Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is in a mini-slump.
He’s had his third and fourth lowest passing outputs of the season over the last two games. Ryan will be the X-factor when the Falcons face the Saints on Sunday with a playoff berth on the line.
He passed for 209 net yards against the Buccaneers and 211 against the Saints. He had 190 against the Seahawks and 173 against the Vikings.
Ryan needs 610 yards passing over the final two games to record his seventh consecutive season passing for 4,000 yards or more
The Saints flustered Ryan for key portions of the game during their last meeting on Dec. 7. He threw three interceptions on consecutive possessions before pulling it together in time to lead a game-winning field goal drive in the 20-17 victory at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“You have to flush those out of our system right after they happen,” Ryan said. “That’s the nature of this league. You’re going to have weeks that are tougher than others.”
Ryan completed 15 passes against the Saints and had a passer rating of 55.2, the 10th lowest of his 156 regular-season games. The 15 completions were also a season low.
“But at the end of the day, the win is what is most important,” Ryan said. “I was able to move past that pretty quickly.”
An item that was lost in the game was that Ryan directed the Falcons’ longest scoring drive of the season, a 15-play, 90-yard drive that took 8 minutes, 27 seconds off the clock in the second quarter against the Saints.
Ryan is expecting the Saints to retain much of their game plan from the previous meeting.
“Obviously, they did some good things in that game,” Ryan said. “I’d would expect to see some of those same things, but we might see a new wrinkle or two. We’ve got to be prepared for those things as well.”
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