Quite a bit has changed along the Falcons’ offensive line, but that doesn’t have much to do with Alex Mack. Atlanta’s center is once again a Pro Bowler, and making line calls much the same as he did last week, last month and even last season as if on replay.
Nothing seems to phase the man in the middle, and he practically scoffs at the suggestion that left guard Andy Levitre’s likely return to the lineup for Sunday’s game New Orleans could alter anything about operating procedures up front.
For all the stability in the O-line in 2016, when the Falcons were the only NFL team to start the same five blockers in every game, there have been three different starting combinations this season, and in four other games Atlanta did not finish with the blocking lineup with which it started.
“We do so much during practice and all through training camp, all the time we constantly have the backups going through so when someone does down it’s business as usual,” Mack explained a couple days after being tabbed to his fifth Pro Bowl in his ninth NFL season. “You’ve been in there with the guy, you’ve had a lot of reps with him.”
Levitre suffered a partially torn left triceps injury early in the Dec. 3 game against the Vikings, and Ben Garland started in his place against the Saints and Bucs – both wins.
Right tackle Ryan Schraeder suffered a concussion in the Sept. 17 game against the Packers, and Ty Sambrailo – who joined the team just a few weeks earlier – started in his place against the Lions and Bills – a win and a loss.
Add the fact that right guard Wes Schweitzer never played in an NFL before this season, let alone started, replaced the retired Chris Chester and the Falcons’ front has been something like a revolving door compared to a season ago.
Levitre said that all the tape on his left arm and shoulder and the brace he’s practicing with and will likely wear against the Saints won’t change anything for him, and nothing will be new up front.
“No. I’m doing alright,” he said of his arm when asked if he had any pain or discomfort or if he was limited in any way. “It’s the same old, same old. I’ve been in meetings and obviously I’ve missed some time practice-wise, but I’ve been in it mentally. I know what’s been going on. I’m not planning on missing a beat.”
Whether anything changes in the way the offensive line goes about its business or not, life may well change for offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian in the way he goes about calling plays based on who’s playing offensive line, and how.
He, offensive line coach Chris Morgan and other staffers this week are paying special attention to Levitre in practice to determine whether there might be certain plays that should be left off the call list if Levitre has any limitations.
That’s not much different than the reality that Levitre may be more comfortable with some assignments than Garland and vice-versa.
“I think that’s natural in every position, and when you start talking about the offensive line you start looking at what runs guys block better, or is one better at the point of attack, ” Sarkisian said. “I don’t think we change our plan from week to week, but you can have an emphasis in one direction based on who is where. ... Coming off injury, regardless of who it is or what the injury is there’s natural focus on that to see how is he responding.”
Schweitzer’s just about certain that the Falcons will see something in New Orleans that they don’t expect, but that will have nothing to do with Levitre. It will be because it’s the NFL.
“You prepare for something, but there’s no guarantee you’ll see that. At least once a game you’re going to see something (new),” Schweitzer said. “They’re going to try to dial something up for your weaknesses. Every week there’s going to be something new.”
Mack and his linemates will handle it like always, almost auto-Mack-ly, between plays, on the sidelines and in conversation with Morgan.
His calls won’t change no matter who’s aside him.
“The play call’s the play call,” Mack said. “Now, if you want to get obscure, you really only have two backup (offensive linemen active) so if you have a lot of injuries sometimes you have a tight end coming in to play tackle, you may not make a tight end do exactly what a tackle would do. ...
“Everything else we prepared for. You run the play, and you might (say), ‘I didn’t really like how that looked.’ You work on stuff. If someone is blitzing a certain way and it’s really tough to pick up, we need to maybe slide a little wider or you say, ‘Make sure you give me a go call’ so I know you’re leaving [an area].”
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