Things obviously haven’t gone the way the Falcons anticipated this year, as injuries and inconsistency have left them 1-3.
Falcons coach Dan Quinn insisted they’re still a good team, and owner Arthur Blank likewise said you can’t dismiss the impact of injuries that have taken linebacker Deion Jones and safeties Keanu Neal and Ricardo Allen off the field.
“Well, I am concerned about a 1-3 start,” Blank said, via Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com. “I don’t know anyone who would say that’s where we had planned on being or that’s where we had hoped to be, but we are 1-3.”
Jones could still come back from a foot injury by Week 11, but Neal is out for the year with a torn ACL, and Allen tore his Achilles. That has left the Falcons seemingly incapable of stopping anyone, allowing 30.5 points per game (30th in the league).
“This is not excuses, but reality is reality,” Blank said. “We’ve had some very difficult injuries to really good players. All three of the players, people talk in baseball when the middle has to be good: your catch, your pitcher, your second baseman, and then the center fielder. So when you lose Allen and Neal and Deion Jones, those are kind of the middle of that defense. So that hurts.
“And all three of those guys are really good communicators. They not only play at a very high level in their own right, but they get everybody else in the right positions. They make everybody else better. . . . We have plenty of talent on defense to play well. It’s trying to put people in the positions where they can maximize their strengths and not expose any lack of experience that they may have. And that’s what the coaches are in the process of doing.”
How well they’re able to patch the holes in the boat will determine how successful they can be, but at least Blank understands why they’re sinking.
