On what happened during the last three plays of the night – did the Saints change their pass-rush: “The only pressure, the only blitz was on the third down.” On the one where he got hit: "Yeah, that was it, and then the others were not." On with all the injuries on the defensive side of the ball, whether he expects higher scoring games where they are trying to outscore the other team: "You never know. You never know how games are going to shake out, but your mentality offensively or as a quarterback has to be whatever we have to do. If it's going to be like today, we've got to go out there and make the plays and score the points when we need to. And we had chances offensively to finish the ball game today, and we didn't do that. So that part's disappointing. I will say this. It's tough to see guys go down on the defensive side of the ball. Those guys put so much work into it. And I think, as I've gotten older, it's probably more difficult when you see guys go down because you just – you realize how disappointing it is for them. I thought our young guys came in and stepped up and did a good job for us. They'll be better for the experience moving forward." On whether the end of the first half was a clock management situation, or they needed to be more aggressive in terms of plays: "I think it was, on that third down play, if I could have just gotten a little further into the pocket, we had what we wanted on the right side. We had Julio (Jones) kind of running a return route. I'm disappointed in myself for not getting further down into the pocket. I think we could have gotten that first down and had room to run on the back of it." On as he gets older, whether he appreciated doing things he has not done in his career such as the five touchdown passes: "It's about wins and losses. I guess, as you get older, you realize that too. It's not about you. It's about us and what we do as a team. Obviously, it's nice to throw touchdown passes and do all those things, but it's all about winning games, winning football games. So we're disappointed that we didn't get it done today." On whether he takes comfort in the fact that they have produced well offensively today and last week: "I think we can play with a lot of confidence. The production has been there. We've done a lot of really good things on that side of the ball. We can be a lot better too. So the optimism is there and the eagerness to get back to work to try and improve some of the things that we didn't do as well as we would like to. It makes it exciting to get back to work this week and see what we can become." On how he feels about the overtime rule in the NFL, not winning the coin toss and getting a chance on the field: "I'm not going to comment on that." On whether that is a helpless feeling: "I think as a player, in any situation, at least for me, I'd rather be out there. I'd rather be the one with the ball in my hand and making the plays. That's probably the hardest part about football. All the other sports I played growing up, you were a part of it offensively or defensively, and football is the one unique thing where it's all three phases. So, it's tough when you're on the sideline because you want to be out there, but it's part of it." On what he said to Drew Brees after the game and what he said to him: "Just great game. I thought he played really well, and that was the extent of it." On whether he was happy with the rhythm they are getting into and getting Calvin Ridley involved: "Yeah, I thought Calvin did a great job for us today, played extremely well, took advantage of the one-on-one opportunities when he got them and made them pay for keeping him isolated. I thought we did some good things offensively today, but I also think we had a chance to put the ball game away and didn't do that. So, there's a lot of room for improvement for us." On the offense: "We had chances offensively to finish the ball game today and we didn't do that, so that part is disappointing," On why Ridley was so open: "It was clear from the start the game their plan was to use two guys to account for Julio and use a safety from the opposite to coming down from the other side to account for where Mohamed was. That leaves Ridley singled up in one on one coverage. I though Sark did a great job taking advantage of that."<doc-sep>The Falcons surrendered a late fourth-quarter lead and lost to the Saints in overtime Sunday, 43-37. Losing at home to a division rival is always bad. This one is going to sting for a long time, though. Here’s five takeaways from a game most fans will want to forget. 1. Matt Ryan deserves better You can say a lot of things about this game. One thing you can’t do is pin the blame on Ryan. Since a shaky season opener against the Eagles, Ryan’s passing has been on point. Today, it was as good as it’s ever been. Ryan threw five touchdown passes — a career high — and finished with the highest passer rating any quarterback has ever posted in a loss. The injuries are admittedly difficult to overcome, but it feels a lot like Ryan’s team let him down.<doc-sep>Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan probably scratched his head a lot after yesterday’s loss. In fact, he’s probably at Flowery Branch right now, with a blank stare on his face, sitting and staring at a wall. He’s wondering what’s it going to take; what’s it going to take to have success this season? Yesterday started out well. Ryan obviously came to play. But as he racked up touchdown passes, the Saints offense eerily kept pace. After the Saints secured their overtime win, an historical moment went overlooked: Ryan broke the record for most touchdown passes against the Saints. Joe Montana held the record (33) previously. Ryan went into the game with 32 touchdowns against the Saints; and we know what happened from there. 5 passing touchdowns later, Ryan cemented a legacy; a legacy of owning the Saints. All this said, his historic performance wasn’t good enough to secure a win. They still beat us fair and square. I’m sure this record means nothing to him, given the loss. But from a statistical standpoint, Ryan absolutely owns the Saints; that much is clear.<doc-sep>
There were plenty of reasons the Falcons lost their game against the New Orleans Saints. Matt Ryan was not one of them. Ryan has gone nuts the last two weeks, accounting for nine touchdowns in eight quarters. Against a completely overmatched Saints secondary, Ryan was firing on all cylinders, repeatedly nailing downfield throws to pick up big gains for Calvin Ridley or Julio Jones. It was his best effort through the air all year, and one of the better efforts of his career in a loss. Naturally, it was also one of the best efforts in a loss ever. Such is the lot of Matt Ryan. Matt Ryan just put up the highest passer rating (148.1) in a loss in NFL history (min. 25 attempts). — Scott Kacsmar (@FO_ScottKacsmar) September 23, 2018 Ryan finished the day with zero turnovers, 374 yards passing, and five touchdowns. He did that on a day where the ground game (outside of Ryan) accounted for about 40 yards, and the offensive line let him absorb a coupe of brutal sacks. Painfully, Ryan and Tony Romo are the only two quarterbacks in NFL history to put up 140+ passer ratings in a game and lose twice. The other time was a game I’m not going to bring up right now because I’m in a tough place emotionally, but let’s just say watching the defense erase a great offensive performance was tragically familiar. This time, it had everything to do with injuries and failures of execution, rather than simple exhaustion. The encouraging note here is that Ryan is certainly not cooked, as some suggested after Week 1, and appears willing and able to keep the Falcons in games the rest of the way. The question is whether the defense can get healthy enough (or play well enough) to ensure the Falcons win them.