Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is coming off his fourth-lowest pass-efficiency rating (53.6) in four seasons and has thrown seven touchdowns and six interceptions.
He had a 49.3 rating Dec. 28, 2008, in a season-finale 31-27 win over St. Louis, a 46.6 against New Orleans in a 35-27 loss Nov. 2, 2009, and 29.3 in the second game of his career, a 24-9 loss to Tampa Bay.
The Falcons are 16-0 when he has a passer rating of 100 or more.
Here’s a brief Q&A involving Ryan and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s D. Orlando Ledbetter.
Q. How would you evaluate your play this season?
A: When you evaluate play, you evaluate wins and losses as a quarterback. It certainly hasn’t been good enough up to this point. So it’s something that I think I need to play better.
Q: How can you get back to running more and balance out the offense?
A: We put ourselves in tough positions. We haven’t been able to remain balanced because we’ve made mistakes that have backed us up into a corner. I think it comes down, point blank, to that we need to play more consistent. If we do that both in the run game and the pass game, I think that will kind of add to a little bit of balance.
Q: How’s cornerback Chris Gamble and the Carolina defense playing?
A: Gamble has been playing a little bit. We obviously know, when he’s healthy, he’s a good player. What you see from him is a great effort. Their two defense ends [Charles Johnson and Greg Hardy] are playing at a high level.
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