A Sunday night victory for the Atlanta Falcons has cost them a valuable piece to their impressive defense.
The Atlanta Falcons opened up their new stadium in style in a rematch of last year’s NFC championship game. The Falcons handed it to the Green Bay Packers 34-23 to start the season 2-0.
After the win, the Falcons defense unfortunately will be dealing with a loss. Ian Rapaport reported on Twitter that Atlanta expects it’s best defender and defending NFL sack leader Vic Beasley to be out a month.
The pass-rushing specialist injured his hamstring in the third quarter of the game. The injury came moments after Beasley sacked Aaron Rodgers and forced a fumble that led to a touchdown.
Beasley has been able to register a sack in each of the Falcons first two games. He led the league with 15.5 sacks last season, in his second professional season.
The Falcons will have to deal with the loss of Beasley for the next month. Luckily for the team and Beasley, an early bye week, coming in Week 5, will reduce the amount of games missed.
Next up for Atlanta is Detroit on the road. Their toughest test comes on October 22 in a Super Bowl rematch in New England. That would be the game Beasley should be targeting to come back.
Stepping in for Beasley will be the team’s number one draft pick Takkarist McKinley. The rookie pass rusher played 14 snaps in week one against Chicago and recorded two quarterback hurries. He did enough to impress his coach who was quoted praising him in an article on AJC.com.
"“I really felt his speed off the edge,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “In particular, one play where it was a pass that was thrown and he came out of the stack to make a tackle. Those are the plays that are really his style. It’s quintessential Takk Mckinley speed, effort, and toughness.”"
Next: Falcons' toughest 5 games
The loss of Beasley will hurt the Falcons defense. However, a schedule with less than stellar offenses and the impressive performances by the entire Atlanta team should reduce the panic. The Falcons have Super Bowl hopes for the second straight year. A healthy Beasley will be key to that.