00:00The Atlanta Falcons take on Green Bay tonight at Lambeau Field at 8.15 on Amazon Prime.
00:05Coverage starts right here on 92.9 The Game at 6 o'clock with Mike and Bo.
00:10I am curious before we dig into this matchup and get into some more of Kevin Stefanski's
00:14audio from yesterday regarding Tua, what is, I'm hearing you guys plan out the pregame
00:18show tonight, what is your favorite part of the pregame show?
00:21Like where can you get lost in the stats and details that you love talking about?
00:25Any segment other than, well we do Sunday selections which is always a fun one, I try to come up
00:32with just difficult decisions to make, like who would you rather be talking about tomorrow,
00:37Nick Folk or Tommy Reese, you know, like in a good way, obviously not a bad way, you know,
00:42or who's going to score the first touchdown is it Bajon Robinson over the field, like that's
00:46my favorite stuff to kind of talk about because I think they're all good questions, you know.
00:50Yeah, I would tell you if we're talking about Tommy Reese or Nick Folk tomorrow, it's probably
00:54not a good reason, and I don't, I'm not trying to be a jerk, but it's like, when do we
01:00ever
01:00talk about kickers and we're like, you know, it's good, and you know, it's just, it's not
01:07never.
01:07Here in Atlanta, never, but I mean.
01:09Yeah, well it's not never, but it's so rare.
01:11Is it week two or week three, we signed a new kicker last year and he kicked five field goals
01:15and we beat the Vikings.
01:16It's kind of where I'm going with that.
01:17Yeah, and then, and then he, then he fell off the wagon.
01:20Well, we were talking about him a lot the next day and you know, I think the thing is the
01:25overarching conversation tomorrow is going to be about Michael Pennix.
01:28There's no two ways about it, but if there's a secondary one lying underneath there, it's
01:32that Michael Pennix drove you down the field and got you in a field goal range under Nick
01:36Folk, you know, or Tommy Reese made incredible play call on third and 10 to be able to get the
01:40first down so that we got in a field goal range.
01:43You know, it's just, there's a lot there and I am, you know me, Ali, I'm not like a
01:48headlines guy, you know, but of course there's a lot of headlines and talking points to talk
01:52about, talk about the injuries for this game and we always try our best to do that, but
01:56there is like the matchups and the selections and stuff like that, that's where I like to
01:59dig in.
01:59And I think it needs to be said, I think, I can't remember if I said this on the air
02:04yesterday,
02:05I got a tweet that said, I don't care what, what they do, I better not see shotgun or pistol.
02:11You're going to see a little bit of shotgun, you're going to see a little, a little bit
02:15of pistol.
02:16When I say a little bit, I don't know how much, but that's, that's all fences in, in,
02:20in football in general these days.
02:23Under center is never coming back to, if you have 70 snaps, 65 of them are under center,
02:31most likely.
02:32I, I don't know how Mike feels about that.
02:34Now, do I think under center is starting, it's starting to get eased back into where you're
02:37seeing more of it, absolutely, and that's a trend, that's kind of the ups and downs.
02:42Remember in the mid-90s, the run and shoot offense was something that we had here in
02:46Atlanta, and it was predominantly shotgun, but it was an open offense, but you're, you're
02:53going to see a little bit of everything, and I think you want to, Mike, am I wrong that
02:56I, you want to see a little bit of everything, because it means you do have some type of mixture.
03:01Um, that's not bad, but yeah, I think you're going to see some under center stuff, and, and
03:06I, I think we're all excited to see what Pennix looks like under center, operating this
03:11offense, uh, and running some of these, the gap scheme and wide zone, uh, uh, uh, schemes
03:18out of it.
03:19The number one headline tomorrow should be Michael Pennix.
03:22I feel like something has gone very wrong if the number one headline is not Michael Pennix
03:25tomorrow, but.
03:26I hope it's a win.
03:27I, with Michael Pennix, I think there is a world where he, I mean, headline, yes.
03:32Um, but I don't necessarily think that Michael Pennix is the, going to be the biggest reason
03:37you win or lose the game.
03:38And I think that's what I just keep coming back to is, I think if you say he's going to
03:42be the biggest reason you win or lose that there's a lot of pressure on that situation,
03:46not that there's not, but I think that the odds are, and having watched football for so
03:51long, the odds are that we're going to be hyper focused on Michael Pennix.
03:54And then Bajon goes for one 20, right?
03:56And the defense steps up and causes havoc and against an offensive line that's missing
04:0040% of their starters.
04:02And Jordan love has a fumble or how about this green Bay right now leads the NFL in penalties.
04:07So a couple of big pass interferences, maybe Michael Pennix doesn't complete it, but maybe
04:11he puts it up in order, you know, in order to get a call there, there's a world where,
04:15like we said yesterday, Pennix goes 13 of 21 for one touchdown, no interceptions.
04:19And we're talking about Bajon being the best running back in the NFL.
04:22I matter of fact, I would say that would be a perfect world for us tomorrow to be able
04:25to talk about that because it means everything around Michael Pennix was working, not just
04:29Michael Pennix, which I find to be exciting.
04:32And to go back to what Bo, to answer Bo's question about shotgun versus pistol versus under
04:39it's, this is what people have to understand.
04:41Stop worrying about which one you're in and worry about whether or not, you know what they're
04:45running out of it.
04:46I don't, it's a pistol, whatever.
04:48They better run it and throw it.
04:49If they're in pistol, they better do both.
04:51If you're under center, you better run the ball and you better bootleg off of it.
04:55You better run the play action.
04:56That's, that's, that's what's worth hyper focusing on in terms of that.
05:00Another thing we do have to focus on though, cause it is a little bit crazy how time changes
05:04so much.
05:05Last week we had Cooper rush and Jack strand as his backup this week.
05:10We have Michael Pennix and Tua as his backup.
05:13So we got to hear from Kevin Stefanski yesterday on how Tua has been handling this situation.
05:20Awesome teammate.
05:21Uh, he's working very, very hard to get himself back, uh, healthy and he's doing really well
05:28there, but just ultra supportive, uh, great person to have around the building.
05:33It's, I, I don't even know what to say.
05:36It just, this, this doubles down on the craziness that this season has started with and how this
05:44is unprecedented.
05:45Um, because I, I do know, I do have a little bit of information that I think this, this,
05:50uh, oblique rib back thing that Tua is dealing with is, is, is something that he has dealt
05:56with over the years.
05:57So I say that to say that I trust his knowledge of his body and if he, he feels ready,
06:05then
06:05I do think that he's ready.
06:06I just, it's just so weird how this is all played out.
06:13Um, you know, Mike's not ready.
06:15We go to Tua.
06:16Tua gets injured throwing.
06:17We run two weeks with Cooper and, and then, uh, half with Jack strand and it's offensively
06:24a debacle and everybody comes back at once just three days later.
06:30And it just, it's, I don't know if you could write this now, if you are writing, if this
06:35is being written, if this is all scripted, which, uh, you know, there's conspiracy theories
06:39out there that the league is, I don't believe that, but there is then, um, something magical
06:44is going to happen tonight in one of the most magical places in, in, in football, which
06:48is Lambeau field, right?
06:49So on a Thursday night with Al Michaels doing, you know, doing the national TV and West Durham
06:56doing the, the, the radio here.
06:57I mean, like there is, there is a, if this is a Hollywood script, we are in for in store
07:05for something amazing tonight.
07:07That's the only thing I can come to.
07:08I completely agree.
07:09And I had this conversation yesterday with somebody, um, I was talking about the three
07:14primetime games that you're having for the next three weeks.
07:16And I'm like, anybody that thought the NFL scripted us to look that bad leading in the
07:20three primetime games has lost their mind.
07:23Um, not only that, but I, we, we talked about scheduling earlier for college football.
07:28You start getting into week five.
07:30This was brought up to me.
07:32Week five is when NBC can start flexing games back into the four o'clock window, uh, from
07:36Sunday night football.
07:37So that's the last thing you want is to look not very good this weekend.
07:41And then all of a sudden next week, they're making a decision that they're going to put
07:44you back in the four o'clock window in a couple of weeks.
07:46So it's, it's, it's, there's, there's a lot.
07:48Yeah.
07:49I'm with you on the whole script thing.
07:50It's like, I don't think they scripted it very well if that's what they were looking
07:52for.
07:53Yeah.
07:53And, and, and look, I want all the primetime games for our fans, but, um, I, if, if,
07:58if we don't have to work till 1am, 2am on a Sunday night, I'm not going to be mad
08:03at anybody.
08:04Just, just putting that out there.
08:06How did I know I was going to come back?
08:08I was going to say, I didn't want to go that route, but I'll go that route.
08:11Hey, I was, I was taught by, uh, you know, some people like steak and say, promote yourself
08:17and talk about you because nobody else is.
08:19So I, I go to it often.
08:21So outside of Michael Penix tonight, who else do you think on offense is going to be kind
08:25of an X factor?
08:27Can, can I, can I throw one out there, uh, and see, and, and, and, and it's really more
08:32for Mike to, to, to talk about, but I need to see.
08:36He, Jawan Taylor's playing banged up with the ribs.
08:39I think he's been pretty good two games in, knock on wood.
08:43I did it.
08:43There's this chair's wooden that I got right here.
08:44You can hear an echo in the background.
08:46Okay, good.
08:46Um, because I think Jawan Taylor might have, might be the, the guy that's played the best
08:52to this point.
08:54I, I kind of need, I need Jake tonight to have like an old school Jake Matthews game
08:59where, where I don't even think about him all night.
09:03And I hate to say it that way, but that's kind of how offensive linemen might get graded.
09:07If you hear about him, it's normally not good.
09:09Yeah.
09:10Jawan Taylor.
09:12I don't know.
09:13I don't know.
09:13They, they've, they've both had their issues at times.
09:15I haven't been terribly sad.
09:16I definitely wasn't satisfied in week one.
09:18I thought that Jawan was a little bit better last week, but that's probably because TJ Watt
09:22wasn't going against him.
09:23But even still, I'm not sure it was, I'm not sure what to think about a lot of those guys
09:27up front, but, but I'm with you.
09:29Like I think Ryan Neusel has probably been the best just on a consistency basis, but I
09:36haven't seen the movement in the run game that I want.
09:38And, and look, I don't know what is going to happen with Jawan Hargrave who was out last
09:42week for them.
09:43He's, he is questionable, I believe in the game report for them moving towards tonight,
09:47but there are, there are a number of matches.
09:49Warren Brinson, the, the Georgia grad is not going to be suited up.
09:53We mentioned that earlier.
09:54He's injured.
09:55They have a lot of size along their defensive front.
09:57And I do think that keeping Lucas Van Ness away from Michael Penix is going to be a
10:02massive deal for both of these tackles tonight and in a pretty big matchup to see how this
10:06game pans out.
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