NFC Notes: Falcons, Lions, Rams

Falcons

Falcons HC Dan Quinn admitted that he’s “concerned” about the hits QB Matt Ryan has been taking.

“Well, No. 1, I’m concerned about it because if we’re not protecting him in the way that we can, then that gets hard,” Quinn said, via Vaughn McClure of ESPN. “And there’s some games that the score’s out of whack and it turns into a dropback game where there’s going to be more chances for a defense to go after him.

“At the end of it, yeah, I’m concerned. But I’m as concerned about us playing as well as we can. And if we do do that, and if we play better on some of the third downs and allow some of our run game to get going again, I would anticipate those numbers going back the other way in terms of hits on Matt.”

• Falcons promoted DT Justin Zimmer to their active roster. (NFLTR)
• Falcons placed LS Josh Harris on injured reserve.
• Falcons signed LS Jon Condo.
• Falcons signed WR Julian Williams to their practice squad.

Lions

• The Lions tried out free agent G Salesi Uhatafe last week. (Howard Balzer)

Rams

Rams HC Sean McVay confirmed the report that he reached out to Kliff Kingsbury after he was fired at Texas Tech, but indicated the conversation was more than asking Kingsbury to serve as an offensive assistant/consultant for the remainder of the season.

“The gist of the conversation was more along the lines of just a friend reaching out to another friend,” McVay said, per Lindsay Thiry. “Those are things that when you have some rare friendships like I’ve been fortunate to form in this profession, you want to be able to, No. 1 be supportive of your buddy, but No. 2 if it’s something that can help you improve as a team, if somebody wanted to do that, we’re always looking for ways to do that.”

• McVay said that the loss of RB Malcolm Brown (clavicle) is “huge” for them: “You always want to try and be positive, but I think losing Malcolm is a huge loss for us and depending upon how long that is. But it’s a big deal for those guys to have to step up, and they’ve got large shoes to fill, that’s for sure.” (Los Angeles Times)
• According to Mike Garafolo, Brown is out for at least the remainder of the regular season.
• McVay says they like the “juice” OLB Dante Fowler Jr. provides off the edge: “You certainly feel him off the edge,” McVay said, via ESPN.com. “He’s got that juice that we talk about.”
• Rams waived WR Kendal Thompson from injured reserve.