Getty A.J. Terrell of the Atlanta Falcons.
The Atlanta Falcons moved to 3-4 on the season after suffering a 35-17 blowout loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
But that wasn’t the only loss for Atlanta that afternoon as starting cornerback A.J. Terrell exited the game early with a hamstring injury and did not return.
Head coach Arthur Smith did not have an update after the game, saying they would wait until Terrell’s MRI results came back.
“We’ll just have to see imaging tomorrow,” Smith told reporters, via ESPN’s Michael Rothstein. “And we’ll see where it goes.”
Terrell was covering Bengals’ star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase when he went down, held his hamstring, and limped off the field.
This isn’t a new injury for Terrell as he missed some of last week’s win over San Francisco when he left the game early with a thigh injury.
Terrell has logged 28 tackles, five passes defended, a forced fumble and fumble recovery through seven games this season.
Players Weight in on Terrell’s Injury
With Casey Hayward on injured reserve, the Falcons can’t afford to lose Terrell in their dwindling secondary.
And their teammates got a glimpse of what the defense is like without them against a pick-your-poison offense like Cincy’s.
“We feel those guys. You know what I’m saying? A.J. and Casey, those are our star guys out there,” linebacker Mykal Walker said after the game.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow had himself a day against a banged-up Falcons defense and 34 of 42 for 481 passing yards and three touchdowns, along with one rushing score.
The Falcons gave up a total of 537 yards to Cincy.
“We threw a lot of different looks at (Burrow) but he knew where to go,” Smith said following the loss. “He had time, and there were times when we got to him and even when they were off track he came back with some seconds to get back on track. It hurt us, because he found soft spots in the zone.”
On the other side of the ball, the Falcons just couldn’t consistently keep up. They did, at one point, trail by only 11 points heading into the half and then completely crashed.
“You can’t go three and out like that, especially when you have momentum like that before the half to get us back into the game,” Mariota said. ”We weren’t good enough on offense to sustain anything after that point.”
Mariota completed eight of 13 passes for 124 yards and one touchdown.