Atlanta, GA
Atlanta Braves Ozzie Albies Takes Step Towards Return
![Atlanta Braves Ozzie Albies Takes Step Towards Return Atlanta Braves Ozzie Albies Takes Step Towards Return](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_2691,h_1513,x_1761,y_0/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/braves_today/01j6wvs8svm4d3192pt3.jpg)
Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies took a step forward in rehab. According to Braves beat writer for The Athletic David O’Brien, Albies will begin to get work in the field starting Tuesday.
“Ozzie Albies will begin doing some fielding today,” https://x.com/DOBrienATL/status/1831065911413109127. “Hasn’t been cleared to take batting practice, but he’s been swinging [the] bat some in the cage. Sunday will be 6-week mark. He said still going on initial 6-8 week prognosis, but he’ll need a rehab assignment before return.”
It’s been almost six weeks since Albies suffered a left wrist fracture in an attempt to tag a runner trying to steal second base. Following X-rays, it was revealed he would miss around eight weeks. If he’s back around the eight-week mark, he would return with about two weeks left in the season.
He still needs to go through a rehab assignment. If we’re basing it off Michael Harris’s stint, it’ll be about a week. Harris played a six-game series with the Stripers before returning to the Braves. However, that’s without any setbacks and that’s assuming he will start one in a week. Keep in mind that he’s not cleared to take batting practice yet.
Even if it takes more than eight weeks, there’s no indication he won’t be ready for the postseason if the Braves can hang on. The postseason starts in just under 30 days.
Before his injury, Albies was batting .258 with a .717 OPS with eight home runs and 47 RBIs in 90 games. He wasn’t quite at the level he was in 2023 when he made his fourth all-star team and received MVP votes, but when players had been following victim to the injury bug all season, they didn’t need to lose one of their mainstays too.
They tried to plug in prospect Nacho Alvarez Jr. to fill in for Albies, but it didn’t work out. Fortunately for the Braves, Whit Merrifield was available to be signed and fill the role at a serviceable level. He has played 31 games at second base in Albies’s absence.
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Atlanta, GA
Expectations for Atlanta Falcons QB Kirk Cousins vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
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The Atlanta Falcons will take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in their Week 1 home opener this Sunday. After an eventful offseason of new big-name additions, the most critical individual to their team’s success will take the football field in a meaningful contest for the first time since October 29th of last year.
A season-ending Achilles injury ended Kirk Cousins’s season and his five-year tenure with the Minnesota Vikings. Now, the 36-year-old is at the helm of not only the Falcons offense but organization as well.
Your 2024 Atlanta Falcons Captains!
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) September 2, 2024
As one of four team captains, Cousins’s expectations should be high yet tempered, because he has not seen ‘full speed’ NFL action in 11 months following a severe injury. In his debut, he will not have a straightforward ‘welcome back.’ Here are three reasonable expectations for Atlanta’s new star.
Kirk Cousins may initially look ‘rusty’ against a defense looking to rebound after a disappointing 2023 season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been known to field some of football’s best defenses. Last year, they had an underwhelming season as both a pass and rush defense. However, with defensive stars in Cameron Heyward, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Patrick Queen, and T.J. Watt, the Black and Gold’s defense is poised to leap back to top ten status as they were in years prior.
With Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin bringing back eight of 11 defensive starters from last season, the unit already has chemistry.
Contrarily, for Captain Kirk, it could take a few possessions for him to get into a rhythm on offense with his new teammates. Before his injury last season, the former Minnesota Viking was lethal when finding his ‘rhythm.’
Kirk Cousins threw 4 TD passes in rhythm (2.5-4 seconds) against the Eagles, tied for the most such TDs in a game in the Next Gen Stats era.
Cousins has thrown 114 TD passes in rhythm since 2016, 15 more than any other player.#MINvsPHI | #Skol pic.twitter.com/I5TYP7tplB — Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 15, 2023
However, putting the game out of reach may not take a lot once he gets going.
Expect Cousins to be aggressive against a relatively unproven cornerback group.
Without a doubt, Atlanta’s opposition possesses a better defense than offense. However the strength of that defense lies in the front seven. Of the five cornerbacks on their roster, only Donte Jackson has more than two years of NFL experience.
Standout receiving threats in Darnell Mooney, Drake London, and Kyle Pitts, offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, and his new quarterback will look to isolate Pittsburgh boundary corners. It remains to be seen who his security blanket will be, but his star-tight end seems to provide many options.
The unicorn is unicorn-ing 🦄
📺 FOX | NFL+ pic.twitter.com/MeIOLUgwpK
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) October 22, 2023
Should the home team’s new signal caller be able to exploit this group early, it will put pressure on former head coach Arthur Smith and a Steelers offense that has lacked an identity since the Ben Roethlisberger days.
Cousins’s stat line may not win fantasy matchups, but it should be efficient.
With running backs Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier in the backfield, no one should expect the team to rely solely on his arm to win the game. While some quarterbacks will attempt 50-plus passes in certain games, that should not be the expectation in Cousins’s debut. Moreover, expect between 20 and 30 attempts, with him potentially throwing two touchdowns against a talented veteran defense.
Above all, the Falcons should see a glimpse of the best quarterback play since Matt Ryan’s days.
Atlanta, GA
Dragon Con draws 72,000 fans, raises $210K for charity
![Dragon Con draws 72,000 fans, raises 0K for charity Dragon Con draws 72,000 fans, raises 0K for charity](https://images.foxtv.com/static.fox5atlanta.com/www.fox5atlanta.com/content/uploads/2024/08/1280/720/2024dragoncon-60-scaled.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
ATLANTA – Dragon Con made a significant impact on Atlanta over the Labor Day weekend, drawing tens of thousands of pop culture enthusiasts to the city.
PHOTOS: 2024 Dragon Con in downtown Atlanta
Organizers reported that 72,000 fans attended this year’s convention, with attendees coming from all 50 states and six continents. The event, known for its celebration of sci-fi, fantasy, and pop culture, also served a charitable cause, raising more than $210,000 for the Georgia chapter of the Arthritis Foundation.
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The annual convention continues to be a major attraction, both for fans and the local community.
Atlanta, GA
Atlanta city leaders consider use of city funds to buy blighted properties
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City council working on new plan for blighted properties
City leaders are considering a plan to purchase blighted properties using city funds. The council has already approved a ‘blight tax.’ FOX 5’s Joi Dukes has the story.
ATLANTA – In an ongoing effort to clean up Atlanta’s streets, city leaders are now considering plans to purchase blighted properties from owners who’ve failed to upkeep them over the years.
Last week, council members approved a “blight tax” that would penalize those property owners. The other idea that came up was using city funds to take the abandoned properties off their hands completely.
“There are a lot of options on the table for the city when it comes to property development,” Atlanta City Member of council Michael Bond said.
Bond says first responders being called to emergencies at abandoned properties is a common and costly occurrence.
“Responding to vagrants on the property, responding to fires, responding to illegal dumping…that’s a real cost to the city of Atlanta,” he explained.
That’s why he and other members of the city council are considering buying those properties back from neglectful owners.
“What has been discussed is that the city of Atlanta will make an offer to these property owners just to do a general transaction…if someone is not able or willing to maintain their property to keep it in a productive use, the City of Atlanta would try to acquire that property,” Bond said.
Atlanta’s blight tax on properties passes | What you need to know
Bond says it could save the city millions of dollars in the long term and give lower income residents more options for housing that’s within their means.
“Depending on the shape of the property and how much it might cost to rehab…that might be a site we could use for the development of more affordable housing throughout our city,” he stated.
One potential plan is to place the properties in the possession of urban housing authorities or go through the bidding process to select private developers.
Bond says the city cannot use eminent domain to take the old housing properties and redevelop them into new housing because of Georgia state code. City leaders will continue discussions about this at their next meeting.
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