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The Falcons suffered three injuries on Thursday night that we knew about and a few others that were made evident just recently, such as the Ty Sambrailo shoulder injury. We had heard that the injury to Damontae Kazee was not a broken rib and that it was day-to-day. Well, we finally have a bit of an update on a couple of the other guys who got banged up. It looks like the injuries for both Russell Gage and Kendall Sheffield are not considered long term.
You can all take a deep breath now.
No decision on Thursday's game right now, but DQ said Russell Gage (hip), Kendall Sheffield (hamstring), Damontae Kazee (rib), Ty Sambrailo (shoulder) and Matt Simms (undisclosed) will be held out for the next few days. None of these injuries are considered long term.
— Jason Butt (@JasonHButt) August 18, 2019
The biggest fear in the preseason for any NFL fan (and coach for that matter) is injuries. For games that do not count, losing guys for an extended period of time is a tough pill to swallow. Gage in particular was going to be a painful loss, as he’s a significant special teams contributor and he was showing he could contribute more as a wide receiver this year, even if it would have been as the fourth or fifth on the depth chart.
Sheffield was not likely to get a ton of playing time, but these games are critical for the development of a young player. He’s shown some promise early in the preseason and it would be a shame to see an injury derail it this early.
We don’t know when any of these guys will be returning to action, but a return in the regular season is looking more realistic now than on Thursday night.
Your thoughts on these injury updates?