00:00The Falcons got their first home win yesterday at the Benz, took down the undefeated 49ers, 29-20.
00:07They can't call themselves undefeated anymore.
00:09Michael Pettix Jr. was 25 of 34 for 213 yards, three passing touchdowns.
00:14What was the moment, guys, where you knew that the Falcons were going to win this game?
00:19Oh, I thought you were going to ask me what moment, like, kind of changed it.
00:22I was already ready.
00:23The Kendall-Daniels interception kind of was for me.
00:28I was like, all right, you know what?
00:30I think we have this because what it did was is you were able to run enough clock down.
00:36It left Kyle with one timeout, the Niners and Shanahan with one timeout.
00:40It was able to allow you to make it a two-score game with the field goal,
00:44and it left them with what might like a minute 50, I think, left in the game.
00:50So, to me, that was finally it because, look, that's a really good football team, Allie.
00:54And until the Jesse Bates interception early in the second half,
00:59Brock Purdy was very surgical.
01:02In fact, he was making plays that I was like, he made a play right before the interception
01:09that where he scrambles to the left, and he comes back and throws across his body
01:16to find a guy that kind of sat in an open spot in the zone.
01:19And I was like, how the hell did he find him?
01:21And it was a great throw for a guy that is not necessarily known for a big arm.
01:26But then where he forces the ball in to Christian, tries to force it down the sideline to Christian
01:32Kirk, that was a big change.
01:33But the Kendall-Daniels interception was absolutely a phenomenal play by Daniels.
01:38Yeah, there's no doubt about it.
01:40And there's a couple of different moments to stick out.
01:43Obviously, we've got plenty of time to talk about it.
01:44But I just, Bo mentioned the Jesse Bates interception and just a momentum shifter
01:51that that seemed to be for Brock Purdy.
01:53And he brought that up this morning.
01:55And I thought that's where he was going to go just now.
01:57And I couldn't agree more.
01:58Like Brock Purdy before and after that, kind of different decision-making process.
02:02And really, I don't know how long it was into the game exactly, but it was a long time into
02:09the game before they even targeted a wide receiver in their passing game.
02:12A lot of Christian McCaffrey, a lot of Kittle, you know, they were getting running backs out.
02:17They were doing a bunch of different things, but the wide receivers were not involved.
02:20And Mike Evans was not playing in the football game.
02:22And then they had to kind of try to pivot to that.
02:25And that's when things for Brock Purdy seemed to kind of, you know, take a turn.
02:29But a lot of ups and downs throughout much of the game yesterday.
02:33And I'll say this.
02:36I think the middle two quarters were the best two quarters of Tommy Reese's career as a play caller yesterday.
02:44Not necessarily the first quarter a little bit.
02:48The fourth quarter was ugly with the noozle bad snap and some of the other stuff you try to get
02:51done.
02:52But, man, there were a couple drives.
02:53That drive in the second quarter when you're down 14-3.
02:59That's a season-saving drive.
03:01That was, I think it was a nine-play drive where you go out and get the tutty.
03:04If you think if they're not able to do that and 49ers get the ball back and are able to
03:09put up another tud
03:09and you're looking at kind of a similar scenario to what you did last week,
03:13the whole season flips on its head from that point.
03:16And for them to be able to get that drive put together right there in the second quarter was just
03:19huge.
03:20Yeah, I also go back to the one where they opened the second half.
03:25And in those two, what you're referencing is something that we had an off-the-air conversation,
03:32Arch and myself, and we looked at time of possession.
03:35And from that first quarter where they dominated time of possession,
03:41the second and third quarters, you flipped the time of possession on its head.
03:44Now, they did have more in the fourth quarter, and it evened it back up.
03:48But you absolutely flipped it on its head.
03:50Those two drives were phenomenal.
03:53And I thought they took a little too much time to end the second quarter.
03:58I think they let too much time go off.
04:02I understand the logic behind it because the whole goal was to get points, okay?
04:09Not a touchdown per se, but points and leave no time for San Francisco
04:14so you could do the double dip.
04:16And it did work out, and it ended up all working out.
04:19But I thought they might have had a couple more shots at the end zone
04:22had they had a little bit more urgency.
04:24But I'm not going to really get them on that because it actually worked the way they wanted to.
04:31Was this the most settled you guys had seen Michael Penix to date in his role?
04:36Well, that's a good way to put it.
04:39Great word.
04:40Yes, and by settled, if I can expand on that just slightly,
04:45it was one of the first times in his career that I've seen him very conscious
04:51and okay with taking, settling with what the defense has given you.
04:58They played a plethora of zone defense yesterday.
05:02So if they want to fall back in that zone,
05:04the job of the receivers is to – and Mike, I think you can touch on this
05:08because you did play tight in the NFL a little bit –
05:12is the goal is to find that soft spot, sit down in it, let Penix –
05:17and that's what Penix is really good at is zipping the ball in tight windows.
05:22He's got an extremely strong arm and then getting four or five yards
05:27because it's a really good defense on that side.
05:29It's also a really good offense.
05:30And when you do that, you do two things that Mike and I talked about at length
05:35yesterday in the pregame show.
05:37You're A, you're staying on schedule, right?
05:40And B, by doing that, you're keeping yourself in manageable down-and-distance situations.
05:46Yeah, but one of our keys to victory yesterday was getting yards after the catch,
05:50and you're able to do that when you hit your checkdowns.
05:52Settled is the perfect word.
05:54I've been searching for that because – and I was doing, you know,
05:57obviously the postgame yesterday with Grant.
05:58I was trying to decide – Grant and I were talking about it.
06:00I was like, is this the best that Michael Penix has looked?
06:03I don't know if that – I don't know if I'm ready to go there.
06:06Like, was that his best start?
06:07I don't know.
06:08I'm not going to rehash all of his starts.
06:10But there was a moment – and Grant and I kind of opened the postgame talking about it.
06:14I'm like, man, he hit his checkdowns today in a big way.
06:17Like, his processes – and shout-out to the offensive line for giving him the protection to do this.
06:21But his processes of getting his read and hitting his checkdown was better than it's ever been.
06:25And so I loved when Penix goes into the interview with Bo and Dave Archer and he says,
06:30you know – and I don't remember the exact quote, and Bo might be able to help me out here.
06:34He said something along the lines of, we have to make sure not to get bored with the short throws.
06:39And I thought that was just insightful.
06:42Like, I was like, that is unbelievable to hear him say that because you can see that play out for
06:48him.
06:48He has – we talk about it all the time, arm strength.
06:51We talk about him and Tua going into the preseason – you know, going into training camp.
06:55Well, Tua can hit the short throws and diagnose, but Michael Penix is going to be able to stretch the
06:58defense
06:59and get vertical up the field.
07:01And last week, that was one of the frustrations.
07:03It's like there's no checkdowns here.
07:05There's not – he's not getting it out of his hands as the blitz is coming.
07:07We're not throwing into the blitz.
07:08It's just we have no answers for this.
07:10It was completely different.
07:12Completely different yesterday.
07:13Yeah, Arch is talked about in the bootleg plays that when you come out – when you get the ball
07:20as a quarterback
07:20and you get to start moving out, the number one thing is getting your head turned quickly, right?
07:27To see the – because those bootlegs, there's always – Mike, you'll tell them – there's always an outlet right
07:33there.
07:34Always.
07:34And you have to get to it quickly.
07:36If you don't get to it quickly, now it's a problem.
07:39The play could get blown up.
07:40All kinds of issues can happen.
07:43But you've got to get your head turned around.
07:45But, Mike, it was – it was almost like something clicked.
07:51I don't know if it was because it's a system that's familiar that, you know, you've seen in practice a
07:57little bit, right,
07:58when you're helping the other team because it's some of which is what Rob wants to do.
08:04But Fred Warner is the best linebacker in football.
08:07There's no one better.
08:09And you see it when those plays that Bajon in the run game normally gets for 6-10,
08:15he was getting for 3-5 because of Fred Warner's diagnosis of what's coming
08:20and being able to get downhill and understanding of where to be with his run fits.
08:26So you had to use this – the short passing attack as an extension of the run game,
08:31even though it's not ideal.
08:33I mean, it has receivers and tight ends.
08:35Kyle Pitts had one of his best games yesterday, five catches, 22 yards with a touchdown.
08:39But it's the understanding.
08:40Everybody had an understanding of find the spot in the zone, get there.
08:44And Mike had – got there with the quickness.
08:47And it also takes away all this conversation about him having to be mobile and the protection
08:53because you were getting the ball out quickly.
08:56But give the offensive line a ton of credit.
08:58They held up pretty well yesterday.
