Falcons guards Andy Levitre and Wes Schweitzer will have their hands full with Tampa Bay defensive tackles Gerald McCoy and Chris Baker.
The two players will be on the hot seat for the NFC South showdown at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday.
Both of guards, Schweitzer (28.3) and Levitre (38.1), earned their lowest game grades of the season against Seattle, according to profootballfocus.com.
Schweitzer, who plays right guard, was beaten four times in pass protection and gave up four tackles on runs (one for a loss). Levitre, left guard, was beaten three times in pass protection and gave up two tackles (one for loss) and he had a false start penalty.
Schweitzer was beaten on a key third down in the fourth quarter for a sack by Sheldon Richardson, that force the Falcons to punt the ball back to the Seahawks.
“We’ll have our hands full,” Bucs coach Dirk Koetter said. “We have a pretty good game wrecker in the middle of our defense in Gerald McCoy.”
McCoy and Bake allow linebackers Kwon Alexander and Lavonte David to flow to the ball.
“Our linebackers Lavonta David and Kwon Alexander are playing well right now,” Koetter said. “We have a pretty good corner of our own in Brett Grimes. But let’s face it, Atlanta’s offense, when they are rolling, they are tough to stop.”
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan believes sticking to the run game will help the guards in their matchups with McCoy and the 320-pound Baker.
“I think our offensive line has done an outstanding job this year,” Ryan said. “We’ve gone against some really good front sevens this year and our guys have stepped up and pass protected really well.”
