Schraeder, offensive line rebounds in second half

Seattle Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril, right, forces a fumble by Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan (2) in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016, in Seattle. The Seahawks recovered the fumble.. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

Seattle Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril, right, forces a fumble by Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan (2) in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016, in Seattle. The Seahawks recovered the fumble.. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

Seattle’s defensive front was giving the Falcons’ offensive line fits in the first half.

The Falcons were held to 86 yards and were 0 of 6 in third-down situations as the Seahawks built a 17-3 halftime lead.

“We just needed to settle down,” right tackle Ryan Schraeder said. “Our communication was off in the first half.”

At halftime, the offensive line decided to get its act together.

“Things weren’t going very smooth for us,” said Schraeder, who was beaten by Seattle defensive end Cliff Avril for a sack and had an offside penalty. “Guys, we got together, we’ve got a lot of leaders on our (offensive) line and we just said, ‘hey, we’re going to come back out and give them a fight.’”

The line did pull things together in the third quarter.

They gave quarterback Matt Ryan time to find his receivers and he rallied the team for three consecutive touchdown drives.

With the line blocking better, the Falcons cobbled together touchdown drives of 75, 79 and 97 yards to take the lead.

While Ryan was sacked four times and hit 13 times, the Falcons had a late one-point lead.

The Seahawks needed an interception and 45-yard field goal to pull out the victory.

“It’s tough, but that’s football,” Schraeder said. “A couple of plays didn’t go our way. We’ve been on the positive side of a lot of good plays this year. We just have to stick to the grindstone. We know what we can do. We’ll just come back out next week and be ready to go.”

Ryan seemed to thrive on the hits.

“He was kind of getting hit after the play a lot today,” All-Pro wide receiver Julio Jones said. “But he kept getting up. We are not going to lay down. We are not going to stay on the ground. We are going to stay out there on the field for each other.”