Heavily depleted secondary costs Atlanta Falcons in loss to Joe Burrow, Bengals

Falcons coach Arthur Smith wasn’t going to make excuses for his football team’s performance throughout its 35-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, even though it would have been easy.

Atlanta was without Casey Hayward, who was placed on injured reserve earlier in the week, and quickly lost its other starting cornerback, A.J. Terrell, who left in the first quarter after injuring his hamstring. The Falcons couldn’t turn to Dee Alford, who was already on the sideline with a hamstring, where he was joined by safety Jaylinn Hawkins and cornerback Mike Ford, who both exited in the second half with injuries.