Falcons offensive line coach Mike Tice plans to have his unit on the move this season.
The line has been working on pulling extensively and executing blocks in the open field.
The technique is not new to the Falcons’ playbook, but he plans to use it more often.
“Some of the schemes were already in the offense,” said Tice, who’s in his first season with the Falcons. “Maybe our ratio is a little bit higher in calling them. It’s something that I’ve done for years, pulling the center.”
Tice believes pulling linemen help the offense schematically defeat containment.
“I like getting that leverage on defenses,” Tice said. “On certain defenses, if you can get the center out, you’ve got leverage on them. We are going to continue to work on that. I think the guys like that.”
Tice got all excited talking about a block that right guard Jon Asamoah made while he was pulling outside and down the field.
“He had a great pull on the first play of red zone yesterday,” Tice said. “He blocked the safety down field. It was outstanding because it’s an area of his game that we’ve been working hard on.”
The Falcons want to improve their rushing attack, which ranked 29th in the league last season.
“We want to be able to run the ball when we want to run it,” Tice said. “If we run it 12 times a game, we want to run it 65 percent efficiently. If we run it 25 times a game, we want to run it 65 percent efficiently. We want to make third-and-1s, we want to make them all. That’s what we want to be up front and we will be.”
