Here’s a review of five things Matt Ryan had to say at his Wednesday news conference:
1. On his foot: "I got stepped on at some point throughout the game (Sunday against the Steelers). Nothing's wrong. It's just what our training staff, etc., has to do to dot all of their i's and cross all of their t's. But I'm fine."
2. On what can he pass along to other guys as they go through a difficult time: "There's always stretches throughout every season that are tougher than others and ours happened to be at the beginning, for us right now. So you know the way to get out of it is to put the work in on the practice field and make sure we're preparing ourselves as well as we can for Sunday. Then remain confident. You don't have to do anything extraordinary, you just have to do the ordinary things really well over and over and over. That's the recipe for success. I think consistency and doing those things throughout four quarters is going to be the key for us. I mean that's been the message from the top down and that's what I believe in."
3. On when they fall off their schedule, such as on second-and-nine on plays, and whether that changes the mentality on the next couple of plays to remain on schedule:
“For sure. Second-and-long is much different than second-and-6 or less. Second-and-6 or less you have everything at your disposal. Run the football, play-action pass, drop back, you can do all you want. When you’re in second-and-10 plus, it’s tough. The goal in that situation is to get it to third-and-6, 6 or less. I thought in the last game, I think it was 6-of-14 on third down and zero-for-4 on third-and-10 plus. So if you live in that world where you have third-and-7 or less, we can be pretty successful there. But we can’t continue to keep putting ourselves in third-and-11 plus.”
4. On whether there's anything they can draw on from their bad stretch last year: "I mean each team is different, each year is different. The way you win, the way you lose is different every time. The ability to stay the course and the mindset to stay positive, to stay confident. Those are all the things that you can draw from. I think we've got a good core of guys that have the right mindset week in and week out and are going to find a way to get it done."
5. On whether there is a point in the season that a team becomes what it will be for the year: "Honestly everyone is different. Every team finds it at a different time or doesn't find it. You don't know how they're going to shake out, you don't know how the year is going to shake out. The one thing that you can control is your effort and your consistency and your approach day-to-day. That's, to me, what you have to take care of. Control the things that you can control. I think that mindset from everybody has been really good, and I believe that's the recipe for success."
About the Author
