Takk McKinley says nobody feels sorry for the Atlanta Falcons' injury-ravaged defense.The second-year pass rusher makes a good point. Atlanta earned a playoff berth the past two years with a mostly healthy defense
http://www.falconsfootballauthentics.com/devonta-freeman-jersey-authentic ;, but it's a different story this season.The Falcons (1-3) are reeling now that Grady Jarrett, their best interior lineman, is the fourth defensive starter to miss Sunday's game at Pittsburgh (1-2-1)."It sucks not having Grady out there, but we can't be sad, because the Steelers won't be sad about it," McKinley said. "They won't."Jarrett's ankle injury comes with the team's best linebacker, Deion Jones, already out another six weeks and starting safeties Keanu Neal and Ricardo Allen done for the season.After allowing 80 points combined and losing their past two games in the closing seconds, the Falcons rank third-worst in scoring, fifth-worst in total yards and second-worst in third-down percentage. They're a banged-up group that can't seem to catch a break.Starting end Vic Beasley is nursing a sore ankle and has been limited in practice this week. Reserve end Derrick Shelby has been limited with a groin injury and hasn't played since the Week 2 win over Carolina.Injuries at safety has given starting jobs to Damontae Kazee, who played in 16 games as a reserve last year, and rookie Isaiah Oliver, who played exclusively at cornerback in his last two seasons at Colorado.Coaches have leaned heavily on Kazee to tone down his aggressiveness following a penalty in preseason and an ejection for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Carolina quarterback Cam Newton.And the staff is working with Oliver, who made a big mistake last week against Cincinnati. Coordinator Marquand Manuel called zone coverage, and Oliver was playing too far in front when A.J. Green dashed behind him for the winning touchdown catch."Going forward, I told the guys that you can't line up without talking to one person," Manuel said. "It's the growing pains that you have to go through, but that's a part of it. It's new guys talking to new guys, and guys that have experience, we need them to talk more. And the guys that don't have it, we need you to talk to guys that have it. That's where communication starts."Losing Jarrett is substantial enough that the Falcons will use a three-man rotation of Jack Crawford and Terrell McClain
Womens Desmond Trufant Jersey , a pair of longtime veterans, and Michael Bennett, who was signed this week after injuries allowed him to play in just one game last year with Jacksonville, to fill his spot.Rookie Deadrin Senat, a third-round pick, will take most of the snaps at nose tackle, where Crawford and McClain have split starts this year. Coach Dan Quinn added that third-string end Steven Means, signed last month, might have to help out on the inside, too.Trying to restore some order for his defense, Quinn has spent the past few days emphasizing better fundamentals in tackling, ball-hawking, pass rush and communication."None of those are scheme-related," Quinn said. "None of those are wholesale changes. It's a matter of us doing specifically those four things really well, and that's why I think you'll see this group get better quickly because of those four things."There was some progress last week. Missed tackles dropped from 15 the week before to "single digits," as Quinn described it, against Cincinnati. Kazee got his first career interception, and McKinley, after missing the Week 3 loss to New Orleans with a groin injury, returned to have his first three-sack game.Linebacker Duke Riley says McKinley brought some swagger back to the defense."We can't make the excuses that we don't have the guys," Riley said. "We have the right guys in the room. We've just got to own up to it and be closers."NOTES: RBs Devonta Freeman (knee) and Tevin Coleman (shin) and WR Mohamed Sanu (hip) had full participation in Thursday's practice. WR Julio Jones (hand
Youth Logan Paulsen Jersey , ankle) is expected to play despite being listed as limited. Other players listed as limited Thursday: DE Vic Beasley Jr. (ankle), DE Derrick Shelby (groin) and LB Foye Oluokun (ankle).Falcons vs. Steelers: One reason to worry, one reason to feel confident This Sunday’s game is a pivotal one for the Falcons, who are a couple of losses away from facing a nigh-impossible road to the playoffs. This team has too much talent (and forgive me, too much heart) to be dismissed out of hand, but they need to start winning at a very rapid clip to keep this season alive. Knocking off the Steelers would make the road ahead easier and would erase some doubts about this team, especially if they can do so decisively.That said, there are reasons to feel confident about this Falcons team heading into Week 5, and there are reasons for grave doubt. Here are one of each. Feel confident about the offense putting up pointsJoe Flacco is in the midst of a pretty impressive bounce-back year, but his 363 yards against the Steelers pass defense was one of the ten highest totals of his career. Considering he only had slightly more against the Bengals, a team Matt Ryan just finished eviscerating, things look promising for the passing attack.More broadly, this Steelers defense has not been good this year at all. They’re allowing the third-highest yards per game in the NFL, the eighth-most points, the fourth-highest number of passing yards, and the 10th-highest number of rushing yards. They’re better than the Falcons in some ways, worse in others, but the net takeaway is that the Steelers are bad on defense. Playing this one at home isn’t going to fix that against an unconscious Atlanta offense, particularly one getting back a key playmaker in Devonta Freeman.While the Falcons may not look quite as sharp away from home, they should have absolutely no trouble dropping 25+ points, and frankly 30+ feels like a virtual lock unless the Football Gods have some more weird stuff planned for us. The Steelers just aren’t that good defensively
Youth Brandon Fusco Jersey , and they’re unlikely to have compelling answers for Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley. Worry a lot about the pass defense On the flip side of things, the Steelers offense is a major concern, especially when you consider that it hasn’t even looked as good as it is capable of looking to this point.The Steelers are sixth in total yardage, tied for 12th in points scored, third in passing yardage, and 29th in rushing yardage. Minus Le’Veon Bell their ground game has been forgettable and they’ve just been airing it out. Where having a one-dimensional offense might prove to be a problem against a good defense, against Atlanta it’s a bit of a nightmare scenario.That’s chiefly because the Falcons have struggled so mightily stopping the pass, with Andy Dalton and Drew Brees torching them in back-to-back weeks. Atlanta tightened up a bit and started getting after Dalton in the second half a week ago, but they also allowed the Bengals to score four touchdowns on four tries in the first half. This Steelers attack is a huge concern.More broadly, the state of the secondary is a concern. The team’s focus on communication this week is important, no doubt, but Desmond Trufant and Robert Alford have struggled in back-to-back weeks, Isaiah Oliver is very much a work in progress, and Brian Poole’s coverage issues have been legion both as a cornerback and a safety these last two weeks. When you have to contain players like Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Vance McDonald, you can’t afford the kinds of lapses that have become commonplace in Atlanta, and I fear that you can’t fix all of even many of those issues in a single week.If the Falcons win this game, it will probably be because they managed a turnover or two (which isn’t outlandish) or managed to somehow hold this passing attack in check (a bit more outlandish). If they can accomplish either, it will give me hope for the rest of this season.
Takk McKinley says nobody feels sorry for the Atlanta Falcons' injury-ravaged defense.The second-year pass rusher makes a good point. Atlanta earned a playoff berth the past two years with a mostly healthy defense http://www.falconsfootballauthentics.com/devonta-freeman-jersey-authentic ;, but it's a different story this season.The Falcons (1-3) are reeling now that Grady Jarrett, their best interior lineman, is the fourth defensive starter to miss Sunday's game at Pittsburgh (1-2-1)."It sucks not having Grady out there, but we can't be sad, because the Steelers won't be sad about it," McKinley said. "They won't."Jarrett's ankle injury comes with the team's best linebacker, Deion Jones, already out another six weeks and starting safeties Keanu Neal and Ricardo Allen done for the season.After allowing 80 points combined and losing their past two games in the closing seconds, the Falcons rank third-worst in scoring, fifth-worst in total yards and second-worst in third-down percentage. They're a banged-up group that can't seem to catch a break.Starting end Vic Beasley is nursing a sore ankle and has been limited in practice this week. Reserve end Derrick Shelby has been limited with a groin injury and hasn't played since the Week 2 win over Carolina.Injuries at safety has given starting jobs to Damontae Kazee, who played in 16 games as a reserve last year, and rookie Isaiah Oliver, who played exclusively at cornerback in his last two seasons at Colorado.Coaches have leaned heavily on Kazee to tone down his aggressiveness following a penalty in preseason and an ejection for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Carolina quarterback Cam Newton.And the staff is working with Oliver, who made a big mistake last week against Cincinnati. Coordinator Marquand Manuel called zone coverage, and Oliver was playing too far in front when A.J. Green dashed behind him for the winning touchdown catch."Going forward, I told the guys that you can't line up without talking to one person," Manuel said. "It's the growing pains that you have to go through, but that's a part of it. It's new guys talking to new guys, and guys that have experience, we need them to talk more. And the guys that don't have it, we need you to talk to guys that have it. That's where communication starts."Losing Jarrett is substantial enough that the Falcons will use a three-man rotation of Jack Crawford and Terrell McClain Womens Desmond Trufant Jersey , a pair of longtime veterans, and Michael Bennett, who was signed this week after injuries allowed him to play in just one game last year with Jacksonville, to fill his spot.Rookie Deadrin Senat, a third-round pick, will take most of the snaps at nose tackle, where Crawford and McClain have split starts this year. Coach Dan Quinn added that third-string end Steven Means, signed last month, might have to help out on the inside, too.Trying to restore some order for his defense, Quinn has spent the past few days emphasizing better fundamentals in tackling, ball-hawking, pass rush and communication."None of those are scheme-related," Quinn said. "None of those are wholesale changes. It's a matter of us doing specifically those four things really well, and that's why I think you'll see this group get better quickly because of those four things."There was some progress last week. Missed tackles dropped from 15 the week before to "single digits," as Quinn described it, against Cincinnati. Kazee got his first career interception, and McKinley, after missing the Week 3 loss to New Orleans with a groin injury, returned to have his first three-sack game.Linebacker Duke Riley says McKinley brought some swagger back to the defense."We can't make the excuses that we don't have the guys," Riley said. "We have the right guys in the room. We've just got to own up to it and be closers."NOTES: RBs Devonta Freeman (knee) and Tevin Coleman (shin) and WR Mohamed Sanu (hip) had full participation in Thursday's practice. WR Julio Jones (hand Youth Logan Paulsen Jersey , ankle) is expected to play despite being listed as limited. Other players listed as limited Thursday: DE Vic Beasley Jr. (ankle), DE Derrick Shelby (groin) and LB Foye Oluokun (ankle).Falcons vs. Steelers: One reason to worry, one reason to feel confident This Sunday’s game is a pivotal one for the Falcons, who are a couple of losses away from facing a nigh-impossible road to the playoffs. This team has too much talent (and forgive me, too much heart) to be dismissed out of hand, but they need to start winning at a very rapid clip to keep this season alive. Knocking off the Steelers would make the road ahead easier and would erase some doubts about this team, especially if they can do so decisively.That said, there are reasons to feel confident about this Falcons team heading into Week 5, and there are reasons for grave doubt. Here are one of each. Feel confident about the offense putting up pointsJoe Flacco is in the midst of a pretty impressive bounce-back year, but his 363 yards against the Steelers pass defense was one of the ten highest totals of his career. Considering he only had slightly more against the Bengals, a team Matt Ryan just finished eviscerating, things look promising for the passing attack.More broadly, this Steelers defense has not been good this year at all. They’re allowing the third-highest yards per game in the NFL, the eighth-most points, the fourth-highest number of passing yards, and the 10th-highest number of rushing yards. They’re better than the Falcons in some ways, worse in others, but the net takeaway is that the Steelers are bad on defense. Playing this one at home isn’t going to fix that against an unconscious Atlanta offense, particularly one getting back a key playmaker in Devonta Freeman.While the Falcons may not look quite as sharp away from home, they should have absolutely no trouble dropping 25+ points, and frankly 30+ feels like a virtual lock unless the Football Gods have some more weird stuff planned for us. The Steelers just aren’t that good defensively Youth Brandon Fusco Jersey , and they’re unlikely to have compelling answers for Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley. Worry a lot about the pass defense On the flip side of things, the Steelers offense is a major concern, especially when you consider that it hasn’t even looked as good as it is capable of looking to this point.The Steelers are sixth in total yardage, tied for 12th in points scored, third in passing yardage, and 29th in rushing yardage. Minus Le’Veon Bell their ground game has been forgettable and they’ve just been airing it out. Where having a one-dimensional offense might prove to be a problem against a good defense, against Atlanta it’s a bit of a nightmare scenario.That’s chiefly because the Falcons have struggled so mightily stopping the pass, with Andy Dalton and Drew Brees torching them in back-to-back weeks. Atlanta tightened up a bit and started getting after Dalton in the second half a week ago, but they also allowed the Bengals to score four touchdowns on four tries in the first half. This Steelers attack is a huge concern.More broadly, the state of the secondary is a concern. The team’s focus on communication this week is important, no doubt, but Desmond Trufant and Robert Alford have struggled in back-to-back weeks, Isaiah Oliver is very much a work in progress, and Brian Poole’s coverage issues have been legion both as a cornerback and a safety these last two weeks. When you have to contain players like Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Vance McDonald, you can’t afford the kinds of lapses that have become commonplace in Atlanta, and I fear that you can’t fix all of even many of those issues in a single week.If the Falcons win this game, it will probably be because they managed a turnover or two (which isn’t outlandish) or managed to somehow hold this passing attack in check (a bit more outlandish). If they can accomplish either, it will give me hope for the rest of this season.