00:00check it out now more of chris thomas tonight on sports radio 92.9 the game
00:10if you're on hold stay there you'll be first up at 404-726-0929 plenty more your calls reacting
00:17to the news about michael pennix jr not being involved in friday's proceedings against miami
00:23but someone who will be all over it is our good friend tori mcelhaney she joins the program now
00:29on the hotline tori uh let's get a uh breakdown for the audience here kevin stefanski giving the
00:35rundown a little bit earlier today of the plan for the quarterback so fill in the audience who's in
00:41who's out and what do you expect in terms of playing time yeah so michael pennix has been
00:47ruled out for the game obviously he's only been in fully for three practices so everybody was a
00:53little bit like you know let's keep him on an acclimation period even michael said you know
00:57it's only been three days like it's a little too soon to get me out there for full full go
01:02um for
01:03a preseason game so no michael pennix to uh tango vailoa will start the game and then cooper rush and
01:09then jack strand will finish things out so that's kind of how it's going to go in terms of playing
01:15time for the starters obviously kevin stefanski said earlier this week that starters will play now
01:20how much and for how long and whom and all of that it's kind of what kevin stefanski said it's
01:25a
01:25person by person basis and they will evaluate kind of how much reps each person needs but we
01:32will see starters and we will see two out there what have you seen from pennix since his return to
01:3711 on 11 i think the biggest question we all have is how comfortable does he look out there
01:42yeah he he's gotten more and more comfortable i think as the days have gone on i think he's even
01:49gotten a bit more confident just in himself and how he's operating as as the days have gone on i
01:55think
01:55today being you know wednesday this practice even though it was a shorter practice and they're doing
02:00a bunch of install stuff and they're using the the cards and scout team i felt like today was
02:05one of his best days of the week in terms of just the touch that he was putting on the
02:10ball and he had
02:11a really nice throw to austin hooper in the back of the end zone with two got two defenders on
02:16him and
02:17it was just a perfectly placed ball so he's looked good the arm strength is there obviously arm strength
02:21is never something that we have to worry about with michael pennix jr and he's you know running
02:26around moving in the pocket and even kevin stavanski said it was good to see him do that i think
02:31it was
02:31good for michael to do that and kind of feel the presence of a of a dirty pocket that's going
02:36to
02:36matter so he's looked he's looked really good in his first couple of days i guess three days
02:41of full 11 on 11 work how do you think tua has responded to having a guy beside him now
02:47that's
02:48participating in all the same drills he is i mean for as good as michael pennix was i think today
02:53to it was just as good i think i only saw one in completion out at practice today from him
03:00so he's
03:01been he's on it today kind of similar in the same exact seven on seven red zone period where michael
03:08pennix had the third austin hooper i thought tua had an equally solid throw to to kyle pitts when he
03:14with the ones so i there's a really good mix and match right now happening with tua and mike
03:20getting reps with the ones and getting reps with both in 11 on 11 and seven on seven so i
03:26think
03:26that's gonna really continue even beyond what today was and you know the preseason game will be what it
03:33is but even beyond that this competition really feels like it is fully hitting into a new stride and
03:39into a new gear as we're inching towards week one jack strand mania obviously has taken over since
03:46his performance against the colts what did the coaching staff what did he have to say after his
03:51performance and what have you seen you speaking of growth his growth since the time he got here till
03:56now where he was able to perform so well oh my gosh yeah i think tommy races is talking about
04:02you
04:02know how much i get this is earlier in the week and he was just talking about how much growth
04:08there
04:08has been you think about it this is a guy coming from a school a d2 school is in arguably
04:15the middle
04:15of nowhere to now playing on a field with john robinson drake london nfl stars and he's held
04:22his own and he's gotten better and something that they were talking about is like really having him
04:27learn and be more comfortable understanding what defenses are trying to do and really finding ways
04:32to pick defenses apart and that's kind of going to be the next part of his own maturation is
04:38understanding the full picture of why you're doing things and how you can exploit it talking all things
04:44falcons with our good friend tory mcelhaney senior reporter for atlantafalcons.com make sure you check
04:50out all the great work there a couple other players that uh falcons fans are excited about what are your
04:56expectations for cash jones he's a guy obviously local product out of georgia he made a nice impact in that
05:02game against the colts as well do you think there's a chance he could latch on to the 53
05:08potentially i mean i don't i don't rule anything out of the the world of possibilities over here in
05:13falcons land i've been covering this thing long enough to know not to rule anything out um but
05:18cash jones is somebody who i think from a special team standpoint like that's going to be his way onto
05:23the roster um i think that he makes a lot of sense from a a practice squad standpoint too of
05:28kind of being
05:29the the guy on your scout team that can kind of play a little a few different roles in terms
05:34of
05:34the skill guy that's giving you some good looks that would kind of be what i'm looking at for for
05:40his role but again it's not never out of the realm of possibilities that the coaching staff can see
05:45something in somebody and give them a chance i think one of the hardest roster spots to pare down
05:50is going to be the defensive secondary uh so many guys have stood out so far from darnay homes and
05:57then
05:57you have guys on the back end like natron brooks and everyone in between to the guys you know who
06:02are going to be out there to aj and jesse bates just how impressive is that unit and how difficult
06:08of a task is that going to be for the falcons to pare it down yeah very it's it's a
06:13very deep group and
06:14there's been a lot of guys who've made a lot of plays i know we talked uh after week one
06:18the first
06:18preseason game someone like malcolm de walt like making some plays especially on special teams you you talk
06:24you know avion terrell getting back in the fold after missing some time with an injury it was a
06:30good chance to see a lot of darnay homes in that nickel spot same with sydney brown who has some
06:35some safety to nickel flex i i think that there's a lot of interesting things happening and then that's
06:44why you've been talking about like okay jesse bates hasn't really been participating that much in 11
06:49on 11 for much of the last few weeks demarco helms has taken almost every 11 on 11 team rep
06:55alongside xavier wise and so you're feeling good about safety depth because you have you've seen
07:01those strides that demarco helms has made and i so i think that there's there's a lot to talk about
07:06in the secondary and it really is going to matter to like when you're crunching the numbers on a 53
07:12man like how many corners are you carrying how many safeties are you carrying like do you go heavy
07:18at corner do you feel like you can do that or do you want to go heavy somewhere else like
07:22these are all like really big conversations and then you also got to throw into the fact that like
07:27a lot of your core special teams guys i think about sydney brown i think about mike ford like
07:32they're coming from the secondary so it's a big it's a big group that unfortunately is gonna be cut
07:38down but there's been a lot of really good plays from guys like malcolm dewalt clark phillip dj henderson
07:44these are all guys who have fought their way to being names that we're talking about but
07:50that's the thing about 53 man rosters i'm glad i'm not making the decision how exciting have the
07:55two young linebackers been in perkins and daniels oh they've been great uh they've been so fun to
08:01watch and i think that even going back to when they're when they were drafted it was one of those
08:07things where you're just kind of thinking about like okay you can see the vision for what jeff
08:11holbrook had with both of them and what he could have and what the the ultimate look could be and
08:16it was always just a matter of like in the back of my head like how quickly through their maturation
08:21are we going to see them establish themselves as not just role players on this defense but full-on
08:26starters and i think we've arrived to that the conversation around kendall daniels and harold
08:31perkins jr is exactly that is like who who is going to be starting alongside divine diablo and what
08:38packages can maybe be put together for even all three of them on the field at one time because
08:43their skill sets do allow that so that's it's been a very fascinating uh growth and development for
08:50both of those guys and they've been fun to watch let alone the fact that like there's no one who
08:54talks more to there's no one who talks more trash than kendall daniels to drake london bajon
09:02robinson bajon robinson was even talking earlier today just about how that was one of the things that
09:07kendall daniels asked him to do he asked him to talk to him get in his ear make him feel
09:11something
09:11and it was absolutely something that bajon has actually taken on as well and bajon's not really
09:19a talker he's not that's not his game that's not what he is or what he does but he does
09:23it and they
09:24will go back and forth but it is fun to just see kind of that that type of impact too
09:29with guys who
09:30are established stars in the league for those who missed it earlier today we got our first chance to
09:35hear from the newest uh edge rushers darius smith who the falcons uh brought in uh explain to the
09:41audience just how powerful that press conference was oh man i've i've been in many press conferences
09:48i've been doing i've been a reporter for over 10 years at this point including college and i don't know
09:54if i've ever been in a press conference where someone was that vulnerable and open about things that
10:04they had gone through in their life that is heartbreaking he he unfortunately in a very
10:10short amount of time lost his mother lost his grandmother lost his dad he retired from the game
10:16in order to be with his mom in her final month days and that was something that he talked about
10:24once all
10:25of it kind of once he's going through the grieving process feeling sad and feeling heartbroken and
10:31feeling that grief and feeling in a dark place and how this opportunity with atlanta
10:35and the door that has been opened up for him to return to football has allowed him to feel
10:39the joy again and the joy of even coming back to himself and i think that it was so powerful
10:46it was
10:46one of the most powerful press conferences one of the most powerful stories i think i have
10:51witnessed from a player in a moment of just ultimate vulnerability and there was just so much
10:59respect that i had for him in that moment because he didn't need to share all this with all of
11:03us it
11:04was a very it kind of put everything in perspective for you human to human and it was just a
11:11really
11:11special moment that i i think i'll think about for a very long time yeah i encourage everyone to check
11:17it out if you haven't uh been able to just head over to the uh falcons youtube page or check
11:22out
11:22torrey's twitter as well before i let you go um real quick the offensive line was a big story
11:28earlier in camp with right tackle how has juwan taylor been settling in it seems like we haven't
11:33heard nearly as much noise since he got back i think that's by design too you know you get a
11:38veteran in there that has 111 total starts over the course of his career and you don't talk about
11:44that's the best thing i can't remember who said it to me that may have even been my own my
11:48father
11:48but he was like the less you talk about the offensive line usually the better it is they're
11:53the guys that are uh seen not heard and and do the dirty work and make way for bajon robinson
11:59and
11:59the star running backs and protect the quarterbacks but that's kind of where things are with the
12:04falcons right now you think you talk about juwan taylor jake matthews two established long-time
12:10veterans in this league at both left and right tackle they're on a veteran rest day today gearing up for
12:16this weekend and potentially playing this weekend or this friday so they're in a good spot and then
12:21you talk about ethan oneonwa and michael jarrell and the run that they will potentially get this
12:28friday how can they continue to establish themselves as key depth pieces for this offensive line so
12:34it's a good problem to have to have bodies and the falcons are finally to the point where you feel
12:39like they they have that with the right tackle position torrey great stuff as always senior
12:44reporter for atlantafalcons.com we'll chat soon thanks so much awesome thank you all right that
12:50is our good friend there torrey mackalhaney if you're on hold stay there she just gave us the
12:54skinny again no michael pennix jr for all you strand stands out there though you'll get to see your boy
13:00in
13:00action and plenty of them
13:02action and plenty of them
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