Troy Andersen suffered a shoulder injury during the game and was seen leaving the locker room wearing a sling. We didn't get a definitive update yesterday, but head coach Arthur Smith said it "didn't look good". I'm expecting to hear later today that he's going on IR. An interesting follow-up question is how they'll replace him on the roster. Nate Landman and Tae Davis are the two backup interior LBs on the roster. Landman will likely step in as the starter, but who will come aboard for added depth? One candidate is Andre Smith, who is currently on the practice squad. He has been with the team since May, so he has had the full offseason and training camp to get a head start in learning Ryan Nielsen's defense. Smith was originally a seventh round pick by the Panthers in 2018. The Bills traded a conditional 7th round pick to get him in 2020. Whatever the condition was, it wasn't met - the pick never materialized. He bounced between Tennessee's practice squad and roster last year, and so far he's doing the same with Atlanta this year. He came into this season with 51 games of experience (0 starts), and the Falcons have already elevated him and played him in one game this season. Another interesting possibility... Mykal Walker was a surprise midseason release. He's now on the practice squad of the Raiders, which makes him a free agent available for any team to sign. He was also with the team right up through the middle of preseason, so he also has a head start in learning Nielsen's defensive system. The team seems to be responding well to the egg they laid in Detroit. WR Drake London described it as getting punched in the face - basically a warning that they need to keep getting better. Head coach Arthur Smith noted they had things to work on - all around - without specifically pointing fingers. Desmond Ridder also said he needed to work on things himself and did NOT say anything negative about the poor blocking in front of him. He was sacked 7 times. He held on to the ball too long for a few of them, but a few others were just miscommunications or missed assignments on the line. The first sack is probably the best example. The line was in zone protection, sliding left. The defender on the left side of center Drew Dalman came around Dalman's right side as Dalman moved left and got through the line before guard Chris Lindstrom could pick him up. In other words, a defender was able to come straight up the middle immediately after the snap almost completely untouched. That's... not good. Naturally a few media folks are immediately jumping all over Ridder, blaming him for all of the offensive woes. Jeff Schultz (a local embarassment for decades, now scribbling occasional ramblings for The Athletic) had his posted within hours. He didn't mention the sacks, the constant pressure, or Detroit's defense bottling the Falcons run game at all. Nope, it's all on Ridder, according to Schultz. Of course, every article he's done all season mentioning Ridder has had a negative slant to it, so this should come as no surprise. And sure, Ridder might not work out over the long run. It's certainly a possibility. But keep in mind that when Schultz put out a tweet last week on the reversed Mack Hollins touchdown catch, he named the receiver "Mack Hopkins". And his preseason article on the team finally rebuilding the defensive line started with a quote from Oscar Wilde noting that "football is a game for gentlemen, played by barbarians". The slight problem is that our game of football didn't even exist. Wilde was referring to soccer. Schultz isn't exactly the cream of the crop of sports journalism. Hopefully Ridder will block out all the noise, because ANYTHING from Schultz is just noise. But in general, Detroit just gave the rest of the league a blueprint on how to defend Atlanta. So Arthur Smith has some work to do this week on offense. And it's a short week because of the travel schedule - the team is in London this weekend to play the Jaguars.
I find it odd that the Falcons only attempted to run the ball 20 times, gaining just 44 yards. What happened to the 'smashmouth' 'ram it down your throat' approach? Robinson just a 3.3 and Allgeier a 1.71 YPC on just 17 touches between the two of them is not going to cut the mustard. Point being the pressure on Ridder is very high and the O-line must get it together along with Ridder not only releasing quicker, but the HC and OC need to get him some quicker pass attack plays. And Schultz sounds perfect for the Athletic, thats where bad writers go to die, but write that they are in heaven. Not a fan at all of that org. Better luck next week in Jacksonville I mean freeking London, mate... maybe the Falcons can catch a still flat Jags team and get to clicking and executing on offense. Defense has held their own, in my opinion.
Defense has definitely held their own. Getting away from the run is the same question most Falcons fans and even some of the Detroit players were asking last week. But unfortunately that's the blueprint that the Lions defense gave the league - sell out to stop the run and make the inexperienced QB beat you. Ridder is still a work in progress. He is improving his mechanics, but his inaccuracy issues still pop up. He's lucky not to have had 3 more interceptions than he has actually had. The good and bad sides of it both take me back to the 2008 season - Matt Ryan's first season as Atlanta's starter. New head coach Mike Smith surrounded himself with experience, bringing in Mike Mularkey as the OC with the mission of helping the rookie QB. In terms of personnel, this Falcons team has done the same for Ridder, but the frequent zone blocking assignments have led to frequent miscommunications. Ridder hasn't had the protection that a young QB needs - and definitely not the protection you'd expect from a line featuring three veteran first rounders. The bad flashback to that season was that an early game also gave the league a blueprint for how to attack Atlanta, but that time it was how to attack the defense. The depth at DT was pathetic, like last year. The secret that was exposed in an early game against Tampa was to bring in a 3-WR formation, which put the Falcons into nickel defense and took big run-stuffing NT Grady Jackson off the field. If you ran a draw play out of that formation, it was virtually guaranteed to gain 5+ yards. Mike Smith did his best to mask that weakness with smoke and mirrors. Hopefully this year Arthur Smith will have an easier time figuring out the right adjustments given that it's the offense that needs to adapt.
And it's official... Troy Andersen is now on IR, and Andre Smith has been signed to the regular roster as replacement depth. So for now it's Kaden Elliss and Nate Landman as the starters. It will be interesting to see if Tae Davis gets snaps on defense or continues to be almost entirely special teams. The other moves: the team has dropped offensive tackle Isaiah Prince and signed offensive lineman Storm Norton, who had been on the Saints practice squad to open the season. Norton was originally a Lions undrafted free agent in 2017. He has bounced around since then, but he started 15 games for the Chargers in 2021 and has 18 starts and 36 game appearances for his career. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but the Falcons needed help in the swing tackle role. Norton has good size (lists at 6-7, 317) moves well and has experience at both tackle positions. If he can fit into the scheme, he'll be a great addition to the roster. With Andre Smith bumping up to the roster, there was an opening on the practice squad. Welcome aboard, former XFL wide receiver Chris Blair. He played 2 seasons at the JC level in Mississippi and 2 seasons at Alcorn State. As far as I can tell, he went undrafted and unsigned in 2020. He may have sat out the season due to COVID. The Packers signed him for 2021, and he made their practice squad. They didn't keep him for 2022, however, and he got his next big break with the D.C. Defenders in the XFL. He came to Atlanta as a tryout during rookie minicamp and was signed, then got hurt at the start of camp and waived/injured. I don't know the details of the injury settlement. I suspect that he's still off limits as far as the regular roster goes (injury settlements are measured in weeks, with the team unable to resign the player for that many games plus an additional three weeks), but apparently the practice squad is fair game.
