Atlanta Falcons vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Halftime Notes and Analysis

If anything is evident right now, it's the fact the Falcons offensive line has very serious issues.

They allowed nine sacks on Matt Ryan coming into today's game, and once again they are failing to protect coming out of set formations.

The protection struggles have led to three turnovers, two of which hurt the Falcons and handed the Buccaneers points.

Despite only allowing 137 first half yards, Atlanta is trailing 13-3. The defense, in fact, has been very impressive.

Both teams look sluggish because of the slush field, due to hours of rain from earlier in the day.

Lagarrette Blount and Michael Turner are struggling with their first steps out of the backfield, making both team's front seven look remarkable.

The Falcons are doing a fantastic job swarming to the ball, and for the most part their pass defense looks so much better than it did in the first two games.

You can't criticize Matt Ryan. A lot of incompletions he throws are smart throw aways. Atlanta would benefit from a more consistent and demanding rushing attack, which is something they have struggled to produce in big games in the past few seasons.

All of the pressure is being put on Matt Ryan, and he's still 14 of 24 passing for 152 yards and a touchdown. 

That's a statistic you want to see at the end of the third quarter, however, not at halftime.

He's having to throw the ball way too many times in this offense. If this truly is a "running team," why has Matt Ryan now thrown 99 passes?

He does look much more comfortable when he can run the no-huddle. The offense simplifies, and worrying about pass rush is a lesser issue. 

The Falcons need to find a running attack that can get up field for four, or five yards, each time Turner gets the ball. Instead, they have been operating with an attack that is stopped at the line of scrimmage nine times out of ten.

Defenses are taking chances against that rushing attack and instead applying increased pressure on Matt Ryan.

Again, this issue falls on the offensive line. The offensive line, which is without Harvey Dahl, who is now in St. Louis, is really struggling here early on.