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Atlanta Falcons: Injuries make a win on MNF even tougher

By Jeff Benedict

Sep 27, 2020; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn (front right in cap) walks the sideline after an interception by the Chicago Bears during the fourth quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 27, 2020; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn (front right in cap) walks the sideline after an interception by the Chicago Bears during the fourth quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports /
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Atlanta Falcons will have a tough hill to climb in Green Bay.

The Atlanta Falcons will be without several starters again as they look for their first win of the season against a red hot Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

Sunday night, the Falcons announced that Keanu Neal, Ricardo Allen, and Younghoe Koo will all miss the game with injuries. Rookie corner A.J. Terrell will again miss the game after testing positive for COVID-19.

Hopefully, we will get our first sight of rookie defensive lineman Marlon Davidson this week and second-year corner Kendall Sheffield is slated to start in place of Terrell.

Offensively, there is a chance that both Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley will miss the game as well. Russell Gage is expected to play despite being concussed a week ago.

While Brandon Powell, Olimide Zaccheaus, and Christian Blake aren’t as talented as Gage, Jones, and Ridley, they aren’t slouches either and they help make the WR room in Atlanta one of the deepest in the NFL for a reason.

Matt Ryan has had less talented receivers during his career and been able to win games, so Monday night’s matchup without Jones or Ridley won’t be a viable excuse to not win.

Atlanta Falcons haven’t started 0-4 in a long time.

It has been 21 years since the Atlanta Falcons have started 0-4. In 1999, the Falcons were coming off of their first-ever Super Bowl appearance and were hoping to become the first team to ever host and play in the Super Bowl.

Instead, the team started the season 0-4 and finished with an overall record of 5-11.

The scariest aspect of missing Julio and Calvin tonight, should they not play, is that offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter lacks the creativity to make other things happen. There would be no reason not to run some double tight-end sets with both Jaeden Graham and Hayden Hurst – like New England used to run with Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski.

There would be no reason to find different ways to get running backs Todd Gurley and Brian Hill the ball in space to make other things happen. Dirk is driving a Ferrari and despite averaging 30 points per game, hasn’t taken it out of first gear yet.

Next. Falcons need to show they want Dan Quinn to stay. dark

The Monday night matchup will be interesting but injuries won’t be a viable excuse if this team starts 0-4.

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