0:00

Hi, everybody. It's West Durham and welcome to a special

0:02

edition on the Atlanta Falcons podcast

0:05

network. Great to be with my partner Dave Archer

0:07

and LUKUSI number

0:09

two Matt Ryan joins us for this special

0:12

edition. We're

0:15

gonna have a conversation here, okay, and

0:18

since we can't start for when the earth cooled

0:20

arch, let's start with Oh,

0:24

I don't know, April twenty six, two thousand

0:26

and eight. That was a good day that

0:29

Radio City Music called New York City.

0:31

Yeah, did

0:34

you think you were going to be the third pick?

0:37

So I kind

0:39

of had a feeling my agent, Tom Condon.

0:42

These guys are all kind of clued into to

0:45

what's going on. And I remember

0:47

being up there in New

0:49

York, which was it was really cool at

0:51

the time. The draft is much different now

0:53

than it was then when I was drafted, but there

0:55

were six of us up there in

0:59

New York for the week getting ready for it, and

1:01

so like maybe Thursday or

1:03

Friday, Tom Connon

1:05

said to me, he said, I really don't think

1:07

you'll go past third. He

1:09

said, I think that the Falcons

1:12

are going to take at three if they're

1:14

there. Saint Louis was picking two

1:16

at the time, Miami took Jake long

1:18

one and he

1:21

said, the only thing I think that could happen

1:23

is Baltimore could trade to two to

1:26

take you. And so I was

1:28

kind of like, all right, I don't really know, you

1:31

know, And looking back

1:33

on it, he probably didn't know anything either. He was probably

1:35

just telling me that and make me feel good. I don't

1:38

know how much validity there is

1:40

to it, but you know, you're still

1:42

nervous even when three comes along. You know,

1:44

you're not really sure you know what's going to

1:46

happen. Then you gets a phone call and bam,

1:48

you know, next thing I knew,

1:51

I was in you know, here

1:53

at Flowery Branch late that night, and

1:56

it was a whirlwind, but it was. It was

1:58

a crazy experience, really really cool experience,

2:00

and you know, part

2:03

of me wishes the draft was always still there for those

2:05

guys at New York City at Radio City Music

2:07

Hall because it's such an iconic venue

2:09

and special place. But it

2:11

was a whirlwind. It was. It was a crazy start.

2:14

How much did you know about the Falcons

2:16

or how much did you followed it? And obviously you were a fan of the National

2:18

Football League, but Atlanta

2:20

in particular, maybe even Baltimore. Had

2:22

you looked at those places and kind of studied.

2:24

Them a little bit, I mean studied

2:27

a little but like you don't know, like

2:29

I knew the football teams. I knew the coaching staffs

2:31

from having met, you know, with

2:33

them during that draft process. But there's

2:36

so much more to it when you get here, you

2:38

know what I mean that you have no idea about

2:40

the history of the organization, the guys

2:42

who had played. You get to meet all those guys, you

2:46

know, So I would say it was limited, you know what I

2:48

really knew about the organization.

2:50

And then you know, city wise, I'd

2:53

been to Atlanta twice in my life, right.

2:55

I was here once

2:57

when I was recruited by Georgia Tech. I

3:00

came down for a visit with my dad, and then

3:02

the second time was when I played Georgia Tech. Yeah,

3:05

which, yeah, that was It was a good

3:07

night for me, not so much for Wes.

3:09

But in a coke bat all night long, threw

3:11

for like four to twenty seven or something.

3:13

You know better than I. We threw for a lot.

3:15

We threw for a lot. But so those

3:17

are my you know, kind of two

3:19

visits to Atlanta. I honestly grew

3:22

up hating Atlanta because

3:24

I was a Phillies fan and the Braves basically

3:26

dominated the Phillies, you know, my entire

3:28

existence. So uh, it

3:30

was. I didn't know a ton

3:33

if if I'm being completely honest when I got down

3:35

here, and you know, I haven't looked back

3:37

since though.

3:38

All right, there was a legend that you had texted

3:40

your mom after the game at Georgia Tech in

3:42

September of seven, Yeah, saying

3:45

I really like this city. I think I could

3:48

see myself living here.

3:50

I said it to my I wouldn't

3:52

have texted my mom.

3:53

Because my mom, what did you say it?

3:55

Or whatever? My mom, it was not correct.

3:59

Text is not in detebed. Well, she's gotten better.

4:01

She's gotten better, but at that time there's there's no

4:03

chance. But I do remember

4:07

I think she might have been at the game or

4:09

something like that. And so afterwards, waiting

4:11

for the bus, I was, and and

4:13

you know it, Georgia Tech Stadium is so awesome

4:16

that night, especially at night game down there,

4:18

you've got the skyline in the background. We had this unbelievable

4:20

night. I remember we stayed at the

4:22

Weston and Buckhead, which was like the

4:25

nicest hotel we ever stayed at at Boston College,

4:27

and like, I'm like, this is this place

4:29

is unbelievable, right, And so I remember

4:31

saying to my mom, I'm like, I really like this city. It's

4:33

it's you know, obviously we had

4:35

a good experience on the football field, but it was a beautiful

4:38

September night, like you couldn't

4:40

have dialed up a better time of the year. So I recall

4:42

saying something of that. My mom certainly,

4:44

you know, recalls me.

4:45

So Tanuda couldn't hold up the Blitz all night long,

4:47

blitzed an back in, couldn't

4:50

hire, couldn't hold up Ryan through for a

4:52

billion yards.

4:52

And remember he made if he plays

4:54

out of the pocket too, which I don't think we're

4:56

giving him credit for sneaky.

4:59

By the way, note Rich McKay

5:01

was at the game that night. Was he comes upstairs

5:03

and I'm still doing Georgia Tech. Obviously, comes

5:06

in the radio booth, tells me, hey,

5:08

I'm going down. I got to watch the Ryan kid

5:11

warm up. And I'm like,

5:13

okay, we'll see you at halftime because I'll be gone

5:15

by halftime. So he

5:17

did miss show. He saw a show in the first time.

5:19

I guess the warm up must have been pretty good too.

5:21

Then, yeah, the warm up.

5:24

Usually when you've warm up really well, you don't play that.

5:26

That's what I was gonna say. Usually my bad warm ups

5:28

were the best performances. The good warm up should

5:30

go into that locker room and be like, oh god, this concur

5:33

with that.

5:34

Matt you were you signed

5:36

really quickly up for a number one

5:39

draft pick, especially in that era

5:41

when the monies were still negotiating,

5:43

Yeah, why why did you? Why

5:45

did that happen?

5:47

Well?

5:47

Number one? You know, looking

5:49

back it was it's so

5:52

different. It was so different then than it is

5:54

now, right, Like the changes in kind

5:56

of slotting the draft and what guys

5:58

are going to be paid and kind of that whole

6:01

thing has changed. And so the

6:05

going back to it, the narrative was that quarterbacks

6:07

are going to be holdouts because there's going to be this

6:10

back and forth and negotiations. And I think

6:13

I have to give credit to both sides, right, I

6:15

think both sides felt

6:17

like, hey, we don't want that, you know,

6:19

we with all that had gone on here in Atlanta

6:22

prior to me getting here, I think it was let's

6:24

get this done. Let's figure

6:26

out what works, you

6:29

know, and let's not have any distractions

6:31

heading into training camp. And that was certainly what I wanted,

6:33

you know, from my end too, was

6:36

to you know, I was twenty two when I

6:38

got drafted, Like I just all

6:41

of it sounds good to me, right like

6:43

that, all of it. I don't know anything about this negotiating,

6:45

but like the first the first offer sounds

6:48

great. So it was.

6:50

It was all exciting. It was all good, and I wanted

6:52

to get it done and really, you

6:54

know, much like the rest of my career,

6:57

not really have those things be a distraction ever.

6:59

And I was.

7:01

Lucky, you know that it

7:03

it never really was. Contracts were

7:06

never I'm so fortunate to you

7:08

know, have had the contracts that I had. But both sides

7:10

had to be a part of it, and it was always

7:12

great dealing, you know, with the organization.

7:14

You came in here obviously at a very volatile

7:16

time. You knew that you were well aware of the scenario.

7:19

You were involved in a quarterback competition that

7:21

went all the way through the preseason up until

7:23

like ten days before the start of the regular season,

7:25

as I recall, But

7:28

yet you kind of came in here and melted

7:30

into the team chemistry pretty well for rookie

7:33

David. I've always talked about your ability to

7:35

come in here and adjust and be quickly

7:37

integrated into the professional rank.

7:40

I thought was one of his one of your biggest

7:42

traits.

7:42

Man.

7:43

Yeah, I mean I think, you

7:46

know, I grew up playing team sports, and I

7:48

think, you know, while

7:50

it's different at the professional level, when

7:53

you've been on teams your whole life, you understand

7:56

what it is to be a teammate and you

7:59

know you've you've got to be one

8:01

of the guys, and you know, you understand

8:03

that whatever role it is that you're asked to do, you

8:05

got to you gotta play your role well. And

8:08

I you know, I was always comfortable,

8:11

you know, with that, and even at

8:13

a young age, kind of comfortable in my own skin

8:15

just being who I was. And I think that's the key.

8:17

I mean, Archie can speak to it, being in the locker room for a

8:20

long time. You

8:22

know, when guys are trying to be something that they're

8:24

not, it doesn't usually

8:26

work out that well. And so I think you just have

8:29

to be yourself and that that's what I tried to be. Listen,

8:32

you know, look at the guys who are

8:34

doing it the right way. Like I think back to that locker

8:37

room I walked into in two thousand and eight, Todd

8:39

McClure, I mean Falcons Ring

8:41

of honor guy, but maybe

8:44

the best person on the planet. I mean, just

8:46

a good, good human being, the

8:49

ultimate guy to learn from.

8:51

You know, Roddy White energy

8:55

for days, and I mean just

8:57

starting to scratch the surface of who

8:59

he was as as a player, but

9:02

I mean competitor and like not

9:04

scared of anything. You see that, then

9:06

you see you know John Abraham

9:08

on the other side. He does it a completely different way,

9:11

but knows how to produce, you know, week

9:13

in and week out. You got Keith

9:15

Brooking who was here in my rookie year. Brooke was

9:17

you know, ten plus years in the NFL. He

9:19

was kind of, you know, one of the faces of

9:22

this organization for the better part

9:24

of a decade. Wide receiver

9:26

room too. You have Brian Finner and old. I

9:28

love Finn. He was old to me

9:30

at the time. Now that you know.

9:35

It's old, you know.

9:37

But him kind of you know, teaching me the

9:39

ropes. Michael Jenkins, a really mature, you

9:41

know, fourth or fifth year guy in that stage.

9:44

There were so many good examples of what

9:47

it looked like to be a professional around me. So

9:49

it was easy for me to say, Okay, I've

9:51

got these examples. I can lean

9:53

on them for advice in different

9:55

situations. And and

9:57

then also like

10:00

I'm here to be the guy, you know, and and not

10:03

shying away from that from the start, like I

10:06

respect that you guys are in these spots

10:08

in your career, but

10:11

we all know playing on football teams, they're

10:13

looking to you. And I

10:16

was. I was confident myself,

10:18

probably you know, naively

10:20

so, but felt confident in my

10:22

ability and and felt confident in the way

10:25

that I interacted with my teammates.

10:26

So let's buy a sound system for the locker room.

10:28

Oh yeah, yeah, just walk

10:30

us through the legend. That is Matt Ryan's

10:33

sound system for the for the offensive

10:35

line.

10:35

It's still in there, which which

10:37

yeah, which with all the changes to

10:40

this building, the fact that that sound system

10:42

is still in there, I am very proud of. It

10:44

was built to last. Yeah, uh, and

10:46

it cost enough to last. It should have lasted.

10:48

But so I remember, I

10:50

remember I was it was

10:53

OTA's or something like that was sometime

10:55

before we broke For the four

10:58

or five weeks you get off before training camp, and

11:00

I walked into the locker room and I was sitting at

11:02

my locker, which you guys know, in that old locker room. I

11:04

was right on that, you know where you walk in past the

11:06

equipment room. And so I'm sitting there's probably

11:08

like six fifteen in the morning, and it's dead silent

11:10

in there, and Lawyer

11:13

malloy Ah the law dog, walks right

11:15

past me and he's like, hey, you hear that. And I'm

11:17

like, no, like

11:20

hear what he's like exactly. He's

11:23

like, this place needs a sound system. And

11:25

I was like, oh, okay, didn't

11:27

think anything of it whatever, And so then like

11:29

the whole day, I'm kind of thinking about it. I'm like, I think he's

11:32

telling me to buy a sound sap. I

11:34

think that's what he was saying. So I kept

11:36

my mouth shut. And we break after

11:39

mini camp and we've got that stretch

11:41

of time off, and I go to Brian Boigner, who's

11:44

the head equipment manager, and I said,

11:46

boygs, like, what

11:48

do we gotta do to get a

11:50

sound system? Can we get it done in

11:52

the four or five weeks, you know, while

11:55

we're off? And he said, yeah, we can probably

11:57

do that, and so I give credit to Boygs.

11:59

I mean, yes, I paid

12:01

for it, but Boy's actually did the work and

12:03

you know, got whatever set

12:06

up to get it done. So

12:08

we come back for training camp and

12:10

I come in like a day or two early, and

12:12

I'm like, can I hear it? And they like turn it on,

12:14

like all right, perfect, this is good. It's a good

12:17

sound system. And so I'm

12:19

sitting there at my locker. I'll never forget

12:21

it. I'm sitting there at my locker just waiting

12:23

for a lawyer to walk I cannot wait

12:25

for him to walk in. And he does,

12:27

and I've got the whole equipment room keyed up to

12:30

kind of turn it on as soon as he comes in, and

12:32

they fired up and the bass is pumping and we've

12:35

got music Blair and he just looks at me and he's like,

12:37

well done, well done. So it

12:39

was. It was a cool thing. But I mean, you

12:42

know, it's changed a lot in the NFL. But I

12:44

think some of that old school I wouldn't even say

12:46

that was hazing. There was more of that like that

12:48

that went on, but that old school, like you've

12:51

got to you got to earn your stripes, you gotta

12:53

you gotta do some of those things. I

12:56

always liked that kind of stuff and I love

12:58

being able to do it in the position and you

13:00

know, being in the position to be able to do it. Yeah,

13:02

no question about it.

13:04

We get to your rookie season. Yeah,

13:07

football, Do you remember do

13:09

you remember the first pass of your senior year

13:11

at Boston College?

13:12

Yeah, pick six?

13:14

Wake Forest Antoine Smith.

13:17

Yes, correct, And I'll

13:19

never forget. So the day before, yeah,

13:22

Friday before. Steve Logan was our

13:25

offensive coordinator who was awesome

13:27

and I'll never forget. He

13:29

sat me down after our walkthrough on Friday

13:32

and he was like, hey man, you're the best player in the country.

13:35

And he goes, if I have to throw the ball eighty times

13:37

tomorrow, we're going to throw it eighty times. He's

13:39

like, I have so much faith in what you're

13:41

doing or whatever. And

13:45

I then start off with a pick six on

13:48

the first throw, and I remember coming to the sideline

13:50

and he goes, you got seventy nine

13:52

more to go, and I was like, perfect,

13:55

let's go. Yeah,

13:58

you know, and little stuff like that as

14:00

a player is stuff that you'll never forget.

14:02

And so yeah, I remember throwing that pick pick

14:04

six and then I remember throwing for like.

14:06

Four fifty that's exactly afterwards.

14:09

Yeah.

14:09

So my question is this, given that

14:12

the scope of first pick, first pass

14:14

of your senior year to the first

14:16

pass of your rookie year.

14:19

Yeah, today at

14:21

the Georgia and all the Atlanta Falcons start their

14:23

forty fourth season in the NFL, fresh

14:25

and new, a new rookie quarterback getting

14:28

Matt Ryan and a new head coach at Mike Smith,

14:32

and like college, Bryan

14:37

gonna throw first professional pass.

14:39

Cut Jacobs thirty twenty

14:41

five, twenty.

14:42

Fifteen, ten five.

14:44

He lives in Atlanta.

14:46

His first professional pass

14:49

is a sixty two year retract.

14:51

To Michael Jacobs.

14:52

That's the way you throw your first pack, man.

14:55

Wow, that's how you do it.

15:00

I mean, it

15:02

sends chills down my back. I would assume it does you.

15:04

Yeah, so take me through it. Yeah.

15:07

So in this we

15:09

talked about the pick six that I threw to start.

15:12

So on Friday afternoons my rookie

15:14

year, I would meet with Mike Malarkey after

15:16

practice and we would talk through the first fifteen

15:18

place and I was like, Mike, you

15:22

know, first pass, I'd love to just get something

15:24

I could get a completion on right, like give me a flat

15:26

route or anything. And so we had

15:28

this play up. It was I

15:30

think we called a zero strong sixty two comet sink

15:33

and so it was like I've

15:35

scouted Detroit on you know,

15:38

first and ten first made first downs, which

15:40

I think that was right. Was we ran

15:42

the ball twice. We ran a first down. It was a first

15:44

earned first down. So Mike had you know, the numbers

15:46

out and he's like, there, you

15:48

know, ninety seven

15:51

percent cover six, which is quarters

15:53

to the field and it's half into the boundary.

15:56

So we have this curl flat concept that's bet

15:58

you know, designed to be quarters on

16:00

the front side. He said, I'm gonna give you. I'm

16:03

gonna give you a curl flat to the field. You've

16:06

run it since you were in eighth grade, right, you

16:08

can't you can't, like, I can't give you anything

16:10

easier than this. I'm like, all that's perfect,

16:12

he goes, but like the only other thing

16:14

they play is kind of this this cover three

16:16

that they rotate too late out of that look.

16:18

And if you do that, He's

16:21

like, just alert the skinny post backside. If you're

16:23

thrown in completion, don't worry about it. You know, because

16:25

skinny posts like not the easiest throw

16:28

to come out of the gate. And I

16:30

remember being under center and

16:33

being like, oh,

16:36

rotating down, I

16:40

think I gotta throw this skinny post, and

16:43

sure enough they did. I trusted

16:45

what I saw and that

16:47

ball came out of my hand and I mean it,

16:50

it hit Jank, you know, right in stride.

16:53

And I remember running and celebrating and

16:55

then being honest with you on that clip, sitting

16:57

on the bench being exhausted from the celebration.

17:00

I'm screaming, I'm running around. I

17:02

don't know what I'm doing. But it

17:04

was crazy, it really was. And you

17:06

know what gets lost in that though, is I

17:08

think we only threw the ball thirteen times. After that,

17:11

we were like eleven or fourteen in that game for

17:13

a win.

17:13

So because Michael Turner ran for six miles, that's

17:15

correct.

17:16

Yeah, times have changed.

17:17

Shit, the franchise record rushing that day over

17:19

two hundred and twenty yards rushing and you did only

17:21

throw it thirteen times.

17:22

In the game.

17:22

Yeah, but sixty two, seven

17:25

hundred yards later, here we are sitting in the It's

17:27

unbelievable to think about that. So

17:30

from a rookie stamping so you go from that high

17:32

high where you guys blow out Detroit in that first game,

17:35

to the next week you go to Tampa

17:37

and they flat get after you.

17:39

I think I was like three is seventeen

17:41

or something in the first half. Those

17:44

numbers may not be correct, but it's not far

17:47

off right, And I'll

17:49

never forget forget going back circling

17:52

back to Lawyer Maloy, you

17:54

know, on the sideline. I mean, he is

17:56

in my face and he's saying, hey, man

17:58

in this league, can't be that guy

18:00

last week and this guy this week. And

18:03

I'll never forget hearing that and being

18:05

liked. I gotta get it together. The

18:07

thing I remember about that game though, was we

18:10

came storming back in the second half. We

18:12

gave ourselves a chance in that game,

18:15

and him coming up to me in the locker

18:18

room after the game. We lost,

18:20

but he said, Okay, you showed me

18:22

something, And to me, I was like,

18:25

okay, like I've always known that

18:27

was me, Like I'm not gonna I'm not gonna back

18:30

down. I'm gonna keep throwing it regardless of

18:32

what's gonna happen. But the validation from

18:34

a guy who had been a world champion, who had you know,

18:36

done those things. Yeah, that meant a lot

18:38

to me at that time.

18:39

I think he's one of the things Arts and I always talk about in your

18:41

career. It felt like you

18:44

found guys, and I know Days sometimes

18:46

drew the analogy of of when he got to

18:48

Atlanta and started professional football. You

18:50

find those connective guys. It sounds

18:53

like Lawyer Malloy, Tom McClure.

18:55

They could have been those guys for you in some respect,

18:57

oh.

18:57

No doubt, you know, and Lawyer just

18:59

in a I mean he was here a short

19:02

time while I was here. But you know,

19:04

you talk about a guy like Todd McLure, I mean,

19:08

I was lucky. I played with two centers

19:10

for basically ten years of my

19:13

career that were unbelievable

19:16

in Todd and Alex Mack.

19:18

And how much those guys

19:20

take off your plate at the line of scrimmage, both

19:23

in the run game and in the past game. It

19:26

was a you know, it helped me so much. But Todd

19:28

specifically in that first five years

19:30

of my career, you know, like I

19:32

didn't really have to do much at the line, and

19:34

he was rarely wrong, you know,

19:36

And it wasn't probably until my second

19:39

or third year that I would say, hey, Todd, maybe you

19:41

know I could get to that point. But

19:43

it allowed me to develop, you know, slowly, But

19:45

you know there were guys like you mentioned, you know, Todd

19:48

McClure. But then you know, my second year you talk about

19:51

Tony Gonzalez coming in. You know, we trade

19:53

and Tony comes in, and

19:55

for me, it's like, wow, I get to see

19:57

I get to see what first at

20:00

Hall of Fame looks like every day,

20:02

and I get to pick his brain and you

20:04

know, talk to him about different things. I

20:06

think we're all by products of the people

20:09

you know that that were surrounded to and and

20:11

so I was

20:14

incredibly fortunate to walk

20:16

into that offense in two thousand and eight, that at Michael

20:18

Turner, Roddy White, really

20:20

tough offensive line, you

20:23

know, Michael Jenkins on the backside at our ex drafted

20:25

with Harry Douglas, who was a hell of a player here for

20:28

a long time. There

20:30

were a lot of really good pieces, you know a

20:32

lot of really good pieces and a coaching staff,

20:35

you know that that that taught me how to be a professional.

20:37

Well yeah, and it's fine

20:39

to have guys around, but and this

20:41

is his most I had a chance to talk to this

20:43

guy three times a week exactly

20:46

every week he got tired of seeing. He

20:48

comes again. He's gonna But there there

20:51

is a The quarterback has to be

20:53

the most competitive guy on your team, which he is,

20:56

and he also has to be the

20:58

glue guy that can draw the competitiveness

21:01

out of guys that might be not

21:03

timid, but a little bit less than what lawyer

21:05

malloy were. And that was something you

21:07

were able to pull out of players. The

21:11

game leinning drives thing, the nickname

21:13

Mattie Ice and all stuff, and I know that kind of was born

21:15

in college.

21:16

But take us

21:18

into the way if you can the mindset

21:20

you had four game lanning drives your rookie

21:22

year. I mean the play against Chicago

21:25

or you get the short kick and you find Jink on the

21:27

bench route, Yeah, to set up a game winning coup.

21:29

Take me through the mindset there of what

21:31

you need to do to make sure the other ten

21:34

guys are locked in.

21:36

Yeah, I think you know. To me,

21:39

it was always you

21:42

just have to do your job really well in

21:44

these situations. And it was it was never like

21:48

a hero play or anything like that. It

21:50

was just, you know, in every situation is

21:52

different. You mentioned that Chicago play. So

21:56

I remember coming from the sideline and we

21:58

were saying, basically, we're

22:00

gonna try and run this bench oute. I think we had like six seconds.

22:03

I can't remember exactly what we had, but

22:05

I think, yeah, it

22:06

was It wasn't much, and

22:08

so it was like five or six seconds. And

22:11

really the coaching point was, hey, if

22:13

we get cover two, which I was shocked,

22:16

you know, and you see defenses now, you

22:19

wouldn't see this. They defend the sideline,

22:21

right, The defenses are different. But they were like, if

22:23

we get cover two, try and hold that cloud

22:25

corner, so the corner who's sitting there onto

22:28

the flat route and rip that bench.

22:31

If we get anything else, you're gonna have to throw

22:33

it away and we're gonna try and throw something up

22:35

at the end of the gate, like desperation

22:38

type play. So in my mindset i'm

22:40

out there, I'm saying, all right, guys, this is

22:42

exactly what we're gonna do. If we get cover too, I'm gonna

22:44

rip this bench to you on the sideline, get your feet down

22:47

enough time, we're gonna kick the field goal and we're gonna win. If

22:49

not, I'm gonna throw the ball away immediately and we're gonna

22:51

go to our end of game desperation

22:54

play. So to me, it was always just it

22:57

was very black and white, you know what I mean. It

22:59

was I'm gonna do this, you know, and

23:01

we're gonna do this. Here's exactly, And that's

23:04

really the way I would talk in

23:06

the huddle is here's exactly what we're gonna do. If

23:08

we get this, you're gonna catch us on the sideline, We're gonna do

23:11

it. We're gonna kick this, and then we're gonna

23:13

go wait. And I was always shocked

23:15

that it actually happened, you know, like they

23:17

come out, they play that cover too. We have like

23:19

a free runner two at my legs and I put that thing

23:21

on the sideline. Jank makes a great catch and

23:24

Jason Elam goes out there and knocks us

23:26

through the pipes and we get the win. But I

23:28

thought it was the preparation. So it's

23:30

a roundabout way to get to I

23:33

thought it was about us being prepared

23:35

for those situations and

23:38

being comfortable because of our preparation,

23:41

so we knew what we were gonna do. Here's our plan,

23:43

let's go execute it and not

23:45

be scared. Of the moment, And I was surrounded by guys

23:48

that weren't scared of the moment either, right, they

23:50

were not scared to be in otical

23:52

situations and to make them plays.

23:54

It's critical though.

23:55

That you'd know that the guy with the ball in his

23:57

hands is not scared.

23:58

That's it.

23:59

So those guys or bring me downstairs of the moment,

24:01

but they are if he is. And so your

24:03

ability to demonstrate an

24:06

ability to just immerse yourself in

24:08

the situation right then and not look

24:10

at the ramifications a

24:12

lot a lot of people.

24:13

Can go there. Yeah, I think, you

24:16

know, I think

24:19

as a quarterback you're a bit of a

24:21

salesman. Every play you know what I mean,

24:23

every play call that comes in the

24:26

way you call it, the way you talk, you know, the way

24:29

you get your guys to the line of scrumms. You gotta be selling

24:31

that is this is what we're doing.

24:33

You got to sell it during the week, Here's why we're doing it,

24:35

here's you know, and your coaching staff has

24:37

a lot to do with that. But the way that you think about

24:39

it, right, and the way

24:41

that you portray it, I think comes across.

24:44

I think body language comes across, you

24:47

know, to your teammates, and

24:49

then I think the way you handle things when it doesn't

24:51

go well right that yeah,

24:54

we didn't win it, but we're gonna win

24:56

it the next time we get it. I truly believe that,

24:59

you know, I think that. I think that over

25:01

time, you know, your teammates, you

25:03

know, start to learn that about you, and

25:06

it makes a difference. And it

25:09

was something that you know, honestly, I

25:12

grew up chasing my older brother,

25:15

right like, he was four years older

25:17

than me, played all the same sports as me, and

25:20

it was I was just constantly

25:22

chasing him, and so there was a lot of losing.

25:26

You know, yep, But if

25:28

you were going to play with these older kids and you were

25:30

gonna do all of this stuff, you were gonna take your

25:32

lumps, but you better get right back up and get back

25:34

in their face and show that you weren't gonna you

25:36

know, you weren't gonna back down. And I really

25:39

I think I learned that from a young age, and I just I

25:41

don't think it ever went away.

25:42

I kept looking at moments during your

25:44

career, you know, the touchdown pass, your

25:47

first play, and then trying to gather

25:49

yourself emotionally to get back in the game to go

25:51

win a football game getting thumped

25:53

and weak. Two the you know,

25:55

game winning drives that you began to become

25:58

legendary for I think it forty

26:00

six of them, which is, by the way, sixth

26:02

all time in comeback

26:05

wins in NFL history, which

26:07

begins to add up as we get through this career

26:09

of what he's done, and there should be

26:11

a gold jacket in the closet at some point here for

26:13

this guy. But the next

26:15

bridge was and I don't think you, I didn't know

26:17

it was it. The franchise,

26:20

it never had back to back winning seasons.

26:22

And you go to the playoffs your rookie year,

26:25

lose in Arizona, but took the team to

26:27

the playoffs. Here, you come back in nine

26:30

and they start talking about back to back winning

26:32

season.

26:32

I know, I was like what,

26:36

you know, Like how can that be? And

26:40

it was something. And so we

26:42

go through that year, that second year, and

26:45

we're good football team. You know, we were

26:47

a good football team kind of right. We were

26:49

in the mix and I got hurt

26:53

against Tampa. I tore I

26:55

had turf toe, so I tore the ligam

26:57

into my toe and I think

26:59

I met two games

27:01

parts really parts of three

27:03

games, and we went

27:05

oh and two while I was out. You

27:08

know, I think we lost to the Eagles and

27:10

and the Saints. I

27:12

think I can't remember exactly, but I think I

27:15

think that's who we lost to. UH, and

27:17

it kind of it it

27:19

it kind of eliminated

27:21

us from playoff contention. But I remember

27:23

there was that last three game stretch, and so

27:25

in order to finish nine and seven, we

27:28

had to win all three with little

27:31

or nothing to play for, as

27:33

as you would see it from the outside perspective.

27:36

UH. And I came

27:38

back and and I remember

27:41

we beat Buffalo, we beat the Jets,

27:43

and we beat Tampa to

27:46

finish finish off that season. And

27:50

mister Blank, I do remember,

27:52

I remember, you know, his excitement,

27:55

you know, and and I know it

27:57

doesn't sound like the you

27:59

know, sexy thing of all time to have just

28:01

had, you know, your back to

28:03

back winning seasons for the first time, but for him

28:05

taking over the organization, I do think it was something

28:08

he was very proud of of trying to get this going in

28:10

the right direction, right to create

28:12

sustained success. And so that

28:15

was a big deal, you know, for mister Blank,

28:17

maybe not so much for the rest of the players,

28:20

you know, because we weren't a part of the you know, forty

28:23

some years of history up until that point. But

28:25

for him it was and I'll never

28:28

forget that.

28:28

Well, and it also became that moment

28:31

for me as a former player here.

28:33

And part of the problem why we didn't have to stop it

28:35

stopped was there's

28:38

a new mark. There's a new benchmark

28:40

that this organization is supposed to reach,

28:43

and so Matt was a part of that. With all his teammates

28:45

he's talking about, but the ability to

28:47

take this to another level where their expectation

28:50

level is not just winning seasons,

28:53

it's going to the playoffs, which in twenty

28:55

ten we got that rectified.

28:57

Yeah, And I think it's it's funny when

28:59

we started kind of piecing all this

29:01

together, I mean, without going Ralph Edwards,

29:03

this is your life the whole way through. I mean,

29:06

the next line seems to be

29:08

like twenty twelve. Here

29:10

you are. You've been to the playoffs a couple of times, it

29:13

hadn't produced, but to win in the postseason.

29:15

Yeah, we're rowing three at that point.

29:17

Yeah, yes, I mean you you get

29:19

to twenty twelve and then all of a sudden

29:21

here's this Seattle game. Yeah right,

29:24

yeah, and it's it's

29:26

a real thing. I mean, this is like

29:28

and yet all the things that had happened really since

29:31

eight and the building and adding Tony and going

29:33

through free agency and the cosmetic

29:35

change any team goes through in the National Football League.

29:38

You get to twenty twelve and things just

29:40

start out gangbusters in this game.

29:42

And then here's Seattle making this comeback and

29:44

they take the lead late and the next

29:46

play we're going to run in this is

29:49

a play that you guys have come from deeping

29:51

your own territory late, and then

29:53

you make this throw nineteen

29:56

seconds left, Ryan, and the gun takes a

29:58

snap. See I'll bring a press. Matt's gonna

30:00

throw Gonzales to catch thirty five

30:03

Tony tackle thirty one yard line time

30:05

out. Mike Smith, Yeah,

30:08

come on, I love it.

30:09

So this is gun trips right deep sixty eight shell

30:12

not so they.

30:12

Remember going on on.

30:14

I mean, Tony, Tony probably had seventy

30:16

catches on this, you know, during during his time

30:18

with us. Maybe maybe that's an exaggeration, but he

30:20

had a lot of catches, you know, on this play.

30:23

The thing I love about that clip, though, is you talk

30:25

about it taking all eleven and Jock Quiz

30:27

Rogers block, you know, coming from the back side,

30:29

there's pressure coming from the right. He's got a scan

30:32

coast to coast, we used to call it, starting

30:34

looking on the left to make sure no backers are coming

30:36

from the left, and then scanning and coming

30:38

back to the right and coming across in front of

30:40

my face, you know, and Stone in the backer

30:43

who's coming from the right side, giving me just

30:45

enough time for you

30:47

know, me to push the ball down the field to get to Tony.

30:49

But you know, it was that was a

30:51

big deal, and it was a

30:54

huge deal. And I'll never forget Tony after

30:56

that ballgame, you know, because you

30:58

know, you talk about our journey as

31:00

an organization of you

31:02

know, losing in eight to Arizona,

31:05

losing in ten to Green Bay who

31:07

went on to win the Super Bowl, losing in eleven

31:10

to New York who went on to win the Super Bowl.

31:12

It was kind of that build up. And Tony

31:15

was in year I want to say,

31:18

fourteen or fifteen at this point, and it

31:20

had never won a playoff game, right and

31:22

for him to make that play to be a

31:24

part of it. Matt Bryant to make that kick

31:26

going through. After it, there was a lot of really

31:29

cool, you know, pieces of

31:31

that, and it was the first that

31:33

was that was the label, right, It was, yeah,

31:35

you're a pretty good player, but you haven't won any playoff games,

31:37

all right, So okay, we can do it. We

31:40

can come back and win a playoff game, you know, and then

31:42

can you do more? And so that was really you

31:44

know the start of it. But it's never going

31:46

to be easy. That's the thing I remember, you

31:49

know about about my

31:51

career too, is that nothing,

31:54

you know, nothing is given, nothing comes

31:56

easily, right. You got to earn every every

31:59

part of it. It's hard to do and that's why it makes

32:01

making plays like that so rewarding.

32:03

Well again, it hearkens back to what you learn as a kid.

32:07

Let's get the culmination if we can, let's

32:09

get let's finish this one off. No,

32:14

we were do we have the field goals? Anyway,

32:18

the field goal and I was living

32:20

vicariously through you, as was every fan

32:23

that was in the Georgia Dome and all those who were watching

32:25

at home. Because Wes makes a

32:27

great call as Matt

32:30

kicks it through to win it, and I

32:33

looked at I looked over at Wes

32:36

and I said, Wes, why

32:38

do we live this way?

32:42

Was perfect?

32:43

It was just that was because we had

32:45

been so they've been so close.

32:48

Why are we doing this to ourselves? Yes,

32:50

but it was just it was just a phenomenal moment that I

32:52

think everybody that will

32:54

think back and hopefull you guys enjoy this

32:57

with Matt that you'll feel what

32:59

you felt at that time because we all

33:01

win.

33:02

Yeah,

33:06

we made it hard on ourselves in that game to be you

33:08

know, find too. But you know what's

33:10

cool about that game, you know now

33:12

seeing it from hindsight, that Seattle team

33:14

turned into that was the beginning

33:17

of that legion of Boom and Russell Wilson,

33:19

Ryn and you don't know that that's

33:21

going to be one of the premier teams, you

33:23

know in the NFC. For that stretch, that was

33:25

really the very beginning of it, right and

33:27

and for us to be toe to toe and then

33:29

go out there and find a way to get it done,

33:32

you know, it was special. It was super.

33:34

Special to feel like though in twelve

33:36

it's your team, you're already

33:38

the quote face of the franchise. I think

33:41

that term gets kind of loosely used sometimes

33:43

when it's not applicable, but you

33:45

feel like, okay, I'm I'm

33:47

kind of directly responsible publicly

33:50

for what this comes to be as

33:52

a player.

33:53

Yeah, I mean I I I probably

33:55

felt that prior to twelve. Okay, I

33:58

think that I

34:02

always was cognizant

34:04

of the fact that being a

34:06

quarterback in the NFL, being the starting

34:08

quarterback for one of these thirty two franchises,

34:11

there's a lot of weight that comes with that and how

34:14

you conduct yourself every day right, the way

34:16

that you work, the way that you are for your teammates. I never

34:18

I never took that part of it lightly,

34:21

Like I didn't take that for granted. And so I

34:23

felt that weight constantly,

34:27

you know, for for fourteen years. At times

34:29

it was heavier than others, but you

34:31

know, for fourteen years here, I always,

34:34

I always felt that weight. You know. I remember Mike

34:36

Smith telling me, listen, man, wins

34:38

and losses are attached to two people's names around

34:40

here, yours and mine. Wow,

34:42

you know, in year one, and so when

34:44

you think about it, that really is his head

34:46

coaching record? Is this? This quarterbacks record?

34:49

Is this?

34:49

You don't hear it for a wide receiver. You don't hear it for

34:52

you, you know, an offensive linement, but there's a

34:54

there's a weight that comes with it. The

34:56

thing. I don't

34:59

know why, and it's

35:01

probably the way I was brought up and maybe

35:04

just the way I am. I was always comfortable

35:06

with that, you know what I mean. So to me,

35:08

that was one of the reasons that allowed me to

35:10

be successful, you know, for a long time,

35:12

was that, Yes, I felt it, I

35:14

knew it was there, and I was comfortable with that.

35:17

I was okay, you know, being in that spot. And

35:19

in fact, I really liked it,

35:21

you know, I really liked that pressure. I like that,

35:24

you know, I felt like that brought the best out in me. So

35:26

I probably felt that way prior to twenty twelve.

35:28

But I think my confidence

35:31

was probably in, you know, a career

35:33

high up until that point during

35:36

that twenty twelve season.

35:37

Where there's not a lot of guys and

35:39

then we're talking about a select amount of guys. A lot

35:41

of those guys are enshrined in

35:43

Canton that can handle

35:46

that kind of information. When you've got a coach that comes

35:48

to you and you're a twenty two year old kid and they say,

35:50

hey, this is attached to you and me, You've

35:53

got to be careful about information that you tried

35:56

to share with people, because some guys are a little

35:58

bit more fragile than others. That was

36:00

never ever fragile, and anything

36:03

like those type of words was never associated

36:06

with you. I always appreciated that the toughness.

36:09

Part of that toughness was your ability to line up

36:11

every week and I get

36:13

a chance, like I said, see you three

36:16

times a week, and maybe more than that

36:18

during the season. The

36:20

times I knew you were beat up and couldn't

36:23

you probably shouldn't go. There

36:25

were a number of times you shouldn't play. And

36:28

I know you know that. Yeah, tell me about that in

36:30

your mindset of needing to

36:32

line up every time with your guys.

36:34

Well, I think it started. I

36:38

mean, honestly, it's I'll

36:40

share this so it starts from a young

36:43

age. I remember

36:45

my uncle was a quarterback at Boston

36:47

College, John Lockery, And my uncle

36:50

broke his thumb at BC and

36:53

Doug Flutie came in

36:55

and became the quarterback at Boston College.

36:58

And my uncle wasn't like or anything

37:00

about it, but you know, maybe a little bit,

37:02

maybe a little bit, but just

37:05

a little bit. But I remember hearing this story

37:08

as a kid, right, and it's the I don't

37:10

know why, but it's the things I remember

37:13

hearing growing up. And I was like, oh, that's

37:15

that's interesting. You know, if you could play

37:18

through it, play through it right. Don't let somebody

37:20

go out there and take their spot. And so

37:22

I remember then getting to Boston

37:24

College and so I kind of

37:27

it didn't happen quickly for me. It took some time. I

37:29

had to work my way up and finally got a

37:31

chance to play, you know, in my red

37:33

shirt sophomore year to start in earnest I kind

37:35

of I took over the

37:37

team halfway through. So then my junior

37:39

year, I break my fifth

37:41

metatarsal in my foot against Virginia Tech

37:44

and I finished a game it

37:47

was hurting whatever, and I go in with

37:49

the doctors and I'm like, okay, so what can

37:51

you do for it? And they're like, well, nothing, it's

37:54

clean, break right in half. We'll put a screw in it.

37:56

And I was like, well, what happens if you play and

37:59

they were like, well, nothing,

38:01

really, it'll probably calcify around. We'll just rebreak

38:03

it and then put a screw in after the season, And I said, all

38:05

right, that sounds good to me.

38:07

Let's do that.

38:09

But somewhere in the back of my mind it was that I

38:11

knew there was this kid, Chris Crane who was behind me at

38:13

Boston College, who was six ' four two

38:15

thirty five two forty He ran like a

38:17

four or five four six and he could throw it. And I

38:19

was like, I'm not coming off

38:21

the field like I and

38:24

I'm probably screwed up, uh

38:26

in that way, But that was the way my

38:29

mind worked, right, And so it

38:31

was just always I can be out

38:33

there, I can do it. I'll figure out a way to get

38:35

it done. So then you get to the NFL, right, and you're

38:37

going to be playing through certain things. And I

38:40

just felt like I talked about that weight of

38:43

you know, wins and losses being attached to it. And

38:46

I also think back to like to who much is given?

38:48

Much as expected? So I feel like I was

38:50

given a lot and I was expected

38:53

to do what I could to be

38:55

out there and perform and try and help our team

38:57

win. So

39:01

I had many verbal

39:04

confrontations with training

39:07

staff and stuff like that, like now

39:09

I'm playing, you know, we'll figure out

39:11

a way, you know. I remember

39:14

running in I can't

39:16

remember what I did, but Marty Lazone

39:18

and Danny Long were

39:20

in the training room and

39:23

I couldn't practice Wednesday. I

39:26

probably didn't practice Thursday, but I woke up

39:28

Friday morning. I was like, oh, this feels a little better.

39:30

And I remember walking into the training room

39:33

It's like five point thirty. I'm the only one in there, and

39:35

I yelled at Marty and Danny. I'm like, don't

39:38

change the mother f and game plan. I'm

39:40

good to go, and they're like, what you

39:42

know? And and but just that

39:44

was it, you know, it was for me, it was I'm

39:46

going to find a way to play no

39:49

matter what, and I'm going to, you

39:51

know, try and be out there if at all possible.

39:53

Yeah, there were special shoes there, things

39:57

I was back. I mean, it was unbelievable how many

39:59

different ways they got this guy back on the field because he demanded

40:02

to be on the field.

40:04

We get to twenty sixteen, Dan Quinn's

40:06

second year. You have gone through a transition

40:09

of GM and head coach Dave.

40:12

We were talking before we started this about the variety

40:14

of offensive coordinators that you five

40:17

different OC's. You

40:19

get to sixteen, You've had a year

40:21

with DQ. You kind of know what the plan is.

40:24

You've worked with Kyle for a year. It

40:26

clicks in year two. A

40:28

little bumpy in spots, but it clicks.

40:31

Why how I think

40:33

he worked through it right, and so you

40:36

know, twenty fifteen, twenty

40:39

fifteen, we started like six and two five

40:41

and oh five and oh and then I'm thinking

40:43

through that first half of the season probably six square

40:46

around there. And so we start

40:48

out, but I even remember

40:50

being like, I don't feel

40:52

like I don't feel that comfortable

40:54

though, you know what I mean, Like we're winning and

40:56

this is great. We're kind

40:58

of doing it with smoking mirror. Were kind of because

41:01

you know it right, you know it as a player when you're really

41:03

operating or you're kind of just you're

41:06

getting by. And I think we were all

41:08

learning it. It was really different. It was really

41:10

new. It wasn't just myself, it was collectively

41:13

right. We had guys had been around for a

41:15

long time and had had

41:17

been in the same system. We had different coordinators,

41:19

but we had been in the same system for seven years

41:21

together. So there were so many little things, you

41:24

know that we kind of had to rewire our brains to

41:27

operate differently. So I think it took us time.

41:30

And then I think having really candid,

41:32

honest conversations that off season

41:35

two about hey, i'm in, I'm all in,

41:37

I'm good, you know with where we're going, but

41:40

we need to we need a few things here

41:42

and there too, And I think that that mixing

41:45

heading into the twenty sixteen season

41:47

was really good. And then in fact,

41:50

I remember being seven and I think we're seven

41:52

and five. So

41:54

it wasn't like, I mean, it was a it was a great

41:56

year, but it wasn't like we were

41:59

just railroad in teams right from the start,

42:01

right it was. There was some back and

42:03

forth and and some hard and we.

42:05

Had the Rocky lost to Kansas City

42:07

here remember yeah, threw.

42:10

A pick on a two point conversion that went back

42:12

for two points. Uh yeah,

42:14

you know, so so there was some of that. We had a tough

42:17

loss I remember against the Chargers

42:19

where we had a chance at the end we kind

42:21

of came screaming back. We ended up losing.

42:25

But none of them were blowouts, you know what I mean.

42:27

It was it was all that it was tight. We

42:29

were right there, we just need to tighten a few

42:31

things up and then boom, I mean we

42:33

we we we got into

42:35

a rhythm and we started rolling and we played

42:38

you know, some some really good football,

42:40

uh you know down that stretch and offense,

42:42

I mean offensively, we were

42:45

we were a problem. I mean we could.

42:47

It was. It felt like every

42:49

time we touched touched the ball, we were gonna score a touchdown.

42:52

And it wasn't far off, you know, it

42:54

really wasn't. Yeah,

42:56

it was that was a It was a fun

42:58

team to be a part of. And I obviously you know, a disappointment

43:01

for sure, you

43:03

know, but that's part of it.

43:05

We're gonna run one more play here. It's

43:09

it maybe, I know it's one of David

43:11

Mine's favorite player.

43:12

Absolutely.

43:13

Uh. You'd beaten Seattle the week before

43:16

in the divisional round and again always

43:18

somehow Seattle shows up this thing, right,

43:21

But then you had to exercise one more demon

43:24

and Green Bay comes in here because they beat Dallas,

43:27

I mean they go to they go and beat the top

43:29

seed.

43:30

You got to go back to eleven when they

43:32

came in and beat us here.

43:33

On that Saturday night game.

43:34

They rolled us.

43:36

So here's the NFC title

43:39

game, and this is second quarter plus

43:42

territory, seven and a half minutes

43:44

left to go, green

43:49

Bay rushes for Ryan steps

43:51

up in the pocket, Matt tops runs tent

43:54

five, does he score? He does a

43:56

rusting touchdown from Matt Ryan. How

43:59

bad is No? Or two on it? By

44:04

the way, former Falcon stafford Michael Benford

44:06

almost took one in the noggin on the spike.

44:09

Yeah, that was. That was clocked at one hundred and three miles

44:11

an hour.

44:12

As an artist I ever saw.

44:14

Well, it to me, it typified

44:17

really you and your career. It

44:20

was just it was a moment in time.

44:22

Yeah,

44:24

it was, And I think, I mean, you

44:27

talk about the celebration

44:30

and like what I think of when

44:32

I see that. You know, I

44:34

think I was thirty one years old at the time,

44:36

right somewhere around there. I think that season

44:39

thirty thirty one, somewhere somewhere around

44:41

there. I started playing football

44:43

in second grade, you

44:45

know. So like to

44:47

me, that's you're talking twenty

44:50

some years of effort,

44:52

of work, of you know, to try

44:54

and be in that position, to try and to

44:56

try and do it. And that's

44:59

why like all of that stuff

45:01

is coming out too, you know, all of all

45:03

of the good, all of the people along the way.

45:06

You know that you were a part of like you

45:09

feel all of that, you know, and honestly,

45:12

I don't even know how to describe like what

45:14

is running through your body you

45:16

know at that time, But it's this

45:18

is the hard part, right when when it's over.

45:21

Is I love playing

45:23

golf? I never feel

45:25

like that playing you

45:29

know what I mean? Or you know, I think

45:31

the nerves with kids become similar

45:33

to where you feel the emotions that that you have

45:35

for them, and that part is really good

45:38

or really cool. But like that

45:40

is the stuff that that is hard to replicate, that

45:42

that you know you'll never get back. But like I

45:45

think that is a fair representation

45:47

too. Like you said, like I

45:51

really love to play, and I like

45:54

I really love to compete,

45:56

and like

45:59

I think, is that coming out in

46:01

those type of situations.

46:03

It was to me real quickly in

46:05

watching it, and that's why I said, how bad is number two?

46:07

Want it is? It was a collective

46:10

feeling, not only for you and obviously

46:13

huge moment for you and your career to get

46:16

the monkey off your back get to the big game.

46:18

But the whole city

46:21

was riding with you.

46:22

Yeah, it was crazy. I'll never

46:24

forget. So, I

46:26

mean, this game was unbelievable. But the

46:29

first half, we come out, we explode

46:31

in the in the third quarter coming out too. We just did

46:34

not take our foot off the gas the entire game.

46:36

And we get to the end and

46:39

it's the only time in my life, you

46:41

know, I've been on the

46:44

field totally

46:46

consumed with what was going on off the

46:48

field and have goosebumps

46:51

or whatever. I feel like my whole life, I

46:53

didn't really you don't even hear it, right, you don't even

46:55

notice it, and that

46:57

don't finish it up, and that place chanting MVP

47:00

and me trying to get it quiet because we're

47:02

snapping it like to just run the clock

47:04

out basically, and my skin's

47:07

crawling off, you know, and I really shaking

47:10

on the inside. I'll

47:12

never forget it, like it was. I

47:15

missed that though, you know, I miss

47:17

I miss it for for that reason, because

47:20

you know, you said, it's you know, seventy thousand people

47:22

in that thing and five six seven

47:24

million people in our city, you know, whatever the fan

47:26

base is, and it's

47:28

happening to me, and I was like, this is this

47:31

is crazy, this is unbelievable.

47:33

Can I want to I want to share a couple

47:35

of things. Well, first of all, I remember. There

47:37

are two things that happened that day that I remember

47:39

Specifically, late in the game,

47:42

Dave came out of a we came out of a commercial

47:44

break, and it's evident they're going to win the game,

47:47

and Dave said, isn't it nice? We can just tip our hat

47:49

walk up the eighteenth fairway here, knowing that we're

47:51

going to go someplace and play again, because

47:54

we're gone from why do we live like this? To

47:57

you know, now we're going to doff our cap and walk

47:59

up the team s fair away. The

48:01

second part of this, and I wanted to touch

48:03

on this, and we were talking about this kind

48:06

of as we were working through the process of talking

48:08

to you today. There's

48:10

some constant you've mentioned intermittently

48:12

along the way. Two things I remember

48:14

about that one is you and Sarah after

48:16

the game that captured by NFL Films. Yeah,

48:19

and how proud because she was a good athlete,

48:22

played women's basketball Georgia attack terrific

48:24

in her own right, and how proud

48:26

she was of you, and how

48:28

much that meant to her that you got that done.

48:31

That's one, yeah, And then after

48:33

the game, your dad.

48:35

Oh yeah, I

48:37

mean yeah.

48:40

I saw your dad and I was just like I'll start, I'll

48:42

start with my dad.

48:43

So I mean my dad is I

48:45

see him after the game and the cool thing you

48:48

know, for oh

48:50

man, really the whole

48:52

time at the dome, because I say this,

48:54

the parking situation changed, Yes

48:57

it did, right, And so the whole time at

48:59

the dome, we had that parking lot that was underneath

49:01

right outside of the locker room. And

49:04

my dad and I would drive home from

49:07

every game together nobody else

49:09

and so Sarah you know, would leave,

49:12

we'd all be going back to the house or whatever. She

49:14

would you know, I have the rest of my family getting

49:17

set up whatever it is, right, But it was

49:19

always it was always my

49:21

time with my dad for yeah,

49:24

you know, twenty twenty five thirty minutes whatever.

49:26

And I

49:29

loved that, you know, and and so

49:31

that was a special you know ride back

49:33

with him. My dad, you

49:35

know, is a little bit old

49:38

school, and that you know, we

49:41

weren't told, you know, how great we were all

49:43

the time. You know, it was it

49:46

was just you know, a different time and this

49:49

is I you know, never he

49:51

certainly loved us and showed us that all

49:53

the time, but you know, it wasn't It's just

49:55

different and so I

49:57

remember that that car ride back and him

49:59

just being like, I'm really proud of you, and

50:01

I'm like, damn, man,

50:04

I've never heard that, Like not no, I

50:06

felt it. I felt you know it just that generation

50:09

different, you know, and so like, uh.

50:11

You wanted to his approval, you wanted to please

50:14

your dad.

50:15

So I remember that and I always

50:17

knew that. But absolutely

50:20

cool. It was cool on the ride home and

50:22

then Sarah after the game. I

50:25

have a picture of me

50:27

leaning down in her kind of that spot,

50:30

uh in the house, and

50:33

I mean I look excited, but yeah,

50:37

my my, and the picture is like kind

50:39

of from my like how I remember it too, And

50:41

it's just you're exactly right. I mean for

50:44

my entire career. You know,

50:46

she's the one person that got

50:50

the honesty, you know, because Archie

50:52

know this, showing up in the building every day as a quarterback.

50:55

I mean, there are days when you don't have it, you

50:57

don't feel good, but you better

50:59

fake, you better come in, and you

51:02

better you know, be on it. You'd be a positive,

51:04

upbeat, dialed in all

51:06

of those things. And then you kind

51:09

of get in that car and you get home and you're like this

51:11

is disastrous.

51:12

Good you know, like I'm.

51:14

Not my body's messed up, He's not doing this,

51:16

or you know, she caught all of it.

51:19

You know, she caught all of it that frankly

51:22

nobody else caught, you know. And

51:25

you mentioned her being a great athlete. She's

51:28

I mean, she's also like the

51:30

best sports psychologist on the planet

51:32

of knowing what to

51:35

say or what

51:37

not to say, just seemingly

51:40

perfect, you

51:42

know, forever, And so I

51:44

mean I wouldn't be I wouldn't have been the same player

51:47

I was without her, I know

51:49

that for sure. And the celebrations

51:52

would not have been as fun

51:55

as they were without the people

51:57

that, like you mentioned my dad and my

51:59

wife, who were such a big part of it along

52:01

the way.

52:02

Yeah, just I remember seeing your

52:04

parents and I talked to

52:06

you Pop. I don't care was at home or on

52:08

the road, wherever it was, I'd always he'd

52:10

called me. Oh what I

52:13

said, Your kids got it, man, We're

52:16

good. We're good. The

52:18

love and support that was there, both from

52:20

from your immediate family with your wife and

52:22

with Sarah and then your mom and dad

52:26

was so evident in it, in it,

52:28

and I know it meant a lot to you.

52:29

Oh man, it meant a ton you know, you guys knew it.

52:31

You know, I would talk to you after every game. I would

52:34

see us after every game. You

52:36

know, it's particularly those road games. But my dad,

52:40

my dad wouldn't even say much. You know, he's not

52:42

he's not a big talker, but

52:46

he would be standing outside the locker room

52:48

win or lose every game on the road.

52:50

I mean, I think the guy missed prior to

52:52

COVID like two or three games my entire

52:54

career. Uh, and would be standing out

52:57

outside that locker room. And it was just we

53:00

didn't even really need to talk. You might get two minutes,

53:02

you know, before we were heading to the bus. But

53:05

that meant you know, that meant the world

53:07

to me. Sure, just having that safe

53:10

whatever you want to call it, safe space or

53:14

where you can let your guard down for one

53:16

minute, talk about nothing, and you

53:18

would finish with it. You good, And

53:21

I'm like, I'm good, man, I'm good.

53:23

And that was it, I mean, honestly, but for

53:26

whatever reason, that was the thing that kind

53:28

of okay, all right, I'm saying,

53:30

yeah, I'm back, Yeah, exactly, So

53:32

that's awesome.

53:34

Without creating a mini series, yeah

53:36

sorry, no, no, no, this

53:38

is all good. We have

53:41

talked since you played

53:43

in Indianapolis and now gotten into television,

53:45

and we'll get a final thought about that future.

53:49

The commitment that you and Sarah

53:52

but that you're making in this

53:54

community. The thing why Atlanta

53:56

is now important to you, why it's home to you, why

53:59

it's this is a valued

54:01

piece of what you are as Matt Ryan.

54:04

When did that start? I mean, I could

54:06

say, sure, you played here fourteen years, it's easy

54:09

to understand, but there's a lot more to

54:11

it than just putting the black helmet on. And we're

54:13

in number two now to what Matt Ryan and Atlanta

54:15

are.

54:15

Yeah, I mean it's well,

54:18

that part is hard right in this in

54:20

this profession, you really have no control over

54:22

where you start. You don't and

54:24

so I

54:27

always feel like I was so lucky that it was

54:29

here, not only for what happened

54:31

in my career, but it's a great I mean, you guys know

54:33

it. It's a great It's a really good place to live.

54:36

And I always felt like it was important to

54:38

give back, you know, early in my career, whether

54:41

that was with Cholla or you

54:43

know, boys and girls clubs around

54:45

the city, or later in my career kind of starting this

54:47

atl foundation to

54:49

help kind of black kids in the West side

54:51

of Atlanta. I think, you know, it

54:54

was always important, but it really

54:56

became home when my

54:58

kids were born. You

55:00

know, you start to think about like and

55:04

I still kind of scratch my head, like my kids

55:06

are from the South, like

55:10

like like what is going on?

55:12

You know, Like we took them up My wife

55:15

is from Portland, Maine, and so we took them up to Maine

55:17

this January and and there

55:19

was like there wouldn't even snow on the ground,

55:22

just like you know, where it's plowed off or

55:24

whatever. My kids are like, there's so much snow,

55:26

Let's go sledding, you know, like you're sledding on grass?

55:29

What is wrong with you? They just don't

55:31

know, you know. So we still kind of,

55:33

you know, laugh and kind of pinch ourselves

55:35

about that. But it really changed for us,

55:38

you know, when when my older two were born,

55:41

and you know, you

55:44

think about your life in a different way when the kids come. Where

55:46

we're going to raise our children. It's a great place to raise our

55:48

children. The people here have been incredibly

55:50

kind to me and Sarah, you

55:52

know, through throughout our career and beyond,

55:55

and so it's special. You

55:57

know. I think we all want to you

55:59

know, be you know,

56:01

a beneficial part of the communities and

56:03

try and make them, you know, better places. And that's

56:06

what we're committed to trying to do.

56:08

All right. I got to ask you a couple just random

56:10

questions.

56:11

Just the rapid fire is good?

56:13

Yeah, all right?

56:14

Favorite city to play in other than Atlanta?

56:17

Green Bay? Why? Green Bay? Lambeau.

56:20

Yeah, I mean, you can't even classify

56:22

Green Bay as a city, but there

56:24

is. To me, there is no other

56:26

stadium like that. There's no other feeling like

56:29

that in the NFL. I always love playing

56:31

up there.

56:31

I tell people all the time. I get asked that question.

56:33

And David and I've done games there where it's

56:36

been four in games when it's been forty four degrees.

56:38

I think it's one of the few places in the National

56:41

Football League that has a pure collegiate field

56:43

to it feels different.

56:45

I think it feels different from from

56:47

any any other place in the NFL.

56:48

I think anybody's ever had a chance to be up there, just

56:51

be in the building, but let alone play there. And

56:53

I've been fortunate enough to be there as a player and as

56:55

a broadcaster. And you're right, mat it's a

56:57

different place, least favorite place to go.

57:00

Come on, come on,

57:02

is this Cam Jordan?

57:03

Is it Cam Jordan, New Orleans?

57:05

Yeah, okay, I just

57:07

wanted to reaffirm there. Yeah,

57:10

we just wanted to reaffirm that you and Cam Jordan

57:12

have had rekindled relationship.

57:14

I just I like, you know, you get

57:16

cares and this kind of stuff, and the competitiveness

57:19

is there. But if I'm you

57:21

know, okay, just one was my favorite

57:23

place to win. I

57:25

just wanted to verify that because it was my least favorite

57:27

place.

57:27

I remember one walk we had postgame there one time

57:29

and you were like slow strolling

57:32

the entire field from the visitors' locker room.

57:34

Yeah, I'm might enjoy this.

57:35

One didn't happen very often, but when it did,

57:37

it was good.

57:38

Can you in your two

57:40

hundred and thirty four career

57:43

games starts, which

57:46

every time you played you started, so two hundred

57:48

and thirty four times? Is there a

57:51

favorite game all time?

57:53

Wo? Wow?

57:54

You do that?

57:55

How about that question? Huh?

57:56

I mean yeah, I think the

57:59

last clip we show, you know, close closing

58:01

out that the Georgia

58:03

Dome that way, that game that

58:07

was that was probably the most special

58:11

followed by one that was yeah, no

58:14

difficult that one, yeah, Which

58:16

is interesting about that game.

58:17

And we have not talked about the Super Bowl, and it obviously

58:19

didn't go the way we wanted to go. By

58:22

the way, Matt's the

58:24

fourth highest rated passer in

58:27

Super Bowl history, right, And you can take

58:30

all the winners, all the fourth

58:32

rated game all time in

58:34

rating Phil Simms just like four

58:37

percentage points ahead. And Phil Sims went twenty

58:39

to twenty five in that eighty six Super

58:41

Bowl when he beat the Broncos. Just tells

58:43

you how good a game Matt had that day.

58:46

But I'm gonna throw some numbers out at you. Forty

58:49

six game winning drives sixth all time,

58:54

seventy six career three hundred yard games

58:57

fourth all time, sixty two

58:59

hundred sixty two thousand, seven

59:01

hundred ninety two yards seventh all time,

59:04

three hundred and eighty one touchdown passes

59:07

seventh or ninth all time. What

59:12

when you hear those kind of numbers, what

59:14

does that mean to you?

59:15

I mean, I'm, I'm it's

59:18

it's it's hard to I

59:21

don't really know, you know, I don't I don't

59:23

really know what to make of it. I think that I'm

59:26

incredibly proud of it. Like I still think.

59:28

I still think of playing high school football

59:30

at Pincharter and if I

59:33

threw for a thousand yards in a season and

59:35

had ten touchdown passes, that was like an unbelievable

59:38

year, you know. And so from

59:42

a perspective, you know, it's it's

59:45

it's hard to gauge that. I mean, I

59:48

feel like I never, I never,

59:51

you know, took the blinders off while I was

59:53

playing. You know, I was always

59:55

kind of aware because you're answering questions about

59:57

that kind of stuff at different times, and you understand

1:00:00

and you know that that things

1:00:02

pile up and turn into something at

1:00:04

the end. But uh, honestly,

1:00:07

I never, I never worried about that stuff,

1:00:10

you know. Uh, And it wasn't why I

1:00:12

played, you know, if I'm if I'm being

1:00:14

honest, it's nice that all

1:00:16

of those things happen, but it

1:00:19

wasn't the reason, you know, I did any of those

1:00:21

things. But now looking back on it from from

1:00:23

the lens where it's where it's done, and like,

1:00:26

I'm like, holy, like how did

1:00:28

that happen? You know, that's I

1:00:31

still think, like how how did it happen?

1:00:33

Like how did How did all those yards? How did all

1:00:35

the touchdowns? You know, I know the work I put in, but

1:00:38

it's still it still feels

1:00:41

like a dream, you know, to me in a lot

1:00:43

of ways, and I know it. It isn't

1:00:45

like it really happened, but still feels like a dream.

1:00:47

Oh, I know that's why it happened. Okay,

1:00:50

you can capitalize it because he's that guy.

1:00:55

I guess, well, thank you.

1:00:56

Yeah, although I would

1:00:58

question hanging around a friend,

1:01:01

now you're decided to jump into this frame.

1:01:03

Colleague, Yeah, college media colleague,

1:01:06

because that what you are now, a colleague.

1:01:08

So I got introduced at something. I was out at

1:01:10

Super Bowl this year and I got introduced as an

1:01:13

NFL analyst, and I was like, what,

1:01:18

we've always tried to.

1:01:24

As good as a player as he was, he's probably

1:01:27

going to be that. And then some of the analyst,

1:01:29

I mean, get ready because Matt Ryan's going to be

1:01:31

in your in your homes over

1:01:33

the next several seasons. Is one of the best analysts.

1:01:35

And you talk about a guy can break the games down. You think he broke

1:01:37

them down as a player, what do you hear him break him down as an analyst.

1:01:40

It's gonna be a.

1:01:40

Lot of fun.

1:01:41

Thanks, thank you, guys.

1:01:42

Appreciate Honestly, I want to

1:01:44

say it before we're done.

1:01:47

You guys were a big part of it too, along

1:01:49

for every you know, step of the way, and

1:01:53

I appreciate having having

1:01:56

seen it from a different lens now and knowing how difficult

1:01:58

it is to do what you guys do, and

1:02:01

how good you are to the players and to the coaches and respectful

1:02:04

to the families and all those things. I

1:02:06

really appreciate you know, both of you, and

1:02:08

I'm thankful that you guys were along for

1:02:11

at least, you know, my portion of the journey, and it

1:02:13

made me sound a lot better than I was, had a lot of

1:02:15

cool calls on there and different

1:02:17

things like that. But you two

1:02:20

are the best, and I really, you

1:02:22

know, appreciate the time today and you

1:02:24

know all you did for me in the in the fourteen seasons

1:02:26

here. Thank you.

1:02:27

It's a pleasure. Thank you guys, thanks

1:02:29

for joining us of this special edition

1:02:32

on the Atlanta Falcons podcast Network.