Falcons down in Week 4 loss to Bengals The Atlanta Falcons dro

3 Falcons up Baby Takkarist McKinley Jersey , 3pped another one, this time falling to the Cincinnati Bengals in a 37-36 shootout. Who’s up and who’s down in the loss?UpMatt RyanThere’s nothing that needs to be said about Ryan at this point. He churned out another masterful performance, finishing with 419 yards, three touchdowns, zero turnovers, and a 134.5 passer rating. Unfortunately as was the case last week, the heroic effort ended with a loss.Calvin RidleyThe rookie wide receiver can’t stop scoring. Ridley leads the league in receiving touchdowns with six as he added two more against Cincinnati. He mostly earns himself a spot on this list for his route running ability as he juked Dre Kirkpatrick to another dimension en route to a 30-yard touchdown.Takk McKinleyMcKinley returned with to action from a groin injury with a vengeance, racking up three sacks and being disruptive for much of the game. He tweeted “I got you ATL” early in the week and made good on that promise.DownDesmond TrufantIt certainly wasn’t Trufant’s finest day, as Cincinnati’s receivers was able to consistently beat him and he was flagged twice: once for unnecessary roughness and another for defensive holding. We’ve come to expect a lot better from the cornerback Kendall Sheffield Atlanta Falcons Jersey , so his play on Sunday was a little surprising. Things were especially bad on the Bengals’ game-winning drive. He allowed Tyler Boyd to convert two fourth-down conversions an also let a should’ve been game-ending interception go right through his hands.Robert AlfordIt’s actually pretty miraculous A.J. Green ended up with just four receptions for 78 yards (and the game-winning touchdown) because he was able to get behind Alford on more than one occasion. Alford was flagged for defensive pass interference and defensive holding, the latter being declined since Green still made the 16-yard catch. He also lost contain on Giovani Bernard’s touchdown in the first quarter, allowing the running back to easily run outside for a 10-yard score.Brian PoolePoole finds himself on the down list for his unnecessary roughness penalty in the third quarter that gave the Bengals a first down instead of putting them in a 3rd and 17 situation. Fortunately, Damontae Kazee intercepted a tipped ball on the next play, but Poole and the rest of the Falcons defense cannot afford to commit penalties like that.Who’s up and who’s down for you? Le’Veon Bell had until 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 13 to report to Steelers if he was going to play this season. That’s not going to happen. He will not show up to the team’s facility before that deadline. Bell has now become the first player since Chiefs defensive tackle Dan Williams in 1998 to hold out for an entire season because of the franchise tag.Bell could have earned $14.5 million if he had played all season under the tag for a second straight season. However, he held out to protest his inability to come to terms on a market-resetting, long-term contract with the Steelers, as well as minimize the risk of suffering a major injury that could diminish or even destroy his value as a prospective free agent. Bell held out last year after he was franchise-tagged, but he returned to the Steelers right before the regular season began. While early reports suggested he’d return to the only franchise he’s ever known by the time the regular season rolled around Kendall Sheffield Jersey 2019 , his holdout pushed through the first half of 2018 and will now last the whole year. The move upset fans and teammates — but Earl Thomas’ broken leg served as a stark reminder of how fickle the football gods can be. What’s next for Le’Veon Bell?Bell won’t play in 2018, but his decision to hold out will likely free him from Pittsburgh’s grasp in the offseason. There are a couple different ways his offseason could go:Free agencyThe Steelers could decide to wash their hands of Bell and let him walk. He’s set to become a free agent this offseason, as long as the Steelers don’t try to tag him again. The franchise tagThis one is highly unlikely. Under the league’s collective bargaining agreement, retaining the tailback’s rights under the franchise tag next spring would cost the Steelers the average of the league’s five highest annual salaries for ‘19 — somewhere in the market of $25-26 million.The transition tagThe Steelers won’t pay Bell quarterback-type money, so it’s much more likely that if Pittsburgh makes an effort to retain Bell, or at least retain his rights in order to trade him, it’ll do so via the transition tag. That tag would cost the same as what the franchise was suppose to this year ($14.5 million), but it would also allow Bell to field contract offers from other teams. While the Steelers would have the right to match the terms of any deal he agreed to, but they’d have to either match it in its entirety or allow him to leave. That makes it especially likely he’ll return to the field wearing another team’s colors in 2019. Will Bell still command the money he’s looking for?But two questions remain:a) whether he’ll receive the mega-deal with big money guarantees the Steelers failed to offer Kendall Sheffield Atlanta Falcons Jersey , andb) if he’ll be the same player after sitting out a season.It’s tough to tell what impact a holdout will have on Bell’s value as a player, but just getting out of Pittsburgh would do wonders for his guaranteed money even if he doesn’t get the $17 million annual salary he desires. The Steelers have been reticent to offer large downside guarantees with their big contracts; the guaranteed money for players like Cameron Heyward, Antonio Brown, and Stephon Tuitt only covers about 20-25 percent of the total value of their deals.Meanwhile, Todd Gurley’s deal with the Rams offers him $45 million in guarantees on a $57.5m extension. Jerick McKinnon’s contract in San Francisco locks him in for $18 million on a $30m deal. Bell may wind up settling for less than he wanted in overall value once he hits the free agent market, but he’ll get significantly more in guarantees than the Steelers had set aside.While sitting out a full season raises questions about his level of play, Bell will return to the league in 2019 refreshed and injury free. He’ll also only be 27 years old next season. He should be able to return to form; Marshawn Lynch’s performance with a disheveled Raiders team at age 31 and 32 after a brief retirement serves as proof of this.Bell was a first-team All-Pro in 2017, but he was also relatively inefficient as a runner. His 4.0 yards per carry was nearly a full yard less than his 2016 average. And while he made a career-high 85 catches he only turned those opportunities into 655 yards and a pair of touchdowns.Still, even a diminished Bell is a unique threat. He sprang for 1 Womens Kendall Sheffield Jersey ,946 yards from scrimmage in 15 games last fall, even after a slow start that may have been related to the holdout that kept him out of practice during the preseason. While James Conner’s rise has made that performance look a little less special, whoever gets Bell in 2019 is getting an upper-tier tailback in the deal.What does this mean for the Steelers?Pittsburgh struggled to start the 2018 season, but has rebounded to turn a 1-2-1 beginning into a spot atop the AFC North by Halloween. Getting Bell back could have been found money, and his extra gear could be enough to paper over the team’s flaws elsewhere. While many of the Steelers’ biggest problems come on the defensive side of the ball, adding another playmaker could be the difference between a good offense and a great one.But it may not matter, because the Steelers are currently rolling. Bell’s replacement, James Conner, has done his part to make the club forget about its veteran All-Pro. The second-year running back broke onto the scene with a 135-yard Deion Sanders Jersey 2019 , two-touchdown performance in a Week 1 tie against the Browns, then languished with 97 yards on 37 carries his next three games. That helped support Bell’s case as an elite rushing talent — until it didn’t.Conner rebounded in a major way, rushing for 539 yards and seven touchdowns in his next five games, all Steeler wins. He currently ranks third in the NFL with 777 rushing yards at an efficient 4.7 yards per carry. He’s also made 39 receptions for 387 yards — a 9.9 yard-per-catch average that exceeds all but one of Bell’s single-season marks.This is all to say that Conner certainly looks like a star NFL running back, albeit over a small sample size. And while that doesn’t make Bell obsolete, it’s certainly lessened the impact of his missed games.Now he’ll get the opportunity to prove he can be a true lead back over the course of a full season without having to look over his shoulder to see if Bell’s in his rear view or not.