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Breaking Down the Tape: OL and Sack Woes

by Vishnu_falcon on Sep 27, 2011 9:44 PM EDT

The Falcons OL being horrible, is an understatement after first 3 weeks. First, the bad news, whole of the OL stunk with out any exceptions in first 3 weeks. The good news, the problem seems to be winning one on one match-ups which hopefully is very fixable.Falcons offense is an offense in transition, however there were only 3 sacks(more than 4 Sec) which were result of Matt Ryan waiting for some one to get open down field. After watching the tape for first 3 weeks I have highlighted couple of sacks(which were not fumbles), I will cover the fumbles and Interceptions in another post. Jump right in to breakdown the tape and stats for the OL for first 3 weeks.

Sack 1:ATL Vs PHI Q2 - 5:30

Sack by: Trent Cole

Sack given up: Sam Baker.

Sack Cause:Justin Blalock.

Time:3-4 sec

This is a sack which will go against Sam Baker from a stat Perspective but the actual cause of this sack is Justin Blalock.

Sack 1:ATL Vs PHI Q2(5:30) :Scrimmage/Formation:

Sam Baker is lined up against Trent Cole,Mike Patterson(98) is lined up against Justin Blalock(63), Matt Ryan with Jason Snelling in the Back Field.

Click on the Photo to Enlarge.

Sack 1:ATL Vs PHI Q2(5:30) :Patterson Rushing Blalock.

Patterson ran over Justin Blalock and Sam Baker wrapped up Trent Cole. Trent Cole is behind Sam Baker in the Photo below. With Patterson rushing towards Ryan, Ryan tries to move forward.

Click on the Photo to Enlarge.

Sack 1:ATL Vs PHI Q2(5:30) :Blalock Wreckage

Blalock is on the ground and Patterson Flushes Matt Ryan out in to the arms of Trent Cole. This sack will go against Sam Baker for Trent Cole. But it is clear that Blalock was the cause for this sack. This is another case where stats might not be accurate if you just consider who sacked the QB.

Click on the Photo to Enlarge.

Sack 2:ATL @TB Q4(4:30) :Ball in the Red zone

Sack By: B Price.

Sack Given up: Justin Blalock

Sack Cause:Justin Blalock.

Time:2 Sec

This is a straight forward sack for Brian Price just moving past Justin Blalock. This was a critical sack which pushed Falcons out of the TD and forced a Field Goal.

Sack 2:ATL @TB Q4(4:30) :Scrimmage/Formation

This is a simple formation with Turner in the back field and 3 Reciever+TE. TB rushed 4, which is one on one matchup for the OL. Brian Price lined up against Justin Blalock.

Click on the Photo to Enlarge.

Sack 2:ATL @TB Q4(4:30) :B.Price past Blalock.

Justin Blalock couldn't hold on to Brian Price. Turner was almost open and in a split second Matt could have dumped it off to wide open Michael Turner. This sack was bad because the line could not hold on for 2 Seconds.

Click on the Photo to Enlarge.

The two plays have Blalock as the problem but in other plays every one in the OL including Tyson Clabo had given up sacks. I will cover sack fumble,one caused by Baker and other by Tyson Clabo in another post.

The following are the stats for OL including the cause for the sack. There are no Half sacks,everything here is marked as 1 sack against a player. Sack Cause is counted for the plays where a Player caused a sack given up by other players.

Player	Sacks (Cause)	Sacks(Given up)	Sacks(Caused by Others)
Sam Baker	0	1	2
Justin Blalock	2	1	0
Tyson Clabo	0	3	0
Garret Reynolds	0	2	1
Joe Hawley	1	1	0
Todd McClure	0	1	0

Almost all of the sacks were 2-3 Seconds, which suggests that scheme might not be a bigger issue than thought. How ever, it baffles me that the OL cant hold up for more than 2 seconds. Is it because of the fitness level of the OL because of the weird Off-season and lack of practice. Discuss other possibilities which might be causing a break down across the whole OL.

This FanPost was written by one of The Falcoholic's talented readers. It does not necessarily reflect the views of The Falcoholic.

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Comments

Rec'd

Might disagree with who you’re attributing blame to on one or two of these sacks, as there are surely more considerations we’re not taking into account, but very nicely done.

by James Rael on Sep 27, 2011 10:33 PM EDT reply actions

Thanks.

I picked up the sacks which are consistent with rest of the sacks. I wish I could write about all,but it might end up like a book. I have excluded sacks which resulted in fumbles for a later time, but the OL couldn’t hold on for more than 2 seconds in most of the sacks while atleast one player was open or about to get open.

It's all about Process...

by Vishnu_falcon on Sep 27, 2011 10:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Rec'd

Very interesting reading, keep up the good work :)

by DanishFalcons on Sep 28, 2011 5:58 AM EDT reply actions

Rec'd

Awesome Show. Great Job!

by YokoFalcon on Sep 28, 2011 8:15 AM EDT reply actions

Yet another excellent job Vishnu

I think all of these should be FP’d so we can spark some more convo, and to make sure that people are checking their perceptions with the reality in your posts.

As James indicated, things like who is responsible for sacks can often be subjective, but at least posts like this give us a platform to debate our stances.

Keep at it, V_F!

by KMarch on Sep 28, 2011 12:50 PM EDT reply actions

Agreed on Sacks.

It would be hard to pin point with 100% accuracy who was at fault with out knowing assignments. However, looking at the tape you can see where the protection broke down,causing the QB to move around and get sacked.

It's all about Process...

by Vishnu_falcon on Sep 28, 2011 1:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Awesome stuff Vishnu!

I don’t know if it would be a conditioning issue as the pressure has been coming at Matt from the start. We only look consistently good in the no huddle. Other than that is better than a 50/50 chance Matt can’t go thru his progressions and is running for his life.

by aces666high on Oct 1, 2011 12:03 PM EDT reply actions