Good morning, and welcome to the 18th meeting of the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Relations Committee in 2017. I would like to remind members and the public to turn off mobile phones, and any member who is using electronic devices to access committee papers should please ensure that they are turned to silent. Apologies have been received from Jackson Carlaw MSP. Our first item of business today is to welcome Rachel Hamilton MSP back to the committee I invite her to declare any relevant interests. Welcome, Rachel. Thank you, convener. I just like to draw members to my register of interests and the fact that I own a hospitality business in the Borders. Thank you very much, Rachel. Our second item of business today is the decision to take items 7 and 8 in private. Are members content? Thank you. Our next item of business today is an evidence session on the presidency of the council of the European Union. I would like to welcome his excellency Norman Hamilton, High Commissioner for the presidency of the European Union, and Carol Zurabeg, EU policy officer. There is a sultana at the political and communications officer of the High Commissioner for Malta in the UK. I would like to invite the High Commissioner and his excellency to make a short opening statement. Good morning, members of the Scottish Parliament. Thank you for inviting me here today as High Commissioner of Malta in the UK. Malta, as you all know, is the country currently holding the rotating presidency of the council of the European Union, albeit for just one more day. It is my pleasure to share with you my country's experience over the past six months. The smallest EU member state, with just a population of the size of Edinburgh of 455,000, took the raise of the council of the European Union and steered a union of 28 member states with over 510 million citizens. I believe, subjectively speaking, that Malta didn't do a bad job of it at all and complemented the tenure with flying colours. European Council President Donald Tusk used words such as efficient, impressive and excellent to describe our presidency. European Commissioner, President Juncker, used the same tone. The past six months have served as tangible evidence of Malta's resilience and of the people's diligence and tenacity in the face of a challenge which I have to admit at times seemed to be rather daunting. We always knew that the presidency of the council of ministers of the European Union, one of the leading institutions in the EU, was never going to be an easy task. The fact that this was Malta's first experience compounded by the additional task to prepare for the start of the negotiations with the United Kingdom over its decision to leave the EU made this even more challenging. The Malta's presidency, which is near its conclusion, as I said one more day, marked the midway point in the current institutional cycle of the Commission and the European Parliament. This was there for a time when many new ideas, programmes and projects that had matured over the last two and a half years were expected to start bearing fruit. This presidency's work over the past six months was also conducted in the context of an intensified debate relating to the future of Europe. This was partly in response to the developments regarding Brexit and partly in connection with the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Rome Treaty on 25 March. From the outset, we identified six priorities for our work, namely migration, security, Europe's neighbourhood, maritime, social inclusion and the single market. Since we're meeting on the penultimate day of our presidency, instead of going into detail with these priorities, I will use them as reference when I will highlight some of our achievements over the past six months. The presidency for Malta started slowly but surely, tackling head-on the issues related to migration. Early in February, it brought together EU leaders in Malta to build on the progress previously achieved in Valletta two years earlier, where it concluded the landmark agreement that will help prevent further loss of lives in the Mediterranean and securing further the EU's external border. This was also complemented with work on the internal dimension of migration. As the presidency unfolded, we managed to move forward on dossiers in relation to the Union's comprehensive approach to migration, including the reform of the common European asylum system and effective management of external borders. There is now a common understanding that the revised EU asylum system needs to strike the right balance between responsibility and solidarity and that it needs to ensure resilience to avoid future crises. On the basis of the work to run the previous presidency, a regulation amending the Schengen border code to reinforce checks against relevant databases at external borders was adopted. The council also adopted conclusions on the protection of children in migration. Furthermore, efforts were pursued to enhance the European Union's security and to stabilise its immediate neighbourhood. On the former, work progressed on the legislative front through the adoption of legislation to respond to the evolving threat of terrorism and the start of negotiations on behalf of council with the European Parliament on a directive for an entry exit system and additional funding by the EIB to address migration issues. On the latter, the multi-supported HRVP Mogorini's work and complemented it with efforts to conclude negotiations with Parliament on the external investment plan proposed by President Juncker. The council also adopted conclusions setting out the way forward to improve information exchange and ensure the interoperability of EU information systems following the work of the high-level expert group on interoperability. The council also adopted general conclusions on security and defence in the context of the EU global strategy. As I mentioned earlier, neighbourhood policy was one of the areas of special priority for the Maltese presidency. Under this priority, we devoted special attention and effort in connection with the accession process for both Serbia and Montenegro. Here we have achieved encouraging results with four new chapters open for Serbia and two for Montenegro. We are also particularly pleased at the successful launching of the partnership for research and innovation in the Mediterranean known as Prima. This is aimed to develop innovative solutions for sustainable water provision and management as well as food production in the Mediterranean region. Regarding maritime, agreement was reached on a number of dossiers relating to port services, passenger ship safety and standards on the registration of persons sailing on board passengers ships, operating to and from ports of the member states of the Union. As well as on the system of inspections for the safe operation of Rolon-Rolof ferry and house speed passenger craft in regular service. Success was also achieved on a number of fisheries dossiers including the signing of the Malta Med Fish Forever Declaration. This international declaration, agreed to by both the EU and non-EU Mediterranean ministers, establishes a 10-year plan to bring Mediterranean fish stocks to sustainable levels. The council adopted conclusions on international ocean governance and on the priorities for the EU's maritime transport policy until 2020. Moreover, the Maltese presidency ensured that social inclusion would be given prominence on a European level. The commission's efforts were mirrored by the presidency which worked thoroughly to ensure discussions for a more social Europe. We worked hard to finalise agreement at EU level relating to two international agreements, the Marrakesh Treaty and the Istanbul Convention. The council adopted important conclusions on a number of issues including the European Solidarity Corp. High quality education for all, enhancing the skills of women and men in the labour market and guidelines for the promotion and protection of the rights of the child. During the second half of our presidency, we started the consideration of the commission's proposal for the European pillar of social rights which will form part of the preparation for the social summit which will be held in Sweden next November. Several regulations, directives and decisions were agreed which enhance the scope and function of the single market and have a direct positive impact on the lives of EU citizens. These covered the areas of digital economy, energy and climate change, consumer protection, capital markets and international services amongst others. Overall, good progress has been made and agreements have been reached on many important digital single market proposals including the allocation of the 700 MHz band, the portability of online content and the wholesale roaming charges. The presidency managed to successfully conclude negotiations on a number of files that bring the EU up to speed at a new age. Tangebly, this will mean that there will be no more roaming charges as from 2018, improved cross-border portability of online content and better protection for consumers of financial services. Progress was also registered in areas such as energy and the environment. However, I am aware that I am speaking for a little longer than I was asked for and therefore I should start to conclude. So, one last word which I'm sure you're all expecting me to talk about. Brexit. Following the UK's notification of its intention to withdraw from the EU on 29 March 2017 and the subsequent adoption of guidelines by the European Council, the presidency worked towards the adoption of the negotiating directives and authorised the opening of negotiations on the UK's withdrawal from the European Union. The presidency also facilitated discussions with regard to the adoption of the procedure for relocation of EU agencies currently located in the United Kingdom, namely the European Banking Authority and the European Medicines Agency. Thank you for your attention. Thank you very much and you are very welcome along with your officials at our committee today and we very much appreciate you coming along to give evidence to us. As you rightly acknowledge, we tend to see matters European through the prism of Brexit these days, but in your opening statement it was very clear the wide-ranging achievements that your presidency has achieved and the number of challenges facing the European Union quite a side for Brexit. As you can understand, that is the focus of much of our committee's work. I would like to open by asking a question about the theme of your presidency, the re-EU union bringing the union closer together. I wondered whether you felt that that had been achieved and indeed how that affected the EU 27 as they go about negotiating Brexit. The union spelled R, capital E, capital U, that's for EU, union. This is the reconnecting of the citizens of the EU, individual, corporate, state to be able to connect with government, EU and the world. This was a philosophy that was adopted. This was our motto. It was decided on in November before we started our presidency and at the start of our presidency we believe that the EU was getting a little bit fragmented. There was not all that understanding between the 28 countries in the EU. Brexit, believe it or not, brought the union together to make the reunion of the European Union possible. Because, where before, the members of the union were not all in exact harmony with the calling of Brexit, the 27 remaining EU countries cloned together. This was the reunion that we were hoping for. Thank you very much. Malta, of course, has historic very close links with the United Kingdom, with many UK citizens living in Malta. You'll be aware that the Prime Minister of the UK made a statement this week on residency rights of EU citizens living in the UK and it's a priority in the negotiations. I wonder what work has been done in Malta to address these matters in terms of the British citizens who are living there. The referendum for Remain or Brexit was held here in the UK on 23 June, if my memory serves me right. On 24 June, at 8am, my Prime Minister went on television nationwide and instead of addressing the audience in Maltese, he addressed the audience in English. And there was a reason for this. He said, I'm addressing the citizens of the United Kingdom who are now living in Malta, all those expatriates who have decided to settle down in Malta and Gozo and all those UK workers currently working in Malta. They have nothing to fear whenever Brexit is concluded, the position is clear and they will be allowed to remain, to retain their property and to retain their jobs in Malta. Hopefully the UK would act in the same way towards the Maltese migrants in the United Kingdom. That's a reciprocal statement which our Prime Minister made to all UK citizens currently in Malta. That still goes to now and will still remain, and I have his word, up to the end of Brexit when Brexit is concluded. Let's just hope that the reciprocosity could also be handled on this end as well for the 31,000 Maltese diaspora currently in the United Kingdom. Are you still concerned about those 31,000 Maltese citizens in the United Kingdom? The 31,000 people in the United Kingdom are the people that continually are phoning or writing in to find out what their future is. We are saying that at the moment we can only guarantee that while the Brexit negotiations are going on the future is safe in the UK. We just hope that this reciprocosity agreement the rights will be respected as the rights of the British in Malta are going to be respected. Thank you very much. There are many more questions I'd like to ask you but I'm aware of your time and I'm now going to pass on to Lewis Macdonald, the deputy convener. Thank you very much. If I may just briefly follow that last point and just ask if, because we've heard different voices from within the European institutions in response to what Theresa May said the other day regarding EU citizens rights, does the presidency regard her statement as something which offers a basis for a reciprocal agreement going forward or merely as the opening stage in a negotiation? Your Prime Minister, Theresa May's proposal was below expectations but that's going to be left to the negotiations. So it will be the next presidency that has that responsibility? That would be Estonia. More than the present days we have the responsibility of being the president of the EU Union, it should be in the UK, but it's Estonia and it will have the responsibility for the next six months but let's not forget that the presidency does not have that much of a say, it is between the negotiators Michelle Barnier and whoever is negotiating on the part of the British government. Yes indeed, clearly though as a member state Malta will maintain a very active interest in that process. Can I ask about another matter which has been carried forward under your presidency which is to begin to look at through for example the meeting of the General Affairs Council to look at what the European Union post Brexit is going to look like and you mentioned the reunion theme of the Maltese presidency. There was a specific question, I was interested to understand the financial impact of Brexit on the European Union will clearly be significant and I wonder if there are any conclusions that have been drawn at this stage about the financial impact and what the European Union budgets in future years are going to look like and how they are going to respond to those changes and circumstances. This was the financial question was brought up in the meeting in Rome and unfortunately there was no conclusion. Right, so that's still work in progress. Thank you very much. Tavish Scott. I wonder if I could ask about your priority that you describe as Europe's neighbourhood. Two nights ago on television here in the UK we saw once again considerable numbers of refugees crossing a Mediterranean in various sizes of craft and I noticed that that was obviously one of the or that broad area of Europe's neighbourhood was one of the priorities that you mentioned earlier on. What has happened under your presidency to avert what we see as a humanitarian crisis happening as soon as the weather improves? Well, this was something that was very close to our heart even before we took the six month presidency of the EU. We were the country that were lumbered most with these migrants crossing over searching for a better life, some refugees, some wanting refugee status, some just wanting to get away from the country they lived in and unfortunately they came over in all sorts of crafts that could float. We even got 1,000 at a time coming in. They never wanted to come to Malta. Whenever they reached Malta they used to say, where are we? Is this Italy? And we used to say, no, no, this is Malta. No, no, we don't want to be in Malta. I want to go to the continent and Malta could not send them to the continent. We had to accept them. We had, as I said, we have a population of 445,000 and having like 0.2% at one go coming into our country and having to accept them and to stay there was quite a burden on Malta, a great burden on Malta. In fact, we finished up one year with about 10 to 12,000 people making very difficult for the Maltese population to cope. Luckily, you might find this strange, but we found the most cooperation came from, unexpectedly, the United States of America who every year used to take 500 of these migrants to their country. Obviously they used to send a team to Malta to assess the viability of these people and then choose 500 of them and relocate them into the United States. Unfortunately, we had little or no help from Europe then. I know that one of our ideas was that Europe shares this, I hate saying it, share this burden, if you like, but not everybody has complied, not everybody has accepted. I'm glad to see that Scotland has accepted and has taken in quite a few Syrian refugees and relocated them in homes over here. But as such, it's something we wanted very much to see being implemented in all European countries and so far it has not been accepted by all. Let us hope that on the next six month presidency this dream of Malta could eventually become a reality. We did help try to stabilise the situation in Libya, which was the country most next to Malta, after Italy on the North and Libya on the South. We were worried with the problems they had there. We did recognise the UN-appointed government in Libya. We did train the Libyan troops into how to recognise these smuggling boats going out and trying to destroy them before they actually left, because rather unfortunately, and myself I feel this very much personally, unfortunately for a time and even now with the Syrian crisis, the Mediterranean Sea has been renamed the Mediterranean Cemetery. This is something that we would like to see eradicated. This is something that we hope that all Europe can help. It's not an easy task and I know that every European country is burdened already with overpopulation and all this will add to the overpopulation of most European countries. But we're looking forward that some sort of solution could be found in the future. Did you feel that the other member states supported the presidency and your objectives of trying to sort out these issues in the north of Africa, rather than waiting for the problem to arrive on their coastlines? Well, as my Prime Minister once said, there were problems between, there still are, the fact that sanctions have remained between Ukraine and Russia, but at least with Russia there's someone who could negotiate with. Good or bad, Mr Putin is there. You could negotiate, you don't know the outcome, but there's somebody you could negotiate and speak to. With Libya, with the UN government, two other governments, there's nobody to negotiate with. This was the big drawback. Eventually the UN-backed government came into Libya and we were able to start negotiating with them. The coastguards in Libya, as I said before, have been trained by multi's expert coastguards on how to try and keep away the people from leaving into boats and risking their lives and paying a lot of good money to try and find better grounds and new lands. We even located places in Libya where these people could be kept until they could legally find the status to leave Libya into different countries and relocate over there. That was Malthus's contribution to its nearest neighbour from where we were getting the biggest influx of refugees, migrants or whatever it will coming into the country. Thank you. Ross Greer. Just a very brief question related to Brexit, but on the point on refugees, it's very positive to hear what you're saying about that. I spent some time in Lampedusa recently seeing what is now the first point of arrival in Europe. You're right to bring up Libya as a priority. It's quite clear that, regardless of the circumstances that brought someone to the north of Africa, whether they were what you would call an economic migrant or had another status, the situation in Libya makes every single person crossing the Mediterranean a refugee. I did not meet a single person who'd made that journey who had not been kidnapped at least once in Libya, who'd not been held hostage, forced to work in various kinds of slavery there. The situation that's been created there is making a huge contribution to what is a refugee crisis, not just a large-scale unofficial movement of people. On the point that you made, the theme of reunion was decided in November, as a priority for your presidency. At that point, it would be fair to say that the European Union was feeling relatively insecure in the aftermath of the Brexit vote, but also with upcoming votes in Austria, the Netherlands, France, with the strong chance of Eurosceptics being elected. None of that came to pass. Is it fair to say that the union feels it is in a much more confident, secure position now? What effect might that have on the Brexit negotiations? Good question. I think that I'll have to take back to capital and come back with an answer later on in the form of an email. Fair enough. If I can have your... Yes, we can do that. I'll email you when I go back to capital on this one. Thank you very much. Thank you. Perhaps I could return to the theme of Brexit, and you'll be aware of how the negotiations have progressed. There was some surprise in this country that the UK Government had been insisting that they would negotiate both an exit deal and a free trade deal at the same time, which the EU had always said was not possible. Indeed, every expert who spoke to this committee told us that it wasn't possible. In the first day of the negotiations, the UK conceded that the two processes would have to be in sequence. In terms of your knowledge as presidency of the EU, how long do you think it will take to make progress on the exit deal before we move on to discussing future trading arrangements? Malt is not involved in the negotiations. If you are looking at the timeline, how long the negotiations are going to take, I would look at around 24 months. Being pessimistic, maybe I would go to 29 months until everything is possibly finalised. Nothing is agreed until anything is agreed. I have a paper here, and I can't speculate. I'm not allowed to speculate on that, but here I have a paper. You probably have a copy of it, which says that the EU 27 have agreed that any agreement with the UK should be based on the balance of rights and obligations and ensure a level playing field will preserve the integrity of the single market, excluding participation based on a sector-by-sector approach. A non-member of the union does not have the same obligations and cannot, hence, have the same rights and enjoy the same benefits as an EU member state. Negotiations with the United Kingdom would be conducted as a single package, in accordance with the principle that, and this is a line that we spoke about yesterday, confounded me and still confounds me, which says nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. This is the stand the European Union has taken. Nothing is agreed unless and until everything is agreed. Individual items cannot be settled separately. Thank you very much. We have a question from Mary Evans. I just have a couple of questions about some of the other priorities that are put forward as part of your presidency. It was really some of the comments that were made around the single market, as being one of the EU's greatest assets. It was really just to tease that out a bit more and to see exactly what the single market has meant for Malta. We have had a lot of discussion about that here, and I think that it is something that we have identified as particularly important for Scotland and continued access to the single market, but I would just be interested to hear your perspective on that. The single market is one of our top priorities, and a lot has been done for this. Again, I will email you with the full details about it. Sorry, could I just come back on another one? It was just about the other priorities as well. I can understand that it is something that you do not have information on as well, but it was about the social inclusion and about how the presidency aims to improve the participation of women in the labour market. Other key measures include work to combat gender-based violence and further develop LGBTI issues. I was wondering how, if you were able to say anything today about how that work had progressed. Let me say that Malta has undergone a lot of changes over the past three years with the Government we have. Malta was before considered a very conservative state, a very too-catholic state, and suddenly we had a referendum that brought in divorce. We had a new government that said that immediately if elected to power in 2013 is going to fight for LGBTIQ rights. It gave all the rights to LGBTIQ in about six months. It also gave them partnership rights, same-sex civil unions, and the new... We just had an election on the 3rd of June and the Prime Minister has said that LGBTIQ rights, and I hope these will be taken up with the whole of Europe, will be continued, will be continued to be improved. The first thing we're going to do is change the civil union to marriage, same-sex marriage, same-sex adoption of children. Even the introduction of medicine in marijuana will be coming in the next legislation. So this is the way that extra-catholic Malta has progressed into a very liberal Malta. We'll keep on progressing that way, and we're trying to pass on these recommendations of what little us can do to big Europe and to try to implement all these social changes and gender equality especially. Thank you very much. I just had a comment. I was just going to say that, in terms of issues like that, having the presidency allowed Malta, do you think that it's allowed more of a focus on such issues and allowed them to progress quicker than they would have done otherwise? Had you not had the presidency? In terms of the presidency itself, it's the impact that it's had on Malta that I think I'm quite interested in too. The LGBTIQ rights, we have tried to send over to the EU countries to implement, and more than that, we happen to be also giving up EU presidency the next day, but we still remain chair and office presidents of the Commonwealth. That has 53 members. Unfortunately, 41 of them outlaw LGBTIQ. What we're trying to do as chair there is also to bring in gender equality over there, recognise women's rights, and also ask them to even softly, slowly, start accepting LGBTIQ rights. So we're going to keep on pushing on that. Even if not still in the presidency seat in the EU, we'll continue to lead by example on that. Thank you. Stuart McMillan. Thank you, my convener. It's just a couple of questions regarding the EU at 60. I'm keen to hear your reflections regarding the success, and also potentially some of the challenges or failings of the EU at 60. As I said, the EU was rather fragmented when we started our presidency. We're happy to see that the reunion slogan has worked and that the EU has become more, the 27 remaining, have become more unified since Brexit. And I think the EU has now peace and prosperity as the way forward. And we've managed, in our little way, to instill that. As I said, probably this came about because of Brexit and because of the way that Theresa May's proposals were considered by the EU to be far below expectations. For many years, it appeared that the UK seemed to be a reluctant partner within the EU. And going forward without the UK as a member of the EU, do you think there are any lessons that the EU can learn, or that the EU 27 can learn from the period of time when the UK actually was a member to help and solidify that union going forward? Let me go back to the start of Malta's membership in the EU, which came in 2004. Now, not many know this, but our Prime Minister, who is in the forefront for the EU, and he would never even think or consider of ever leaving the EU. He's a great believer in the EU and the way forward he says is the EU. When he started his political career was completely against joining the EU. He was in favour of partnership. With the passing of the years and with the introduction of Malta in the EU, he put himself out for election as a member of the European Parliament, got elected straight away, went into Europe and was so convinced of the benefits of the EU and the future of the EU. He was still leader of the opposition then and he came back and said, Malta's place is definitely in the EU and we will never ever consider leaving the EU. This was the standard of Malta. And to your question, the UK is always important. We have great ties with the UK, which we hope to continue and we hope will continue. And I'm sure UK will engage with everyone in the EU and try and get the best deal possible. I don't know how the UK is going to continue to negotiate. At the start it was all, it's going to be a hard Brexit and I think UK is looking at a softer Brexit which I think will make it easier to possibly negotiate. But as I said, we're not on the negotiating table. We always had very good relations with the UK. There are some things that will not change. Somebody yesterday during the reception asked me, will any agreements that you have with the UK will now stop? And I said, we have to look into what agreements there are, whether they were signed when both of us were in the UK. But one, the most important one for us, for me because I believe in it, is the medical and health agreement, reciprocal between the UK and Malta. That agreement was signed pre-EU accession of the UK and of Malta. So that agreement luckily will stay. Which means that specialised treatment that cannot be found in Malta can be given to Maltese people who need the treatment free of charge in the UK. Reciprocal in Malta, the UK people who live in Malta, come to Malta or come on holiday in Malta will still always be offered free NHS treatment in our hospitals in Malta. Because that is an agreement that was signed between the two countries before your or our accession to the EU. That's an important agreement. Now, the Government has to study what other reciprocal agreements there are that were signed before the EU and build on those. Thank you very much. We are under a little pressure of time and I know that the High Commissioner has other engagements. So I'd like to thank the High Commissioner again for coming to give evidence and his officials and I will now have a brief suspension of the committee. It's been my honour, my privilege. Thank you for inviting me to come here. Let's say that our lesson has been learned. EU will engage with all member states that remain, even the reluctant ones. Thank you. Thank you very much. And I wish Scotland all the best of luck. I wish the UK all the very best of luck. May you continue to prosper. Thank you.


Sam here with late in sports cards. We are doing 22 bowman chrome baseball hobby 12 box full casebreak number 33 random team style Here's a look again at your random results as always you can find these on the website under the results tab as well as the link That's currently in chat. It's a good luck everybody. Let's go ahead and do it Rusty, Utah, Calmly to Minnesota, Vanderbilt, Beasley, Bilo to L.I. No, that's not bad. I mean that gives what's it called? I guess The Lakers more depth at least So is Kyrie set to debut today against the Clippers? Is that like a for sure thing that's happening? Or is that just hearsay?  Could very well happen to Perfect. Yeah, it's gonna be a must-watch game right there. Still no Luca. Oh boy No, Luca doesn't really have any help, but he is I'm assuming he's a pretty good team player or a Barossa First base auto going to the Diamondbacks. Yeah, I would say so He hasn't really ever had outside of like maybe for Zingas. He hasn't really had Any great teammates purple hunter green to 250 Miss Cameron Thomas play again that is must-watch television right there for us Well, like let's say, you know Kyrie comes in like Luke is not gonna be like, oh you're taking away my spot No for my spotlight No, Luke is better than Kyrie anyway. Yeah Shimmer holding freeze and alarm for the Rockies and that's play the Bulls. I could drop a hundred Very well might be very well might drop a hundred Avon Drogi And some base another holding freeze Another cold So then I Rafaela a nice one there for the Red Sox craps on that Boston Very solid second base auto coming over to Boston To 199 on the teal ray wave I Know man doesn't it look like so real it almost looks like he used to like play there at one point That's how good those photo shops are Spencer Dinway, you don't mind doing it by color Yeah true true Admiral, I don't know I think like yeah I agree like car is better than what the Saints have now It's just a matter of like the Saints want to give those picks away Jay Rob rookie got a green shimmer reigned and cone to 99 On the base rookie nice one there for the Dodgers O'Neill crew shades of greatness rookie for the Pirates That's true. That's true. It is cheaper than what you're gonna shell out for him in terms of money. There's JT Schwartz On the base auto nice one there for the Mets. Congrats Mets Oh, yeah, please That's been like the trend the last few times Oran shades of greatness, please Jordan number 10 of 25 nice one there again Red Sox Red Sox doing well off out of the gate here Yasser Mercedes Yasser Mercedes There's a lot of good names in this to create shticks We have a lot of photos today Vaughn, were you here for the new shtick last night? This one you might actually think is kind of funny because like Donny thought it was actually genuinely kind of just reminded me of like other things Which is why I found it was funny.  There's a re-trimble Lou Ray wave to 150 for the Orioles See, I don't even know that video. You know never saw it. I don't think so. Oh, dude. That's a classic Refractor Ellie Dela Cruz to 499 Yeah, see a classic so every time we have a first off the line box We just go I like photos instead of I like photos. I like photos.  Yeah, I'm here with Jonathan the zombie And what do you think about your face paint Jonathan? I like totals See I see even Vaughn says alright. That's good And dude we do have to make that shirt happen We're thinking about trying to create a shirt that has like a turtle with a first off the line sticker on it Just as I like photos Wouldn't you like to know weather boy? That's a classic. Oh my god. Where are your parents? That's so funny Have you ever seen that one? I feel like there's a lot of me. Oh my god, dude So Zach Dean on the shimmer. That's a classic for the Rockies So there's this one where it's like this this guy's reporting and I forget what he asked this kid He's like, oh, like what do you think about the food at the fair or whatever it is? And he goes, what did you like to know weather boy and the the reporters goes where your parents that one's fun I forgot about that one. There's Bobby Whit Jr So I used to like I we used to always say that my college. I forgot man We used to say that in college all the time for just random stuff. Wow Purple Jackson Meryl nice going to the Padres We will take that 177 out of 250 meme education course Nice one there. Yeah. No, I saw after that is his son, which is pretty funny. Timothy. Yes, congrats, buddy. Yeah Do you like to know weather boy? That's what you're gonna say every time like should we make that would you like to know? There's a white speckle to 299 Benny Montgomery Stop Elon. There's so many good like interviews of stuff. It's so funny Jonathan look at all those ticking. That's a classic fine Everybody go to Del Taco. They got something called for free Chewbacca do Instead of it said fresh avocado, but like it was like spaced out weirdly Chewbacca do There's one been show on the first refer our first base auto nice one there Cardinals Grats on that Tom Steve C. I did the vine days. We're just nuts There's true blue Harry Ford to 150 for the Mariners Specs card. That's funny Spencer It's kind of like getting phased out before I Like started looking into like the like watching and nice Brian Acuna green shimmer first the 99 for the twins There you go, Minnesota That's why I don't remember a lot of these Yeah, true. It was like right when I got like my iPhone like vimeous I also didn't have a real phone until about 20 Right exactly one where you could watch stuff on it Yeah, Jake Rucker on the base first auto for the twins nice one there twins That's Minnesota again to go with your Brian Acuna green shimmer now There's a green Pedro Panada on the color match to 99 for the A's 20 out of 99 nice green color match That's Oakland that's Edward S on the combo spot Three hours trying to find Cam Thomas cards. I don't blame you dude Now I got a look and see if I have any like random low-end Cam Thomas I've just had sitting around my house. That's our about to be the first team gone and like all of our all of our breaks That's like an example like overnight thing almost. Yep. It's just like how quick someone can someone's cards Yep, 100% straight Turner refractor to 499 for the Dodgers Yep, 100% The kids Katie is the stained glass and not cam People are gonna complain that Katie Uh Nathan Hickey going to the Red Sox refractor first auto to 499. It's 246 out of 499 Nice one there for the Red Sox again. That's Eddie's Leonard to 199 on the magenta prospect for the Dodgers And Simon Juan first They're both good man, I mean contenders it depends if you're really like into autos Yeah, Adron less. It's like an insert then.  There's what? Six autos But you get like the first off the line like we're not gonna be breaking Zenith or Zenith for a while You know what I mean? So it's like that that's an exciting one to get into plus you got two boxes mosaic to go with it Josh Green Be a step ahead of everybody There's a Daniel Quiva on the yellow to 75 first for the Rangers we've got green shimmer Harry Ford to 99 nice one there for the maps enough the maps for the mariners That's true There baseball It's very true Vaughn. That's very true. I Would say that that's probably legitimate. That's a correct argument. That's a correct statement Just now We've got white speckles Samuel Munoz to 299 nice one there congrats on that Dodgers that is Daniel L Samuel Munoz Frito Daniel Quiva hammer Kleber. Yeah, and that's either of that's not the best, right? Yes fanatics merger is 2025. I Mean they bought tops already So I have to imagine we're just gonna have fanatics branded like tops sets most likely But I'll be like probably they might have the fanatics logo on the front the fanatics logo on the back somewhere probably on the front It'll be like fanatics. It'll be like can you need Don Russ stuff? You know, it'll just be fanatics tops from Not a bad find honestly Still seven is not bad and you're nice there What's going on though, dude? Came to the league Jason Dominguez Magenta Javi Baez to 299 for the Tigers Samuel Zavala Samuel's last name is Munoz. Is that how you pronounce it? Yeah, I actually just bought a car. It is Like that same car, but just a base auto, right? Eason Morbell for the Rangers nice one there. Congrats Rangers Raw prism Silver's selling around 40 to 60 right now Refractor is Harry Ford to 499 on the prospects card for the Mariners base and base Josh Lowe shades of greatness Dremendous sit choreo come out of here. I haven't pulled a Jackson choreo in a minute. That'd be cool speak it into existence See what we got some PYT spots coming in some gilded pristine spots Zake mixers Peckable More contender spots coming in. Thank you guys do appreciate that All right first off the line two box spot in as well So the camp Thomas prism auto like a month ago. No, I'm gonna be a dog in my Celcius thing early today. I forgot to bring one for you. I'm sorry, of course You have on your car Really Shimmer Jason Dominguez the Martian just got invited to spring training for the inks There's a Tommy Carlos Coleman eras to 150 on the Invicta nice one there for the race Why don't centers and basketball seem to? Uh Haran Gonzalez the 299 on the vertical signature for the Royals nice one there That's 67 out of 299 on the white speckle and grads Royals Like like Joel indeed like isn't he like leading for like points yeah points average in the game Like why is there no Nick magical to 250? I don't that's a good question honestly because it's kind of like the same with pitchers and baseball But that one makes more sense defense and football and like goalies and off Yeah, well, aren't we getting to a position of basketball where like? Positions are universal basically at this point. Yeah, so it's like You know a little bit more now that centers get more love like the Yeah, legs like what Vaughn there's less flash with centers because like they're taller So they're like they can't move as fast and do like crazy shots that like you know gardens can do and everything So cooler shots are more valuable than a cool dump. Yeah, but it's also like if Someone who's six four can do a flashier dunk than someone who's seven foot three. That's like, you know what I mean like Like who are you gonna watch instead? That's why like whenever there's a center in the dunk contest I'm kind of like meh because it's like you're that all like Shouldn't be able to do that, you know, it's just weird. Yeah, no it is. It's a weird dynamic Yeah, no unless you're one man, Yama, that's true too Darwin Nunez actually fill We've got Ricardo Cabrera Base first for the reds been a great case so far in terms of even the base autos have been fantastic nice one there congrats on that reds Ricardo Cabrera, there's Aqua now that's pink teal vapor wave to 125 Matt McLean on the first the cotton candy pearl nice one there for the reds You're just looking up on eBay. Yeah Nice It's a good way of doing it though I was gonna say like on breaks like this where it's not like I'm not behind like at least kind This is the only time I'll ever look up a smoke up Joe because I just don't care. So yeah, I can at least Be someone good idea. Yeah What I'm looking right There's Henry Davis shimmer prospect card for the pirates one of the top ten in baseball, I believe right now Do we see him come up this year? We think probably not right Davis. Yeah He's the first overall pick in 21 probably not not yet. It's atomic Noah Miller 100 of 100 for the twins On-card Rookie auto congrats on that. I guess prospect auto there you go, Minnesota Nice atomic Eric a Next year. Yeah, cuz next year. We'll probably see like Lawler and Meyer and and probably Shades of greatness James would atomic to 150 for the Padres We'll probably see Meyer and we'll see Davis and we'll see Lawler next year, I would assume blue is Francisco Lindor for the Mets Yeah, I agree Vaughn. I agree both on opening. Yeah opening day rosters made sure to not eat too much What talk about open it to The one on the way to Yes, both of them are We're all gonna McDonald's if I leave too late That is your Donnie De Los Santos on the base first auto there go pirates nice one there Pittsburgh. That's going to Don be congrats dawn. I Actually bought this exact card as well. Well, I joined I bought the pirates and one of my buddies break Yeah twins aren't a bad team twins definitely aren't a bad team in this There's Yendri Rojas on the pink teal vapor to 125 for the Padres Yeah, twins are solid twins have a very solid prospect class in this Because you've got Mercedes you've got Danny D'Andrade Noah Miller, and I think there's one other guy Jake Rucker as well Base. Yeah. Well, Akunya doesn't have autos in this He only has his first base his first autos were in 22 Bowman, which is strange But it's kind of like James Shriantos his first autos were in 22 Bowman, but his first like base are in this It's like you can't bowl you can't pull a Brian Akunya base first out of 22 Bowman But you can't pull a 22 auto out of Bowman Chrome. It's it's weird. It's it's that that makes it really confusing so confused. Yeah It's like the same it's like Cheerio like Cheerios base first was in 22 Bowman and his bit his first autos in this like Yeah, it's they do it with a lot of different players. It's very odd very odd That's why I like Cheerio doesn't have the first on his autos. I don't think he might I don't remember Because there he already had his first base same with Merrill same with Brady house a few other guys as well JT Schwartz is another one Shimmer question of a caro nice one there for the Nationals Congrats Washington Samil Munoz and Alexis Hernandez Now I know I know because it's all about holding certain guys out for autographs That's the big thing. I know it's just Like it based on was like the only sport or a bowman was the only thing you invested in Gonzalez to 499 on the refractor Otto second guns. No No No, he did second her Oregon dollars. Yeah, this time first was a speckle and this one is a refractor very nice Painter makes it up. Is he where is he again? Is he Arizona painter or see no, he's somewhere in the NL East, right? Hillies Blue train James Triantos nice one there on the color match to 150 for the Cubs It's like what triantos that guy right there. Yeah, you can't get his like base firsts in 22 Bowman But you can't get his autos his first autos in 22 Bowman Crow. That's how that works. It's ridiculous Billy that's what that's what it was. I know it was a red team. I just didn't know which one Yep, cool. Yep. That's how that goes. There's a shades of greatness wander rookie Yeah, that's always not a bad idea bringing up somebody like that. It's a bullpen arm down the stretch. That definitely makes sense Alrighty, let's see Hey Jonathan picking up a mosaic spot a couple more NBA mixers coming in as well as a another contenders mixer It's just make a Bowman set called Bowman autos. Yeah, right Honestly, there should be Bricks are slowly but surely making their way to the sold out Sold out portion do appreciate y'all all the baseball is sold out and the first basketball break is sold out And then we have a one of our football breaks is sold out, too But we do have some plenty of spots left and breaks coming down later in the night another Packable spot came in. Thank you there men. Well, let's keep it going Yeah, it's gonna be a good one those those four box mosaic mixers are cool because it's four literally different mosaics Okay, it's not like two and two. It's like one one 21 choice one 21 hobby one 22 choice and one 22 no huddle Oh, yeah, Matt Frasier. I know Derek are visiting with the Saints today. Very interesting. See what happens there We've got Christian Veccharo on the base first auto. There you go, Washington Grats on that Daniel L. There you go, buddy. Nice Veccharo We'll take that for sure. Yeah, I would say so probably at this point It's a nice one congrats on the Veccharo Daniel L That is your a bell and helice to 125 for the a's nice one there on the Teal pink vapor. It's a done deal. Interesting, huh? That'll be an interesting one. Do you love going back to the to the Lakers? The NBA script writers want him going back to the Lakers. Let's slow it down a little bit Supposed to be an hour and it's 5 30 and we got four boxes left Wow Yeah, you might want to calm it a little bit Continue to explain how Bowman works. Okay, real rice. You sure Jose Miranda. There's Joey Weimer. Arizona fall league Trace Sweeney prospect Henry Davis prospect There's Eddie's Leonard on the shimmer Wait, so who goes to Oh Conley goes to Minnesota, right? Nice one there and Ross goes to Utah Base first auto Benjamin Cowles for the inks. That's on that New York You're in confident On the base Yeah We haven't ripped this in a minute. That's why like I've I've missed all my friends from this year's bowman Brian Acuna on the uh blue uh true blue first base nice one there Eric to 150 Nice Acuna Baby Acuna you should find all the people that you have a stick for and Find them on instagram or just be like, hey, listen to this It'd be like, okay, you're blocked Weirdo Who are you? Yeah, who I would most likely reach a buyout path with utah. I wonder where do you think russ would go If if say say the trade happens say utah And and he goes to utah and say utah buys russ out. What do you think like? Where's a lightly landing spot for russ? Do you think he goes to brooklyn? Hmm. I was legit just gonna say that that's just because it's a team But the first team that came during Yeah, they got so much going on right now true Yo, it's war of garcia Retirement home refractor nor hey vera That is 33 out of 499 Nice one there for the white socks Why have you big sons because I know they were in on the kairi trade too There's uh michael hernandez on the orange uh yellow orange vapor to 75 This looks like a super every time you see it on the left side It's the troll card. It's like the one word. Yeah, that that left side of the uh the left border. Yeah Yeah, warming burn a bell colding a freezing alarm See how spots are looking again a bunch more came in Okay, eric taken a couple of spots today Some more pyt's some more contenders spots All right, let's keep it going. Yeah guys trying to slow it down a little bit more here Let's forget and uh I want to finish the break too early So that means so get your job sam Got a shimmer is trey sweeney prospect card for the inks Nice one there the shimmers are cool out of bowman too I like them same illizavala first on the back Got jackson meryl on the base auto now. There you go. San diego Timothy killing it with that spot man two meryl autos very nice. Congrats, buddy I'm gonna have downy microfiber it a little bit a little bit of dust on it Make sure that everything's okay. Nice jackson meryl. We'll take it Wouldn't you like to know weather boy? I would like to know now you're good on that one I figured it was yeah Uh denser guzman to 250 uh for the angels Would you like to know top loader boy for what i'm learning on ebay my roommate's got a dog our senior year And uh, I got him like this little like duck toy This little squeaky toy So when he was a puppy you'd always be running around with it and every time I'd look at him I go wouldn't you like to know duck boy From just from that meme like that when someone I think travis brought that up that just brought back so many memories, dude Or it'd be like fighting a pillow or something. I'd be like, wouldn't you like to know pillow boy? Whatever he's fighting. Yep, whatever he was whatever he was doing. That's what ended up happening Well, he's rolling around Wouldn't you like to know rolling boy? It doesn't work does it? Not really Joshua Baez on the Invicta uh cal connelly refractor, uh base auto or not base, but refractor auto to 499 for the braves Nice one there down t baby No, not already I like photos There's jr. Perez to 199 you got to show you that video after dude I can't believe you haven't seen it. It's a clap dude. I was like 30 million views on youtube Stop it on down t for three From down t Bang do we just get another shirt? Yeah, down three for three The list of shirts Just text no no image needed Just down t for three Maybe a basketball hoop in the back room That was like another one we needed last year is or from last night was you when you go is it Babe Ruth to the baseball? Why it was a legit question, I don't know could have been We've got Jordan Lawler on the shimmer Get your hand out of my face. I got it. I got it half right. He was a Yankee player. True Not crazy face Got Dylan Dodd base first thought over the braves congrats braves Dory Lorenzo and Jay Allen Purple jose rodriguez to 250 that's going to the white socks on the prospect card. So frail like PCA True blue cow Raleigh rookie the big dumper nice one there to 150 True blue cow Raleigh big dumper, baby He has that on his nt rfi, which is insane Like on his nt like signature names. He has big dumper Same with chainsaw devil This has the same one. That's all that's a shirt. We need that's a shirt. We need for sure Exactly anthony exactly. Oh orange of Logan serenade 8 out of 25 going to the Phillies. There you go Todd. Congrats, buddy. That's Logan serenade See what these are doing. I don't I I don't they couldn't tell you to be honest I've no idea probably like a hundred something Uh mini diamonds peak crow arm strong or white speckled excuse me to uh, 299. Well, actually that's that's shimmer What's the shimmer dude shimmer is like 45. Oh, then yeah True is about 70. That's not bad Still a nice hit either way nothing orange True first is always awesome. Yeah anything Anything over that lows breathe. Yeah, especially if it's a first in an on-card auto and Very true very true Shimmer Jason choreo for the guardians. Nice one there William Bergola and Juan Benchio. That's gonna be my justification why I start buying T2 at walls Hopefully that low number can't be that bad. Hey, so someone's gotta be the number one there That's true. Cooper cup Yeah, besides Jonathan Mahia the 499 nice one there for the um cardinals Congrats on that cardinals Nice, Mahia. I love Keith forgot all about the Yes Forgot about the best receiver the other on Robinson, maybe as well Probably the two factor Carson Williams for the race Nice one there Yeah, fun and Cali if you guys are good in the California the LA area make sure to check out the bourbon card show Sean and Lane will both be there Sean and Lane so if anything you can go and make fun of them, which is just as fun as seeing them there Sounds good, Lane. Thank you. Fun show That'll be a good Got jack in the box like every night after the show. I was so exhausted after the show like Lane Went out with like some of his friends. There's Joe Adele It's a 499 like went out with some of his friends and I'm like, dude, I have to just go away I need to order food to get delivered to the hotel and I need to go lay in bed We've got Randon Cone base first auto for the Dodgers nice one there LA Daniel L So for in terms of like base autos, this was a really really solid break I like jack in the box. I was a fan Marco Luciano to 250 It's good if you're ever like out there. It's not like the best thing ever But it's one of those things like if you're in the area that has when you have to try it, you know what I mean Yeah, but I liked it. There's Bowman ascensions Thank you for an answer Yeah, of course Reginald pressiata pressiato auto Jackson job and louise mesa Yeah, I know but by the time the recap is done. I do the random. We'll be good I'm gonna do a quick Recap here. I'm not pressiato auto, but pressiato Yeah, no problem. You got it, man. All right. We've got Randon Cone Dodgers Dillon Dodd for the Braves Jackson Merrill for the Padres Benjamin Cowles for the Yankees Ricardo Cabrera for the Reds That's a really good break. Yeason Morabelle for the Rangers Jake Rucker for the Twins Juan Ben Show for the Cardinals JT Schwartz Mets Sedona Rafaella for the Red Sox Jorge Barossa for the Diamondbacks We've got Refractors now Jonathan Mahia to 499 for the Cardinals Cal Conley for the Braves Norhei Vera for the White Sox Herard Gonzales for the Royals Nathan Hickey for the Red Sox Blue Raywave to 150 Retrimble for the Orioles We had Herard Gonzales Many Diamonds to 299 As well as Samuel Munoz for the Dodgers Atomic to 100 Noah Miller for the Twins Logan Serney, 8 out of 25 Orange, first auto for the Phillies We had a first of Christian Baccaro Base Auto for the Nationals And then a Purple 177 out of 250 Jackson Merrill That will do it for the break guys Thanks again for the Phill Next up we've got, I believe No, the top's going black


What's up everybody and welcome to another edition of the Falcons final whistle podcast. I'm Scott Barrett alongside me Tori McElaney and Chris rim as we break down. A 30 to 20 loss the Atlanta Falcons lost 30 to 22 the rival New Orleans Saints on Sunday week 18 at Mercedes Ben Stadium, not a desired outcome not a way that the Falcons wanted to wrap their 2021 campaign. And guys, let's be honest, we're not going to talk a whole lot about the details of this game. I think this fan base is kind of really moved on and they want to talk about the offseason and they want to talk about what comes next and there are a lot of interesting things to discuss. So we're going to jump into all of those things over the course of four quarters you guys know the format by now it's five minutes on each topic we're going to debate vigorously. Four different things starting with Matt Ryan and all the chatter around him and his future into 2022. Also some other key Falcons free agents who are going to hit the open market this spring. We are going to talk about what needs have emerged by all three of us watching this 2021 campaign. And of course we're going to take a look at now that we know where the Falcons draft at number eight overall we're going to look at what they should do with that pick a topic that will probably discuss a couple thousand times before they actually make it. So before we jump into all that forward thinking talk, Tori and Chris the story let's start with you first. What is your big takeaway from the regular season finale as a four quarter game. I think, honestly, it to me it was kind of I was already looking ahead, even as this game was going on I think once we saw how this game was going in that first half and it wasn't looking good. I immediately kind of put on blinders to looking straight to the 2022 offseason and what I spent a lot of time thinking about postgame was the needs that I think we saw very evidently be needs in this game and having a lack of past rush I'm talking about issues on the offensive line I'm talking about maybe running backs and receivers I mean these are all things that I think the Saints really took advantage of that the Falcons really don't have full strength in those areas. And so to me it kind of correlated my takeaway from this game kind of correlated to what I think going what I'm thinking kind of going into the 2022 offseason. Well then Chris maybe I won't, I won't try to pigeonhole you as much what was going through your mind over the course of this game and in its aftermath. Yeah I think it was a lot of what what Tori said but I guess not to reiterate the entire same thing she said I would I would say it was stood out to me from the the game itself was the turnovers they, talked about it they they had three two in a row and then they had three turnovers on the first play of a drive an interception and then fumbles and and then the time of possession. So I think it was a 20 minute gap I think it was 35 minutes almost 35 minutes for the Saints and a little over 15 for the Falcons so when you have that kind of gap is tough for your defense any defense the best defense is to to play well and and a defense did better in the second half but the first half it was it was a challenge but that's what stood out to me from the game. I think that both of you guys are dead on in the fact that this game showed the reasons why the Falcons weren't competitive enough, especially against top teams that they fell into trouble when they lost the turnover battle when they weren't good on run defense and when they fell behind I think that all those things are key now we've talked about this Saints game right now it's going to be about what happens next and what's moving forward but before we get to all that we have to give another big thank you to our sponsor Microsoft windows 11 the official operating system of the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons the all new windows 11 is here to bring you closer to what you love like the Falcons final whistle podcast learn all about the awesome new features of windows 11 at windows.com. We are starting quarter number one talking about QB number one that's Matt Ryan who shortly after wrapping his 14th season as Falcons starting quarterback he was asked about his 15th season or the prospects of his 15th season whether he's going to be back next year. Despite the fact that he obviously has a huge salary cap number a lot of dead money associated with it and Arthur Smith was asked about it Matt Ryan was asked about it tour you were in that press conference kind of give us the tone and the vibe and what was said during those exchanges. Yeah so I will say this Arthur Smith was a lot more heated than Matt Ryan was about the future of Matt Ryan which I thought is funny when you're talking about the future of one guy you think the guy in question would probably be a little bit more heated about his own future. But it was Arthur Smith and he very much was adamant that rumors are rumors and he he basically said that he wasn't going to get into Matt Ryan's future that Matt knew what the Falcons thought of him and they know what like the like Matt thinks of the Falcons and he was very very adamant that he was not going to get into it and then about 15-20 minutes later when Matt was asked about him I was just kind of like yeah you know I'd love to be back I love it here I always want to be here and I essentially think that we're laying a good foundation here and I like what we're building and so I think it's really funny if we're just talking about the atmosphere of these press conferences Arthur Smith and Matt Ryan's were very different in how kind of they handled the questions of Matt Ryan's future with the Falcons. And I think how the Atlanta Falcons handle Matt Ryan's future what a segue how the Falcons handle Matt Ryan's future whether he's going to be around next year I think is going to be a fascinating portion of this offseason I just spent 900 words explaining why he's the right guy for the Falcons in 2022 that includes the benefit of the 2022 product is using all of your available assets to build up the team around Matt Ryan and the team around his inevitable successor right it frees up some options you don't have to take a quarterback you can if you want to but you don't have to and I think that there are a bunch of benefits going into it. So I do think that he should come back next year Matt Ryan, as you said Tory was very clear that he wanted to come back here. We're not talking a lot about the finances here right. You've been asked about this on every radio show and podcast known to mankind finances play a role here to don't they. No you're you're absolutely right and that is a question that I get asked all the time and I basically say the every single time I don't see how you get rid of Matt Ryan, because of his cap hit in 2022 and 2023. His contract has been restructured so many times and essentially it's just kicking money down the road. At some point you're going to have to pay Matt Ryan the money he's owed, and we have reached that point because there's only two years left on this contract there is no more time to kick the can down the road anymore so when people ask me about Matt Ryan coming back I'm just like, well find me a way that it makes sense to get rid of him because as of right now I don't see how it makes sense and I don't know how to crunch the numbers in that way to where you part ways with Matt Ryan and you're not in one of the biggest holes you'll I've ever seen an organization being I just don't know how that correlates. Chris let's so we just talked about money. Now let's take it all away you saw every single snap that Matt Ryan took for the Atlanta Falcons this season. You know what he was working with. What were your impressions of this season and I hate to even ask it this way but I will anyway. You know, do you think that he still got it at this point in his career. I think he I think he still has it I think you know this season was a lot in terms of losing losing we're losing Julio and then losing Calvin and then I'm trying to build a relationship with Kyle and him kind of becoming that number one option and then not to being out Hayden being out, you know, think Lee Smith caught nine passes this year. You know, there was a lot it's hard for I think it would be hard for a lot of quarterbacks and not to mention that there were some struggles with with the offensive line throughout the year. Yeah, I think for Matt I think Matt has like like my whole process thought process with Matt has been in order for him to be successful with this style of play. I just think the pieces also need to be around him in order for him to be successful doesn't mean that he needs a, you know, think Lee Smith cousin Lamborghini he doesn't need a bunch of Lamborghinis that I think he needs some I think he needs some Lamborghinis up front and that's not saying he doesn't have, you know, a couple in in Lindstrom and Jake Matthews but that's just saying that, you know, some some support would be helpful. And I think if they continue to build that line I think you'll continue to see increased performers from him in the office. Yeah, I think anytime. Do we consider offensive linemen Lamborghinis because I always think they're like Ford trucks. Yeah, for sure they're more like F 150s for sure. I would definitely say that like that like Chris Lindstrom is that like raised F 150 with like all the chrome grill and everything like tricked out. That's Chris Lindstrom, I think what Chris was saying is we need more tricked out trucks. He's on the outside tricked up trucks up front and I think we're going to this won't be the last time that we're going to talk about this when you deal with a quarterback with as much success as Matt Ryan who's meant to as much to this franchise, who is, let's be honest, closer to the end of his tenure here. Then then at any other point, and there is some uncertainty it's going to fuel speculation that the fan base is divided, and we will continue to bring rationality to this topic, I promise you that we are kicking off quarter number two talking about some guys who are heading towards the open market this spring, guys who are heading, who are headed towards unrestricted free agency, and the Falcons have quite a few in the 20s. Actually, and of that group there are some guys that you can see them just kind of automatically, you know, parting ways with them. There are some key guys that Chris room you talked to after Sunday's game.  Yeah, I think it was kind of all it was kind of all pretty uniform in terms of what I think with foyer and Russ they were definitely of the of the mindset of, you know, well I think Russ was the most out of the three who said you know I want to be here. Russ said explicitly you know Atlanta has first priority but Russ also said he doesn't really know anything about free agency like growing up when you play Madden he always assumed that part of the season because he hated. He didn't he lost all the players and stuff so he doesn't know he doesn't know anything about free agency, at least that's what he's telling us. And then foyer, as he says he said, you know he's been, maybe outside of it's row maybe the best player on the defense so he he I think he understands that that he might have a lot of teams a lot of suitors who are interested in him. And what he said though was that he's not really looking for the highest paying team or that whoever's going to offer him the most money. It's more about where he can have continued success and continued growth. And he's also said before he doesn't, you know, changing might not always help that being in the same system and learning. He wonders how, how much better he can grow in a system like this. And for Hayden, it was just about opportunity. And I think this this season for him has been ups and downs because you know his his option wasn't picked up in the preseason. And then as, as, as he mentioned post game today when he when he realized that he knew he would need to have a good year. And he admitted post game that it hasn't been the year that he had hope. And some of that has has been because of injury and then he was pulling the, you know reserve COVID list for a couple games so he's missed four games because of that. There's been a lot of changes so for him, it's all about opportunity and chances to play whether that's in Atlanta or not. Yeah, I mean, there's going to be a lot of roster turnover with with a lot of these different free agents. It's interesting to hear guys who have been around here for a while that you think about, like Russell gauge coming up from the bottom and foyer coming up from the bottom and whether they're going to have a market to go out there and cash in on all the hard work that they've done. I don't know if you if we're just talking about these three and I know that doesn't include Patterson and a lot of other guys that are that are going to hit the market. If you're going if you're coming up with with with one of these three and you got limited funds and you're playing GM for the moment. Who do you jump after and why. Oh, gosh, put me on the spot. I mean, I think if I'm just talking about, I know, I think if I'm just talking about these three. I mean, I've written so many stories about foyer. I feel like people are tired of me talking about him but I probably would say foyer because I don't know and I think about this way. He's the number one tackler in the league right now and a lot of people are very skeptical about that number because they're like, well, that means that he's like the balls getting to him the guy is getting to him he has to make that tackle because the defense of lawn is so bad. And I'm like, yeah, that's probably all well and true like but think about it if he wasn't there think about it if you didn't have those 192 tackles where the Falcons defense would be if he wasn't out there. And I think another thing another part of his game is that like he's this Mike linebacker that is very, very important to Dean P scheme and just being the guy to make the call across the defense and the fact that you have somebody that Dean very much trust in foyer able to do that and take on that role and to do it well and be productive in that role to not have to have someone else come in and relearn the scheme and how Dean wants it and how he wants the calls coming in and everything like that. I mean I think that goes a long way to so for me I am saying like pull what money you need to to resign for you and keep them here. I really think it's going to be fascinating because everybody who's listening to this podcast knows that the Falcons don't have mountains of salary cap space available they can't just like toss hundreds at people everywhere that they go. He's not just slapping it around necessarily just doesn't have that yet. So I think it'll be interesting to see how they do with the funds that they have and how they prioritize guys I, if we're just talking. Do you want for a back. Yeah you do. Do you want one of the best third down targets in the NFL back. Of course you do. Do you want a complimentary tight end. Of course you do, but it's just a matter of what you can afford what the market is there are so many factors here that I think it's going to be fascinating. Especially for, for like football nerds like us right because if you look at teams with tons of cap space and they go sign a list free agents okay and that's exciting on the first day of free agency, but how can the Falcons maximize the funds that they have to get the upgrades that are required. I think all those things are going to be interesting as they move forward, and we eventually see if this was the last game in a Falcons uniform for Russ for foyer for Hayden for a number of popular guys who have been representing a well in recent seasons. Going down to quarter number three talking about what the Falcons need where they need to upgrade the most now there's a lot of holes probably more than they can address over the course of one off season considering their salary cap constraints that we have been talking about. Tori you wrote a priority list a checklist as it stands right now as we enter the off season. What was your number one. What kind of went into your thinking when it came to making that list. Pass rush. I cannot stress this enough that the Falcons have to develop a pass rush, and they have to do it in multiple ways. I believe they have to do it through the draft and three free agency. I think this is going to be a complete overhaul I think it needs to be a complete overhaul. We can look at numbers all day long, but the fact of the matter is the reality is the Falcons have the worst pass rush in the NFL in 2021 period there were individuals with more sacks than the entire Falcons defense had that it is unacceptable Dean Pease was talking about it this week when he was like we have to develop a pass rush we just straight up need more and he was asked how do you do that and he was like well it can be through experience but it can also be through getting guys who have this God given talent to go out there and rush the pastor without you know a blitz being called or anything or applying a certain pressure I mean they just can go out and beat their guy. That's what the Falcons need so in terms of priorities. There will be nothing and I I'm very passionate about this there will be nothing that I will put ahead of pass rush this off season.  All right, I'm done. The Falcons played. I know sacks aren't a be all end all right, but but but but dot dot dot Falcons play 17 games this year. They had 17 sacks. That that does not compute to me so Chris rim if if pass rush was number one on your priority list if you were making one. If it is what's your number two if it wasn't what's your number one. I would say password would be a number why did I think also like Tori said Dean said that this week that they need that I also think if there's a pass rush or or even a another guy next to Grady. I think he looks a lot different and Grady looks and grady's numbers look a lot different. You know this year is numbers didn't look as good as they have because because of that. They could just focus on him but I would say on the other side just those those trucks those Ford F 150 those those trucks man you know when you look I thought I think the the game went the game against the Tampa Bay earlier this year the first time the Falcons play Tampa Bay I was just shocked to see how Grady could just stand back there and you know kind of not just against the Falcons but against any team if you watch you can kind of stand back there and you know do what he wants to do for a couple seconds and not not a shot to the offensive line but Matt Ryan can always do that and I think is his game is suited to where obviously doesn't need all day but he needs a second to go through a couple of progressions and oftentimes you. Matt is running frantically seen Matt run. I don't know I don't know what his rushing hours are this season but I think they might be a little high but I don't know seen him run machine I'm telling people in the end zone him diving in. Matt has been running more than than I guess I remember what we're watching the Falcons but I really think that this team would benefit on both sides and the trenches from just improving their offensive line and defensive line so I think those are the two things that they need to upgrade down there some more F 150s like. Yeah it's just crazy you talk about all that and they're probably going to need some Lamborghinis to right because there's we don't know one thing that we know is that we don't know what's what Calvin Ridley's future holds right could be here could not be here we don't know Russ Gage could find a great market for himself he could be gone and they and Cordero Patterson could be gone and they and they could have to refit their their skill positions as well so I think there's nobody can dispute nobody can dispute Tori's right right. I will add this about the wide receivers if they went all out today and allowed everybody who's a free agent in 2022 to walk the only people who would be in the wide receiver room would be Calvin Ridley and Frank Darby. Wow. Yeah. Okay. Everybody else is a free agent in 2022 and we don't even know kind of what the deal is going to be with Calvin either. Right. So there's there's a lot to work on. There are a lot of needs and I think that Terry Fontenot and Kyle Smith and the entire front office that there's a lot of different ways that they can upgrade this roster. They got a hit right and free agency and of course the NFL draft which we're getting to coming up next. And in the fourth quarter we are looking all the way towards beyond free agency towards late April and early May when the Falcons go on the clock at. We know the number now number eight overall the loss to the Saints pushed them well into the top 10 their strength of schedule. They have a higher pick than others that finished at seven and 10 so they are at number eight. That gives them a lot of options with what to do with number eight.  Over the course of the next four months it's going to be fascinating to see where they go with this. It's pretty clear that there are some needs right pass rush. You're right I think even with everything else that is an issue that that has holes that need to be filled pass rush is right there I during the college football season. I watched Georgia because I'm on the bandwagon and I watch LA because that's where I went to school so don't ask me about the draft until senior bowl okay I need some time to do some research. But nonetheless number eight they're going to have an opportunity to nail a big time player at wide receiver edge rusher tackle. Those are all premium positions. Those are all positions worthy of really you know getting after it having that number eight pick Tori. Do you think that there's a golden opportunity there to a nail a big time player 100% and I think they have to especially if they go edge rusher early. I think back and I you know covering this this team I don't know if there's been a really solid edge rusher that they've drafted in those early rounds in a long long time. I may be wrong but just off the top of my head.  They got a hit on that too you have three first rounders on the offensive line right now in Jake Matthews, Chris, Chris Lindstrom and Caleb McGarry. And I would say two of the three have panned out for you. And I think you have whatever direction you go you just have to hit on this first round pick it can't be a pick that doesn't pan out I know that's putting putting a lot of pressure on this organization and people making the decisions but I think they're putting just as much pressure on themselves I just think back to some decisions and some first round picks that in maybe the past 10 years didn't work out for the Falcons and how I feel like we're still feeling the ramifications of those picks not working out even today. So that pick is so so very important and I think you got to get someone who can come in and be a difference maker immediately like that's what we saw in 2021 we saw him come in and be a difference maker immediately a record breaker immediately. That's what the Falcons have to strive to find again in 2022. Yeah, and you brought up a great point there when it, it, it must be, it's difficult when when you invest a first round pick in somebody that doesn't pan out we know that panning out is 50% or something like that. But but but you look at it had to have to reinvest in offensive tackle after you did that two years ago is difficult. You talk about that they invested in edge rushers in 2015 with Vic Beasley, Vic Beasley 2017 with Tak McKinley those did not work out as they would have liked 2017 for Tak that's right he'd still be in his prime obviously edge rushers still a major need they have hit on wide receivers with Julio and Calvin obviously and Kyle Pitts who's an incredible skill player they hit on AJ last year as well so you know so you've got to hit follow college football maybe a little better than I do. Most probably does during the course of the season. When you look at mock drafts and stuff like that and you see some of these top 10 talents that you know like there are some guys that can really play whether it's edge rusher offensive tackle or even some other position that just my that just may be the best player on the on the on the Falcons board. I think I think something that stands out to me where rich McKay actually said in when I talked with him in for the season started I know that was September August one of those lifetime ago. One of the mistakes that we've made in the past is that we've tried to get I'm paraphrasing here but he said we've tried to, we've tried to pick the guy we wanted versus picking the top guy on our board. In this draft we just grabbed the top guy on our board, even though we kind of that wasn't necessarily a need. So Kyle wasn't necessarily a gaping hole but he was the best player on our board so we're taking the best player on our board. I think the Falcons should continue to take the best player on their board. So, however that looks continue to take the best player on your board and figure out a way to make that player work. If that makes sense. So, I think like Tori said I think they need to hit on other picks I think they need to figure out a way to make all their picks work, especially with the salary cap situation you want to make these guys on rookie deals that you can get for a cheaper than other players you want to make sure they could come in and contribute and you want to make sure that, you know, all these guys that we get stories on you know A-R-V and Kyle said the list goes on make sure you trust them and what and who they've scouted. And I think there's a bunch of talent in this draft. You know people have talked about like the Kobe Dean from Georgia, the linebacker from Georgia or even Jordan Davis or this bunch of ed rushers in this draft as well linemen. There's a bunch of players they could get but I think the importance is just take the best player on your board don't overthink it and things seem to work out like they have Kyle. Yeah, and they've got that number eight pick and while we still don't have draft slots for a lot of other selections deeper into the draft they do have two second round picks they have their own and they're finally going to get paid back for trading Julio Jones that pick they won't be super high in the second round but nonetheless you can expect or you should expect to get a player of real quality in the second round and that discipline to pick the best player available with with all these needs that we're talking about. Sure, look, I could say address or an eight period right I covered the raiders and I saw them at number four say we're going to take a defensive end here live or die, and then they took clean referral, and that's all right, so at some point, I mean that wasn't that was a defensive end though. Yeah. It was, you're right got, they got cross beat on that draft right.  I do think I do think that the Falcons have have a golden opportunity here and I think just in talking to all these scouts right Kyle Smith very disciplined. You know Terry font no very disciplined in terms of getting the best player and if they continue to hit on getting the best player on their board. Eventually this team will be deep enough and strong enough to to compete. I think that's important. We're going to talk about this forever guys over the course of the weeks and months coming up. But I'm not sure to play some sad violin music right now because this is technically the season finale of Falcons final whistle. Also weeks, we did it for those binge binge listening season one is wrecked. You know, but I think there's going to be plenty of opportunities for us to talk down the road over the course of this off season, as we get towards free agency as we get towards NFL draft. Heck, as we all just have questions about what comes next. That's a little. What. So many questions. So many questions. Are we going to address some of those questions. Yeah, we probably will. So, gosh, thank you guys so much for sticking through this 17 game campaign for some for subscribing for all the nice reviews for the comments for the man given Tori a Dean's favorite mug. Honestly, the winner, the real winner is the person who sent me the Dean's favorite mug. If anyone wants to send me more Dean's favorite murder. We'll take it but hey man, set us up for next season give us a five star rating interview do the same thing for Falcons audible why don't you. And yeah man stay tuned Atlanta Falcons calm. Chris Tori, I said I wasn't going to cry man. I wasn't going to cry. It's been fun. Hopefully you guys have enjoyed all this as much as we've enjoyed making it. And stay tuned. Keep that subscribe button on and there's going to be more good content coming your way. Real soon.


Hello, I am Imran from Uncommon Hyderabad. How do I turn on the notes man? Where is my mouse? Oh, it's on the side. Okay, all right. Hi, Imran, I am from Uncommon Hyderabad. I am a mobile engineer at Uncommon. I work on Android. I've been working on Android for the past five years. And I've recently started working on iOS as well. I've also done a part, I think three, four months on React Native as well. So I'll be talking about responsive UI with constraint and motion layout. And about Uncommon Hyderabad. We work on mobile apps, Android Native, iOS Native, React Native, and back end we have Go and Ruby on Rails. We have web frontend as well. Okay, so I'll showcase what I've been working in the past one year. I've been working with a team of insiders for their product, inside a live, which is a live interactive app. The one on the left is iOS and this is Android. I am showing you this because this iOS is using auto layout and Android is using constraint layout. Both the platforms share the same ideologies and same UI creation and UX creation because both are based on constraints. So moving on, I'll be talking about basic layouts of Android. I'll just briefly go through them and then briefly talk about constraint layout. And then we'll look into animations using constraint layout and then briefly talk about motion layout. I wouldn't want to go deeper into any of these aspects but I would just want to give you a hint and get your interest peaked about constraint layout. I have, how many Android developers do we have here? iOS and anybody worked with constraint layout before? Cool, okay. So generally we use these layouts for Android. Something happened up there but fine. Okay, so we have frame layout which can take only one child, one child view and then we have linear layout which can stack views vertically or horizontally. And then we have relative layout which stacks views based on the absolute positioning of each view it has. So these layouts came in as part of initial Android development itself and then later on as the challenges of the mobile industry increased and there were new layouts coming in, new design concepts were coming in. Then Android system came up with a co-ordinator layout that would actually allow you to fit the app in the safe area between from the status bar and the bottom navigation. And then there is bottom sheet view which is used to show your share sheets and then there is drawer layout that will allow you to add a side bar from left or right that will actually show your menu. And then there is app bar layout which will give you a toolbar where you can add and then you can also add a collapsing toolbar which will actually enable you to do that parallax effect. And then there was percentage layout which is duplicated now. With percentage layout you can actually take the width of the view group and then put your views based on the percentage you can say 50%, 50% and something like that. So now the challenges with these layouts are let's say even if you take one screen in your device on Android you would have to add drawer layout then you would have to add a bottom sheet view then a bottom navigation view then you had a toolbar, then you had an app bar. So all these was adding on to the view stack and then increasing the complexity of the whole layout. Now if you take that view hierarchy now tomorrow someone comes and tells you that okay we have to do it in landscape. Now you take all of it and then convert it into landscape. Now it's going to be pain and then on top of that there are going to be a lot of layout computations that will happen because of some changes like let's say you have your list view and then you scroll and then you have other layouts that will act inside the list view.  We have to remove that button we have to replace it with something else. That will happen. Nothing is finalized, that will happen and then there will be UI, UX changes during the time of development, before the development and after the development. So things will continue to happen and imagine the hierarchy you already have of the layouts you created with so much hard work. You added frame layout and then inside you added linear layout then you added a relative layout then you did all this and then oh this corner okay it's empty we need to put something there something like that will come in. So you have to keep that in mind as well and then there is maintenance after you have done your launch everything is fine you had a couple of drinks and then everything will start falling apart something has to change there so how can we overcome this? How do we address this problem? These problems cannot be solved you can just make your life better because changes will happen as a developer you have to adapt to changes you have to listen to people you are between the customer the client, the customer, the user and the developers the back end developers and all the other team business team you are that bridge there so you have to adapt to those changes you have to take care of those so now all you can do is you can automate your life and make your life simple so now two years ago android came up with the concept of constraint layout similarly to constraint layout there was a concept in iOS as well called auto layout auto layout and constraint layout are similar they don't differentiate in a lot of aspects no I don't think they don't differentiate at all we actually took the learnings from constraint layout on android and then implemented them on iOS as well so I mean we have been talking about react native and flutter and then I am suddenly talking about constraint layout and auto layout okay so the advantages of constraint layout is flat view hierarchy the layouts that I mentioned linear layout, frame layout and relative layout all these layouts now you can decide in one layout if you want part of the layout to be linear layout or part of the layout to be a relative layout you can adjust the views according to the design and it's very very fast and simple to create layouts as compared to the previous layout creations I mean you won't have to have a lot of iterations to those layouts and also when you are converting your layout from portrait to landscape all you have to do is adjust those constraints and everything is in place and then there is scene changes since it's all constraints and it's just one layout or it could be multiple constraint layouts you can define a scene you can say that okay this is a scene which has no internet this is a screen which has 404 error and this is a screen which has the actual data so you can transition between different screens I will show you a demo of a change in a moment okay so constraint layouts these are the basics of constraint layout I will just walk you through them there is a video on constraint layout last year at Fragments okay so constraint layout allows you to set constraints and you can align your view to whichever direction you want you can align it to left, right, top, bottom or to any other view and I just picked a few aspects to just talk about constraint layout but there are several more okay and then there is image aspect ratio so that was a one is to one dimension ratio and then I changed it to 16 is to 9 and this is recorded while I was editing in the editor layout okay this is all live editing so this was recorded then and probably that is why the video might be a little dry so and then there is base aligning text you can align your views to the base of the text and there is guideline you can use the guideline to adjust a part of the screen to be completely different and then you can animate moving the guideline then there is a linear layout kind of concept in constraint layout but far more powerful you can pack your views spread them or spread inside this is similar to the flexbox justify content or align items that we use okay so these are a few things that you can do in linear layout sorry in constraint layout there are more things like barrier and I think barrier then we will go on and look at them later okay so alright you have these constraint layouts now you can we can remove a bunch of layouts like we can remove the linear layout we can remove frame layout we can remove linear layout we can remove the app bar layout or we can remove the bottom view we can all put them in constraint layout now what do we do with those constraints now we we put them all in one view we flatten the view now what do we do with it so the advantage of that is you can actually set one state this is a default state of the view and I can change the constraints I can change the constraint and expand the view so what I can do is what I did here was I just remove the top constraint of the bottom red view and then added a bottom bottom constraint to be bottom of the parent now it's not just changing the constraints we can animate changing those constraints all you have to do is this you have a default constraint what you need to do is add a transition in between before applying those constraints you change the constraint set you change from the default set to an expanded set and then you have to apply a transition in between it will just animate that view and then it will auto adjust the constraints of the top view as well and then you can convert back to the default the default constraint set and that will animate back as well so all we did was add this transition to and apply it to that constraint main layout okay so now moving on to motion layout motion layout is a subclass of constraint layout it's it's completely flat the motion layout was introduced to to remove all the transitions the property animations and all the other animations that we have we would need to use in a constraint layout motion layout would actually allow you to define your animation a scene change from one scene to another scene in xml and when you apply that scene it will automatically animate that scene and while that animation is happening you can do several other things you can actually add a rotation animation in between or you can that is called a keyframe animations while you are animating you can actually get hold of the frame and then do other sort of animations on it and then this motion layout there is a restriction it can work only on its direct children it won't work on children but here is an example of motion layout so this is a youtube view which is recreated in motion layout so while it was animating the view on top is being shown on the side so this was picked up from constraint layout examples please take a look at those examples really really good so motion layout has a start and an end during the transition from start to end there are keyframe animations you can initiate the animation by on click or by swiping I mean when you are swiping you can notify the motion layout that okay you can start now you can actually define that in XML as well I am not going to go more into that code because it is going to be in XML now finally how to choose your layout okay so this is the question we had when we started working on our project as well we our constraint layout was in beta during that time a year ago and then I just came out of react native and I enjoyed the way and the ease of creating layouts in react native how fast you could do it and then hot reloading of course we were trying to look to reduce the number of XML files and reduce the number of reduce give an opportunity to ourselves to edit the XML files as easy as we can so anyway if it is a single child you will go for a frame layout if you have a vertical or horizontal children you should use a constraint layout you could actually use a linear layout but it is advisable you use a constraint layout which would give you the added advantage of animations as the UX designers or business requirements come in and they say that okay this linear layout needs text at the bottom then you can just add one text and then say bottom constraint and that will be done you don't have to deal with it again if there are relative children like the design is completely haphazard then like half of the view here half of the view there something like that then you can use constraint layout if you need a view that will animate from a basic view to a detail view or animate swipe you could use a motion layout it has the same properties as constraint layout and this is the subclass here are a few resources google samples is one of the major resources i would like you to check out and it's very well documented and they have really good examples one which i showed for motion layout right now and then there is constraint layout you can check it out thank you very much are there any questions that question we will put it for later obvious or uncommon it isn't obvious man okay yeah done okay thank you guys