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‘Ready for whatever’: Duke Riley confident in relief of Deion Jones Duke Riley has been rightfully under a microscope Authentic Alex Mack Jersey , and now he prepares to be under the spotlight. Thrust into starting middle linebacker duties in the wake of Deion Jones’ foot injury, Duke displayed confidence ahead of Sunday’s divisional matchup against the Carolina Panthers. Speaking to ESPN’s Vaughn McClure, Riley had the following to say about opposing teams targeting him in Jones’ absence: Confidence is obviously paramount for professional athletes, and it’s good to see the sophomore linebacker with the bleached Kentucky Waterfall projecting an air of comfort and poise heading into this weekend’s game. Onfield execution is, of course, another story. There’s simply no comparable stand-in for Deion Jones, so it’d be foolhardy to attempt to apply that impossible measuring stick to Duke Riley. Jones’ loss is going to hurt: plain and simple. It affects the defensive scheme, it impacts how the moving parts operate on the field, and to the Falcons’ detriment — it has opponents angling to attack a presumed weak link. But Riley http://www.atlantafalconsteamonline.com/matt-bryant-jersey , to his credit, did a serviceable-if-not-satisfactory job in his limited snaps against Philadelphia. He made the most of his opportunities, notably defending what appeared to be a surefire touchdown against tight end Dallas Goedert. Riley delivered a solid jam at the line of scrimmage and blanketed Goedert’s route down the sideline to prevent six points that would have shifted the tide of the game in the second quarter. If Duke Riley has increased his coverage chops, that’s heartening news for an Atlanta Falcons team that’s been whistling past the graveyard all week. Down two burgeoning defensive superstars in Jones and strong safety Keanu Neal, the Falcons are nowhere near an enviable position to be in. It goes without saying that you never want to be looking at 15 games without your team’s linchpins; but good, deep teams find ways to win in spite of circumstance. We’ll find out if the Atlanta Falcons are one of those teams on Sunday, where Duke Riley will assume the role as the team’s starting middle linebacker. The LSU product has elicited more question marks than exclamation points so far in his NFL career, so what to expect might be like a chemist dropping a mystery compound into a beaker. It could be a complementary catalyst. Or it could blow up in our faces. Either way, Duke Riley is exuding confidence ahead of Carolina Womens Logan Paulsen Jersey , and at this point we have no choice but to trust that he’s ready. Washington running back Adrian Peterson missed practice Wednesday, resting his shoulder injury. It does not seem a major concern.Peterson, 33, has averaged 19 touches per game thus far, with 738 yards from scrimmage and five total touchdowns. Coach Jay Gruden doesn’t have a major concern about that either.“I really don鈥檛 ever think about his age or wearing him down,” Gruden said, via quotes distributed by the team. “He’s never come to me or Randy [Jordan] and said, ‘Hey, I need less workload; I need people to come in for me.’ If that happens Womens Terrell McClain Jersey , then sure I will take it off of him, but he’s playing so well right now, when we call a running play, he better be out there. No offense to the other backs that we have, he’s just playing really well, and he’s handling the workload right now.“Every game is different. This week we might have to throw the ball a little more. They might load up the box, and we’ll have to throw it a little bit more, but right now he’s in a great place. He’s still feeling his way through some of these different types of runs that we have and he’s handling them extremely well, and I expect him to be a major part of our offense moving forward. He has to be right now http://www.atlantafalconsteamonline.com/ryan-schraeder-jersey , the way we are throwing the ball. Once we get the balance to where we want it, I think we can be a lot more effective on offense.”Washington had seven other players miss practice Wednesday: receiver Jamison Crowder (ankle), guard Shawn Lauvao (calf), receiver Paul Richardson (shoulder/knee), running back Chris Thompson (rib), safety Montae Nicholson (neck/hip), tackle Trent Williams (thumb/shoulder) and linebacker Ryan Anderson (knee).