FLOWERY BRANCH — Julio Jones led a list of Falcons who did not practice Wednesday. Jones’ injured left hamstring kept him out of last week’s game against the Panthers. The Falcons have a bye week following Sunday’s game against the Lions, and should the rookie wide receiver miss that game, he would have three weeks of recovery time.
Falcons coach Mike Smith would not rule Jones out of Sunday’s game.
“Julio is the kind of guy who is going to push the envelope,” Smith said. “He wants to get back in there. We are going to have to make sure the people in the athletic-performance department and the doctors make the final decision. ... We’ll just have to see how the rest of the week goes.”
John Abraham (groin), Todd McClure (knee), Christopher Owens (concussion), Garrett Reynolds (ankle) and Sam Baker (lower back) also did not practice. The Falcons had hoped Owens would practice, but he has not yet been cleared after recently passing the second stage of the NFL’s concussion protocol. Smith reiterated that some players would be held out of practice as part of a maintenance program.
Jonathan Babineaux (knee), Tony Gonzalez (elbow) and Roddy White (knee) were limited participants Wednesday. James Sanders (hamstring) returned to practice.
Houston playing well
The Falcons traded defensive back Chris Houston to the Lions last year, and he’s starting to flourish.
“Chris has been a very consistent player over the last two years,” Schwartz said. “He was a young player when he was with the Falcons and had his ups and downs. There were still things he was working on in his game, particularly playing the ball down the field.”
Houston, who leads the Lions with three interceptions, was traded for a 2010 sixth-round pick and a 2011 conditional seventh-round pick.
“He’s taken a big step as a player,” Schwartz said. “He’s still a younger player, but he’s also an experienced player. You’re starting to see him iron out some of the inconsistencies that he had early on.”
Houston (back) did not practice for the Lions on Wednesday.
Crowd noise a concern
The long-suffering Detroit fans have turned Ford Field into the “Seattle of the Midwest,” according to Falcons coach Mike Smith.
Over the past two games, fans have made it difficult for the opposing offenses to hear the snap count with a high noise level. He credits the Detroit fans with causing 14 procedural penalties.
“We’re going to have to really work on our communication,” Smith said. “We’ll have the noise rolling all practice long this week.”
When the Falcons played Seattle earlier this season they did not have any procedural penalties. They took the crowd out of the game by going up 27-7 before holding on for a 30-28 victory.
The Falcons will practice this week with noise from jet engines piped through huge speakers, and they’ll be prepared to trot out their hand signals if they can’t communicate verbally.
“We play in those types of situations a couple of times a year, in some loud environments,” quarterback Matt Ryan said, “and we just have to be on top of our game plan, prepare the same way that we do every week when we’re on the road and be on top of our communication with our hand signals in the huddle as well.”
