FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Mike Tice has dealt with offensive line challenges before.

While with the Chicago Bears, Tice had to patch things together up front due to injuries and inexperience. And in 2001 with the Minnesota Vikings, Tice had to move forward without one of his best lineman after Pro Bowl tackle Korey Stringer passed away due to heat stroke.

Now in his first year as the Atlanta Falcons' offensive line coach, Tice has to prepare three new starters for Sunday's game against the New York Giants. The Falcons placed starting center Joe Hawley (ACL) and starting right tackle Lamar Holmes (foot) on injured reserved earlier in the week. Then left guard Justin Blalock was ruled out for the game with a back injury.

The Falcons' makeshift offensive line can't let Matt Ryan end up like this too often if it hopes to beat the New York Giants. AP Photo/Frank Victores

The Falcons will move forward with previously demoted Peter Konz at center, Gabe Carimi -- labeled a draft bust, by some -- at right tackle, and promoted practice-squad player Harland Gunn at left guard to go with rookie left tackle Jake Matthews and veteran right guard Jon Asamoah.

Tice believes Konz has played better at guard than the center position he was drafted to play, but he also believes Konz having a bigger body than Hawley will help in the run game. Gunn is an obvious concern due to lack of experience. And Tice is a firm believer in Carimi, a player he coached in Chicago when the Bears made Carimi their first-round pick.

"We're going to be fine there with Gabe,'' Tice said. "A lot of people forget he was a first-round pick and an Outland Trophy winner. So really, if you look at it from a realistic angle, we have two No. 1s starting at tackle [Carimi and Matthews]. Is that a downgrade or an upgrade? I don't know. You tell me?''

The Falcons entered the regular season already down one offensive line starter when left tackle Sam Baker suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason.

"Before we started our rash of injuries, I felt like we had 11 guys in this building that were going to help us win a championship,'' Tice said. "We had a couple of early injuries that put us down to nine. So I was feeling really good going into last week's game about our depth.

"I think what we lost more than anything is quality depth. Now we have to groom some depth over the next few weeks for the next wave of things that can happen. Something's always going to happen. This is the NFL. You don't get through the season unscathed.''

The other two linemen expected to be active Sunday are tackle Ryan Schraeder and rookie center/guard James Stone. Newly signed tackle Cameron Bradfield won't be up to speed just yet, while tackle Reid Fragel and guard Adam Replogle are on the practice squad.

"The guys that we have active this week -- the seven, including J.B. [Blalock] -- we have eight guys that can play winning football in the National Football League,'' Tice said.

It will be a challenge for the line just to keep quarterback Matt Ryan upright against a solid Giants' defensive front. It wouldn't be a surprise to see more quick passes from Ryan to beat the pressure he's certain to face.

Matthews said Tice has preached "precision'' all week in practice. Tice explained his message.

"If you're supposed to step with your left foot, you step with your left foot. If you're supposed to step with your right foot, you step with your right foot. That's precision,'' Tice said. "You can't have one guy step with his left foot and the other guy step with his right foot.

"They've been in this system since April, since I got here, and since we've made the changes in the run game and the techniques. My expectations are I'd be very disappointed and insulted if the players that are stepping up this week don't play at a winning level.''