Living the Atlanta Dream and a Falcons' Season Update with Noel White

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we are going to get into the WNBA playoffs where the Atlanta Dream were

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eliminated by the Indiana Fever early on.

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We have an upset there, but to take us

through that and the wider landscape for

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the league, it is friend of the show,

Noel White from 92 9, the game in Atlanta.

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Noel, how's, thanks.

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A. Noel White:

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All things considered?

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Pretty good.

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Pretty good.

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I think I'm still in shock that

the Atlanta dream is one of those

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upsets that you spoke about.

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I knew this series was gonna go

three, to be honest with you.

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Let's take it further back.

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I knew this was going to be a series once

they had their matchup at State Farm.

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Like I, I know the WNBA has a lot of

set rivalries, and I think this is one

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that's gone under the radar a little bit.

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These two teams have been back

and forth and chippy and had

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headline incidences damn near.

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Every time they play it it never fails.

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And so I figured with the new

format of one, one, and one,

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that the fever would take one.

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In Indiana, they have a bigger arena.

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They have a very feverish,

obnoxious crowd as they should be.

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That's what the home crowd should be.

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Shout out to them and everything else

that goes along with that, right?

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Like media wise, the dream, no

matter three C, eight C, they

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were gonna be the underdog in

every matchup, even in this one.

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And it, it showed itself and you saw a

little bit of youth in their franchise

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player, Ryan Howard and in their new

head coach Carl Esco you saw a little

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bit of youth coming down the stretch.

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And they just couldn't hold onto the rope.

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PSP: Now, Noelle, this is a new

playoff format for the WNBA.

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How do you feel about that?

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A. Noel White:

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Overall, I like it.

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I actually lobbied for it last year

because I felt like the dream would've

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at least gotten a game off of the

liberty if they could have got back home.

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Now I think it's ironic and hilarious

that this format in its first year was

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absolutely to the dreams, misfortune.

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It did not help the dream at

all to be in Indiana in that

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atmosphere, in that bigger arena.

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I think.

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If you have the two one

format, they take the sweep.

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I think they, they went

up there to Indiana.

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They got rattled a little

bit mentally with some of the

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calls and the physical play.

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And it, they were able, the people

were able to get them out of their

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game and out of the way that they play.

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I knew they would be a little

more mentally tough when they got

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home and they were mentally tough.

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That last 30 seconds.

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Ryan Howard took some threes that were

probably ill-advised and look it reminded

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me of Troy Young in a way, right?

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Because they, they weren't airball threes

like you talking about, off the rim,

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at the rim, shots that she can make.

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We all know she can make those shots.

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The problem is situational basketball,

you left too much time on the shot clock.

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You put up , maybe a Iage three instead

of really working through your offense.

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I think she did that twice coming down

the stretch in the last 90 seconds,

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and it just gave the fever more

opportunities to go after the ball and

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really dig in and still won, like the

one in, Indiana, they earned the game

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three, they, they stole game three.

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PSP: What does the future look

like for the Atlantic Dream?

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Heading into 2026?

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A. Noel White:

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First of all I love the press

conference between Alicia Gray,

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coach Esco and Jordan Canada.

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And I think that really

bodes well going into: 2026

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They were salty, not whiny, and that's

what I wanna see after a defeat like that.

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They were retrospectively, salty.

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There were things we could have done

better, should have done better.

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These are the things that we wanna learn

from and grow going into next year.

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And Alicia Gray said something in that

press conference that I thought was

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pointed, even though she sound dejected

when she said it, but when she said, I

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was focused on what I'm supposed to do,

that's how she got in this MVP race.

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That's why the dream of the third seed

and her, along with Ryan Howard and Nas

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Hillman, are why this team are going to.

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Progress going forward.

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When the game was all done and I cut the

TV off, 'cause I didn't wanna watch any

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of the post game, I'm that kind of salty.

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I tweeted Great season, run the

squad back because outside of one

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or two pieces, this is the squad.

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This is the squad, this is the coach.

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I wanna see them run it back.

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Now with this experience and this feeling

that salt in the wound that you gotta

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sit with watching the Indiana fever

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it's interesting because the fever

just showed me up close and personal.

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A lot of grit.

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And I say that not because I haven't

been watching them all season, but

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because they've been a different

lineup every seven games, right?

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Like they're, as I've called them,

the all WNBA hurt team, which

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is why I'm so hurt that we lost.

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But moving forward Ariel Powers and

Odyssey sims clap it up for them.

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They were, late editions, the

injury, signings whatever.

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They really found roles in this playoff

series, and especially a Ariel Powers

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in game two around the midway mark.

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And mind you, this is a player

I saw last year in Atlanta, so I

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know how tough, aggressive, and

physical that she plays, right?

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And when she got out there on the court

and she really started working and digging

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in and making some things happen, and

I went, oh, so you are gonna play the

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Sophie Cunningham role on this floor?

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And she played it well.

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And to be honest, she probably

should have fouled out of that game.

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The physicality was absolutely

through the roof, but she saw

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the way the referees were calling

that game and she went for it.

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And to be honest, for somebody that's been

on two teams this year, didn't really get

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picked up to be away through the season.

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She had no, no reason not to go

all out in this playoff game.

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And that really worked well for them as

well as the ball control and the score

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you was able to get from Odyssey sims.

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And, we are not even gonna

talk about Kelsey Mitchell.

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We just, we not even gonna

talk about Kelsey Mitchell.

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She did her thing.

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PSP: Now stepping away from the court

for a second, Noel, last time you came

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on our show, you said you could see

WNBA heading for a lockout in: 2026

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Do you still think that's the case?

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A. Noel White:

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Yes, I do.

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And it's because I don't think.

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The league really understands the shift

between power and financial ability

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that a lot of the top players have.

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And because you don't have deep

rosters, let's say a MLB team or NFL

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team, you have more top players that's

making money, the money is top heavy.

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So if a lot of these top

heavy players decide.

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Reebok pays me enough and they're okay

with me sitting out a year, or Nike is

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fine with me sitting out a year, or I can

collect these X amount of sponsorships or

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I can go overseas and collect, make even

more money than I'm making here anyway,

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and still keep my presence in the US with

social media and all these other things.

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If you're Stu.

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Are you really worried about

a lockout when you can promote

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yourself anywhere that you are?

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The two of y'all could just sign a

contract somewhere overseas or whatever

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and keep the cameras on and people

will still tune in because they've

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created their own visibility at this

point, and a lot of these players have.

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So it's, it is, the league is different.

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I don't think that the powers at B really

understand that the league is different.

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I think they have fingers in their ears.

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I don't think they really want to see

where the league is because it does,

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it's not really an advantage to them.

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Let's take the Chicago sky as a franchise.

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For instance.

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The whole suspending Angel Reese for a

half a game thing that was for leverage

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that they found out they really didn't

have, majority of the basketball world was

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on Angel Re side at that point because.

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The Chicago Sky have a track

record of being cheap and of being

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underhanded with their players and

put their players in situations

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that aren't really best for them.

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And people that follow

this league know that.

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So that situation fell flat and

I think the league as a whole are

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gonna try to do something similar

to what Chicago did to Angel Reese.

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PSP: Now on Angel Reese, do you

think her future lies in Chicago,

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or do you see her getting a trade

elsewhere within the league?

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A. Noel White:

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I don't know if she gets a trade.

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If I'm Chicago, I don't give her a

trade because you're good for business.

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But I think the moment she's

a free agent, in the words of

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Julio Jones, she's outta there.

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I don't think she stays in, in my opinion.

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Because we've all heard the

stuff that's going on in Chicago.

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They're talking about practicing

at the Y, and there's no massages.

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There's no cold tubs, there's

no rehab, there's no meals.

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Like I remember when Angel set

the rebound record or whatever it

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was, and they got her a little.

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White brown cake with black

lettering that said, congratulations.

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And like even the cake was cheap.

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No I think she goes to a contender that

has money, like the Liberty or the ACEs,

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or, somewhere with money and visibility,

one of the, one of the big market teams.

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PSP: Now just switching gears,

let's go from the hardwood to the

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football field, the grid iron.

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The Falcons have had a pretty

good start to the season in: 2025

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One of the casualties though, is

kick a young way coup, who's been

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released and has been replaced by Omo.

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How are you seeing the F

constructed this season so far?

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A. Noel White:

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Yeah, big ups the young way.

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Lot of good times.

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You were on the marketing the

posters, the cups for a while.

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It was you scoring a lot

of points for a while.

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So big ups to you.

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We appreciate it.

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But it is time.

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For Parker Romo to take

over, so that's great there.

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Look I've seen him gotten the tag

and I understand why as the WNBA girl

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and as much as I love my dreams, I

do the Falcons are my first love.

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I absolutely love football.

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I absolutely love my Atlanta

Falcons, and I have been begging

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and pleading and praying for a

pass rush for a literal decade.

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Outside of John Abraham.

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Really?

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20 years.

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But it was super exciting to see.

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Flashes against Tampa.

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'cause I was at that game.

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So I saw a lot of those

drop picks in person.

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, As frustrating as it is to see

those balls get put on the ground.

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'cause in my opinion, offenses typically

punish you After that, they typically

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score you saw the flashes of what these

rookies could be and then you get to.

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Minnesota, which has been a

house of horrors for Atlanta.

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Atlanta usually doesn't play

Minnesota and we usually have

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to go to Minnesota to play them.

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So to be able to quiet that crowd

and that skull clap and come out

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of there with the wind was amazing.

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But even more amazing was that the

defense and special teams, 'cause

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I'm a big believer that football is

all three phases, but the defense

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and special teams really came through

and we are just hoping that this is.

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The beginning of what's to come.

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PSP: defensively, what are the falcons

gonna do about stuffing the run?

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'cause that seems to be a little

bit of an issue this season.

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A. Noel White:

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I agree with you that my,

my largest concern before AJ

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Terrell's hamstring injury.

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Was being able to stuff the run,

because even though Grady Jarrett does

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not look great in Chicago and that's

because they're using him as a DN a

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lot, and it just doesn't look great.

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However they're using him in the

scheme it just doesn't look great.

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But we're missing a 97 size hole

in the middle, in my opinion.

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It's kind like a, work by

committee to stuff the run.

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And so far pretty good.

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B Bucky Irvin didn't get

too loose in that game.

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The Vikings weren't able to do

much of anything, so we'll see

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but that's one area where maybe you

could get somebody in to shore up a bit.

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And then corner, I guess we'll see.

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What they'll do with that between

the next six and eight weeks.

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I know they're trying to be coy about the

timeline, but a hamstring's, a hamstring,

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a tissue injury is a tissue injury.

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So in my mind, that's six to eight weeks.

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We'll see 'em, we'll see 'em soon, but

we'll see what the offer has this week.

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And if they activate Clark Phillips and

I guess we'll they'll go from there.

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PSP: Yeah, that's fair.

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And when it comes to the quarterback

room, the Falcons have one of

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the best backups in the game with

Kirk Cousins still on the roster.

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What's gonna happen with him?

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Is he gonna be trading

before the deadline?

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. A. Noel White:

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Right now it's, it is looking like it.

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It is looking in my opinion, the

Falcons have decided we gave them

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the money, we took the ridicule.

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What is the point now if

anything dire happens?

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He's the best backup in the league,

and if not, which is what we really

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want, then you have the best scout

team quarterback you can have.

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Unless you know you're going up

against one of these moving and

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shaking quarterbacks like a Lamar

Jackson or Josh Allen, then he

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probably doesn't do you as much good.