FanHouse Harvey Dahl

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Atlanta Falcons weren't even finished piling up takeaways, yards and points in Sunday's 45-10 rout of the 49ers at Candlestick Park when San Francisco coach Mike Singletary lost his sideline poise.

Rather than take out his frustrations on one of his underachieving players, Singletary instead engaged in a third-quarter shouting match with Falcons right guard Harvey Dahl.

During an early third-quarter drive that was dominated by running back Michael Turner (22 total carries for 97 yards) chewing up the 49ers' 3-4 defensive front, Singletary and Dahl argued back and forth, with both of them very animated and obviously irate. Neither was penalized for the jawing match.

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When Todd Weiner retired and Wayne Gandy got even older, the Falcons all of a sudden had a clear need for some depth at tackle. And if the Falcons are looking for a potentially reasonably priced tackle who could step in an start if needed, there is no better target than Titans' tackle Daniel Loper.

Loper has only started one game in his Titans' career, but it was a big one, as he played well against the Chargers during the 2007 playoffs. The only reason he's not been a starter is because the Titans have two equally young and even more talented tackles ahead of him.

Every week I take a look at the battle at the line of scrimmage in one NFL game. Check back every Thursday for a new edition of Between The Lines.

If you actually watched the Falcons last year, you got to witness a disaster. The team didn't have a quarterback to count on, and relied on an aging Warrick Dunn while a younger, more talented back (Jerious Norwood) spent the season as his backup. Oh yeah, the quarterback was in jail and the coach bailed on the team in the middle of the season, but hey, at least he left a note.

But as bad as all of that was, the worst part of the 2007 Falcons' team was its offensive line. The team went through four left tackles as Wayne Gandy's blown knee was the first of a series of injuries. Rookie guard Justin Blalock struggled and additional injuries forced shuffles at right tackle as well. The result was plenty of sacks, no holes for the running game and general disorganization.

It appears that the Falcons are trying to light a fire on Kynan Forney.

That's the most logical explanation for why Forney is working out with the second team this offseason while Harvey Dahl is taking snaps as a starter. Forney has started 89 games for the Falcons, which makes him one of the few long-term regulars still left in Atlanta. Dahl, not only hasn't started a game, he hasn't even been able to stick on an active roster in any of his three NFL seasons.

This Atlanta Journal-Constitution story says that offensive line coach Paul Bordreau likes Dahl's hot-tempered approach and his mean streak. And it is true that there have been other examples of practice squadders turning into NFL starters, but there also is a reason that Dahl has failed to stick on a roster in three tries. So it still seems like a longshot that Dahl will be starting when the season begins.

But it does mean that after a pretty disappointing 2007 season, Forney is on notice that he better pick it up if he wants to be in the starting lineup come September.