Atlanta Falcons Gear Up for Different Type of Season

I know I haven’t written anything yet on the Atlanta Falcons so far this season. Of course the season hasn’t started, but training camp has been underway for the past month.

As what is happening with other sports, the NFL has been cautious with the start of the season because of the pandemic. So first, players, coaches, and staff are all being tested for the corona virus every day. The good thing about having tests every day is that when players line up against each other, the players know that all the players on the field are not sick.

Over this past month, the players have been in the classroom and on the field preparing for this season, which is still set to kick off Thursday, September 10 as the Super Bowl Champions host the opening kickoff against the Houston Texans. The Atlanta Falcons opening game will be Sunday, September 13 as they welcome the Seattle Seahawks to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

A takeaway from this extended training camp with no preseason games. Preseason games to fans are meaningless. College goes straight from practice to games, and NFL should too. Within the month of training camp the coaches should have the ability to evaluate and know which players they want to start and who will make the team. These teams go through so many simulated game planning and scrimmaging each other that they should be good and ready for opening kickoff, ready to hit someone else other than their teammates.

With this year being so crazy I haven’t really been able to enjoy both the baseball season for the Braves and training camp of the Falcons like years past. But it still makes me excited that football is around the corner. With the season right around the corner, Commissioner Roger Goodell has left it up to each team to allow fans in the stadium. The Falcons initially said 10,000 – 20,000 fans for each home game which is equivalent to a normal preseason game. But just a few weeks back they retracted that statement and said they would not allow fans to the first two home games, then they will make a decision after that if they will allow fans to the remaining six games. I believe that number of fans would be okay. Make face coverings mandatory, and with a 70,000 seat stadium, I believe 20,000 fans social distant themselves perfectly. Families sit together and spread everyone a part. But with fans or no fans, I’m glad football is back. Another change this year is with the injury report. This year there is injured injury report and Covid-19 injury report. Players on the Falcons and other NFL teams that have been on the Covid-19 injury report stay on for a couple of weeks until they feel better and have at least two negative back to back corona tests.

Calvin Ridley doing what he does best:

Always finding the end zone at @MBStadium. pic.twitter.com/tuJDu1DG48
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) August 28, 2020

Today and tomorrow the Falcons are practicing in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium simulating a real game experience. See above from Atlanta Falcons Twitter feed as WR Calvin Ridley takes it in for six from a perfect pass from QB Matt Ryan.

There seems to be many projections on the 53-man roster and the starting 22. Here are my projected starters for game one:

Offense

Quarterback: Matt Ryan

Running Back: Todd Gurley

Fullback: Keith Smith

Wide Receivers: Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley

Tight End: Hayden Hurst

Left Tackle: Jacke Matthews

Left Guard: Matt Hennessy (R)

Center: Alex Mack

Right Guard: Chris Lindstrom

Right Tackle: Kaleb McGary