Here’s what Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had to say after the 17-6 loss to the Jaguars on Saturday.
On the game. "I thought the preparation leading into it was good from a practice standpoint. I thought tonight there were some positives and some things that you'd like to clean up. That's probably the case with most years whether if it's the third preseason game, first or second, there is always going to be things like that. I also think when you're going against a good defensive like that. You're going to have your opportunities at certain times to make plays. I don't think we came away with all of them, but we certainly made some good ones tonight."
On if he has any concerns. "Not really. I've played long enough to know that some years, you are 4-0 in the (exhibition) season and it doesn't certainly pan out that way in the regular season. Some years, you are not that way in the (exhibition) season and the regular season could be different. I think the veterans and the experienced guys that we have make you feel good about what we are going to be and who we are going to be as we move forward throughout the year."
On the dropped passes. "You get back to work. That's the only way I know. Get back on the practice field and keep putting ourselves in those situations. We've got guys that are going to make plays for us this year. Physical mistakes are going to happen at certain times. But we've got guys that have great hands and are secure with it. To me, those physical things happen. With the physical stuff, that stuff happens from time to time. Where I was pleased mostly was with our procedural stuff. How we were lined up. Where we were going. Targeting and alignments, all of those things. I thought that was all positive."
On the Sanu drop. "It was a third-down situation. He makes those tough, contested catches better than anybody. 100 out of 100 times he makes that play. So he didn't make it tonight. He's going to make that play more often than not."
On the offensive line going against the Jaguars defense. "It's a good front seven for sure. They (Jags) are talented. They are deep. They've got a good rotation where they can rotate guys in. Good scheme. They were aggressive. I thought they did a nice job. I though our offensive line did a nice job. Against a good defense like that, they are going to make some plays. They are going to have their chances. We had our chances too, but we didn't hit on enough of them."
On the sacks vs. Jaguars' good coverage. "One of them was definitely good coverage in the back end. We were trying to move to extend something and the pocket kind of collapsed. We also understand going into a game like that, when you are in third-and-6, third-and-7 plus, that's not where you want to be. We have to be productive on first and second down when you are going against a good front seven like the Jaguars."
On the run game. "I thought we ran the ball pretty effectively when we had our opportunities. We had some gashes. Some explosive runs that made those numbers go up. But going into when you play defenses like this ... you know it's going to be tough sledding throughout the day. You have just got to stay with it. I thought (offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian) did a nice job of that to kind of crease them in the run game. We just need more of those."
On if he'd like to have seen more success in the exhibition season. "There are all different kinds of successes that you have throughout (exhibition) season, whether if it's in practice or in games or whatever. You have to take the cumulative whole of what we've done up until this point. I feel really good about it. I feel positive about it. The work we've gotten in practice has been really good. Honestly, the work that we've gotten in games has been pretty good, too. We've put guys in situations where we are going to need them to make plays during the regular season. I think a lot of those guys, particularly our young guys will be better for that when we get into those situations."
