where I'm glad this is a quick turnaround this week because I
14:21don't really know what to say about this game because I just don't know how you actually digest
14:27what happened it's like dietary fiber so we'll leave it there um thank you guys again so much
14:31for listening if you did like that last terrible joke uh give the video a like and make sure you
14:36subscribe to 929 Games YouTube channel we got clips coming out from all of our talent who have
14:41been kind of dishing on this and it's really cool at 929 the game we've got guys like Randy McMichael
14:45and Mike Johnson guys who played in the NFL to kind of give their two cents on what they're seeing
14:50which
14:50is uh very interesting I'm always curious I think Mike by the way has great takes on like the uh
14:55the offensive line as well obviously having been a former offensive lineman and um not a lot of
15:00people really narrowing in on that topic so if you are uh an offensive line guy uh or gal uh
15:06go check
15:07out um his video or any of the others on 910 Games YouTube channel thank you guys so much for
15:11watching
15:11another episode we'll be back after a huge day of media tomorrow that should be very very interesting
15:16interesting
15:16you
15:17you
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