The Matt Ryan era will begin right away in Atlanta
If you sign a $72 million contract, you should be starting in the NFL, so the Falcons naming rookie Matt Ryan as the team’s starter at quarterback isn’t much of a surprise.
New Atlanta coach Mike Smith declared an open competition at quarterback during training camp between Ryan, Chris Redman, Joey Harrington and Shockley. And Redman took the majority of snaps with the first team early in camp and started the first preseason game at Jacksonville. But Ryan clearly improved as time progressed as time went by.
The No. 3 overall has completed 32-of-52 passes this preseason for 277 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception.
“We have evaluated Matt through [offseason workouts], minicamps, training camp and over the course of three preseason games,” Smith said. “After reviewing Matt’s progress we feel that he’s won the starting job. … We feel that Matt gives us the best opportunity not only against Detroit (in the opener) but the in long run.”
Ryan will play the first series or two of the preseason finale Thursday at Baltimore, and Smith said this job is Ryan’s to keep, regardless of what happens Thursday or even this season (barring injury, obviously).
Ryan, who should be the only rookie QB starter in the league on opening day, believes his team can contend in 2008 (OK, he’s a naïve rookie), but he acknowledges that every young quarterback makes plenty of mistakes at the game’s highest level.
“We’re going to play against some really good players, and there’s really good coaches on other teams as well,” Ryan said. “So there’s going to be good schemes and sometimes we’re not going to be at our best, but you’ve got to learn from those mistakes and you’ve got to understand that they’re going to happen and you’ve got to bounce back from them as quickly as you can.”
Smith said the backup job has not been settled yet, although Redman should have the inside edge over Shockley and Harrington.
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