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HD's avatar

Falcons trade 3rd round pick for judon

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Hawkman54's avatar

Whoa, that is too bad, he could have been a nice pickup for the Hawks.

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JIMMY JOHNSON's avatar

2 key words I've added from Mack's lexicon thus far: Chasing and Stacking. Veterans have commented on the language he uses to "simplify" the complexities he has tasked them with. Rather than use phrases to describe the concept he is teaching, he's boiled it down to singular words. With the Ravens, good players became great players. It is working. Down lineman know they will back off and play middle linebacker, but they also know what deviations the other guys are doing, causing them to move as One. In live play, you don't get minutes to do this. You get seconds. Milli seconds. Mack doesn't waste words. He has Knight chasing a goal. I have no doubt it is clearly defined.

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Grant's avatar

Those are good Mike-isms to call out. I gather it's the distinction between someone who is still trying to get that ability, skill, and knowledge (chasing) required to develop an adequate level of consistency (stacking) to run his scheme effectively.

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JIMMY JOHNSON's avatar

Amen, Brother. We will all do well to listen up. I can apply this to my own way of doing things. I'll take Wisdom from wherever it is found.

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Shaymus McFamous's avatar

This articles actually renews my hopes for Drake Thomas. Even though he was an UDFA, I thought he played really well in the preseason for the Raiders. Maybe he just needs another year, along with O'Connell, and we don't end up needing to go afyer LB in the draft as much as we thought. Here's hoping they all develop for us and it turns into a position of strength over the next couple of years.

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Stephen Pitell's avatar

You covered this like wall to wall carpeting.

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Shaymus McFamous's avatar

Like black-out drapes

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Shaymus McFamous's avatar

Like cheese on Waffle House hash browns!

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Nicholas Donsky's avatar

There will be good LBs cut or available for trade the closer the regular season starts. Not to worry yet!

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Ray's avatar

Brutal.

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huevobueno's avatar

The second video you posted looks more like a bad Mafe read. Seems like Mafe should have set the edge instead of rolling back inside.

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Grant's avatar

Good call. We don't know what they've been told to do, but it seems like Mafe missed his assignment on that run which led to the big gain. Knight also seems to hesitate behind the DT instead of running to fill that gap, but maybe he gets there in time if Mafe doesn't let the RB break it outside.

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zezinhom400's avatar

McDonald seems to me to use inferences that a player isn’t ready or needs to step up, as a double-down motivator to get a good player to reach inside and be a great player. For example I don’t believe for a minute that Mafe isn’t a starter but now he’s certainly working to prove he should be higher on the depth chart. Master motivator.

But we shall see, that’s what’s so cool about this. And w/o question LB is very difficult to play well.

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Phil's avatar

We had Pete for a dozen years and we still often struggled to understand what he really meant. Often the conclusion was that the higher the volume of words, the less he was trying to say!

Comments like these from McDonald will be easier to parse a month from now, after we see what he really does on cut down day this first time around.

I applaud this pioneering effort to figure it out with the few breadcrumbs we have!

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Chris H's avatar

Mike Mac is so different from Pete it's not funny. He pours cold water on many attempts to talk up any of the younger players......Murphy, Spoon, Knight......anybody. The exceptions are the vets, who he seems far less hesitant to acknowledge. Makes sense, as they are already proven players. But he's not going to pump up developing players until they are who he wants them to be. If they are good, he wants them to be great. He doesn't want to give them any sense they are a finished product. He challenges them to be better, and that's what you want in a head coach.

I'm not one bit worried about Knight. The characteristics are all there. Yeah sure, his angles are off at times, and he gets caught peaking in the backfield at times instead of just hitting the hole, but the more mistakes he makes, the more teaching tape they have to review with him. Now, if he continues to make the same mistakes, that's different. But he's only played one preseason game. MacDonald SHOULD be on him hard, and try to speed that development up as much as possible.

I'm not an overly optimistic guy, and my expectations for 2024 have been pretty guarded. There is so much new going on with this team, my thinking has been we'll see flashes of good with flashes of bad, and maybe it doesn't really start to look like consistently good until the back half of the year. After watching the preseason game and reading about the practices, I'm not so sure. This coaching staff seems to really have their shit together. Really organized, methodical, and deliberate. I'm starting to think things may come together more quickly than I expected.

One thing I do know. I am ridiculously impressed with Mike Mac. We've all read how smart the guy is, but I didn't expect him to develop those connections with the players so quickly, and to manage the press conferences so well. He has an expectation for how they want to play, and he just isn't going to accept anything less......from the players, himself, or the other coaches.

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Shaymus McFamous's avatar

Kudos to JS for getting the right guy, and for initially doing joint pressers with him that have tapered off to just MikeMac solo gigs, now. Excellent job of shoulder-to-shoulder management. He has empowered MM while setting/continuing the organizational tone.

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KHammarling's avatar

I read coaches comments as just "he's a rookie, and a bit more of a rookie than we thought". Which makes sense for a day 3 pick. No panic yet, Knight seemingly needs time to learn and find a way to step up at the next level - all perfectly normal.

However my minor worry is that coach points towards a possibility Knight thinks he's made it. "I got drafted, I played, money in the bank I'm the shit". Gimme preseason game 2 and a close watch on his attitude. I need to see hustle fight and progress, otherwise Knight could be in for a very short shift if an NFL career.

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PhilippRttr's avatar

I need to defend the plays you posted because

on 1: I think it is Rhattigan who's biting on the far side, opening up the middle when Knight is beat by an angle route (have you ever seen a defender batting down such a pass when it's not behind and did not think 'wow that was an awesome defensive play'). Additionally the S is 20 yards deep. But the main problem is, that you don't see any action other then the Los on this clip.

And 2: Knight closes his Gap and Boye Mafe? Pushes to the middle not setting his gap, so I think this should be completely his fault

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Hawkman54's avatar

It seems over the last several years college LB's have regressed. It actually used to be not that hard IMHO to find a decent to good LB out of college, there seemed to be a allot of them. Not so much anymore. Which to me is confusing. Hopefully MM is a savant with LB position, in not only teaching but seeing and understanding the upcoming college players. For I do believe we are going to need to get a few good ones in our upcoming drafts, or they will have to go another route.

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