Takk McKinley ruled out after groin injury vs. Panthers

It looks like the Atlanta Falcons could be without defensive end Takk McKinley for the rest of the game against the Carolina Panthers. McKinley has been dealing with a groin injury which he sustained against the Dallas Cowboys in week 2.

Mckinley went on to miss the next two games before returning in week 5 against the Panthers, but unfortunately it appears that he has re-aggravated the groin injury he’s been dealing with the last few weeks.

Without McKinley in, the Falcons will need to lean more heavily on Steven Means (who has been solid but is obviously not a major pass rushing force), Allen Bailey, and Jacob Tuioti-Mariner. The Falcons need to get pressure on Teddy Bridgewater to throw off his very accurate throws, so we’ll hope that they can manage to generate it without Takk. Dante Fowler Jr. is due for a big day, and it’d help if that day was today.

Update: McKinley was officially ruled out at the start of the third quarter.