Atlanta Falcons Make Waves During NFL Off-Season | Analysis - video Dailymotion

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00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on SportsGrid.

00:05You know, the offseason NFL newsmakers are really the fun teams to talk about.

00:10The Atlanta Falcons definitely categorize as one of those, whether it's the draft or

00:15a trade or a signing, it seems like they've just always been in the news.

00:19So Mark Raimondi comes over, he covers the Atlanta Falcons, he thinks, all right, I'm

00:23going to come in, you know, transition over covering the NFL for ESPN, and this is just

00:27going to be easy going here.

00:28And Mark, it's been the opposite, man, like the Falcons are just continuing to do things

00:32that are a little bit unexpected.

00:34I guess that's fair to say.

00:35Thanks for coming on.

00:36My first week on the beat, Craig, was draft week.

00:39And everyone told me, it's going to be relatively straightforward, you know, pretty boring.

00:44They're going to get defense in the first round, everyone knows that, right?

00:47And they go out and they're the story of the entire draft.

00:49They take Michael Pennington Jr. at number eight, and it was a very busy weekend.

00:53It was a lot of fun, but certainly a polarizing pick that I think has aged well now.

00:59But yeah, I mean, we talk about Kirk Cousins coming in, they draft Michael Pennington Jr.

01:02And now they just acquired two Pro Bowl defensive players in the last week.

01:06It's been an eventful time in Georgia.

01:09So it's been fun to keep up with.

01:12Yeah, and a new head coach too, for you to deal with in Raheem Morris, who has a lot

01:16of experience, of course, in the NFL, he used to coach the Buccaneers.

01:20You know, what I would like to, I guess, start with here is Arthur Smith, who departed, and

01:26I know that you weren't covering the team as part of that.

01:29It feels to me like the Falcons in firing him and bringing in Morris and doing all these

01:34things kind of felt like their team should have been a lot better than what it was, because

01:38normally when something like this happens, it's kind of a transition period, Mark.

01:42But instead of this transition period, it feels like Arthur Blank looked at the team

01:46and said, wow, this is a major underachieving team.

01:49If we just add a couple of pieces, maybe we'll be a lot better than last year.

01:52At least that's my perception of it.

01:54Yeah, I think if you look back, Craig, at last year's Falcons, they started off pretty

01:59strong and they lost a lot of close games.

02:01They lost a lot of games where they were leading in the fourth quarter.

02:04And I mean, we're talking about four or five games that maybe they win, even two of them.

02:08It's a totally different story.

02:09They went seven and 10.

02:10So maybe, maybe they're nine and eight.

02:12You know, maybe they're even 10 and seven, who knows?

02:14So I think that it was, it was a team that there's certainly no rebuild happening down

02:18here in Atlanta.

02:19That there's, that's for sure.

02:20Raheem Mars is taking over a team that already had a pretty decent core of good players,

02:25especially good young players of the skill positions.

02:28Bijan Robinson, Drake Lundin, you know, Kyle Pitts.

02:30These are guys that could be star players in the NFL with the right scheme, with the

02:35right quarterback, which they now have in Kirk Cousins.

02:37And that was the big priority of the off season is to get that guy.

02:40So a hundred percent, there's no rebuild.

02:43And it looks like they're the favorites right now to win the division.

02:47Of course, it's a results-based business, the NFL.

02:49So we'll see what happens during the season, but that's kind of where things are right

02:52now.

02:53There's a lot of hope down here in Atlanta.

02:54Yeah.

02:55And Mark, I think that's fair.

02:56Again, if you just look at data, teams that usually lose a lot of close games, that sort

03:00of evens out the next year.

03:02Not that you win all those close games, but maybe you win more of them.

03:05Not a ton of notable departures, I don't think, for the Falcons really to talk about.

03:09But the key addition, as you mentioned, and it is a quarterback league, so we just go

03:13right there, is to Kirk Cousins.

03:15And so with you being around and covering him, it seems to me that he's saying all the

03:21right things ever since the Pennix move was made, and he's the starting quarterback going

03:26into the season.

03:27I guess I would ask you, Mark, is their narrative with any over-the-shoulder looking or anything

03:33like that?

03:34Because it just does feel like Cousins has always had some sort of adversity over the

03:38course of his career.

03:39Is this any different?

03:40It's true, and I think that adversity has helped him deal with situations like these

03:44with Michael Pennix Jr.

03:45I think initially there was some consternation.

03:48I think it bugged him.

03:49I think it bugged him just naturally, because this is a guy that was coming into Atlanta.

03:52He talked about wanting to retire with the Falcons.

03:56He has history in the city.

03:58His wife is from the Atlanta area.

04:00They got married here.

04:01So his in-laws are all here.

04:03They're all big Falcons fans.

04:04So I think he saw this as a place where he could retire, and maybe that will not be the

04:07case depending on how things go in the next few years, Michael Pennix Jr. kind of like

04:11looming as a team's quarterback of the future.

04:14But look, Kirk Cousins is his team right now, and it's his team for the foreseeable future,

04:18and he has acted that way.

04:20He has been a leader.

04:21He has brought his skill division players on trips to go see John Gruden down in Tampa.

04:26He has really taken the offensive line guys.

04:28They've gone out to dinner, and they've hung out, and they've done barbecues at the offensive

04:33line coach's house, Dwayne Ledford.

04:34So he's definitely taking it upon himself to be the leader of this team, to be the captain,

04:39Captain Kirk.

04:40And that's something the team has not really had over the last several years, especially

04:42in the quarterback position.

04:43Yeah.

04:44No, that's absolutely fair.

04:46And so you've seen Pennix play probably more than anybody else in these practice sessions,

04:52where some of it there's video and some of it there's not.

04:55I mean, you would have to tell me.

04:57It sounds like he's not playing in the third preseason game.

05:00So it's clipboard time, I guess, for him, is it not, Mark?

05:04He's not playing, and he did not play last week either against the Ravens, but he's looked

05:07pretty good.

05:08He played pretty well in the first preseason game against the Dolphins.

05:13And that game was kind of indicative of exactly how he's played in practice, and you've seen

05:17a progression from him from OTAs to now.

05:20He's gotten more consistent.

05:21His decision-making is better.

05:22And we know about the arm talent.

05:23I mean, he can fit it into a very tight window, and he can throw a gorgeous deep ball.

05:28And as he develops, I think it's exciting for Falcons to see where he is this year,

05:32next year, and then when he can maybe start in 2026, potentially.

05:36All right.

05:37So if the Falcons are the favorite, who is the biggest challenger, you think, in the

05:40division?

05:42I mean, they beat the Carolina.

05:43They only won two games last year.

05:44If they win three, that's an improvement.

05:46You know, this was a boring division last year until Baker got hot at the end, Mark.

05:49Is that the case again?

05:50Is it Tampa Bay being the biggest challenger?

05:52Saints are another one of these teams.

05:54It's just like, no offense to Carr and that team, but it's kind of a boring squad.

05:59I think Tampa.

06:00I think Tampa Bay is definitely the other favorite in the division, you could say.

06:03If Baker Mayfield comes back and has another good season like he did last year, I would

06:07put them kind of right there with the Falcons as far as the favorites.

06:10You know, Rollins has a lot of holes.

06:11They have some good players.

06:12You know, their offensive line is kind of a mess right now.

06:14They don't really know what's going to happen with those guys.

06:17But I would say, you know, if I was handicapping, I would say, you know, Falcons and Bucs are

06:22kind of one and two right now, but it's pretty close.

06:25All right.

06:26Well, Mark, great stuff as always.

06:28Enjoy the season covering the Falcons for ESPN, and we'll catch up with you again soon.

06:32Thanks for coming on.

06:33Thanks, Craig.

Atlanta Falcons Make Waves During NFL Off-Season | Analysis

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