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(Welcome all! With the NFL becoming more of a passing league, the “Cover 9@9” blog is here for you every Wednesday at 9 a.m. We'll get to everything about the Atlanta Falcons from Friday Night Lights to how exactly the defense gave up 475 yards to the Mighty Cleveland Browns last season. We’re ready for Day 6 of training camp and will look at how Matt Ryan hopes to rebound from two losing seasons. -– D. Orlando Ledbetter)
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
1. RYAN FINALLY GOES THROUGH SOME ADVERSITY:
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan entered the league and posted five straight winning seasons. He took his team to the playoffs in four of those five seasons.
That was extremely rare.
Rookie quarterbacks are expected to struggle and not lead their teams to 11-5 records. Ryan remained unflappable early in his career and rarely made mistakes as he leaned heavily on the Michael Turner-powered running game and wide receiver Roddy White. His first quarterbacks coach, Bill Musgrave, raved about how easy he was to work with and noted that Ryan had an extremely bright future.
After taking the Falcons to the brink of the Super Bowl, things start to unravel in 2013 because of injuries to the offensive line and Steven Jackson was an undependable replacement for Turner. Last season, the Falcons went 6-10, but Ryan maintained his high level of play. There were some hiccups like his across-the-field throw against Detroit in London. He was trying to do too much. But for the most part, his play remained at a high level.
Ryan should grow from the adversity he’s been through over the past two seasons, since he didn’t suffer that early in his career like Peyton Manning, Troy Aikman and a vast array of other quarterbacks, who had to play
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
early and stumbled out of the blocks.
No one wants to embrace losing, but maybe there’s a tougher and more polished gem of a Ryan who came out of the two years of losing.
Ryan seemed at ease discussing the start of training camp and the installation of the new offense under offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.
It was clear that Ryan has been pleased with the start of training camp under first-year coach Dan Quinn.
While he’s set to enter his eighth season in the league, he knows the team has a long road to travel in order to rebound from going 10-22 over the past two seasons.
“We’ve got a long way to go in training camp,” Ryan said. “There are a lot of things to get installed. A lot of things to get better at. But the effort has been consistent every day.”
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
The Falcons never slacked on former coach Mike Smith. Perhaps there was a big letdown in last season's finale against Carolina when it linked out that a search firm had already been hired to replace Smith. So, effort won’t be Quinn’s problem either.
It will be can this line block for Ryan and provide him with a rushing attack. Also, can Quinn succeed on defense where Smith and Mike Nolan failed.
“Anytime you can run the football and you can run it effectively, it slows down the pass rush,” Ryan said. “That’s the goal for us, to be balanced on offense and to be able to get that run game going. I think (offensive coordinator) Kyle (Shanahan) has a great scheme in terms of the zone blocking scheme. We have to rep it. Get better at it. Get on the same page, all 11 of us on offense. Once we do that, I think that will help.”
Ryan, who turned 30 in May, plans to learn from the difficult times he’s been through.
“Experience helps so much particularly at the quarterback position,” Ryan said. “You can draw back on, while in this situation we did this and it worked well for us. In this situation we tried this and it didn’t work well.”
Health-wise, he’s fine.
“I feel great,” Ryan said. “Honestly, my body, I feel as good as I ever have. We’ve done such a great job in training here in our offseason program. I feel as good as I ever have.”
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2. REVAMPED RECEIVING CORPS: The Falcons' receiving corps, behind Julio Jones and Roddy White, is undergoing an overhaul.
“Until you put the pads on against live defenses and you start playing at legitimate speeds, that’s when you get better,” Ryan said. “Our guys have picked it up really quick. I think we’ve adjusted to each other really well. I look forward to the challenge of the next couple of weeks of getting on the same page so that we can hit the ground running when the season starts.”
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
3. A LITTLE RUSTY:
The Falcons appeared a little sloppy and rusty during their two padded practices on Sunday and Monday.
Quinn and Ryan admitted to this. Quinn said there were a lot of things to be cleaned up.
“It’s real football,” Ryan said. “This game is a physical game. When the pads go on, the physical nature in people shows up. Anytime you put the pads on for the first time, things are a little bit rusty. But it’s real football.”
4. HARDY IS ON RYAN'S RADAR: Rookie Justin Hardy, the fourth-round pick from East Carolina, has caught Ryan's eye early in camp.
“Justin Hardy has done a great job coming in as a rookie,” Ryan said. “He’s a smart football player. He had a ton of catches in college. I think he’s the record holder. He knows how to get open. He understands offensive football. He’s done a great job.”
Leonard Hankerson, who was a free agent signee from the Redskins, has also been solid.
“He’s a humble guy and he’s working really hard,” Ryan said. “He’s a guy that has made plays in this league. Those two guys have done a great job.”
5. BONDING WITH SHANAHAN: Things were a little messy for Shanahan, the son of longtime NFL coach Mike Shanahan, in each of his past two NFL stops in Washington and Cleveland. (We don't need to rehash that here, but here's link for background purposes.)
All is quiet so far with the Falcons.
“I think it’s been great,” Ryan said. “He’s really, really bright. He’s smart. He has great ideas. He’s trying to do some things that I like. I think the combination of the two are really good.”
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6. EARLY PRACTICES ARE A HIT: The player enjoy Quinn's early morning practices. The practices were reversed under former head coach Mike Smith.
They did their walk-through in the morning and practiced in the 3 p.m. heat.
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
The Falcons are practicing in the morning and doing their second practice in the evening.
“I’ve been out on the practice field when it’s been a little bit warmer,” Ryan quipped. “I think guys really like it. It gives us a chance to kind of recover the rest of the day and be fresh when we come out.”
7. FALCONS WATCHED ROUSEY'S FIGHT: When some of the national media comes to town, they get some access that the locals don't get. Peter King, editor of TheMMQB.com and longtime Sports Illustrated senior writer, was in the team's meeting on Sunday morning.
He wrote about how Quinn had the team watch UFC fighter Ronda Rousey just pummel some poor little lady fighter.
The tenor of the meeting room changed from the time the players first saw Rousey to the time they first saw her beat up her foe. "She is fine," was one of the first reactions when Rousey showed up on the screen.
His message was that there’s another level of competition out there and he’s challenging all of the players to graduate to that next level.
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
8. ROACH AT PRACTICE:
Quinn is a big boxing fan and had trainer Freddie Roach at practice on Monday.
Roach is Manny Pacquiao's trainer. He worked out with some players including Devonta Freeman and Roddy White and spoke to the teams' website . CLICK HERE to see that video.
9. SIRIUSXM NFL RADIO TOUR: The SiriusXM NFL Radio tour around the league is underway and will feature live shows from all 32 NFL team camps.
Can’t wait to see pals Gil Brandt and Alex Marvez on Sunday, August 9. They’ll be doing the Falcons live on the air from 12 to 3 p.m. on Monday, August 10.
TRAINING CAMP 2015 -- CAMP QUINN
Julio Jones adds another gear to his speed
Brooks Reed slowed by hip strain
Julio Jones has no update on his contract status
Matt Ryan: Falcons have to get ball to Devin Hester
Jacob Tamme believes Falcons can have a dynamic offense
Matt Ryan sees new offensive attack coming together
Devonta Freeman-Tevin Coleman competition heats up on second day of camp
MARK BRADLEY COLUMN: Dan Quinn's plan for the Falcons: 'Outhit people'
Veterans determined to rebound in 2015
POSITION BY POSITION LOOK AT THE TEAM
Thursday – Fullbacks/Tight ends
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