Sports Radio Interviews

Matt Ryan Knows Michael Vick Is Not Walking in That Door … Er, Right

Matt Ryan has puh-lenty of expectations surrounding him now that he’s already had a enormously successful first year as an NFL quarterback. He’s considered Atlanta’s savior and the “anti-Vick” (a traditional franchise quarterback as opposed to, you know, a guy who likes to kill dogs) and because of that, a shoddy second year — or “sophomore slump” if you will — would be awkward.

But Ryan, as he said in a recent interview, doesn’t foresee that happening. He also isn’t tired of answering questions about Vick, and he has some advice for young quarterbacks Mark Sanchez and Matthew Stafford about getting “overexposed” as well as succeeding early in the NFL. Good stuff, unless you’re a Panthers fan like me, in which case you’re dealing with Ryan’s talents and charm for the rest of his freaking career.

On avoiding overexposure as a quarterback, as recommended by Bill Parcells:

“Well, you know, I think you gotta remember what’s important and I think that’s good advice from Coach Parcells.  There is, there’s gonna be opportunities to do some different things and you just have to be smart with what you do.  For me, I’ve kinda tried to avoid doing things that are gonna conflict with getting ready to play next year, and ultimately I think I’ve done a pretty good job with that this year.” 

On what advice he’d give to Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez:

“Well, I think the biggest thing is you have to earn the respect of the guys in the locker room.  And doing that’s not gonna be easy, and there’s a lot of different things and a lot of different ways to go about doing that.  So for me, I felt like that was the most important thing, and I felt like in order to do that I needed to work really hard, know what I was doing in terms of the playbook and ultimately go out there and produce.  If those guys can do that I think it’ll go a long way.”

On worrying about a sophomore slump:

“No, I felt like I did a lot of things last year pretty well, but I felt like I could’ve made huge strides from last year to this year.  So I feel like I’ve got a lot of room for improvement and I’ve been working really hard to try and get better in those areas.  We’ve still got some time before camp and still trying to make some improvements, but that’s been my focus.”

On if he gets tired of answering questions about Michael Vick:

“No.  You know what, you have to understand the situation that he came into.  Michael, when he was with the Falcons and playing, he did a great job.  And, you know, there’s a reason people are asking you the questions about him all the time is because he had a lot of success while he was here, and I understand that.  So I’ve just tried to, you know, kinda answer the questions as best I can, but ultimately focus on the future and taking care of the business that we need to take care of as a team and that’s how I’ve tried to respond to it.”

Listen to Matt Ryan on ESPN Radio with Colin Cowherd (14:10 into podcast)

Tags: Atlanta Falcons, Bill Parcells, Mark Sanchez, Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford, NFL