- 28 minutes ago
Did the 0-2 start put some pressure on the Falcons and Michael Penix Jr. to name him QB1 for Week 3?
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00:00What's the best thing to make you forget about a 34-3 loss?
00:05Announce that your future franchise quarterback is available.
00:10Atlanta, what's going on?
00:11It's Dukes and Bell on Sports Radio 92.9 The Game.
00:14We start off every day and every hour by saying,
00:16Hey, man!
00:17We're talking about it with you.
00:19Michael Pinnix is back, and he is going to play Thursday night.
00:23Now, Mike, you just said something to me that made me laugh out loud.
00:25We want to open up the phone lines at 404-726-0929.
00:28Tonight, between now and 6.15, when we're going to give you the coach's show.
00:33And Coach has got stuff going on tonight.
00:35Dave Archer is going to have Kyle Pitts and Xavier Watts as the player guests tonight.
00:39So make sure you stick around for that at about 6.15.
00:43But the phone lines are wide open, guys.
00:45Text line as well.
00:45You can find us on social media, ATLBell929.
00:48I'm at PutEmUp, see Dukes.
00:50You said something to them that made me laugh.
00:52So say it again because I think this is kind of the debate about,
00:57wait a minute, why now?
00:59Well, I just had a dude light me up on X, and he said,
01:01I'll tell you what happened.
01:02He goes, the front office told Penix he was coming back.
01:05That's why he's ready today and not Sunday.
01:08Like when the station tells you you have to come to work on Saturday.
01:12I'm like, okay.
01:13So he says the front office told him.
01:16Well, that don't happen, but go ahead.
01:17Not in our contracts.
01:18Go ahead.
01:20That's got to be agreed upon.
01:21We don't dance on the weekend.
01:23But I digress.
01:23Yes.
01:24But as far as Michael Penix, he has dictated the tempo.
01:30He has dictated his return this entire offseason.
01:33As one caller brought up earlier, they probably let him say too much at times
01:36because it got everyone's appetite whetted, and they expected him to come back,
01:38and that wasn't the case.
01:39But I don't think that that's the case.
01:42I think Michael Penix perhaps came to them, or do you think that Stefanski,
01:46Ian Cunningham, or Matt said, Mike, we've got to get you out there.
01:49This is untenable.
01:50We've got to get you out there, man.
01:52I can never cop to they forced his hand, right?
01:55That's just – I don't believe that because he said all along,
01:58only I know how I feel.
01:59And they let him say that repeatedly.
02:01Correct.
02:02But I do think, just like with any one of these situations in sports,
02:08there's peer pressure to try to get you back, man,
02:10because you start to realize as a player what it means for your return.
02:15But more importantly, the organization is like, we've hit all the milestones.
02:20We've done everything we need to do.
02:22We've got to get this going.
02:24And so, yeah, Mike, I don't know if somebody's, you know,
02:28coaching to see you in his office, but I do feel like as a collective group,
02:32and I may be completely wrong about this, they may have been sitting around
02:35and going, Mike, you tell us when.
02:37We'll just go whenever you're ready, Mike.
02:40But I don't feel that way.
02:41I do think there's been numerous conversations.
02:43And what happened yesterday pushed it along.
02:48What happened yesterday was ugly.
02:51Yes.
02:51And Mike heard it.
02:52He saw it.
02:53He lived it from the sideline.
02:55Drake May – Drake, the London, I should say, yelled at a fan.
02:57I got no beef with that, by the way.
02:58If somebody's going to say something stupid,
03:00I know you're not supposed to give it back and be obscene with a fan,
03:02but he's passionate.
03:03This guy wants to win so bad.
03:04He's been on a crappy football team his entire NFL career.
03:07But getting back to Mike, look, if that's the case, so be it.
03:10Someone's going to spill that tea?
03:12I'm all for it.
03:13Who's going to get that exclusive?
03:14Ramondi?
03:15Kendall?
03:15No.
03:16Flick?
03:16But again, you would think – but this is something we've had conversations with the audience.
03:20You'd think at some point Matt Ryan goes,
03:21Mike, what are we doing, man?
03:23What are we doing?
03:25Do you think that's fair, though?
03:26I don't think that's – and if you don't think that's a conversation that can occur,
03:29I don't even know what to tell you.
03:30I mean, we had all these guys – some guys today apologized to me for getting on my case
03:34because they see, look, he's got to be out there.
03:36The idea you're going to be 100%.
03:37You think Bijan is 100% after two weeks of the punishment he's taken?
03:41No, I mean, you're never going to be 100%.
03:43So whatever checkbox, if that happened and it seemed to happen yesterday or this morning
03:47for Penix, well, hallelujah.
03:50But I wonder.
03:51Maybe it's a good question.
03:52Did somebody have a come-to-Jesus meeting with Michael Penix about where he's at?
03:56But all I know is I've never been as embarrassed as I was yesterday.
04:02I don't want to feel that way.
04:03I don't like to feel that way.
04:05I don't want to kill my football team.
04:09So let's all get together, regardless of what our differences have been,
04:15and push this kid and support him.
04:17Hell yeah.
04:18That's where this is now.
04:20This isn't six weeks ago.
04:22This isn't eight months ago.
04:24That's where this is.
04:26I don't want to live in Loserville.
04:28I've said it time and time again.
04:29We press all of our organizations to be great from the top to the bottom.
04:34And this particular organization drives our city.
04:39And we need Michael Penix to be really good.
04:42So let's all get on board, regardless of what you think about him,
04:45if you think he's injury-prone, if he's hurt all the damn time,
04:48whatever you think, and give us some positive vibes about Thursday night
04:52and let it ride into the season, Mike,
04:55hopefully carrying us to a turnaround that maybe we're talking about
04:58for the rest of our lives.
04:59That is the story.
05:00And if we can somehow muster that and do it,
05:03and this offense comes alive,
05:05then all of a sudden all that crap we felt yesterday afternoon goes away.
05:10Right.
05:11Because if he can do the job and secure himself as the man,
05:14and then this spring they don't draft a quarterback,
05:17and they go give him that fifth-year option that's picked up in May,
05:20and we're off and running.
05:21Now, I still think there's concern for me about the injuries.
05:23You'd have to be a fool not to be concerned about his injury history.
05:27But that doesn't make you a hater.
05:28That's fair.
05:28No, that's reality.
05:30I mean, this is a guy that, I mean, we said it, guys.
05:33We already covered this ground.
05:34When you're cleared, you go.
05:36I was talking to a Carolina fan yesterday.
05:37He goes, what do you mean Penix isn't going?
05:38I go, exactly.
05:40Anywhere but Atlanta, you'd be like, what the blank is going on?
05:42But here he gets a pass because people have their own ideas
05:44of how things are supposed to work.
05:46But now he's ready.
05:47So, as you said, all that's in the past.
05:48Our trip, hopefully, through quarterback hell is over
05:51after what we just saw.
05:53The worst quarterback performance.
05:54I mean, literally, I saw some metric somebody put out there
05:57who said if the quarterbacks drop back and just threw the ball
05:59into the ground, they'd have a better quarterback rating
06:01than what they did from what they got.
06:02It's true.
06:02That's how bad it was.
06:04Ryan incoming has dialed us up.
06:06The phone lines are open, guys.
06:07That's what you've been waiting for.
06:09Don't tell me you ain't got nothing to say now
06:10because you've been saying it to us for weeks.
06:13404-726-0929.
06:15Ryan, hey, man, talk to us.
06:16Where are you at?
06:17What are you feeling?
06:18Hey, man.
06:19How y'all doing?
06:20Good, brother.
06:21I want to bring up two points here
06:23because I haven't seen anybody yell about this,
06:25and it's making me a little mad.
06:26I was at the game yesterday.
06:28Terrible game, obviously.
06:29But it was right before half.
06:31I think it was Jahan.
06:33He made a nice little move.
06:34And then Cooper underthrows him by like a mile.
06:36Would have been a touchdown, easily.
06:38I heard anyone yell about this.
06:40It's not in the highlights.
06:41It's not anywhere.
06:43Second, obviously, Panicast just came back.
06:45We all know that.
06:45But I find it funny that I'm just dealing with a knee injury right now
06:49and, like, I swear the second I would get the all clear,
06:52I'm like, all right, let's go.
06:53Let's go.
06:54So I'm just like, why is he getting the all clear?
06:57And we're waiting, what's it been, a month at this point
07:01since he's been cleared?
07:02I don't get it.
07:03That's all I wanted to say.
07:04Nobody has the answer to that.
07:06It's something we've been searching not only on this show but also privately
07:09to try to find out, like, okay, what's the real deal behind this?
07:13You know, my initial thought, and, again, this was just me,
07:17I'm like, is this thing more injured than we thought?
07:20Like, was there more extensive surgery involved in this because this recovery
07:26time turned into a longer period?
07:28Or is this just Michael saying, I need the time so that I can feel mentally
07:35prepared for when it comes?
07:36And that's where I've been.
07:38That's why I've been saying it's more mental.
07:39I mean, as we said earlier, I don't think it makes me a bad person
07:42not really care at the end of the day what his career becomes.
07:45I want to see this Falcon team get things turned around.
07:47The thing is they're kind of hand in glove.
07:49If this guy gets it together, we don't have to worry about getting the
07:52quarterback right in the draft, and we've got our guy moving forward.
07:56Now, it just gives you a little bit of pause that, you know, it's, well,
07:59hey, I've got to make the decision for my career.
08:01I mean, but usually the team has come first, and you do make $22 million
08:05as a first-round pick.
08:06Some people act like this guy's working for peanuts and he's never going
08:08to get another shot.
08:09I mean, at the end of the day, the rest of the league is also waiting for you
08:13to get back on the field because they're confused by what's happened here.
08:16You know, that's your rep on the line.
08:17You know, you've got to play with pain, man.
08:19Everybody who's now banged up right now, people in Washington will be waiting
08:22to see when Daniels comes back.
08:23Chi-Town will be when Caleb Williams comes back.
08:25And they'll expect those guys to be 110% to come back.
08:28Yeah, it's rare, especially once the season gets underway.
08:31Cooper rushed.
08:32Ron, answer your second question.
08:3310 of 17, 86 yards, two interceptions.
08:36And a fumble.
08:37Correct.
08:38Things were so bad that I don't know, to answer your question about why is
08:43nobody talking about that particular play.
08:45I just want a many.
08:46Correct.
08:47That's it.
08:48So, to underthrow Jahan Dotson before the end of the half.
08:51And Pitts dropped the pass, too.
08:53I thought he should have made.
08:54He did.
08:54But that's just the result of what yesterday was.
08:58So, I don't think any.
09:00You could take a bunch of plays and show them right now, and they'd all
09:03probably look the same.
09:04Bad.
09:05404-726-0929.
09:07Ron and Swanee, what's going on, Ron?
09:08Hey, man.
09:10Hey, man.
09:11Who is running this football game?
09:14I mean, who starts a game like that?
09:17But the quarterback shot down, or whatever you call it, and then he fumbles.
09:23What the heck is going on?
09:25Ball got punched out.
09:27Ball got punched out.
09:29It did get punched out, but why would you start that game like that?
09:34Well, that's all he's got.
09:35I mean, he was literally trying to give you everything he had.
09:37He heard everything about the previous week, and he was hustling.
09:40He was picking him up and putting him down, and he just fumbled.
09:42Yeah.
09:42And actually, he didn't fumble by rule, but they replaced it otherwise.
09:46Yeah.
09:47It was an auspicious start, there's no doubt, to the game.
09:51And then it just set the tone.
09:53I mean, we talked about it.
09:54Rush throws another interception.
09:56Defense holes on the second drive, right?
09:58So, fumble, interception.
10:00Third possession resulted in a three and out.
10:02Panthers get a field goal.
10:03They're up 10-0.
10:03Then you go forward on fourth and one, and it was the dumbest call I've seen
10:06since Arthur Smith.
10:08We're tied in three, threw it to tight end two, and tried to get it to tight end one,
10:11and whatever the hell it was.
10:13Like, it just made no sense.
10:14That set the tone.
10:16Well, that's a convenient narrative.
10:18Sorry, Art.
10:18By the way, speaking of coaches, they're talking with, I guess,
10:21Xavier Watts said he, quote, saw more fire from Stefanski, who was, quote,
10:25more juiced up, end quote, after the loss to the Panthers.
10:27Oh, good.
10:29I'd like to think when you're humiliated on television,
10:31you're going to have a little more emotion in the room.
10:33I know you've got to pick your spots.
10:34You can't go Billy Martin every minute because you're going to lose the locker room,
10:37Carl, but it's good to hear Stefanski at least got animated, I guess,
10:39to some of the guys.
10:40Well, we've not seen it.
10:42Right.
10:42And maybe that's fine.
10:44I don't need to.
10:45But you're right.
10:46It is good.
10:46Because I think there are a lot of people who have already said, man,
10:48he's kind of just, you know, chill mode all the time.
10:51And maybe that's his demeanor.
10:53But that is good to know.
10:55What that tells me is it was unacceptable to him as well.
10:58And everybody thinks sometimes because guys are meek that that's how they accept things,
11:03and it's just like, oh, well, he doesn't care.
11:05Right.
11:05Kevin Stefanski has a losing record, guys, as a head coach.
11:09Sorry.
11:10I'm not saying he's not good.
11:12May not be good here.
11:13But in Cleveland, the overall record is not above 500.
11:17Right.
11:17And it's not our job to make excuses for Stefanski and the dysfunction of where he came.
11:21Correct.
11:21Your record is your record.
11:22But this is, you know, this is some of the stuff he experienced up there, you know,
11:26let's be honest, almost every season.
11:28But this is our first chance to see him.
11:29And as I said earlier in the show, it's almost like put a mirror under his nose.
11:32Is he breathing?
11:32Good to hear he was.
11:33And apparently got some of the players' attention.
11:36But now, moving forward, he was dealt some crappy cards.
11:40Tua screwed things up by not being ready to go because, ugh, my back.
11:43He hurt his back having to catch.
11:44And then you compound that with Mike.
11:46Whatever this was, all right, thank God it's over, and now Mike's ready to go.
11:50Right?
11:50So let's go.
11:51And now we're going to hopefully get on with this offense, and now we're not wasting Xavier
11:55Watts, wasting Drake London, wasting Pitts, and of course, wasting B. John's money and
12:00time, right?
12:01Yeah.
12:01Because that's the thing.
12:02You have legitimate young stars that should be balling out.
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