'It feels like Michael Penix Jr. will be named Falcons Week 1 starter'

0:00Hey there, it's Jill Slessinger. I'm launching a new show. It's called Money Moves. And your money is going to move. We're going to help you make better financial decisions. We're going to call out the BS. You're finding all over social media. We're going to give you actionable guidance to make your financial life clearer, less stressful. We're going to answer your financial questions and take the mystery out of your financial life. Follow and listen to Money Moves with Jill Slessinger, wherever you get your podcasts. So the GM speaks, but did we really learn anything? Atlanta, what's going on? It's Duke Simebello on Sports Radio 92 9th Game. We start off every day and every hour by saying, Hey man, Mike, I listen to Ian cutting him before he went on Andy and Randy. And then I listen to him after I don't know if I learned anything today. You didn't learn anything. I don't know if I learned anything today.

1:03And here's the thing, the most important question, which we have talked about exclusively on this show, probably more than others, still has not been answered. And this idea that we're carrying four quarterbacks. And I told you guys two days ago, JIC, just in case, break glass in case of an emergency, because we don't trust these two guys. One of them could end up hurt, which means the other guy could play. He could end up hurt. And I'm just like, okay, Ian, I was hoping for more clarity, right? I don't think we got that. And here's the other thing. What are we waiting on? Can I tell you what I really think is happening here? I really think they are going to start my openings. And I think this is just all an excuse to give them the time table they need to get there. And unfortunately, today when Ian was asked from our media members about what is too a done? And is this because too it hasn't done enough? He skated around it. Well, we're evaluating all four quarterbacks.

2:06No, no, no, no, no. The question was, has he done enough? Because if he had Mike, you would have named the starter. So, day day, I don't know if we're the last team. I know we were arguing about this on our text thread to name the starter, the Raiders named Kirk Cousins the day. That was their plan. But Cubiac played it out a little bit. Clint Cubiac was like, well, wait to see, but that has been their plan. What is our plan? What is our plan? They will evaluate what we can in the scope of what we have. What, what's that mean? They will evaluate what we can in the scope of what we have. So that means you got this week and next week. And now, however, they set up their practices to evaluate what we can in the scope of what we have. So I just feel that, you know, we all want to answer. And again, some of the audiences not as impassioned about this. Okay, it's only the most important position on the field that we really want to know. But I think they're just going to try to see if,

3:07number one, is he going to say he feels ready to go? Because that seems to be part of the equation, although they did not come out of Ian's mouth today. But if Stofansky and the brain trust sees what they like, then okay, then you're starting again. Then let's go. You're starting against Pittsburgh week one before he's clear to play. If he is clear to play, you're healed. He physically, he's healed. But before we play a little bit of the C in for you, here's the other thing when we talk about these quarterbacks. And I just heard Randy, you know, go off again. Not no, no, talk about Jack Strang. He's on the team. Is this still a competition? Tell me I'm wrong, Mike. Did the general manager say they have not made a decision on who was QB1? They're still talking. And you'll hear him say it in his own words. But it's like, it's still something that I think he'd basically cop to it that they see something in Jack's strand. They don't want to lose him. Absolutely. You also said for all the Zach, again, if you're Zach Harrison Boy, he must feel like, as I said yesterday, Reggie White, you know, or something. Well, they really like you.

4:08They like it. And they hated the risk of losing. But I think that's a byproduct of this for quarterback situation. Correct. And that's what we talked about. You're going to risk a roster spot or two. And he owned that too by attempting to keep four guys. 4047260929. And Randy and Randy did a great job with Ian. I always tell you guys, you can only do what the interview he gives you. And so when you're doing these interviews, sometimes you get great stuff and sometimes you don't. But I thought they did a really good job. And great questions were asked. But at the end of the day, what did you learn? Falcon fans, what do you know two hours ago, from two hours ago, that you didn't know, that you know now. And for many of you, like me right now, you're going, I don't know a damn thing, dude. The nothing's changed. We still don't know what a quarterback is. We take two running backs. Okay, great. Mike, it is still a cohesive thing with the front office. And by the way, when asked about, well, who's going to make the final decision? I love this answer, too. Well, it's all of us.

5:09Haven't we heard that before? That was one that was kind of surprising to me. Now, you know, getting your 53 man, Ross, if you watch hard knocks last night, you see how that process works out. You see Schneider and all the coaches and a room full of guys and scouts talking about the players are going to bring in from other teams and all that. But yeah, that's, I didn't realize that that was part of the general managers, pervans, to be involved in the quarterback decision. I thought that was strictly the coaches. That's what I do cook. And I was waiting for him to say, that's coach, it's the fan's key job, right? Right. My job is to supply the players. I've done that. His job is to figure out who's playing best and play them. He didn't say that. So does that mean Matt Ryan sitting in that big cheer mic at the end of the table going, guys? I really like that guy. Yeah. Well, I mean, look, I would like to see if ever there's going to be, you know, again, it's the, it's, it's everything that we talked about. We talked about Mr. Mittroff and Dan Quinter, collaborative effort, a collaboration, if you will. With, you know, there's a tie then the vote goes to Rich McKay. No, but that was that was then. This is now, if there is any kind of discussion about the quarterback and Matt Ryan is there to see

6:12everything that's the fansky saying, who better than Matt Ryan to be involved in part of that evaluation? I know. But, but like again, to me, that's a simple answer. Who's decision is this? It should ultimately to coaches. It should be. He made it out to be Mike. Like it's a group project. Maybe he meant the Royal League as in everybody in the building. But, you know, but the coach ultimately will make the call. And you know what that comes down to? Let's be honest. If it goes wrong, let's be honest. If it goes bad, who made this decision? Who made the call? Right? That's what this comes down to. For everybody that says, hey, we want to see pinnocks and we do. And it doesn't turn out to be the way that we think it's going to be. Somebody's got to own that. Or if it's the other way around. 4047260929. Here's Ian Cunningham and his thought process on keeping four quarterbacks as he spoke today for the first time since training camp started. You know, when we first, when we got into training camp, you know, we came in with four quarterbacks and three of those four were, were banged up, were injured. And so, you know, you try to come in with the mindset of like,

7:14all right, the sky's not falling. But you have three of your four quarterbacks that are injured the first day of training camp. We were fortunate enough to have a guy like Cooper Rush. That was available at that point. Whereas the guy that started games in the league has been a really good backup for a number of years. So for us to be able to get a player of his caliber at that point, we were fortunate. And then for a kid from D2, Minnesota State, more had to come in and be work with the ones and actually do an admirable job. Says a lot about him and his maturity. And then to see Cooper and Jack continues to get better throughout while too in Mike, we're getting healthy. So that kind of put a coming in with that thinking, all right, there's some injury risk, right, with those guys trying to protect against that. There's a little bit of an insurance policy, but there's also these guys have been productive during the preseason. And so if you let a guy like Cooper go, there's a potential that he may be able to get an opportunity

8:17to go to another team. If you let a guy like Jack Strango, he's subject to waivers. And the way he played, you know, we talk about all the time, draft develop, retain. In his case, he was undrafted, but to develop. You know, there's a chance that somebody could have claimed him. So I think it's about, you know, living in the now, but also living in the future with Jack. So that kind of went into the four quarterback belt process. That is our general manager's explanation of why they kept four quarterbacks. And it makes sense just in case I got to cover my butt and make sure that we have a guy that we feel comfortable with in case some of this goes not as planned. And guys, it's a football season. Guess what? It's going to go at not his plan. Something's going to happen. And I'm not saying it's the quarterbacks, but last year, again, Mike, Pinnix is rolling. You know, we're, we're feeling good. He's taken hurt. You just, you just never know how the season's going to play out. So from that standpoint, I get it. But once you make that decision, then there has to be a pecking order. And that is what we're waiting on.

9:19And that is what we're saying that that decision is yet to be made. As we talk about in cutting him in the comments he made today, here he is talking about the decision. Mike, this is the question where who's going to make the decision about QB1? Yeah, it's still, I feel like that's us talking. We talk constantly. We've talked about every single position. You know, every single position on this roster, we've discussed what we think. But ultimately that that will, when they're ready, when the coaches are ready, when the players are ready, we'll make that decision. Us. Yeah, I mean, I heard that. I was like, okay, all ready. All right. I mean, the GM and this is the great debate as we said. We've had it here in Atlanta. Other cities have had it. Sometimes coaches, they get hired first. They're the guy in the case of Mike Smith. Seem like he had a little more juice on Terry Fano. Certainly in the big picks in the first couple of years, who picked Kyle Pits? I think that was Arthur Smith who wanted to Sean Was. I think that was Arthur Black. But in the case of this, you got a brain trust that's involved in the process.

10:22Now, some guy said there's nothing wrong with that. But someone said the coaches, like the coaches there every day evaluate in the quarterbacks. He's an offensive minded coach. That's his call. I agree. Let him make that call. That's where I'm at. So he said us. I mean, that, I mean, if you guys, that to me, that includes all of these people in front of you. For guys, you're saying, oh, you guys are going down the semantics highway. Well, guess what? You know, he said us, you know, as in he's involved. I didn't say it. He said it. I already got the guys in the text. I do. We go. I didn't say it. We're not manufacturing a cow. What, how does that do you? All right. Do you speak English? Is it your first language? He said us. Okay. Who's us? I would say that's him. That's the assistant general manager. That's Matt Ryan. That's Kevin Stofansky. That's Tommy Reese. I think it's Alex Fanpellt. You want me to go on? Because all of those guys are going to be involved in this quarterback decision. Right. But it should be one guy. But that said, one more thing from Ian and we have a lot to get to today when it comes to the Falcons. Because again, first time he spoke and he owned that too, by the way. Right. You know, I hadn't talked to you guys since I've been hired.

11:22Yeah, we know Ian. Like, we'd love to hear more from you. But Mike, he's like, hey, I'm trying to do this, put the team together. And by the way, the one thing I will tell you that I did respect today and I love was his idea. Like, we're trying to win. Don't care about the sacks. Don't care about all this stuff. Like at the end of the day, we're trying to get to the playoffs. And I know many of you don't believe that that's what this team in this organization wants to do. We've been saying it. Right. They do. Nobody in the building wants to lose. Okay. Nobody wants to be a perennial loser. Nobody wants to be tied to that. Mike said it. Nobody wants to be considered the worst franchise in the NFL over the last decade. So this new blood that's in the building is coming in just like you are energized when you got your new job. Right. You want to win. So don't think for a second that they're not going to try to do that. The problem is, do we have the guys? Do we have the quarterback? And does the coach and the coaching staff have the wherewithal to put it all together? Right. That's the question. Now, Ian Cudhamam did say they want to see more from the quarterbacks, specifically, you know, Mark Gromand, he had this earlier, seeing penics in more full practices.

12:25So there you have it. I mean, he did say we need to see more full practices of Michael Pettics. And hopefully he gives them enough to say, you're over to it and you start. But there's still not there yet, guys. And this is the problem when you draft an injury prone quarterback. Here we are ready to start the season. And, you know, I mean, guys, I want to say it's no big deal. It is a big deal. Okay, you're trying to evaluate what this guy is. Is he my franchise quarterback? Am I going to try to do something and get into the top 10? Or am I just going to be in the top 10 next year, you know, to get that quarterback? It's a big thing. You know, and I'd like to know for once and settle this argument. You know, well, it was all, yeah, because I blamed Zach Robbins. Yeah, there are a lot of things that were wrong last year. But Michael Pettics also made mistakes. Let's go. Football is fun. Why shouldn't your football podcast be the same? Follow and listen to heed the call NFL podcast with Dan Hansis and Mark Cessler, wherever you get your podcasts. 726929. Did you expect to hear from the general manager who the starter was today?

13:26Did you hear anything that caught your ear whether it was with Andy and Randy or in his pressur today? 404726929 opening week on sports radio 929. The game is presented by hands free sketchers slip ins. Just step in and go. We're coming back with a lot more including we're going to get a chance to talk to coach Jerry Mack head coach at Kinesle State Mike Wurick Twin Peaks tomorrow. Right. They're taking on West Georgia up there at Kinesle big game at seven o'clock. We're going to talk to coach Mack coming up here in about 20 minutes. Stay there. What the heck is going on with all these promotional popcorn buckets? The giant shorts that all of Gen Z is wearing now and whatever the heck high rocks is? I'm comedian and certified hater Matt Bellissi and these are the types of questions I'm demanding answers to on my podcast what the heck with Matt Bellissi? Listen or watch every Thursday as I rant about all the internet trends, pop culture stories and personal mayhem that makes me scream what the heck?

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