Today's question: Do the Atlanta Falcons have the NFC South's worst offensive line? They made improvements last season with the addition of Jake Matthews, but the group still had trouble. Now the linemen have to adjust to a new scheme under offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.
David Newton, Carolina Panthers: No. I'm going with Tampa Bay. The Bucs allowed 52 sacks last season; only two teams allowed more. Atlanta gave up only 31. Tampa Bay also ranked 29th in rushing, averaging 85.9 yards a game. Atlanta ranked 24th. The Bucs were miserable after an offseason in which they spent a lot of money revamping the line. Left tackle Anthony Collins was such a bust after receiving a five-year, $30 million deal that he was benched during the season and cut after it. Tampa Bay had not only the worst offensive line in an NFC South that had a lot of dreadful lines, it was the worst in the NFL. It hasn't improved enough in the offseason to change that.
Mike Triplett, New Orleans Saints: All four NFC South teams had to revamp their offensive lines, a big reason why no one finished with a winning record last year. The first/worst team that came to my mind was Carolina. The Saints have always been able to get to Cam Newton, sacking him 13 times over the past two seasons, and I know the Panthers are switching left tackles for the second straight year. Then I looked at some numbers and saw Tampa Bay gave up by far the most sacks in the division last year before drafting two offensive linemen, Donovan Smith and Ali Marpet, in the second round. And Pro Football Focus had the Falcons' line rated last in the South in each of the past two years, with an especially low run-blocking grade. It seems like Atlanta especially needs to get more out of Matthews after investing the sixth overall pick in him in 2013.
Pat Yasinskas, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: The only thing that prevented the Falcons from having the NFC South's worst offensive line last year was a Tampa Bay line that was even worse. The line was a problem spot for the Falcons throughout the tenure of former coach Mike Smith. Now it's up to Shanahan to finally fix things -- and that's going to be a big challenge. Atlanta's line wasn't good at even the most simple thing last year as the Falcons ranked No. 24 in the league in rushing. The run blocking needs to improve, but Shanahan's zone-blocking scheme might take some time to adjust to. Largely due to the addition of Matthews, Atlanta's pass blocking improved last season. Matt Ryan was sacked 44 times in 2013 and 31 times in 2014. That's progress, but the Falcons still need to do a better job of protecting Ryan.