For the Falcons’ playoff push to really take off, they need the real Matt Ryan to stand up.
The reigning most valuable player turned in lowest passer rating in 39 games in the 20-17 win over the Saints on Thursday.
The Falcons (8-5) are set to play Tampa Bay at 8:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 18 at Raymond James Stadium.
Ryan completed 15 of 27 passes for 221 yards. He threw for one touchdown, but also had three interceptions on successive possessions. He finished with a passer rating of 55.2, which was his lowest since he had a 55.1 passer rating in a 25-19 win over Washington on Oct. 11, 2015. He completed 24 of 42 passes for 254 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions in that game.
“I’ve had worse games,” Ryan said. “Yeah, I’ve thrown five before. I think it comes with experience. I think that comes with confidence and belief in yourself. Sometimes that’s how it goes.”
It was the 10th lowest passer rating in Ryan’s 155 NFL regular-season starts. His lowest rating – 29.6 – came in the second game of his career against Tampa Bay on Sept. 14, 2008.
Ryan’s had eight passer ratings from 55.1 to 40.5. The Falcons are 4-6 in his 10 lowest passer-rated games.
“There are nights that are like that, but those don’t define the outcome of the game,” Ryan said. “How you respond to those situations defines who you are as a player and who you are as a team.”
Falcons coach Dan Quinn was not too concerned about the passing game being off track for a major portion of the game.
“It wasn’t all bad for us in the pass game,” Quinn said. “I thought we ended up with four for five drops. I thought from a third down standpoint, that was good.”
Ryan’s first interception came when he tried to get a pass out to Julio Jones right before halftime. Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore was battling Jones and ended up in the path of the pass and made the interception.
Jones stormed back into the play and made a touchdown-saving tackle.
On his second interception, tight end Austin Hooper bobbled an accurate pass that was intercepted by Saints linebacker Chris Banjo on the first play of the third quarter.
The Saints converted that turnover into a touchdown to take a 17-10 lead.
On their next possession, the Falcons were driving before Ryan, on third-and-6 from the Saints’ 9, tried to force a pass into Jones that was intercepted in the end zone by rookie Saints safety Marcus Williams.
“The interception in the red zone, again, if it’s not there we were going to give our guy a chance after he got pressured,” Quinn said. “It would have been (good) to give a guy a chance way high or outside or throw it into the stands.”
The last one seemed to bother Ryan the most.
“I’ve got to make a better decision in that situation to know we have three points on the board,” Ryan said. “I’m disappointed in a couple of plays, but that’s part of it.”
The Hooper interception wasn’t on Ryan.
“The one to Hooper to start the second half was bummer from his stand point,” Quinn said. “The pass was on point. It obviously turned into a drop that turned into an interception. That’s what I saw there.”
Ryan has thrown 11 interceptions in 13 games. He had just seven interceptions last season. He’s on pace to throw 13.5 interceptions.
Ryan tossed a career-high 17 interceptions in 2013 and 16 in 2015.
“The interception at the end of the half is definitely one that we wish we could have back,” Quinn said. “They were doubling (Julio Jones) and it would have been good to go to a different spot. Matt would be the first one to tell you that.”
But like Ryan said, the Falcons did respond after the flurry of interceptions.
Ryan and the Falcons were forced to punt before scoring a touchdown and a field goal in the fourth quarter to take the lead. They needed a spectacular interception in the end zone by Deion Jones to close out the victory.
Quinn took the good Ryan with the bad Ryan.
“He definitely had some good throws, the conversions on third down were an important part of this game,” Quinn said.
The offense did amass 343 yards, including 132 yards rushing. After going 1 of 10 on third downs against Minnesota, the offense converted 7 of 12 (58 percent) third downs against the Saints.
“I thought our offensive line played extremely well,” Ryan said. “We ran the ball efficiently. We ran it physically.”
Before the rash of interceptions, Ryan put together a 15-play, 90-yard touchdown drive, that took 8:27 off the clock in the second quarter which was the Falcons’ longest scoring drive of the season.
With running back Tevin Coleman in the concussion protocol, the Falcons may need to lean on running back Devonta Freeman, who rushed for 91 yards on 24 carries and had his sixth rushing touchdown of the season against the Saints.
The 91 yards was Freeman second highest total of the season. His 28 rushing touchdowns since 2015 are the most in the NFL over that time period.
Ryan’s 10 lowest Passer Ratings over 155 career games
55.2 – Dec. 7, 2017 – W – New Orleans
55.1 – Oct. 9, 2011 – L – Green Bay
55.1 – Oct. 11, 2015 – W – Washington
50.6 – Dec. 4, 2011 – L – Houston
49.8 – Dec. 28, 2008 – W – St. Louis
48.6 – Sept. 14, 2014 – L – Cincinnati
47.2 – Oct. 27, 2013 – L – Arizona
46.6 – Nov. 2. 2009 – L – New Orleans
40.5 – Nov. 18, 2012 – W – Arizona
29.6 – Sept. 14, 2008 – L – Tampa Bay
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