Ryan embraces role as Colts newest leader

Jul. 27—WESTFIELD — Over 14 seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, Matt Ryan estimates he spent at least a full year of his life attending training camp at the franchise's facility in Flowery Branch, Georgia.

So to say this week has been a new experience for the veteran quarterback is a massive understatement. But the Indianapolis Colts starter is excited about getting a feel for his new summer home at Grand Park.

"It's wildly different — the setup, the day-to-day, the routine, how you go to meetings, just everything," Ryan said after his first training camp practice with the Colts on Wednesday. "I feel like a little bit, when you're in the same place for a long time with the schedule and obviously the routine, you're on autopilot to a certain extent because you just know where everything is. And when you're in a new spot, it's different. There is that anxiousness about finding out, where's the cafeteria?"

Ryan is embracing the unknown.

After being drafted third overall in 2008 to be the savior in Atlanta and help the franchise move past the Michael Vick dog-fighting scandal and the abrupt departure of single-season head coach Bobby Petrino, the 37-year-old quarterback welcomes a new challenge.

He responded to his task with the Falcons by throwing for 59,735 yards and 367 touchdowns, winning an MVP award and taking the team to the cusp of a Super Bowl title.

Indianapolis, which will reveal a season-long partnership with Marvel Entertainment during a Thursday morning press conference, doesn't need a superhero. But the Colts are counting on Ryan to help bring balance to what was one of the league's most lopsided offenses in 2021.

Behind All-Pro running back Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis boasted the league's second-best running game with 2,540 yards. But the passing game produced just 3,361 yards and ranked 26th in the league.

Ryan will be asked to help a young group of pass catchers mature and give defenses hesitation about overloading the box to shut down Taylor.

It's far too early to draw any significant conclusions, but Ryan's quick release and elite accuracy have been evident since the start of the team's offseason program. And it's taken him no time at all to capture the respect and admiration of his teammates.

"He's a pro's pro, so being able to take that role — that leadership role — it's easy for him," Taylor said. "It's effortless, and we want to be at our best for him. He demands that excellence. So having that presence, that energy in the building is something that rubs off on you, and it allows you to focus up because you know every time he comes into the building, he's gonna be laser focused."

For the first time in a long time, Ryan has something to prove.

He's the fifth new starting quarterback for the Colts in as many years, and the team has won just one playoff game during that time. The core of the roster — largely assembled between 2018 and 2020 by general manager Chris Ballard — is entering its prime and setting its sights on postseason success.

So there is a sense of urgency to the proceedings, particularly after the way last season ended.

At 9-6 with two games to play, Indianapolis was widely viewed as a difficult opponent for any playoff contender. Then it lost the final two games of the regular season — flopping at home against the Las Vegas Raiders and on the road against the woeful Jacksonville Jaguars — and a team with an NFL-high seven Pro Bowlers on the roster was left at home for the postseason.

Ryan obviously wasn't here for that disaster, but the scar still lingers.

"We needed to get into the playoffs," defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said. "Nobody played well. It wasn't just one person. It was the entire team. We shot ourselves in the foot."

Learning from that disappointment and moving on from it will be a major storyline throughout the 2022 season.

It starts with leadership inside the locker room, and that starts with Ryan.

Ryan inherits last year's baggage, and he'll be asked to help the team find a way back out of the darkness.

The early returns are positive.

"The team just gravitates (to him)," Colts head coach Frank Reich said. "You feel it from the team. You sense it from the team. You sense a confidence from the team, and I think that's where we feel right now with Matt as our quarterback.

"He's just come in here in every way — physically, the way he's throwing the ball, the way he carries himself and what he has meant to this team and what he has said to this team, but we're just at the beginning of the road. But his experience and his leadership, I think we're all feeling it."

Ryan's young teammates snap to attention when he speaks. He has full command in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage, and he's not afraid to put a boot to somebody who steps out of line.

It's not a job he has to work at. It's been part of his natural routine since his early days as a football player.

The Colts were looking for a natural leader, and they appear to have found him. Whatever that "it" factor is, Ryan has it in ample supply.

"I've never tried to be anything other than myself, and I've always just felt like the work that you put in daily is the 'it' factor," he said. "It creates the confidence from other guys. You try to set a standard for how you do it, and I've always been comfortable trying to get the best out of teammates and trying to make them the best individuals they can be so we can be the best team we can be.

"Other than that, I don't really overthink it. Work hard every day, be yourself and try to pull guys up to the level that they're capable of getting to."