If there is but a single revelation to take away and cherish forever from the Falcons/Hard Knocks experience, this is it:
Matt Ryan has a potty mouth.
Turns out that buttoned-down young man, who comes off as a cross between Mr. Rogers and a five-star hotel concierge during his once-a-week local media exposures, can four-letter it up with the best of them.
Wear a microphone long enough and something of a true nature has to be revealed. The eavesdroppers at HBO have caught the Falcons quarterback using plenty of cable-ready language, as if he were auditioning just in case the network ever thought to remake “The Sopranos.”
How reassuring.
Good to see Ryan in a light not so proper. It humanizes him, musses up that starched image just enough to let us know he is not a NFL shop mannequin.
This isn’t a cotillion. The roughest game has need of certain salty communication skills. You want your leader to be capable of spitting fire in private even if, in public, he trades in platitudes. Sure, we always have celebrated Ryan’s composed, cerebral side. But if it takes borrowing some inspirational words for his team from a bus station bathroom wall, it’s good to know that Ryan has the tools.
Heaven knows there was reason enough for him to go all Teamster on his team during last season’s debacle.
Another year like that, and it will be certain Falcons fans dog-cussing Ryan. Rest assured he is able to give a little of it back, even if the HBO cameras are gone and it is out of earshot.
