Who's Backing Up the Backup?
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The Atlanta Falcons, in the wake of the Mike Vick dog fighting debacle, are now putting their faith (and I use that word loosely) in the hands of underachieving Joey Harrington. Battling for the backup position was 5 year veteran Chris Redman and 2nd year player DJ Shockley. Well, that battle got a lot easier for Redman. It was learned today that DJ Shockley tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee and suffered damage to his medial collateral ligament in Friday night's preseason victory over the Buffalo Bills.
During the two preseason games in which Shockley played he completed 9 of his 17 passes for 123 yards. He also rushed 4 times for a total of 19 yards. Shockley injured himself during the 4th quarter of the Bills game on a scramble in which he gained 10 yards but went down in obvious pain when the play was over. He was promptly carted off the field and Chris Redman came in to finish the game. The only other quarterback presently on the roster is Casey Bramlet who has yet to take a regular season snap. Bramlet led the Hamburg Sea Devils to a 37-28 victory over Frankfurt Galaxy in World Bowl XV in which he was named the game's most valuable player.
It was believed that Chris Redman had the backup position well in hand even before Shockley went down with his injury. Redman had played under the tutelage of then OC of the Louisville Cardinals, Bobby Petrino, who now happens to be the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. And to think that most people feel the Falcons are in trouble with Harrington at quarterback, what would happen to this team if he were to go down? Get ready for a long season Falcons fans.
