Another day, another devastating injury for the Falcons. This time, it’s Ricardo Allen, who’s expected to be out for the year with a torn Achilles he suffered during yesterday’s loss to the Saints. With Keanu Neal and Deion Jones already out of the picture and the Falcons off to a 1-2 start, this is shaping up to be a tough season for Atlanta. Let’s see how Falcons fans are handling the latest injury news on Twitter. (HINT: not very well). “Falcons now have lost both their starting safeties, Ricardo Allen and Keanu Neal, to season-ending injuries, as well as LB Deion Jones.” pic.twitter.com/ganwIT5x8J — Kevin (@kblum_) September 24, 2018 Feel horrible about Ricardo Allen tearing his Achilles. Even with modern medicine, it's still an injury that is devastating and most players never return from, unfortunately. — Eric 🔌 (@EroII_) September 24, 2018 Brian Poole cost us Ricardo Allen for the season. Change my mind. — Ras Fiñcher (@rasfincher) September 24, 2018 Waking up today after S-Ain'ts game only to learn we've lost Ricardo Allen is lost for the season with a torn Achilles. And yes I am crying in my cereal at this very moment! pic.twitter.com/qYazYWE0wT — Stache McBurnsides (@ATLBirdsWords) September 24, 2018 Ricardo Allen Keanu Neal and Deion Jones all done for the year and Freeman is yet play a healthy game 😪 — Murv (@BM4Three) September 24, 2018 Now Ricardo Allen done for the year 🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️ I’m already over this season and it’s week 3 — Freddie Queger 🐶⚡️ (@FreddieMingle) September 24, 2018 Ricardo Allen is SO IMPORTANT! Y’all took him for granted and now y’all really about to see just how important he is! — Ella May-I (@AtlfalCANchick) September 24, 2018 Man Ricardo Allen out for the year?! The @AtlantaFalcons are infected with the injury bug. They need to hit up @CoachMShadeed to be the cure! — Ryan Eustace (@RyEustace) September 24, 2018 Ricardo Allen injury hurting me the most … cause he really the brains of the defense .. — sir shawn (@_1Takeoffshawn) September 24, 2018 Some felt it was time to aggressively go after a replacement. If Ricardo Allen really did tear his Achilles, we have to try to trade for Earl Thomas and then sign a SS. Something has to happen. We can't just say, "Next man up"…"stay the course". — Falcons Kingdom (@FalconsKingdom) September 23, 2018 Damn now Ricardo Allen is out..I think we need Earl Thomas asap — Go Dawgs!! (@Atldirtybird101) September 24, 2018 If Ricardo Allen is out for any length of time the #Falcons need to go after a starting caliber safety…. Earl Thomas would be my 1st call — John Michaels (@JohnMichaels929) September 23, 2018 Will be worth monitoring if #Falcons bring in help at safety if Ricardo Allen's injury is serious. Former Pro Bowler Eric Reid is a free agent, maybe you pick up the phone and call Seattle about Earl Thomas. He's a free agent after this year. — Justin Felder (@Justin_FOX5) September 23, 2018 Others just wanted to blame those of us who wrote about how healthy the team was coming into the season and therefore jinxed it (my fault). Link? BECAUSE I NEED EVERYTHING SO I CAN CURSE THIS MAN HUST HOW HE CURSED THE FALCONS — Corey Vladesov (@UrDaddyVladdy) September 24, 2018 And then there was this… Ricardo Allen’s number is 37. Tom Brady’s is 12. 37-12=25 You blew a 25 point lead in the super bowl. And that is directly correlated with this injury. — Jesse Lanham (@Jesse_Lanham) September 24, 2018 It’s going to be an uphill battle for the Falcons’ defense, without question, but fans shouldn’t jump off the cliff just yet. There are still 13 games left and the offense has come alive, especially Calvin Ridley.<doc-sep>Getty Images The Falcons defense has reportedly lost another starter to a major injury. PFT has confirmed multiple reports that safety Ricardo Allen tore his Achilles in Sunday’s loss to the Saints. His partner at safety Keanu Neal and linebacker Deion Jones are already on injured reserve and the Falcons played without defensive end Takk McKinley on Sunday. Head coach Dan Quinn didn’t say anything about Allen’s diagnosis after the game, but did say that he and General Manager Thomas Dimitroff have talked about adding outside help to counter their losses. “Yes, Thomas and I discussed that, and we’ll continue to discuss that afterward,” Quinn said, via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We have some other guys with some versatility that we’ll try to plug around. We’ll see what the length of the injuries are. That would certainly make a difference if we went outside to look for somebody else. If it’s shorter term, then likely we’d stay inside.” Allen signed a three-year extension with the Falcons this summer. Damontae Kazee, Jordan Richards and Keith Tandy are now the safeties in Atlanta. Eric Reid, Tyvon Branch and Mike Mitchell are veteran safeties available as free agents.<doc-sep>
Disaster! That’s the state of the Atlanta Falcons right now in the wake of yet another season-ending injury to a critical defensive player. This morning, we learned from Adam Schefter at ESPN that safety Ricardo Allen is out for the rest of the season due to a torn Achilles tendon suffered in Sunday’s increasingly-costly loss to the Saints. What now? Coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff know their team can only take so many hits before the ship sinks. At 1-2 their postseason hopes are not finished, but the growing tally of injuries is going to make getting there extremely difficult. When Keanu Neal went down for the season, we hoped they might go out and try to land an impact free agent. Instead, Atlanta chose to promote internally, making the promising DB Damontae Kazee a starter. Kazee has loads of potential, but he can’t cover for the loss of two starting safeties, especially those the caliber of Neal and Allen. Kazee has also shown he still has some things to learn. Worse, Atlanta’s other backup safeties are inadequate. Letting Ron Parker go is starting to look like a mistake, as Jordan Richards and Keith Tandy have proven they are band-aids at best, not a solution. If the Falcons are going to stay even remotely competitive this season, they have to add another quality safety right away. Fortunately, due to some unusual circumstances there are several good names that could be available, and one great one. Let’s rank Atlanta’s top four options to replace Allen.