AJC > Sports > Falcons > Blog > Archives > 2007 > August > 06
Monday, August 6, 2007
Learning an offense while losing players
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Today, after practice, coach Bobby Petrino disclosed that tight end Alge Crumpler got an outside medical opinion on his knee last Friday and that he was told to stay away from football activity for a week.
Crumpler had been experiencing discomfort in his right knee that he had scoped in the spring and, according to Petrino, began to feel pain again after a few days of practice. Mind you, Crumpler had missed several practices and only taken part in a few others.
Whether this is going to be a problem this season remains to be seen, but knowing Crumpler, even if he’s not feeling 100 percent, he’s going to try to play.
The interesting thing is with Crumpler gone, albeit temporarily, the Falcons are trying to learn a new system without their three most productive players over the past few years: Crumpler, Warrick Dunn (back surgery) and Mike Vick (NFL-ordered exile).
As for Dunn, he’s done a lot of running outside on a satellite practice field and he looks pretty good. There’s no reason to believe that he won’t be back by the start of the season, as he claims — unless the physical pounding is too much for him to immediately bear.
When it comes to Vick, football-wise, players and coaches have moved on. There’s rarely a mention of his name. Instead, people with the team talk about what they expect from the players that are here.
Looking at some other developments, rookie cornerback Chris Houston returned to practice after missing a few sessions with a sore knee. Free safety Chris Crocker also returned and worked with the starting unit, ahead of Jimmy Williams.
In terms of how players look, it’s impossible to miss strong safety Lawyer Milloy and how he gets players motivated emotionally and how well he’s performed in training camp. The guy is the ultimate pro.
Coaches can’t stop talking about how impressive rookie guard Justin Blalock is as both a run and pass blocker. It will be interesting to see how he performs Friday at New York (Jets). Defensive end John Abraham has looked great, maybe even faster than last season.
Oh, I need to clear something up too since there was some confusion about what took place with rookie center Doug Datish, who had surgery today to repair a broken bone in his wrist.
Datish was placed on injured reserve, which means he is done for the season and the Falcons hold his rights. However, before placing him on IR, the Falcons, for procedural reasons, waived him (injured). It’s one of those quirky paperwork-type deals that are required by the league.
In the end, Datish is on IR and he’s still with the Falcons.
