Cleveland Browns: 5 questions with Blogging Dirty

The Cleveland Browns face the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night. We spoke with Blogging Dirty to learn a bit more about the Falcons.

The Cleveland Browns open the home portion of the exhibition season with a game on Thursday night against the Atlanta Falcons.

After a predictable, but still somewhat depressing, performance last week against the Green Bay Packers, the Browns will be looking to show some more consistency on offense and more spark on defense.

The Falcons come to town with some familiar faces, including center Alex Mack, who signed with the team in free agency after spending the first seven years of his career in Cleveland, and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who is in his second year with Atlanta after one forgettable season with the Browns.

The Browns and the Falcons do not have much of a history, having only met 14 times in the regular season. Cleveland holds an 11-3 mark in the series and won the most-recent meeting in 2014.

To learn a bit more about the Falcons, we reached out to Freddie Boston of Blogging Dirty for a virtual Q&A.

Question: Matt Ryan only played two series in the preseason opener and didn’t do much. How long to do you expect him to play this week and what can we expect?

Freddie: Ryan might see a slight increase in his playing time, but not by much. He’s been under fire from fans and media alike after a rough performance against Washington, but the Falcons won’t panic about this. It’s preseason after all, which is essentially a glorified practice. Head coach Dan Quinn will throw out the starters early and pull them off after a few series.

Question: Speaking of the offense, how are fans feeling about the offense under coordinator Kyle Shanahan?

Freddie: Shanahan has received plenty of heat from fans over the past year. He was blamed for Roddy White’s drop in production, and many have pointed to his scheme as being too complicated. One ESPN report did claim Matt Ryan was “overwhelmed” by Shanahan’s offense, so maybe there is something to that.

Fans want to see more consistency on offense this year. With all of the playmakers surrounding Ryan, there is no more time for excuses. If it all fails, Shanahan’s seat will continue to heat up.

Jun 15, 2016; Flowery Branch, GA, USA; Atlanta Falcons center Alex Mack (51) sets up to block during a drill during mini camp at Falcons Training Complex. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports /

Question: What’s the buzz been around Alex Mack taking over at center?

Freddie: The best word to describe his arrival is relief. Of course, Mack is yet to play a regular season snap for the Falcons and there’s no denying he was overpaid massively (a five-year deal worth a reported $9.5 million a year, with the first two years fully guaranteed), but something had to happen. Atlanta’s play at center was a horror show last year. Without some of the chemistry issues between the center and quarterback, the Falcons may have gone onto win 10 games.

Mack might not be the player he once was, but he will offer some stability at the heart of the offensive line. And that’s good enough.

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Question: The Falcons drafted Vic Beasley to be a pass-rushing defensive end but have moved him to outside linebacker after just one season. What does he need to do to be more of a threat from that position?

Freddie: Finish. Beasley did a lot right last year, but he was unable to finish enough would-be sacks. He clearly has talent as he explodes off the snap and wins with speed. We began to see some improvements later in the season, and he played a key role in ending the Panthers’ unbeaten streak.

His transition to linebacker will be an interesting one, but Beasley is still set to rush off the edge in sub-packages. If he can begin to finish, his sack count should shoot up.

Question: Who is a player (or two players) that Cleveland fans may not know but should keep an eye on during the game?

Freddie: My pick would be Justin Hardy. Hardy was the Falcons’ fourth-round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, but he was eased into the Atlanta offense late in the season. After making some plays down the stretch, it’s going to be interesting to see whether he can earn a bigger role on offense. Hardy is my Falcon to watch.

Next: Browns: 3 keys to special teams success

The Browns will face the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday at 8 p.m. The game will be televised by WEWS Channel 5 and the NFL Network will replay the game Friday at 1 p.m.

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