- 9 minutes ago
Zinno discusses the Falcons loss on Sunday to the Buccaneers and Michael Penix Jr.'s play. While there is no excusing how poorly Penix has played, and he needs to improve, a loss like this says more about the coaching staff and its inability to make adjustments throughout the game.
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00:00Good morning. Welcome to A to Z here on Sports Radio, 9 to 9 the Game, where today I tell
00:05you a certain group of people got exactly what they wanted.
00:08Welcome in once again here to A to Z on 9 to 9 the Game.com and 9 to 9
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00:17here to all the great content we have over on the YouTube page at 9 to 9 the Game and
00:20like the content as well on 9 to 9 the Game.com.
00:24We're going to dive right into it here with the Atlanta Falcons and the kind of disaster that was their
00:3016-0 defeat at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
00:35And I'll say this much, you know, for the crowd, it was a banner day for the we hope Michael
00:41Penix fails crowd.
00:41And they got exactly what they wanted. You got a really bad performance from Penix.
00:46He threw four picks, and this was just not a game that was winnable from the get-go, the way
00:53things were going with the Atlanta Falcons.
00:55Two early interceptions, the same player on Tampa, and the Falcons were constantly chasing in a game that they didn't
01:00have a chance really to catch up in.
01:01And I'll continue to say this, you know, and this is what I don't think is continually being talked about
01:09enough.
01:09And then let me actually back up. I'm not going to sugarcoat Michael Penix's performance.
01:15I think you guys know it's not my style. I think you guys know that's not the way I do
01:19things.
01:20I won't make excuses for poor play. And he didn't play well, and he didn't play good, and he made
01:25a lot of bad decisions, and it hurt the team for it.
01:28There's no getting around any of that. And I'm not here to make excuses for Michael Penix either.
01:33I know you guys think I'm this huge Penix supporter. To a certain extent, I am.
01:36I think it's what's best for the organization and what's best for the franchise long term.
01:40But I also believe that this is a team and a franchise that has to be viewed in the right
01:47context at this point in time.
01:49And, you know, for all those people who, for whatever insane reason, are hoping that Michael Penix doesn't do well
01:55or isn't the franchise quarterback
01:57or already committed to him not being the guy and want to draft somebody else,
02:01I don't understand what you benefit from by having him fail at this point in time.
02:07But a lot of what happened on Sunday in that game, to me, goes back to coaching.
02:14I'm not going to let this coaching staff off the hook for things that they can ultimately be responsible for.
02:22We talked about this last week.
02:23In short, the coaching staff has to keep Michael Penix in a positive game script.
02:29They have to keep him in a position where he can be successful and give him a latitude to make
02:35a couple of mistakes.
02:36There was a play early in the game in the first quarter where Penix missed a wide open Kyle Pitts.
02:44Clearly wide open.
02:45It was a third and two.
02:46Clearly wide open.
02:47Would have gotten it.
02:47And Penix didn't make the throw.
02:50Not going to make an excuse for him not making the throw.
02:53But again, I'll continue to ask the same question.
02:57It is a slop fest.
02:59It's pouring sideways.
03:00Throwing a ball is difficult when conditions are ideal.
03:04Doing it in those sort of conditions, to me, sometimes is almost unimaginable.
03:11And the best player on the field, we all know where's number seven.
03:16The best thing you can do is put the ball in the hands of number seven.
03:20It's third and two.
03:21And you are a running team.
03:24Why are you passing the ball when giving it to Bajon is the easiest thing to do to move the
03:31chains there?
03:32Like you can't, you know, I'm always a big advocate for thinking two and three plays ahead.
03:36But in situations like that, it's like third and two, man.
03:38It's just get the damn first down.
03:40And the idea that you're throwing in that spot.
03:43Look, it was open.
03:44He made the right read.
03:45He made a bad throw.
03:46You can't excuse that.
03:48It should have been a first down.
03:49I'm not saying they would have scored if they got the first down.
03:51I'm not saying they would have scored if they didn't.
03:52If they gave it to Bajon, they got the first down.
03:54I'm not saying any of that.
03:55But it's just emblematic of the fact that the coaching staff is not doing their job to keep Penix in
04:03positions that are successful.
04:05And that needs to be addressed.
04:07I mean, you also have to look at the adjustments that this coaching staff is or isn't making.
04:13Let's look at this objectively.
04:14I mean, the Buccaneers ran for 300 and some on yards.
04:18They had two running backs run for 140 or more.
04:21Like, at what point in time did this coaching staff and Kevin Stefanski realize, you know what?
04:25The Buccaneers aren't throwing the ball.
04:27Okay, then let's make an adjustment and force them to do it and force them to throw the ball.
04:33They also didn't have to do it.
04:34They're also trying to throw the ball in wet conditions with an injured quarterback who's got a bad thumb, which
04:38is your grip finger on the ball, and you're not making him throw it.
04:41Don't understand why.
04:43Don't understand why.
04:45No adjustment to stop the run.
04:47No adjustment to get Bajon more involved.
04:50No adjustment to take Penix throwing the ball out of the game a little more.
04:54I mean, you know, are we not doing bootlegs with Penix and rolling him out and getting him out in
05:00space because he can't run, or they're afraid to let him run, or he's not comfortable running?
05:05I don't know the answer to that.
05:06Maybe that is the case.
05:07But the reality is, is that those are things that keep him in positions to be successful where, hey, if
05:12I need to, I can tuck this thing and run and hold on to the football and keep us in
05:17a positive script.
05:20I just, I don't know what's benefiting here from the crowd that looks at Penix and goes, we know this
05:26isn't our guy.
05:26It's time to move on.
05:28I don't understand that.
05:30He's three and three to this point this season when he started.
05:34And in the three wins, he's been really good.
05:36And the three losses, not so much.
05:38Okay.
05:38I mean, as a coaching staff, you know what needs to be done in order to win games, and you're
05:45simply not doing it.
05:46And it's not enough at this point in time.
05:49Like, you really have to begin to dissect and wonder what is going on in the coaching meetings and the
05:56game planning meetings and what they are deciding to do and when they're deciding to do it.
06:00I mean, you know, Penix is here, guys.
06:04You have to acknowledge that fact.
06:06And you have to acknowledge that fact that through the next nine games, Penix is going to be the starter.
06:12And why you think it's more beneficial for him to fail than him to succeed probably says more about you
06:20and what you think and everything else than it does about the team and the organization.
06:25And when you're viewing the Falcons right now, it's best to keep them in a game-to-game kind of
06:33context.
06:35Stop putting this team and Michael Penix up against a team and an organization that hasn't made the playoffs in
06:41eight years going on nine maybe.
06:43Like, how does that help you?
06:46Like, putting it up against that context.
06:47Like, I understand it.
06:48I understand why, as a fan, you've had enough and it's bothersome and it's troublesome and, you know, what's going
06:55on now continues to feed into what the failures of the past were.
06:58But I'm not really sure what the connection is because I don't see any, period, especially in the first year
07:05of a new coach.
07:06Like, Kevin Stefanski wasn't here for the failures of Raheem Morris.
07:11He wasn't here for the shortcomings of Arthur Smith.
07:15What does that have to do with what is going on in the field right now and game-to-game
07:20and week-to-week?
07:21I talked about it relentlessly.
07:24Yes, the overarch of the season is important, but game-to-game, week-to-week is what you're starting to
07:28measure and measure the performance week-to-week.
07:31I've told you repeatedly, Michael Penix needs time to grow.
07:34He needs to make mistakes.
07:35He needs room to learn.
07:36He needs to become better at certain things.
07:38All that's true.
07:39But if you're constantly comparing it to the last eight years of failure, it's never going to look good.
07:45And, oh, by the way, even if they were 5-3 at this point in time, instead of 3-5,
07:50putting it up against the failure of the last eight years still has you going, when's the other shoe going
07:54to drop?
07:55When is this thing going to fall apart?
07:56Because it always does for the Falcons.
07:59And that's a fruitless mindset to me.
08:03I mean, the inconsistency is a problem.
08:06The inconsistency of game-to-game and not being able to produce an offense week-to-week that looks like
08:12it's something formidable.
08:13Yeah, I get it.
08:14That's frustrating.
08:16But it's also kind of football-like.
08:18A lot of teams are in that boat.
08:20There are very few teams week in and week out.
08:23There's like four or five of them out of 32 in the league that are just, okay, we know what
08:27we're getting every single week.
08:28We know what we're getting with the Bills every single week.
08:30We know what we're getting with the Niners every single week.
08:31Like, even Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, after a 5-0 start, guess what?
08:36They lost the last two in pretty similar fashion.
08:40They look pretty pedestrian as well when Kenneth Walker can't rush for 150 yards.
08:45I mean, you know, every team in the league, let me rephrase, majority of the teams in the league are
08:50facing the same challenges the Falcons are.
08:53And I'm not sure why there is this desire to continually try to put this team up against standards and
08:59measurables that are not theirs.
09:01It doesn't make any sense.
09:04I mean, stop trying to decide the future based off of one game.
09:08Let's wait until the end of the season and see what materializes and see what happens.
09:13I mean, they make the playoffs at 8-9 like the Panthers did last year.
09:18I mean, are we really seeing a situation where we're going, well, we're going to draft a new quarterback.
09:23I don't think you're doing that.
09:25I don't think the organization wants to do that.
09:27I think what needs to happen is that they need to continue to evaluate and get better.
09:32Last week was a bad coaching job.
09:33I mean, both teams are playing in the same elements.
09:36And one team looked like they were ready and prepared for it, the other didn't.
09:39And one team made adjustments and the other didn't.
09:43I mean, continually, the path to success is to put the ball in B. John Robinson's hands.
09:49As much and as often as you can.
09:50We talked in the first week that he was back.
09:53Is that sustainable?
09:53Is it sustainable to give him the ball, you know, 30 times a game?
09:56No, it's not.
09:57It's probably not over the long term.
10:00But are you going to blame the coaching staff for doing it too much?
10:03Or are you going to blame them for not doing it enough?
10:05Are you going to blame them for not looking out for the long-term future for the guy?
10:08Or are you going to blame them for not trying to win ballgames now?
10:11Like, you can pick apart this thing a million ways to Sunday.
10:15But the continual reality exists that this franchise and what is going on now and what happened now.
10:23Like, you know, people, this is not a serious franchise.
10:25Why?
10:26Because they lost the game 16 or nothing.
10:27They're not serious.
10:29The coaching staff isn't serious.
10:30I think the coaching staff has questions.
10:33But nothing about what they do and the way they operate, to me, seems unserious.
10:37You're not going 17-0.
10:39You weren't going 15-0 with Michael Penix.
10:42So I'm not sure what is unserious about them.
10:45And when you constantly put this up against a measuring stick that is unattainable,
10:51you're setting yourself up for disappointment.
10:54Now, I think we're starting to see some things about Penix that are fair and obvious.
10:59Penix needs to get better at the line of scrimmage.
11:01That's fair.
11:03But it's also not an indictment that you write the guy off and say he can't play anymore.
11:07And we need to go draft a new quarterback.
11:08I'm not sure why that has to be the result.
11:12Why can't the result just be we have to continue to get better next week?
11:15We have to try to get better next week.
11:17We have to try to win the game next week.
11:18And oh, by the way, you know, the other mentality that everybody continues to approach this with
11:22is that, hey, this is the most important game.
11:25This is a really significant game.
11:27This is a game that's going to tell us a lot.
11:30Every game can't be that.
11:31If every game is that, none of them are that.
11:34It's the old adage.
11:35If everything is emergency, nothing is an emergency.
11:39In the grand scheme of things, you're a half a game out of first place in a very convoluted
11:42division that we knew was going to be convoluted to begin with.
11:45Okay.
11:48Does the outside of the book look pretty?
11:52Does the whole thing have an aesthetics to it that are pleasing?
11:57No, it doesn't.
11:59Okay.
12:00But aesthetics be damned.
12:03Start winning games, right?
12:06I mean, you know, they are one and two in the division.
12:12They don't get another crack in the division game until the final three weeks of the season,
12:17which may help them out when you look at it objectively.
12:21But now they've got to start stacking wins.
12:24And it's going to be another tough scenario going over the pond to Spain this week to try
12:28to win another game.
12:29Against an offense, it's pretty good.
12:32You know, defense had a bad game.
12:36Defense had a really bad game.
12:38Not because they didn't play well, but, I mean, you know, again, the lack of ability
12:43to stop the run was troubling.
12:49I mean, and again, the optics of, oh, their quarterback didn't throw a pass and they won
12:53a football game.
12:54How's it happened to 1845?
12:55Like, okay.
12:57I get it.
12:58It was ugly.
13:00I'm not going to get wrapped around the axle on those things.
13:03I will get wrapped around the axle about the decision for Michael Penix to throw 24 times
13:07in a monsoon.
13:10But Penix didn't make those calls.
13:13Right?
13:14At all.
13:18So, that's on the coaching staff.
13:20But yet, I don't see anybody running to throw the baby out with the bathwater on the coaching
13:25staff, but yet you're willing to do it for Penix.
13:27Again, you guys are going to sit here to, oh, I'm a Penix stand and I'm objectively looking
13:32at what I see.
13:35The Buccaneers turned around and made a conscious decision.
13:37We're not throwing the ball.
13:38Until they stop us, we're not throwing the ball.
13:40The Falcons decided not to stop them at all.
13:46Coaching.
13:49Not an indictment necessarily on Jeff Ulbrich.
13:51Not an indictment on Kevin Stefanski.
13:52Although, I have spoken to people in Cleveland, and I've asked the question about it, you
13:57know, and about questioning his play calling, things of that nature.
14:00And they all said it was fair, and it was one of the knocks against him.
14:06Now, Stefanski doesn't give us much.
14:07He doesn't say much.
14:08He doesn't tell us much.
14:09And, you know, that doesn't mean we don't ask the question, but the point simply is that
14:13you're not really likely to get an answer that you believe is something worthwhile.
14:18And so, where do they go from here?
14:22I don't know.
14:23Do your best to beat the Bengals.
14:25I mean, you've seen the ceiling of this team in what they did against the Packers and what
14:30they did against the Niners.
14:32You've also seen the floor.
14:35The Buccaneers and the Bears games, those were the floor.
14:39You know, Ravens, you lost a coin flip game at OT.
14:44You're going to have to get some more experience to get better at that.
14:47But you get the next two games at home, and you have an opportunity here.
14:53Well, not at home.
14:54One, it's technically a home game, but you get the point.
14:57And you get the Chiefs back home in the following week.
14:59All you can do right now is try to control what's in front of you and beat the Bengals.
15:03Beat the Bengals in four and five and have a couple of things bounce your way.
15:10You know, and maybe the Panthers is at home to the Broncos, right?
15:13Maybe the Browns end up beating the Saints.
15:16And all of a sudden, everything looks different one week later.
15:19But stop continually hanging your hat every single week on,
15:23Penix, we need to know if he's the guy right now.
15:26You'll have that conversation in January.
15:30Like, nothing at this point in time is going to make me turn around and go,
15:33I've got definitive proof.
15:35I mean, you're not going to get – I don't even think we can have that sort of statement
15:39until we're week 14, 15, 16 kind of deal.
15:44And that's going to come in his play.
15:46If you continue to see inconsistency and you continue to see the bouncing back and forth,
15:50good game, bad game, good game, bad game.
15:52Like, okay, then what's preventing him from having good game, good game, good game,
15:58as opposed to good game, bad game, good game, bad game?
16:02Most people logically would point to coaching.
16:05Not sure if they really believe that, but I just don't get the crowd that is still hoping
16:12that Penix isn't the guy.
16:15I don't understand how you think that's what's best and beneficial.
16:19And for a fan base that is going back and continually comparing things
16:23to the last eight years of failure, why you think resetting and starting over
16:27is the key to doing it is beyond – it's so much harder to do it that way.
16:32It's so much harder.
16:34And, oh, by the way, for everybody who's aching for a new quarterback in the draft class,
16:37like, hmm, all of a sudden, all those quarterbacks that were coming out that shit
16:41that looked so good back in August now are like, meh, not really sure.
16:47What are you rushing to get a new quarterback for?
16:51Especially if the one you have is effective.
16:55Again, not alleviating Penix of any of the mistakes that he made in the game.
17:00He made bad throws and bad decisions.
17:02He's got to get better.
17:04But it's still on the coaching staff to make him better.
17:08Right?
17:10I mean, do you think Tom Brady would have been Tom Brady with any other coach
17:14other than Bill Belichick?
17:15I don't think so.
17:17Remember, those first three Super Bowls, they weren't Brady-centric.
17:21The last three, yes.
17:22The first three, they were not.
17:24It was Corey Dillon and a great defense and a whole bunch of running the football
17:29and really good coaching and staying ahead of the chains and keeping your young quarterback
17:35in a positive game script.
17:36Yes, Brady made plays.
17:37No one's denying that.
17:39But don't sit here and act like all of a sudden the coaching doesn't matter for everybody.
17:44It matters for everybody.
17:48You get the rare guys, the Josh Allens and the Joe Burrows of the world who don't need coaching.
17:54They're just good no matter what.
17:58But even Lamar Jackson has struggled.
18:00Patrick Mahomes has struggled with Andy Reid.
18:01We've seen that.
18:02We've watched it the last two weeks.
18:06Now, granted, a lot of those guys have a lot more clout
18:08and they've earned a lot more, you know, rope, so to speak, on blaming them.
18:14But objectively, week to week, a lot of quarterbacks and a lot of teams are dealing
18:19with the same thing over and over and over again.
18:22I'll continue to sit here and ask you guys to just have a little bit of patience
18:26and not be so over-emotional about every single thing that happens with Michael Penix.
18:33Let's get through the season to figure out what it is.
18:36Let's play a good game, win the next one, and then try to do it in back-to-back weeks.
18:40It's not impossible.
18:43It's absolutely not impossible.
18:50So, take a second, step back, and stop comparing this season to the last eight years of failure.
18:57It's not going to help you.
18:58I can promise you that.
19:01All right, that'll wrap this edition up.
19:02Quick and easy here, guys.
19:03Wanted to get right to it because it's been a busy week for me.
19:05But I'll be filling in next Monday with Carl Dukes.
19:09So, you guys will hear me on 99thegame.
19:11Keep it locked right here at 99thegame.com and the 99thegame YouTube.
19:15You guys have a great week.
19:16Don't kind of crap anybody.
19:17See you.
19:18See you.
19:18See you.
19:18See you.
19:19See you.