Getty Head coach Arthur Smith of the Atlanta Falcons
The November 1st NFL trade deadline is quickly approaching and whether or not the Atlanta Falcons make any moves remains up in the air.
However, Falcoholic’s beat writer and analyst, Will McFadden, believes Atlanta could possibly play an active role––now that they might need to.
Prior to beating the San Francisco 49ers, the Falcons’ roster was fairly healthy. But now due to injuries, their secondary has dwindled down to second and third-stringers due, which has drawn some concern at the position moving forward.
“I interrupt my game thoughts to bring you a Falcons roster thought – It’s now a bit more possible that Atlanta makes a move or two at the trade deadline if these secondary injuries are long-term concerns,” McFadden wrote in a Tweet.
Casey Hayward still has at least three more weeks on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. Dee Alford is dealing with a hamstring injury and was inactive on Sunday. A.J. Terrell left Sunday’s game early with a hamstring injury. Mike Ford exited with an ankle injury and Jaylinn Hawkins is in concussion protocol.
New York Jets CB Is Up For Grabs
According to Heavy’s Matt Lombardo, the New York Jets are expected to put cornerback Bryce Hall on the trade block.
The reason being is that his playing time has been cut way down due to the offseason additions of cornerbacks D.J. Reed and Sauce Gardner.
Hall, 24, has appeared in just one game for the Jets so far this season, recording zero stats.
The third-year corner started all 17 games last fall and logged 16 pass deflections and forced 17 incompletions.
If the Falcons end up dealing with multiple long-term injuries in their secondary, then Hall might be an affordable answer.
Falcons Secondary Suffers vs. Cincinnati
On Sunday, October 23 against the Cincinnati Bengals we caught a glimpse of what the Falcons’ secondary without their top guys looked like and it was anything but pretty.
Atlanta allowed Cincy’s quarterback Joe Burrow had a career-high day against as he notched 481 passing yards and three touchdowns to tie for the 34th-highest total in league history, according to the Falcoholic.
Here’s our Monday grab bag of things I found interesting.
This one’s gloomy: Joe Burrow’s 481 passing yards yesterday were tied for the 34th-highest total in NFL history. It was also the second-highest total ever against the Falcons, surpassed only by Jake Plummer (499) in 2004
It was also the second-highest passing total ever against Atlanta, right being Jake Pummer (499) back in 2004.
With a banged-up secondary, the Falcons were left with three available DBs: Darren Hall, Isaiah Oliver, and Cornell Armstrong. It was Armstrong’s first regular-season debut for the Falcons after he was called up from the practice squad.
Forced to keep up with Bengals’ top Ja’Marr Chase, Armstrong’s first real task for Atlanta was anything but easy. It was a clear, uneven matchup with Chase finishing the day with 130 receiving yards on eight catches and two touchdowns. Hall and Oliver didn’t do any better in coverage as Tyler Boyd finished the game with a score and 155 receiving yards on eight catches and Tee Higgins was just seven yards shy of a 100-yard day.
In total, the Falcons allowed 537 yards to Cincy.
“We threw a lot of different looks at (Burrow) but he knew where to go,” Head coach Arthur Smith said following the 35-17 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.”