The Falcons have lose cornerback Von Hutchins for the season as he needed LisFranc surgery on his foot this past Monday.  Hutchins was likely going to be the nickel back of the Falcons so losing him will be a huge blow to the defense.  Hutchins played in 16 games (15 starts) last season for the Texans and he made 93 tackles, had 1/2 a sack, defensed 6 passes and had 1 interception.  Hutchins would have been a solid nickel back for the Falcons who could be in trouble in the defensive backfield now.

The Titans physically beat up the Falcons last Sunday and it appears that it will leave a mark on the team for the rest of the season.  Starting LT Wayne Gandy will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL.  Undrafted rookie Renardo Foster will start in Gandy’s place and he played for Coach Petrino at Louisville.  I feel bad for whoever is playing QB if Foster is blocking the blind side. 

Rookie outside linebacker Stephen Nicolas will miss some time after suffering a high ankle sprain last week.  Nicolas was playing well for the Falcons this season as he has made 15 tackles and has a fumble recovery this season.  Nicolas was cutting into veteran DeMorrio Williams’ playing time but he will now be the undisputed starter and it will be interesting to see if his play picks up or not.  Williams has 17 tackles and an interception so far this season.

The Falcons have lost DT Rod Coleman for the next three to five weeks after he underwent surgery on his right knee.  This will hurt the Falcons run defense as Coleman allows the linebackers to run free.  Hopefully Jordan Babineaux will be able to help the run defense until Coleman is ready to return.  He made a whopping 2 tackles against the Vikings in the season opener.  Also, the Falcons have re-signed running back Jason Snelling to the practice squad.

D.J. Shockley will miss the entire 2007 season after he tore his ACL last Saturday Night.  This might really hurt Shockley’s career as he was in a heated battle with Chris Redman to secure the backup job on the Falcons.  In two pre-season games Shockley completed 9 of 17 passes (52.9%) for 123 yards with an interception.  He also carried the football 4 times for 19 yards (4.8 ypc).  Look for the Falcons to make a move before the season starts to bring in another QB because they aren’t sure if Chris Redman can handle the backup job.

Warrick Dunn underwent surgery for a herniated disc in his back and he will likely miss the next six weeks.  Dunn might miss the start of the 2007 football season so Jerious Norwood better be ready to carry a heavy workload early in the season.  Dunn also had shoulder surgery last January as his body seems to be wearing down from the beating he has been taking.  Dunn played in all 16 games last season and he carried the ball 286 times for 1,140 yards (4.0 ypc) with 4 TD runs.  He also caught 22 passes for 170 yards (7.7 avg) with 1 TD grab.