Reason to be sick for hurting Falcons

By Chris Vivlamore

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Falcons were an injured lot before Sunday’s game against Philadelphia.

Enlarge photo

Kent D. Johnson, kdjohnson@ajc.com Adding to the Falcons' injury woes, cornerback Christopher Owens went down in the second half.

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With five offensive starters watching in street clothes, the Falcons saw more than their playoff chances hurt with a 34-7 loss. They saw an anemic offense struggle as the replacements failed to come through when called upon.

“We can’t make excuses,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “There are no excuses. Injuries are a fact in the NFL and this late in the season you’re going to have guys down. It just so happened that we’re not as healthy as we would have like to been, and when that happens the next man up has to step up and do the job. We will not make excuses. It’s the Atlanta Falcons football team. It’s the guy’s that are wearing those helmets and those jerseys; those are the guys we have to go play with.”

Here’s the painful evidence:

*Chris Redmon, subbing for Matt Ryan at quarterback, completed just 23-of-45 passes for 235 yards. He had a last-second touchdown to go with two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown. His quarterback rating was 56.5.

*Marty Booker, starting in place of Michael Jenkins at wide receiver, had just one reception for four yards.

*Jerious Norwood, in for Michael Turner at running back, had just 18 yards on 11 carries – an average of 1.6 yards. Jason Snelling gained just 35 yards on 10 carries.

*Will Svitek and Quinn Ojinnaka were offensive line replacements for Sam Baker and Harvey Dahl. The highlight of the Falcons’ offensive woes came at the end of the first half with Atlanta trailing 13-0. The Falcons had a second-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Snelling ran three straight times for no gain, minus-2 yards and one yard. No touchdown. A score would have made it a ball game but the Falcons couldn’t come through.

“We had up to five starters out for this game, so I could sit here and make excuses but I’m not,” Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez said. “When you’re playing against a good team, it’s tough to play without the same guys that you’ve been playing with for the entire year. It’s up to our backups to come in and do what they can. They did the best they could but this was a collective effort. Offense, defense and special teams, we are all responsible overall. We have to play better.”