Welcome back: 2010 Falcons commence season with preseason tilt with KC Chiefs

After two weeks of hitting each other while sweating under the blistering heat at their training facilities in Flowery Branch, the Falcons will get their 2010 season underway on Friday when they take on the Kansas City Chiefs at the Georgia Dome.

The Falcons took part in a final walkthrough on Thursday and head coach Mike Smith wanted to make sure his team was healthy and wanted to evaluate the younger talent instead of installing a full game plan against the Chiefs.

“We haven’t spent a whole lot of time in terms of preparing a game plan for Kansas City,” Smith said. “We’re going to go out there and do the things that we feel like we need to do. We did expose them to a little bit of the 3-4 defense because of the different blocking schemes. But until we get to Game 3, we’re not going to do a whole lot of game planning.”

80 Falcons players are on the roster and majority of them will see a good amount of playing time. There are few veteran players that will not see the field such as Michael Jenkins who suffered a shoulder injury on Friday at the Friday Night Lights event at North Gwinnett High School. Other players that are ruled out for Friday’s game are Harry Douglass who is coming off a torn ACL injury from last season and Dunta Robinson who has not take part in practice all week.

“I think [Harry Douglass] is on track to possibly play next week.” Smith said. “That’s the plan. If nothing changes, then he’ll get some limited snaps in the ball game next week.”
There could be from nine to 11 players that will not play on Friday including Brian Williams who, like Douglass is coming of a knee injury. Also, Jerious Norwood could not play in the game, due to the fact he has not practiced all week.

WHAT TO EXPECT…

If fans are looking to see a lot of playing time from the first team offense and first team defense, they will be disappointed because they will see the field for only one series in the first quarter, at most. This first preseason game gives the coaching staff an opportunity to evaluated some of the younger talent on the roster and see how they do in a real game for the first time.

All eyes will be on first round pick Sean Weatherspoon who will start at the weak outside linebacker spot. Despite being on the first team defense, he should see a good amount of playing time just from an evaluation standpoint.

Another rookie to keep an eye on is Kerry Meier who will see a lot of action due to the Jenkins injury and Douglass not playing on Friday as well. Out of all the rookies on the roster Meier maybe the most impressive.

There has also been a lot buzz about the play of Jamaal Anderson as of late and many are saying that he is having a great camp. He will start at defensive end on Friday, but expect him to get some work at the defensive tackle spot. In fact, out of all the starters on defense, he may see the most reps due to the lack of depth.

“Jamaal has had to get a whole bunch of reps simply because we have been light at the defensive tackle position,” Smith said after practice on Wednesday morning. He played a lot longer than we anticipated he would in the scrimmage, and I think he is going to have to pull some extra time in the game on Friday night, simply because of the numbers we have available on the defensive side.”

Kickoff for the game will be at 8:00 p.m. The Falcons will have Saturday off and will then be back at it on Sunday and Monday before the New England Patriots come to town on Tuesday for two combined practices before their meeting at the Georgia Dome on Thursday.