The Falcoholic
About all you can ask for from preseason is that it’s somewhat lively, injury-free, and gives the Atlanta Falcons plenty to evaluate. By those standards, a consistently sloppy but only intermittently dull Week 2 game against the Titans was about as good as it gets, marred primarily by a late injury to Emory Jones (which I hated) and a bunch of teeth-gritting penalties (which I also hated).
The Falcons lost, but of course that’s not something we should preoccupy ourselves with when it comes to preseason. What matters much more is the evaluation, with the Falcons looking to see how players they liked coming into the summer hold up in a live game against another NFL team, understand how players bounce back from adversity or chain together quality efforts, and figure out who will ultimately stick on the 53 man roster and 16 man practice squad.
We don’t have all the answers to those questions yet—that wide receiver battle is a damn interesting one, for example—but we’re much closer with just one week of preseason to go. That unfortunate injury to Emory Jones will hopefully not hurt his chances of sticking on the practice squad, but Easton Stick played most of the game and clearly has QB3 sown up, even if he had his real ups and downs in this one. Nate Carter stood out as the most explosive back and got more work than Elijah Dotson and Jashaun Corbin, meaning the only real question left is whether the staff likes a currently recuperating Carlos Washington enough to keep him ahead of Carter. And with CJ Henderson in the fold, Cobee Bryant and Clark Phillips dealing with injury, Natrone Brooks shining again, and Lamar Jackson scuffling throughout much of this game, perhaps we’re getting some clarity on that final cornerback spot. Those are the things the Falcons will spend the week mulling in the service of the strongest possible roster, and chances are these last two games will get them 90% of the way toward making those decisions, with the final effort perhaps helping to decide starting safety, the final receiver spot, and a host of practice squad slots.
Regardless, this one had its moments. On to the full recap.
