Ryan is working through a ‘rough stretch'

By D. Orlando Ledbetter

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

FLOWERY BRANCH -- Matt Ryan started his off-day this week like he normally does.

He went into the office to do some work.

But he did leave himself some "chillax" -- chill out and relax -- time.

"I'm not going to lie, when I got home I turned on TBS and watched ‘The Office' for about three hours," Ryan said. "That was pretty good comic relief."

The second-year Falcons quarterback, who guided the team to the playoffs and was named the NFL's rookie of the year last season, has seen a dip in his play over the past five games.

"I think he's experiencing a time of adversity here," Falcons quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave said. "Every athlete in every sport will experience times of prosperity and adversity. We are clearly working through a rough stretch right now."

Ryan dazzled as rookie. His play went against the NFL's history of chewing up rookie quarterbacks and spitting them out like a box of nasty rocks.

This season, Ryan got off to a good start through four games as the Falcons marched to a 3-1 record. He completed nearly 67 percent of his passes and threw only two interceptions.

But in the past five games -- in which the Falcons went 2-3 -- Ryan threw 10 interceptions and completed just under 55 percent of his passes. He has 12 interceptions on the season after throwing 11 all season as a rookie.

"I don't think we can put our finger on one thing," Musgrave said. "But I think the interceptions have taken place this year for a number of reasons."

There have been some errant throws, some poor footwork and some receivers at the wrong depth, according to Musgrave and coach Mike Smith.

"Poor coaching and preparation on my part, both during the week and also in between series on Sunday," Musgrave said. "They are all mistakes that we are working to get corrected."

Other theories abound.

They include Ryan depending too much on tight end Tony Gonzalez. Ryan missing slot receiver Harry Douglas, who's on injured reserve with a knee injury. And Ryan having his rookie season in Year 2.

Some of Ryan's passes have sailed, such as the drive-killer that he tried to loop over the linebackers and in front of the safeties against Carolina with 3:59 to play and the Falcons down 21-19.

Ryan has had time to think about that one and probably would do something different the next time.

"Probably just ditching it," Ryan said. "Either biting the bullet and going down or getting that ball out of bounds. Those are the things where you have to live to fight another down sometimes, especially with the field position that we had."

Ryan didn't try to deflect any of the criticism for the throw.

"It was just a bad decision," Ryan said "The beauty of it is that you have to learn from that. You have to make adjustments, and hopefully when we are put in that position again, we come up with the result that we want."

Gonzalez can relate to Ryan struggling in his second season.

"They were saying that I was going to be a Pro Bowler my second year in the league, and I went out there and dropped 17 balls," Gonzalez said. "I played horrible until the end of the year, until I figured it out."

Wide receiver Roddy White wants Ryan to keep firing away.

"I have been just looking at the film and stuff like that ...," White said. "Nothing is wrong with Matt. He's doing a great job out there. It's tough playing quarterback in this league."