Here are some excerpts from what Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had to say to the media on Sunday:
On how the offense has performed so far in training camp: “Yeah, I think we’ve done a good job through the first few weeks here. We’re three weeks out from our first game. I think we’ve done a good job but we still have a long way to go, for sure. But the effort and the intensity and guys’ attention to detail has been very good. We need to keep that up so that we’re ready to go three weeks from today.”
On the plan to bring everything together without exhibition season games and be ready to go Sept. 13: “We’ll, just to keep at it. I think Dan (Quinn) has a really good format for us in terms of working in three-day blocks to get ourselves ready for what the regular season is like for us. I think guys have focused on that just trying to take it day-by-day and make sure that our effort, our intensity level and our focus is at as high a level as possible for every time we’re on the practice field because it’s condensed this year. I think that’s the trick. I think we’ve got to keep that focus, keep that intensity up and make sure that every opportunity that we get to be on the field and get work done, that we’re making the most of it.”
On if he did anything different during the offseason to prepare his body for the season: “Not really. I feel like the last few years, I’ve gotten myself into a pretty good spot where I feel like I understand what works best for me in terms of training, in terms of sleep, in terms of diet, when to push and when to kind of pull back and get some rest. So, I feel like I’m in a good spot. I think probably more so than anything, it’s little tweaks in what you’re doing here and there. As I’ve gotten a little bit further into my career, I’ve learned that I need to move more often and take less time off. As counterintuitive as that sounds, I just need to keep moving and so it might not be as intense all of the time, but I’m definitely more active more regularly than I’ve ever been and that’s probably the biggest difference.”
On balancing his desire to play for a long time with understanding that teams are always planning for the future: “I mean, to be honest with you, I don’t worry about it too much. My focus has always been on taking care of my business and doing the best that I can. I feel like I’m in a really good spot in my career. I feel like I’m playing at a high level. So, I don’t worry about that. I worry about what I can control and taking care of my business. I haven’t had to deal with that yet in my career. Hopefully, I can continue to play at this level for a long time and be here for a long time, but no one knows what the future holds. So, I take it one year at a time and just do the best I can.”
On if he anticipated the transition back to having Offensive Coordinator Dirk Koetter around be smoother last season: “I think the hope was always that we would’ve been more productive last year, not only offensively, but as a team. Anytime you’re not playing in the playoffs, you have to take a look at what we did with a critical eye and make adjustments. I think Dirk is doing a really good job for us and you can tell – I was saying to him today during practice – there’s a comfort level from being a second year into the system for him, of kind of understanding the terminology and not having to translate it in his brain. It’s just coming out and his teaching has been awesome this training camp. So, you can feel, from a players’ standpoint, how much more comfortable he is Year 2 in the system.”
On an area he would like to see the offense improve this season: “I think the number one thing is we have to be more disciplined, whether it’s procedural penalties that kind of knocked us off of schedule – those are things that aren’t a lack of effort or anything like that, but that’s a lack of discipline. To me, that’s probably the number one thing more so than any of the other things is that we have to remain incredibly disciplined in terms of our mental output week in and week out. I think the league is too tough and our division is going to be too tough to shoot yourself in the foot with those kinds of penalties. That makes it extremely difficult. So, if I had to pinpoint anything, that would be the number one thing.”
On what impresses him the most about DT Grady Jarrett: “I think it’s just his effort day in and day out that impresses me the most. He is by far one of the hardest-working teammates that I’ve ever been around."
On if he has noticed an uptick in the defensive backs’ play in training camp: “I think they have been really good, and I think Joe Whitt has been a really good addition for us. He’s a really smart coach. I’ve had some good conversations with him about what they’re seeing from our end and how they’re trying to coach things. You can see it coming out. A.J. (Terrell) has done a really good job as a rookie coming in and showcasing what we can do. I think the overall level of the secondary has been really good the first couple of weeks.
On the special connection he has with WR Julio Jones and how often he thinks how grateful he is to have Jones on his team: “Every day, I do. Every day I’m thankful that he’s in our locker room and I’ve been able to play with him for coming up on 10 years. I’ve said it a number of times, but he is the most humble, hard-working superstar there is, and the absolute best teammate you could ask for. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to play with him for 10 years. I think you talk about how the relationship has changed in that past 10 years, I think it’s like any good relationship. It’s grown deeper, there’s more honesty and there’s a greater level of understanding of each other. He and I are on a level really of nobody that I’ve ever played with. I’ve been fortunate to play with some great receivers like Roddy White, great tight ends like Tony Gonzalez, but never had the opportunity to play 10 years with any of them. He’s unbelievable, he’s a great teammate and he’s certainly the premier wide receiver in the league. To me, there’s no debate about it.”
On WR Julio Jones’ impact on the other wide receivers on the roster: “It’s huge. He’s constantly saying, ‘Matt expects you to do this. Matt needs you to be here.’ Those are the kind of things that I trust him implicitly to know exactly what he’s talking about because he’s so smart. Just the amount of time that we’ve spent together, he’s heard that from me thousands of times. He really is an extension of me when he’s talking to those guys and we’re really fortunate to have him because not all guys want to do that either. Not all veteran guys in his position want to coach the young guys up. Some guys are just focused on what they’re doing and he’s not that way. He’s incredible with that group, and all of those guys benefit because of their time spent around him.”
On how the wide receiving corps helps him improve as a quarterback: “Well, they’re just so talented. They’re guys that if you just get them the ball in space, they’re extremely difficult to bring down in the open field. As a quarterback, you know it’s about getting the ball out on time, giving them space to move with it and they will make plays. So, I don’t have to do anything crazy. I just have to give them chances and they’re all so talented that they can make people pay every time they touch the ball.”
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