Falcons open camp: ‘Obviously, got to get better’

Or perhaps not, given just how the convoluted 8-8 season of 2015 played out. The 29 weeks of offseason may not have been enough to flush the memory of a fall that started 6-1 and then flamed out at 2-7. It didn’t take much scratching after the first practice — official time: one hour, 42 minutes — to find that some of 2015 endures.

“To me, it put a different type of chip on my shoulder, knowing that we left so much on the field,” running back Devonta Freeman said.

All that lies ahead is the NFL’s toughest schedule (tied with San Francisco), based on last season’s results. They face four West Coast trips. They play the reigning Super Bowl champion in Denver and have two shots at the Super Bowl runner-up Carolina. Five starters from the 2015 opener — nearly of quarter of those 22 players — are no longer with the team.

New challenges? They got them. Now, if they can just finish turning the page on last year.

“I think there are some pages that you turn and then there are some pages that I keep as a good refresher of how we want to be,” said coach Dan Quinn as he opened his second year (DQ2). “Some of those scars, some of those learning incidents are pages I keep fresh on my desk.”

“There were some good things last year,” offensive tackle Jake Matthews said, “but obviously, we got to get better.”

Just minutes into the first session, some of the new imperatives were on display. During 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills, the defense continued to try to swat balls loose well after the whistle blew, a demonstration of Quinn’s campaign to force more turnovers. The Falcons’ 21 takeaways last season were the sixth-fewest in the league.

Freeman had the day’s prettiest play, lining up split wide and catching a long Ryan scoring pass. Both he and running back Tevin Coleman are expected to see more of the same, a signal that the team is addressing a passing game that dried up as 2015 went by. Ryan threw just 21 touchdown passes last season, the fewest since he was a rookie, while his 18 interceptions ranked third-most in the league.

“This is part of the game that we’re going to attack,” Quinn said about flanking the backs in hopes of drawing man coverage. “For us to be at our best, that match-up, knowing who these guys are at running back, that’s a tough (defensive) assignment. You want to exploit that whenever you can.”

But beyond numbers and formations, the Falcons also are trying to address an intangible. There is no page in the playbook for how to win. That is something good teams know, something 8-8 teams need to learn.

“One thing that we really made evident as a group up front is, it doesn’t matter if we give up zero sacks and rush for 100 yards,” Matthews said. “If we lose the game, the mindset should be: What more could we have done? Obviously, we didn’t do enough. We didn’t win. There’s always something to build on.”

For linebacker Paul Worrilow, the offseason did not pass so quickly.

“Self-evaluation is a big part of the offseason,” he said. “When you go back and watch some stuff, it doesn’t sit well. That’s the stuff that pushes you when you get out there, knowing what needs to be fixed. … Stay in the moment. Stay in the process. Right now, I’m looking at that lunch and that (next) meeting, It’s hard for me to look back.”