Falcons’ Brown suffers season-ending injury

Falcons’ rookie running back Thomas Brown suffered a season-ending injury while enduring an illegal horse-collar tackle in Thursday’s 10-9 exhibition victory at Baltimore. He was placed on injured reserve Saturday.

The injury, to his upper leg/groin area, will not require surgery, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

The injury to Brown, a former Georgia standout, means second-year tailback Jason Snelling made the Falcons roster as the team’s No. 3 tailback. Snelling and Brown, a seventh-round pick in the April draft, were in a neck-and-neck competition with Brown seemingly holding the edge because he was the top kickoff returner during the preseason.

Brown came out of the game Thursday after a seven-yard run in the third quarter in which he was snatched down by the back of his collar by Ravens’ outside linebacker Gary Stills. Thomas’s body whip-lashed as he went down, as often is the case when the recently banned tackle is executed. Stills was penalized for a personal foul.

Snelling immediately replaced Brown and played the remainder of the game.

Brown has been plagued by injuries since suffering a broken leg during his senior season at Tucker High. He tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in 2006 at Georgia and missed time as a senior with a broken collarbone.