Matt Ryan Says People Read Too Much into His Kyle Shanahan Comments

Matt Ryan clarified comments he made to CBS Sports' Pete Prisco regarding the play-calling during the Atlanta Falcons' Super Bowl LI defeat to the New England Patriots.

Speaking to reporters Sunday, Ryan said people were "reading a little bit too much into" his interview with Prisco, per ESPN.com's Vaughn McClure:

"I think sometimes the headlines of articles can be misleading. In that situation, it was just a reference to how we operated all year. It wasn't coming in too late or anything. That's just the way it came in. I thought [then-offensive coordinator] Kyle [Shanahan] did a great job for us last year.

"I think everybody is reading a little bit too much into it, and it is what it is. But we've moved on. We're on to this year. And we're focused on trying to become the best football team that this team can be."

Shanahan, who's now the San Francisco 49ers head coach, was in charge of the Falcons offense when the team surrendered a 25-point third-quarter lead in a 34-28 overtime loss to the Patriots.

Speaking with Prisco, Ryan discussed the differences in the offenses of Shanahan and Dirk Koetter, who was the Atlanta offensive coordinator from 2012 to 2014. Ryan said Shanahan would take more time to communicate play calls and that that was a problem when the offense started sputtering in the Super Bowl.

"With the way Kyle's system was set up, he took more time to call plays, and we shift and motion a lot more than we did with Dirk," Ryan said. "You couldn't get out of stuff like that. We talk about being the most aggressive team in football. And I'm all for it. But there's also winning time. You're not being aggressive not running it there."

Many were critical of the Falcons' drive prior to the Patriots' game-tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Atlanta was ahead 28-20 when it picked up a first down on New England's 22-yard line with less than five minutes on the clock, but it lost 23 yards on the ensuing three plays to fall out of field-goal range.

Had Matt Bryant put the Falcons up 11 points inside the final four minutes of the game, that likely would've been enough for the team to win its first Super Bowl.

Atlanta ranked first in offensive efficiency last year, per Football Outsiders, so it's difficult to argue with the overall results of Shanahan's style. With the benefit of hindsight, though, there's no question he and the Falcons coaching staff mishandled the play-calling in the final stretch of Super Bowl LI.