Falcons’ James Pearce Jr. injures back, deemed questionable vs. Bengals

MADRID — The Falcons ruled out receiver Zachariah Branch earlier this week for Sunday’s bout with the Bengals, and they added another player to the inactive list Friday afternoon.

Running back Brian Robinson Jr. will miss his third consecutive game with a hamstring injury, the team announced. The Falcons have elevated Khalil Herbert from the practice squad to the active roster the past two weeks, a formula that figures to repeat when they face the Bengals at 9:30 a.m. EST Sunday inside Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid.

In a surprising development, outside linebacker James Pearce Jr. received an injury designation Friday. Pearce, who’s poised to play in his first game this season after completing an eight-game suspension, suffered a back injury Friday and was limited in practice. He’s officially questionable.

“We’ll see how that goes over the next few hours, (next) couple days,” coach Kevin Stefanski said Friday about Pearce’s injury.

Linebacker Divine Deablo, outside linebacker Yasir Abdullah, offensive tackle Cameron Williams and receiver Beaux Collins are all questionable. All four were full participants in Friday’s practice.

Defensive back Billy Bowman Jr., who’s missed the past two games, is off the injury report and will be available to play Sunday.

Abdullah is currently on injured reserve, but the Falcons have only 50 players on their active roster, so activating Abdullah and Pearce — the latter of which the Falcons have stated they will do — wouldn’t require any corresponding moves.