After opening the season with a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Atlanta Falcons have won four out of five games and three straight. In Week 6, the team overcame a shaky start to pull off a 38-20 win over the Carolina Panthers.
It wasn’t all good for the Falcons, though. The team suffered two notable injuries with safeties Justin Simmons (hamstring) and Micah Abernathy (knee) each going down during Sunday’s win. Head coach Raheem Morris provided some injury updates on Monday afternoon.
Morris said Simmons’ hamstring isn’t a concern going forward but Abernathy could miss “a significant amount of time” due to his knee injury. Atlanta will continue to monitor linebacker Troy Andersen’s status, per team reporter Tori McElhaney.
Simmons signed with the Falcons in August and has thrived playing next to Jessie Bates at safety. Abernathy has mostly filled a depth role this season. Morris made it sound like Abernathy could be headed to the injured reserve list.
If so, the Falcons would likely re-sign Kevin King to the active roster for some extra defensive back depth. King was released from the roster over the weekend before returning to the practice squad one day later.
Andersen has missed the last two games due to a knee injury. Fortunately, linebacker Nate Landman returned from injured reserve in Week 6 and finished Sunday’s game as the team’s highest-graded player, via Pro Football Focus.
Atlanta also signed defensive lineman Junior Aho to the practice squad and released Kenny Oginni in a corresponding move on Monday.
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