The last time Ryan touched the ball, he stuck a pass between three Giants defenders to Tony Gonzalez in the back of the end zone. It tied the game with 28 seconds left, tied a game that New York had owned for 54 of the 60 minutes played, tied a game the Giants led by 14 with just over 12 minutes to play.
At that point, Ryan's sophomore slump seemed to be extending abysmally. The former Penn Charter and Boston College standout had thrown interceptions in each of his previous six games and at least two in four of them.
"That's a young quarterback out there who's going through a learning process," Falcons coach Mike Smith said.
Gonzalez, the tight end in his 13th season, expressed the same sentiment before and after this game.
"As a young player you have all that pressure," he said. "Lord knows I went through it my second year in the league. You want to perform."
Ryan avoided the interceptions that have accompanied Atlanta's swoon from a 4-1 team to a 5-5 team. But he coughed up the ball amid one of those nasty blitzes, helping the Giants to a short-field touchdown and a 17-7 halftime lead.
Ryan trudged into the locker room with six of 11 passes completed for 51 yards, a passer rating of 66.9, author of another slow start.
"You just have to continue to have the same mind-set as a quarterback," he said. "There are going to be times when things go your way, there are going to be times when they don't. And you have to go out there and continue to play the way
you're supposed to play. That's what I try to focus on every week."
The Falcons clearly missed running back Michael Turner, fourth in the NFL in yards gained before the weekend's games. Turner's twisted ankle, and a nagging hip flexor to Jerious Norwood, left third-stringer Jason Snelling as Atlanta's only ballcarrier.
