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Tuesday, October 24, 2006
A costly injury
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For the second straight year, the Falcons lose a pass-rushing defensive end to injury and they have their high-priced offseason acquisition go down.
Defensive end John Abraham, who has played in two of six games, had surgery Tuesday morning to repair an abdominal tear. He’s out, optimistically, for three to four weeks. This was his fourth operation to his lower abdomen/groin area and this will mark the fourth time out of seven NFL years he will not play a full season.
Coach Jim Mora said the recent diagnosis and the follow-up procedure on Abraham took place hours after his Monday morning press conference, in which he said he thought Abe would be healthy enough to play Sunday, adding it was no certainty, though. That is why there was such a radical change in Abe’s status in a 24-hour period, Mora said.
When the Falcons traded away a first-round pick in a three-team deal to get Abraham from the Jets, they knew he only played three full seasons out of six. Injuries to his groin/abdomen were why. Still, he was signed to a six-year, $45 million deal. After what he did in the season-opener at Carolina (six tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles), that seemed like a bargain basement price.
However, Chauncey Davis will end up spending more time at defensive end than Abraham this season. Davis was thrust into this role in 2005 when Brady Smith suffered a season-ending foot injury. This season, he’s much better, but not having a threat like Abraham makes things a little more difficult.
The Falcons are just getting back their big-ticket free agent from 2005, middle linebacker Ed Hartwell (six years, $26.25 million). They managed to play fairly well at linebacker without him, even though they went through some struggles last season.
There is hope that Abe can come back and have enough impact for the stretch run. It could be a matter of the Falcons still being in the hunt when he’s finally able to make a difference.
