00:00Like, locker room was happy.
00:02Look, that was really needed.
00:04I felt really good for Mike when we interviewed him, Penix.
00:10He had the look of, you know, when relief is a way you could put it,
00:17but it wasn't really relief.
00:18It's just like when you've got this whatever that you've got,
00:22a test or a big, I don't know, whatever you do at work,
00:26a presentation or a sales pitch,
00:27and you're really kind of hyped up for it
00:30and you've put a lot of pressure on yourself
00:32and getting to that point is a big deal.
00:36And honestly, when you get to the presentation or whatever,
00:38it's kind of the easiest part,
00:39but you're just happy that part's over and you can move on.
00:43That was the look on his face last night when he's doing the interview.
00:46I felt really good for him because we've all been through something like that in life
00:52where we just got to get it out of the way and it feels so good afterwards,
00:56especially when you nail it.
00:58And I would say that he nailed the big sales pitch of the presentation or whatever.
01:02What a phenomenal performance.
01:03So great trip.
01:04Green Bay is an awesome town, actually,
01:06especially when it's not, you know, eight degrees.
01:09I mean, it had to be absolutely gorgeous yesterday.
01:11I did find it very adorable when I drove in this morning
01:14that you guys are parked side by side with your trucks side by side.
01:18Yeah, man.
01:18So when I got to work, I didn't want to get in rush hour,
01:21so I got to work early yesterday.
01:23And it turns out other people work here.
01:25They do.
01:26We don't ever have to deal with finding a parking spot here
01:29because we get here so early.
01:30And yet when you arrive in the middle of the day,
01:32I literally was like going through downstairs, upstairs.
01:35And you know what?
01:36The only spot that was open was next to the one where Bo always parks.
01:39And I was like, I'll back her right in here.
01:41It was good.
01:42And there was no thought in Bo's mind this morning
01:44that I'm going to give a buffer spot.
01:45I'm just going to park right next to Mike.
01:47Every other spot is open.
01:48I'm going to park right there.
01:50Well, first off, it is my spot.
01:53And I did park a little bit further over for Mike
01:57because he was very much over.
01:58And he knew I would give him room.
02:01But yeah, you know what?
02:02I mean, let them sit next to each other
02:04and see how different those colors are.
02:07Well, let's get into everything that happened last night.
02:11I do want to mention that the Braves dropped the final game
02:13to the Reds 7-6.
02:14They did announce that Martin Perez is going on the 15-day IL,
02:17dealing with back inflammation, lower back inflammation,
02:20likely out until the NLCS.
02:22Braves will take on the Marlins tonight in Miami at 7-10.
02:26We'll get into that a little bit later
02:27because the Falcons beat the Packers 35-14,
02:31498 yards of total offense.
02:33Kevin Stefanski remained undefeated on Thursday night football 6-0.
02:37Michael Penix finished with 18 of 25 pass attempts
02:40for 256 yards, one touchdown.
02:42He is also the fastest Falcons quarterback
02:45to reach 3,000 passing yards in team history,
02:48had completions with seven different receivers.
02:51Are you guys feeling good about Michael Penix Jr. at this point?
02:54I don't see how you couldn't.
02:56I think it was – well, I think he played –
02:59I don't think he threw a no-hitter by any means,
03:01but he came about as close as you could have possibly asked him to
03:03last night given the circumstances.
03:06You guys helped me out.
03:07Like, I don't know that just – like, from one Sunday to the next,
03:11much less a Sunday to a Thursday, that I've seen a team look more different,
03:15do more of a 180 than what we saw the Falcons,
03:18specifically the offense, do over the last three days.
03:22And it was – I mean, I'm still, like, trying to scramble my brain
03:25to figure out what I was watching last night
03:27because it didn't look like the team we saw from the first two weeks.
03:29Yeah, Penix started two of seven, by the way, with a pick,
03:34and he went 16 of 18 the rest of the way,
03:36completing almost 90% the rest of the way the last three quarters.
03:41I talked about this.
03:42We've talked about this for a couple weeks now.
03:45See the difference in the offense when they have to respect the passing game
03:53past four yards?
03:54That's not a screen or a swing.
03:57And that's what you saw, and look what it did for the run game.
04:02You know, they wanted – because they knew Michael Penix
04:05wasn't afraid to push the ball downfield,
04:08they wanted to play that too-high safety, you know, the little shell look.
04:13And when you – Dave Archer has hammered it into my head
04:18that when you see that look, you can run on it, and you should try to
04:24because you're going to have success.
04:26And the Falcons – but John Robinson had success,
04:29and that to the tune of a career high, 194 yards, and the team went over 200.
04:35It just – it opened everything up when they had to respect the quarterback's
04:41ability to push the ball downfield.
04:42And not only that, but he got the ball out in less than two and a half seconds
04:46all night.
04:47It just speaks volumes about the difference in when you have QB1 starting
04:54Michael Penix, and they just had to scramble to get a plan together
04:57when it was Cooper Rush starting the last couple weeks.
05:00So now that we've seen what Michael Penix can do, it's 15-2, right?
05:04Yeah.
05:06Whoa.
05:07Whoa, slow down.
05:09I'm very hyped.
05:10I will say this.
05:11I love it.
05:12I love that.
05:12I used this term last night, and I'm going to use it again probably until 11 days
05:17or 10 days from now when they play the Saints.
05:19This last night was what you call proof of concept.
05:23It was proof that what they are trying to do can work, right?
05:28It was proof that Tommy Reese's offense actually can pick up chunk yardage.
05:32It was proof that Michael Penix can throw across the middle
05:35and that this offense can pick up chunk yardage and explosive plays.
05:40It was proof that this offensive line was worth some of the money they've been paid
05:43over the offseason.
05:45It was proof that Kevin Stefanski, hiring him, there will be some level of success.
05:50And I think all of those things you can state as absolute facts.
05:54Now, does that mean it's going to happen every week?
05:55No.
05:56But it does prove that given certain circumstances with certain players available,
06:01that you absolutely go out and win a football game.
06:04I think the teams that struggle, especially year one under a coordinator
06:08or under a head coach, are ones that don't have proof of concept,
06:10that you can't look at something tangibly and be like,
06:13oh, this is the way it's supposed to work.
06:15Last night, and Grant said this is going to be one of those wins
06:19that points you in the right direction for the whole season.
06:21I think it's bigger than that.
06:22I think it's absolutely bigger than just this season.
06:26This is proof of concept for this entire regime change
06:30and what Michael Penix can be as a quarterback in the NFL.
06:32Yeah, welcome to 2026, Drake London.
06:36Because, and I say that, and that's not anything that he's done.
06:41There were plays that were hit last night that had been there all year,
06:47but the trigger didn't get pulled, right?
06:51And there was hesitation, and Penix was pulling the trigger on those throws last night,
06:56and Drake went off another 194 yards.
06:59The guy had six catches for 80 yards going into the game last night.
07:03He had nine for 194.
07:05And that throw that Mike makes on the, I would you call it like a little post,
07:11a little deep slant to Drake.
07:14Yeah, he was right, putt, drift, post, whatever you want to call it.
07:17It was a little bit flatter than a post, but yeah.
07:19Was as good of a throw as we've seen from a Falcons quarterback
07:23since training camp started.
07:25I mean, it was a rope, and that's what he can do.
07:28It just, you said it was proof.
07:31It's proof that you paid the right guys.
07:33Everybody's going to point to Kyle Pitts not having a big game last night,
07:36but I would urge you to go back and watch the first touchdown run.
07:41He took on Luke Van Ness, which is their best defensive player right now,
07:46and he owned him.
07:47And Luke Van Ness has been a monster,
07:50and he was a monster for parts of this game last night.
07:52That's the best block I've ever seen Kyle Pitts make at the line of scrimmage.
07:55We did get a tweet come in from ATL Sportsball that said,
07:58great call to whoever said that Penix needed to get hit
08:00because once he got that hit to the face, he was a different man.
08:04I feel like that was a collective thought throughout this whole time, right?
08:08Or is this strictly a bow comment?
08:11Because I see him throwing his arms up.
08:13We talked about this earlier when he was like, I told you,
08:16and I kind of stuttered my way through it because I was like,
08:19I feel like we all kind of arrived at the same destination there,
08:21but here you go, man.
08:22I got scolded on pregame by Arts last night.
08:25He's like, well, I think him, I got to sit, you know,
08:28when he takes that hit and he pops up and realizes,
08:29well, I think him popping up would be the first part of it.
08:33But, yeah, it's that old ad is that we've all played sports in this room,
08:37and Dylan over there, like when you have that little bit of unsureness
08:43or anxiousness and you haven't played something in a while,
08:46or it's just those opening jitters of any games that some people have,
08:51and that first challenge, that first hit, that first whatever the sport is,
08:55point, you know, if you're playing, whatever.
08:57And then you kind of get like, you kind of feel it.
09:00And he had just taken, and Mike did a good job when we were talking about it
09:03this morning, pointing out that he had just taken that grounding call.
09:07Played before it was a grounding, yeah.
09:08Yeah, where he was wrapped up and he's got to hold on.
09:12He's just got to take the sack there.
09:13That's too close for comfort.
09:16And then, to your point, Allie, Brenton Cox hits him in the face.
09:20And, by the way, that is roughing.
09:21Whether you like it or not, that is roughing by the letter of the law,
09:24and it's been roughing for 20 years.
09:26You can't make forcible contact to the head or neck area of the quarterback.
09:30They'll call it every time, except for when they didn't on doorless.
09:34But apparently last night it did Michael Panik some good because he got up.
09:37Yeah, well, not only that.
09:38Then settled in.
09:39Not only that, the very next snap is the Bajon Robinson 50-yarder.
09:43Or whatever it was.
09:44Yeah, everything seemed to change and pivot on that one moment.
09:48And they were off to the races after that.
09:51And it seemed like, and Pennix talked about it, did a good job talking with Arch
09:54in the post-game presser with Bo.
09:56So, like, it just felt like everything kind of locked in, and he kind of got in a groove,
10:00and it was like he remembered how to play quarterback, honestly.
10:02Yeah, and we talked about it on pregame and through the week, Allie.
10:06They turned the ball over, Green Bay, and they're the most penalized team in the league.
10:10Make them pay for those mistakes.
10:12That's exactly what the Falcons did, and it was off to the races.
10:15They scored, what, 27 straight from that point on.
10:18And it was off to the races.
10:19And it was off to the races.
10:19And it was off to the races.
10:19And it was off to the races.
10:19And it was off to the races.
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