The Falcons will be returning to the Georgia Dome for the first time in six weeks, after a road game in Baltimore, a flight directly to London for a "home" game, the bye week, and two consecutive road games against division rivals. The opposition won't be getting any easier for the next six weeks, but the logistics sure will. Here's a bit of irony: the Browns come into town with a 6-4 record, yet they are in last place in their division. Meanwhile, the Falcons are in first place in the NFC South at 4-6. Atlanta will finally celebrate Veteran's Day this weekend. Since it's the team's first home game of November, this is Atlanta's "Salute To Service" game. We have several veterans reading these forums, so I'd like to extend a hearty Thank You to all of you. One other veteran that I'd like to acknowledge... referee Jeff Triplette is the target of quite a few jokes thanks to his often confusing explanations of otherwise simple situations, key missed calls, and the unfortunate accident involving Orlando Pace. But give the man his due - he earned a Bronze Star for his service in the original Persian Gulf War. Head coach Mike Smith estimated early this week that injured cornerback Robert Alford would likely be out 2-4 weeks. But keep in mind the team's track record of consistently underestimating recovery times. With only six games left in the season, it's quite possible that we've seen the last of Alford for this season. Antone Smith was officially placed on IR this week. Atlanta did NOT call up practice squad RB Jerome Smith or sign another running back as his replacement. Instead, they added LB depth by signing veteran free agent James Anderson, who was recently released by the Tennessee Titans. Tennessee has been busy scooping up ex-Falcons this season. They had already signed both Chase Coffman (who got his most exposure on offense on Monday Night - and shined) plus Will Svitek. Since they're in rebuilding mode (with a 2-8 record), they released Anderson, who had been strictly a special teams player for them, to call up prospect Justin Staples from their practice squad. And to fill their practice squad opening, the Titans signed... former Falcons LB prospect Yawin Smallwood. Though they lost a running back and cornerback, there wasn't an immediate need to sign a player at either of those positions. The Falcons still have a trio of running backs plus a fullback - that's the same number of players the team used throughout the 2008 season. At cornerback, Javier Arenas had been stuck on the inactive list all season. In spite of his breakout last season, Smith still didn't get all that many touches on offense this season. However, he was tied with Roddy White for the team lead in touchdowns. His production will be difficult for Jacquizz Rodgers and Devonta Freeman to replace. One more Falcons player was lost this week... the Seattle Seahawks plucked defensive tackle Travian Robertson from Atlanta's practice squad. The league had expanded the practice squad from eight players to ten players this season, with looser eligibility requirements for the extra two spots that would allow teams to keep slightly more experienced players. Atlanta used those spots to try to stash offensive lineman Harland Gunn and Robertson, neither of whom would have been eligible for the practice squad otherwise. In Robertson's case, the new rules might have been a factor in the decision to keep Cliff Matthews on the active roster while exposing Robertson to the practice squad. Matthews was drafted one year before his college teammate Robertson and was not eligible for the squad even under the new rules. Unfortunately, practice squad players are free agents at all times, so there's a huge risk of losing prospects if they aren't kept on the roster. The Falcons got away with it with Gunn, calling him up earlier this season when Joe Hawley was injured. But the move backfired with Robertson, as it did with Bryce Harris and Rafael Bush a few years ago as well as former fifth round pick William Middleton back in 2009. The Falcons worked out a couple of defensive tackle prospects and ended up signing former Oregon DT Ricky Havili-Heimuli to fill the practice squad opening. RH-H lists at 6-4, 314. Not much else to say about the signing other than it was strictly a "business" move, simply done to make sure the scout team has the right personnel for practice purposes. Yes, they'll give him a good look while he's here and possibly sign him at the end of the season. But the loss of Robertson meant they needed a big plugger to play the role of opposing DTs in practice. Signing someone expendable to handle that job means they don't have to pull RaShede Hageman or Corey Peters away from the "regular" defense to take on that duty. The good news on the injury front: Drew Davis has returned from PUP status to the active roster. Like Eric Weems, he doesn't produce much as a receiver (only one target per 14.5 pass routes last season), but he's a special teams ace. With Antone Smith going on IR, the timing is perfect. Davis can take on Smith's duties on the various special teams units, including the gunner role on the punt coverage team. Also, safety William Moore has returned to practice. He's still a few weeks away from being eligible to play, but he can now join the team out on the practice field. To make room for Davis on the roster, the team waived WR prospect Freddie Martino. The interesting question will be what happens next assuming Martino clears waivers. Bernard Reedy and Ryan Spadola are currently on the practice squad. Reedy showed tremendous speed early in the offseason, while Spadola also has good speed and agility. The 2013 prospect from Lehigh had a 4.48 time in the 40 at the Combine and was also in the top ten among receivers in the cone drill, short shuttle and long shuttle. He surprisingly made the Jets roster as a rookie and appeared in a few games before being released. The Dolphins quickly added him to their practice squad and signed him for camp this year. He didn't make their roster, and the Falcons signed him to fill the practice squad opening when Martino was called up to the roster to replace Courtney Roby. But there isn't enough room to keep everyone on either the roster or the practice squad. One of them will not be around next week. And it now seems unlikely that the team will resign prospect Geraldo Boldewijn at least until the season ends, if at all. It's still possible that we'll see "Amsterdam" again, as the Falcons did resign Brandyn Harvey in a similar situation a few years back. But it's a long shot. One last twist from this week's injury report is that the Falcons have some kind of bug going around in the locker room. Julio Jones, Steven Jackson and Patrick DiMarco all missed practice time this week due to an unspecified illness. All three are listed as "Probable" for this weekend's game. Other than Alford, the only player on the active roster who is listed as OUT for the game against the Browns is offensive tackle Jonathan Scott. He came aboard for depth at OT when Peter Konz went on IR. Unfortunately, he hurt his hamstring soon after arriving and hasn't practiced since. He'd be one of the team's seven inactive players even if healthy, so it's no real loss to the team, but he's not providing the depth the team had hoped. If he's not back in practice in another week or two, I suspect the team will simply pull the pin on that grenade and move him to IR to sign someone else to fill the void.
