Falcons owner Arthur Blank expressed high hopes for the upcoming season Wednesday, while acknowledging the 31 other NFL owners probably feel the same way at this point.
Blank, speaking at an Atlanta Press Club luncheon, said he expects the Falcons to be improved on both sides of the ball.
“We’ve had a really good training camp,” Blank said. “The team is absolutely faster than it has ever been before in my (15) years of ownership.”
He expects a better season from quarterback Matt Ryan and the expensive addition of center Alex Mack to make a big difference on offense.
“I think our offense will score more points than last year,” Blank said. “I think Matt Ryan will be the first to tell you that he didn’t have a great year. It was probably a little sub-par for him. He … threw for 4,000 yards for the fifth year in a row and had a completion rate in excess of 65 percent, but it still wasn’t the kind of year that Matt would be proud of — too many turnovers, too many mechanical mistakes, too many errors probably in judgment.
“He has connected, I think, on a higher level with our offensive coordinator, Kyle Shanahan. Kyle has, I think, (connected) with the coaches and players as well. So I think you’ll see our offense be more efficient.”
A key reason for that expectation is Mack, a three-time Pro Bowl center who signed a five-year, $45 million contract ($28.5 million guaranteed) with the Falcons as a free agent in March.
“I think the addition of one of the great centers in the NFL today, (who) will keep the ball off the ground and not flying all over the place, is a big deal,” Blank said. “It does matter to the quarterback that he gets the ball in his hands when the play starts. (Mack) is a great team leader as well, so he’ll escalate the play of really all the offensive linemen.”
Blank said the Falcons’ defense was “close to the bottom of the league” two years ago and “in the middle of the pack” last year, adding that he expects the unit to “move up significantly” this season.
The owner balanced his overall optimism with acknowledgement of the Falcons’ competition in the NFC South and elsewhere.
“I like where we are,” Blank said. “There isn’t one owner in the NFL who, if you talk to him right now today, would not say the same thing. It’s the beauty of the NFL — every city, every group of fans, has aspirations and hopes because the NFL is based on parity.
“We have a tough division. We have to win our division. We understand that. We can’t really count on anything else. One team we know we have to get over is Carolina, which has won the division three years in a row and has a fine team with a good young quarterback (Cam Newton). We have work to do, but I have confidence in our group.”
On another topic, Blank said June 2017 remains the target date for completion of construction of Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“We’ve been blessed with — it’s been hot — but very good weather to build for a long period of time,” he said. “We’re committed to the June 2017 date at this juncture. Steel in the roof area is more than half up and will probably be completed by this fall. We’re starting to insert seating by early fall, by September.”
Blank also said Atlanta United, his Major League Soccer team that begins play in 2017, expects to hire a head coach “probably this summer, early fall at the latest.”
“We’ve got a number of candidates,” he said. “We’re right in the middle of it now.”
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