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My Questions for Matt Ryan
Published: May 26, 2009
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There’s been a lot of talk about sophomore slumps when it comes to you after your outstanding rookie season. Do you think there’s something to this superstition, and what have you done during the off-season to improve on your 2008 season?
What was your reaction when you first heard your team had acquired Tony Gonzalez?
Are the Atlanta Falcons going to be the team to beat in the NFC South this season? Who can challenge the Atlanta Falcons?
Back in January, your former head coach at Boston College, Jeff Jagodzinski, was dismissed for interviewing for the New York Jets head coaching vacancy. What are your feelings about that? Do you think he was treated unfairly or that his dismissal was warranted?
Which one of your offensive lineman has cost you the most money in terms of taking them out to eat? They kept your jersey fairly clean last year…I’m guessing you invested quite a bit.
You guys lost in the first round of the playoffs last year to the eventual NFC champion Arizona Cardinals. What did you personally learn from that experience and what must you, as a team, do differently this season to advance deeper into the playoffs?
Do you know how to calculate a QB rating?
I understand that on June 6, you will be hosting the Inaugural Topps Matt Ryan Football Clinic. Tell me about that.
What are some things you are doing differently this year in terms of the way you approach the game as opposed to the way you approached the game as a rookie?
What are some areas you feel that you need to improve in as a player heading into the 2009 season?
Are you in favor of the NFL expanding the length of the regular season?
What are your thoughts on the NFL scheduling games across the globe in locals such as London during the regular season?
The defense has a number of new faces on it, via the draft and free agency. How confident are you in your defense this season? Will they get the job done and make your life easier, or do you feel pressure to score at least 30 points a game?
What has Head Coach Mike Smith done for your career and how is your relationship with him? How has he prepared you to be the quarterback of this team and what has he taught about leadership and commanding the huddle at the NFL level?
Name some teammates of yours who have made a huge difference in your career during your short time in the NFL.
What is best thing about being an NFL football player? The worst?
How long do you plan on playing football? Do you have any plans for life after football?
New Faces, Few Changes for the Atlanta Falcons in 2009
Published: May 25, 2009
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After a disastrous 4-12 meltdown in 2007 which included the mid season resignation of college coaching phenom Bobby Petrino and the public criticism of the coaching staff and franchise by players De Angelo Hall and Alge Crumpler, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank immediately started the process of resurrecting his irrelevant and ailing franchise by announcing that Rich McKay would no longer be the team’s General Manager.
Blank then started an extensive yet simultaneous search for a new General Manager and Head Coach to lead his football team.
Blank first hired a General Manager, a man named Thomas Dimitroff who brought with him to Atlanta a wealth of knowledge about how to build a Super Bowl champion.
Dimitroff served as the New England Patriots’ director of college scouting and was a key part of a front office that constructed teams that won two Super Bowl championships in his four seasons on the job.
With a general manager in place, the franchise then pursued an extensive list of deserving candidates to fill the head coaching vacancy left by Petrino.
The list of candidates included the likes of USC head coach Pete Carroll, current Miami Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano, Cowboys’ offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, current Colts head coach Jim Caldwell, current Lions head coach Jim Schwartz, Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, and current Jets head coach Rex Ryan.
Two weeks after hiring Dimitroff, the Falcons offered the head coaching position to Mike Smith, a man with zero head coaching experience at any level of football.
So far, the hires appear to have been good moves.
Smith, a former assistant with the Baltimore Ravens and former defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars, overcame the imprisonment of then franchise quarterback Michael Vick shortly after his hiring and rebuilt a divided locker room and got the players to buy into the new direction and system.
The end result was a seven-game improvement from a 4-12 record in ’07 to 11-5 and a playoff berth in ’08.
An active off-season that included the signing of veteran linebacker Mike Peterson, a trade that netted the franchise arguably the greatest tight end in the history of the game, Tony Gonzalez, for very little in return (a second round draft pick in 2010), and a draft that almost entirely focused on the defense where five 2008 starters were subtracted has the Falcons primed to make a deep run into the playoffs in Mike Smith’s second season at the helm.
The personnel changes will allow Smith to better carry out his defensive philosophies in 2009. The Falcons defense was a bend-but-don’t break type of unit in 2008. The Falcons surrendered 348.2 yards per game, ranking them 24 in the league.
The defense did, however, show considerable bite inside the red zone and surrendered only 20.3 points per game, ranking 11th in the league. Smith wants the Falcons defense to more closely resemble the attacking defenses he coached in Baltimore and Jacksonville though: no bending or breaking.
From 2003-2006, Smith’s defensive units in Jacksonville ranked fourth in the league in overall defense (296.6 yds. per game), third in offensive points allowed (16.1 per game), and fifth in rushing defense (99.3 yds. per game).
While Smith was coaching the defensive line in Baltimore, the Ravens set an NFL 16-game regular season record by only allowing 165 points during their Super Bowl winning season in 2000.
To raise the Falcons defense to that level, the team subtracted five starters who did not fit Smth’s defensive plan and philosophy. Defensive tackle Grady Jackson, cornerback Dominique Foxworth, safety Lawyer Milloy, and linebackers Keith Brooking and Michael Boley were all allowed to sign elsewhere during the offseason.
The addition of athletic linebacker Mike Peterson, several key rookies, and the return of massive defensive tackle Trey Lewis will allow Mike Smith greater flexibility in molding a defense that more closely resembles the highly successful units he coached in Jacksonville and Baltimore.
Returning starter Jonathan Babineaux and first-round draft pick Peria Jerry give the Falcons two one-gap defensive tackles that can be highly disruptive and blow up plays in opposing backfields.
The addition of the versatile Peterson and the return of Trey Lewis from injury could be highly significant as it would allow Mike Smith the option of showing opposing offenses a 3-4 look on defense with Lewis lining up as a 2-gap nose tackle and Peterson moving inside with fellow linebacker Curtis Lofton.
John Abraham and Stephen Nicholas could stand up together on the weak side.
Greater flexibility on defense allows you to show opposing teams multiple looks. The more looks you’re capable of stopping a team with, the more confusion you can cause, which is critical for a defense that wants to attack their foes and take them off the field in a hurry, particularly one that has as many question marks in the secondary as the Atlanta Falcons.
If Lewis cannot rebound from two ACL tears to the same knee, it would eliminate some of that flexibility and force the Falcons to stick more to their base defense.
Offensively, the Falcons will not deviate from the run-heavy attack they utilized in 2008 despite the addition of Tony Gonzalez. The run-heavy offense coordinated by Mike Mularkey will still put a priority on running the ball with star Pro Bowler Michael Turner running behind a scrappy offensive line.
The difference this year will be the passing game will be more effective with the presence of Gonzalez, who is a good fit for this offense because he can both block and of course catch passes.
“We have a lot of guys back from what we’ve done last year and that helps when you come into situations like this. We’re not learning a new offense, we’re just fine-tuning what we did last year,” says quarterback Matt Ryan of the 2009 Falcons offense.
Defenses will now be forced to have second thoughts about bringing a safety into the box in order to stop the run thanks to the presence of Gonzalez.
“(Defenses) can’t bring a safety down as much,” said Turner about the impact of Gonzalez. “We can use the middle of the field more.”
Opposing defensive coordinators will be forced to choose between either loading up the box to stop the run, or committing a safety to covering Gonzalez, who is too big for most safeties and too fast for most linebackers. Against seven-man fronts, the Falcons will have an opportunity to run the football effectively.
With eight men in the box, the Falcons will have a chance to the throw the football, and given the quality and quantity of the weapons available to them in the passing games, expect the Falcons to burn their fair share of teams who dare bring a safety into the box with a play action pass.
With Gonzalez pulling a safety out of the middle of the field to account for his threat in the passing game, it gives a slot receiver like young Harry Douglas more room to work. Expect Ryan to send quite a few passes flying Douglas’ way this season and for the second year wideout to take advantage.
Douglas could have better numbers this year than Pro Bowler Roddy White’s partner on the outside, Michael Jenkins.
White and Jenkins should also find that the presence of Gonzalez will make their lives easier on the outside. With a safety keeping his eye on Gonzalez and given the fact that most linebackers are unable to cover Gonzalez, White will find that he’ll be seeing one on one coverage more frequently in 2009.
White and Jenkins will both have opportunities to make plays in single coverage situations all over the field with Gonzalez around.
Even with Gonzalez, don’t expect the number of passing plays the Falcons run to go up significantly. The Falcons will not suddenly become a team that throws the ball 35-40 times a game. Expect more big plays from the offense in general this season.
You can also expect more touchdown passes, more passing yards, and a higher quarterback rating from Matt Ryan this season, but the average of 27 times per game that Ryan threw the ball in 2008 will not change much. Mularkey and Smith want to run the ball. Only injuries to the running back position could possibly change that.
