FLOWERY BRANCH – We checked in with Falcons offensive line coaches Pat Hill and Paul Dunn after practice on Thursday.

Hill, the former head coach at Fresno State, is in his second season with the Falcons. He previously coached in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns under Bill Belichick.

“I think Pat does a tremendous job,” Belichick said.  “I’ve known Pat all the way back from when he was at Arizona. He worked for me at Cleveland. Pat is an excellent coach. He does a great job. He’s a good fundamental teacher and a good motivator.

“He has a great way of motivating his players. He works them hard. Everybody loves him. He’s a guy that has a real upbeat and positive energy. He brings a lot to the football team. I really have a lot of respect for Pat. I think he does an excellent job.”

Hill and Dunn are overseeing the revamped offensive line, which is off to a shaky start in 2013. Matt Ryan is getting hit and hurried and the short yardage offense is struggling.

Here’s what Hill had to say about the unit:

Q: Could you discuss the development of the group as you and Coach Dunn have had to juggle some players in and out of the lineup?

A: “I’ve only been here a year and a half and didn’t we have the same starting lineup the whole season? This year, there have been a lot of changes, but that’s football.  After a lot of years doing this, both Paul and I have been doing it a long time. You go with who you have and you keep coaching them. I got a term for that; when somebody goes down, that’s a sad deal, but somebody is going to pick up the flag. When they pick up the flag, they’ve got to do a great job with it.”

Q: How has it been looping (Jeremy) Trueblood in to the action?

A: “What happened was that True came into the fold when Sam (Baker) went down the first time.  We had to move Lamar (Holmes) over to the left side. Lamar got four days at left tackle. True had been here about eight days and we go to Miami and play. I thought both of them adjusted very, very well under the circumstances. We just talked about getting work, who’s next and moving on. They’re professionals. They have to handle that situation. It’s going to happen to every body.”

Q: The sack numbers aren’t high, but hurries and hit number are high. How do you all quantify the pass protection?

A: We don’t really get too involved with them. Our job is to keep the quarterback clean at all costs.  There are different ways that it can take a toll on the quarterback. It can be a breakdown on the offensive line. A breakdown in assignments. A breakdown getting beat physically. A breakdown in coverage. There are a lot of different ways they happen, but it’s our job to make sure that guy stays clean. We are always striving to do everything that we can to keep Number 2 in a very positive position.”

Q: The perception is that they are not doing very well with the protections. How are they doing?

A: “I don’t know really much about the perception. I’m not too involved in that. I do know that we’ve got to keep working to perfect our trade on a weekly basis. We throw the football a good amount of times and we have to be better with protections. When you throw the ball a lot, you have to be good at protection. That’s what we have to do.

Q: Can the group help in the red zone, too? Perhaps, with some better run blocking?

A: The way I look at it, whatever play is called we have to execute it. I’m not into runs or passes. It’s just execution of whatever is called we have to execution. There are a lot of things that go into the execution of a play. There are a lot of moving parts. We’ve had some very good execution on those things and we’ve come up short obviously a few times.

Q: Lamar Holmes is basically a rookie playing-time-wise. How is he coming along?

A:  I think he’s coming along fine. There is still a lot of room for growth, but I think he’s got a high-ceiling. I think there’s a lot there to work with. He started out the season at right tackle and we had to move him to left tackle. Now, he’s sitting at left tackle until Sam gets healthy again. So, being able to adjust in really his first year of football and being able to hear the calls from both sides and working a different guard, there are a lot of things that go into it. I think he’s adjusting well. Is he perfect? No. But I think it’s getting better. Last week, I thought he played a lot better than he did in the Miami game. He went in on play 23 and I thought he did a good job when he went in.”

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