The sudden yo-yo on Igwebuike didn't make a lot of sense. Why risk losing him to waivers at the roster cut deadline just to turn around and sign him again before the first game? If it's all because they decided to stay safe and not play Patterson quite yet, why not just use a standard elevation on Igwebuike like they did with Parker Hesse? If a team releases a guy at the roster cut deadline and then immediately resigns him for the Week 1 game, it's usually because they wanted to hold on to an injured player through the roster cut deadline before putting that player on IR, so that he would be eligible to return in midseason. But you have to have him on the initial 53-man roster to make that happen, which temporarily bumps someone else off the roster. As examples, backup defenders Dean Marlowe, Mike Ford and Nick Kwiatkoski were all released last year at the roster cut deadline. The team then placed five players on IR immediately after the deadline, resigned the three defenders and added two players who had been waived by other teams. But that's not the case this year. The only player who was put on IR right at the deadline was cornerback Cornell Armstrong, who wasn't going to make the roster anyway (and has since been released from IR with an injury settlement). So maybe it had something to do with the practices last week and early this week. Igwebuike had to be one of the more difficult roster decisions. If he turned it on in practice during the off week - or if Gaziano had a really bad week in practice - maybe that changed the coaching staff's minds and they reversed their initial decision. Another possibility is that the front office might have dropped Igwebuike at the roster cut deadline to make room for The Player To Be Named Later, anticipating that someone from another team would be waived and hoping to scoop him up off of waivers. We'll probably never know if that was the case. Or maybe they suddenly realized that in the season opener last year vs the Saints, they left Tyler Allgeier inactive, came up short one RB down the stretch and didn't have any big bruisers available to protect their lead. That ended up costing them the game.
I know in Minnesota they released Gaskin (RB) only to sign him right back up to the Practice Squad... reason being, if he remained on the active 53, his 2023 money would have been fully guaranteed, so sometimes its a monetary thing, a business deal related to Cap stuff I guess.
Vikings 1's looked like they were in Preseason mode from the start, Cousins especially. After a while he got in a groove, but the over-all execution was inept. Maybe these starters need to get in some more PT during the preseason and get a flow going... coming out flat in the opener was a huge let-down. Offensive Line looked really sloppy on a lot of plays, Bradburry going down didnt help and then Ingram making goofs was just pure 'not quite in game mode' status. The reason I mentioned the Vikings is because thats the game I intently watched and seen rust galore... very frustrating, so maybe Atlanta had similar issues in the trenches also. Learning from mistakes and having the ability to improve and adapt is going to be key for the Falcons and the Vikings (along with most other teams). Just a handful and a small handful of teams looked ready to go yesterday, but I suspect thats status quo for week 1. The turn-overs in Minneapolis were atrocious, dont know how that faired in Atlanta turnover wise, but I still think a few players need to get in more balling whether its practice or what-not and execute better. Anyway the Birds got a W, thats the bottom-line.
The Falcons re-signed defensive lineman Joe Gaziano to the active roster Tuesday, three days after waiving him to make room for running back Godwin Igwebuike. Atlanta cut Igwebuike on Monday. Gaziano initially made the Falcons’ 53-player roster this season after totaling six total tackles in two preseason games. They originally signed Gaziano to a one-year contract in March. Gaziano spent the past three seasons with the Chargers. He ended last season on injured reserve with a groin injury, finishing 2022 with eight tackles and a sack in five games. The Chargers signed him as an undrafted free agent following the 2020 draft. He has 22 tackles, four quarterback hits, two tackles for loss, a sack and a pass defensed in 21 games with one start. NBC
Igwebuike is back on the practice squad now. So it was just a one-game yo-yo thing because Cordarrelle Patterson wasn't ready to go for the game. The other big news for today is the early injury report - the full report hasn't been released yet, but head coach Arthur Smith said that linebacker Troy Andersen is in concussion protocol.
Cordarrelle Patterson is back to full participation in practice. Okudah is back in practice but still limited. Unless he's a full participant tomorrow, I'd guess the team keeps him out of the game again this week and works to get him back in action next week. Troy Andersen is still out under the concussion protocol. I'm not expecting him back for the game, and that's a big loss for Atlanta. Tae Davis and Nate Landman will get reps in his absence. Neither has anything close to Andersen's speed.
Troy Andersen did return to practice on a limited basis but is still in concussion protocol. The team officially declared him OUT for the game. Jeff Okudah has practiced on a limited basis all week, He is listed as Questionable, but I suspect that with good depth available at CB, the team will sit him out rather than risk a setback. I suspect he'll be back in action next week. Cordarrelle Patterson was a full participant all week, and he did not receive an injury designation at all for the game. He's playing. I don't like how the Packers are doing their injury designations. They simply list all of the injured players as Questionable. The designation is supposed to be based on the probability that a player will be available. David Bakhtiari was listed as missing Wednesday's practice as non-injury related veteran rest, then out Thursday and today with a knee injury. So allegedly he suffered an injury on his day off, hasn't been able to practice at all, but has a 50/50 chance of playing two days from now? Aaron Jones missed all week with a hamstring injury. Christian Watson missed Wednesday and Thursday with his own hamstring injury but returned today on a limited basis. Quay Walker was out completely Wednesday and was limited Thursday and today. But he's also in the concussion protocol. He hasn't had a full practice yet but still has a 50% chance of returning? Doesn't seem likely.
Or maybe not... for whatever reason, the team decided to rest him another week. They used a practice squad elevation and brought up Igwebuike for the game. Perhaps noteworthy is that he also played last week but it didn't count as one of his three practice squad elevations. He was actually on the roster, with the team temporarily cutting defensive lineman Gaziano and signing Igwebuike for the roster. Linebacker Andre Smith was also a practice squad elevation this week, with Troy Andersen in the concussion protocol.
Drake London: Packers game showed you can’t ever count us out The Falcons were down 12 points in the fourth quarter against the Packers last Sunday and the odds of a team quarterbacked by Desmond Ridder coming back from that deficit in the final 15 minutes weren’t great, but that’s exactly what happened. Ridder ran for a touchdown to cut the Packers lead to five points and the Falcons defense didn’t give up a first down as Atlanta took control of the game down the stretch. The next two Atlanta drives only resulted in field goals, but that was they needed to ensure a victory and a 2-0 record on the year. During an appearance with Adam Schein on Mad Dog Sports Radio, Falcons wide receiver Drake London said that the rest of the league should see the comeback as a sign that the Falcons aren’t going to stop fighting because they’ve fallen behind on the scoreboard. “I don’t know if y’all could feel it, but I felt like maybe Green Bay felt like they put us in the casket a little early,” London said. “This team, don’t ever count us out. We’re going to still fight until we can’t fight no more, and that goes back to our motto. I’m gonna keep on saying it. Burn the boats. We’re a well-conditioned team, we’re an aggressive team, and we’re gonna go out there and give you our best for the whole time being. And I think that’s kind of where we caught them in the second half.” The idea of burning the boats comes from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War as a way of letting soldiers know that there is no retreat once you’ve invaded and, therefore, no option other than winning the battle. The motto served the Falcons well last Sunday and and they’ll bun them again upon landing in Detroit for this Sunday’s game. That was from NBC. I just wanted to say the first sentence was stupid and not my view what so ever. These writers are kinda goofy/slanted and hyped on their own assessments, they are not in touch with reality. Truth be told the Atlanta Falcons football players have said over and over they have Ridders back. Apparently, the writers out there cant read, dont wanna hear and are egotistical jerks that are not original. Truth be told, dammitt! BTW - I posted that article for London's take only.
The articles would have a very different slant if that touchdown catch by Hollins wasn't overturned on replay. Did you guys see that one? If Green Bay had won, that would have become another Calvin Johnson moment that makes you wonder WTF is a catch and what isn't. But since the Falcons did go on to win the game, it has already been forgotten. Obviously the NBC writer didn't have a clue about it. Then again, he probably didn't even watch the game. Bigger picture... Atlanta, with allegedly one of the worst defenses in the NFL, a joke of a quarterback, and a team that isn't capable of finishing out games, has outscored opponents 27-0 in the fourth quarter so far this season.
The latest... Troy Andersen has cleared the concussion protocol and is no longer listed on the injury reports. He was a full participant in practice yesterday but still had to be listed. Nate Landman got most of the snaps as his replacement against the Packers. Landman actually did a great job and showed why the team kept him instead of Mykal Walker. Meanwhile, Walker has finally landed with another team. The Raiders signed him to their practice squad this week. Tae Davis is the other interior linebacker on the regular roster. He did fill in for Landman on one snap, but otherwise it's pretty clear that Davis is here for special teams duty. He and backup safety Jaylinn Hawkins lead the team with 43 special teams snaps. I think they are both part of every special teams group except for the field goal / extra point unit. Cordarrelle Patterson was back on the injury report today. He missed practice entirely, and the reason was listed as his thigh - the same injury that kept him out in weeks one and two. Jeff Okudah is still listed on the injury report but has been a full participant in practice all week. Hopefully he'll be able to play, especially since the game is in Detroit. (The Lions were the team that traded him to Atlanta this offseason.) Bud Dupree missed practice today, but the reason was listed as illness rather than injury.
We might STILL be waiting to see Cordarrelle Patterson this season. He was limited in practice on Friday after missing Thursday, and he's listed as Questionable for the game. When the team waived Caleb Huntley, the article about it in SI made it sound like the door was open for him to return. They had just put him on the PUP list, then waived him less than a week later listing that he failed a physical. This sounds odd, but the failed physical and the timing might just be a formality to help him remain eligible for injury benefits if he isn't able to return. The injury came near the end of the 2022 season. You have to have a team-administered physical before August 1 of the following season to be eligible for the injury benefit for that season. So getting in the official failed physical right at the end of July fits perfectly. The catch is that releasing him also involves an injury settlement. Those settlements are based on a number of weeks of salary. He is eligible to sign with any other team immediately, but the team that releases him can't resign him for the duration of the settlement plus three weeks. So... if it was a two week settlement, for example, the Falcons wouldn't be able to resign Huntley until after week five. I'm hoping that the team still plans to get him back. We certainly could use the depth, and the coaching staff already knows what Huntley can do.
Atlanta has made two standard practice squad elevations for tomorrow's game: offensive lineman Tyler Vrabel and defensive lineman Timmy Horne. Horne was an undrafted rookie last year who made the roster. He was initially the backup to nose tackle Anthony Rush, but Rush was released just a few weeks into the season. He later backed up Abdullah Anderson, and then ended up starting after Ta'Quon Graham was injured and went on IR. I've mentioned repeatedly that a bunch of muppets played over 1200 snaps on the defensive line last year. Horne was the only one of the bunch worth keeping, as he at least made the practice squad this season. Tyler Vrabel was on last year's practice squad but missed most of the season with an undisclosed injury that landed him on IR status. He had mixed results in camp and preseason this year but showed enough to earn a return to practice squad duty. If he gets into the game, it will be his NFL debut.
Im glad Vrabel is still hanging around, for no other reason than Mike and the Buckeyes connection I guess, but good for him. Im still confused with the Patterson saga. I wonder if he's more wounded than their letting on, but then again, why no IR?
It's really odd in that he was a full participant in practice on Wednesday but was then completely out on Thursday. So maybe he aggravated it in practice.
Falcons sign Storm Norton off Saints practice squad The Falcons are bringing in some offensive line depth. Atlanta has signed Storm Norton off of New Orleans’ practice squad, the team announced on Tuesday. Norton, 29, joined the Saints as a free agent in March but didn’t make the team’s initial 53-man roster and signed with its practice squad. Norton started 15 games for the Chargers in 2021, appearing in 35 games for the club from 2020-2022. Entering the league as an undrafted free agent in 2017, Norton has also spent time with the Lions, Cardinals, and Vikings. To make room on the 53-man roster, the Falcons have placed linebacker Troy Andersen on injured reserve. He suffered a shoulder/pectoral injury during Sunday’s loss to the Lions. NBC _________ ___________________ Love the name. Thats all I got.
For anyone who didn't see the comment on the Troy Andersen thread, one of the biggest remaining roster needs for Atlanta was the swing tackle role. Ethan Greenidge got hurt in preseason and went on IR. Jalen Mayfield didn't impress the coaches and got released. The other prospects showed promise but weren't ready yet - they didn't make the roster but are on the practice squad, hoping to work their way into the system by next season. The team brought in Isaiah Prince, but apparently he didn't cut it either. They've released Prince and now signed Storm Norton. Norton has 36 total games of experience (as the NBC article noted, 35 of them were for the Chargers) with 18 starts, and he has played both tackle spots. With his size and experience, he's now the most likely candidate for the swing tackle role.
