After Thursday’s practice, Falcons coach Dan Quinn said he was concerned about center Alex Mack because of Mack’s ankle injury, but that he wasn’t panicked about how the foundation of the offensive line would fare in Super Bowl LI.
The Falcons’ final injury report on Friday didn’t show any panic and a pretty low level of concern as Mack wasn’t given an injury designation for Sunday despite another limited practice. Quinn also sounds more comfortable with where Mack was a little more than 48 hours away from kickoff.
“I felt good after watching Alex [on tape] last night because I felt good about what he was able to do on the things we’re going to ask him to do in the game,” Quinn said, via the pool report by Peter King of TheMMQB.com. “It’s going to hurt, but a lot of guys are playing through stuff. The important thing is Alex’s mind is clear. He needed to test it and have guys go on him full speed, and he was able to do that Wednesday and Thursday.”
King reports that backup Ben Garland continued to get some reps in place of Mack and no one can predict how things will play out once the game gets rolling, but there’s no doubt that one of the biggest offseason acquisitions the Falcons made last year will be on the field to start their biggest game in years.
