Nate Landman, Kaleb McGary, and David Onyemata all missed practice for the Falcons on Friday, and they were all ruled out for Sunday’s crucial game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
As Rothstein points out, the Falcons could also be missing three other key players in Jeff Okudah, Drew Dalman, and AJ Terrell.
David Onyemata is a huge loss for a team that is already without Grady Jarrett for the season. When combined with the fact that LaCale London will not be activated, the Falcons’ defensive front will be extremely thin, relying heavily on Kentavius Street, Ta’Quon Graham, and Albert Huggins.
Nate Landman is also a significant loss. He’s been a revelation at linebacker since taking over for the injured Troy Andersen. Andre Smith, who took over for Landman after he was injured against the Jets, will now get the start. Smith has not seen much action this season, but he did recover a fumble last week. He’ll need to step up big this Sunday against a battered defensive line.
Storm Norton will start in place of Kaleb McGary, and he’ll face a tough Tampa Bay defensive front this week. Last week in New York, Norton held up well against an even better defensive line.
Hopefully, Okudah and Terrell will be ready to go on Sunday, or the defense will have a long day. Clark Phillips and Tre Flowers were effective against the Jets last week, but the Buccaneers’ receivers are a completely different beast, and while Baker Mayfield isn’t a top-10 quarterback, he’s far superior to Tim Boyle and Trevor Siemian.
The Falcons have had the health advantage in a number of games this season. But they’ll be at a severe disadvantage in the biggest game of the season so far, one that could give them a stranglehold on the NFC South. Atlanta could be a high-scoring game.
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