Matt Bryant, Mohamed Sanu sat out Wednesday’s practice

The Falcons were down two noteworthy players at Wednesday’s practice, the first injury report for the week before Atlanta plays the Browns. The first is Mohamed Sanu and the second, unsurprisingly, is Matt Bryant.

I’m not nearly as concerned by Sanu’s absence as I am by Bryant’s at this point, because he’s been dealing with this hip issue for a few weeks now and suited up and played well against Washington. I am worried that this is something that’s going to linger all season long and could be exacerbated, because while the Falcons are absolutely loaded with weapons on offense, they don’t have anyone with Sanu’s combination of plus blocking ability, sure hands and physicality ready to take over if he has to miss time. This will be an injury to watch.

I’m more concerned about Bryant’s injury because of the strong possibility he’ll miss this upcoming game. Giorgio Tavecchio has been stone solid in Bryant’s absence, hitting all his extra points and going 4/4 on field goals, but the team isn’t keeping two kickers on a lark here, and they’re hoping to get their uber-reliable kicker back sooner than later. It appears that barring a dramatic turnaround, it’ll be at least one more week.

The good news is that Robert Alford was able to practice on a limited basis and could see game action against the Browns. Cleveland doesn’t have the world’s strongest receiving corps, however, so don’t be stunned if the Falcons elect to sit Alford for one more week and trot out Isaiah Oliver again as a starter if Alford is in any way questionable to go.

We’ll keep an eye on these injuries today and tomorrow and hope for the best. Being at full strength, or what passes for it in 2018, will go a long way for this game and for the rest of the season.