Falcons catching Seahawks down, but not quite out
SEATTLE — Coming off their most impressive victory of the season, the Atlanta Falcons might have lucked out on the timing for one of their toughest road trips.
The Falcons won’t be seeing the likes of Richard Sherman, Cliff Avril and likely Kam Chancellor when they face the injury-riddled Seattle Seahawks on Monday.
Atlanta (5-4) is coming off its most complete performance in a 27-7 domination of Dallas last week. Adrian Clayborn was the star with six sacks of Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott.
Matt Ryan continued his streak of 200-yard passing games and threw a pair of touchdowns.
It was the type of performance Atlanta had struggled to find with consistency this season, and why the Falcons are two games behind in the NFC South race.
And while coming to Seattle any time of the year is a challenge, the Falcons might be catching the Seahawks (6-3) at the best possible time.
“We feel like we’re playing ourselves,” Atlanta wide receiver Julio Jones said. “We know they’re going to fly around and they’re going to have great intensity, and we’re going to have the same thing. It’s who makes the fewer mistakes in this game.”
Seattle is coming off an extended break, but it was after a costly win over Arizona lowlighted by the loss of Sherman to an Achilles tendon injury. Sherman, Avril and C.J. Prosise are all on injured reserve. Earl Thomas and Jarran Reed both have hamstring injuries, but are optimistic they’ll play.
New left tackle Duane Brown, the addition meant to stabilize Seattle’s offensive line, injured an ankle in his second game with the Seahawks and will be a game-time decision. And now, there are concerns with the health of Chancellor after suffering a stinger late in the win over Arizona.
While Chancellor hasn’t been ruled out, Seattle is planning on Bradley McDougald starting.
“We are just very fortunate that we have the depth that we have and I’m going to count on them to play really well,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said.
Here’s what else to know about the Falcons and Seahawks meeting for the third time in 13 months: Missing Sherman: Jones has said he enjoys his matchups with Seattle, so it was no surprise when he said he’d miss not being able to play against the injured Sherman.
“It’s always fun,” Jones said. “We always have a good time because we always battle each and every play. Sherman is a guy who’s going to try to stay on me the whole game. A lot of times guys start playing me and then they get off and get some help. Sherman is not one of those guys.” Filling In: The Seahawks will lean heavily on Jeremy Lane to step in for Sherman. Lane was originally traded to Houston as part of the Brown deal, but failed his physical with the Texans and was returned to the Seahawks. It’s turned out to be a huge benefit for Seattle to have an experienced veteran to take over with Sherman now lost for the season.
Seattle also signed veteran Byron Maxwell to add depth in the secondary. Maxwell started his career in Seattle before spending time in Philadelphia and Miami. Finding Jimmy: The Seahawks have suddenly made finding Jimmy Graham in the red zone a priority. Graham has six touchdown receptions in the past five games, including two TDs in the win over Arizona.