There’s an interesting war of words going on between two former co-workers. It was just last week that Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan seemingly threw some major shade in the direction of former Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.
Ryan’s comments stem from Shanahan heading the top-scoring offense in Atlanta last season. He lamented the new San Francisco 49ers head coach over how long it took to get plays called on to the field. Ryan definitely didn’t hold back.
“Kyle’s play calls — he would take time to get stuff in,” Ryan said. “As I was getting it, you’re looking at the clock and you’re talking 16 seconds before it cuts out. You don’t have a lot of time to say, ‘There’s 16 seconds, no, no, no, we’re not going to do that. Hey, guys, we’re going to line up and run this.’ You’re talking about breaking the huddle at seven seconds if you do something along the lines.”
Well, that’s not necessarily too subtle.
During his first press conference of training camp for the 49ers in Santa Clara, Shanahan himself took time to respond. It also wasn’t too subtle.
Kyle Shanahan takes pride in rapid play calls. Says #Falcons were only team past two years with no delay-of-game penalties.
— Cam Inman (@CamInman) July 27, 2017
Shanahan definitely did draw criticism for his play-calling towards the end of Atlanta’s epic meltdown in February’s Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots.
With that said, Shanahan didn’t receive Assistant Coach of the Year honors for nothing. The play clock also was not an issue for the Falcons, who finished with the third-fewest delay of games in the league.
It’s interesting that there would be a war of words going on between the two, especially considering how much each helped the other’s career.
Ryan went from above-average quarterback to league MVP under Shanahan. Meanwhile, Ryan’s performance helped Shanahan earn his first head coaching gig.
Maybe it’s just frustration over blowing the biggest lead in Super Bowl history. If that’s the case, both guys should just move on.