FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – The Atlanta Falcons came into this season with such high expectations.
A jarring dose of reality awaited them.
As if a carbon-copy of last season’s playoff defeat in the opener wasn’t bad enough, two significant injuries on defense have left the Falcons reeling as they prepare for Sunday’s home and NFC South opener against the Carolina Panthers.
Atlanta lost hard-hitting strong safety Keanu Neal to a season-ending knee injury and was forced to put middle linebacker Deion Jones on injured reserve with a foot problem. While Jones is facing a much shorter recovery period, he won’t be eligible to return until the 11th week of the season.
Just like that, the Falcons are missing two cornerstones of their promising young defense, a pair of third-year players who were both picked for the Pro Bowl last season.
“Let’s not sugarcoat it,” defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel said after practice Wednesday. “This week, honestly, were two devastating blows.”
Duke Riley, who had been starting on the weak side, will move inside to replace Jones. Neal’s starting spot in the secondary goes to Damontae Kazee, who was one of the team’s most impressive players during the preseason but it still rather new to the position after playing cornerback in college.
“We’ll ask those guys to do the things they do best,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “We won’t feature them in exactly the same way we did Deion and (Neal). We’ll ask them to play the style that suits them and suits us, too.”
The Falcons had been working Riley as both a middle and outside linebacker with this very scenario in mind. He was a bit of a disappointment as a rookie, but Quinn said he had shown significant improvement heading into his second season.
The trickle down of Jones’ injury is that rookie Foyesade Oluokun, a sixth-round pick out of Yale, moves up to start on the outside. Kemal Ishmael could also receive playing time at that position.
“That’s football. People get injured,” Ismael said. “New guys have got to step up. We created this team just for that.”
While the defense is breaking in two new starters, the offense is still dealing with the same old problem: ineptitude in the red zone.
In an 18-12 loss to reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia, the Falcons managed only one touchdown and nine points out of five drives inside the Eagles’ 20. On the final play of the game from the 5, Julio Jones landed out of bounds after leaping to catch Matt Ryan’s pass – essentially, the same way the previous season ended with a divisional-round playoff loss to the Eagles.
The opener turned up the heat on offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, whose play calls were widely panned on social media. Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner wrote on Twitter that Philadelphia ran the same defensive scheme on the last four plays of the game but the Falcons never seemed to figure out what could have been “an easy TD.”
Quinn came to Sarkisian’s defense – sort of.
“For sure, we’re not scoring in the red zone like we’re capable of,” Quinn said. “It’s not all execution or the calls. But we’ve got plenty of work to do down there. There are a number of things where I would like to see improvement.”
Most notably, the Falcons attempted 43 passes against Philadelphia but ran the ball only 18 times.
“We play best when we have good balance between the run and the pass,” Quinn said. “That’s what we need to be. The run game – how we feature our backs, the play-action that goes with it – that’s where so many of our explosive plays come from. We’ve got to work to get that right.”
Ryan agreed with that assessment, but he also said it’s far too soon to go into panic mode.
“It’s a small sample size,” the quarterback said. “I believe the work we put in is going to pay off for us as we move forward. I believe that our execution is going to be better the next time we’re down there.”
The offense hasn’t escaped the injury front, either. Running back Devonta Freeman (knee) did not practice Wednesday, raising concerns he may not be ready to go against the Panthers. Brian Hill was promoted from the practice squad, a further sign the Falcons are concerned about Freeman’s status.
Offensive guard Ben Garland (calf) and wide receiver Russell Gage (knee) also sat out practice.