In addition to learning the playbook, one of the hardest things rookie quarterback Matt Ryan has to do is win over the locker room.

With his stellar play in the exhibition opener against Jacksonville, Ryan is on his way to earning the respect and confidence of the veterans.

Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Quarterback Matt Ryan completed 9 of 15 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown in his debut with the Falcons.

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Not only was the front office watching Ryan's debut with great anticipation, his teammates wanted to see him perform under NFL-style duress.

"I was a little worried about him, knowing that there was some pressure on him being the third overall pick and first pick for the Falcons," fullback Ovie Mughelli said. "It's just a lot of pressure on him. I, as well as everyone else, wanted to see how he handled it. He handled it great."

Ryan got off to a bumpy start, missing the mark on a couple of his first two passes. But even veteran quarterbacks have to ease into games. While with the Green Bay Packers, Brett Favre was notorious for throwing wildly on his first few passes early in his career.

After entering the game with 6:41 left in the second quarter, Ryan's first completion was an 8-yard pass to Mughelli.

"That's a lot of fun, to get in there against some of their starters and get some work," Ryan said. "I thought it went well."

Once Ryan settled down, he started connecting on his passes and led the Falcons on an 11-play, 74-yard clock-eating drive.

The drive was against Jacksonville's highly touted No. 1 defense. Also, the Jaguars threw a bunch of different schemes and looks at Ryan.

"He impressed me," said running back Michael Turner, who played with Drew Brees and Philip Rivers in San Diego. "It wasn't like he was playing against a vanilla defense with everybody just sitting back and letting him pick them apart. They were blitzing. They were bringing everything they could at him. He read it well, sat in the pocket and was letting it rip."

Ryan was successful because he recognized what the Jaguars were throwing at him.

"It was definitely good to see [real NFL defenses]," Ryan said. "There were some blitzes, some cover-two stuff and a bunch of different things. That's what you're going to see over the course of the season.

"Some teams are going to bring heat and then drop into coverage. I thought we saw a good bit of that. I think it's going to not only help myself but everybody by getting that on tape and learning from that."

Ryan did drop two snaps over five possessions, but didn't have any turnovers. He completed 9 of 15 passes for 113 yards and a 25-yard touchdown pass to Roddy White.

"As a rookie, you always go through stuff you can learn from," said Jaguars safety Reggie Nelson, a second-year player. "My advice to him is to keep in his books and constantly learn. You can get overwhelmed.

"There are going to be times when he struggles because it gets overwhelming. He just can't let it get to him and keep trying to always push forward."

During his second and third possessions, Ryan got into a groove and completed seven of eight passes, including plays that went for 25, 19 and 16 yards.

"Matt did a good job in there," quarterback Joey Harrington said.

Ryan's nine completions went to six receivers with White catching three of his passes and wide receiver Brian Finneran catching two. He also completed passes to Mughelli, tight end Ben Hartsock, wide receivers Michael Jenkins and Harry Douglas.

He had an 11-yard completion to running back Jerious Norwood nullified by a penalty when center Alex Stepanovich went downfield too soon.

"Matt Ryan came in there pretty early and did some good things for us," Finneran said. "He handled himself well in the huddle."

Spreading the passes around is a sign that Ryan is ahead of the reading-defenses curve.

"When you know everything that's happening and can anticipate things, that's what makes a big difference for those guys and Matt knows all of that stuff," Finneran said.

Falcons coach Mike Smith said all four quarterbacks would get a chance to start exhibition games. Ryan could be up for Saturday's matchup against the Indianapolis Colts.

"I think he really proved himself," Mughelli said. "If he can get better from this point on, he's going to be a great quarterback."