Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is trying to achieve something that has eluded him since the start of his NFL career: win a playoff game. So he’s been hitting the gym with a vengeance to work on his arm strength. “I think we’re off to a good start,” said Ryan. “It’s weight training, getting in there and training with weights. It’s learning to condition myself in the way that we play football and in a way that is productive to how we are playing football.”
Last season, the Falcons were only a slight underdog in a wildcard game at MetLife stadium against the Giants, yet they got trounced 24-2. Making a deep post-season run is highest on Matt Ryan’s list of priorities. Ryan has led his team to the playoffs in three of the four seasons he’s been with the Falcons but has yet to get over the hump.
Taken by the Falcons with the third overall pick in the 2008 NFL draft, Matt Ryan is one of only two NFL quarterbacks to start all 16 games of the regular season in his rookie year and take his team to the playoffs. Ryan has a solid lifetime passer rating of 88.4 with an excellent career touchdown to interception ratio of 2.07 to 1. In 2011, he broke the franchise record for passing yards with 4,177.