The Falcons went to work this offseason on reducing in the turnover margin. And no player worked more than quarterback Matt Ryan.
After finishing the 2015 season minus-7 in the turnover margin, one of the worst rates in the league and one of Ryan’s worst seasons as a pro, he spent much of the offseason in the film room, learning how to be a more aggressive quarterback.
“(Turnovers are) going to happen. That’s part of the game,” Ryan said. “But you want to take back the ones that you feel like you just gave them. That’s kind of been the area that we focused on and I think it comes down to watching the film, talking about it in the meeting rooms, trying to take it from the meeting room to the practice field and now trying to take it from the practice field to games.”
Last season, Ryan fumbled a career-high 12 times — often on poor snaps — and threw 16 interceptions. The only year in his career where the threw more picks was 2013 when he threw 17.
Although Ryan was the main Falcon praised by coach Dan Quinn for focusing on cutting down turnovers back in January, the entire roster has been focused on taking better care of the ball.
“The thing that we got in trouble as an offense last season was our turnovers. That part of our game was a significant one,” Quinn said. “It’s a consciousness, a mindset that we’ve spent the entire offseason making sure that part of our game comes to life. It’ll be hard work, but we know this is an active group in terms of taking the ball away, so we have to have a real mindfulness to take care of it and make good decisions, protect it.”
Although Quinn admitted improving the Falcons’ turnover margin will be a challenge, the team’s defense is focused on creating more takeaways. The Falcons had 23 takeaways last season, 16th in the league.
This Sunday against Tampa Bay, Ryan begins his ninth year as Falcons’ quarterback. He is coming off a season where he threw for 4,591 yards and threw for 21 touchdowns, the lowest touchdown total since his rookie season (16).
Although Ryan struggled last season, he said each passing season has brought him more motivation to be better than he was the year before.
“Obviously we won a lot of games my first five years and that hasn’t been the case the last three, but none of that matters. What matters is this season,” Ryan said. “I’ve become more and more competitive the more I’ve been around and I think part of the reason is you know what it takes.
“You know how hard it is and you know how it feels when you do win and that’s what it’s all about for me.”
With Kyle Shanahan entering his second season as offensive coordinator, the stress on learning a new scheme doesn’t exist for returnees like Ryan. Learning Shanahan’s new scheme last season may or may not have contributed to the offense’s difficulty matching the success it had in coach Mike Smith first years. But Ryan sees his relationship with Shanahan still growing.
“I think both of us are much further along. In terms of myself, understanding the system, understanding what Kyle expects from our position, how to get in and out of plays, et cetera,” Ryan said. “I think we’re way further along at this point than we were last year and I feel like both of us feel really good about our offense heading into this season.”
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