Falcons injury report: Terrell and Lindstrom sit, Hand lands on IR, and the QB job stays open

Wednesday's practice report landed like a gut punch nobody saw coming from a 0-1 team: two starters out, one lineman gone for the year, and a head coach who still won't name his quarterback for the home opener.

Three days out from Carolina, the Falcons are a team doing triage in September. Sunday is 1 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and the depth chart is starting to look less like a plan and more like a shrug.

A.J. Terrell and Chris Lindstrom both watched Wednesday

Terrell, the No. 1 corner, injured his shoulder defending a pass for DK Metcalf in Pittsburgh — he left, came back, and said afterwards he "wasn't feeling good" when it happened. Lindstrom, a captain and the best run blocker on the roster, is in the concussion protocol after leaving in the fourth quarter. Both were non-participants Wednesday.

That's the two most important non-quarterbacks on the team, in the same week. Kyle Hinton finished at right guard Sunday and would be the next man up again. The protocol is unforgiving here: a player needs at least one full practice after clearance before he can be active, so the calendar is doing as much work as the medical staff.

Hand to IR, and the front gets thinner by the day

The Falcons made it official Wednesday — Da'Shawn Hand to injured reserve, quad injury, surgery expected. He played seven defensive snaps before it went. Seven.

Hand's roster spot went to tight end Nick Muse, who played 77% of special-teams snaps in Week 1 and earned the promotion. The practice squad got two interesting names: defensive end Drake Jackson, a former second-round pick with 26 career games, and veteran running back Khalil Herbert — 1,957 career rushing yards, and a guy Ian Cunningham knows well from their Chicago days.

None of it replaces Hand. The interior was already absorbing the Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. absences, and now LaCale London and Gervon Dexter are being asked to hold a front together with tape and hope.

The quarterback question got more open, not less

Here's the part that should bother you. Cooper Rush and Michael Penix Jr. were both full participants Wednesday. Tua Tagovailoa was not — still the oblique, still no practice. And Stefanski's answer to all of it was the least comforting sentence of the week: "I'm not ruling anyone out."

At some point a three-man competition is just a team without a starter. Penix says he's getting closer but has "physical goals to hit first," which is the sound of a medical staff holding firm while the season starts without him. Rush, meanwhile, is the only one who has actually taken a snap this year, and his was the one that turned into a Steelers touchdown.

Carolina is a get-right game on paper, which is the trap

The Panthers gave up 291 rushing yards to the Bears in Week 1. Bijan Robinson touched the ball on 29 of his 44 snaps in Pittsburgh and produced 173 of Atlanta's 238 total yards. On paper, this is the game where the Falcons hand it off 30 times and win by two scores.

But Carolina scored 37 last week and lost anyway, which means the Panthers arrive with nothing to protect and a quarterback auditioning for a contract. That's the kind of opponent that punishes a reshuffled defensive front and an offense that can't get out of its own way on third down. Blowing this one at home would say something we don't want said.

Bird Gang bottom line

Two weeks into the Stefanski era, the Falcons have one healthy-ish quarterback, one reliable weapon, and a defensive line held together with practice-squad signings. Bijan can cover a 173-yard shift, but he can't cover two starting linemen and a corner. Sunday is a divisional must-win in September, which is a real thing now — and it's the first pick of your week that actually feels like a coin flip. Get the crew locked into a free league at pickembaby.com before kickoff.

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