Ryan works on deep passing attack

[The Falcon Jedi]

Atlanta Falcons 4:18 p.m. Wednesday, May 26, 2010

* Text size:

* Decrease

* Increase

Matt Ryan works on the deep passing attack

* ShareThis

* Print

* E-mail

By D. Orlando Ledbetter

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

FLOWERY BRANCH -- During organized team activities, the Falcons can target certain areas for improvement.

*

Falcons blog with D. Orlando Ledbetter »

OTAs: Mike Smith is looking for some consistency

*

Fan blog: The Bird Cage »

What’s the Falcons Plan at Kicker?

*

Mark Bradley on Falcons »

Former Dome GM: There’s zero need for a new stadium

*

Jeff Schultz on Falcons »

Ladies and gents: We introduce Chan Gailey … visionary?

Latest Falcons news and updates on Twitter »

* Follow @ajcfalcons

* AJC sports editors are on Twitter. Are you?

* Complete list of AJC Twitter accounts

* Falcons, Ryan work on deep passing attack

* Falcons prepare for OTAs

* Opinions on Atlanta open-air stadium debate

* Follow @ajcfalcons

* Schedule and results

* TV Listings

* The AJC sports editors are on Twitter. Are you?

* Complete list of AJC Twitter accounts

One of those areas for Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and the rest of the offense is the deep passing attack.

Last season, Ryan had 31 completions of 20 yards or more, which was 23rd in the NFL. San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers led the league with 64 completions of 20 yards or more.

The other top quarterbacks in that category were Houston's Matt Schaub (62), Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger (61), Dallas' Tony Romo (61), New York's Eli Manning (60), Indianapolis' Peyton Manning (59) and New Orleans' Drew Brees (58).

Baltimore's Joe Flacco, whom Ryan is linked to because they came out in the same draft, had 44 completions of 20 yards or more.

"It's an area where we definitely want to get better and we will," Ryan said Wednesday. "We've been working on that."

The OTAs are the perfect opportunity to go into a breakout session on the deep passing game.

"You have more time in the OTAs to really concentrate on the little details, and you can talk about those things prior to practice," Ryan said. "Then you can come out here and teach it a little bit more. During the minicamp you're really just getting back into the swing of football."

In the seven-on-seven drill, the quarterbacks were rather sharp, connecting on 14 of 15 pass attempts. The only incomplete pass was a drop by fullback Ovie Mughelli.

"At this point we feel like we have that timing established a little bit, now it's about trying to fine tune it and work on some things," Ryan said. "We are trying to push ourselves into areas where we are a little bit uncomfortable so that we can get better."

Moore returns

Safety William Moore, the second-round pick in 2008, had his first open practice with the team (second overall) since October because of injuries. He practiced Tuesday in a closed practice.

"We were very interested to see how William Moore came out and practiced," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "He's practiced very well for the first two days."

Abraham absent

Defensive end John Abraham was not on hand for the voluntary practice. Also, cornerback Dominique Daniels was excused because of a death in the family.

"We spoke with John and we know where John is," Smith said. "Those are the only two players who did not participate."

Injury update

Defensive end Chauncey Davis (knee), defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux (shoulder), defensive tackle Peria Jerry (knee), wide receivers Harry Douglas (knee) and Kerry Meier (hamstring) and cornerback Brian Williams (knee) did not practice.

Smith expects Davis, Meier and Babineaux back in seven to 10 days. Jerry, Douglas and Williams are expected back during training camp, which starts July 29.

[sandtrap]

I would love for us to get the deep pass down. When we stuff it with Turner, play action becomes a great option.

[thestufford]

"Dominique Daniels" huh? :P

[AutoMax]

"Dominique Daniels" huh? :P

Yes. We have a Daniels and a Franks on the roster.

[dipper]

I've been saying this for the past 2 years. Ryan doesn't throw the ball deep, I wasn't sure if he couldn't make the throw or it wasn't in the game plan. Ryan 1st year Roddy had 1000 yards by week 14, his second year Roddy had 1000 by week 16. Ryan has to get the ball pass 20 yards, this opens Tony and Turner.

Hope they fix this.

[GTFalcon25]

Thanks for sharing the article.

Maybe try to delete some of that header crap next time? I had to scroll a page and a half to start reading stuff that was actually in the story.

[BCEagleATLFalcon]

I've been saying this for the past 2 years. Ryan doesn't throw the ball deep, I wasn't sure if he couldn't make the throw or it wasn't in the game plan. Ryan 1st year Roddy had 1000 yards by week 14, his second year Roddy had 1000 by week 16. Ryan has to get the ball pass 20 yards, this opens Tony and Turner.

Hope they fix this.

Ryan can make deep throws. Saw it countless times at BC and a fair number of times in Atlanta as well. The capability is there.

And Roddy's stats cannot be neatly attributed to lack of a deep ball. Considering that he had a rough start to 2009 (there was a nice article on how Smitty talked to him about just getting back to "being Roddy" and then he had that breakout San Fran performance), that there were growing pains incorporating Tony G into the offense, and that there was no possibility of a Ryan-Roddy connection for three weeks near the end of the year, it's not too suprising that it took until Week 16 for it to happen.

All that being said, I 100% agree that the threat of a deep passing attack will open up our offense in some tremendous ways, and I'm very pleased that it's a stated area of focus for OTA's and beyond.

[russ7000]

just stop throwing int's

just stop throwing int's

[BCEagleATLFalcon]

just stop throwing int's

just stop throwing int's

Can you be a little more specific?? lol. Every starting QB is going to throw some INT's. What type of ratio are you looking for, or what is an unacceptable number for you?

[Farmer2]

Personally I think it has as much to do w/ the O line as Ryan. It seemed when Redman came in last year he was willing to go deep more often than Ryan, but he also took some shots b/c of it.

[Pauliwood]

Can you be a little more specific?? lol. Every starting QB is going to throw some INT's. What type of ratio are you looking for, or what is an unacceptable number for you?

"ill take the ones by the endzone for $500 alex"

[ltstorm2]

Personally I think it has as much to do w/ the O line as Ryan. It seemed when Redman came in last year he was willing to go deep more often than Ryan, but he also took some shots b/c of it.

I have seen plenty of times when Ryan had time to throw the ball and just waited for the receiver to be "completely" open downfield to throw. Matty needs to realize in the NFL being open is a matter of inches, and has to have faith that Roddy or whoever will come down with the ball. Those INT's that he threw probably caused him to hold the ball longer than he'd like to.