FLOWERY BRANCH — If you listen, you just might hear the collective exhale coming from Falcons headquarters.
The first three weeks of this season the organization watched as their $72 million investment in quarterback Matt Ryan got pummeled like a well-worn punching bag. Thirteen sacks and 23 hits in three games had management, coaches and players holding their breath.
That was then. This is now.
Ryan has been sacked only twice in the past three games. He went down once in Sunday’s victory over the Panthers. The Packers got him once, and the Seahawks came up empty. Two sacks, for total losses of 15 yards, is a more acceptable result in the “Keep Matt Clean” campaign.
“I think everybody notices it, but it’s not something where we sit there and look at how many times he got sacked,” center Todd McClure said. “Obviously, on the side we talk about it or if there is a sack during the game we evaluate it and see what we could do better. Our goal every week is not to give up a sack and not let [Ryan] get touched even once.
“It happens. It’s the NFL. But the least amount of times you can let those things happen it’s better for our team and our offense.”
McClure pointed to two reasons for the early-season woes. He credited the stout defensive lines of the Bears (five sacks) and Eagles (four sacks). Perhaps the biggest reason was an offensive line in flux. McClure has missed three games with a knee injury, and Garrett Reynolds is a new starter at right guard.
“The more we work together, the better we are going to get,” McClure said. “Hopefully we will continue to set the bar high on keeping Matt clean. ... We don’t like to see him get hit. That allows him to stay in the pocket, have confidence and gives time for the receivers to get open down the field.”
Ryan has been sacked 15 times this season, tied for 10th most in the NFL. The Rams are first with 22 sacks allowed. The 13 sacks allowed in the first three games, where the Falcons went 1-2, resulted in 93 yards of losses.
Falcons coach Mike Smith said the team made scheme changes to its pass protections.
“The biggest thing we had to evaluate, and I said it after the first couple of ballgames, was first and foremost we had to look at what we were doing schematically,” Smith said. “It’s easy to say let’s change Part A for Part B, and we are doing some things differently schematically in our protections. And our guys are getting more comfortable with one another. … Our coaching staff took a good, hard look at what we were doing schematically and then the players have stepped up their play as well.”
It’s still a work in progress. While Ryan was sacked only twice in the past three games, he was hit 16 times. Establishing the running game helped against the Panthers. Michael Turner ran for 139 yards, his third 100-yard performance of the season. Ryan threw just 22 times.
“That’s the strength of our offense when we are running and throwing and keeping Matt clean,” Turner said. “He took some hits out there. We are still not going to accept that. We have to improve on that.”
It won’t get any easier this week. The Falcons travel to Detroit to play the 5-1 Lions on Sunday. On their defensive front is Ndamukong Suh. A Pro Bowl defensive tackle and Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the Year last season, Suh has 12 sacks in his first 21 games and the Lions are tied for 13th in the NFL, with 14 sacks.
“Just like any other game, if you go out and establish a running game it slows down the pass rush,” McClure said. “Going into Detroit, I watched that Monday night game when they played Chicago last week. It looks like a pretty hostile environment. It’s going to be key to get our running game going and keep Matt clean.
“Every defense you play they’ve got some great guys up front. It’s not like the college game where you might have a down week and get to relax a little bit. You’ve got to be on point every week.”
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