00:00Like these rivalries are not the same as in college for the players.
00:05Like for the players, these rivalries are not the same.
00:07Like especially, I mean, like the way it used to be where you committed to a school, you stayed at
00:12a school, that rivalry was ingrained in you from day one.
00:15For the NFL guys and probably some of the guys you listen to, there is the understanding that I could
00:20be cut and be on that team like in two weeks.
00:23You know, like Cade Nellis, right?
00:24There is the understanding of that.
00:25But what I hear from these guys that are on this audio clip, and I don't know which ones it
00:30was, they're fully bought in.
00:32You know what I mean?
00:32Like those guys have been around this long enough to understand not only what it should mean to them, but
00:37what it means to the fans.
00:38And it doesn't happen immediately.
00:41It takes time to kind of get it ingrained in you what exactly this rivalry means.
00:45But don't get it twisted.
00:46As far as passion goes, this is up there with the best of them in the NFL in terms of
00:51hate between two rivals.
00:52There's no doubt about it.
00:53I would highly recommend watching the video from the Falcon social media accounts.
00:56It's on Instagram and Twitter and everything, because you're just hearing them say like, no, no, no.
01:00The faces, though, are thoroughly confused.
01:02Like, you actually want me to say something nice about the Saints.
01:05Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:05What is it you want me to say?
01:08And as a matter of fact, I would be willing to bet that some of them did say like, oh,
01:12well, so-and-so is a nice player.
01:13And they were probably like, never mind.
01:16I'm not even going to put that out there.
01:19Bo, you're over in New Orleans.
01:20Tell me you've had at least a beignet if you've got to be over there.
01:23No.
01:24I had some catfish bites, though.
01:28Catfish bites.
01:29Those are pretty good.
01:29I had an Abita Amber, which is a Louisiana beer, a New Orleans beer.
01:36It's actually a pretty good beer.
01:37I like it.
01:37It's my tradition every time we come here to get one of those.
01:40I hate this place.
01:41I'm not going to lie.
01:43I hate everything about it.
01:44I don't mind the city.
01:45I don't mind going down to Bourbon Street.
01:46But I hate that.
01:48Every time I look at that stadium, I just, I hate it.
01:54It's not a fun place for me to be.
01:57You broadcast from the top of the roof.
01:59It's a metal roof.
02:02So they have these speakers at the top of it, and they overmodulate them.
02:08And so every time I leave here, I leave with a headache.
02:10And so nothing makes it better other than a win.
02:14And it's a tough place to play.
02:17So I've got nothing to say nice about them either, honestly.
02:19Honestly, it's a, it's a crap stadium with a crap press box and a crap radio booth.
02:27And let's hopefully we get a win.
02:29Ironically, like as far as like bad memories and good memories of my entire football career,
02:33I'd say one of the worst came from down there and probably one of the best.
02:37Like catching a touchdown was one of the best.
02:39Was the worst Sugar Bowl?
02:42Yeah.
02:42Sugar Bowl lost to Utah.
02:44Got hurt about the eighth play in, and we got the floor wiped with us against Utah
02:49in 2008.
02:50That was a bad, bad day, man.
02:51That was, that was before they were even in a Power Five conference.
02:55Yeah.
02:55Just a group of six teams at the time.
02:57They were good, though.
02:58But yeah, that was a, that was a rough one.
03:00But I'm with you.
03:00That stadium holds a unique place for a lot of people.
03:03Well, as much as Falcons fans probably don't want to travel to New Orleans, there is footage
03:08all over the place of them absolutely taking over Bourbon Street last night.
03:11So the Falcons fans are there ready for this game tonight.
03:15And can we give a hat tip to those fans?
03:16It's because, I mean, we had the same conversation last week coming off of Lambeau Field, right?
03:20How there were ATL chants in the stadium, and they did a good job on prime of actually
03:24cutting and finding the Falcons fans in the stands, which I feel like, for whatever reason,
03:27a lot of broadcasts go out of their way not to do.
03:29Because this is a fan base that does travel relatively well.
03:32I'm glad they're getting highlighted in that way.
03:34As far as...
03:36Sorry, Allie.
03:37They always do pretty good down here.
03:39I always see a lot of Falcons fans, and they love making this trip.
03:42And I like the fact that our fans do it, because we've got so many people from New Orleans
03:47that stayed in Atlanta, or that make the trip, because it's not that bad of a trip.
03:56So they always show out in our city, so I'm glad we come down here and show out in theirs.
04:00Well, as far as tonight's matchup, who are you watching on offense as far as the matchups
04:06tonight?
04:08Mine, I'm sure there's...
04:10And we have this conversation all the time, and Grant and I have this conversation in the
04:13postgame.
04:14Like, you got the rims, the tires, the wide receivers, the quarterbacks, the driver, the
04:18steering wheel, everything else along with that.
04:20I'll be watching the engine.
04:21Specifically, I'll be watching Jake Matthews tonight.
04:24Like, Jake Matthews has to have a good night against Chase Young.
04:28And whatever Chase Young was or was not early in his career, he has found it down in New Orleans.
04:33Exactly what he's supposed to do.
04:34He's a captain on that defense now.
04:36He's matured a lot, and he is an absolute freaking problem for Jake Matthews and has
04:41been in the past.
04:42I'm curious to see how they kind of attack him, Bo, because you and I have talked about
04:46it.
04:46Jake hasn't had a great year, and that guy is one person that has, even when he's had
04:51good years, has exposed Jake Matthews numerous times.
04:54Yeah, well, with them missing Granderson and Anthony Jennings tonight, I'm curious how much
05:01run Cam Jordan gets.
05:03Or do we see a little bit of Tyree Wilson?
05:06I know we will see some of them, but how much do we see?
05:09I'm interested in how that works out.
05:10They're also going to be missing Caden Ellis.
05:13And, Mike, as you well know, Caden is the guy that is – he gets – he makes plays
05:21sometimes by just understanding his actual assignment and doing that.
05:26But, and so, with Brandon Staley as the D.C., I was wondering, do Pete Werner is even
05:31questionable in this game?
05:32So, they're banged up in that front seven, and can you get enough movement to open the
05:39lanes for Bajon Robinson, who is Mr. Primetime?
05:42I mean, this guy does nothing but show out in primetime games.
05:45I do have – because I put this as part of my matchups to watch.
05:49We'll get into this on pregame a little bit.
05:51And I put it out on socials, too.
05:52You can find it at MPJohnson79.
05:54I try to do this every week.
05:55One of the things I put out was – and this is according to our guy Warren Sharp – the
05:59Saints are the worst defense in the league against wide zone.
06:03The worst in the league.
06:04Allows them 5.0 yards per carry on wide zone runs.
06:08Yeah.
06:09Not only that, but you're now missing three of your guys up front.
06:11Let's go to freaking work.
06:13Like, Bajon needs to tote the pill under center, wide zone handoff, get up there, and let's
06:18just keep going all the way up the field.
06:20Yeah, and double down on that, just not just wide zone, but they're the 27th overall team
06:25against the run.
06:26Now, you know, how does that play out, and can you exploit it with the wide zone?
06:30And this is a team that, as we know, Mike, it was their bread and butter for so long,
06:34so it's not a hard thing for this offensive line to fall back on at all.
06:40And one of the things that – if you saw anything from the NFL yesterday, you'll know
06:44that just because a team's been something every week doesn't mean they'll continue to be it
06:50because Green Bay was one of the Russian teams in the league, and they went into Tampa
06:54yesterday afternoon and ran it down their throats.
06:57What do you expect to carry over from the Packers game?
07:00I know it's been a minute.
07:02Yeah, I mean, honestly, I hope just the consistency in the, you know, connection between Michael
07:09Pennix and Drake London.
07:10I think that's – it's easy to say because they literally have been that since Michael
07:14Pennix has started games.
07:15Drake London has been the guy.
07:17So I would say it's kind of a double-edged sword because I'm going to say that, and then
07:21if you asked me what I wanted to improve, I'd say I hope he finds other targets.
07:24You know what I mean?
07:25Like, I hope he can spread the ball around in the passing game.
07:27But it has to – I think the carryover would be, in my opinion, it has to start and stop
07:30with the run game.
07:31And that's exactly the way it was in Green Bay, no doubt about it.
07:33Well, I just – I think it's so – I don't know, it's so cliche to say, but any really
07:40good NFL offense, normally, most any good NFL offense can start with the run game, and
07:46it kind of opens everything up.
07:48I would tell you, what if I take what Mike said and kind of change it slightly, but Michael
07:54Pennix's accuracy and his willingness to work the middle of the field.
07:58I thought he was really good in the middle of the field.
08:00It's not something that he was known for in his last year, but the work in the middle
08:06of the field, and because of Drake London, and maybe the attention he'll – does it
08:11open more up for Kyle Pitts or, you know, any of these other passing threats?
08:20Do you think the vibes are still high as far as coming off that Packers game, or has it
08:24been too long?
08:25Everything's kind of falling off at this point.
08:28Well, I think you want to flush it out, don't you, Mike?
08:30You want to flush out that, and you don't want to be up here, and you want to get
08:34yourself back middle where you're playing with confidence, but it's not like an
08:41arrogance to a detriment where, like, we're world beaters.
08:44You've got to bring it down where you have the confidence to walk in and just kind of
08:48do what you've got to do.
08:49You're riding high off of it, but it's not in an inflated way.
08:53I thought for sure, Dylan, it's not an arrogance to confidence.
08:58No, I'm with you.
08:59Like, vibes are a weird thing in an NFL locker room.
09:02You know what I mean?
09:02Like, you want to have good vibes because that allows people to want to come to work
09:07and to want to actually, you know, be in a film room and things like that, and you have –
09:11you
09:12want your team with a good attitude, right?
09:14But you also never want to feel comfortable, and I think that there's a line there that a
09:18lot of teams have to kind of fill it out, and that's why you see ups and downs in the
09:21NFL every single week, teams that seem unbeatable, you know, making bad plays, and it's just – you
09:28have to fight against it, I think, to an extent, but to me, it's almost 11 days.
09:32Like, you almost, to Bo's point, you kind of forget what exactly happened.
09:35Like, the vibes were probably high in those two bonus practices, and then you get an extra
09:39day off, and I know they did hometown huddle last week, which is an annual thing for them,
09:43and, like, then you're like, okay, let's go back to work.
09:46We still have a lot to prove, and this is just a one-and-two football team.
09:48We actually have to keep the girls on the line.
09:48So, keep the girls on the line together.
