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Ryan And Smith Discuss Saints Matchup
By NewOrleansSaints.com
Posted 21 hours ago
Falcons QB, coach give their perspective
On their first days back at practice in preparation for Sunday's matchup Atlanta Falcons QB Matt Ryan and Coach Mike Smith talked about their win over Arizona on Sunday, the upcoming matchup, as well as some topics about the New Orleans offense and defense. Below are transcripts of the conference calls:



Atlanta Falcons QB Matt Ryan

In week two it looks like you guys didn’t overreact to a tough week one loss and stayed the course. Can you talk about that? “Yes. Obviously we didn’t get the result we wanted week one. We felt like we improved from week one to two. That’s something we’re going to try again from week two to week three. The biggest thing is that things are never as good as you think. We looked at the things from last weekend and we have a lot of things to improve on and tighten up on, especially going against a really tough, physical team in New Orleans.”



How tough is it when you have a tough loss early like that. Was it okay to say it was one week or more to stress changes? “I think that’s just part of the NFL. You have to understand especially, at the end of the year that some teams overcome adversity better than other teams and that’s part of week to week in the NFL. That’s tough. You have some tough losses. You have some games that are going to be close and how we define ourselves as a team as a result of how you respond to those situations. At the same time, I think it’s also indicative of when you have success how you respond to those situations as well and I think that’s something where hopefully we can do well this week.”



Can you talk about the importance of this game being that it’s a division game and you’re facing the division champions of the whole NFC South and the NFL? “I think the way I approach it personally each game counts one, but with that said, obviously division games are important because that’s who you’re directly competing against to get into the playoffs. Important game, no question about it, but we have to approach it the same we do ones every week.”



Did you study anything Drew Brees has done the last few years and can you talk about that? “Yes, certainly you want to take a look at what he’s done. He’s been incredibly successful, really since he’s gotten to New Orleans he’s been one of the top quarterbacks in the league. You take a look at what he’s done and I think the biggest thing is how consistent he is week to week. His performance seems to stay at a high level every time he steps on the field and that’s probably the thing I’ve been most impressed with Drew.”



You can look at a lot of things with the Saints for inspiration. Can you see any comparisons to how they had some growing pains and your team did last year? “Certainly we’d like to follow what they did last year. That goes without saying. World Champions, that’s an incredible accomplishment. With that said I think each organization and team is different and we feel like Thomas Dimitroff and Mike Smith and really Arthur Blank have set a good blueprint for the organization. At least I can speak for that from my time here. I trust in those guys and feel like we’ve kind of made strides in the right direction, but still kind of need to continue to improve.”



How important was it for you guys to establish the run game last week to set the tone in the game? “It’s important, certainly important to run the ball well, especially in this league. It certainly helps in the passing game. It was good for us to run the ball well last week, but it’s going to be another challenge to do that again this week. We’re going to have to prepare really well. Hopefully the offensive line can come out and play physical. That’s something they’ve been consistent with since I’ve been here, so hopefully we can do it again this week.”



Is there anything different about the Saints defense from last year? “Obviously some personnel difference with (Darren) Sharper not being in the lineup, but schematically I think they do things similar to what they did last year. I notice Jo-Lonn Dunbar, a former teammate of mine is playing quite a bit and playing really well for them. I think personnel’s a little different, but schemewise, they’re doing some things similar to what they’ve done. They always have some different looks week to week and I think that’s one of the reasons they’ve been so successful.”



Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Mike Smith



Did you see the Saints game against San Francisco live? “I saw the game. I didn’t watch it on TV, but of course viewed it on the coach’s tape a number of times. It sure looked like it was a hard-fought football game.”



You guys bounced back with a pretty dominant performance after week one. Can you talk about your team’s progression in the first two weeks? “I’m a firm believer that the most improvement usually in a season is from week one to week two. We were in a situation where we had a lot of room to improve after week one. I think that our guys took advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves in the ballgame last week and we were very efficient I think in all three phases of the game. Week in and week out it’s a new week. That’s for sure. I really believe this. From team one to team 32 in this league there’s not a whole lot of difference. It’s really about the teams that can sustain their thought process, their mentality through an entire season and that’s the thing that great teams do. It’s about sustainability, not necessarily about ability.”

Ryan And Smith Discuss Saints Matchup

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