Falcons make coaching changes, breaking down GM Fontenot's comments | Falcons Audible Podcast

Published Jan 14, 2025, 4:38 PM

Derek, Dave and D.J. are back again, this time to talk about the Atlanta Falcons' coaching changes. They give their analysis of the situation and what makes a good defensive coordinator, as well as what the Falcons should be looking for moving forward. Wrapping up, they break down Falcons GM Terry Fontenot's comments in his postseason press conference.

0:31 - Intro

2:29 - Falcons coaching changes

11:43 - Keys to the coaching search

23:28 - GM Terry Fontenot's press conference

31:18 - What's next for Atlanta

35:33 - Outro

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We are back on the Falcons Autobole presented by AT and T.

At some point DJ Shockley might break out into a freestyle, because that's what he was doing right before we came on the podcast. We're feeling it right because there was no conversation amongst us three that we.

All went black on the top and almost.

Nailed it with the old school logo, but Arch Stills got the new logo. Although he said, you said, right.

We thought about it, thought about it, You thought about it, thought it? Yeah, you'd think you guys actually were you guys were this logo?

Right?

I wore this one and then I went to that one. Yeah.

See that was the only one that I was prevy fortunate enough to wear players.

Yeah, it's like that Arch you know this too, probably not so much shocked, but when when they do the throwbacks, you know, it's like that, that's what I wore, you know that that was the jersey that I wore. You know when like when you end up being in the thread, you wore the red helmet, Like I actually never wore the red helmet, which is really cool. But uh, certain things in life always just kind of make you hit hits a little different, Like, yeah.

Thank you. That's that's a very good way to say it.

That the I said last week on the show as we wrapped up the season that we may not be back for very long.

Well guess what here we are just can't get enough of us three.

So this will be the first of many off season shows and as we did mention last week, we will be back when there are some bigger moments that happened in the off season, and as I mentioned, periodic updates and analysis including everything Falcons related, combine free agency, draft and to make sure that you're tuned into a Lantafalcons dot Com, the YouTube channel, and all of your other areas where you get your social media. They actually wrote down here, wherever you do your social media NG. I didn't know that was a word. But sometimes you just as long as you sell it, you can just make it work. Just sell it, like, wherever you do your social media NG, you'll find us.

Okay.

So there was a bigger moment that happened with the Atlanta Falcons organization last week. After thorough review of the coaching staff, head coach Rahim Morris decided to part ways with defensive cordator Jimmy Lake and defensive line coach Jay Rogers. So, guys, uh seow, I'm gonna start with you kind of initial reactions when you heard this news it broke, You probably got an email and then everybody else nationally ended up seeing the news. What was your first impressions?

You know what?

Uh? With how long I think time had went on? And I say it long as in you know, the season ended. It was probably a week of week or so later, and then it finally happens. You probably thought nothing was going to happen. But you also look back on some of the signs. You look back on some of the things that Raheem talked about in his last press conference, and even after the last ball game, the first thing he mentioned was we did not play well enough on defense, and you could tell that was something that was really stuck in the crawl of his mind, and you know, you could tell he was really not in a good place with how the defense played. And then you look at, you know, some of the things that transpired over the last you know, month of the season, and you say, you know what, this defense did not continue the growth that you would want. And the other part about it is, I think a pee a lot of people have to realize and kind of understand is this was probably a really really tough decision because of the personal side of it. And sometimes you always as a head coach, you got to try to separate the personal and separate the business part of it and be the best for this organization. And I think we all remember when Rock at the job and he talked about, you know, how much he loved having Jimmy, like, how much they talked about when he got a job that he was going to be a part of it. And to have to separate that from the personal side and say, you know, I got it was best for the organization. That had to be tough as well, So these guys are human as well. You guys got to think about probably, you know, separating yourself from one of your really good friends in businesses that you guys have kind of started together. So not doing it was well. Doing it was probably a big part of that. But you look back some of the things that happened last couple of ball games. You get one hundred and fifty five rush shards of Carolina two hundred and sixteen to Washington one hundred and fifteen in Minnesota. There's some other glaring stats that you know, when you go back and look at you say, you know what, this defense did not grow as we expected it to as the season went on, especially with the amount of veterans that you had on this ball club, especially on that side of football. So I thought just the lack of growth as the season progressed was a big part of why this decision probably was made at the end of the season.

Yeah, I mean, this is one of those I think it's a great point that you make, DJ, and a lot of the viewers and listeners are going to think, well, this is the National Football League. I mean, people get fired all the time, but it's like when you kind of try to put it into perspective how different this business is than most every other business. It's not very often that you mentioned that a guy gets hired that's uniquely qualified, that you actually got a really close relationship that one year later you're inn fire.

Them it's not good enough.

And I guess it does happen, probably at higher levels of larger organizations.

But that's how things arch work in.

The National Football League, is that if the results, the performance is not there, changes have to be made. There's a number of different areas that you can look at, but I think the point that Shock makes was the amount of veterans and the people that were on this defense, the acquisition of Matthew Judahon right before the season started. You're thinking, okay, there's pieces to the puzzle there where they should be better on pass rush, they should be better stopping the run, they should be better on points allowed, and maybe even takeaways as well. Is probably where he looked at all those areas and says, if we want to get into the postseason, we have to make a change now.

Is only that's the only way you can do this, right, is You've got to evaluate, you know, why did things certainly happen. I was writing my notes down about this, and so you evaluate why. So where were we Where were some of the things that went on? Were we on the same page as a staff? One thing that needs probably need to be pointing, You can't you're not going to fire everybody on the team. Okay, So the players aren't going anywhere. So somebody ultimately is ends up holding the bag on this deal. And so normally it's one of the coordinators, it might even be a position coach. Was it turned out you let your defensive line coach go as well? So why would some of those things happen? And so now you're going to go back and evaluate, Okay, were we on the same page throughout? Did we have the same idea as to how we are going to develop? Why didn't that develop?

Why?

Why we were certain players put in positions to be as successful as they could possibly be. Some of the things that I know were seeing and some things that I watched, you know, Matthew Judah dropping off in coverage. You know, we saw that numerous times during the year, and you're kind of scratching your head, going, wait a minute, he's brought here to rush the pass? Or the guy had, you know, thirty five sacks and thirty nine games coming in his last thirty nine games, why is he dropping off in coverage? So some of those some of those ideas of scheme and what you were trying to do, did it mesh with what we had in mind when we went and got those players, and are we giving them the best opportunity to be as good as they can possibly be? That, ultimately is why it took as long as it did, because there was evaluating. I know, those some people talking about why is it taking it so long to make that decision? We weren't very good on defense? No, we were good on defense and a number of places a number of times during the year, but that was to it was too inconsistent. Why were we inconsistent? That's why it takes as long to evaluate what you're going to do there. And ultimately it decided that they weren't meshing in their minds and their scheme wise, that's why you move forward and move on. So, just just to give the fan a little bit of a background, I know I had a number of people ask me, and I've heard people say locally on the radio here in Atlanta, you know why did it take so long to make this decision. Well, you guys talked about the personal piece of it. I'm talking about the schematic piece of it. You combine those two things. There's a lot to evaluate there. So that's why where we are now.

Let me add one last thing to this kind of to this conversation. And I was looking up some numbers and looking up the schematic part of it came to mind for me and I sat thinking about, okay, where did things kind of kind of go a little bit off? And obviously the sacks were a big part of it. You know, thirty first in the league with thirty one sacks, and you say, okay, that's a part of not going to get to the quarterback. And then it also contributes to the back end as well. This number, I thought was staggering. I didn't even realize it was a particular stat but it was. The Falcons were last in the league. Teams were completing sixty nine point nine percent of their passes against them. That tells you first thing, I get in to the quarterback, and then it makes it easy on the these quarterbacks in this league to throw the football over the yard. And we saw it through the year, every guys open, there were time to throw the football. Guys had their career days against against us in these ball games. So those kind of correlating go hand in hand with each other. If you can't get to the quarterback and then you're also giving that quarterback time. In this league, the best of the best playing apposition, the smartest one of the smart couple of smartest guys on the field, they're gonna hurt you. So ultimately, I think that's part of the problem as well, is schematically, if you can't get to them and you're not really holding guys off, I don't know how you're gonna be able to hang around.

Yeah, we saw it throughout the year early on where we saw a lot of veteran quarterbacks early in the season, you know, the Patrick Mahomes and people like that of the world that have the ability to stretch you and make plays down the field, were playing the keyboard. They were taking what you were giving them, and so so we you know, the idea of meshing pass rush up with what we're doing in the back end. Shock makes a great point. The only way you can get to the courtquarterback as to make him hold the football. If we're not doing something on the perimeter to make him wait and make receivers redirect and all those kind of things, then it's not meshing. And that's where some of this conversation. I'm sure an evaluation wins. They look back and looked at all seventeen games.

There's a lot of common themes to what you guys were saying there. And the word that you guys kept saying over and over and over that I that just resonates with me is schematic in scheme, right, and in the National Football League, there's two things that you have to have to win. In my opinion, and this might be oversimplified. You guys can correct me if I'm wrong, but you need players first and foremost. You need really good players, and you have to have a scheme that allows them to be successful, which that comes from coaching. All right, I'm gonna flip this over. I know we're talking about defense, but I'm going to talk about offense for a second. Think about these teams that I'm going to talk about, Baltimore, Buffalo, Kansas City. I'd even throw the rams in there. You've got players, quarterbacks, wide receivers, You've got some of the more bright of offensive minds from a scheme perspective, that get these teams, get these players open, get the football in their hands. Right, So the same thing could be said on the defensive side of the ball. I went and looked up who the number one team total defense this year in the National Football League?

Was DJ's gonna like this one? The Philadelphia Eagles, right yards per game? Where have they.

Invested a lot of their assets upfront on the defensive line, right, And not only that, So they've got the players, but the scheme is also fit. And that's part of the reason why they got in the postseason because they're really good defense. Yeah, they got Saquon Barkley, but it's so much about scheme. And I think that's what Raheem Morris looked back and he said, we have to have a scheme change. So guys, let's talk a little bit about what Atlanta needs to look for in the next defensive corner, even defensive line coach, if you want to go down that road as well. Now, let me make this quick disclaimer. The thoughts and opinions that we have here on names or anything are solely ours. They don't come from the organization. We don't have our to the wall, to the coaching staff for the personnel department and know which direction they're going. We're just talking about some players or some excuse me, some coaches that might be available if we get into names that we think are potential good fits. But what is Atlanta looking for arch in your opinion, in their next defensive coordinator.

Well, you're looking at what everybody's looking for. I want to rush the passer, I want to take the football away. I want to win on third down in the red zone.

Yeah, there you go.

Let's let's go find those guys. But it's what you're talking about is the meld of what you have on this roster, because you're not going to what do we got? Let's you got sixty nine guys, account, the account, the practice squad, guys. Who have sixty nine guys on a roster, you know thirty four of those thirty three of those guys are defensive players. You're not changing all thirty three players. So you're talking about maybe switching out at most ten guys on the defensive side, eight guys on the defensive side. So who is the guy that's going to be able to come in and blend with what you have talent wise, and this is a talented team. You've got guys that are coming to you know, You've got a guy like Arnold Lebakatie is coming into his own. You've got the number seven tackler in the National Football League, and Kayden nellis at the second level. You've got one of the best safeties in all in the entire league in Jesse Bates, maybe one of the best corners in the league. You've got talent on that side of the football, and there's some guys that are that are coming on. Maybe Ruca Roro is that next guy that's going to be a dominant interior defender. We saw at moments that that happened. What does Brandon Dorls bring to the table? What if you get Braylen Trice back on the field, what does he do? So you've got some talent on this team that's been drafted and brought in a free agency. So now I've got to find a guy that matches what You're going to have to listen to the vision. So when you're interviewing a guy and you guys know this, if you've got a guy coming in the building and there's been there's been names thrown out there. Lou anam Romo's name has been thrown out there. Outstanding defensive coordinator of Cincinnati, worked with Jesse Bates. He's going to be in the building here or at least are going to talk to him. He's a guy you need to talk to. A guy's been very successful in National Football League. Helped get Cincinnata to a Super Bowl here about three years ago, help them win a suit, help them, you know, almost win a Super Bowl very close against the Rams. But can he mesh what you what is his vision for the guys that you have up front?

What is his vision for that?

Saying what are we going to do in that in that front seven that's going to create offensive line problems trying to get guys blocked. That's what the whole conversation is going to be about. You guys know that as well as I do. And how do you blend it, as Shaq said, with the back end and to those guys' talents match, Okay, we want to come up and play press. We're gonna play press. We're gonna play man coverage all over the field. I'm gonna have a single safety in the high in the air in the in the back end, we're going to rock the safety down the box. Does that match what we have or does it not? So that that's what the whole conversation is going to be.

DJ, Have you had a chance to think more.

I mean, I think Arch hit it like the the four biggest areas where you're successful on defense and finding somebody that not only has the right vision but is able to communicate it to Raheem Morris in their interviews. And then take the players that's on this rock for the core players that you know are gonna be back, because guys at this point, we don't really know outside of a few guys that you mentioned they are going to be there next year, but there could be some other guys that are not just because of salary cap situation, because of trying to make the numbers and the work with players and everything. But what else has to happen with this hire in order for Atlanta to get it right.

I think ar did a good job of breaking down some of the stuff that's ultra important, and I think philosophically you have to be a looked little bit different than you were last year. And we talked about some of the things that makes this defense really good and the type of players you have. But I think it comes down to are you going to change the roles with some of these guys like ours mentioned, like are we going to be more aggressive going after the quarterback? You look over at Minnesota, who obviously they lost the other night, but they were a team.

Who were really aggressive.

They were more aggressive than most teams that you face, or there's other teams that sit that can play a lot of coverage. But does that fit the type of players you have going in? So I think that's gonna be a big part of it is how do you emphasize the strength of what these guys can do that you know they're gonna be in the building. So if you come into an interview with Ruhnie mooorries, you say, look, I've watched a bunch of tape on AJ Terrell. I feel like he's so much better when he's in this role as opposed to some of the things he did last season. And if that fits it, then okay, let's move forward with that. You look at red zone, that's a big part of the team, big part of winning ball games. And I think ultimately you got to think about next year. This is going to be a really good team. Offensively, you gonna score a lot of points, So how can you slow people down? How can you create more turnovers? This last season the Falcons with thirty first in the league and giving up touchdowns. They give him thirty four touchdowns this last season. That's thirty first in the league. So a lot of that, yeah, came from outside of the twenty, but a lot of that came within the red zone. What's your strategy, what's your philosophy inside the red zone to kind of punk the brakes when people get down there, And I think that's a big part of it as well. So philosophically, whoever comes in, I think there has to be a change in how this defense looks going forward as opposed to what we saw last year. And there were times where, yeah, you saw some really cool stuff that Jimmy Lake drew up that gave guys opportunities. We talked about kay nellis his ability beyle to rush the passer and create those avenues a lot of five man fronts where he was the guy that was rushing or he was dropping and you got other guys coming off the edge. So I think there's a lot of differences that you can use a lot of guys that you can actually use in this defense to give you an advantage. But I think coming in, whoever that guy is, he has to make it known specifically about certain guys in certain situations. How he feels that gives Raheem a little bit of a pause on Okay, maybe that's better than what we did last year.

I'm kind of going to surprise you on this a little bit. But excuse me.

Is this a situation where you think this next coordinator has to be a previous coordinator because we saw Zach Robinson coming in getting his first opportunity as an offensive coordinator being an offensive guy working under Sean McVay. But do you think this is one where Raheem is going to have to have somebody that has been a coordinator in the NFL before.

I do.

I think that you can need the guy with experience that has understanding of how to in shock talked about.

You know what are we going to be? I think he's got to be able to shift gears.

If you're playing Lamar Jackson, the starting is the quarterback you're facing, there's probably gonna be a little bit different plan put together than if you're playing you know, justin Herbert, you know who was going to stand in the pocket a little bit more stand up pocketer. So a guy that has the ability to shift gears within the confines of your scheme and still show that aggressiveness or however you want to play, but still make a little nuances that's going to be able to stop the run. If I'm facing Baltimore, the number one concern is to stop the run game. I need to find a way to get Derrick Henry stopped.

Right.

That's what Buffalo is going to have to deal with in the playoffs this weekend.

I'm if I'm playing Kansas City, my number one concerns probably Patrick Mahomes and what's he going to do and getting the tight end stop, you know, and taking away some of those plays. So I think a coordinator that's been in the mix and had to make those those adjustments during the week each week, I think that that's going to fall on a guy that's been a coordinator before.

Would you guys agree with that?

Yeah?

I would.

I mean I think to your point, it's like somebody that's that's been through the ringer that said, Okay, this player has been really good here, but has the creativity to think, well, well, maybe he ends up playing a little bit more here, and he's and he's got some results that can show for it too. Like I think about the Zach Bond move for Philadelphia, right like when they went out and got him, he was not really a difference maker, and he ended up leading the league or close to leading the leading tackles and the even first team All Pro player this year. So like kind of the vision that you can have for different players when you bring him into the organization number one, and then find the role that you feel like they're the uniquely qualified to fill. But would you agree shocked that it's got a previous coordinator experience in the NFL or even college game if we open it up, maybe it's a respected college defensive corner.

Is that important? You believe?

I do, And I love the fact you would college too, because it gives a different feel coming into the college game versus the pro game, and maybe there's some things that are going on on that level that's a little bit different from what maybe offenses see now coming into the National Football League. So I love the fact that you have a guy who's been there, done it. I love the fact that you have a guy who understands what it takes in this league with how different it can change weekly, like Arts just mentioned as far as personnel, that you can make those in game. Obviously you got to make a lot of adjustments during the week, but we know if games are one with the adjustments you make in game within series, things that you can see off right off the bat and say, you know, I can go back to a moment where I've seen this, you know, two years ago and say, you know what, I know what they do in these situations. So I love the fact that you could have one of those kind of guys who's been there, done it, but also has that experience and to be in those moments to be able to make those changes when you need them.

And I'm of the opinion, guys, and I'd love to hear what you guys think of this, And again my opinion, you're gonna need to move on this fairly quickly. You're gonna have you got four or five guys you want to talk to. Well, there's seven openings in the National Football League at as a head coach. Those guys are gonna want to talk to those guys too. The quicker you can get your guy hired. And I'm not talking about rush just to get a guy. Make sure you get the right guy. But it has to be done with a sense of urgency here because there are opportunities. Let's say, you know, Ben Johnson, who's one of the top coordinators right now for the Lions, gets one of these jobs, he's gonna have guys he's gonna want to take with him. He's gonna have relationships with guys he's gonna take. So you need to kind of strike while the iron's hot here a little bit where guys are available. I think Atlanta's doing that.

We talked about.

They're gonna interview lou Anrouma. There's a number of good there's guys in this building that they're gonna talk to. I'd be surprised if Jerry Gray's not talk to. Jerry Gray has been a very good defensive coordinator in the National Football You back to his time in Buffalo in two thousand and four to two thousand and five, they haven the number two defense in the league back to back years. Talk about a guy like Jeff Olbrook a guy that has been in this build before. His coach with Raheem Morris, Jeff Ulbrich has had a top five defense in New York with all the stuff that's going on with their quarterback up there. For the last three straight years they being any three or four in the National Football Even this year when he took over as an interim head coach, they were number four in the league on defense. Now you say, well, they got some dudes on that. Yeah, they got some dudes, but they got a guy coordinate, Like you were talking about, putting guys in position to be the best they can possibly be. Now, Steve Wilkes's name, as I know, is out there. He's had to dominant defenses in Carolina and in San Francisco.

These are just a few of the names.

And again my opinion of guys are going to look at But I do think you need to strike now and not wait because I think.

Some of these guys. The other people know these guys are pretty good too, and they're going to grab these guys. What about Dave Watch coordinating defense? Yeah, only if you come with me, seant you d.

Lie to.

You make a good point, though, Arch, because not only the guys that are going to be named head coach. Remember there was already one named in Mike Rabel. Mike Rabel's probably out there looking for some staff right now. And if you again, you can't rush. You got to find the right guy that fits your organization. But that right guy that you think might fit the organization, Mike Rabel might think he fits up in New England as well, and sometimes you can't necessarily control that. If somebody wants to coach with Mike Rabel or they want to be in the Patriots organization more than this one, you can't really control that. But there are some factors that you have to consider. Guys at Switch Gears a little bit and talk a little bit about Terry Fontinao. He had his end of season press conference last week, and I wanted to get your guys' initial thoughts on that. Obviously, his big theme was the results speak for themselves. We didn't win enough football games, and so basically all the conversations are on the table. They kind of have to be when you're in the National Football League and you come up short of your goals, not only this season, but I think in Terry fonton knows tenure as the general manager, he has not won as many games as he wants as the general manager. So, DJ, what did you take away from some of the common themes coming away from Terry's press conference.

I think you hit it right on the head. To start, is took accountability for what this team was not this season. And I think coming as a GM, you have to hit that head on because a lot of people are gonna look at you and say, you know what, You're a big part of the personnel that is here. You went out and said, all right, I wanted to draft this guy, you want to bring this guy in free agency. And I thought, right off the top, he took accountability for it, which was big and I think obviously, you know a lot of guys will do that, but I love the sincerity of what you brought. You talked about it we must do better, to be better, and he talked about, hey, yeah we could talk about it. The words matter, yeah, but we got to see results, and I think that's ultimately what you want to hear from the GM. I thought he did a good job of also talking about the frustration of the fans, because I think sometimes when people see the GM, they're so far away from the actual fan that you don't think that they actually understand what you're going through. And I love the fact that he spoke to the frustration of the fans because he has that same frustration, so the fans know right away that yeah, yeah, I'm still trying to do this to put the best product on the field for our fan base and go forward. I thought he was real specific and some of the things that he talked about, and I think I mentioned it last week was we need more production out of the tight end position, and he hit it head on. He said, yeah, we haven't got what we wanted from this guy since his rookie season. And that wasn't you know, to call him out or anything. But he was asked the question and he answered it frankly, which I think a lot of fans feel the same way because you can talk about it, Hey, I understand your frustration, fans, I hear you, and then you don't acknowledge it or even talk about the situation at hand. So I love the fact that he went about, you know, talking about those different things head on that give you a little pause. But I think the biggest thing that he you know, actually he has to be real kind of general on this kind of in this moment, because before that press conference, Jimmy Lake was still here. So I think some of the things he talked about was how we have to improve this team going forward, and it starts with free agency, with draft, starts with you know, looking at this whole entire roster, looking at the coaching staff, and like you said, everything's on the table. So even though it was you know, I wouldn't say typical general you know, coach or GM speak, I thought he was real frank about a certain couple of topics that gave the fan base something to say. You know what he hears us, he understands it, and he knows that these have to be better if this organization is going to be better.

Yeah, and shock, I think you know, this is a This is a crucial off season for Terry as well, because if you think about free agency and draft over the last couple of years, I think you could probably make the argument it's been a little bit of a mixed back. Like you bring in Kate Nellis, you bring in Jesse Bates, I mean, those are impact players, but you also you bring in you know, Matthew Judon doesn't necessarily work out, and obviously the Kirk Cousins situation has not worked out. We don't know how that's gonna end up sifting out in the offseason. You mentioned the Kyle Pitts. You go out on a limb when you draft the tight end number four overall, and then he ends up having a really good rookie season and since then it's been kind of underwhelming. So those are kind of the targets that get put on your back. You have to make difficult decisions when you're a general manager. In the draft, you have to go out on a limb because you're convicted about somebody. They were convicted about Michael Pennix and it looks like now that might turn out to be a really good selection as things kind of shook out. But there's pressure always in that role as the general manager, but maybe even more elevated for Terry this offseason.

And there's no question, I mean, it ramps up when you don't succeed right and you don't hit your goals. And the goals for this team was to win this division and be in the playoffs and have a chance to potentially do something special in the offseason dance or the postseason dance, So that didn't work out. So now you reevaluate are we headed in the right direction. There's got to be some conviction in what you were thinking was right, but you're going to try to find those indicators to verify.

Yeah. I do like the direction we're going.

Obviously they didn't like what was going on defensively, so they've made a chance teams there after a lot of a lot of thought process and a lot going into it. Okay, can we do better there? Yeah, we can do better there. We can do better there from a coaching standpoint, and you can bet you we all know they can do better in a couple of places from a from a player standpoint.

So they're going to.

Acquire players, as Shock talked about with free agency and in the draft, as you always do, you know, but I do think it. Shock made a great point in that I think that for him to verbalize what the fan is feeling, uh and and understand there's a frustration here. You're seven straight years out of the postseason and so there's a there's a frustration here. There's fans are wanting to come down. They're pulling for the team, trying to pull them through and just can't quite get there. He identified that, and then to talk about maybe some of the little points as you discussed with the tight end or whatever, and even he even tuss talked at length about Kirk Cousins that there's a lot of conversation going to happen around Kirk and and what they do. But what he did say was, and maybe there's some clarity it needs to be put there. They're comfortable with him returning as their backup quarterback. Are you comfortable paying the quarterback that much money to be the backup? Probably not, but you're going to pay him anyway. Based on the situation, would you rather have him paid play for another team like like Denver had to pay Pittsburgh to play, or would it be better to have him here as a mentor? And he's he's shown that he's willing to potentially do that with a guy that has has a ceiling that is through the roof when it comes to or you know, the sky's a limit with Michael Pennix to have him around. So I thought that that Terry did a really good job of addressing it. But Rack, you're exactly right. You know, we're now the mulligans have been used, right, you know, you kind of are at a point now where we need to go, we need to go shoot sixty five.

Yeah, yeah, it's uh, I love it. That's the only shock.

The only guy in here is about of the shock. By the way. That's a golf reference, by the way.

Golf reference, by the way. And number one's oh yeah, we could just go out and shoot sixty five.

It's only seven under.

Yeah, that's it.

So, guys, it's I think about how the playoffs has kind of shaken out so far. Right, you have the team that was in the same division in Tampa that ended up finishing two games ahead. They end up going and they play the team that you end up playing a couple weeks prior, and they lose.

Right, so, and then they played them in week one and one by seventeen, that's the way this league is.

And then you think about the Minnesota Vikings. Guys, like one game week eighteen from getting the number one overall seed fourteen and three and they get out played in the first round of the playoffs and they're done. So think about, right, think about them how their season went. I mean so much, so much excitement, so much happiness. Everybody in the organizations was so excited about how the season went. They get to the postseason, which is where Atlanta wanted to go. That's they wanted to be. One game further. The Minnesota Vikings have fourteen wins.

Are out.

There's disappointment around there, and you just never.

Know what's gonna happen, especially when you get in the dance. So in the Atlanta Falcons, if they could have won one more game and get in the postseason, you never know what's gonna happenrue. So you, guys, before I close it, I'm just gonna ask you this one simple question, and it might be an elephant in the room, it might be something that people didn't think about, but shock, what is the biggest thing on the plate for the Atlanta Falcons organization now as we are at this, call it third week in January and moving forward. What's the biggest thing that's on their table right now?

I think it has to be obviously as higher the next defensive coordinator because that goes a long way into what you do defensively, and we talked about it last week. There are a lot of question marks on this defense, with a lot of guys who are signed with a one year deal or maybe coming up on their last year on a deal or whatever. And you got to get that defensive coordinator here right away to start breaking down. And obviously, if he's going through this process, he's looked at this defense, he's done all his homework on the person, nail that soil. He knows going into that interview what he needs to conversate with Rohie Morris about. So I think hiring that guy goes a long way into what happens next, especially on that side of football. And I think a lot of the conversation that we have this offseason would probably go on that side of the ball. And we talked about it in length about pass rush obviously being a big deal, corner being another spot opposite of AJ Terrell. How happy are you with that guy? Dvin Newdy's quarter may say, you know what, hey, I need another guy who can do this as opposed to what it's already in the room. One thing that came up to me was what's gonna happen at inside linebacker? And you think about what you have now You've got kay Nellis, who oh great great player, did a great things for you last couple of years, but I think he may be coming up on the last year of this deal. Maybe you look at Troy Anderson, guys played nine games in the last two years. You haven't gotten a production. You going out of him, You go out.

And Dravet J. D.

Birchrand and who played twelve games this season, was a solid player for you. But you look inside there, what are we gonna do it? N that's that lineback, because that we know that's a critical part of the defense, is that guy in the middle. We've looked around the league and looked at guys who play in that spot right now on defenses, who with the green down their helmet. That's super important. So there's a lot of conversations I need to be had about this defense. But it starts with hiring the right guy, like we've talked about for the last twenty five minutes, and that guy has to come in with a direct correlation of what he wants to do with this personnel in this team.

Yeah, I mean, it's one of those arts where I feel like there are some difficult decisions, probably on the defensive side, that are going to have to be made right, some decisions at corner. You mentioned at Mike Cues, what's his future look like? Justin Simmons, Matthew Judhon, even a guy like Grady Jared. I know that he has been the face of this franchise for a long time. But this new defensive coordinator has to come in and say, all right, here's my plan for twenty twenty five. Now let's look at the guys that are on this roster. Can I execute my plan? Can I execute what I want and what this organization needs with these guys? Or do we have to make some difficult decisions in the offseason. I think those are the discussions, the difficult ones that are going to be coming up pretty quickly.

Yeah, for me, the number one concern is obviously obviously coordinator. So I won't go coordinator, So I'm going to go salary cap. I mean, you're going to have to figure out, which is kind of what you're talking about, is, Okay, what are we going to do to create room that If we don't have the guys in that defensive meeting room, how do we go get those guys? And and and where do we where can we restructure or release or whatever it is to create that opportunity to go get a piece or two here to bring them in to meld with whatever our defensive coordinator is going to do. So defensive coordinator probably obviously the number one concern, I think salary cap, and I know they're already jocking on what do they want to do and trying to put together what it's going to look like when the league gear kicks in. Who have we re upped, who have we let go potentially?

Who have we designated as a junior June one?

Make my head hurt? All right?

So math but that and then here's the here's the whole ide in the reality of the GM and the salary cap guys and the personnel guys, is there's multiple stuff going on around the around that it's not just Okay, we're gonna do this first, then we'll go to this, then we'll go all this stuff is happening at the same time and and trying and you're trying to mesh it together to where it comes together where you're going to hit the ground run.

And they got to a kind of stuff. You get to pick out the stuff you don't like. I gotta don't like them onions, picked them.

Up, You pick out, you pick out the onions, come on pepples.

Only, none of that.

So there you're having, folks. Running an NFL team is like a perfect recipe of gumbo. I've never actually heard it said, you just know sometimes DJ Shockley hashtag no onions.

Okay, Arch, great job today as always, DJH. I thought it was going to be like a few weeks, maybe a couple of months before I saw you guys again, and it turned out to be seven days.

So it's great and uh you by the way, so listen to Rack.

Rack is going to be on the radio.

He's calling the big game of the weekend, calling Buffalo Baltimore. Get ready, Ray guys that are going for the MVP. Josh Allen, you got Lamar Jackson, you got Derrick Henry, you got James Cook.

I mean, come on, man, that's gonna be.

Too much matchup. So I was in Buffalo last weekend. I'm back up there this weekend. I hadn't been to Buffalo since I played there. Yeah, I'm already because its supposed to be colder this weekend than it was.

Are you tired of people ask you if you got wings when you're in Buffalo?

No? No, no, not tired of it is Buffalo.

Yes, it is Buffalo, but they're they're very well known.

I've already gotten a couple of restaurant recommendations for this weekend. So anyway, yes, I'll be back in Buffalo as the NFL playoffs continue and again the tournament that Atlanta Falcons are looking to get themselves into in twenty twenty five. So, as we said, we'll be back for the bigger moments of the off season. Maybe this organization ends up hiring a defensive coordinator. We will be back sooner than later, but until then, thanks so much for joining us in the Falcons Audible, presented by AT and T.

That's hashtag no onions, d he Shockley.

This is Dave Archer. I'll get a hashtag for him next week. I'm Derek Racking. Thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you next time right here on the Falcons Audible.