FalcFans Forums

Ryan still struggled with his touch and timing on his deep passes against the Dolphins. Looks like there hasn't been much improvement there.

Vastly underthrew Jones on that one deep ball that he connected with. He threw to the right spot on the missed diving TD, but it was a little too long. I think he was long on another deep one down the middle as well.

God help us if Ryan still is unable to complete 33-38% of his deep passes, which is about around the NFL average. A lot of yards and points will be left on the field, much like last year.

In a sense, I agree with you but you cant judge improvement based upon 3 preseason games. Based upon what I have seen, there is SOME improvement. Last year he was overthrowing the receiver by 5+ yards. At least now they are off the fingertips. As far as the pass to Quintorris Lopez, it was purposely under-thrown so he could go make a play. Its a new offense and there is plenty of room to improve on both sides of the ball. IMHO, let's wait and see what happens after the first couple of games when we actually open up the playbooks.

GHJ, I think you're wrong on the underthrown pass. I think Ryan put most of what he could in that throw.

"Some" improvement is not enough, I'm sorry. Basically if you were ranking deep ball passers last year, Ryan was like 31st out of 32. Similar to how explosive we were in 2010. Some improvement is not enough. We need to see significant improvement.

I'm not expecting Ryan to be Eli Manning or Aaron Rodgers or Jay Cutler. But I haven't see a significant difference from last year, which The Dude does not Abide.

Obviously, when the real bullets start flying it will matter. But from what little I've seen, I'm not very optimistic.

Ryan has to pick that route more quickly than he does.

Yes, that's about the end of his range (50-60yds, in the air), and he needs to arc that.

That exact throw is fine if it gets there 1-2 seconds earlier. That comes from Julio getting a better jump off the line and Matt deciding to give Julio the chance to go up and get it, a contest Julio should win every time. Should.

I still think the best use of Matt Ryan as a vertical passer was his first pass: he has the anticipation to get the ball moving to a receiver moving rapidly through the intermediate area and they should take more advantage of this. Julio had 2 TDs off the flatter crossing pattern, and a few memorable catches the slant/seam routes over the inside. I think this is an easier proposition with a legit outside 4th WR, but the brass has decided ST is more important.

I agree with Pudge,
We're almost back to dink and dunk. The ball to Julio would get picked off by many safeties.....We can make excuses but the deep ball isn't there!! If Ryan can't hit open deep receivers there is just not any progress. Third and 5 and we throw it 4 yards??

Don't forget that Ryan's deep ball to Roddy was right on the money. Give Ryan and Jones some more time. They're certainly getting closer.

Here we go again with this crap. The guy has done a pretty good job all preseason putting the ball where it needs to be. He ain't gone throw every pass correctly

Fair point. That was what a 25-yard throw? Right within the range where Ryan seems comfortable, especially on the corner routes or whatever that route Roddy ran on that play.

Look, I'm not trying to act like Ryan's struggles with the deep ball are/were the end of the world (that's coming in December ). But I don't really argue that if Ryan is just an average deep ball passer in 2011, it potentially adds 1, maybe 2 more wins to our record (Houston and Saints OT game stick out in my mind). If the Falcons want to operate a scary, vertical offense which after the first 2 preseason games many here were saying we were on the verge of having, Ryan needs to be able to make these throws with more consistency.

He has def missed some big deep throws that were there for the taking. I guess the most brutal examples I can recall was last year versus the Texans. I don't think he is going to get more than marginally better but, as you say, if he gets to average we should benefit from it. All the talk about off season workouts, gettign stronger, etc., is just off season propaganda from FB...a grain of truth to it but not too consequential in the end. If he wants to make miraculous strides someone will have to give him Melky Cabrera's phone number. He is who he is and we are we are. Just going to improve by increments, I think, which is not that unusual for any team. Lord knows we have O skill players. Do we have the brick and mortar to let them do their thing? We'l know in December or January, I reckon. Matt has a great psychological outlook though. He is dogged. Would like to see some of that urgency we saw in his first season.