Vin+ 3,121 Posted September 30, 2014 Falcons placed C Joe Hawley on injured reserve with a knee injury, ending his season. Hawley tore his right ACL in Sunday's loss to the Vikings. RT Lamar Holmes (foot) is also done for the season. Although neither player could be considered a true asset, it's a brutal blow for a team getting ravaged by injury for the second-consecutive season. As evidenced on Hard Knocks, Hawley was at least adept at setting the tone. The Falcons will now be forced to turn to 2012 draft bust Peter Konz in the middle. Still only 26 (in October), Hawley is under contract for 2015. He'll face competition. Falcons placed RT Lamar Holmes on injured reserve with a foot injury, ending his season. With C Joe Hawley (knee) also headed to injured reserve, the Falcons have promoted OG Harland Gunn and S Sean Baker from the practice squad. Forced into 19 starts over the past two seasons, Holmes has been a swinging gate on Matt Ryan's right side, but his loss leaves the Falcons with serious depth issues along the offensive line. Free agent signee Cameron Bradfield could take Holmes' place in the starting lineup, though Gabe Carimi is the most likely candidate. 25 years old, Holmes is heading into the final year of his rookie contract. Although he's due just $660,000, there's no guarantee he'll be back. Falcons placed SS William Moore (shoulder) on injured reserve/designated to return. Moore can resume practicing in Week 11, but won't be eligible to return until Week 13. Moore suffered the injury in Sunday's loss to the Vikings. Second-year seventh-rounder Kemal Ishmael appears poised to take his place in the starting lineup. Moore is a playmaker, but not a star. He's also had trouble staying healthy, appearing in all 16 games just twice in six NFL seasons. Source: Jay Adams on Twitter Falcons signed OT Cameron Bradfield. Bradfield started the first two games of the season for the Jaguars, but was released after a legendarily bad performance in Week 2. However, he has 27 games of starting experience, and could be forced to take over right tackle for the Falcons after Lamar Holmes (foot) was sent to injured reserve on Tuesday. Depth and injuries remain huge problems for the Falcons. Although rookie LT Jake Matthews is playing well, Matt Ryan's protection is going to be an issue. Source: D. Orlando Ledbetter on Twitter Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thanatos 2,847 Posted September 30, 2014 Wait for the Panthers pass rush to destroy that O-line. Oh. That's right. We have no pass rush anymore because we like suspending people before the trial is over now. Guilty until proven innocent, that's the NFL for ya! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glanvilles Grits 142 Posted September 30, 2014 (edited) Wait for the Panthers pass rush to destroy that O-line. Oh. That's right. We have no pass rush anymore because we like suspending people before the trial is over now. Guilty until proven innocent, that's the NFL for ya! Panthers have no pass rush? Still more pass rush than the Atlanta Falcons.... Seriously though, I'm so freaking sick of us signing past Jaguars to our team. Half of them aren't even playing in the league when we sign them. It's kind of pathetic. Mike Smith and his mantra of "Well, I know this guy real well" freaking sucks. Bradfield? What the hell is a Bradfield? Jesus christ, the Falcons are so damn screwed. I mean seriously, let's sign a guy who couldn't block grandma coming down a 3 story set of steps to answer the door for the god damn mail man. Just disgusts me. F*#! Mike Smith. Our defense is so freaking terrible that losing Moore really doesn't make too much of an impact, although he is great when he's on the field. One of three guys that the Falcons have really learned they can rely on. Kemal Ishmael isn't too bad, he's shown shades of being a pretty solid safety. Still though, it's certainly a downgrade. Edited September 30, 2014 by Rain Man Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BwareDWare94 723 Posted October 1, 2014 The birds are in trouble. No doubt about it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CampinWithaMissingPerson 2,025 Posted October 1, 2014 Cam Bradfield sucks at every position but LT where he's mediocre. With Matthews there he's not playing LT, so prepare for more Holmes like suckage at RT Birds fans. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eefluxx 113 Posted October 1, 2014 (edited) hhhmmmm for some reason copy pasting and clicking quote does not work for me so for the guilty until proven innocent remark I feel your pain there Thanatos Edited October 1, 2014 by Eefluxx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glanvilles Grits 142 Posted October 1, 2014 The birds are in trouble. No doubt about it. Perhaps an under-statement. Thing is though, I still don't believe it's our offensive line that will end up doing us in. Bradfield likely won't start, even still signing him is a blunder by the coaching staff. There are much better FA options out there that would gladly take a low-end deal to the end of the season. Carimi will probably take over at RT as he already has experience with our guys. Carimi and Holmes is a near wash. Where it gets sticky for the O-Line is at center. We have literally NO ONE that will be able to come in and replace Hawley. That's saying a lot because Hawley isn't even that good of a lineman. He's mediocre at best. With that said though, Matt Ryan has shown an absolute amazing ability this year to make his own time by moving inside what little pocket he has had. People believe the Falcons have had better blocking, but that's not the case. Ryan has taken a HUGE step forward at being able to site the pressure coming and actually move around to make time. The fact that he worked on getting faster will really help too, this year when he has been running for his life, he's been able to get away and get gains on the ground! I'd like to say that's sarcasm, but it's not, it's the cold hard truth lol Now with that said, it's our defense that's the worry here. Mike Nolan is a great coordinator, simply put though, there isn't any talent on the defense. We've got great talent in Worrilow, he has an eye for the ball but he's still raw and he struggles in pass coverage (Circa Curtis Lofton, we really circled the wagon there!). Desmond Trufant is fantastic! Constantly making plays to keep us in it. Robert Alford has looked fantastic at times, but again like Worrilow, very raw. He does great in coverage at times, and other times he gives up huge plays due to stupid mistakes. So - Worrilow, Trufant, Alford, maybe Hageman? Other than that, our defense is pathetic. There is no talent out there, the best coach in the world couldn't make even a top 20 defense with the product we are putting on the field and everyone knows it. When the head coaches brother in law, who has always been right up the Falcons ass and the biggest media fan boy, says there is no talent on defense - then you know there is no talent there! Couple no talent in with no on-field leadership (Because Spoon is sitting on teh sidelines), and it's a damned mess. The Falcons desperately need a pass rush right now. Picking up Soliai and Jackson was great in theory. Clog the holes to stop the run. Right. Except that doesn't work when you have no one that can come off the edge and get to the quarterback. Osi and Biermann are doing nothing to this point for us. It's time to move on from both of them. The problem on defense starts at our guys on the edge. The middle is getting clogged and the lane is opening up next to them. Our edge guys get pushed out and then a 10 yard gain happens because our linebackers fail to fill those holes. Then when that's not happening, the linebackers fill the hole and the underneat routes in the middle fo the field are open giving them a 10-15 yard gain over the top of our backers. It's a lose-lose situation currently that no coaching scheme can fix without TALENT. Our defensive ends are absolutely being steamrolled, Osi and Kroy aren't the players they used to be. The defense starts with them, and right now the coaching staff can do nothing to counteract it so it's failing with them. I feel like at this point, all you can really do is try and put different talent on the field. Give those young guys an opportunity because we have nothing to lose. Our defense is either going to play like crap, or play like crap. There's an off chance that we could hit on something with different guys in there. And that, is where it comes to Mike Smith needing to step up and make a coaching decision instead of trying to stay the hero in the locker-room. It's problems like these where you find out if you have a guy who can win regular season games, or a real football coach who can get you to the big time. What's most frustrating, while I'm at it, is that they are like Jekyll and Hyde. One week, our defense looks like they've hit on something in the middle and second levels (Not so much the outside edges, they've looked like junk consistently). The next week, it looks like we need to trail back to the basics and start all over. Our offense has been scoring points, we had a rough game in Cincinnati but that's a great defense and offense combination there so I don't view that as bad. We've actually looked good. Putting up 28-35 points a week won't matter though when the other team can easily throw up 40-50 points. As a last note, anyone can easily get on here and say that our offense starts and ends with Julio Jones. One thing we are quickly learning though is that while Julio is an absolute stud, our offense actually starts and ends with Matt Ryan. The success difference while Matt Ryan is in the no-huddle compared to when they are using the huddle is astounding. Matt Ryan is absolutely showing how good of a quarterback he is and it's depressing that he may be in position to put up the best season yet and the team is going to fall apart around him again. So while our coaching staff and our front office continue to ignore the blatant problems the Falcons possess, we waste yet another year of Matt Ryan, Julio Jones and Roddy White seemingly in the prime of their careers. Roddy White isn't getting any younger! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BarrelofHobos 20 Posted October 2, 2014 That defense needs a complete makeover (and here I thought we just did that). Outside out the secondary, and maybe Worrilow(who sucked Sunday too) and Soliai, its complete garbage. Whether it be by lack of talent or by being misused(Jackson at DT, Osi, whos sadly our best pass rusher being dropped into coverage, Biermann in over anybody at this point, etc..). The offense is on point, but we cant expect to win shootouts every week, the defense has to do its part at some point. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ATL_Predator+ 1,196 Posted October 2, 2014 I think both of you have expressed all of my concerns, but I want to make note of something. As Rainman said earlier... Ryan's pocket presence has VASTLY improved. I've never seen his footwork and just overall awareness in the pocket at the level it is now. I think despite the addition of Jake and Asamoah...the line has played fairly well besides the Bengals game. The loss of Hawley hurts big, but in all honestly I think Carimi at RT is better than Holmes at RT. Sure. We took a few hits this past week against Minny, but I do not think this season is all for naught just yet. Our defense is atrocious, there is no escaping that, but I think if our offense can get a little more balance...I think we could at least finish above .500..and with the way the NFCS looks this year...it may not take much above .500 to win it sadly. I want to also say, Devin Hester and Harry Douglas honestly make our WR group deadly when they are all healthy and playing. Teams have to respect Hester no matter where he is on the field. Usually, it means those safeties are backing off and leaving a gap behind the backers...right where a guy like Harry Douglas or Toilolo comes in. We have some positives going for us on offense, but I can't imagine a worse defensive performance for the rest of the year compared to last weeks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
seanbrock 1,684 Posted October 2, 2014 My fantasy team is dwelling in sadcuntville. Sacks are negative points in Razor's league. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glanvilles Grits 142 Posted October 3, 2014 My fantasy team is dwelling in sadcuntville. Sacks are negative points in Razor's league. I really don't think you'll have as big of an issue as you believe you will. Mine Tice has absolutely reworked how a lot of these guys play and he's done a great job teaching them new things. Hearing that Harland Gunn will get the start at LG, a guy who has always has a lot of talent but hasn't put it all together. Peter Konz at center is a hive worry, but Asomoah being on his right should really help am anchor that area. Couple that on with Ryan's improved presence, we could see the same results as we have been seeing this year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vin+ 3,121 Posted October 20, 2014 Falcons placed C Peter Konz on injured reserve with a torn ACL, ending his season. Veteran OT Jonathan Scott has been signed to take his roster spot. Konz was the Falcons' second-string center, as starter Joe Hawley was lost for the season in Week 4. The Falcons are now down to UDFA James Stone in the middle of their offensive line. A 2012 second-round bust, Konz will now head into the final year of his rookie contract coming off major injury. His 2015 roster spot will be far from assured. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glanvilles Grits 142 Posted October 22, 2014 On the bright side, James Stone did look like a solid option in camp before the season LOL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
