Written by Vaughn McClure at ESPN.com
Matt Ryan insists the Atlanta Falcons are mentally tougher than they were last season.
The veteran quarterback went out and showed it Sunday.
Ryan completed 9 of 11 passes for 75 yards on a game-winning drive that ended with his 11-yard touchdown pass to Mohamed Sanu down the seam. Sanu was mismatched against linebacker Jake Ryan. It marked Matt Ryan’s 34th career game-winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime, giving the Falcons a 33-32 win over the Green Bay Packers.
“They don’t call the guy `Matty Ice’ for no reason,” Sanu said of his quarterback. “The guy’s got ice in his veins. He just goes out there and just executes, man.”
The Falcons sorely needed this one after losing the previous two weeks to the Seattle Seahawks (26-24) and San Diego Chargers (33-30 in overtime). Now at 5-3 and leading the NFC South, they have a little momentum going into a crucial division matchup with the Buccaneers (3-4) Thursday night in Tampa.
After the San Diego loss, Falcons coach Dan Quinn showed his team a tape of boxer Marvin Hagler winning a championship bout after losing the first matchup by decision. The point of the clip was to emphasize not letting someone else decide the outcome for you.
Ryan obviously took the message to heart. He threw a pass the perfect height to Sanu with Julio Jonesdrawing double coverage, as usual
“When you feel his demeanor on the sideline, when there’s a timeout and he comes over and he has that locked-in look in his eyes, he’s ready to go,” Quinn said of Ryan’s demeanor. “His teammates respond to him because of his toughness and his attitude that he display for them all the time.
“These guys are a very tight group. They just love playing football for one another. It shows in the locker room and it shows on the practice field.”
Ryan, touted as the MVP frontrunner after guiding the Falcons to a four-game winning streak, finished Sunday’s completing 28 of 35 passes for 288 yards with three touchdowns and a passer rating for 129.5. He did all that with the league’s most dangerous threat, Jones, catching just three passes for 29 yards, all in the first half. Sanu, one of the team’s big offseason acquisitions, picked up the slack with nine catches (10 targets) for 84 yards. The Falcons will need Sanu to continue to play that way to alleviate some of the pressure off Jones the remainder of the season.
“That’s what he’s brought to this team: He’s a big body and excellent in the red zone,” Ryan said of Sanu. “I thought he did a great job all day.”
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