Post by Guvmintcheeze on Oct 17, 2014 15:25:58 GMT
Falcons miss Harry Douglas, who remains out with foot injury
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- The sight of receiver Harry Douglas catching a few passes on the field on Thursday had to be welcoming to his Atlanta Falcons' teammates.
Douglas didn't practice Thursday as he continues to recover from a deep bruise in his left foot. But at least Douglas seems to be improving, considering he has missed the last three games.
Coach Mike Smith said there was no timetable for Douglas' return. Fellow receiver Roddy White, however, sounded optimistic about getting Douglas back sooner than later.
"It just affects us in so many different ways because he's in so many different personnel groupings and some of the stuff he can do," White said of how Douglas' absence changes the offense. "He's really good at the insides and seam routes. We're missing him a whole lot and his ability to kind of control the middle of the field.
"Hopefully we can get him back, if not this week, next week. And we'll be a lot better team. I'll tell you that."
Quarterback Matt Ryan talked earlier in the season about how Douglas allows the Falcons to be as multidimensional as they want to be. The Falcons seemed to thrive with the four-wide look of Julio Jones, White, Douglas, and Devin Hester.
"Certainly Harry is a big part of what we've done historically here, and certainly the last two years," Ryan said. "So it's always tough when you have guys go down. It's always tough to replace that production.
"When he's in there, it adds another dimension to us. But that's part of this league. That's part of how a season shakes out. There's going to be times when certain guys are down, and you've got to find different ways to get it done. And we have not done, collectively, a good enough job of that."
In other injury news, Jones and Hester remained limited in practice while they continue to recover from ankle and hamstring injuries. Linebacker Prince Shembo also was limited while recovering from a knee injury.
Defensive tackle Jonathan Babineux (knee), guard Justin Blalock (back), and linebacker Nate Stupar (knee) all had full participation after being limited on Wednesday.
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- The sight of receiver Harry Douglas catching a few passes on the field on Thursday had to be welcoming to his Atlanta Falcons' teammates.
Douglas didn't practice Thursday as he continues to recover from a deep bruise in his left foot. But at least Douglas seems to be improving, considering he has missed the last three games.
Coach Mike Smith said there was no timetable for Douglas' return. Fellow receiver Roddy White, however, sounded optimistic about getting Douglas back sooner than later.
"It just affects us in so many different ways because he's in so many different personnel groupings and some of the stuff he can do," White said of how Douglas' absence changes the offense. "He's really good at the insides and seam routes. We're missing him a whole lot and his ability to kind of control the middle of the field.
"Hopefully we can get him back, if not this week, next week. And we'll be a lot better team. I'll tell you that."
Quarterback Matt Ryan talked earlier in the season about how Douglas allows the Falcons to be as multidimensional as they want to be. The Falcons seemed to thrive with the four-wide look of Julio Jones, White, Douglas, and Devin Hester.
"Certainly Harry is a big part of what we've done historically here, and certainly the last two years," Ryan said. "So it's always tough when you have guys go down. It's always tough to replace that production.
"When he's in there, it adds another dimension to us. But that's part of this league. That's part of how a season shakes out. There's going to be times when certain guys are down, and you've got to find different ways to get it done. And we have not done, collectively, a good enough job of that."
In other injury news, Jones and Hester remained limited in practice while they continue to recover from ankle and hamstring injuries. Linebacker Prince Shembo also was limited while recovering from a knee injury.
Defensive tackle Jonathan Babineux (knee), guard Justin Blalock (back), and linebacker Nate Stupar (knee) all had full participation after being limited on Wednesday.