Dukes: Falcons Need To Bench Kirk Cousins NOW!

How are you, man? Put him up. What's going on, JR? Man, listen, they need to bench Cousins. That's what they need to do. Let's just jump in and talk about this. They need to bench him. They need to play Pinnix on Sunday against the hapless Giants and get this city invigorated again because right now everybody's lost interest because of the way Kirk Cousins is playing.

It's not that he's playing terrible, but he's not playing great. And last night was a prime example. I know you probably fell asleep, didn't you? Because I wanted to see if Ritter would come back and beat his old team. There was a possibility. There was a possibility. There was at the end, and it should never have come to that.

I mean, they had two plays to possibly win it. Bottom line is, and I know, JR, you've been talking about what Rahim said today, which is being noncommittal for the first time all season on Kirk Cousins. And listen, we get a chance to talk to Coach every week.

We have him on our show, and we're at Flyer Branch on Wednesdays usually. Today, he spoke to the media. And this is what he said.

And that was kind of the news. Like, this is the first time he said, hey, Kirk Cousins is our quarterback, Sunday and beyond. And he's been pretty adamant about it.

Today, that was not the case. He said they're looking at everything, and he was noncommittal. So does it mean Pinnix is going to start? Don't know.

But it does mean that they're talking about it. Carl Deuce is joining us here from 92-9 the game in Atlanta, Georgia. When you talk about the job that Rahim Morris has done, we know this is his second time here, full-time back again. What do you think about the job he's done so far this year?

Because the team as an overall, it's disappointed from top to bottom. Well, listen, I think everybody, I shouldn't say everybody. A lot of people were excited about the idea of Rah coming in here. He's got an infectious personality. Guys love him as far as players. But you know, this is still a quarterback league, man. And when you make a commitment to Kirk Cousins and you do what they did and paying him basically $100 million for the first three years and paid him a lot of upfront money, you are now tied to him. And then you go out and draft a Michael Pinnix and everybody says, okay, well, when is he going to play? And you tell us, you know, the public and Falcons fans, hey, he'll play in a few years.

It's kind of like, whoa, what's going on? I don't know how good Michael Pinnix is. I saw him at camp. I think the kid has a great arm. I think he has a lot of upside and potential. But you know what potential means?

They are? You haven't done anything. So I don't know how good he's going to be. What I do know is they got a veteran quarterback who came in here and got people excited, throwing for over 500 yards early in the season.

You know, it was the player of the week in the NFC twice. And you said, hey, this team can go somewhere. They're six and three. And this thing is completely falling apart. So to answer your question, yes, they have underachieved. This division should have been wrapped up three weeks ago. I mean, four weeks ago when they played the same game, blew a game against New Orleans. So I just feel like, you know, with the division games early in the season, they had a real chance to just kind of run away with this thing.

And now they're fighting for their lives. Well, if we get down to Brad Sacks, regardless of whether they get into the postseason or not, nobody's looking at these Falcons and going, oh, my God, they're going to go on some type of run. And people are already starting to think about the offseason. You had mentioned the amount of money, $180 million committed to Kirk Cousins.

We know about Pennix. What does the offseason look like? Yeah, we got a few more games to kind of, you know, branch out here, but they got to still make a decision. Well, listen, I think that is going to be decided between now and the next three weeks. I mean, if you're talking about, are they going to start Pennix earlier than they anticipated? There's a real chance for that. You're in this business to win games.

You're not in this business to prolong careers or make people feel good. So Rahim and this entire staff and everybody in the front office understands that. The public and the fans won't tolerate it either because, again, what are we waiting on? It's seven years now since this team's been in the postseason.

And it seems like forever ago when that Super Bowl happened that nobody wants to talk about. So at the end of the day, I think the offseason is going to be very interesting, but it could all be decided before the end of the season. If Michael Pennix is playing these next few weeks, there's your offseason. It's a done deal. You're not going back to Kirk Cousins. If Cousins is playing and plays well and he does something potentially in the playoffs if they get in, then it remains the plan, which was, hey, Pennix was available, but he's not our guy quite yet, and now let's continue to improve our team in other areas. That's really what's going to happen here, but I think, JR, this is going to be decided in the next few weeks.

Carl Dukes is joining us from 92-9 the game in Atlanta, Georgia. When it comes down to free agency in the offseason more recently, it seems that the Falcons, they get a hit or they get a miss. You know, you get a big hit in a Bates, but then you look at the money. What happens with that cash? How would this potentially hamstring of the Falcons if they have to tell Kirk Cousins, hey, man, you got to take a backseat? Well, listen, if you have to take a cap hit, and sometimes you do, you do what's best for the organization, and the good news is the cap continues to go up. I don't want to be this guy, but I rarely have cap conversations because, one, it's too damn complicated, two, nobody really knows the rules of the cap, and three, you guys tell me what team has never kept a guy that they wanted to keep due to the cap. It doesn't happen. You let a guy go because it's time, they're old, or they can't play. It's never because they can't pay them. Isn't it funny how this money is always found?

Oh, C.D. Lamb, he wants X amount of dollars. The Cowboys can't pay him. Boom, he gets his deal. It never fails, so if you got to take a cap hit, take it, but I don't think that's going to be the deciding factor. I think this is going to come down to who gives us the best chance to win, and can we win with Kirk Cousins beyond this season, and if we can't, we've got to examine it.

I also get back to this. Three years, 100 million, not 180, and I only say that, JR, because that's the money that is guaranteed. The fourth year of this deal, there's no guaranteed money. You walk away, I think, with a $10 million cap hit, in today's NFL, that's nothing, so really, you've got this year, which you've already paid, next year, I think it's 45, so it's three years at basically 40 million plus.

I'm just telling you, if you said to me, hey, we're going to have to eat that last year, you do it. We've seen teams have to do that, and I don't think his trade viability is going to be anywhere where you can move him, so it might be something that they have to think about. Hey, Carl, I want to switch gears just a little bit and talk about someone who was a quarterback here in Atlanta, Georgia. We've got a lot of people who still opined for him to come back. He's way past his time, but we learned just a couple of hours ago that Mike Vick is now the latest ex-athlete, younger athlete, to go out and coach.

He's now the head coach of Norfolk State. What do you think about how Mike will perform as a coach? Yeah, there's a lot that goes into it, but his temperament and his background seems to do him well.

I agree. Listen, Mike Vick is a very likable guy. For those people who never had a chance to meet him and maybe just have seen him from afar, yes, he was one of the most amazing athletes in sports history. But I think Mike, through his life and trials and tribulations, has learned a lot and has become an incredible man, and I think that the attraction here, JR, is what we've seen with Prime. It's what we've seen with Eddie George. It's what we've seen with all these different former brand names, no matter how big they were, whether they're Hall of Famers or not.

There's an attraction to say, hey, how do we bring more attention to our program? Whether Mike Vick can coach, I have no idea. Whether he can put a staff together and they can be successful like Prime is in Colorado, I don't know.

But everybody now is clamoring to this and give Prime credit. He opened this door. Nobody was hiring black coaches with no damn coaching experience at major universities prior to Deion going, I'm going to go to Jackson State and then I'm going to leave and go to Colorado, which is a job nobody wanted. So I think this is kind of like, hey, this door's been opened.

What can we do and how do these guys bring more attention to our program? And let me tell you something. If Mike Vick walks in to your room and you're thinking about going there, you're going to think about it hard.

And I think that that's the appeal. But I wish him nothing but the best, man. I just don't know. We didn't know if Deion could coach, and now we think he's pretty damn good. Well, you talk about Deion, Carl. And I mean, he just helped produce the Heisman Award winner Travis Hunter, who's from here in the Atlanta area up in Sewanee. What are your thoughts on what he's been able to do? And now there's even, unfortunately for him, he wins the Heisman. There's so much more conversation about his personal life. How do you think all of this is going to translate for him into the next level?

For Travis Hunter? Yes. Well, listen, he's an unbelievable player. I've never, you know, seen anybody. And I covered Charles Woodson, all these guys that were, quote, unquote, two-way players. Not like this. Like, this dude doesn't come off the field.

It's a different animal. Now, in the NFL, what's interesting is how teams will view him. Is he a better wide receiver or a better DB? Is he going to say, I want to play wide receiver because I see these guys making 35 and 40 million dollars compared to what the DBs are making?

I don't know. Or our team's going to say you can do both, sort of like what Deion did in his day. I think Travis Hunter is going to have a major impact to wherever he ends up. He's got a great attitude, comes from a great family. We talked about this when he was here. And everybody was like, how is he leaving the state of Georgia? Originally, guys, he was, you know, going to go, I believe, to Florida State. And then, you know, Deion snatched him up and took him to Jackson State. And everybody said he was crazy.

Why are you going to do that? Nobody's going to see your games. And then he ends up in Colorado. And look what happened. One famous coach once told me, JR, if you're good enough, people will find you.

And that's exactly what happened with Travis Hunter. He is going to be a special player, I think, in the NFL because he affects the game in so many ways. Carl, I got to ask you about another team right down the road from us in Athens. We know the Bulldogs got about two more weeks off before that January 1st game. We're going to figure out who they're going to play, whether it's Indiana or Notre Dame.

What are your thoughts? We don't know what's going on with the QB. If Beck is there, if he's out, we have no idea.

What are your thoughts on what the Bulldogs can do here throughout the playoff? Well, everything I'm hearing today, and of course, this could change, you know, in the next few days or tomorrow or, you know, next week, that Beck's not going to play. Now, is he going to be available at some point during the playoffs potentially?

But right now, that's what I'm hearing, and that means Gunnar Stockton is going to be your quarterback. You saw him in the SEC Championship game. He came in. I thought he did an admirable job of leading them. And, you know, people want to say that he was not, you know, told them about it when he came in and made splash plays.

I just don't think that's important. I think what is important is that you realize he can lead the team and you can win with him. And so for Gunnar Stockton, I think, you know, this is going to be an interesting thing for him. He is a guy that if he leads Georgia to a national championship, what's going to happen is you have a decision with Carson Beck because he's got another year of eligibility for COVID, the COVID year. A lot of people are coming back.

They're in school five, six years. He could come back to Georgia and increase his draft stock even if Gunnar Stockton leads them to a national championship. That creates a unique situation for Georgia, which is something that has to play out as well. But I think Gunnar's the guy at least for next week, you know, whether it's Indiana or Notre Dame, and then we'll see where Carson Beck is.

But everything I'm hearing is he probably won't be ready. Oh, well, that certainly stinks. Well, Carl, let me ask you this. Would you favor Georgia? I mean, we got a field of 12. We got 11 other teams. You wouldn't favor Georgia in all of this now, would you, given a new?

No, no. And the reason is simple. For everything that I think about Gunnar Stockton, he's the 12th best quarterback in this tournament. All these other guys, go down the list, start with Dylan Gabriel and Oregon, all have played major roles, significant playing time, and have had big games this season for their teams. I'm not telling you that he's the worst quarterback. He's just not the best of the 12 that are in this tournament. And so if you put that out there and you say, okay, Georgia's really good, but if you need my quarterback to make plays, I'm trusting a bunch of other guys in this tournament. Whether it's Quinn Ewers at Texas or Archie Manning or Arch Manning, should I say, or, you know, you look at Penn State's situation with Allard, there's a bunch of guys that I would go, I'm putting him ahead of Gunnar Stockton, and that's the reason why I would not say, hands down, Georgia's going to win this thing.

Yeah, better to watch him throw the interception and Carson Beck, at least a little less indigestion. I put it to you that way. Okay. Hey, Carl, thank you so much for the time. Where can people follow and keep up with you here nationally on Infinity and Georgia? Tell us, Carl, tell us. Well, you can follow me, obviously, at Put Em Up across all social media platforms.

Put Em Up, see Dukes on Twitter. I don't call it X. And, man, many ways to get at me across the board. I'd love to hear from you guys. But, yeah, man, and enjoy the Sunday show. I heard some of the callers' voices that call you. I'm familiar with some of those guys, so it's good to hear some familiar voices. But, JR, keep crushing it, man, and we'll talk soon. I'll run into you in the elevator, Carl, of course. But, of course, man. I'll catch you soon.