Falcons Injury Report: Cordarrelle Patterson, Others Miss Practice
Just two days after a 19-3 victory over the Miami Dolphins to kick off the preseason, the Atlanta Falcons were back on the practice field in Flowery Branch ... but with pads off and a number of players set to make the roster not participating.
During the session, the Falcons were without running back Cordarrelle Patterson, receiver Frank Darby, center Drew Dalman, guard/center Matt Hennessy and cornerbacks Mike Hughes and Cornell Armstrong, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's D. Orlando Ledbetter.
Afterwards, Falcons coach Arthur Smith provided an injury update on the group, largely offering positive news with none of the players facing long-term problems.
Hughes is battling a soft tissue injury, with Smith saying "it’s going to be maybe a week or so" before he's back on the field. It's the same situation for Armstrong and Darby as well, per Atlanta's third-year coach. The injuries to Hughes and Darby happened in the first half against Miami.
As for the 32-year-old Patterson, Smith revealed he's also facing a soft-tissue injury, presumably suffered in the joint practices with the Dolphins last week.
"We’ll be smart with it," Smith said. "Nothing to be concerned about long term.”
The situation surrounding Hennessy has been around for much longer and is less clear than the others, as he's been out since late July after suffering a leg injury during training camp; Smith has declared him day-to-day for most of the past two weeks.
The 2020 third-round pick traveled with the Falcons to Miami and worked on the side fields, which Smith called "encouraging," but added that everybody's body is different and didn't seem particularly solid on placing a timeline.
"I know Matt's a tough guy and he wants to be out there, it's just something he's dealing with, and we'll just have to see," Smith said. "We're ramping up day by day and it was good that he came out there last week, he worked on the side field, so we'll just have to see."
Switching to positive news, rookie cornerback Clark Phillips III was back at practice after being carted off in the first joint practice against the Dolphins. The Falcons are still without starting corner Jeff Okudah, but getting Phillips back on the field so quickly is certainly a relief.
Smith is also expecting to get Dalman back quite soon - perhaps as early as Monday's practice - and has full confidence the injury won't linger.
“There are some guys we held in that will be out at practice tomorrow - Dalman is in that group," Smith said. "He should be fine in the morning, we’ll take it in the morning, maybe it’s another day, but nothing we’re concerned about.”
The same feeling is true for Smith's outlook on Atlanta's current injury situation; this summer, the Falcons lost running back and return specialist Avery Williams to a torn ACL, will likely be without Okudah to start the season after hurting his ankle, and have a number of current soft tissue problems.
But Smith pointed out that from the bigger picture, the numbers aren't overly concerning, and he's optimistic the injuries won't pile up.
"You've got to put it into perspective," Smith said. "You've got 90 guys - when you've got 85 guys healthy, and we feel pretty good about it, it's just perspective. Now, if we had 20 guys dropping, I'd say what are we doing? But a guy goes into a game, and it happens early on in a game—I wouldn't put it as concerning yet.
"I don't know the color code with the weather, so I think we'll be alright, hopefully. I won't jinx myself, but I think we'll be alright."
The Falcons, who Smith said will play all of their healthy starters, return to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the first time this season on Friday, as they'll host the Cincinnati Bengals for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff ... with the hopes of getting a quality 60 minutes of evaluation and, most importantly, walking away injury-free.
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