FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan was a little bit more upbeat on his weekly radio show on Tuesday.
He was clearly relieved to have the six-game losing streak over.
He was interviewed by former teammates Brian Finneran and Mike Johnson and the lovely Sandra Golden on 680 The Fan.
Here are seven things we learned from Ryan on The Matt Ryan Show:
1. On the interception/cut block. "When they get those guys on the ground, it creates passing lanes for the quarterback. On that particular play and it happened one other time, we just didn't get them on the ground and when that happens, it's tough but that's part of the game. That's one of those that you have to live with and you've got to keep throwing it. We believe in the cut-block and I think it helps out our offensive line at times."
2. On a balanced offense. "I think so. The balance, when you're able to run the ball 50 percent of the time and pass the ball efficiently and take care it, that's a good ratio. We still need to find a couple of more ways to get the ball in the end zone. We had some chances and we didn't come down with them, but that balance is good. When your defense is getting stops and those kind of things it allows you to play balanced. I think that really helped us out."
3. On trouble makers. "That's part of it. There are different guys at different times throughout the league. I know Cortland Finnegan was a guy back in the day that would take guys out of their game. I remember him and Andre Johnson having a go at it when he was at Houston and Finnegan was in Tennessee. You have to know that going into it that some guys are like that. That's part of the deal. You have to keep your composure. I think our guys have done a pretty good job of that. At times, it's tough because you've got fiery guys on our side as well. But our guys are usually good about that."
4. On the Christmas week practice schedule. "We'll still practice Christmas Eve and Christmas. It's a big game for us this week. There's still a lot of things that can happen. We have that championship mindset. But on Christmas morning, we'll come in a little bit later and get a chance to spend time with our families. For all of the guys on the team with young kids, it's good for them to have that experience. We'll start a little bit later Christmas Day and end a little bit earlier on Christmas Eve and try and spend some really good quality time with our families."
5. On facing the same team in three weeks. "We have got to make some adjustments to what we did against them last time and learn from that last game. Hopefully, we'll be able to do that this week…. You understand how they are going to try and play you."
6. On playoff talk in the locker room. This is week it's about getting the job done against Carolina. We all know what needs to go down in order for that to work. But none of that …we don't have a chance for any of that unless we take care of our business. There is not a whole lot of talk about it, but certainly, everybody understands what needs to be done.
7. On Julio Jones breaking Marvin Harrison's record. "He broke the franchise record for single season catches with two games to go. It's such an unbelievable accomplishment. For him, he's such a humble guy and such a good teammate, that it doesn't come up. I'd love to see him get it, that's for sure. There is certainly a chance with how productive he's been and with how good that he's played all year. There's definitely a chance that he could do that (over) the next two games. But it just doesn't come up a lot in the locker room."
