Atlanta Falcons OL performed much better Thursday
After a disastrous performance last Thursday against the blitz happy New York Jets, some personnel changes helped to protect Matt Ryan and give the Atlanta Falcons a glimmer of hope that the o-line will continue to get better.
Last week we discussed how terrible the Atlanta Falcons o-line looked and how they needed to protect Ryan better. In Thursday’s game against the Washington Redskins, they did just that.
It wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it was certainly better than last weeks performance. James Carpenter‘s presence along the line was a boost. The rotation between Carpenter and Jamon Brown helped to give Ryan time to throw and gave the running backs some open space to run. Ito Smith in particular had a strong performance that all but insured he would be the back-up to Devonta Freeman for the season.
The return of Kaleb McGary will be a definite boost for the o-line and will definitely help Ryan feel more comfortable in the pocket.
The absence of Ty Sambrailo, who struggled mightily last week, opened up a spot for Matt Gono to get the start. Gono wasn’t great, but he was at least better than Sambrailo, which I realize isn’t really saying much, but still, he was not terrible at least. Ryan was given time to throw and did not look visibly pissed off like he did last week.
In the lone touchdown drive for the Atlanta Falcons, the o-line looked great. The running backs found open space to run and Ryan looked sharp. It was great to see the offense clicking and the o-line performing up to standards.
Next. Grace is playing his way to an Atlanta Falcons roster spot. dark
It is clear the offensive line could still use some work, but hopefully the line is starting to gain more confidence and will continue to improve as the season begins.