Falcons Rookie Goes From Scary Injury to Game-Sealing Hero in One Week

ATLANTA – Seven days ago, Kendal Daniels was rushed to Grady Hospital following a scary injury at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. On Sunday, the rookie linebacker sealed the Atlanta Falcons’ Week 7 win over the San Francisco 49ers with an interception and fumble recovery.

Daniels spent nearly 10 minutes on the turf as medical staff tended to him after he took a knee on the helmet. That personnel ultimately immobilized him and carted him off the field. In the hours following the game, media members saw him walking in the locker room, and there was a sense of relief.

What came next is still hard to believe.

He not only recovered, but did so in time to suit up and play against the previously undefeated 49ers. He filled in for Divine Deablo, wore the green dot, led the Falcons in tackles, and recorded two takeaways.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski called it remarkable, and the player called it the craziest week of his life.

“I've never not walked off the field after an injury,” Daniels said after the game. “Mentally, I had to be prepared and going back home and just making sure I was okay mentally more than anything, and not playing timid. I've never not gotten up from an injury. So, being stretched off the field – I won't let it happen again. It was a bad feeling, and I'm blessed to be able to play this week.”

Daniels avoided a major injury last week, but he couldn't move his neck in the days after the game. By Wednesday, he was practicing and feeling better each day.

“He’s a dog,” defensive lineman Gervon Dexter Sr. said. “Not a lot of players will go out there and play after something like that happened. He did, and he got all our respect in this building.”

Linebacker Josh Woods spoke with Daniels on Sunday after the “scary” injury, but never doubted that he would be down for long.

“He’s got whatever ‘it’ is,” Woods said. “Everything that he does is pretty dope. Then, for last week to go how it went, and then for him to have the game that he had today, it's a testament to his preparation. He's kind of got that ‘X-factor’, that ‘it’-thing about him.”

That ‘it factor’ showed in the waning minutes on Sunday.

Daniels’ interception snuffed out a 49ers possession that started at midfield and could have put San Francisco in front. The Falcons had just gone three-and-out, and it felt like momentum had flipped entirely in the away team's favor.

Instead, the rookie stepped in front of a Brock Purdy pass and returned it to the Falcons’ red zone. Nick Folk converted the field goal, making it a two-score game.

He recovered a fumble on the next drive, and that officially ended it.

“He put his head down and goes to work every day,” Maason Smith said. “He understands that nothing is given. Everything is earned. When you have size and speed like him, with a mind like his, and you combine both of those things together. Man, there's nothing but excellence waiting to happen.”

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