Courtesy of Dirk Koetter, so much for thoughts the Atlanta Falcons had this master plan when they signed Todd Gurley

It was baffling why the Atlanta Falcons would replace injury prone Devanta Freeman with injury prone Todd Gurley at running back, and Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter didn't make things easier within the last few days.

If the Atlanta Falcons wish to end their streak of consecutive 7-9 finishes, they'll have to do a bunch of things this season (I mean, how much time do you have?), but they'll mostly need to run the ball.

So this isn't good . . . 

The ongoing mystery of Todd Gurley's knee.

"The main question is that no one seems to know is what's his health status?" Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter told reporters last week.

This is the same Gurley whose "health status" was uncertain even before he signed his one-year contract during the offseason with the Falcons for $6 million. 

The Falcons grabbed Gurley anyway. 

Goodness knows, the Falcons needed a running back after they averaged just 85 yards per game last season. Only two of the NFL's 32 teams had worse numbers. As a result, the Falcons whacked former Pro Bowl running back Devanta Feeman and his injury prone ways in search of doing better.

Um, Todd Gurley?  

Despite the Los Angeles Rams watching Gurley make the Pro Bowl during three of his opening four years as a pro through 2018, they said goodbye after last season to their 10th pick overall in the 2015 NFL draft. 

Why would the Rams let somebody like that go? 

Were the Rams still concerned about his injury issues that date back to his junior year at the University of Georgia when he tore his ACL?

Combine those questions with the "main question" from Koetter during his media session, and then consider another one: Since COVID-19 has kept NFL teams from having their doctor poke around free agents before grabbing the checkbook, why would the Falcons take a chance on Gurley with his injury history?

Maybe the Falcons knew something the rest of us didn't.

That was the logical response.

It's just Koetter added the following last week to the media, while pontificating on Gurley: "What's his workload? He averaged about 17 touches a game last year, which is a little lower than he had been when he was All-Pro. We're just gonna have to find that out once we get here and get him working, get him up and running." 

To translate . . . 

The Falcons haven't a clue about Gurley's status.

Which brings us to today's Saving the Falcons video.