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Joe Hawley Injury: Center Likely Out Vs. Giants, Falcons May Sign a Lineman

No one's quite sure how serious Joe Hawley's injury is just yet, but it's likely Peter Konz will draw the start at center on Sunday.

By Dave Choate
US PRESSWIRE

No one's quite sure what's going on with Joe Hawley's injury, but his outlook for the upcoming game against the New York Giants is cloudy at best.

The injury appeared to be to Hawley's knee, which immediately leads to the suspicion that it's ACL or MCL-related, but we can't be sure until the results of that MRI come back to the team and either leak out or are announced later this week. Any way you slice this situation, it's likely to mean a multiple week absence for the team's starting center, which puts Peter Konz in as the starter, at least initially. I probably don't have to tell you that it's a downgrade.

Meanwhile, with injuries of unknown severity also hitting guard Justin Blalock and tackle Lamar Holmes, the Falcons are apparently exploring a signing. The name will be familiar to anyone who was tracking free agency rumors this offseason, and it's a guard:

I also watched Mike Smith's press conference a short time ago, and he declined to update anyone's injury status, referring reporters to the upcoming Wednesday injury report. Some are interpreting that as a sign that none of these injuries are season-threatening, but I'm going to reserve judgment until we hear something more concrete. William Moore, in particular, seemed like he was dealing with something potentially serious, and a signing tells you that maybe Blalock isn't going to be up for the Giants.

The rest of the press conference was pretty standard Mike Smith fare, so I won't bother rehashing it here. It's noteworthy that he singled out the defense for improvement and said he felt the offense has played well, however.

Fingers crossed for Hawley and the rest of these guys.

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