What It Means:

"I think it's an emphasis of the whole offense to make sure that's something that we want to be really good at," Mack said. "So, in order to run the wide zone, you have to have a full commitment of all of the guys on the field to make that work. It is a really powerful offense. It's something that we have a lot of experience with." Mack is referring to the Falcons' running strategy before coordinator Kyle Shanahan left to become the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. After finishing 30th in rushing yards per game (85.1) and 29th in attempts (22.6) last season, Mack is eager for the offense to make a change. “The better we can run that, the more it opens up the field, the more play-action opens up,” Mack continued. “Having that weapon really opens up the offense. I know it’s something that I’m excited about. I like hearing that because it means we get to run the ball more. It means we have more play-action passes. In general, it’s something that I do well. I think if we can get that going, we’ll have a very powerful offense.” The improved run-blocking should help free-agent addition Todd Gurley bounce back from a disappointing 2019 campaign. He averaged a four-year low 4.2 yards per touch (52nd among the 59 players to average 6.25 touches last season) on a career-low 16.9 touches per game.

The Falcons ranked 19th in numberFire's advanced team rushing metric last season. Per Pro Football Focus, the team ranked 11th in run blocking.