Matt Ryan calls for more discipline, consistency with 2018 offense

We love Matt Ryan a lot here at The Falcoholic, and are excited for him to get lots of moneys when his deal finally gets done.

Team reporter Kelsey Conway talked to Ryan about the 2018 offense Monday, and Matty Ice didn’t resist into laying down some sick platitudes about what he hopes the unit will focus on going forward.

“I think it’s about discipline and consistency,” Ryan said before his annual golf tournament at TPC Sugarloaf on Monday. “I think that’s the No. 1 thing. I think we’ve got to have a mindset that every time we’re in a meeting, every time we step on the practice field we’re doing it with purpose and that the attention to detail, the mindfulness to everything we do has to be at a higher level. That’s going to be my goal and I hope that’s the messaging that we can kind of send to everybody. Let’s be as detailed [and] sharp as we can possibly be right from the start.”

The Mattural also admits to the inconsistency we all kind of, sort of noticed a lot with Steve Sarkisian taking the controls from Kyle Shanahan. He wants them to be, well, more consistent, heading into Monday’s offseason workouts.

“I think last year we were inconsistent on the offensive side of the ball,” Ryan said. “I thought there were some really good things, but I thought there were some things that we could be better at. The exciting part is that we have an opportunity to get started this Monday. To clean those things up, to be a better football team than we were last year and to be the best offense that this group of guys can possibly be.”

So, sure, a lot of that is coach speak and obvious coach speak at that, but there’s some interesting subtext that might be present, that would kind of line up with other things we heard about the Falcons last season.

This is just speculation, but part of you wonders if the team was in a bit of a mental daze heading into the season last year, and that led to some less-than-sharp minds in the meeting rooms and on the practice field. We were all a bit silly to think Super Bowl 51 wouldn’t at least kind of affect the guys in uniform, and we saw how they looked coming out the gate.

They were in a funk through October last year, and they really didn’t start to come into their own until that Cowboys game. The offense never really did catch fire, which led to their defeat at the hands of the Eagles.

This is part of why a lot of us here at The Falcoholic are so optimistic about 2018. Not only do you get a matured Sarkisian, aided by a coach like Greg Knapp to help him get better organized for game days, you get a year removed from a Super Bowl loss (the worst Super Bowl loss). All of that, plus individual player maturation, plus a third-place schedule, plus this draft class, might break open the waters a bit for an already-talented Atlanta team.

It’s going to be easier to focus on the little details this offseason without the specter of 28-3 hanging over their heads every waking moment, and that’s going to translate onto the field. They may not be as explosive offensively as they were in 2016 ever again, but they’re going to be more comfortable with Sark calling the plays, and that’s going to be good for the team in the long run.

So, as Ryan said, offseason workouts start Monday, and the draft is in about two weeks. Things are heating up fast for 2018, and after a lot of down time, it’s going to feel good to get going again in late July. But, first, the draft. And, then, the most boring of the downtime.