Here’s what Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had to say after the 34-30 loss to the Washington Football Team on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium:
On the final play of the game: ”Getting into the end zone. Those plays are kind of a flip of the coin. You try and put it in a spot where your guys can make a play on it. Thought our guys got down there. They did a great job of getting in position. That’s just part of the game. Sometimes it doesn’t bounce your way. But there’s a lot of other things throughout that game that could have put us in position to not be there.”
On the second-to-last drive of the game and not being able to chew up clock: ”If we want to be the kind of football team we want to be and the type of offense we’d like to be, I think, you know, you get in those situations, you want to be able to move the football, burn clock and get some first downs, and in that football game we didn’t do it. That part is disappointing and we’ve gotta improve there.”
On where the team goes from here and how to move forward against the Jets next week: ”That’s part of being a professional. You’ve gotta get back to work tomorrow, have the mindset to improve, make the corrections from today’s game, and you know, apply those towards getting better next week in practice and finding a way to go to London and get the job done. It’s a long haul. There’s no doubt about that. But the improvement needs to happen. We have to have the right mindset. I think for the most part that’s been good all year. Sometimes in these type of games it can be difficult to get in there with the right energy and those kind of things. That’s on us as players to make sure we go in tomorrow with the right frame of mind.”
On whether he thinks they were too conservative at the end of the game: ”I think we gotta make plays. When your number is called, whether it be in the run or pass game, we’ve gotta execute. And we gotta go out there and get the job done as players. And so I think there’s opportunities to do that. And we’ve gotta do better as players.”
On his thoughts of Washington QB Taylor Heinicke: ”I thought he did a good job. I thought he did a good job today.”
On the roughing the passer penalty and whether he got hit in the head: ”The one on me? I’ll take it. (Laughs). It’s a jumbled mess out there when you’re playing. Right? And you get hit hard. It felt like I did.”
On the challenge when mistakes begin to mount in games: ”For sure. I really think it’s — you’re exactly right. It’s the small things that add up over time that end up costing you. And so and that’s kind of what I alluded to earlier to one of the previous questions is you gotta realize, ‘Ok, there are plays to be made out there. We can all do a better job.’ And you can’t start pointing the fingers in other directions. When we watch this film tomorrow, you gotta take an honest evaluation of yourself, what you can do better within the scheme and try and improve and make sure that we’re doing everything Wednesday, Thursday, Friday to correct those things. And doing it with the right energy and attitude. And I do think it’s difficult sometimes after losses. The easy thing to do is say, ‘Awe, man, I just feel bad.’ Well, the really good pros that I’ve been around are the ones that take a look at it and are honest with themselves. And I think we need to all be that way tomorrow.”
On whether he thought WR Calvin Ridley had a few drops: ”I have to see it, you know. It’s hard to explain. I don’t see a lot of those things when we’re playing. There’s a lot of traffic and stuff flying in front of your face. So you have to watch the film and take a look at it. I know he makes a lot of plays, too, and does some great things for us. So I’ll have to take a look at it on the film. But I don’t really see those things on the field. So I can’t really answer it.”
On RB Cordarrelle Patterson: ”He’s been great for us the first four weeks. I think he’s played extremely well. Made plays for us in the run game, made plays for us in the pass game. In the return game he’s done a great job. So I think he impacts the game in so many different ways. I’m really glad that we have him. I love playing with him. He’s a bit of a throwback in terms of football players. He’s tough. He does a lot of different things and goes out there and competes very well. I’ve certainly been impressed with him. I’ve always admired him from afar, but now playing with him and seeing what he does every day and how he works, I think he does a great job.”
On whether he’s concerned about the group’s mindset: ”I’m not concerned. I just think that having been around long enough, you want to get in front of things. And you want to be proactive as opposed to being reactive. And I think from a leadership position and a veteran guy in the locker room, that’s what I want to be, proactive, you know, and let those guys know tomorrow we gotta get to work. We gotta fix the things that we can fix and be better next week. We got 13 games to go. So a lot can happen during that time. I think the effort’s been great. I think the attention to detail is something we can improve at.”
On how he plans to refocus tomorrow to get ready for next week: ”For me it’s always making a list of as we go through the game things we did well, things I did well and taking a look at things I didn’t do well and putting a plan together for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of maybe I need to get my drops in better position, my hips at better positions at the top of drops. Maybe I need to be a little bit more patient in my progressions, right? Not move on too fast. I try and make notes like that every week and then go to the practice field and work on it. And I really don’t know any other way to do it other than that.”
On whether he knows exactly where a player is on the field when that player is having a good game: ”Not really. As a quarterback you trust the calls coming in, and you try and take a look at what the defense is doing and trust the guys we have out on the field that are going to go make plays and win their matchups. In a couple of situations today they gave us the looks and he had chances to make the explosive plays. But I don’t. I really — I try and play the game, play the calls that are coming in and go where the coverage dictates.”
Credit: Curtis Compton / curtis.compton@ajc.com
Credit: Curtis Compton / curtis.compton@ajc.com
On whether he was surprised RB Cordarrelle Patterson wasn’t in the game for the final two drives: ”I mean you don’t think of those things. You get the call that’s coming in. You trust the guys that are on the field. We got a lot of good players. He’s not the only good player we have. We have a lot of good players. We got a lot of good backs, too. I think Mike Davis does a great job for us. I love our guys and I trust all of our guys when they’re in there that when their number is called, they’re going to make plays, and for the most part guys did today. We just gotta clean some things up and do things a little bit better.”
On whether it’s frustrating thinking a few more first downs could be the difference in winning a game: ”Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s one of those things you talk about, you know, whether it’s on the third-to-last drive or the second-to-last drive or any of those, you know, where you come away with it a little bit different when the result isn’t what you want. You know, you play that back in your head. But you gotta be able to move on. You gotta be able to flush it out of your system. And I think the best teams, and certainly the best teams I’ve been on are the ones that, good or bad, you know, are able to do that. And so that’s kind of what I’ve been talking about with some of our young guys. You gotta have that mindset to be able to honestly evaluate it and then move on. Certainly tonight all of us feel that way. We would like to have made a play or two that would have change the outcome.”
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Washington FT 34, Falcons 30
New York Jets vs. Falcons in London, Oct. 10 at 9:30 a.m.
Bye Week
Falcons at Miami Dolphins, Oct. 24 at 1 p.m.
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