FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, who has been under duress through the first two weeks of the season, was limited in practice Wednesday with a knee injury.
“We rested him [Wednesday], and we are hoping that he’ll be out here tomorrow,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “We have to see how ... hopefully he’ll have more participation tomorrow than he had today.”
Backups Chris Redman and John Parker Wilson (practice squad) took the majority of the snaps in practice. Smith doesn’t believe that Ryan is in danger of missing Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay.
“He took some shots in the game, and we gave him some rest today,” Smith said.
Ryan (knee), wide receiver Roddy White (thigh), defensive end Ray Edwards (foot) and center Todd McClure (knee) all were limited in practice.
The offensive line has been taking some heat for giving up nine sacks and 17 hits on Ryan in two games. The unit could receive a boost with the return of McClure, who had surgery Sept. 1.
“It will be great to get Todd back,” Smith said. “He started [144] consecutive games. That’s quite a streak. We obviously missed his leadership out there over the course of two ballgames.”
Safety Shann Schillinger (knee) and defensive tackle Corey Peters (back) fully participated in practice. Defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux (knee) and cornerback Kelvin Hayden (hamstring) did not participate in practice.
Baker takes heat
Left tackle Sam Baker has been the target of fans on the blogs and message boards this week for his performance against the Eagles and defensive end Trent Cole.
However, with the game on the line, Baker won his battles in the two 80-yard drives to win the game.
“Yeah, towards the end of the game I finally got it together, but it was a long day for sure against Trent,” Baker said.
Offensive line coach Paul Boudreau has turned up the heat on the unit.
“Oh yeah, and we’ve been sweating ourselves and we don’t want to get [Ryan] hit either,” Baker said. “We really have to pull it together.”
Even though the line struggled in protection at times against the Eagles, the Falcons were five-for-five in the red zone.
“That’s a big key for us,” Baker said. “All preseason we were getting down there, but we weren’t really scoring. That was huge for us to get into the end zone.”
After opening the season against Chicago’s Julius Peppers and Cole, Baker will get Tampa Bay rookie Adrian Clayborn this week. Clayborn was the 20th player selected in the 2011 NFL draft.
Safeties competing
Despite starting and playing almost 90 percent of the snaps at free safety against the Eagles, James Sanders and Thomas DeCoud are in a weekly competition for playing time.
“We’ll keep the ideal of him and Thomas competing for the free-safety position,” defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder said. “I think it’s a good situation to have. They’ll both come in here and work hard. We’ll wait until the end of the week, make a decision and go.”
The Falcons missed 17 tackles and gave up 312 yards passing to Chicago’s Jay Cutler in Week 1 and 314 yards to Michael Vick and Mike Kafka against the Eagles. The Falcons hope that the competition will help to improve their pass defense over the long haul.
Smith also said that Hayden and Christopher Owens would compete for playing time at nickel back.
Etc.
Cornerback Dunta Robinson will appeal his $40,000 fine for his hit on Philadelphia’s Jeremy Maclin. “I’m just trying to play football,” Robinson said. “I’m not a dirty person. I’m not a dirty player.” ... Philadelphia defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins confirmed to the Philadelphia Inquirer that he was fined $15,000 for a helmet-to-helmet his on Ryan.
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