Quarterback Matt Ryan is in the playoffs for the sixth time in 10 seasons and still searching for the ultimate prize.
Last year’s meltdown in the Super Bowl has been well documented with the Atlanta Falcons blowing a 28-3 lead and losing to New
England
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drop-off in points and yards.
At 10-6, they’ve gone from the No. 2 seed to the sixth, but they’re the only NFC team to return to the playoffs. Ryan hasn’t enjoyed the kind of seamless
production that made him the league MVP last season, yet he likes the team’s
chances even though the offense has scored just two touchdowns over the last two
weeks.
”We do a very good job throughout the week of getting ourselves prepared and ready to play,” Ryan said Tuesday. ”That provides confidence, so I think guys
just need to focus on doing the best that they can with where their feet are at
that time of the day.
”If we do that and we’re locked in for practice and walkthroughs, that’s going to give us the best chance to be successful.”
Atlanta has won three of four and six of its last eight heading into Saturday’s wild-card game at the Los Angeles Rams (11-5). The defense is better
than a year ago, moving into the top 10 in scoring and total yards for the first
time at the end of the regular season the 1998 Falcons advanced to the Super
Bowl.
But the offense has been unable to match last year’s productivity, dropping from first to 15th in scoring as opponents have held five-time Pro Bowl receiver
Julio Jones to just three touchdowns. Running backs Devonta Freeman and Tevin
Coleman are still a tough tandem to defend, but both have missed time with
concussions. The offensive line hasn’t been as stout despite another Pro Bowl
season from center Alex Mack.
Regardless of what’s happening around him, Ryan said his best course of action during the week is to stay focused on the game plan. He doesn’t want to
get caught up in discussions about his legacy and whether he has what it takes
to win a Super Bowl.
”That’s not something I worry about or think about too much,” he said. ”I try to focus or worry or lend my brain space to trying to win games. I’m lucky to
have a lot of good friends around this league. I certainly have a lot of respect
for the guys I play against week in and week out and I imagine they feel the
same way.”
Ryan has won 95 of 158 career starts in the regular season, but he’s 3-5 in the playoffs and 0-2 on the road. That kind of discrepancy is why he said he
puts little stock in whether last season’s easy victory at the Los Angeles
Coliseum could help the Falcons this week.
The Rams’ defense has flourished in a new scheme devised by 70-year-old coordinator Wade Phillips and it has found success with a trio of dual-threat
linebackers in Alec Ogletree, the former Georgia
star
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Atlanta also must keep tabs throughout the game on defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who has 11 sacks.
”He’s one of the better players against the run at the position they play him at, but he’s also one of the better interior pass rushers in the league,” Ryan
said. ”That creates some problems, but we’ll have a plan to account for where
he’s at, and we certainly trust our guys up front to play well.”
Notes: WR Julio Jones was held out of practice with ankle and rib injuries. Jones was hit hard on the opening drive last week by Carolina safety Mike Adams,
but he missed only a couple of snaps. He was limited in practice last week with
ankle and thumb injuries. Jones has yet to miss a game despite being on the
injury report this season with a hip flexor, back and knee injuries, too. …
Freeman was held out of practice with a knee injury. … Listed as limited Tuesday
were Mack (calf), receiver Taylor Gabriel (hamstring), tight end Levine Toilolo
(knee) and defensive end Adrian Clayborn (calf). … LG Andy Levitre (triceps) was
placed on season-ending injured reserve. Ben Garland will start in his
place.
—
Claims of self-defense by the man who killed former NFL player Joe McKnight withered under scrutiny, a prosecutor told jurors Friday, but a defense lawyer
insisted the shooter fired as McKnight approached his car, spewing obscenities
and threats following a traffic confrontation in December 2016.
The conflicting claims were made in opening statements in the second-degree murder trial of Ronald
Gasser
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Defense lawyer Matthew Goetz said authorities in suburban New Orleans were under political pressure to make an arrest when Gasser was jailed days after the
shooting. Goetz alluded to racial unrest that year in American cities, including
the St. Louis area and Baton Rouge. Gasser is white; McKnight was black.
Seth Shute, an assistant District Attorney in Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish, acknowledged that Gasser was initially freed after the shooting. But Shute said
Gasser was arrested after investigators talked to numerous witnesses and
assembled physical evidence contradicting Gasser’s claim that McKnight, 28, had
tried to lunge into his car through a passenger window after both vehicles
stopped at a busy intersection.
Jurors were selected Tuesday. Opening statements were delayed because unusually frigid winter weather in south Louisiana prompted a two-day closure of
the parish courthouse in the New Orleans suburb of Gretna.
Shute said jurors will hear from dozens of witnesses. Some will testify about what Shute called a ”mobile shouting match” that began on a bridge spanning the
Mississippi River in New Orleans and continued into neighboring Jefferson
Parish, Shute said. Others will talk about hearing the pop-pop-pop of three
gunshots, seeing McKnight fall and watching as Gasser exited his car with his
handgun still smoking.
Jurors also will hear a police officer recount Gasser’s first words at the shooting scene: ”He cut me off and got out on me.”
McKnight drove his gray SUV aggressively that afternoon, Shute acknowledged. There was a small amount of marijuana in his system and a ”therapeutic dose
level” of Oxycodone in his system, he added, having noted that McKnight was
training in hopes of returning to the NFL after an injury cut his pro career
short.
But he said there was no gunpowder residue on McKnight, indicating he was not shot at the close range Gasser had indicated. And an examination of the wounds
indicated that McKnight’s hands were resting on the window of Gasser’s car, with
no sign that he had aggressively moved to get inside.
”His version of events does not match the physical evidence,” Shute said.
But Goetz countered that
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He also claimed that, McKnight ”was trying to kill” Gasser by running him off the road in traffic, before the shooting.
McKnight was considered the No. 1 running back recruit in the country when he came out of John Curtis Christian School in Louisiana in 2006. He signed with
the University of Southern California, where he ran for 2,213 yards and 13
touchdowns and caught 66 passes for 542 yards and two scores in three
seasons.
In the NFL, he played three seasons for the New York Jets and one with the Kansas City Chiefs. He spent a season in the Canadian Football League, playing
two games for the Edmonton Eskimos and three for the Saskatchewan
Roughriders.
He was shot Dec. 1, 2016. Gasser never left the shooting scene and was initially freed after more than eight hours of questioning – which Shute said
jurors will see.
Gasser’s release sparked protests, and some said race played a role in his release. Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand, who has since retired, angrily
denied that race played any role in the case. He recounted a painstaking
investigation with more than 160 interviews.
Arrested on a manslaughter charge four days after the shooting, Gasser was indicted by a grand jury on the second-degree murder charge in February. If
convicted as charged he would be sentenced to life in prison.
The trial is expected to last well into next week with state District Judge Ellen Kovach presiding.
The case echoes another New Orleans-area road-rage shooting from 2016. Former New Orleans Saints star Will Smith was gunned down that April. The shooter was
later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 25 years.
