NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Patriots-Falcons: TNF Recap with Marcas Grant and Bridget Condon

Episode Date: November 19, 2021

Marc Sessler is joined by Marcas Grant and Bridget Condon to recap the Patriots-Falcons Thursday Night Football game. How many interceptions can one team throw, right? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Mack, wide open throws. He's got Aguilar touchdown. This one is floated for picks and picked off. This one is too high and picked off. Come it up, and this is a pick by Kyle Van Oye.

Throw it right to him. And Van Oye is in for the touchdown. Felipe Franks. Elbow. Throws, and this one is picked off. Well, now it is over. Well, I think when we're hearing the name Philippe Franks, we know that the game has gone south to some degree for the Atlanta Falcons,

and really for many viewers as well. But unless you were a Patriots fan, a strange game tonight, the Patriots continue their show of dominance of late with a 25 to nothing blanking of a wandering and lost Falcons team in search of its own identity. We'll get into all of that. Mark Cecil here with you tonight on the Thursday night recap. I'm joined by two wonderful individuals in-house teammates here at NFL Network. Marcus Grant is number one. He is a fantasy guru man with a fire in the belly, a workplace individual who has been the heart and soul of NFL.com's fantasy universe for quite some time. We're happy to have him with us. And a newcomer to NFL Network,

Bridget Condon, having just landed here in the last couple of months, she is actually a Patriots fan who grew up reportedly 20 minutes. She's got the garb right there, 20 minutes from Gillette Stadium. So that tells you something right there. She enjoyed this evening. But we'll get into her path a little bit to come to NFL network. She covered the Panthers for the last couple of years as well. So she's going to be doing a lot of stuff all around the league and we're happy to have her with us tonight. Let's get into this game. Bridget, I will start with you because, you know, I think the Patriots over the last month have changed perceptions about who they are. At this point, you know, we did our midseason adjusted Super Bowl picks. And I as a, not as a joke, but just thought

this might just get some attention. It might get some tweets. I pick the Patriots as my AFC team. And now I'm starting to look like gangbusters because it looks very smart. You know, I think that the employer will enjoy what I've done there. What is your take on what is happening and what happened tonight with this Patriots team? Yeah, I think it, I just saw a stat come up on my Twitter feed that the Patriots have outscored their opponents by 125 points in that five game win streak that they're on. I think they've changed a lot of opinions. And I think this is credit to Mack Jones having time with Bill Belichick, learning the system and just becoming more comfortable. And Bill is just a mastermind, right? Like, we have one bad season once Tom leaves. And then now it's

like hottest team in the AFC. Like you can't, you can't say that. My, uh, like I was trying to be an unbiased reporter now that I'm working for the NFL. I'm covering 32 teams, like trying to keep my opinions out of it. And so I had a conversation with my dad a couple weeks ago. like diehard Pats fan. And he's like, Bridget, the Pats are going to the Super Bowl. They're going to the Super Bowl. And I'm like, Dad, no, they're not. And he's texted me every day this week with a different article.

They're a good team. They're a good team. They're a good team. And like, I'm like, I guess he's right. I guess you're right. Like, I don't know what's happening, but I'm riding the wave. And tonight was just another example of Bill's magic. I know also that our producer, Erica Tampozy has been all over you with Patriots, texts and other paraphernalia,

which I, you know, we know that experience. I can only imagine where she is this evening. We've got the Grave Digger stepping in for her tonight. Her whereabouts are totally unknown. Marcus, your take, your flash taker. There we go. He's played his own soundbite. That's a next level move by Grave Digger.

Marcus, what is your, what was your experience watching this game? One, the Patriots didn't offensively do a whole lot, but they didn't need to. And I think that's been maybe the big thing about this, this wind street that we've seen them on, right? I mean, some of it is, some of it is the opponents they've played, right? I mean, they have gotten through a soft part of their schedule, but give them credit because they've gone out and they've dominated in that soft part of the schedule. You can only play the teams that are in front of you, and they've gone out and they've done an excellent job with the teams that they've gone against. But you look at what Mack Jones has done, and Bridget sort of talked about it, right? Bill Belichick has put him in a situation where he can be comfortable, where he can prosper.

They're not asking for the moon from him, but what they have really allowed him to do is play to his strengths. He's a guy who's very accurate. He makes the right reads. And it's not necessarily a lot of deep throws, not a lot of high percentage throws, but he's getting, he's throwing guys open. He's letting them make plays. And defensively, they have really turned it up a notch. I mean, obviously they dominated the Falcons tonight from start to finish. But you go over this last five games.

And they have really just sort of demoralized teams with what they're doing defensively. And it's all coming together at the right time. And now, whether or not they're the best team in the AFC or even the best team in the AFC East, I think the jury is still out on that. But this is a team that really is playing its best football at a great time of the year. And they're certainly in the conversation for making a run into the postseason. So it's for most of America, this is their worst nightmare, right? It seemed as though we were rid of the Patriots in our football life.

And Bill Belichick has figured out a way to sort of resurrect this team. get them right back in the conversation. But the people that can't stand the Patriots, because I wouldn't have put myself in that group. If anything, you know, the whole Brady and Belichick experience is something that we'll never see again as human beings with a team and a coach and a quarterback. But isn't this a new?

Is it new or is it like, am I actually watching this defense that held the Falcons? And again, it's the Falcons who are really a mess right now, but to 64 yards of offense in the first half, their lowest output in eight years. I mean, it comes less than a week after Matt Ryan against the Cowboys was thumped to his lowest QB rating in 14 years. So there's some systemic connection between an offense that really is struggling at the moment.

But this Patriots defense, I hear this a lot. I say it. I hear it from Greg Rosenthal that this reminds us of Patriots teams of old, that we're not built around young Tom Brady around dominant offense, but the defense jelling the way they are. Bridget, does this look to you like a team that, you know, where's the ceiling here with this defense? I'm starting to get scary like AFC title game vibes from this crowd.

Yeah, I think Matt Judon has been incredible for them. And he tonight was incredible. J.C. Jackson has been incredible. I think they did a really good job in Bill Beljack again. He's smart. He knows how to get these pieces that other teams, just let go into free agency and figure out a way to find guys who other people aren't seeing their strengths and fit them into his system. And again, like they're just such

a disciplined team that like you mentioned, even though Mack Jones isn't Tom Brady and he's not executing these crazy plays, they have their defense on the other side of it that can protect them. And they don't need any of that. And you hold, yeah, a Falcons team to zero points tonight. I mean, there were times there. We like you were. saying earlier like you thought they were just going to come come back and like get a touchdown or that couple field goal misses um i think this defense is their strong suit right now and it is keeping up for some of those mistakes early on that max jones is is making and you know his interception things like that that's still going to happen as a rookie you have the defense kind of as

like the saving blanket to to fall back on yeah they seem versatile like like last week against Cleveland, like, we got to turn up the rushing attack. They had their highest output there. It was like 185 yards. It just seemed to me extremely dangerous. I guess, you know, we don't need to spend a lot of time on the Falcons, but Marcus, like, I guess how do you view the Arthur Smith experience at this point? I thought a couple weeks ago, Arrow seemed to be pointing up on a somewhat juicy offense that was showing some things. You lose Corderole Patterson. I know from a fantasy angle for you, there's a lot of disappointed people on that front. Is there hope here? Do you see growth or i mean i know the last two weeks have been a train wreck but before that there was

something to cling on to um this tonight obviously is a low mark it absolutely is and they're just there are no answers right now in this offense i tweeted during the game you know if you had said back in august that the falcons needed cordero patterson to look like a functional offense you would have been laughed off the internet but here we are a week from thanksgiving and that is absolutely the case um going into this the one thing that we knew is that Bill Belichick, what he loves to do is take away whatever your strength is on offense. And with no Cordero Patterson, with no Calvin Ridley, that put the spotlight squarely on Kyle Pitts. And he was completely a non-factor in this game, throwing the fact that you have an offensive line that struggled to protect Matt Ryan.

You know, as Bridget mentioned, Matt Judon is playing well. Christian Barmore is having an outstanding rookie season for this team. There just is nothing about this offense that gives you reason. to believe there's hope. If Kyle Pitts can't go out and be a superstar, and that's asking a lot out of anybody, but especially a rookie tight end, this offense is not going to move the football. And I, again, until, you know, if Calvin Ridley comes back, maybe that helps. When Cordero Patterson comes back, that certainly is going to help. But even then, this is at best, at best, a mediocre offense right now. And, you know, like you said, this is kind of a wayward lost team that doesn't

have any real immediate answers. Yeah, Falcons seem like they have gone out of their way to not create an offensive line that can, you know, dominate the opposition. The same goes for the defensive line. I thought a turning point for them, some of these games, I like to do this. I'm not always right, but early on, I'll just say game over. And it's like, you know, sometimes you are right. And it felt like for me when they had that scenario, it was third and one, they're at the Patriots 14. Matt Ryan took a sack. Unfortunately, it was fourth and 14 suddenly. They made the field goal to get, you know, it would have been 10 to 3 to get back into it. There's a penalty. It's fourth and 19 at that point. Young Wayku misses the field goal. It's just like, guys, we cannot dream up

a more disastrous, you know, outcome for that drive. And it never got any better. And I mean, to end the game with four straight interceptions, I mean, I can't think of the last game that I've watched at the pro level where there were four straight. It's probably happened, but it's just, it stood out tonight. It's a somewhat epic disaster. And, you know, the Patriots, I think good teams sometimes just take care of business like this against bad opposition, and the Patriots have been dominant. I would look at the Cleveland game last week as a huge turning point where they basically

announced themselves as totally legit. Gravedigger is wondering if Nathan Peterman threw four straight picks. That feels very possible to me back in the day. He did have the five interception half, wasn't it, once upon a time? Yeah, I think his family is trying to forget that. I don't know why we needed to bring that up again tonight, but that's how this works on this show, apparently. So I'll say this, Mark, though,

I mean, for all to talk about the Patriots, right, I think we're going to learn a lot about them the next two weeks. So after this, they get essentially kind of a mini buy, but then they have the Titans at home, then they go to Buffalo. So the next two weeks, I think you're going to tell us a whole lot about where this Patriots team is right now. Do you think we're back in a place that we're Bill's fans who, you know, for the last year,

we're really feeling like it's our time. After 20 plus years in the desert, now it's, now it's Buffalo's time to rule this division. Now I would be looking over my shoulder if I'm Buffalo, if I'm a Buffalo faithful thinking this was short-lived, this time on the top of the mountaintop potentially. I think so. I mean, they're kind of a fatalistic bunch, I think, Bill's fans. There are a lot of things, but yeah. But, you know, after 20 years of watching the Patriots be on top and thinking like now this is our moment, this is our time, only to see, you know, the monster sort of rise from the grave

and come after you again, I would definitely think there's a feeling of, here we go again, you know, and we'll see how it manifests itself in two weeks when these two teams play in Buffalo. And, like, Bridget, is your phone just exploding when, like, the Patriots do things like this tonight? yeah i to your point like i think buffalo missed their opportunity last year and like i have a ton of friends who are bills fans and were like giving me crap last season right and now it's like you knew this was coming right like maybe as a patriots i'm just like die hard like i i think of the positive

like i know that like i was i don't think i've been born during like the bad time of the patriots like i've just experienced like the greatness and so i'm like oh it's it's going to get better like it's going to get fixed like whatever like and here it is like here's the answer right it's It's like the Patriots are the big brother to the bills and they were out on vacation and like the little brother got got the driver's seat for, you know, the past year and now big brothers coming back from college getting in the seat of the car and like little brother's getting shoved in in the house again. One of the other points that I wanted to touch on that you were saying is like the Falcons, if we go back to them real quick, Matt Ryan, like when he got sacked early on in the game and you were talking about then they missed the field goal after that penalty. you could kind of see it on his face when he was sitting on the sideline he got injured he was like gushing blood on his arm like he was grabbing his toe like to me looking at him like when the cameras were zoomed in i was like he he's already lost like in his mind he was defeated and then

he finishes the game with four sacks like if i'm the falcons i'm punching myself that we didn't get a quarterback last year in the draft and we decided to stick with matt ryan i think i think it is time for them to let him go and start the next phase of their journey. Yeah, they definitely like there's another part to their team building and it could have been addressed last off season. I mean, they could have had Mac Jones

and you covered the Panthers, I think, of other teams that could have had Mac Jones, especially when, you know, you know Matt Rule well, he came out a week ago, a week or two ago saying like, we knew Mac Jones was going to be great. Well, then why? I don't, you know, the other part to that is why did we not pursue that? I'll never know. People are starting to learn.

That's what I'm saying. Bill Belichick is smart, but he also, like, gets these opportunities, like, thrown out his lap that other coaches and other organizations pass up on. And I'm like, I mean, I'm not an owner, but come on. Like, what are you doing? Yeah, and he's probably got, you know, Nick Sabin was probably in his year all along saying draft all our players because it's working out well for them. All right, we've got a couple more minutes. Gravedigger has now chimed in to say that Nathan Peterman did not do that. So that was an incredible subplot to this episode of the Around the NFL podcast.

podcast. Before we go, I just want to hit you with a couple quick questions each. I'll start with you, Marcus. And these are not, you don't have to dig into your like football treasure chest for these. You could just sort of think about who you are as a person. So Marcus, you have to spend between now and Thanksgiving covered from head to toe in either cottage cheese or tuna fish, choose. Oof, gross. I am not a fan of tuna fish in any way, shape, or form. So I guess that makes it cottage cheese. Yeah, I feel like I didn't give you a great option outside of Tuna fish there, but good job there. All right, so Bridget, you spent years, minutes away from Foxborough. Any Tom Brady's sightings? Have you ever seen Giselle, maybe Belichick at Starbucks,

Josh McDaniels on like a male clothing shopping spree? Anything of that nature? No. Like, I wish I had a great story to tell you. And I, like, wanted to get into broadcasting and cover Tom and Bill and then, like, finally make it to the NFL and they're not together anymore. So, like, I guess it's my loss. Well, I think it's possible that none of them are human and never leave that complex also. So they're not out there doing things that humans do. Tom doesn't get to go to Starbucks. Like, Giselle does not allow that.

I saw him complaining about something to do with coffee, like, not, you know, having to answer questions at a press conference after you lose a game is like, you know, drinking coffee before, like answering emails before someone drinks their coffee. Like, this guy doesn't drink coffee. So please. Markis, I'm going to hit you with this one. Hot or not, Adam Rank. Oh, absolutely, absolutely hot, man. I mean, look, Rank has slimmed down. He's, like, sveled in shape.

He's got the beard trimmed. Yeah, man, dude's on top of the world right now. I was really just setting you up there because I think we all know the answer to that one. All right, Bridget, you can spend the next year hanging out exclusively with Taylor Swift. She is a Swifty from reports I've received. And operate as her best pal and biographer. Okay. Or you can save the life of 400 stray kittens. Okay. Like, people are going to come for me. I literally hate cats. So I'm sorry.

We are friends. We are friends. But like you were supposed to watch all too well. Like, could you give me a little line or no? Well, I was, you know, I was operating as a professional tonight and I'm going to get to that after the game. You're right. That was my assignment from you and Erica and I have failed. But that doesn't mean I won't. enjoy it later. I like to marinate and that stuff when I, you know, I'm outside of the workplace. Okay. They're all over my butt tonight. Mark is children. Well, we will, we'll have to, we'll have a whole separate show about that. Marcus, children, colon, overrated, underrated, properly rated. Ooh. Um, I guess it depends on the time, you know, uh, as I was, you know, trying to make dinner and my child was completely turning off all the lights in the house. That, that felt like an overrated. But, uh, for the most part, we will say,

properly rated. I think they shift between all three zones. Bridget, do you think a unicorn has ever actually walked the earth, or is this a bunch of, you know, nonsense? Nonsense. Straight answer. Done with it. People are really going to come from me after this. Well, no, that's fine. I think you're not into cats. You're not into mythical beings. We're forming that knowledge. Marcus, just one last one for each of you, Marcus, my wife was nice enough to make me a huge bowl of instant ramen noodles during this during this game. I was out in our garage trying to watch this because I had children too. What did you eat during this game? Well, you said you cooked dinner, so I'm assuming it was some sort of food. I did. It was a very excellent beef and sweet potato stew, you know, with some

carrots and celery in there. So went down pretty well. Hmm, sounds wintery. I like that. All right, Bridget, last one for you, Luke Skywalker or Hans Solo or neither. Oh, God. God. Luke Skywalker. I don't really care for either, but Luke Skywalker. I know. I suck. You'll get to know. Like, there's a lot of things about me that suck. No, I think that's actually an atypical flash answer. So I enjoyed where you went with that. I love to do more of this. But we, if I go over 20 minutes, I will hear about it from the rest of the people that I work with. And we were just hit 20 minutes. This was very enjoyable. I hope we can all. gather again maybe two or three seasons from now when the Patriots play the Falcons again, four seasons with the way the NFL works. We'll do it again sooner than that.

Thank you very much, guys. Thanks for having us. Appreciate it. Absolutely. All right, everyone, check you later. If you still listen to this, that's on you. Farewell. I'm going to be able to be.

Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL fantasy football podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crunch. your opponents. Listen to the NFL fantasy football podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. This is an IHeart podcast.