00:02Mike's completing, like, almost 67% of his passes this season.
00:07And he came in as, what, like, Mike,
00:09a 59% completion percentage guy, I think,
00:12is what he started, what his career was,
00:15and to that point through, what, like 12 or 13 games.
00:18I just, I thought that, and I'm curious what you think, Mike,
00:22because I go back to his performance on Sunday,
00:24and it reminded me a lot of the performance a year ago
00:27against Carolina that he got injured in, the game in.
00:30Because I thought he played, you know, it's almost a year ago.
00:33It's, like, mid-November.
00:34Because I thought he was having that type of game.
00:37I think he was, like, 11 of 12 that game or something when he got hurt.
00:40He was great.
00:41And it was a real, hey, I'm comfortable with everything that's going on.
00:46I'm getting good protection.
00:48I'm getting the ball out quick.
00:50There's built-in things.
00:51I know Arch talked earlier on the radio station this week, not with us,
00:54but on another show that he was, like, they were asked about,
00:56why couldn't they do this?
00:57Why wasn't this a game plan against Chicago?
00:59And I think, Arch is like, well, the way they were bringing,
01:02the way they were playing, it wasn't so simple like that, right?
01:06There wasn't, well, I can't build in an outlet because the outlet was having
01:08to block, right?
01:10You're having Pitts and Bajon having to block,
01:13and they weren't doing a great job in that game of it.
01:15And so, yeah, you don't have that outlet because it's not,
01:18it's in use because of how they played.
01:22I just was really impressed with Mike.
01:25I'm glad that he got his flowers for a phenomenal game.
01:28It's been fun to watch on social media, the people that wanted to attack him at times
01:32about being soft, or he's not this, he's not that, and they're just like,
01:36there's a lot of crow being eaten.
01:38But the one thing I'll say, and Mike has mentioned this, got to go and he's got to continue,
01:44got to go out there and have another performance to continue to make a team eat crow.
01:47And to this week, I know Allie's going to ask us about it,
01:50but this week is one of those things where you're not going to see drop back
01:53and play zone, and I don't think you can pick us apart.
01:56No, I completely agree with everything you just said.
01:59This is the, I love when these awards come out because it does give you a moment
02:03to stop the zoom out, like I talk about.
02:05It's like, let's just focus in for just one second on what he was able to do
02:09this past weekend, live in the moment for a little bit.
02:13There's obviously, and we'll always continue to be a lot of back and forth
02:16about what Mike is as a quarterback and what he excels at.
02:20And he said it best, you know, when we just, in that cut right there,
02:23like this go credit offensive line, running game, receivers,
02:27everything else that kind of goes on around him.
02:29And, you know, Mike, when those things are going well,
02:32is as good as anybody, man.
02:33He has shown the ability to step into the football.
02:37His footwork has been 10 times better this year than it ever was at any point,
02:41in my opinion, over the last couple of seasons.
02:43And it's been fun to see the growth because like I said, if you get those
02:46things around Mike, he, he can pick you apart.
02:49And, um, but you're right.
02:51I mean, you're about to see some of the most blitz heavy teams in the NFL over
02:57the next few weeks.
02:57And you're going to have to prove that things are different than they were
02:59against Chicago.
03:00And it's going to be a weekly battle of if he struggles, this side of this
03:05argument is going to come out.
03:06And if he excels, this side of this argument is going to come out and everybody
03:08did Duncan on each other all the way through until he is named the long-term
03:12starter at quarterback for the Falcons.
03:14It is a wild ride.
03:15And if the footwork thing, um, that you bring up, I, uh, I, I don't know why
03:23it's so much better.
03:24I know what I've, what I've heard and, and, and people that actually play the
03:29position talked about when you're always constantly in a shotgun or a pistol, it
03:35can make your footwork, your feet go to sleep, so to speak, and kind of, you get
03:39lazy with it because there's not that one, two, three set, you know what I mean?
03:44Like set, like there's no rhythm to it.
03:46And, and so that may or may or may not be it.
03:50It could just be that he was a young player.
03:53He is and was a young player last year and needed to work through things, Ali.
03:56And he's been able to do that, you know?
04:00So I don't know.
04:02I either never, you're never going to pinpoint one thing that all I can tell you
04:05is stack it.
04:06We got to get more of these.
04:08You got to in the NFL, if you want to win, you got to put more of these good
04:11games together than bad.
04:12You can't get away with average and mediocre games.
04:15Most of the time in the league.
04:16Well, I know you don't want to zoom out, Mike, but I want to zoom out in a good
04:20way, because if you think about the conversation that was happening five or six
04:23weeks ago, we are seeing Matt Ryan and Ian Cunningham on sidelines checking out
04:26college quarterbacks.
04:27How do you think the conversation now is changing within the facility of
04:33flowery branch around Michael Penix, Jeter?
04:36Yeah.
04:36In a very positive way.
04:38And it should, because he has shown the ability to, to make changes.
04:42I mean, this is his game is different now than it was a year ago.
04:45And I know that some of the schemes and some of the players with which he's
04:49throwing to, and that's really why you brought Kevin Stefanski in here, right?
04:53Is that he can be an offensive minded guy that knows how to get the most out of
04:56these situations and can play, you know, and hopefully develop quarterbacks to
05:00play better than you thought they could.
05:04And so he's, he's shown the ability to do that so far.
05:07I think that there needs to be a much longer kind of runway in terms of, Hey,
05:13this is definitely him.
05:15But he's, there's no doubt that that trajectory has shifted.
05:18I don't think there's any question coming off last week.
05:20Yeah.
05:21It's okay to zoom out.
05:23It really is.
05:25It's not okay to live and die by every performance.
05:31Like it's the be all end all.
05:33That's the problem.
05:34That's the problem with me with the zooming out because everybody wanted to look at
05:38what happened against Chicago and say, use it as their, their, well, let me rephrase
05:42that.
05:42But the people with the narrative, he's not the guy looked at that guy.
05:46Oh, see, not the guy.
05:48And now the people with the narrative, he is the guy.
05:50Oh, see, told you he's him.
05:53In reality, you look at totality as he's now has 17 starts and he's a 61% completion percentage
06:01guy through 17 starts with, um, you know, you look at it and he's got what?
06:0821 touchdowns to seven interceptions through that.
06:11Now this year you use it, you zoom back.
06:13That's the zoom outlook.
06:14You zoom back in and this year he's protected the football.
06:18He's complete.
06:19He's, he's completing a high percentage of his passes.
06:22You're scoring like 29 a game with him at the helm in five starts.
06:27So, you know, there's, there's a lot of good and good and bad, but I, the one thing I
06:32think that maybe he has the, the, the biggest, um, Hey, maybe he could be the guy sign for
06:38me is he's progressed.
06:40He's getting better.
06:41He's getting better in the system you're running.
06:44He's getting, getting better at being a, you know, the drop back stuff, like all of that
06:48he's progressed in.
06:49Yeah.
06:49And I think that, cause I get this question a lot.
06:51Um, and actually I think it, in a way it has a lot to do with Bryce young in Carolina
06:58and
06:58not that they're the same player at all, but I have the same conversations around them because
07:01Bryce is, and we talked about it yesterday with Mike Jones looking for an extension.
07:05The, the, the comment, the comment I always give is most fan bases or teams or whatever
07:11are not going to feel comfortable saying that they're that guy until they go out and win
07:14a game themselves.
07:16That's, that's how I feel about it.
07:18If, if either one of those guys, if, if Mike Bryce, you know, CJ Stroud, whoever it is
07:24that that's in the crosshairs of these conversations, they can go out and win a game themselves when
07:29it's not, Oh man, the offensive line played spectacular.
07:31Or Bajon rushed for one 90 or whatever it is.
07:34If they can go out and win a game themselves, when other things fall flat, then I think
07:38a lot more people kind of latch onto that and move forward and say, man, believe in this
07:42guy, look at him gamer.
07:44Like, and we saw flashes of that last year.
07:48I'm not sure we've seen that this year yet.
07:50And it's, it's like I said, it's like, we've got to stop the absolutes.
07:53He's going in the right direction.
07:55And like Ali just talked about there, that conversation is different right now than it was five weeks
07:59ago.
07:59And I thought that you might've, you had an opportunity for that against Baltimore.
08:05Hey, go steal the game, go make this throw.
08:07And it was a little short, but it's, it was the third game back.
08:12And I, you know what?
08:14I'm curious real quick, what you think of how this team has played since he's come back,
08:19because I think you've had one stinker.
08:20It was the Chicago game.
08:22I keep hearing people talk about the Baltimore game.
08:24Like you just got your butt handed to you.
08:25And I think people have only remember the, the, the last drive, the last two drives that
08:31Baltimore had offensively because they came out hot in the first quarter, but you dominated
08:35the second and the third and most of the fourth quarter in that game.
08:38Most, you ended up coming up short, but it was, to me, it was a necessary game, unfortunately,
08:46because it was one that you have to go, you were able to go back and look at what you
08:50didn't
08:50do when you needed to make a play.
08:53And I think you turn around and you look at last week and you made those plays last week,
08:57whether it was defensively or offensively, it doesn't matter.
08:59You made the plays, keep, keep, have that understanding of what is, what it takes to win.
09:04And now go stack another one and go win another game that you need to have, go find a way
09:08to win it again and have that moment, make that play.
