Ryan on Super Bowl loss: Anytime we dwell on that is wasted time

Matt Ryan

The Falcons blew the biggest lead in NFL Super Bowl history against the New England Patriots, but Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan is done thinking about "what if."

Atlanta surrendered a 28-3 lead as Tom Brady and the Patriots reigned supreme in Super Bowl LI on February 5.

"Anytime that we kind of dwell on that, is wasted time," Ryan told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

"We have to focus trying to become the best football team that this group can be.”

As the Falcons kick off their summer training, the team have followed head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff's stance in making the Super Bowl a distant memory.

Ryan has continued to step up as a leader to make sure the focus is on the upcoming year and not last season's final game.

"When we started as a team in April, we got together before that as players down in Miami, it was time to move on. It was time to look forward," Ryan said.

Ryan was a dominant force in 2016, throwing for 4,944 and 38 touchdowns. In the NFC title game, he stymied the Packers with four passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and 392 passing yards.

But can the Falcons be the first team since the Buffalo Bills in 1993 to return to the Super Bowl after losing the previous one? Ryan thinks so.

"This year's group is different and this team is different," Ryan said. "We have to find a way to become the best football team that we can. Find ways to get better and improve. That's what we are trying to do.

"Our focus is what is front of us. We learned a lot from last year. We'll take those learning lessons with us, but we have to find a way to make this group the best group that we can be."