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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Eagles vs. Falcons, Week 2 Pregame Preview · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:00
Speaker 1: What's going on, everybody. It's Jeff here. I wanted to
0:02
Speaker 1: let you know we recorded this podcast episode on Tuesday,
0:05
Speaker 1: September tenth, twenty twenty four. By the time you hear this,
0:07
Speaker 1: some things may have changed here or there, but we
0:09
Speaker 1: hope you enjoy the show. Welcome to Opposition Territory. Here
0:29
Speaker 1: at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running
0:32
Speaker 1: weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world. That's right,
0:35
Speaker 1: eleven years strong, and we have got your Eagles Falcons
0:39
Speaker 1: preview podcast for this coming week's Monday night football game.
0:44
Speaker 1: It is going to be a very interesting game. There's
0:46
Speaker 1: a lot of interesting storylines heading into this week two matchup.
0:50
Speaker 1: We got a great guest. He is a first time
0:52
Speaker 1: guest here at the PST podcast show. I cannot wait
0:55
Speaker 1: to talk to him, but wanting to talk to him
0:57
Speaker 1: for quite some time. Let's get to this preview show.
1:01
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the Atlanta Falcons, what we're gonna see
1:03
Speaker 1: from them, and some of the matchups. Let's get to it.
1:06
Speaker 1: It is great to have on the podcast, joining us
1:08
Speaker 1: from the Locked On Falcons podcast. You know we love
1:11
Speaker 1: the Locked On network. Here at the PSD podcast show.
1:15
Speaker 1: You can follow him on the Twitter dot com slash
1:18
Speaker 1: x at Locked on Falcons. It's where they put in
1:22
Speaker 1: upload all of their podcasts. We've got Aaron Freeman, Aaron, buddy,
1:25
Speaker 1: how you doing, my man?
1:27
Speaker 2: I'm doing all right. I'd be feeling a lot better
1:29
Speaker 2: if the Falcons were coming off a win going into
1:31
Speaker 2: this Monday night game. Yeah, you know, I'm doing what
1:34
Speaker 2: I can. I'm used to it at this point with
1:36
Speaker 2: the Atlanta Falcons disappointing me right in these last couple
1:38
Speaker 2: of years, so I should be used to it by now.
1:40
Speaker 2: And so we'll see what's what. But it definitely enjoy
1:43
Speaker 2: the season being back and talking football.
1:45
Speaker 1: Absolutely. It's great talking with you about this Falcons team
1:47
Speaker 1: and what we're gonna see in terms of some of
1:49
Speaker 1: these matchups against Philadelphia Eagles this coming week. And I
1:52
Speaker 1: gotta tell you too, like Aaron, I was really looking
1:54
Speaker 1: forward to seeing what the Falcons we're gonna do right
1:56
Speaker 1: out of the gate. New quarterback, essentially a new direction
1:59
Speaker 1: with this team. You got a quarterback that's able to
2:01
Speaker 1: get the ball to some playmakers that are on this team.
2:04
Speaker 1: We're certainly going to get into some of those playmakers
2:07
Speaker 1: in a bit. But you know, as we looked a
2:09
Speaker 1: Week two here, I wanted to first dive into what
2:11
Speaker 1: we saw from Kirk Cousins this past week. I mean
2:14
Speaker 1: I have followed Kirk Cousins throughout his career, when he
2:16
Speaker 1: was with Washington Commanders, then up in Minnesota, of course,
2:19
Speaker 1: but man, it was a pretty abysmal debut from him.
2:24
Speaker 1: It's his thirteenth season in the league. He made some
2:26
Speaker 1: really bad decisions in the game against the Steelers, and yes,
2:29
Speaker 1: the Steelers do have a good defense, but look, we
2:33
Speaker 1: saw a terrible quarterback play throughout the NFL Week one.
2:37
Speaker 1: I shouldn't necessarily say terrible, but we saw some pretty
2:39
Speaker 1: bad quarterback play across the board. What were your takeaways
2:45
Speaker 1: after watching Kirk Cousins here, Aaron, and should Falcons Nation
2:48
Speaker 1: really kind of be in panic mode at this point
2:50
Speaker 1: heading into Week two against the Eagles? What do you
2:52
Speaker 1: think here?
2:54
Speaker 2: Well, I Kirk did not play particularly well, right as
2:57
Speaker 2: a couple of interceptions that you know, pretty inexcusable in
3:01
Speaker 2: that game. I've noted for a while with Kirk Cousins
3:04
Speaker 2: being required for the Falcons, that is tendency when you
3:07
Speaker 2: look back at his time in Washington and Minnesota. He
3:09
Speaker 2: has a tendency to start season slow. It usually takes
3:12
Speaker 2: until him a couple of weeks October November he'll start
3:15
Speaker 2: to get rolling. So it wasn't a shock to me
3:17
Speaker 2: to see Kirk Cousins not necessarily come out of the
3:19
Speaker 2: gates hitting the ground running. You know, some of that
3:22
Speaker 2: was contributed to the Achilles injury. He's coming back and
3:25
Speaker 2: not expecting him to be, you know, one hundred percent
3:28
Speaker 2: coming back, and that's going to be a big talking
3:31
Speaker 2: point throughout the week. And you know, is Kirk healthy
3:33
Speaker 2: and should the Falcons replace him with Michael Pennix, And
3:36
Speaker 2: you know, those are the things that get people excited
3:38
Speaker 2: and you know, creating a quarterback controversy and whatnot. But
3:42
Speaker 2: I think Kirk is okay at this point in time.
3:45
Speaker 2: I think the Falcons just kind of have to weather
3:47
Speaker 2: the storm with Kirk as he gets geared up in
3:50
Speaker 2: this offense having not played in the preseason. But I
3:52
Speaker 2: think most of my issues with the Falcons in Week
3:55
Speaker 2: one were Lessie kirk Cousins issue, especially given my expectations
3:59
Speaker 2: that he wasn't going to come out of the gates
4:00
Speaker 2: firing on all cylinders, but more with the structure of
4:03
Speaker 2: the offense around him, and I don't think the offense
4:06
Speaker 2: was really catered to doing the things that Kirk does
4:08
Speaker 2: really well, which is featuring a lot of play action
4:10
Speaker 2: passing attacking the middle of the field, and the Falcons
4:12
Speaker 2: called zero play action passes and barely attack the middle
4:15
Speaker 2: of the field in this game. And so I think
4:18
Speaker 2: full on panic mode to answer that question, if the
4:21
Speaker 2: Falcons continue to structure their offense in ways that isn't
4:25
Speaker 2: suited towards Kirk Cousins, I think that's the point where
4:28
Speaker 2: you're going to panic. And they have a tough opening
4:32
Speaker 2: five game stretch of their season, right you know, Yeah,
4:34
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh on the road against Philadelphia Monday Night Football, at
4:38
Speaker 2: home against Kansas City on Sunday Night Football, and then
4:40
Speaker 2: two divisional games against the Saints and Bucks. And there's
4:43
Speaker 2: a real possibility that when you if the Falcons don't
4:46
Speaker 2: improve their play from where they were in Week one,
4:49
Speaker 2: they could be staring at a potential zero to five
4:51
Speaker 2: start in the face. And so that is where the
4:55
Speaker 2: potential panic comes from. Yeah, but you know, obviously you
4:58
Speaker 2: got to take it one week at a time, and
4:59
Speaker 2: obviously they I have to just figure some stuff out
5:02
Speaker 2: heading into this Week two matchup, and if they can
5:04
Speaker 2: improve their play and Kirk Cousins can improve their play,
5:07
Speaker 2: the offense and the game plan can improve, I think
5:09
Speaker 2: we will avoid the panic mode and be at least
5:13
Speaker 2: back to square one.
5:14
Speaker 1: It really is interesting when you have a running back
5:16
Speaker 1: like Bijon Robinson that there was no play action at all,
5:20
Speaker 1: something for US Eagles fans out there folks, to remember
5:24
Speaker 1: and keep in the back of our minds as a
5:27
Speaker 1: Week two is right around the corner here, I mean,
5:30
Speaker 1: and I want to talk about Bijon Robinson as well, because,
5:32
Speaker 1: like on the flip side, I think he had a
5:34
Speaker 1: pretty nice week one hundred and eleven total yards from scrimmage.
5:37
Speaker 1: He had sixty eight rushing yards forty three receiving yards.
5:41
Speaker 1: It seemed like, for whatever reason, the way of the
5:43
Speaker 1: offense was on him rather than on Kirk Cousins and
5:46
Speaker 1: even other playmakers as well on this offense. Do you
5:50
Speaker 1: do you see this becoming more and more of a
5:53
Speaker 1: trend perhaps as the season moves along here, Aaron, what
5:56
Speaker 1: are your thoughts?
5:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Bijon is going to be the core
5:59
Speaker 2: of the Fox I think, especially early in the season
6:02
Speaker 2: as we were just discussing with Kirks tendency to start slow.
6:05
Speaker 2: I think the Falcons are going to try to lean
6:07
Speaker 2: on the run game a lot more, and I think
6:09
Speaker 2: that's going to lead to them leaning a lot on Beijon.
6:11
Speaker 2: I thought Bijon played about as well as he could
6:14
Speaker 2: given the circumstances. I thought he got off to a
6:16
Speaker 2: fast start. I think because of some of the predictability
6:20
Speaker 2: with the Falcons, where that basically they were in shotgun
6:23
Speaker 2: or pistol formation half the game, and when they were
6:25
Speaker 2: in Pistol, they were overwhelming running the football. When they
6:27
Speaker 2: were in Shoka, they're overwhelming passing the football. And I
6:30
Speaker 2: think the Steelers were able to kind of key on
6:32
Speaker 2: that after a certain point and were able to do
6:34
Speaker 2: a better job slowing down the run game. But I
6:37
Speaker 2: thought you saw even in those instances where there were
6:40
Speaker 2: times where guys were firing off the ball and penetrating
6:42
Speaker 2: the backfield, Bejon was able to do the incredible things
6:45
Speaker 2: that we've all seen him do, make guys miss it,
6:48
Speaker 2: and be able to turn a negative two yard game
6:50
Speaker 2: into a four yard game. So I do think Bijon
6:53
Speaker 2: is going to be an important part of the Falcons offense.
6:55
Speaker 2: And I certainly think if the Falcons, you know, play
6:58
Speaker 2: calling can be a little less predictable in terms of
7:01
Speaker 2: allowing the defense the key. I think you can really
7:03
Speaker 2: see him have a big performance, you know, moving forward,
7:07
Speaker 2: because of just how incredibly gifted a runner back he is. Obviously,
7:10
Speaker 2: Eagles fans are very familiar with a similar running back
7:13
Speaker 2: with sa Kuon Barkley.
7:14
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, it's gonna be running back versus running back
7:17
Speaker 1: this coming week on Monday Night Football, for sure, But
7:20
Speaker 1: I wanted to get in some of the weapons that
7:21
Speaker 1: this Falcons team has on offense. Think you know, Kyle Pitts,
7:25
Speaker 1: who scored his twelfth NFL touchdown this pack past week,
7:28
Speaker 1: is a damn good talent on this team. I think
7:31
Speaker 1: Drake London is also a really good talent as well too.
7:35
Speaker 1: Receivers on this team who haven't necessarily gotten their due
7:38
Speaker 1: a lot, because I think the quarterback situation in Atlanta
7:41
Speaker 1: hasn't always been great for these guys to help them shine.
7:44
Speaker 1: But I'm wondering here, Aaron, if you think both of
7:48
Speaker 1: these players can step up not just on the field,
7:51
Speaker 1: but more from a leadership role on this Falcons team
7:54
Speaker 1: in general. So I'm wondering what are the expectations from
7:57
Speaker 1: the receivers on this team really need to start really
8:00
Speaker 1: making their mark here, you know, getting that chemistry going
8:03
Speaker 1: with Kirk Cousins. We may see it this coming Monday night,
8:06
Speaker 1: who knows, But what are your thoughts with regardless some
8:08
Speaker 1: of these playmakers here.
8:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think in a lot of ways, it's really
8:11
Speaker 2: a make or break year for both Kyle Pits and
8:13
Speaker 2: Drake London, Right. You kind of touched upon it with
8:16
Speaker 2: Kyle Pitts had a monster rookie season back in twenty
8:19
Speaker 2: twenty one, and then the last two years because of
8:21
Speaker 2: quarterback play, our subpar quarterback play, and a knee injury
8:25
Speaker 2: that really played him last year that he suffered at
8:28
Speaker 2: the end of the twenty twenty two season, you haven't
8:30
Speaker 2: seen the best version of him. And so the expectation
8:33
Speaker 2: is now that you've upgraded with Kirk Cousins, at least
8:37
Speaker 2: in theory. It didn't quite look like that way in
8:39
Speaker 2: Week one, but at least in theory you've upgraded a
8:41
Speaker 2: quarterback play. He's healthy. This should be another monster year
8:44
Speaker 2: for Kyle Pits. You didn't quite see that fully on
8:47
Speaker 2: display in Week one, and then with Drake London. He's
8:49
Speaker 2: expected to be kind of the bread winner in this offense,
8:51
Speaker 2: the number one wide receiver, be similar to what Zach
8:55
Speaker 2: Robertson the Fox do offensive coordinator comes from that La
8:57
Speaker 2: Rams system, similar to what you saw Pooka and akup
9:00
Speaker 2: last year or a Cooper Cup in previous years. And
9:02
Speaker 2: you didn't quite see them get that going in this
9:05
Speaker 2: offense in Week one, and so in a lot of ways,
9:07
Speaker 2: this is kind of a make or break year for
9:09
Speaker 2: Drake Lennon to prove that he is a legit number
9:12
Speaker 2: one wide receiver and be the type of guy that
9:14
Speaker 2: can kind of not necessarily carry a passing attack, but
9:18
Speaker 2: at least shoulder the biggest burden of that passing attack
9:21
Speaker 2: and be a guy that could catch ninety or one
9:24
Speaker 2: hundred type of passes in this offense, where this offense,
9:27
Speaker 2: at least in theory, has the potential to have a
9:29
Speaker 2: playmaker like that. And so I do feel like this
9:33
Speaker 2: is a big year for both of those guys. They
9:34
Speaker 2: had a quiet Week one and they need to get
9:37
Speaker 2: those guys going because outside of those two and b
9:40
Speaker 2: Jon Robinson, like the Falcons, receiving options aren't necessarily you know,
9:45
Speaker 2: great in terms of other guys being expected to step
9:48
Speaker 2: up and carry the offense. So they really need bigger
9:51
Speaker 2: contributions from both Pitts in London. And that's on the field,
9:54
Speaker 2: and I agree with you off the field, they need
9:56
Speaker 2: to be more vocal in taking ownership this offense if
10:01
Speaker 2: they're going to be the true playmakers that they're capable
10:04
Speaker 2: of be.
10:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, Aaron. Over the course of the past couple of
10:06
Speaker 1: years on this podcast platform, the one thing we've been
10:09
Speaker 1: talking about a lot, and with a lot of our
10:11
Speaker 1: guests as well, is the fact that when you have
10:13
Speaker 1: new situations, especially in the game of football, you've got
10:16
Speaker 1: new coaches, you've got new skill positioned players, you've also
10:20
Speaker 1: got a new quarterback. The relationships between the coaches and
10:24
Speaker 1: the players, it means so much. It really does at
10:28
Speaker 1: the end of the day, because if everybody is on
10:30
Speaker 1: the same page from a goal oriented standpoint, I think
10:34
Speaker 1: it's going to show a lot on the field. And
10:36
Speaker 1: that stuff takes time, The chemistry takes time, and I
10:39
Speaker 1: personally think as difficult as it is sometimes for Falcons
10:44
Speaker 1: Nation to stay patient because I do think Kirk Cousins
10:47
Speaker 1: is a pretty darn good quarterback. I really do, and
10:50
Speaker 1: I think we're going to need to have some time
10:53
Speaker 1: here and people are gonna need to be patient about
10:55
Speaker 1: letting those relationships manifest. I think that's an important part
10:58
Speaker 1: of the equation with regard to this Falcon offense.
11:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's a great point. You know, patience
11:05
Speaker 2: is not really a virtue though.
11:08
Speaker 3: With the NFL, Yeah, because it's such a week to
11:11
Speaker 3: week league and it's all you know, you win, everything's great,
11:14
Speaker 3: We're never going to lose again. We're riding this train
11:16
Speaker 3: all the way to the super Bowl, and then when
11:18
Speaker 3: you lose, it goes to the opposite extreme, the end
11:21
Speaker 3: of the world. We might as well tank and get
11:23
Speaker 3: the number one draft pick because the season is going nowhere,
11:26
Speaker 3: and so it's hard to sort of temper that in
11:29
Speaker 3: balance and find that balance in between those things. So
11:31
Speaker 3: I think that's a great point in terms of patients.
11:34
Speaker 3: But certainly I do think you want to see even
11:36
Speaker 3: if the Falcons aren't winning games, you want to see
11:38
Speaker 3: a better product on the field to make you feel
11:40
Speaker 3: better that when they get to the point in the season,
11:43
Speaker 3: in the middle of the season, later in the season
11:45
Speaker 3: where they're going to have much more lesser opponents, to
11:49
Speaker 3: play that they're going to be able to convert the
11:52
Speaker 3: solid play that may result in losses early in the
11:54
Speaker 3: season into solid play that will result to wins later
11:58
Speaker 3: in the season. So I think that's where the patients
12:00
Speaker 3: comes in. We need to be patient to see how
12:02
Speaker 3: this thing develops. But certainly in the moment, it's hard
12:06
Speaker 3: to remember that when the sky is falling.
12:08
Speaker 1: Absolutely year. Yeah, absolutely again, folks talking to Aaron Freeman
12:13
Speaker 1: from the Locked on Falcons podcast. Check them out over
12:16
Speaker 1: at Locked on Falcons on the Twitter slash x. Great
12:21
Speaker 1: great content all the time on that podcast platform. Let's
12:24
Speaker 1: move over to the defense here, Aaron, because the Falcons
12:26
Speaker 1: defense did not allow the Steelers this past week, did
12:31
Speaker 1: not allow that Steelers offense to score a touchdown at all.
12:34
Speaker 1: They were a pretty darn strong unit. I thought, as
12:37
Speaker 1: I'm watching the game up here in Pennsylvania, what do
12:40
Speaker 1: you attribute the defense's performance to in Week one and
12:45
Speaker 1: how do you see them stacking up against an Eagles
12:47
Speaker 1: offense this coming Monday night that's got a lot of
12:50
Speaker 1: prolific playmakers. What are your thoughts here?
12:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the Eagles are obviously going to present
12:55
Speaker 2: probably a bigger challenge because of the quality of the
12:58
Speaker 2: playmakers that they have at the skill position, the quality
13:00
Speaker 2: of their offensive line. It's one of the best offensive
13:02
Speaker 2: lines in football. Shout out that Jeff Stoutlin, who's taken
13:06
Speaker 2: over it from Dante Scarnekia as the sort of O
13:09
Speaker 2: line guru of the NFL. And those were not things
13:13
Speaker 2: that were necessarily strengths for the Steelers last week. So
13:15
Speaker 2: I agree with you. I think the defense reasonably held
13:17
Speaker 2: up well, but I think at the same time, the
13:19
Speaker 2: Steelers game plan was we're going to run the football,
13:21
Speaker 2: We're going to play good defense, and hopefully Justin Fields
13:23
Speaker 2: is not going to turn the ball over that much.
13:25
Speaker 2: And I think the Eagles are going to present far
13:28
Speaker 2: bigger challenges than that. With the playerers. The Eagles are
13:30
Speaker 2: going to go out there, We're going to try to
13:32
Speaker 2: put points. We're going to try to drop a thirty
13:34
Speaker 2: burger on a team. I think Pittsburgh was more like,
13:36
Speaker 2: we're going to try to win an eighteen to ten
13:38
Speaker 2: sort of ball game. That's exactly in our wheelhouse. And
13:41
Speaker 2: so I think because of what the Eagles are going
13:44
Speaker 2: to present, with the quality of playmakers that they have,
13:47
Speaker 2: it's going to be a bigger challenge for the Falcons defense.
13:49
Speaker 2: But I thought the Falcons defense did a reasonably good job,
13:53
Speaker 2: you know, dealing with the sort of conservative approach to
13:55
Speaker 2: the Steelers ad. I thought they had a relatively conservative
13:58
Speaker 2: approach defensively. They didn't really bring a whole lot of
14:01
Speaker 2: pressure in that game, And you know, I think that's
14:06
Speaker 2: gonna be something that is potentially going to have to
14:09
Speaker 2: see if they can challenge the Eagles that way. I
14:10
Speaker 2: know that was a big bugaboo for the Eagles offense
14:12
Speaker 2: last year when it came to blitzes and whatnot. I
14:15
Speaker 2: know that they did a much better job against that
14:17
Speaker 2: in Week one, So I think that's going to be
14:19
Speaker 2: an interesting, you know, strategy for the Falcons. Do they say, hey,
14:24
Speaker 2: this worked against the Eagles last year, let's see if
14:28
Speaker 2: they have truly fixed their blitz issues and be more
14:32
Speaker 2: aggressive with our defensive game plan. Or do they kind
14:35
Speaker 2: of play it safe and sit back and say, we're
14:37
Speaker 2: going to ask the Eagles to matriculate the ball down
14:39
Speaker 2: the field with their run game, with their passing attack.
14:42
Speaker 2: And I would personally probably veer towards the ladder. I
14:45
Speaker 2: would rather be aggressive in this game. But we'll sort
14:48
Speaker 2: of see if the Falcons, you know, believe that a
14:51
Speaker 2: similar philosophy.
14:51
Speaker 1: All right, very good, Well, I wanted to take a
14:53
Speaker 1: look at some matchups here and dive into that with you, Aaron,
14:57
Speaker 1: when would look at matchups this coming week where you
15:00
Speaker 1: have a concern on both sides of the ball. Let's
15:02
Speaker 1: start off with the biggest concern with any of the
15:05
Speaker 1: Falcons offensive matchups against the Eagles defense. And Eagles defense
15:11
Speaker 1: that showed some pretty good stuff last week against the Packers,
15:14
Speaker 1: still a little bit of rust Vic Fangio, still trying
15:16
Speaker 1: to get a handle on various parts of the defense.
15:19
Speaker 1: Defensive line, in the pass rush of the Eagles virtually
15:23
Speaker 1: non existent. Really, I mean there were folks that US
15:25
Speaker 1: Eagles fans are looking for to step up, Josh Sweat,
15:29
Speaker 1: Nolan Smith just to name a couple, and really didn't
15:33
Speaker 1: see that from them. So what is your biggest concern
15:36
Speaker 1: with any of these Falcons offensive matchups against the Eagles defense?
15:40
Speaker 2: Here? Well, I'm gonna go with a player that you,
15:43
Speaker 2: at least Falcon fans are pretty familiar with from his
15:45
Speaker 2: days playing at Georgia, which seems to be half the
15:47
Speaker 2: Eagles defense at this Exactly what Jalen Carter, to me,
15:51
Speaker 2: is the biggest concern in terms of that guy that
15:53
Speaker 2: can bring that interior pressure. Because of some of the
15:56
Speaker 2: concerns with Kirk Cousins and his limited mobility, that interior price, sure,
16:00
Speaker 2: I think can be really problematic for this offense. And
16:03
Speaker 2: I do have questions about the Falcons interior. I know TJ.
16:06
Speaker 2: Watt had a monster game last week, but I feel
16:10
Speaker 2: like the bigger concern for the Falcons offensive line is
16:13
Speaker 2: along the interior of their offensive line, particularly where Drew
16:16
Speaker 2: Domen their center and left guard Matthew bergeron Chris Lynch
16:19
Speaker 2: from the right guard, who's a pro bowler, did not
16:21
Speaker 2: have a great week last week against the Steelers, and
16:24
Speaker 2: so if they're going to be able to keep Kirk
16:26
Speaker 2: Cousins clean this week, they're going to have to be
16:28
Speaker 2: able to block a player like Jalen Carter, who's you know,
16:31
Speaker 2: unique blend of size, speed and quickness, you know, makes
16:35
Speaker 2: him have the potential to be one of the best
16:37
Speaker 2: tackles in football. We've seen flashes of that over the
16:40
Speaker 2: last year, and I'm just hoping that we don't see
16:42
Speaker 2: flashes of that on Monday Night football because that can
16:45
Speaker 2: create real big problems for the Atlanta Falcons.
16:47
Speaker 1: Absolutely, flip side of the coin. What's the biggest concern
16:50
Speaker 1: with any of the Falcons defensive matchups against this again,
16:54
Speaker 1: very prolific Eagles offense. What are your thoughts here?
16:57
Speaker 2: It's AJ Brown to me, you know, obviously the probably
17:01
Speaker 2: the best one two punch in terms of wide receiver play.
17:04
Speaker 2: Davonte Smith creates his own nightmares, but the specific skill
17:08
Speaker 2: set of AJ Brown, the physicality that he brings. I
17:10
Speaker 2: was I remember when he came out of Ole miss
17:13
Speaker 2: I was like, Hey, I don't think he's that good,
17:15
Speaker 2: and then immediately shut me up, and I was like,
17:17
Speaker 2: you know, I'd become a very big fan of him.
17:19
Speaker 2: To me, he's the player that is most reminiscent from
17:22
Speaker 2: a pure size speed standpoint to Julio Jones, a player
17:26
Speaker 2: that I got to watch for many many years in Atlanta.
17:29
Speaker 2: Currently in the NFL, and the Falcons just don't really
17:32
Speaker 2: have a corner that can really match up with a big,
17:34
Speaker 2: physical receiver as good as a J. Terrell has been.
17:36
Speaker 2: You saw some struggles last week against George Pickens being
17:39
Speaker 2: able to win at the catchpoint. That's been an issue
17:42
Speaker 2: for AJ Trell going up in the pass against like
17:45
Speaker 2: Mike Evans down the field, getting out muscled at the cashpoint.
17:48
Speaker 2: You can probably recall you know, Jamar Chase giving him
17:50
Speaker 2: problems in that National Championship game. Yeah, that has just
17:53
Speaker 2: always been a sticking point for ajdrow as good a
17:55
Speaker 2: corner as he is, big, physical wide receivers that can
17:57
Speaker 2: win at the cashpoint always give him problems. That's basically
17:59
Speaker 2: what AJ Brown does best. And then on the opposite
18:02
Speaker 2: side you have Mike Hughes, another undersized corner that you
18:05
Speaker 2: don't want to necessarily see mixing it up. And so
18:07
Speaker 2: AJ Brown has the potential to really go off in
18:11
Speaker 2: this game, not only as a downfield player, but even
18:13
Speaker 2: underneath with his ability to create yards after the catch
18:17
Speaker 2: given his physical run style. So he is the one
18:19
Speaker 2: guy that is really scary. I say that, of course,
18:22
Speaker 2: you know then DeVante Smith will go off for a
18:24
Speaker 2: one hundred and eighty yards or something like that in
18:25
Speaker 2: this game. And part of that is just because you're
18:28
Speaker 2: so focused on AJ Brown. Oh, you have this you know,
18:31
Speaker 2: lightning bug of a wide receiver that can you know,
18:33
Speaker 2: create easy separation, can do things as you sort of
18:36
Speaker 2: focus so much on AJ Brown. So both of those
18:39
Speaker 2: receivers I think are very challenging. But Aj Brown is
18:41
Speaker 2: just so physically, you know, demanding that I think he
18:45
Speaker 2: can do real damage to this Falcon.
18:46
Speaker 1: Steveen, Yeah, I definitely would agree with you there for sure.
18:49
Speaker 1: And before I let you go, erin two part question
18:51
Speaker 1: for you talking about some sneaky players for US Eagles
18:55
Speaker 1: fans to keep an eye out for during this Monday
18:59
Speaker 1: night game coming up here? Who is your sneaky player
19:03
Speaker 1: for us to look at on the Falcons offense? Maybe
19:06
Speaker 1: somebody not getting a lot of love this week, but
19:09
Speaker 1: you think could be sneaky against this Eagles team. Who's
19:11
Speaker 1: that for you from the Falcons offense?
19:13
Speaker 2: Well, watching that Packers game last week, got I was
19:16
Speaker 2: noting how good of a game that Jayden Reid had,
19:19
Speaker 2: and in my mind I was thinking, Hey, I would
19:21
Speaker 2: love to see the Falcons offense use Ray Ray McLeod,
19:23
Speaker 2: their number three receiver in a similar way. And so
19:27
Speaker 2: because Jayden Reid had such success, I'm like, hey, do
19:30
Speaker 2: that with Ray Ray McLeod. And so he's a player
19:33
Speaker 2: that you know, to me, is pretty sneaky under the
19:35
Speaker 2: radar that if the Falcons can attack the Eagles defense
19:38
Speaker 2: in the same way that the Packers did with Jayden
19:41
Speaker 2: Reid on some of these gadget plays and other things
19:43
Speaker 2: that they were able to do. I think he could
19:45
Speaker 2: be a player that could have a big game.
19:46
Speaker 1: That's interesting to think about. For sure, on the flip
19:49
Speaker 1: side of the coin, who's that sneaky player for us
19:51
Speaker 1: to keep an eye out for on the Falcons defense?
19:54
Speaker 1: Who would that be?
19:55
Speaker 2: Well, I don't think this player is as sneaky because
19:57
Speaker 2: he's one of the bigger name players and certainly was
20:00
Speaker 2: a late offseason acquedition. But that was Matthew Judon. Yeah,
20:04
Speaker 2: a very good week against the Eagles last year in
20:06
Speaker 2: that season opener when he was with the Patriots, being
20:09
Speaker 2: able to beat matt both Jordan Malatta and Lane Johnson.
20:12
Speaker 2: It's very rare for anybody to give Lane Johnson fits,
20:15
Speaker 2: as the Eagles fans know, and Matthew Judon is the
20:18
Speaker 2: rare player that was able to do that at times
20:20
Speaker 2: in that Week one game last year. And so I
20:23
Speaker 2: kind of need him to have a similar type of
20:25
Speaker 2: performance to really be disruptive and you know, throw a
20:30
Speaker 2: wrench into this Eagles offensive strategy. So he's not a
20:33
Speaker 2: sneaky player just because you know, he's a known player,
20:35
Speaker 2: pro bowler, all that sort of thing. But he's a
20:37
Speaker 2: player that I do think needs to have a big
20:40
Speaker 2: game in a similar way if this Falcons Stephen is
20:42
Speaker 2: gonna have any success against this offense, Folks.
20:45
Speaker 1: He's Aaron Freeman again from the Locked on Falcons podcast
20:48
Speaker 1: at Locked on Falcons on Twitter slash x. Give him
20:52
Speaker 1: a follow there, check out the podcast does great, great work, Aaron, buddy.
20:56
Speaker 1: It was great talking with you. Great having you on
20:58
Speaker 1: the show for the first time. I hope you can
21:00
Speaker 1: join us at some point down the road, my friend.
21:02
Speaker 2: Yes, Jeff, I look forward to that. I'm hoping that
21:05
Speaker 2: we'll be able to have a conversation some some point
21:07
Speaker 2: in January for the postings, but you know, you know,
21:10
Speaker 2: we're several months away from that, several steps away from that.
21:13
Speaker 2: But certainly I appreciate you having me on the podcast
21:16
Speaker 2: to talk Falcons Eagles football. Always enjoy it.
21:20
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for us here on Opposition
21:23
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21:29
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21:36
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