The Thursday night game this week will be between the 4-5 Atlanta Falcons and the 2-7 Carolina Panthers. The game takes on some importance in the standings because the NFC South is loaded with losing records. Every win is important when the frontrunner in the division is just a 4-5 team. The winner of the division gets a home playoff game while the second-placed finisher this season looks likely to miss the playoffs altogether.
Falcons vs Panthers: Part 2
The two teams met in Week 8 in a memorable fiasco. The game went to overtime, Atlanta won 37-34, but before that happened the Panthers seemingly did their best to not win. They missed a game-winning PAT after getting a senseless penalty and then missed an overtime field goal before the Falcons finally ended the game.
Atlanta looks better on paper
The injury report after Tuesday's practice was the second glimpse we got at these two teams after Week 9. At first glance on Monday, the Atlanta Falcons definitely seemed to be the injury-report winners. They listed four players on their half of the report while the Carolina Panthers listed twelve players on Monday.
Matt Hennessy will be out for Atlanta, the team's center. AJ Terrell, the team's cornerback, will also miss the game. After that Atlanta looks pretty good.
Carolina did see several players improve between Monday's and Tuesday's updates. They did add one player to their list to come to a total of 13 players reporting. However, several Carolina players saw an upgrade on Tuesday relative to Monday. Carolina only had four players that were either limited or non-participants at Tuesday's practice.
Importantly, Chuba Hubbard improved for the Carolina Panthers. He was a full participant in Tuesday's practice after seeing limitations on Monday. Having already traded away Christian McCaffrey, Carolina did not want to get any thinner in the running back position. Hubbard remains questionable but was a full participant in practice on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Injury report is balanced
As for the questionable players, the teams will update their injury report on Wednesday. Anyone that is still questionable after Wednesday's report is usually a game-time decision or a game-day decision. At first glance, it was the Falcons that looked like they were in superior shape. However, the injury report is largely looking like a draw after Tuesday.
