ATLANTA -- That wasn't a typical Matt Ryan performance, particularly at home.
The finally numbers showed the Atlanta Falcons' quarterback throwing for 310 yards and two touchdowns with a passer rating of 102.3 in Sunday's 27-20 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. But Ryan also got off to a slow start and misfired on some passes, including one at the beginning of the second quarter that cornerback William Gay intercepted and returned 52 yards for a score. It was the second home game in a row Ryan has thrown a pick-six and it's his third of the season.
"It was just kind of a tough play," Ryan said. "I let it go and certainly a decision you can't make. I can't do that. It stops there."
Some wondered if receiver Harry Douglas should take some responsibility for the miscue because of the route he ran. Regardless, Ryan shouldn't have thrown the ball with Gay in tight coverage and over the top of the route.
"It was one of those plays where they played a funky coverage and guy just jumped the route," Douglas said.
Ryan was in a funk early, which is why the Falcons had to play catch-up against a Steelers team they could have outscored. On the first offensive drive of the game, Ryan threw consecutive bad passes to Douglas and Roddy White. The one was behind Douglas, while the other was too high and behind White. The Falcons had first-and-10 at the Steelers' 46-yard line but couldn't put points on the board as the incompletions stalled the drive.
When you consider the Steelers took a 20-7 lead into the locker room at halftime, it only magnified Ryan's pick-six and those misses. Throw in the fact the Falcons settled for field goals on two, third-quarter trips into the red zone and it all added up to the loss of a winnable game.
The Falcons also fell behind early last Monday night at Green Bay and couldn't recover.
"Not talking about last week, talking about this week, we didn't really get started the way we wanted to," said Ryan, who was without top target Julio Jones (hip injury). "We had an opportunity early on and just missed on a couple. We continued to battle back.
"I think offensively it comes down to a couple things: you can't turn the football over and when you have opportunities in the red zone, you've got to put it in the end zone. We didn't do a good enough job of that today."
And Ryan fully understands he has to absorb the bulk of the blame for it. He's the quarterback.
