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FLOWERY BRANCH — Going all the way back to Matt Ryan’s Pro Day at Boston College, there were questions about his arm strength.

On that brisk spring day in March 2008, he competed 48 of 52 passes. There were three drops. But his best throw may have been his 51st pass, an overthrown laser-shot on a deep post pattern. Those gathered on the Chestnut Hill, Mass., campus left that day knowing that while Ryan will never be accused of having a rocket launcher for an arm, he had more than enough arm strength to be successful in the NFL.

Four years and 43 regular-season victories later, there are still some naysayers, in part because Ryan has gone 0-3 in the playoffs. But with the Falcons moving to a vertical passing attack under new offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, Ryan is taking steps to make sure he can sling it down the field with regularity.

“Every year, I try and pick a couple of things that I’d like to do better,” Ryan said. “One of the things this year is getting in a little-bit better shape and better condition going into the season.”

Ryan passed for a franchise-record 4,177 yards last season and became the second Falcons quarterback to pass for more than 4,000 yards in a season. Jeff George passed for 4,143 yards in 1995. Ryan also had a franchise-best six games of 300 yards or more passing last season.

Yet, his critics point to his low yards-gained-per-pass attempt numbers. After he finished fourth in the NFL as a rookie with 7.9 yards gained per pass attempt, his numbers dipped to 6.4 (21st), 6.5 (26th) and bounced back some last season 7.4 (14th).

After his rookie season, Ryan was tied with Carolina’s Jake Delhomme and trailed only San Diego’s Philip Rivers (8.8), New Orleans’ Drew Brees (8.0) and Houston’s Matt Schaub (8.0).

Last season, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers led the league with 9.2 yards gained per pass attempt.

With the mega-deal for wide receiver Julio Jones and the re-signing of Harry Douglas to go along with Pro Bowler Roddy White, the Falcons believe they potent three-receiver attack. That’s before you throw future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez into the passing-game mix.

Ryan wants to make sure he’s ready to flourish in the new attack and is stronger down the stretch of the season.

“I’ve been working hard on that and getting with [director of athletic performance] Jeff Fish now that we’re back to make sure that I’m ready to go,” Ryan said. “[I’m] ready to be strong in December and January. I want to be able to play my best football at that time. That’s one of the things I’ve tried to figure out and analyze myself; how do I get myself to be playing my very best, when your very best is needed. I’m still working on getting there.”

The Falcons would not make Fish available for an interview.

Ryan has guided the Falcons to the playoffs in three of his four seasons in the NFL, but they have been eliminated each time by the NFC’s eventual Super Bowl representative. Some people have pointed out that Peyton Manning opened his NFL career by losing his first three playoff games, before going 9-5 and taking the Colts to two Super Bowls.

After the Falcons lost 24-2 to the New York Giants, Ryan relaxed awhile before reflecting on last season. Once his thoughts were gathered and he had a clear vision, he decided to go see Fish. They crafted a plan to add muscle to Ryan’s sinewy 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame.

“I went in and talked to him about some of the goals that I have, which will remain private, and some of the things I felt good about during the season,” Ryan said. “There were some things that I felt like need to be better during the season. I was really open and candid with him and he was really open and candid with me about what we need to do to improve in those areas.”

This offseason, Ryan, a known film-room rat, is turning into a weight-room mainstay. The team’s structured offseason weight training program started April 23.

“I think we’re off to a good start,” Ryan said. “It’s weight training, getting in there and training with weights. It’s learning to condition myself in the way that we play football and in a way that is productive to how we are playing football.”

Last season also was Ryan’s most physical campaign. He was sacked 26 times and hit on 84 other plays, the seventh-most hits in the league. Therefore, it’s understandable that he wanted to get stronger this offseason.

The hope is the increased focus on weight training will allow a more-buffed Ryan to stand firm in the pocket.

“It’s making a bigger commitment to it and taking care of your body in a better way than I have in the past,” Ryan said. “That is something that is important to me.”

http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-falco ... 36372.html

Man if you read the whole thing its almost like weight lifting is a foreign concept to him. Like he's just going full bore for the first time.



I believe he said this same comment heading into year 2, so he's more than overdue to add some right mass to his upper body finally. I'd love for him to get to the point where on those deep out throws, he's not having to put practically everything he has into it throw wise. I think one thing that has masked this issue to some degree (ie. it not being a league wide topic) is his quick decision making.

I don't think Matt has the physique to carry a whole lot more muscle and that rather than the throwing motion and arm strength that some of the conditioning and added strength might have more to do with pocket survival. The quick decison making is Matt's trump card and always will be. And it is a great one. Tom Brady is not what I'd call a real physical specimen either. I do think he has a quicker release. Matt has a bit of a wind up to me and, I don't care what anyone says, if you watch Matt live and compare him to most QBs we play his ball doesn't zip quite as fast and I don't think it ever will. I just don't know that you build discernable arm strenght in this capacity. The conditioning will be more about--as he says--staying strong through the season and will probably be leg and core as much as anything. Standing next to MM he is pretty big but on the field he has always appeared a bit gangly. Cam Newton, Josh Freeman he ain't. He's got a great dogged attitude though 12 months a year.

A lot of throwing strength isn't even tied to just upper body, but your legs/glutes and how you transfer the kinetic energy. So he's gotta be building the foundation as much as upstairs if he's actually serious this time.

Absolutely. Notice how most pitchers have big butts? All this said, I question how much more tangible arm strength he'll get in terms of velocity and so forth. I recall reading an interview with Brett Favre wherein he said a lot of his game was about throwing from a bunch of arm anlges and so forth. So, you gte more stability with your legs and torso it seems it would allow you to throw better thusly which is sort of what I meant about pocket issues. He may be better able to deliver routine passes under duress without the loading up thing. I wonder how many guys go from throwing a 90 mph fastball to a 95 mph fastball through weight training.

http://smartfootball.com/quarterbacking ... e-improved





I think it's obviously some component of strength (muscle mass, quick twitch, etc.), coupled with kinetic mechanics. Read the top link above, really shows you that the football throwing motion is the most complex sports motion to master (and I don't think its close either). Literally all the way from your toes to flicking the booger off your finger as you grab the dollar from your opposite pocket.

W/ Ryan the mechnics/anticipation are fine, he just needs more muscle I think.

I really don't understand why there's still this discussion about arm strength. The issue isn't arm strength, it's endurance. The issue being addressed here is how well Ryan is throwing in December/January.

I think that it's obvious that Ryan can hit his receivers deep. He overthrew enough balls, and threw enough balls out of bounds to make it pretty obvious that he can make those throws just fine. Again, the issue isn't whether he can make those throws. The question is, can he get to a point that throw 20 has just as much on it as throw 520? From reading the article, that seems to be the focus.

The other issue is deep accuracy... We'll have to see how that goes. Some people believe that the problem with his deep accuracy isn't actually the accuracy, but rather, the fear of turning over the ball. We can debate that till the sun comes up, but we really won't ever know the answer to that one. Regardless, the accuracy has to get better. Hopefully it will with the new OC.

FWIW, he has some of the worst deep accuracy I've ever seen from a QB that is competent in most other throws. I agree throw 520 is more the point of this article, but throw 20 is still an issue. When I watch him on deep outs, if he didn't anticipate going there presnap, or really start his movement early toward that throw, then its painful to see him try to get the ball there with enough velocity in more of a rushed/pinch situation.

I don't know how much arm strength can be built up (it can be some, by making sure the core is strong, the shoulder is flexible, the triceps are quick twitch, etc.), but it does make a difference on deep accuracy.

If your max throw is 65 yards, and you have to put your whole body into it...there's a lot more room for error in the mechanics of that throw. Whereas if you're throwing 45, you can do it in a relaxed fashion. It's very analogous to free throws versus 3 pointers. 3 pointers have a lower percentage partially because they're further from the basket, but more because the motion requires more of the body, bringing in more things that can go wrong. While a free throw is a simple motion.

If he can get to the point that a 50 yard throw is a simple motion for him (because he's stronger and has to use less wind up) that will result in better accuracy (how much better, who knows?) However, I am one of the guys who thinks a lot of his problem is being overly cautious on the deep throw. Not like he'd be excellent without the caution...but he'd be good enough (and he'd rely on Julio to catch balls like AJ Green does...AJ's never hit in stride, he adjusts, goes up, and catches.)

BNB hit on an interesting point that I agree with. I think what separates Ryan from some of the other QBs that have similar arm strength is his slower release. I do think that part of the problem with how much velocity Ryan can get on the 15-25 yard throws which are the important ones.

I also think another part of the problem is as RobertAP said the environment in which Ryan finds himself. Which why his brain is processing information on a faster than normal rate, the culture around the Falcons which eschews turnovers can someone slow that down. Because now he's processing whether throws are "safe" or not which can make him hesitant. If he was in a culture that was built around "slinging it" then I do think this would help him be able to put some more mustard on his throws because it would add more confidence to his throws.

I really think more than anything what separates Matt Ryan from the elite QBs or near-elite ones is not any physical or mental tools, but the offense he plays in. One that is not designed to maximize his ability on a weekly basis by having the team live and die by his abilities alone. I really believe this is not something that just magically comes together in the aether and thus why the Drew Breeses, Tom Bradys, etc. of the world became the QBs we now know them as. I think Eli Manning's "rise" is also not coincidental. I also don't think that it is coincidental that the teams that tend to get hot in December and January and make a run in the playoffs are pass-first offenses, our last 4 NFC champions included.

Emphasizing the QB's contributions on a weekly basis I think over the course of a 16-game regular season really does prepare a guy better to elevate his game to a new level in order to "carry" a team come playoff team, rather than our system which is to try and marginalize that player in their weekly gameplans as much as possible. Had the Falcons truly embraced Mike Mularkey's no-huddle attack rather than using it as a last resort, then I think the postseason results of at least 2011 would have been decidedly different.

The saving grace for the Falcons going in 2012 is not the fact that they are changing offensive coordinators, it may simply be that thanks to the "demise" of the Saints, the path they may find themselves on may be decidedly easier with a home game against an inferior wildcard team rather than any real growth they may have as an offense.

BnB has been at most all; if not all home games for close to at least 15 years when we first met; truer words
have never been spoken!!