dogs"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Library FalcFans Podcast on The FalcoholicContact The FalcoholicFalcons StoriesScheduleRosterStatsYahoo Falcons NewsYahoo Falcons Team PageYahoo Falcons ReportYahoo Falcons Depth ChartYahoo Falcons TransactionsYahoo Falcons PhotosOdds About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub ✕The Falcons won’t be able to keep Damontae Kazee off the field in 2019 New Cheap Kaleb McGary Jersey ,15commentsFact: Damontae Kazee invented mini-corn dogs EDTShareTweetShareShareThe Falcons won’t be able to keep Damontae Kazee off the field in 2019 Kim Klement-USA TODAY SportsFalcons defensive back Damontae Kazee has come a long way since the Falcons drafted him in the 5th round of the 2017 NFL Draft. After the Falcons lost Ricardo Allen to a season-ending injury in week 3 last season, Kazee stepped in and dominated. He led the league in interceptions (7) and graded out as the second-best defender on the team, according to Pro Football Focus. He earned the team’s highest PFF coverage grade. Put simply, he had a coming-out party. So what do the Falcons do with Kazee going forward? He’s under team control for two more seasons, and the Falcons need to get their money’s worth. Assuming Ricardo Allen is healthy enough to reclaim his starter role, the Falcons can’t justify parking Kazee on the bench. Head coach Dan Quinn addressed this predicament at the NFL’s spring meetings last month.Basically Kazee is forcing their hand. They have to keep him on the field. It’s time for the coaching staff to roll up their sleeves and get creative. Quinn is acutely aware of that reality. Given Robert Alford’s departure and the team’s commitment to Isaiah Oliver as a starter, the road to the nickel job is wide open for Kazee. His talent is undeniable, but can the coaching staff put it to good use? That’s the challenge going forward. And for what Quinn’s comments are worth, the Falcons seem committed to the cause. Your thoughts, Falcoholics? FLOWERY BRANCH Kaleb McGary Atlanta Falcons Jersey , Ga. (AP) — Takk McKinley says nobody feels sorry for the Atlanta Falcons‘ injury-ravaged defense.The second-year pass rusher makes a good point. Atlanta earned a playoff berth the past two years with a mostly healthy defense, but it’s a different story this season.The Falcons (1-3) are reeling now that Grady Jarrett, their best interior lineman, is the fourth defensive starter to miss Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh (1-2-1).“It sucks not having Grady out there, but we can’t be sad, because the Steelers won’t be sad about it,” McKinley said. “They won’t.”Jarrett’s ankle injury comes with the team’s best linebacker, Deion Jones, already out another six weeks and starting safeties Keanu Neal and Ricardo Allen done for the season.After allowing 80 points combined and losing their past two games in the closing seconds, the Falcons rank third-worst in scoring Calvin Ridley Jersey 2019 , fifth-worst in total yards and second-worst in third-down percentage. They’re a banged-up group that can’t seem to catch a break.Starting end Vic Beasley is nursing a sore ankle and has been limited in practice this week. Reserve end Derrick Shelby has been limited with a groin injury and hasn’t played since the Week 2 win over Carolina.Injuries at safety has given starting jobs to Damontae Kazee, who played in 16 games as a reserve last year, and rookie Isaiah Oliver, who played exclusively at cornerback in his last two seasons at Colorado.Coaches have leaned heavily on Kazee to tone down his aggressiveness following a penalty in preseason and an ejection for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Carolina quarterback Cam Newton.And the staff is working with Oliver, who made a big mistake last week against Cincinnati. Coordinator Marquand Manuel called zone coverage, and Oliver was playing too far in front when A.J. Green dashed behind him for the winning touchdown catch.“Going forward, I told the guys that you can’t line up without talking to one person,” Manuel said. “It’s the growing pains that you have to go through, but that’s a part of it. It’s new guys talking to new guys, and guys that have experience Black Calvin Ridley Jersey , we need them to talk more. And the guys that don’t have it, we need you to talk to guys that have it. That’s where communication starts.”Losing Jarrett is substantial enough that the Falcons will use a three-man rotation of Jack Crawford and Terrell McClain, a pair of longtime veterans, and Michael Bennett, who was signed this week after injuries allowed him to play in just one game last year with Jacksonville, to fill his spot.Rookie Deadrin Senat, a third-round pick, will take most of the snaps at nose tackle, where Crawford and McClain have split starts this year. Coach Dan Quinn added that third-string end Steven Means, signed last month Takkarist McKinley Jersey 2019 , might have to help out on the inside, too.Trying to restore some order for his defense, Quinn has spent the past few days emphasizing better fundamentals in tackling, ball-hawking, pass rush and communication.“None of those are scheme-related,” Quinn said. “None of those are wholesale changes. It’s a matter of us doing specifically those four things really well, and that’s why I think you’ll see this group get better quickly because of those four things.”There was some progress last week. Missed tackles dropped from 15 the week before to “single digits,” as Quinn described it, against Cincinnati. Kazee got his first career interception, and McKinley John Cominsky Atlanta Falcons Jersey , after missing the Week 3 loss to New Orleans with a groin injury, returned to have his first three-sack game.Linebacker Duke Riley says McKinley brought some swagger back to the defense.“We can’t make the excuses that we don’t have the guys,” Riley said. “We have the right guys in the room. We’ve just got to own up to it and be closers.”NOTES: RBs Devonta Freeman (knee) and Tevin Coleman (shin) and WR Mohamed Sanu (hip) had full participation in Thursday’s practice. WR Julio Jones (hand, ankle) is expected to play despite being listed as limited. Other players listed as limited Thursday: DE Vic Beasley Jr. (ankle), DE Derrick Shelby (groin) and LB Foye Oluokun (ankle).