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In revisiting his struggles during last Sunday's 33-10 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Ryan admitted his footwork wasn't quite where it needed to be, at least in the first half.
He made his halftime adjustments.
"As a player, you always look for reasons why you're a little bit out of sync, and as a quarterback I think it always comes down to footwork,' Ryan said Wednesday. "That was something that I tried to be a little bit more settled in the pocket last week, get my feet underneath me a little bit better. And I think I did a good job of adjusting. But, yeah, that's something that comes up all the time.'
Offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter pointed to footwork in explaining why a number of Ryan's passes were off in the first half against the Seahawks. Ryan had seven incompletions in 16 attempts before halftime. He was more accurate (14-of-20) in the second half.
"Like any position in football, it all starts with your footwork; it all starts with your footwork and your base,' Koetter told McClure. "For the quarterback, that's his drop, his setup, his weight transfer and his movement in the pocket. And we talk about three-, five- and seven-step drops. In real football, it's very rarely a pure three, five or seven. It's usually three and slide to this side or [that side] to avoid this rusher and move around.
"But again, Matt worked hard on his footwork in the second half, tried to be more consistent. When you're facing a ferocious pass rush, it's sometimes hard to stand in there and take it in the teeth. But he did a better job of getting his initial setup in the second half. And I think that showed in his throws.'
According to McClure, the footwork issues were evident on Ryan's third incomplete pass. Working out of the shotgun, he retreated five steps, rocked left and right then fired a pass off his back foot to a crossing Roddy White as three blitzing Seahawks swarmed. The ball was nearly intercepted by Seahawks cornerback Brandon Browner.
"Just being a little bit off-balance, getting my feet a little bit outside of where my base needed to be,' Ryan explained. "Those are little things that we work on in practice week in and week out. And I felt like I was a little bit out of there in the first half.'
When pressed on whether his footwork issues were a product of facing constant pressure due to lack of protection, Ryan responded, "No, no, no.'
So what was the reason?
"It happens,' Ryan said. "If you always knew the reason why, you wouldn't do it in the first place. I think one of the important things is when you do notice it you've got to nip it in the bud. And I thought we did a good job of that.'
Ryan said footwork is a detail sometimes overlooked at the quarterback position. He knows his footwork has to be more on point than a player such as Colin Kaepernick or Cam Newton -- quarterbacks more accustomed to improvising on the run.
"It's incredibly important,' Ryan said of footwork. "And it's one of those things that we do harp on all the time; trying to keep that base and balance underneath you. And, for the most part, I feel like I do a good job with it. But at certain times, for whatever reason, there are times where it gets away from you. And sometimes you need to get it back as fast as you can.'
Of course, protection has been a major issue, Ryan's claims to the contrary notwithstanding.
Heading into the 10th game, the offensive line continues to struggle and Ryan is paying a price.
Head coach Mike Smith insists that Ryan is healthy.
But he appeared to float a couple of passes and had three passes nearly intercepted against Seattle. Also, he did not make any throws to his right outside of the numbers.
"Matt is OK," said Smith, who earlier this season concealed White's high right ankle sprain. "We just didn't protect as well as we needed to in the (Seattle) ball game."
The good news?
In the last meeting with the Bucs, Ryan was special despite a depleted receiving crew.
He completed 20 of 26 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns on the way to a 31-23 victory.
His passer rating of 148.4 was a career-high. His previous best passer rating was 146.3 vs. Tampa Bay on Jan. 1, 2012.
He moved the ball around to five different receivers and took the check downs to running back Jacquizz Rodgers as the Bucs' doubled- and tripled-team tight end Tony Gonzalez. Rodgers finished with eight catches on nine targets for 46 yards and two touchdowns.
This time White will be on board; Steven Jackson will too. ... Now if only the offensive line picks up the pace.