Note: Our weekly offering of nine items on the Falcons at 9 a.m. every Wednesday.
1. The no-spin zone: Let’s hear from some of the assistant coaches this week.
Before facing the Vikings, quarterbacks coach T.J. Yates, tight end coach Kevin Koger and running backs coach Michael Pitre met with the media.
Here are some of the highlights from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s questions:
2. T.J. Yates, quarterback coach
Q. How do you try to get Kirk (Cousins) back on track?
A. Kirk’s really the same guy every single week, every single day in the meeting room. … You wouldn’t know if you came in there on a Wednesday or Monday after a game, whether or not he had a good game or a bad game, or threw for 500 yards or if he had some turnovers, the guy is the same pro every single day when he walks in that room. He’s never too up, he’s never too down. Those things (interceptions) obviously they phase you in a certain way. But he is such a pro, and he’s been through so many situations in his career where he’s had a ton of very successful games. He’s had stretches where he’s played not as well as he wants to. So, he knows how to handle these situations. He knows how to stay even keel, no matter what. Brush those things off. Every week is a new week. Every play is a new play. Every practice is a new practice.
Q. How did you break down the (four) interceptions against the Chargers?
A. Every single one of them has their own … every single play in general has its own little story. Coverage. Route. Footwork. Decision-making. All of those things. ... They all have a different a different story. So, there’s no like one way you can correct one thing, they all got individual coaching points. The majority of the time, he knows the coaching point before I can even give it to him, because he’s seen so much ball. He’s very aware of what’s going on out there. That’s just, that’s the nature of the game when you’ve played as much football as he has. You’re going to go through a couple of bad stretches. You’re also going to go through great stretches, like he had the previous month. So, but him being such a pro, him treating every single day the same, him going through the same process, really helps you flush out the previous stuff, good or bad.
Q. What happened on the pick-six when he was throwing to Darnell Mooney?
A. The guys on the other side ball are really good. Good disguises. Good pressures. Good, all that stuff. Every once while you get fooled. You get fooled in this league in coverage. And you know, that was one of those times. Kirk knows that. He’s knows what we have to fix going forward on that certain play. But there (were) multiple plays in the game where there is stuff to correct. There’s multiple good plays in the game. All of these different plays, good or bad, have their own story. And that one, you know, every once while you get fooled. Credit to the defense.
Q. What happened on the third one (in the end zone)? (Morris said the ball should have been thrown out of the end zone.)
A. It was one of those plays. He comes to me with the coaching point before I can even tell him. He comes right off the field and he knows that. He’s just trying to make a play right there. (Trying to) give a guy an opportunity ball. There are always going to be plays that you want back. ... He probably had four or five plays in the Tampa game when he threw for 500 yards that he wanted back. So, it just depends on what those ... got to minimize the risk and put yourself and the team in best position to score points.
Q. How is Michael Penix Jr. practicing? He said he’s ready if there’s an emergency from taking mental reps.
A. That’s the tough thing about being a backup quarterback. You’ve got to be ready at the drop of the hat without having those type of (game plan) reps. But he does everything on a week-to-week basis. Preparing as much as you can mentally, much as you can physically. (He’s) taking those other receivers and staying after practice. He’s coming in early. He’s doing all the right stuff.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
3. Kevin Koger, Tight end coach
Q. What’s going on in the tight end room?
A. We keep it positive in our room, and, hey, how can we affect the play in a positive light when the ball is not in our hands. So, I think those guys have done a great job with it, just staying positive and trying to be a lightning rod for the offense in terms of, like, bringing energy and affected the game in different ways.
Q. (Went over Kyle Pitts’ red zone stats, 1 of 7 targets before the Vikings’ game). Could he possibly help the offense more in the red zone?
A. I think we can all help the red zone. I think it’s on everybody. You know, as we get down there, we cross the 50, and we cross the 20, you have your penalties, your pre-snap penalties, your post-snap penalties. So, it’s hard when you’re getting knocked out of it. That’s the hard part you start in the red zone, you get knocked out of it. Now, all of sudden, it’s third down from the 30-yard line. Now, what play are you calling? So, a lot of it, we can all help. We can all help it by just being more efficient when we do cross that 20-yard line, just changing our mentality and just playing clean football. That’s what it boils down to.” (Yeah, coach basically dodged the question.)
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
4. Michael Pitre, running back coach
Q. How is Bijan Robinson finishing his runs?
A. He’s made really good improvement on finishing his runs. He’s doing a better job of attacking downhill and finding that hidden yardage and eliminating that knock back from the defense. That starts with pad level. Obviously, taking care of the football. But I think he’s doing a phenomenal job there of falling forward in turning, you know, two yard runs into four yard runs and four yard runs into six yard runs because he’s falling forward and finishing with the right intent.
Q. It looks like he’s close to hitting some home runs. Do you see that?
A. Yes. Yeah, we’re close. We’re close, man. He knows what we need to do. I think it’s going to happen. ... It’s not from a lack of trying. I just think it’s getting our feet up, not getting tripped up, anticipating how these DBs are going to try to attack us with swipe tackles. Just being able to kick through some of those things. That’s what we talked about. How do we make that great play? We don’t go searching for it, but we’ve trained ourselves, and when the opportunity presents itself that we’re able to use our training to go make that great play. So, it’s going to happen man. We have the utmost confidence and faith, and when it happens, we’re not going to be surprised, because we’ve trained ourselves for it to happen, absolutely.
5. Desmond Ridder’s revenge tour: With the severe knee injury to Aidan O’Connell, former Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder could start for the Raiders when they host the Falcons on Monday Night Football.
“I don’t know who’s going to be the starter,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “Obviously, Aidan O’Connell got some really good news (on Monday). I heard that (his injury) is not as bad as we all thought.”
Ridder was traded to the Cardinals for wide receiver Rondale Moore. He was cut by the Cardinals and signed to the practice squad. The Raiders signed him in late October. Ridder has played in four games. He has completed 28 of 44 passes for 239 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions. He has a passer rating of 85.3.
“Just like all these young quarterbacks, they need opportunities to go out there and play,” Morris said. “If he gets an opportunity to go out there and play, I’m sure he’ll have a full practice week. He’ll be prepared in the right way. He’ll be ready for us.”
The Falcons will have a pretty good book on Ridder, too. He started 17 games over the past two seasons, but his turnovers led to the Falcons signing Kirk Cousins in free agency. Ironically, Cousins has tossed a career-high and league-leading 15 interceptions this season.
“I know we’ve got to get ready for him as well,” Morris said. “He can run the football. He’s talented. He’s athletic. He’s big. He throws (the) football.”
Ridder was a class act when he was with the Falcons. Even when Ridder was going in and out of the lineup, he never hid from the media in the lunch room or trainer’s room during the media availability period.
“He wasn’t able to lead our team into the way that we wanted him to go to the future,” Morris said. “He’s getting a second opportunity, like a lot of quarterbacks do in this league. We’ve got to get ready to play him or Aidan, and be ready for both of them, or anyone that shows up.”
6. Tale of the tape: The Falcons are second in the league with 250.2 yards per game, but since they are not scoring touchdowns, they are mostly empty yards to nowhere.
The Raiders’ pass defense is ranked 15th, giving up 217.2 yards per game.
Here’s a look at the tale of the tape:
Falcons/Raiders
21.3 (19) Points/Game 18.2 (27)
371.8 (8) Total Yards/Game 303.0 (25)
120.8 (12) Rush Yards/Game 79.1 (32)
250.2 (2) Pass Yards/Game 223.9 (16)
29:24 (22) Possession Avg. 29:312 (25)
25.6 (25) Opponents Points/Game 27.7 (30)
349.8 (23) Opponents Total Yards/Game 334.8 (15)
120.8 (17) Opponents Rush Yards/Game 117.6 (14)
229.1 (25) Opponents Pass Yards/Game 217.2 (15)
-9 (28) Turnover Differential -17 (32)
7a. Series history: This will be the 16th meeting. The Falcons lead the series, 8-7. The Falcons have won the last five meetings. The Falcons won the last meeting 43-6 on Nov. 19, 2020.
7b. Playoff update: The Falcons are the ninth seeded team in the NFC. The top seven seeds go to the playoffs.
The Falcons current probability of making the playoffs is 38%, according to Next Gen Stats. It will improve to 51% with a win over the Raiders. Their probability will drop to 21% with a loss to the Raiders.
8. Where to watch, listen, livestream Falcons at Raiders: What you should know about Monday’s game between the Falcons (6-7) and Raiders (2-11), which is set for 8:30 p.m. at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
TV: ESPN. Play-by-play: Chris Fowler. Analyst: Dan Orlovsky and Louis Riddick. Reporter: Laura Rutledge.
Local radio: 92.9 The Game. Play-by-play: Wes Durham. Analyst: Dave Archer. Executive producer: Beau Morgan. Engineer: Jake Cook. Pregame/Postgame show – Hosts: Chris Goforth and Mike Johnson. Dylan Matthews and Orin Romain (studio producers). Dylan Matthews (network studio producer) and Chris Thomas (local studio producer).
National radio: Westwood One. Play-by-Play: Kevin Kugler. Analyst: James Lofton.
Satellite radio: SiriusXM NFL Radio. Falcons channel 228 and 801. Raiders 229 and 816, National 230 and 963 and on the App.
Livestream: Fans in the Atlanta market can stream the game on the Atlanta Falcons app. NFL app (subscription required). Out of the country: GamePass International. There are several other subscription services.
9. Depth chart: Here’s a look at the Falcons’ official 53-man depth chart heading into Sunday’s game:
OFFENSE
QB: Kirk Cousins, Michael Penix Jr.
RB: Bijan Robinson, Tyler Allgeier, Avery Williams, Jase McClellan
WR: Drake London, KhaDarel Hodge
WR: Darnell Mooney, Casey Washington
SWR: Ray-Ray McCloud, KhaDarel Hodge
TE: Kyle Pitts
TE: Charlie Woerner, Ross Dwelley
LT: Jake Matthews, Brandon Parker
LG: Matthew Bergeron, Kyle Hinton, Elijah Wilkinson
C: Drew Dalman, Ryan Neuzil
RG: Chris Lindstrom, Kyle Hinton
RT: Kaleb McGary, Storm Norton
DEFENSE
ROLB: Lorenzo Carter, DeAngelo Malone, Demone Harris
DE: Grady Jarrett, Zach Harrison
NT: Eddie Goldman, Kentavious Street
DE: David Onyemata, Brandon Dorlus
LOLB: Matthew Judon, Arnold Ebitketie
IL: Kaden Elliss, JD Bertrand, Rashaan Evans
ILB: Troy Andersen, Nate Landman
LCB: A.J. Terrell, Kevin King, Natrone Brooks
RCB: Mike Hughes, Clark Phillips III
NCB: Dee Alford, Antonio Hamilton Sr.
SS: Justin Simmons, Richie Grant
FS: Jessie Bates III
Special teams
K: Younghoe Koo
P: Bradley Pinion
LS: Liam McCullough
KR: Avery Williams, Ray-Ray McCloud
PR: Avery Williams, Mike Hughes
