Atlanta Falcons safeties hit hard with injury bug

The Atlanta Falcons have been decimated by the injury bug.

Monday night’s game between the Green Bay Packers and the Atlanta Falcons was not too pretty for Falcons fans. Not only did the dirty birds get beat down the entire game, but they had a few injuries to some key players. With Ricardo Allen and Keanu Neal already out before Monday night, that left Damontae Kazee and Jaylinn Hawkins at safety.

With five minutes left in the second quarter, Aaron Rodgers would take a deep shot down the field, and Kazee would tear his Achilles on a no-contact play. Rookie Jaylinn Hawkins would also leave the game with a concussion, leaving Sharrod Neasman and Jamal Carter as the only available safeties left in the game.

On Thursday, the Atlanta Falcons signed safety J.J. Wilcox to the practice squad. Wilcox has some familiarity with this defense, as he was on the Falcons training camp roster in 2019 but did not play due to a torn ACL injury. Wilcox is a seven-year veteran who has been on four other teams, bringing an experience to this defense is something the Falcons could really use.

Atlanta Falcons cannot afford more injuries to their secondary.

Tuesday during Atlanta’s media availability Dan Quinn said this about the injury.-

"“We are bummed for Kazee, he is a relentless competitor… losing him for the year is tough.”"

Quinn also stated that Monday night he tried to keep the defensive schemes simple due to the loss of their key players, but as Quinn stated in their press conference, the communication was off with their defense.

When defensive coordinator Raheem Morris was asked about how much the defense misses Ricardo Allen, Morris had this to say.

"“You know having Rico on the field is always a great thing for us… a lot of times when you criticize Rico, it’s for him doing too much, right now we need him to come back and do everything…”"

This team is really hoping that they can improve throughout the season when they get healthy. It’s not hard to recognize how bad the defense is, but not all of it is on the secondary. During his press conference, Morris shared his thoughts on the poor defensive rankings.

"“It’s about us getting healthy, it’s about us playing together, and it’s about us getting better, we still have a lot of games to write the story, and we better go out there and write it starting this week.”"

Even with all of the injuries, the Atlanta Falcons are facing this week, they will be looking to get their first win against divisional rival Carolina. With how great Teddy Bridgewater has been playing, this secondary may get torched by the likes of Robby Anderson and D.J. Moore.