Fox analyst Mark Schlereth, who played in the NFL and was a three-time Super Bowl champion, will call the Falcons' opener against the Seahawks at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Schlereth, who was a 10th round pick from Idaho, played from 1989 to 2000 with the Redskins (1989-94) and Broncos (1995-200)
Here’s what he had to say about the upcoming game:
Q: How are you stacking up things in the trenches for this game?
A: “The Seahawks really struggled creating a pass rush last year and they didn’t re-sign Jadeveon Clowney. I have a lot of questions marks about their edge presence in general. So, that’s going to be a big question mark for them.”
Q: How will they replace him?
A: "Edge presence is a big question mark for me. Bruce Irvin is a former Seahawk that was drafted by the Seahawks and has bounced around a little bit and went back to the Seahawks. It’s really hard to count on a 30-plus year old guy to be your major acquisition as your edge presence rusher. I think that’s still a huge question mark in my mind for the Seahawks in general.
Q: How are they against the run?
A: “I can only go by what they did last year. They are pretty good at the point of attack defending the run with their defensive line. (Nose tackle) Poona Ford is a big physical dude. He’s very short (5-11, 310) and compact. Jarran Reed is a guy who is really interesting to me because in 2018 he had 10.5 sacks in kind of a breakout. He hadn’t really produced before that and he hasn’t really produced in the sack-generating-pass-rush standpoint since then. He really needs to have a breakout, bounce-back year if you will.”
Q: How does the Falcons' defensive front with Grady Jarrett and Dante Fowler look to you?
A: “You know what, Grady Jarrett is get one of the great players that nobody ever talks about. He is kind of like the Aaron Donald-lite. Everybody knows Aaron Donald, he’s a household name and rightfully so because he’s so good, but when I look at guys that are impactful he’s one of the next guys from an inside presence pass-rush ability and in the run defense that is really intriguing to me. He’s one of the better players in the National Football League, but nobody really knows him.”
Q: What about Fowler?
A: “Fowler coming over from Los Angeles, he’s is really, I’m not going to call him a special pass rusher, but he has good edge presence. (He’s) good when it comes to being physical at the point of attack. He does create that pressure. He does have that ability.”
Q: What else have you noticed about the Falcons pass rush?
A: “One thing about the Falcons that intrigues me is the overall athleticism that they have on their front seven as a defense. Obviously, I mentioned Grady Jarrett, one of the best athletes at his position in football. When you start talk about (Foye Oluokun) and Deion Jones, you’ve got the ability to create some pass rush through athleticism in the blitz. That’s something that I think they have a real opportunity to do.”
Q: How will the Falcons' pass rush fare against Seattle’s offensive line?
A: “When you look at Seattle, there are going to be changes. They went out and got themselves a center (B.J. Finney) that they thought was going to be a starting center from Pittsburgh. He really hasn’t performed well in camp. It looks like they are going to move Ethan Pocic inside to be the starting center. So, there are a lot of question marks. Continuity and calls at that position, it’s really hard when you start to shuffling lineups around and especially when you start shuffling centers around.”
Q: So, the Falcons' pass rush may have an advantage?
A: “I think the Falcons and Dan Quinn, Raheem Morris did a great job of creating some looks to create questions in the minds of an offensive line. What front are they in? What are they actually playing? You can create that moment of hesitation. You can create pressure just from the way that you line up. I think going back to last year’s film I watched them do that on multiple occasions and I thought it was really good.”
Q: What do you see from Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan?
A: “Matt Ryan is exceptional. He’s a great player.”
Q: How’s his supporting cast?
A: “When you talk about talent…I call them the (perimeter) players… They’ve got unbelievable speed and athleticism out there. Obviously, you look at them from that aspect and what they are and what they do….they are exceptional.”
Q: What about the offensive line?
A: “To me, they have to be better. They have to be persistent,…It’s a fact that they’ve got to be more physical. One of the issues that I believe can help you in that realm is to identify what you are as a football team. Then lean on that. That comes back to identity. What are we? I thought as I watched film from last year, I couldn’t tell you what they were. Because I think there was, for me, watching the film, there is just a little too much volume. They were running too many things. Part of that is because you are trying to figure out over the course of the season what are we? Like what do I want to hang my hat on?... What’s Todd Gurley? What he’s got left? What is he and how are you going to put him in a position to shine? How are we going to basically put our offensive line in the best possible position to execute?”
Q: So they didn’t master the art of blocking?
A: “One of the issues that you have in the NFL and I travel everywhere, general managers ask me, I consult for several teams. General managers ask me all the time, what would you do? Ultimately, you don’t have enough time to practice that skill. Moving a man from point A to point B is the great skill in football. So, you don’t have a lot of time to do it. So, ultimately, I don’t want to spend a bunch of time doing six or seven different things. I want to spend a bunch of time doing one thing or two things and doing those things exceptionally well. That’s one of the things as I look at the film, that I would be critical of the offense from last year.”
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