Falcons tight end Levine Toilolo knew it would be difficult. No one really replaces the legendary Tony Gonzalez.
Dating back to the offseason, the team did just about everything it could to lower expectations for Toilolo, who was entering his second year in the league when he became Gonzalez’s successor. But while he wasn’t expected to pick up the passes left behind by Gonzalez, Levine, after a bumpy start, has come on as a blocker and is developing as a red zone threat.
Falcons coach Mike Smith was not pleased with the red zone efficiency against Carolina when the Falcons had to settle for two short field goals last Sunday. The Falcons’ only touchdown came after Toilolo caught a nifty back-shoulder pass for a 20-yard gain down to the Carolina 2-yard line.
Because of his size - 6 feet 8, 265 pounds — the Falcons had hoped to use Toilolo as a red zone option. But the passing game moved away from him after he dropped six passes earlier in the season. Sunday’s performance was a step forward.
“That was a big catch for Levine down the right sideline, our sideline,” Smith said. “He continues to develop as a catching tight end and a blocking tight end.”
With the offense trying to scratch out a new identity behind a revamped the offensive line, Toilolo has an opportunity to play a bigger role, based on how teams defend the Falcons in the red zone. He should not be hard for quarterback Matt Ryan to find.
“In the passing game, he made an excellent catch for us on the back-shoulder throw,” Ryan said. “I think that’s something, as we move forward, he’s going to make plays like that.”
For now, it is still a matter of catching the ball. Toilolo has been targeted on 31 passes, caught 17 for 172 yards and a touchdown to offset the six drops.
“It’s definitely something that I’m still working on during practice or after practice,” Toilolo said. “I’m still trying to shore up that part of my game. I’m really just trying to build that confidence back up and make the plays when they come.”
When the Falcons have featured Toilolo as a blocker, he’s had some success as the team has relied more on power formations with two and sometimes three tight ends.
The Falcons have even had Toilolo pulling and leading running back Steven Jackson through the hole.
“He’s been doing a very good job in the run game in setting the edge for us and being multiple,” Ryan said. “He’s being kind of the cutback blocker and he does some of that stuff that a fullback would do.”
Tight ends coach Chris Scelfo has seen tremendous improvement in his blocking over his rookie season.
“We have to do different things with him than we did with Tony,” Scelfo said. “He’s done that and he takes a lot of pride in it.
“Based on the improvement that he’s made this year, he’s obviously embraced it. Everybody has recognized it around here and inside the locker room. He takes a lot of pride in his blocking.”
Toilolo’s fierceness seemed to pick up with the Minnesota game when he finished at right tackle after three offensive linemen went down to injury.
“That gave him a lot of confidence,” Scelfo said. “He was put in a very unique situation. It’s never happened to me in my coaching career. But he responded well and played well that day at tackle. … If he had some doubt about himself, he kind of washed some of it away.”
Levine said he would go back into the trenches if asked — “When it comes down to it, it’s still just blocking,” he said — but the Falcons appear content to have Toilolo blocking more and hopefully developing into that red zone threat they envisioned when they selected him in the fourth round of the 2013 draft out of Stanford.
“People on the outside are worried about the passes that he catches, the statistics part of the game,” Scelfo said. “But Levine’s role is that he’s been asked to block a lot and he’s done a good job.”
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