Ryan wants offense to turn into high-scoring unit

2012 26.2 7th 34.8 New England

2011 25.1 7th 35.0 Green Bay

2010 25.9 5th 32.4 New England

2009 22.7 13th 31.9 New Orleans Saints

2008 24.4 10th 28.9 New Orleans Saints

Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan hopes the grounds crew at the Georgia Dome has replaced all of the light bulbs in the scoreboard.

He knows that some of them didn’t get used much in 2013, but he’s hoping to change that this season.

“Hopefully, high-scoring,” Ryan said when asked what he expects the offense identity to be this season. “As an offense, the goal is to put points up on the board every time that you get (the ball).”

Over Ryan’s previous six seasons, the Falcons have been a top-10 scoring offense and each time they’ve cracked the top 10, they’ve gone to the playoffs.

Last season, the Falcons scored 22.1 points per game, which ranked 20th in the league.

The Falcons have worked on an assortment of things ranging from their pistol package to running more tempo in order to improve the scoring.

“I think if we can figure out ways to run the ball and be a little bit more balanced than we’ve been in the past, I think that’s going to happen,” Ryan said.

In 2012, the offense peaked under Ryan as it averaged 26.2 points and finished ranked seventh in the league. The offense carried the team to within 10 yards of the Super Bowl.

In 2010, the Falcons offense averaged 25.9 points, which was fifth in the league.

After three exhibition outings, Ryan, who is not expected to play against Jacksonville on Thursday, can now start squarely pointing to the season opener against the New Orleans Saints on Sept. 7 at the Georgia Dome.

The reality of putting last season behind him is starting to set in.

“I think the biggest thing that everybody has done a pretty good job of is understanding that whatever we did last year is going to have no bearing on what we do this year,” Ryan said. “It’s easier to say that when you’ve had a year where you’ve won. For us, I think guys have had to work harder to be able believe that and put that aside.

“There are going to be critics or things said that you don’t want to hear or you don’t agree with, but at the end of the day, that stuff doesn’t really matter. What matters is your preparation, coming out and trying to do your job as best you can.”

The rash of penalties, though, are troubling to Ryan.

“We’ve historically been a minimally penalized team,” he said. “We want to get back to that.”

He has been pleased with the running game, which has churned out 249 yards on 75 carries in the exhibition season without top running back Steven Jackson.

“I think that we’ve run the ball very efficiently and very effectively in the (exhibition) season,” Ryan said. “That’s a credit to our backs and our offensive line. Those guys have done a really good job. I’m excited.”

Ryan believes the offense can be high-scoring because of the wide receiver corps of Julio Jones, Roddy White, Harry Douglas and Devin Hester. Running three- and four-wide receivers formations will have to offset the loss of tight end Tony Gonzalez.

“When we’ve got all of those guys out there, we’ve got a chance to be pretty explosive,” Ryan said. “It puts a lot of stress on the defense to cover that many guys. As a quarterback it’s a nice situation to have.

“You don’t have to worry about trying to find a certain guy. You just have to read your spots and know that whoever is there has a chance to take it to the house at any time.”

In his mind, Ryan has a formula for success.

“We’ve got to do a lot of different things well,” Ryan said. “In order for us to be a high-scoring offense, we’ve got to be efficient in running the football, we’ve got to convert on third downs and the third thing is that we have to make explosive plays. If we do a combination of those things … that’s going to be our recipe for success.”