The Atlanta Falcons' win over the Tennessee Titans was certainly nothing the team would like to write home about. Mistakes ran wild through the offensive unit while the defense struggled to stop the run game. To make matters worse, injuries hit the Falcons once again as key receiver Leonard Hankerson aggravated a hamstring injury that could keep him off the field for some time.
Hankerson had been limited all week in practice, but was active for the Week 7 game. However, according to ESPN's Vaughn McClure, Hankerson re-aggravated the injury on Sunday. He left in the middle of the game and did not return which is cause for concern. Hankerson has developed into one of Matt Ryan's favorite targets outside of Julio Jones. He has 261 yards and two touchdowns on the season and will be missed on the field if he is not healthy.
Without Hankerson, Roddy White becomes the next man up. White has looked better over the past two weeks which is encouraging for Atlanta after they failed to get him going in the first few games of the season. White and Jones will be the main threats while Nick Williams and Jacob Tamme could be fantasy sleepers for Week 8. Both the rookie receiver and the tight end have been clutch when called upon and that could continue. The Falcons would also activate rookie Justin Hardy if Hankerson was set to miss time.
The Falcons offense was not good on Sunday. Ryan made some ill-advised throws. The offensive line was not protecting and continued to get hit with penalties. Ryan Schraeder was getting beaten off the right side on almost every play. The team is in an offensive funk after looking unstoppable in the first few weeks.
"We're in a funk right now on offense, and we've got to play our way out," White said, via ESPN.com. "We've been struggling, so we have to find a way. We've got to keep grinding. People might not care about this game in a couple of weeks, but we care because we know we can be better. ... I felt like we had maybe two drives that were good out of [10]. We had two the whole game. And the rest were penalties or little setbacks that got us down and distances that we couldn't recover from."
Jones echoed those statements. The wide receiver was responsible for the lone touchdown from the team while a potential second score was called back. Devonta Freeman also helped carry the load. However, when the team begins to play teams like the Carolina Panthers and the New Orleans Saints again, those small numbers will not be enough to win.
