By PAUL NEWBERRY
AP Sports Writer
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga.(AP) -- Psst, did you hear the news? This one's
a stunner, so brace yourself.
Matt Ryan is NOT perfect.
The Atlanta Falcons quarterback has shown his human side over
the last three weeks, throwing seven interceptions after being
picked off just 13 times in his first 20 regular-season games.
Not all were his fault, of course. There were protection issues
and tipped balls and receivers not always running the proper
route. But it all comes back to the quarterback, the guy known
as Matty Ice.
"You've got to ride the ebb and flow of a season," Ryan said.
"There's going to be ups and downs. It's a long, long year. At
the end of it, you look back and kind of judge how you did.
Right now, we're just grinding. We're going to continue to
prepare during the week like we always do, trust that what we
are doing is right and stay the course."
Still, Ryan's play in the last three games - two of them losses
- has raised at least a bit of concern in Atlanta, if for no
other reason than it's the first significant bit of adversity to
crop up in what has largely been a charmed start to his career.
After being drafted No. 3 overall out of Boston College in 2008,
Ryan won the quarterback job in training camp, threw for a
touchdown on his very first NFL pass, led a team that was
expected to struggle to an unexpected playoff berth and was
named offensive rookie of the year.
The Falcons went to great lengths to ensure that Ryan had plenty
of weapons around him for Year 2, trading for future Hall of
Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez and ending Roddy White's holdout by
agreeing to a contract that makes him one of the highest-paid
receivers in the league.
Ryan played well over the first four games, completing
two-thirds of his passes for just shy of 1,000 yards, with seven
touchdowns and only two picks. But he struggled some in a
grind-it-out win over the Chicago Bears, was sacked four times
in a loss to Dallas, and completed just 19-of-42 with three
interceptions in Monday night's loss to unbeaten New Orleans.
His quarterback rating in that defeat (46.6) was the
second-lowest of his career.
Now, the Falcons (4-3) are trying to snap their first losing
streak of the Ryan era when they go up against one of the
league's top defensive teams, the Washington Redskins, on
Sunday.
"We know he's going to bounce back," running back Michael Turner
said. "Matt's cool under pressure. He's not being rattled back
there or anything like that. As long as we protect him well and
the receivers run nice crisp routes and get the timing right,
everything will be an improvement."
True to his steady demeanor, Ryan showed no signs of panic as he
discussed the slump standing in front of his locker at the
Falcons' training complex.
"You have to be more judiscious with the football, make better
decisions," he said. "But you don't want to lose that sense of
aggressiveness. You want to take some chances, you want to make
some plays. I know I have to play better. We have to play better
as a team."
Gonzalez said he's not the least bit concerned about Ryan's
troubles. As the last game showed, the stat sheet doesn't always
tell the entire story.
On the first interception, which was returned for a 48-yard
touchdown by Jabari Greer, White got knocked off his route and
Ryan threw the ball a little quicker than he would have
preferred because of a blitz. With the Falcons going for the
go-ahead touchdown, Ryan delivered a pass that was tipped by a
deeper-than-expected Jonathan Vilma and picked off at the 1-yard
line. The third pick was a throwaway: Ryan threw up a Hail Mary
on a desperate final play.
"He'll be fine," Gonzalez said. "When certain things happen,
when interceptions are thrown, I know the viewer looks at it and
says, 'OK, that was a bad throw. But it may be the protection or
it may be the receiver went too deep on the route. These are
things you don't get to see or don't understand because you
don't know the route and how we designed it throughout the whole
week."
While Ryan's demeanor never seems to change, his teammates have
noticed a little more fire in his Matty Ice's eyes during
practice this week.
"We've been talking and walking it through, and he's already
saying, 'I'm not going to do this, I'm not going to do that, I'm
going to fix this, I'm going to get my footwork fixed so I can
get better,"' White said. "That's the type of guy he is. He goes
out there and works hard. The next game, he's going to show
improvement."
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