October 7, 2012; Landover, MD, USA; Atlanta Falcons guard Garrett Reynolds (75) lines up against the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-US PRESSWIRE

The Falcons have announced that they placed offensive guard Garrett Reynolds on injured reserve. This officially ends Reynolds’ 2012 season.

Reynolds was an offensive tackle in college before coming to the Falcons. He was miserable at guard last year, but saw massive improvement so far this season. Since the bye week, Reynolds hasn’t played and has been out with a back injury.

The Falcons began using 2012 2nd round draft pick Peter Konz at right guard. He was a center in college, but expected to play at guard in 2012. He obviously looked good enough the last two weeks against the Eagles and Cowboys that the Falcons decided to give him the starting job at guard for the rest of the season. In my humble opinion, I think Konz is completely outplaying what Reynolds was giving at his very best.

The Falcons have also activated Phillipkeith Manley, a college free agent out of Toledo. He is expected to fulfill a backup role.

August 16, 2012; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Falcons defensive back Brent Grimes (20) on the sidelines during the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at the Georgia Dome. The Bengals beat the Falcons 24-19. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE

We have some breaking news out of Flowery Branch, new which is really terrible for both the Falcons as well as Brent Grimes. Yesterday against the Chiefs, Brent Grimes suffered what was described as a calf injury. He left during the 4th quarter, and there wasn’t much said about the injury after the game.

Today, we have news that Grimes will miss the rest of the season with an Achilles injury. It is unknown if it is a torn Achilles or what the exact extent of the injury of it is, but this much is clear: Brent Grimes will miss the rest of the season with this injury.

This is really huge for the Falcons. Grimes was expected to be a starter, and improve the Falcons’ coverage in the secondary. I think he is by far the Falcons best cover corner, while Robinson is more of a hard hitter, and Samuel takes far too many chances in coverage. Alongside Asante Samuel and Dunta Robinson, the Falcons will play Dominique Franks or Chris Owens at nickel corner. If that isn’t a scary, scary thought, I have no idea what is.

This is also bad for Brent Grimes the man. He just signed his franchise tag, which guarantees his salary this season, but gives him very little long-term stability. This injury will absolutely crush the value of Grimes in the free-agent market after this season, which impacts his potential future earnings.

All I know is that this is very bad news. In hindsight it makes the trade for Asante Samuel even more important. If we only had Dunta Robinson to run out there with the other players we have at corner, things would be, as one pundit described, ‘a grease fire’. Keep tuned for how this injury affects the Falcons.

August 9, 2012; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Falcons running back Bradie Ewing (34) is carted off the field after an injury in the first half against the Baltimore Ravens at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE

Bad news out of Flowery Branch and the Atlanta Falcons. In his first NFL game action, rookie fullback Bradie Ewing, projected by many to be the starter (if fullbacks even start anymore in the NFL) for the 2012 Atlanta Falcons. Ewing was in on a special teams play when he suffered a knee injury that head coach Mike Smith declared would keep Ewing out for the entire season.

This is certainly not good news, as the Falcons need all of the blocking they can get, especially when trying to convert short yardage situations. The Falcons drafted Ewing with the express purpose of being able to convert those short yardage situations, especially with running downs.

We have to now face reality, and reality is that the job is certainly in the hands of Mike Cox. He was the fullback last year, and he took over when Ovie Mughelli went down with an injury. Cox isn’t a huge blocker, and he isn’t overwhelmingly good at finding the right person to block, but there’s no doubt he’s serviceable. That’s not just me blowing smoke; serviceable in this case is being generous. I don’t expect the Falcons to use the fullback extensively anyways, but not having a very good one at disposal could be a problem.