The Falcons were never as good as hoped if two injuries sink their season

Make no mistake Matt Ryan Jersey , ladies and gents. Atlanta losing Keanu Neal and Deion Jones within a week’s time to the no man’s land of injured reserve stings like a horde of killer bees. But it should not sink Atlanta’s season. Microscopic miseryLooking at these injuries up close, it’s nasty. Neal will miss all of 2018 with an ACL tear, something he can bounce back from personally but something the team can’t do a whole lot about. He was an enforcer in coverage and in run support, a figure with no parallel on the roster. Neal’s absence changes the way the team will defend the ground game and in how they’ll cover tight ends. Thankfully, De’Vondre Campbell can take care of those pesky TEs, while Ricardo Allen will likely slide over to play Neal’s spot. Damontae Kazee will play free safety, a vision that some of you have been dreaming of for some time. Allen’s a good run defender and sure tackler and can contribute in coverage. ‘Twas not meant to be for Keke this year, and you can’t completely recover for what he brought to the table. But you could survive it and still win games. Jones’ injury is a much different story. The loss of Deion JonesHe’s the field general and the communicator of that front seven and an elite player. Besides Allen, he’s the reason the defense sticks together. He was getting better against the run and was already a nightmare in coverage. He could change games with his knack for big plays. Like Neal, this is not a player you replace. Plus, the plan to replace him is not nearly as comforting. Duke Riley will more than likely slide over to play the middle while Foye Oluokun will jump in at the weakside. Campbell reportedly will also man that spot, but we can’t imagine he’d go there permanently iwth his duties on the strongside also needing his presence. Neither player really has proven much to grant a boatload of confidence, though Riley looks to be improving and Oluokun has impressed in camp and preseason. There be uncharted waters for this unit ahead until Jones can perhaps get back in mid-November once his time on IR is up.That hope of an Atlanta behemoth on defense will have to wait while everyone heals up. There is still a lot of talent here, but it look like more of a solid defense without Deion and Keanu out there. Much better than those wet noodle defenses from 2015 and 2016, but not quite as intimidating as what the team fielded last season, either. Atlanta should pull through this...emphasis on should Look at the rest of the roster. On paper, the Falcons still have one of the league’s best offense http://www.authenticsatlantafalcons.com/cheap-matt-bosher-jersey , and the defense still has guys like Grady Jarrett, Desmond Trufant, Allen, Robert Alford, Kazee, Takkarist McKinley, Vic Beasley and Deadrin Senat. There’s still talent in them hills. Now, it’s up to the coaching to fill in the gaps. The best teams can survive injuries, even to some of their best players. Heck, the Eagles won a Super Bowl without its starting QB, middle linebacker and left tackle. The Patriots made the Super Bowl last year without MLB Dont’a Hightower post-October. The Broncos went to the Super Bowl in 2013 without Von Miller healthy. Good teams have found ways to overcome the losses of star players since the dawn of football. If, Freddie Falcon forbid, Matt Ryan or Julio Jones went down, I’d tell you to get your affairs in order for 2018. Deion and Keanu, well, those guys are sure important, but only Keanu is out permanently. You not only can survive these losses http://www.authenticsatlantafalcons.com/cheap-desmond-trufant-jersey , you should be able to. The Falcons were never as good as we all hoped they were if they can’t figure out a way to at least survive these injuries. They should still be a really good football team with a great offense and good defense that can beat anyone in the NFL. If they’re not, that’s not because two guys are missing, though it’s a real factor. It’s because the coaching isn’t covering the cracks, as it does with all the best football teams. Steve Sarkisian should be able to field a top-10 offense with that roster. Dan Quinn and Marquand Manuel should still be able to field a top-15/20 defense with this talent. Sure, the expectations for the latter dwindle without two of its top players, but it shouldn’t fall back into shambles, particularly with Jones back hopefully sooner than later. The Falcons can’t always have it easy when it comes to injuries. They have to grind it out when the going gets tough and guys to down. Maybe these losses will make them tougher. Maybe these losses will expose more of a fair-weather Falconry than any of us hoped to see. Maybe they are up to this. Maybe they never were. If anything, losing Debo and Keke will reveal the truth about this Falcons team. Getting through this proves they really are (and were) one of the best football teams in the league. Floundering at the loss of two non-quarterback players proves that they were always a Philly end zone away from being where they want to be. If you’ve ever wondered why the Green Bay Packers have only managed one trip to the Super Bowl since drafting Aaron Rodgers, the reason is looking more obvious by the week: head coach Mike McCarthy.The Packers’ 27-24 loss to the Seattle Seahawks was a nearly perfect microcosm of the Rodgers-McCarthy era in Green Bay. It saw Rodgers put together a masterful performance that — like many times before — wasn’t enough for a win.Rodgers wasn’t blameless. He finished with 332 passing yards and two touchdowns, but when the Packers needed just a couple yards to convert a crucial third down in the fourth quarter, Rodgers threw at his receiver’s feet. The game wasn’t decided by that play, though. It was lost because a series of mistakes by McCarthy allowed the Seahawks to rally for a game-winning touchdown and wind out the rest of the clock.Why didn’t McCarthy challenge Tyler Lockett’s catch?Seattle was down 24-20 in the fourth quarter when Russell Wilson connected with Tyler Lockett for a huge 34-yard gain. The play set up the Seahawks in the red zone, but a replay showed the diving grab for Lockett may not have been a catch at all:A challenge may not have been as easy as the tweet indicates, though. The NFL’s new catch rules don’t require a player to complete the process of the catch the way they did when Dez Bryant famously “dropped” a pass against the Packers. But it was definitely close. Former NFL head of officiating and FOX rules expert Mike Pereira thought it was incomplete.“I’ll tell you what, I think the ball turns over and hits the ground,” Pereira said. “This, to me http://www.falconsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-de_vondre-campbell-jersey , if challenged, would be reversed to an incomplete pass.”At such a crucial moment, it would’ve made sense to take a closer look, right?“We talked about it briefly, but it was late,” McCarthy explained after the game. “We didn’t have a look at it.”What? The Seahawks didn’t rush down the field and quick snap against the Packers. Green Bay even had a little extra time, because defensive lineman Kenny Clark was injured on the play. The likelier reason McCarthy hesitated to challenge was because he was down to one timeout. The first two of the second half were lost because the Packers had some substitution snafus that forced Rodgers to avoid delay of game penalties.“The first one we had a specific play on, we wanted guys in a certain spot and the play kind of came in late,” Rodgers said. “We made a sub it seemed like, and I just figured that was an important spot. If we get a first down there we’re moving the sticks, and we’re scoring, so it was a good time to take it.“The second one unfortunately was after the long play to Davante [Adams] where I felt like we had time. There was maybe a late sub. As we broke the huddle I just felt like it wasn’t worth it to try and run something up there for a yard and have second-and-10. Instead, we took a timeout.”Risking the final timeout to potentially nullify a 34-yard gain for the Seahawks would’ve been smart. Instead, McCarthy didn’t and Wilson connected with Ed Dickson three plays later for what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown.Why didn’t the Packers go for it on fourth down?Rodgers is usually the man down the stretch, but a poor throw to Marquez Valdes-Scantling left the Packers with a fourth down on their own 33-yard line with 4:20 left in the game. Green Bay needed 2 yards to move the chains, but opted to punt instead of rely on Rodgers to keep the drive moving.The Packers never got the ball back.Seattle picked up two first downs, and that was enough to kneel out the remaining clock for the win.After the game Youth Keanu Neal Jersey , McCarthy explained that his precious final timeout factored into the decision to trust a defense that had just given up a 75-yard touchdown drive over trusting Rodgers:Playing the numbers meant hoping the Packers defense could hold so Rodgers could get one more shot to drive the final with little time remaining and win the game. But it probably would’ve been a much more worthwhile risk to just let the offense try to move the ball a couple yards on fourth down — especially since field position no longer mattered much. If the Packers didn’t get the first down, they would’ve been in the same situation: in desperate need of a stop. If they got it, the Seahawks would’ve presumably kicked a field goal to try to take a six-point lead. That still gives the Packers a chance.Considering two of the Packers’ four wins this year came when Rodgers led game-winning drives in primetime, it’d be a pretty good chance too.No matter how you slice it, punting was a bad call.Where was Aaron Jones?The Packers opened the game with three rushes for Aaron Jones on their first five offensive plays, including an 8-yard touchdown to give Green Bay an early lead. In the second quarter, Jones caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers.By halftime, Jones had 88 total yards on only 10 touches, but McCarthy told FOX’s Erin Andrews to expect more running in the second half.That never happened. Jones had just four carries in the second half. He carried just once on what could’ve been a huge touchdown drive for the Packers. Instead, the drive had five pass plays and fizzled in the red zone. Green Bay settled for a field goal to take a 24-20 lead, leaving the door open for the Seahawks’ game-winning touchdown.Rodgers has been begging for Jones to be a bigger part of the Packers offense — especially in the red zone:And for a little while it looked like McCarthy listened. Until he didn’t. Rodgers could’ve cut through all the missteps if he just threw an accurate pass to Valdes-Scantling. But that’s how it’s been for most of his time in Green Bay. Rodgers can’t make any mistakes, because — way too often — he already has to overcome his coach’s.