After missing the last three games with a knee injury, it sounds like Atlanta Falcons running back Devonta Freeman will be back in action Sunday at Heinz Field against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“He’s going to play,” Falcons head coach Dan Quinn said Thursday about the Sunday status against the Steelers of the team’s starting running back, according to D. Orlando Ledbetter of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Freeman, by the way, was listed as being a limited practice participant on Wednesday on the Falcons first injury report of Week 5 and Quinn reportedly said on Thursday he was unaware of that listing.
Freeman originally suffered his knee injury during the fourth quarter of the Falcons season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles and has not dressed for a game since. He rushed for 36 yards on 6 carries in that Week 1 game in addition to catching 3 passes for another 14 yards.
With Freeman out the last three weeks the Falcons running game has centered around backup running backs Tevin Colman and Ito Smith and they combined for 265 rushing yards on 63 carries in the team’s last three contests.
The Falcons running game through the first four weeks of the season has included some outside and inside zone schemed runs in addition to a few power concepts. The Atlanta offense would love to be able to run the football effectively against the Steelers on Sunday in an effort to keep their own porous defense off the field as much as possible.
