FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Although Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn sounded pleased with the improved health of his team coming off the bye week, Quinn stopped short of providing details about which players will be available against the Miami Dolphins come Sunday.
Julio Jones, Vic Beasley Jr., Ricardo Allen, Ryan Schraeder, and Courtney Upshaw all practiced in some capacity Monday. Jones suffered a hip flexor injury in a Week 4 loss to Buffalo but wasn't expected to miss any game action. Beasley, who suffered a hamstring strain against Green Bay in Week 2, did some light running before the bye week and still looked a little hobbled while walking around the locker room after Monday's practice. The injury, which occurred Sept. 17, was expected to sidelined him up to a month.
Both Schraeder and Allen are coming off concussions and both expressed expectations to play against the Dolphins. Schraeder missed the last two games, while Allen missed the Buffalo game and had another week during the bye to recover.
As for Upshaw, the severity of the ankle/knee injury that kept him out the last two games is unclear. Upshaw did not have a helmet on at the start of Monday's practice despite going through some light drills.
The one key player who didn't participate in practice coming off an injury was wide receiver Mohamed Sanu, who suffered a hamstring strain against the Bills. After an MRI on Oct. 2, Sanu was expected to be sidelined two to three weeks. He is unlikely to play against the Dolphins but could return for a Week 7 Super Bowl rematch at New England.
The Falcons don't have to release an official injury report until Wednesday, which should give a better indication on where Beasley stands coming off the hamstring strain. Jones could be listed as limited all week yet still be ready to play Sunday.
``We only had one player missing in practice today, so that was a good sign for us to know that a number of guys had come back,'' Quinn said. ``That’s [Ryan] Schraeder, Rico [Ricardo Allen] and Vic [Beasley], to have the energy to come back and play was really encouraging for us. We’ll see where it goes.
``It’s too early to call where we could go from this time, but most everybody was participating in some fashion. Then, as we get more into the week, I think we’ll have a better feel for it.''
































