Freddie Falcon
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- Mar 16, 2019
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Last year the Falcons lost two of their team leaders, defensive backs Keanu Neal and Ricardo Allen, to season-ending injuries in September. Coach Dan Quinn says replacing them in the locker room and the practice field may have been harder than replacing them on Sundays.
Quinn said on PFT Live that every team deals with injuries, but he had never before been part of a team that lost key leaders the way the Falcons did.
“I haven’t been part of a team that had that many injuries to key players,” Quinn said. “It’s always the next man up for the player. What’s different for us is the amount of leaders who went down. So it’s, who’s the voice who steps up?”
The Falcons finished the season strong, with three straight wins, but by then they were already out of playoff contention. Quinn believes that once some of the other players on the team realized that it was “Next leader up, not just the next man up,” the Falcons became a better team to end the season. Unfortunately for the Falcons, reaching that point took time.