- 17 hours ago
On this edition of "Behind the Curtain," Mike Bell, Carl Dukes, and Da-Da Lewis break down the Atlanta Falcons' quarterback situation following Sunday Night Football. With Michael Penix Jr. dealing with a rib injury, the guys debate whether the Falcons are "dead ducks" if they have to rely on QB2 against the Chicago Bears. Plus, a look at the fan discourse surrounding Penix, Kirby Smart addressing the locker room leak at Georgia, and previewing upcoming show guests including Tony Gwynn Jr. and Quin Snyder.
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00:02hola hey man it's a dukes and bell's pre-show we call it behind the curtain we tell you what
00:06we're working on and talk about today's show a little bit it's a day day david lewis he's the
00:10producer the brains of the operation i'm mike bell of course carl dukes el jefe as today man
00:14we're still kind of breaking down what the hell happened on uh sunday night football and now we're
00:18turning our attention to the next battle which is the bears and unfortunately carl you know you got
00:23an offensive coordinator who came from ben johnson who kind of stuck it to us was a real creative
00:27play calling and we're going to get the real deal himself and maybe caleb williams and our biggest
00:32fear is what if it's two under centers that mean we're dead ducks on on sunday afternoon in more
00:37ways than one yeah quack yeah look uh i for all the things that i thought to uh potentially could
00:47be
00:48and do for us um and this is what's crazy mike he looked fine at practice he wasn't terrible
00:54like he was capable we saw him you know throwing the ball around and completing passes don't know
01:00what they're asking him to do but i just think in game situations right now and i don't know why
01:04this is um i just don't think he's playing with any confidence that that interception just from a
01:10basic quarterback read situation if you if you just talk to any quarterback around the league and say
01:17what are you seeing what do you think the safety's doing here he should have never thrown that football
01:22and with that said i just feel like the confidence level if it's not there yeah we are dead ducks
01:28i don't
01:29feel like for four quarters he's going to be able to make the kind of plays that we're going to
01:33need
01:33him to make against the bears so look i am uh cautiously optimistic about michael pennix rib not
01:41knowing the full extent of the the injury day day but i also know that i don't trust anybody else
01:48right now in this quarterback room and that's just where we are you know um you you you throw
01:53cooper rush back out there there'll be a revolt strand again is not ready and you know the the
01:59idea that two should be the comparable backup mike it just doesn't feel that way and maybe we're wrong
02:05maybe you know what with the week of preparation but then that means michael pennix is not getting any
02:10reps so exactly i don't know man i don't feel comfortable if that's going to be the situation day day
02:15what about you yeah it's a tough one to to swallow if it is going to be the situation uh
02:22on one hand
02:24i'm kind of there's a part of me that says well maybe we'll be okay because the fact is the
02:29bears
02:29may have to turn to one of their backups as well so if that's the case okay then maybe uh
02:35you know if
02:36we can just get as we've always said some baseline play to protect the ball then then okay we'll be
02:44all right what concerns me going back to your point on the interception mike and shout out to
02:48ian rapidport and i forgot who his co-host was on on this podcast but they did a really good
02:53breakdown
02:54on it tua never had any intention on going anywhere else on that play and and uh kyle he knew
03:04exactly
03:04where he was going he knew he was going to drake and he sat there and like you just when
03:10you watch the
03:10breakdown like it was just like if this dude's not going to do any other reads yeah trouble right
03:16right so you know it's it's a concern there and like you said maybe with the week of preparation
03:24maybe he you know gets his feet a little wet and he can settle in but um you know i
03:31i would hang my hat
03:32on the hopes that if the other backups for chicago are playing maybe we got a chance but if not
03:39it's a little scary to think that uh you know we got to try to pull this one out with
03:43with two
03:44attack below is our qb yeah it just doesn't seem like it's plausible and it's funny there's some
03:49video and again that you can look at it and you can interpret it but somebody posted today a video
03:53where bijan as soon as mike's coming back out to his life uh i was like to a go go
03:57go back to a
03:58away to a back to the sideline go we're done with you no no no no not you not you
04:04he's coming
04:05and i don't know i i saw some people today in all seriousness they were saying like oh people are
04:10calling we now it wasn't us nobody's calling out michael pennix for taking a time out when he's got
04:15busted up ribs we had no problem with that i mean our only beef is if mike makes the dump
04:20off pass
04:21with two minutes and 38 seconds left to bijan he's not out on the field to get hit in the
04:25first place
04:25that's our beef so it's the usual nonsense carl where people say people are being either either
04:30too critical of pennix or making ridiculous excuses and getting upset for criticizing the parts
04:35of the game that didn't work well he made amazing beautiful downfield throws that are just perfect
04:39but the underneath stuff is some of the things that you and i discussed yesterday where if he can
04:43execute some of those touch passes specifically to bijan then we're all set you know and that's i
04:49don't think that's unfair i think that's just a rational conversation about what a quarterback the
04:52most important position did during a game yeah i think there are people who
04:59they want to be right about michael pennix and when i say that they want to be right about
05:04themselves and and and basically validating themselves and saying i told you so he's hurt
05:10he can't play he's not that good look at the mistakes he's making and part of this is this is
05:16still a learning process yeah i'm upset at what happened sunday i'm disappointed but i also know
05:23again we're talking about game 14 game 15 in this guy's career of starts so um there's still a lot
05:32you know i watched josh allen last night he was absolutely amazing and i don't know if michael
05:38pennix will ever be able to put a team on his back like josh allen did last night with the
05:42buffalo bills
05:43josh is at a different point in his career but he has so much experience under his belt
05:50that michael pennix lacks and so i just feel like mike to your point people are pointing out the bullshit
05:56because they really want to try to validate that they're right about this and that we truly need
06:01to move on and go get another quarterback the crazy thing is mike and dayday that's all going to work
06:07itself out that's all going to work itself out if he is not the guy and we ultimately realize he
06:13can't
06:13do what we need him to do this this organization will move on but i'm not ready to rush there
06:18because
06:19of a few moments that happened in this game mike and that's kind of where i'm at where you know
06:24you
06:24can pinpoint some things we had a guy call in yesterday on the show guys talking about the towel
06:29over his head give me a break we don't care about trying to find something to bitch and complain about
06:34and unfortunately mike that's kind of where we are with this pennix conversation you know a guy just now
06:40was like you know dayday we're talking about you called him soft yeah i called him soft because i didn't
06:43know what was going on week two i still think he should have played week two that's a different
06:46conversation now he's out there and we're having a conversation about the things that he did well
06:50and we're giving him kudos for that dropping dimes lasers to drake and all those amazing passes to
06:55to pits the touchdown but i mean again if he if he does some things that 99 of NFL quarterbacks
07:00can do
07:00the game is over so i mean i'm just again i'm not i'm not even gonna scroll said i was
07:04joking with
07:04carl yesterday day day just staying off social media because there's just people you can't have a
07:08rational conversation with and it is what it is now the big question is can he play because whatever you
07:14like what you don't like about michael pennix jr he is our only chance to beat the bears because any
07:19other quarterback is not going to give us that chance to i don't i don't think you can run the
07:23ball i don't think the bears will do the same thing the ravens will do to us and and and
07:26they'll
07:26take they'll take they'll take bijon away yeah yeah you're forcing him to make throws one-on-one
07:32situations not to say that our guys can't beat him johan dotson can get open obviously zb we got guys
07:37that can get open but you're forcing him to make the throws necessary to beat you and that that becomes
07:41the issue go ahead day day no i'm just gonna say yeah two of them just he's just got to
07:45be better
07:45in his reads that's all that boils down to um you know in order because to your point um they're
07:51gonna
07:52do like you said they're gonna do the same thing i think they have uh uh they have one of
07:56the better
07:56run defenses in the league so far uh this year um total defense they're they're pretty good as well
08:03i i i was looking you know just kind of going through some of the numbers this morning so um
08:08yeah if
08:09we're if we're stuck with tua he's just got he's got to step up man like i here i here's
08:14i'll say
08:15this i won't say i won't have faith that this team can't win because defensively i think some of the
08:20issues that the the bears have again they may be coming in with the backup their running back was
08:25out this past week as well so it could be a game where maybe we got to rely heavily on
08:30our defense
08:31um if that's the case if we got to go with tua so i won't i won't throw out all
08:36hope i'll say that
08:37he just needs to take care of the ball at that point throw the ball away don't force any throws
08:43into any situations that aren't there and you know maybe we get lucky bijon and brian robinson get off
08:49a little bit enough in the in the run game to where you know he can have some success
08:54through the air um i real quick though i want to go back to mike when you said you're going
08:58to stay
08:58off social media bro just do what i do like i i you know i i i catch hell too
09:04i i'm apparently i'm
09:06i'm a fan boy of michael pennix jr and all this stuff and i just do what i do bro
09:11just give a
09:12thumbs up yeah no like i said i mean it's just it's it's and it's funny because i said to
09:17one guy
09:18last week carl like well it's atlanta and that's some other guy and it's like you read his profile and
09:22it's like you know what does that mean it's atlanta i'm like no i mean i mean it's atlanta there's
09:26always going to be an element where you can't have a rational discussion about it it's this
09:30doesn't happen in other cities it's just it's it's just it is what it is you know it's this goes
09:34all
09:34the way back to 2006 mike vick you know where we i used to say what happened to the good
09:38mike vick
09:39what are you saying i go and then later on we found out he was carl a bit distracted in
09:43his own words
09:44so it's just it's a shame though you can't just break it down for what it is at face value
09:48yeah
09:49well in all jokes aside i you just you touched on it carl um and i had it as far
09:54for our show notes
09:55the real conversation about michael pennix jr isn't whether or not i don't think it's whether
10:00or not he can get the job done he's showing us that just two two three games in he can
10:06get the
10:06job done the question is can he overcome injuries and stay on the field going back to your point
10:12about him only having 14 15 starts those are 14 15 starts not consecutively you know i mean it was
10:19three starts at the end of one year it was what six seven starts the next year it's three starts
10:26this year this man hasn't played a real full season of football right and he's on a new a new
10:34uh
10:34offensive system that he's learning right but again he's the real question is can he stay healthy
10:40yeah that's it that's all we need to see is how does he function in this office carl and the
10:44big thing
10:44is as we said he's he's proven that he can do some really good things the problem was the defense
10:50wore down at the end i mean that's complimentary football we it's that's why when we have these
10:54discussions about who's to blame well the entire team is to blame the ravens were better than us
10:58they're badasser than us on defense they set the edge wouldn't let us get out to the outside
11:03their offensive line manhandled our edge rushers and outside linebackers but there was still a moment
11:08in the game there's kept down to moments where you needed a quarterback to make a play that's just
11:12that's a conversation i don't think is a problem to have it just it goes sideways in three two one
11:17carl real quick with the bears do you feel that i mean are you hearing anything about caleb williams
11:21playing everything i'm reading chicago it sounds like they targeted this week but now it still might
11:26not be the dude and i'd rather not see caleb because he can do some of the things hutley did
11:29to us
11:30no he's special man i mean um if he's a full 100 the crazy thing about the bears is they
11:36bench
11:37tyler bajin uh badger should i say in that game against the packers and brought back case keenum
11:43right ben johnson don't overthink it case played well for you on that monday night he's an experienced
11:50guy you should have probably stayed the course and maybe there would have been more stability there
11:56but then you made the next week you made the switch you ended up winning the game but that wasn't
12:00great
12:00and then last week you benched him so that's kind of in flux what i'm saying is if it's not
12:06caleb
12:07i'm not sure which way he's going to go my guess is he'd probably go back to case keenum because
12:12he
12:12he's sturdy case is not great but he's sturdy and he understands what they're trying to do
12:16and case has said this he is uh kind of been a coach in that quarterback room to caleb williams
12:22you
12:22know so uh yeah i don't want to see caleb not because i don't want to see the best i
12:27love seeing these
12:28great quarterbacks come into town man and i'm disappointed we didn't see lamar but you know
12:33what snoop showed you he can play and i want to see the best players because that's what we like
12:38in the nfl but mike yeah if it was if it's us winning or losing caleb gives them a much
12:43better
12:44opportunity to win this game even if he's 85 90 percent than either one of those other guys that
12:49they have so let's kind of hope that maybe he's not 100 they decide to go the other way and
12:54maybe
12:54our chances increase not knowing what the situation is with michael pennix by the way the
12:58real quick they they the thing about staying healthy here's the here's the whole craziness
13:02about this we just saw it play out he's one hit away from it not working and you just saw
13:11it like
13:12it can happen like that in any game and so you are and this is why i think this organization
13:19really
13:19needs to think about bringing in another guy not because i don't like pennix but you just you're
13:25rolling the die you're literally playing and gambling every sunday one hit and you just saw
13:31what that what happened there what if that was a more intense landing the guy let's say that was a
13:36350 or 60 pound guy landing on him what would have been the impact of that so i just you
13:42know i don't
13:43know man i look at this and i go i wanted to succeed but man i also know it is
13:48he is literally one
13:49play away every sunday from what you're saying and that is the danger of having him as your your
13:56quarterback right now because you just don't know when that hit's going to come mike and data just to
13:59back up what carl said you know when mike vick broke his leg in 2003 the next year the falcons
14:04drafted
14:04matt shop and and he was the insurance policy you know a solid just like you know back and take
14:10it all
14:10the way back when the commanders were called the redskins and uh the owner you know he wanted rg3
14:14but uh you know but uh it was uh shanahan's dad uh uh kirk kirk i mean but it was
14:20uh it was uh
14:21cousins yeah he wanted kirk cousins so they took him with like a i think it was a fourth round
14:24mike mike shanahan yeah mike shanahan's dad you know the the the shanahan uh but yeah so it's just
14:30it's it's definitely a question hey let's pivot real quick georgia bulldogs uh what what do we
14:34talk about who's on the program today denny you're the producer what's going on today who's coming on
14:37so we got tony gwen jr here uh we'll touch base with him in regards to what we're seeing right
14:42now in the uh division championship guys dodgers in a 0-2 hole and two of their best arms have
14:48already gone i haven't watched a minute haven't watched a minute season ended for me when the
14:53braves went home for some for somebody who said milwaukee choke you should be because they're they're
14:57the real deal they're they're playing their ass off uh yeah they are they come they they are ready
15:03man they are and now we can have that post-mortem on him with the braves and what do you
15:06do
15:07i mean would you trade ronald uh would you i mean i there's a couple guys i'd trade i don't
15:11know what
15:11the market is for some of those guys i'd trade but anyway tony gwen jr on the way uh more
15:16fallout
15:16uh kirby addresses the leaker who is a nitwit who decided to take a private conversation and that's
15:22what a locker room conversation between a coach and his players is private not meant for the public
15:26you and i carl you agreed with me i think we thought it was a booster somebody who's probably has
15:30access to that locker room but doesn't know better uh either way kirby the hammer came down that will
15:34never happen again but now georgia's number one in the country and now the question is uh is it a
15:39lock that we're going to get alabama and a rematch carl in the sec championship no by no stretch
15:44look i'm not counting out old miss and trinidad chambliss they got to go on the road up there and
15:48play
15:48texas florida right now he's out counting them out yeah me neither you can say all the shit you
15:55want florida will show up at mercedes-benz stadium this is not going to be an easy ride into the
16:00sec
16:00championship game for georgia but the other opponent who could that be look i do think
16:07they're the two best teams in this conference um texas's offense is just not good and so that's
16:13the hamper there their defense is as good as georgia's i believe but their offense is not
16:17and so um if you just put it in simple terms yeah mike that's probably going to be the matchup
16:22but man i don't know we see it every week guys every week this conference is like what the hey
16:27i mean south carolina what they did against florida was shocking you know what i mean at florida
16:32at florida so it's just like you never know missouri are they the real deal i mean like they always
16:39they always tease you they always tease you electric it's a company they always show the ability to do
16:43it right yeah it's gonna be fun though man i mean like this is the month where by the end
16:47of the
16:47month contenders and pretenders get separated we get into november we get the college football
16:51playoff rankings and then it gets real also quinn snyder is going to join us today guys uh one thing
16:57about the hawks i'm excited about the new guys but i think we'll we have a cool conversation i think
17:00planned this afternoon because carl it's so hard when you break down the minutes as we know to get
17:05some of these young guys out there because i'd love to see some of these faces but how did how
17:09does
17:09quinn you know devise this rotation early in the season to get the most out of it and what was
17:14this
17:14conversation with jalen johnson like after that next series yeah it's a good question uh and hopefully
17:19coach will share with us today i am excited about uh this team i do think we're better than what
17:24we
17:24were at the end of last season like from the time we walk off the floor to what we added
17:29starting
17:30this season i think we're better and deeper to be honest with you which uh should help but the east
17:35is a beast man hey man day day we got the fun shenanigans for you and guy talk as well
17:40and day
17:40day what's inside his noggin uh by the way the uh give give love because they are one of the
17:45best
17:45stories in town and that of course is the atlanta dream and trying to find a venue uh day day
17:49this the
17:50atlanta dream got a venue can we find a place for them to play with more than 3 000 people
17:55that's
17:55the question that's you know nothing against the gateway center of any but i'm just i'm being
17:59proactive on the dream because carl i see that i'm messing with you i embrace your role right now
18:04yes carl no like first off nobody's a bigger dream fan or a fan of the wnba than this guy
18:09so
18:09please but in fact i'm i've waited for my dream pennant to go on the wall so
18:15okay it might be velcro but we'll just take anyway there you go we'll talk today two o'clock
18:19right here on the number one we are number one thanks to you number one sports and number one
18:23afternoon drive show dukes and bell right here at the game