Injuries are once again proving to be the downfall of the Atlanta Falcons. The team is down to one remaining preseason starter on their offensive line while the offense struggles to find any consistency as a result. Matt Ryan is spending more time on the ground than upright and the wide receivers are failing to help out when he manages to make a throw. No to mention the ground game has resorted to a few breakout plays from Antone Smith and not much else. Julio Jones feels he should be taking the blame for the offense as the team risks their fourth straight loss.
In the past two weeks, Jones has one touchdown to his name. That is not necessarily all his fault, but the dropped passes and inability to get open are. Jones admits he is not playing to the best of his ability and takes blame for the sputtering of the Falcons' offense.
"It starts with me," Jones said, via NFL Network's NFL AM on Wednesday. "I got to go out there and make plays when they are presented to me. I got to go out there and catch the ball, be more of a deep threat. ... We are out there misreading or dropping balls. We have to fix that. It's nothing that the defense is doing, we have to fix that here."
Devin Hester is remaining confident that the team can turn things around against the Detroit Lions who play a similar style of football to the Baltimore Ravens, a team that ripped apart the Falcons' offense in Week 7. Despite the three straight losses, the Falcons are still in the hunt for the NFC South race, although injuries do not give the team much hope, but Hester says the playmakers simply need to step up.
"We know as playmakers we are going to have to get the ball out of Matt's hands quick and get it to the playmakers' hands and we just have to continue to move the chains and make big plays," Hester said.
Those playmakers might not include Harry Douglas in Week 8. The wide receiver has missed the last handful of games with a foot injury. He made the trip to London, but has no practiced yet with the team. If Douglas sits out Thursday's workouts, he can likely be ruled out of the game altogether. Steven Jackson is another in need of stepping up. Jackson's stats leave a lot to be desired and yet, the Falcons continue to start him at running back. If he has another down game, a change will be made.
