Shanahan calmly cobbling together the offense

“It’s fun,” Shanahan said. “It’s more relaxing.”

Ryan, a two-time Pro Bowler and a student of the game, is soaking up the new scheme. While Shanahan is refining some things to fit Ryan’s skills.

“You can bounce things off a guy who’s been through a lot,” said Shanahan, who worked with Brian Hoyer and Johnny Manziel last season with the Browns. “He’s had those reps, and there isn’t much that he hasn’t seen.”

Shanahan knows that Ryan is being asked to play in a totally new system for the first time in his career.

“The stuff that we’re asking him to do might be a little bit different sometimes, but he’s done a lot of it also,” Shanahan said. “Matt really can do anything that you asked him to do. It’s about deciding what he does best and what our team does best.”

Before his one season in Cleveland, Shanahan broke in Robert Griffin III and Kirk Cousins with Washington, after the team moved on from Donovan McNabb.

So far with the Falcons, things are moving along smoothly in installing the new attack.

“It’s been a lot of fun for me just to have a guy like that to work with,” Shanahan said of Ryan. “I think he obviously helps me be better.”

Shanahan is trying to turn the Falcons into more of an attacking offense with the outside-zone running scheme, and he preaches patience.

“It takes 11 guys in the scheme to run the ball well,” Shanahan said. “If one guy is off, the run kind of shuts down. We’ve got to make sure that a back is always staying on track, reading his holes one gap at a time.”

Shanahan has a few helpers on the team in wide receiver Leonard Hankerson and offensive guard Chris Chester. Both played for the Redskins during Shanahan’s tenure in the nation’s capital.

“He’s a great coach,” Hankerson said. “He’s a very special offensive coordinator. He wants to get it done.”

Hankerson is competing for the third wide receiver position and has helped the group with their new route-concepts.

“My years with him in Washington, we were one of the top offenses in the league,” Hankerson said. “With the weapons that he has on this team, there is no doubt about it that we can be a top-five offense. We can be a great team.”

Chester played right guard on the Washington line that paved the way for 2,709 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns in 2012. Rookie running back Alfred Morris rushed for 1,613 yards and 13 touchdowns that season.

“We were just so versatile in our attack,” Chester said. “We could run the outside zone and the keeper and change it up with some power inside zone. We were really effective in running outside-zone, and that helped us to do a lot of other things.”

Shanahan appreciates having interpreters in the locker room.

“It always helps to have guys who’ve been through it before and have been successful in it,” he said. “There are different ways of doing things. … It’s nice for the players to have guys to bounce questions off of who’ve been through it before and understand the evolution of getting better at the stuff we are asking them to do.”

The revamped attack will start with the offensive line.

“It’s about the continuity of a group blocking together,” Shanahan said. “That why it’s so important this time of the year to get those reps. It doesn’t just happen overnight. It’s a lot of work.”

The line is still recovering from last season’s rash of injuries. Left tackle Jake Matthews (foot), tackle/guard Sam Baker (knee), center/guards Joe Hawley (knee) and Peter Konz (knee) are still rehabilitating. The likely starting unit will not work together until training camp.

“Probably, the No. 1 thing is that the guys have to be able to move,” offensive line coach Chris Morgan said. “They really have to be on the run and adjust on the run.”

Going back to the days of former Georgia standout Terrell Davis in Denver, running backs have been successful in Shanahan’s scheme, which was passed down from his father, Mike Shanahan.

The Falcons expect to have a fierce position battle between running backs Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman when training camp opens.

“In OTAs, I try not to judge too much because we are throwing a lot at them,” Shanahan said. “They get away from us for about a month and then they come back in training camp. Then you really see who got the most out of the OTAs.”

Getting the right fit for the system is key.

“I hate that when they say plug ’em in,” running backs coach Bobby Turner said. “Like there is a plug and socket. It’s not that easy. I wish it was. We have just been fortunate … but the bottom line is finding the right guy to fit the system.”

Falcons coach Dan Quinn has been pleased with how Shanahan is cobbling together the offense.

“It’s been a terrific partnership,” Quinn said. “We knew from a system standpoint that was the scheme we wanted to go and attack with.”