The Falcoholic
All bad news on the injury front today, I fear. The Atlanta Falcons revealed on Wednesday that Storm Norton has suffered a setback in his recovery, one that might end his season after the team opened up his 21 day practice window, and that Matthew Bergeron is “week-to-week” while Chris Lindstrom is “day-to-day.”
There’s nothing set in stone here, but it does set off major alarm bells about the state of this offensive line, nonetheless.
We’ll start with Norton, who was expected to ride to the rescue with his pass protection chops after Elijah Wilkinson has predictably begun to struggle the longer he starts. Instead, Raheem Morris indicated that it was “not good news” for the veteran tackle, and given that the team opened up his window already, if he can’t return soon he likely won’t in 2025. That sparked the move for former Falcons practice squad tackle Andrew Stueber, who joins Jake Matthews, Wilkinson, and Mike Jerrell as the only tackles on the roster. Carter Warren is on the practice squad, as well.
Given Wilkinson’s decent run blocking and increasing struggles in pass protection, it’s possible that Stueber or Jerrell unseat him at some point, but it’s a little bit of a longshot. Norton was the man the Falcons were counting on to fight to unseat him, and given that it’s not going to happen, we just have to hope Wilkinson can rebound the rest of the way. The alternative is unlikely to be any prettier.
For Bergeron, week-to-week almost certainly means he’s missing at least one game, and more than likely will miss multiple. Recall that A.J. Terrell was out for two games (and three total weeks) with his week-to-week injury, and it’s possible that as Kevin Knight suggests, Bergeron could hit short-term injured reserve. In his absence, veteran Kyle Hinton (who did a nice job filling in on Sunday) will likely man left guard.
If Lindstrom can’t go—which is more nebulous, given the day-to-day tag—Jovaughn Gwyn would be the next man up. Gwyn did solid work on a handful of snaps last Sunday, but hasn’t played for long stretches and is somewhat of a mystery man given that. Joshua Gray and Raiqwon O’Neal are practice squad call-up options for this weekend, especially if both guards are set to miss time.
Given that the line’s struggles had already impacted Atlanta’s quarterback play and heavily impacted their ground game, none of this is positive, and all of it makes the sledding tougher against a quality Colts team in Week 10. Let’s hope Lindstrom is out there Sunday, at least.
