Providing Nick Foles with Enough Time

It’s cliche, but the cleaner a pocket is for a quarterback, generally the better he’ll perform.

Foles doesn’t have a tendency to toss the ball deep, which means he won’t have to wait for deeper routes to develop. That’s a good thing. Especially when looking at how Foles fares when facing pressure.

According to Pro Football Focus, Foles had an adjusted completion percentage of 78.4 with a passer rating of 110.6 when not facing pressure last season. But that number fell drastically to a 64.7-percent mark with a 69.3 passer rating when pressured.

You get the idea what Atlanta’s game plan will be. It’s pretty simple.

Blitzing isn’t exactly a part of Falcons head coach Dan Quinn’s game plan. In 2016, during Atlanta’s Super Bowl year, the Falcons generated pressure just 26.4 percent of the time — 20th lowest, according to Football Outsiders. Quinn’s 4-3 defense calls for two prime pass-rushers, a LEO off the right defensive end and a 5-technique “big” end on the opposite side.

Four-man rushes can be effective, but the personnel is paramount.

So it’s anyone’s guess if the Falcons can overcome the offseason loss of their leading sack producer last year, Adrian Clayborn, who led the team with 9.5 quarterback takedowns. This will put increasing pressure on pass-rushers Takkarist McKinley and Vic Beasley, who’ll look to return to his All-Pro 2016 form.

Good thing the Eagles have an excellent crop of pass-blocking offensive tackles in Jason Peters (90.6 pass-blocking PFF grade last year — second among 50 qualifiers) and Lane Johnson (78.9 pass-blocking PFF grade last year — 16th).

And overall, Football Outsiders ranked Philly’s pass-blocking abilities up front 12th in the NFL, which isn’t split by missing Peters (knee) for half of the 2017 campaign.