Following a soggy Youth Devonta Freeman Jersey Thursday affair where some of the footballs Matt Ryan threw seemed to be wrapped in a diving belt, we turn our already weathered gaze to the Carolina Panthers. I was prepared to burn some digital sage in today’s Falcoholinks to cleanse any lingering negative energy from Philadelphia, but the Falcons seem to have disgraced the football gods ahead of Sunday’s tilt. Let’s dive in and try not to hit our heads on the bottom.Deion Jones headed to IRI’m not sure you can call it an injury bug at this point. More of an injury succubus that has latched onto the Atlanta Falcons like some ancient pestilence. It continued its relentless feast on the Falcons Tuesday afternoon, as word emerged that Deion Jones would miss at least eight weeks with a foot injury.The team is already dealing with the loss of strong safety Keanu Neal, so now they will attempt to mitigate the loss of middle linebacker Deion Jones. That means they will look to Duke Riley to fill the void. Get healthy soon, Deion. Greg Olsen out, Panthers missing top playmaker Carolina Panthers TE Greg Olsen is still one of the top receiving tight ends in the NFL, and it was reported today that he would not be suiting up in Atlanta, or for the foreseeable future. Olsen left Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys and would not return, later spotted on the sideline in a walking boot and crutches. What Carolina feared has come to pass, as he indeed fractured the same foot that cost him significant time last season. The Panthers are already missing key starters on the offensive line as well, and Daryl Williams will be another one of those to miss Sunday’s game. He was carted off against Dallas, and will undergo surgery on his knee. We always like to beat the Carolina Panthers when they’re at full strength, so we of course wish both players well in their respective recoveries. Brian Hill promoted, questions remain for Devonta FreemanThe Atlanta Falcons reacquired running back Brian Hill in a scenario that played out like an NFL-centric version of something Larry David would produce, but now the former fifth-round pick has been promoted to the active roster. The Falcoholic’s Jeanna Thomas had the scoop, and now the immediate question is: what’s up with Devonta Freeman?Freeman left Thursday’s game with a knee injury, but he stated that he was “fine” after its conclusion. Hill’s promotion potentially tosses some cold water on that assertion, and we’ll await word from the team as to Freeman’s status going forward. Finding meaning in the messThere were bright spots in Thursday’s loss to the Eagles, and as we allowed the fog of defeat to dissipate they presented themselves more clearly. Our Eric Robinson elucidated the lessons from the loss, highlighting the positives on this incarnation of the Atlanta Falcons. Eric emphasizes that they can truly hang with any team in the league, but it boils down to harnessing potential, establishing offensive equilibrium with play-calling and execution Youth Alex Mack Jersey , and not blasting one’s own cleats with buckshot. The Falcoholic Week 1 Post-game PodcastPost-game podcast skipper Cory Woodroof was joined by Adnan Ikic to dissect what we saw on the field. The Falcons-Eagles debrief included looks forward to Sunday and beyond, and what Week 1 meant for the team going forward. Give ‘er a listen, here.Blame game won’t fix Falcons as season slips away The Atlanta Falcons have fallen to 1-4. As Falcons Twitter maven Evan Birchfield noted, no team has ever made it to the Super Bowl after a 1-4 start. Unfortunately, 2018 might well be over. The reason for the slip? There are many, but Steve in Brooklyn put it well on Twitter himself recently. Blame dirty, rotten luck.Injury City Go back to the second Keanu Neal went down, and then Deion Jones went down, and Devonta Freeman went down, and then Ricardo Allen went down, and then Takk McKinley missed a game, and then Desmond Trufant got hurt on a drive that let up a touchdown, and Justin Bethel went down, and Andy Levitre went down, and Derrick Shelby went down, and Grady Jarrett went down...you get where this is going. Sign up for FanPulse, our weekly Falcons survey.The Falcons came into 2018 with everything they needed to compete. Sure, you could say the defensive line didn’t have enough firepower, but you could survive that if the linebacking corps and secondary did what we all thought it was capable of. That offense? Well, it secretly was actually really good without any of us knowing it, though we didn’t see much of that Sunday. If this team had not gotten smitten (smited? smitered?) by the bug of injury, they might be undefeated right now. They might not, given the state of the defensive line Youth Calvin Ridley Jersey , but the You know, you can’t regulate luck. You either have it, or you don’t. Right now, the Falcons are running on empty in a car with two flat tires careening towards a flaming lake. And it’s really not the team’s fault that they’re here. Blame, Shame and Game It’s fair to question if the team did everything it could’ve to make this not as bad as it could’ve been. When Neal went down, one wonders what would’ve happened if they’d just signed Eric Reid and let him get acclimated to the system. But then again, they also lost Debo and Devonta in that game. It was never just as simple as replacing one person, even if that would have staved off some o the criticism. There’s no denying this defense is a problem. It’s an abysmal, injury-riddled shell of its former self. But do any of you think the Falcons could’ve just snapped their fingers to replace the heart, soul, brain and physical punishing force that Neal brought? We can be critical that a good safety like Reid was out there for the taking, but he was really it. There was no easy cure for losing Debo, and should we really be all that critical of Dan Quinn wanting to see what he had in-house? Particularly when he knew what his offense was capable of? It’s fair to wonder if they waited too long to settle all of this once it was clear the in-house options weren’t working, but it was always just Reid. I’m still peeved they didn’t make that move, but would it have really made that much of a difference? The offense has struggled on the road against outdoor teams with ferocious pass rushes. But they always used to do that. These are the types of games where defense is supposed to take over and make life easier on the offense. When the defense is virtually nonexistent, the good, even the best, offenses take a step back. It’s fair to want more from what the Falcons have right now, but it’s not fair to want what was promised. That has been ripped away by the cruel specter of chance, and it won’t return until guys heal up and replacement guys can get comfortable in their new roles, and that may not come soon enough. The missed tackles and busted coverages hurt, but a lot of that comes down to a lack of communication. Having your quarterback sacked six times stinks to high heaven, but that happens on the road sometimes against a pass rush willing to pin their ears back Black De'Vondre Campbell Jersey , even if it doesn’t say anything great about the line. We can coach from the sidelines as to who should play when, and why this guy is in or this guy is out, but there is method to the madness as to why they’ve done what they’ve done. It might not have gone as well as hoped, but there wasn’t a lot they could do. Aim for the Right TargetNo, the Falcons cannot compete against good teams like we planned on them doing right now. They’ve not navigated this period of malcontent with perfection, but they’re doing the best they can. They tried to lean on what they had, but it wasn’t good enough. Perhaps this team knows deep down what its limitations were without its favored sons. Perhaps we all expected too much when the foundation fell out on the house, including the team. Perhaps the season really was lost when the rain started to fall on that slippery Philadelphia field, and none of us knew it. So stop blaming Dan Quinn. He technically made the moves in the 2018 offseason to fix the offense and fielded what looked like for about a quarter-and-a-half against the Eagles to be a nasty defense (before it would become, well, a nasty defense). Stop blaming Matt Ryan, who looked like an MVP for most of September after that first dud before struggling on the road to win games by himself. Stop blaming Steve Sarkisian, who has wrung real improvement out of the offense after a rigid 2017 and who can’t do a ton when his offensive line can’t block. Stop blaming the defense as it is, a ragtag assembly of guys out of position and out of their comfort zones, without the leadership, skill matching and communication necessary to really succeed. Stop blaming some imaginary Atlanta curse that supposedly looms over the city’s sports teams, even if it seems like that sometimes. Blame the bad draw. Blame the frustrating inevitability of what happens when the injuries begin to pile up. 2019 might actually be a huge change of fortune if the Falcons can actually field the team they planned on fielding, which will depend on better injury luck and some cap magic. Yes, 2018 might be good and dead by now, but that’s not wholly on the Atlanta Falcons. It was poor luck, more than anything, that got this team to where they are today.
