Falcons played shoddy, but boast shiny record

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The defending NFC champion Atlanta Falcons have a 3-1 record, but played horribly for the most part during the first quarter of the season.

Falcons head coach Dan Quinn and his staff will do a self-scout of the first four games before getting some time off over the bye weekend.

“We’ve been in some close games already, and as a coach you want that,” Quinn said. “You want to get tested to see if some of the lessons that you’re trying to teach at practice (are sinking in).”

All has not been well.

The Falcons needed goal-line stands to beat Chicago and Detroit, while the offense showed it still doesn’t have a good short-yardage plan while stalling on the 10-yard line against Buffalo.

Quarterback Matt Ryan, who is breaking in a new right guard and has had to play two games with a backup right tackle, is off to a slow start. He’s completed 88 of 135 passes (65.2 percent) for 1,109 yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions. He’s on pace for 20 interceptions, which would be a career high.

Ryan gets his interceptions when he’s trying to do too much behind shaky lines. He had a career-high 17 in 2013 when the Falcons tried to start Peter Konz at center and 16 in 2015 when they tried to start a guard at center in Mike Person. This year, guard Wes Schweitzer is picking it up and they need right tackle Ryan Schraeder back from the concussion protocol as soon as possible.

Ryan has not been able to connect on deep passes with wide receivers Julio Jones and Taylor Gabriel.

With Jones and Gabriel out with injuries for most of the offseason, it’s no real surprise that the deep passing attack has not worked. Against Buffalo, on throws of 10 yards or more downfield, Ryan completed 5 of 11 passes for 97 yards and two interceptions (37.1 passer rating).

“You can’t control the looks because they are going to play what they play,” Quinn said. “It’s the connecting when the opportunity is there.”

When they have gotten the defensive looks they like, they’ve been misfiring because the timing is off.

Better pass protection would help also.

Schraeder went down early in the Green Bay game and has been in the concussion protocol program. Ty Sambrailo, who was acquired in a trade with Denver on Sept. 1 has been a liability in pass protection.

Last season, the Falcons started the same offensive line for 19 games. You knew that wasn’t going to happen again. Sambrailo needs to anchor better against pass rushers and punch more often with his arms. Against Buffalo’s Lorenzo Alexander, he barely touched him on a few plays.

Schweitzer, after a bumpy start in Chicago, is starting to figure things out. Center Alex Mack and left guard Andy Levitre have been solid. Left tackle Jake Matthews did a great job against Detroit’s Ziggy Ansah, but had a tough time with Buffalo’s Jerry Hughes.

The Falcons continue to finesse things in short-yardage situations. Even after the Super Bowl third-and-1 debacle, the Falcons continue to throw passes instead of powering the ball at folks.

They tried passes on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 against the Bills and misfired. The drive stalled on the 10 and they lost. They are guilty of doing the same thing over again and expecting different results.

The Falcons try to coach up turnovers, sometimes at the risk of making fundamentally sound tackles. They are 28th in the league with a minus-4 turnover margin.

Once the line stabilizes, Ryan will stop throwing interceptions and the defense will continue to go after the ball.

“We just have to create more opportunities,” defensive end Brooks Reed said. “Being more mindful, keep harping on it and we’ll come through.”