Seven days after a frightening scene at Mercedes-Benz Stadium sent him to Grady Hospital, Kendal Daniels turned around and delivered the kind of closing stretch every defense dreams about.
The Falcons rookie linebacker not only made it back onto the field against the previously undefeated San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, he helped finish the job. Daniels intercepted a Brock Purdy pass in the waning minutes, then came up with a fumble recovery on the next drive to lock up Atlanta’s Week 7 win.
It was a sharp turn from last week’s injury, when Daniels spent nearly 10 minutes down on the turf after taking a knee to the helmet. Medical staff immobilized him and carted him off the field. Later that day, there was some relief when media members saw him walking in the locker room.
By Sunday, he was back in uniform, filling in for Divine Deablo, wearing the green dot and calling the defense. Daniels led the Falcons in tackles and finished with two takeaways.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski called the whole thing remarkable, and Daniels described the week as the craziest of his life.
“I've never not walked off the field after an injury,” Daniels said after the game. “Mentally, I had to be prepared and going back home and just making sure I was okay mentally more than anything, and not playing timid.
I've never not gotten up from an injury. So, being stretched off the field - I won't let it happen again.
It was a bad feeling, and I'm blessed to be able to play this week.”
Daniels said he avoided a major injury, but he couldn’t move his neck in the days that followed. By Wednesday, though, he was back at practice and improving each day.
The reaction inside the building matched the performance on the field. Gervon Dexter Sr. praised the rookie’s willingness to play through the aftermath.
“He’s a dog,” defensive lineman Gervon Dexter Sr. said. “Not a lot of players will go out there and play after something like that happened. He did, and he got all our respect in this building.”
Josh Woods said he checked in with Daniels after the “scary” injury on Sunday, but he never expected the linebacker to be sidelined for long.
“He’s got whatever ‘it’ is,” Woods said. “Everything that he does is pretty dope.
Then, for last week to go how it went, and then for him to have the game that he had today, it's a testament to his preparation. He's kind of got that ‘X-factor’, that ‘it’-thing about him.”
That trait showed up when the game was hanging in the balance. Daniels’ interception came after Atlanta had just gone three-and-out, and it looked like momentum had swung hard toward San Francisco.
The pick wiped out a 49ers drive that began at midfield and could have put them in front. Daniels returned it to the Falcons’ red zone, Nick Folk drilled the field goal, and Atlanta pushed the lead to two scores.
Then Daniels put the final stamp on it with the fumble recovery on the next possession.
Maason Smith said the rookie’s approach is what makes it all possible.
“He put his head down and goes to work every day,” Smith said. “He understands that nothing is given.
Everything is earned. When you have size and speed like him, with a mind like his, and you combine both of those things together.
Man, there's nothing but excellence waiting to happen.”
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