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.

 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.