The Falcons have arguably the worst pass rush in football, owning a league-low five sacks through six games, including two weeks with none.
It’s also not like the club is affecting quarterbacks and just unable to sack them. The Falcons rank 29th in team pressures, so the narrative that they’re just not converting the pressures to sacks is asinine.
There are ten individual players that have the same or more sacks than the Falcons do as a team. To make matters worse, it’s not like the club is playing these menacing offensive lines. They’re playing shorthanded and/or bad units yet are still unable to find a consistent pass rush.
The Steelers, Chiefs, Saints, Buccaneers, and Panthers are either bad offensive lines or were without one or multiple starters. In those five games, the Falcons only totaled four sacks. Once again, they’ll be facing a bad/shorthanded offensive line this week.
The Seahawks’ offensive line might be the worst in football. All of these stats are from Pro Football Focus via the News Tribune.
Starting left guard Laken Tomlinson has allowed 16 pressures this season, which ranks 95th out of 101 NFL guards. Right guard Anthony Bradford has six flags in six games, which is the fourth-most in the league. Bradford has allowed 18 pressures.
Right tackle Stone Forsythe isn’t even the starter. Abe Lucas, the presumed starter, hasn’t played since January after offseason knee surgery. George Fant was signed to start but left 13 plays into the season opener with a knee injury.
Forsythe allowed 11 pressures against the 49ers alone, allowing a league-high 35 pressures, which is 16 more than any other NFL offensive lineman. And the club’s “highest-rated” Seahawk is Charles Cross, who has allowed 19 pressures this offseason, 109th out of 111 tackles.
The simple fact is the Falcons’ defensive line should wreak havoc on Seattle’s offensive line and Geno Smith. If not now, then when? This continues to be the question Falcons fans are asking. The club keeps facing either bad or shorthanded offensive lines, sometimes both; when the hell are they going to show up?
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Photographer: Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire
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