After a poor showing in New Orleans, the Falcons are set to make a change at right guard.
When the Falcons (4-7) play the Baltimore Ravens (6-5) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the revamped offensive line will be on the hot seat.
Zane Beadles, a veteran who was out of work, is set to take over for Ben Garland, who struggled mightily against New Orleans’ Sheldon Rankins last week.
Beadles, 32, has mostly played left guard over his career since he was a second-round pick out of Utah by the Denver Broncos.
“Zane has done a great job,” Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan said. “He’s a veteran guy who's played for a long time. You can tell he is very professional in his approach.”
Beadles signed after Brandon Fusco suffered a broken ankle and was placed on injured reserve. Beadles has played sparingly in four games.
“We have confidence in him,” Ryan said.
The Falcons want Beadles to help get their stalled rushing attack moving and help to secure the interior of Ryan’s passing pocket.
The Falcons rushed for 26 yards in their most recent outing, gave up six sacks and 13 quarterback hits. The Ravens have the top-ranked defense in scoring (18 points) and total yards (295.4 yards per game).
Beadles will be expected to help control middle linebacker C.J. Mosley, who is the fire-starter on Ravens’ defense. The three-time Pro Bowler has the most tackles (541) over the past five years in the NFL.
The Falcons have struggled to run anywhere. Just see their rankings as the NFL’s No. 31 rushing team (83.1 yards per game), No. 32 team in run plays executed (33.1 percent of all plays), and No. 32 team in rush yards as a ratio of total offense (20.8 percent) attest.
It’s been worst when they’ve tried to run off right guard, where their average of 2.13 yards per run is easily last in the NFL.
Seven times in 11 games they’ve rushed for 74 or fewer yards, and only twice have they surpassed 100 -- in wins against Carolina and Washington.
The Falcons have run most often to left end (60 times) and right end (41 times).
Yet they rank No. 30 in the NFL on those left-end runs (3.43 yards per try) and No. 27 when they go right (4.07). Last year’s numbers: 5.34 yards at left end, and 4.95 yards at right end.
When they go behind left tackle (Matthews), they average 4.69 yards (No. 10 in the NFL).
When they go behind left guard (Schweitzer), they average 4.42 yards (No. 11).
And get this, when they go right tackle (Schraeder), they average 5.78 yards (No. 7).
Yet right tackle runs rank No. 6 among the seven possibilities for the Falcons.
Their order of run preference goes left end (60 runs), right end (41), left guard (31), right guard (30), left tackle (29), right tackle (27) and center (11).
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