AP

Last year entailed a major change for the Falcons on offense, which is always a challenge for the guys who were there before the change. It becomes even more of a challenge when the team has a quarterback with a franchise-level deal who is used to doing things a certain way.

A year later, Matt Ryan is more used to doing things Kyle Shanahan’s way. The rest of the offensive players are, too.

“I’m excited that [Shanahan] is back,” Ryan said of the offensive coordinator who arrived in Atlanta after one year in Cleveland, via the team’s official website. “I’m glad to be in Year Two of this system. I think we’ve learned a lot in Year One — a lot about each other, a lot about the guys we have in our locker room, a lot about what we can be and a lot about what we don’t need to be. And I think all those things are going to serve us really well. I’m looking forward to winning a lot of games with Kyle here as our offensive coordinator, and I think a lot of guys in our locker room feel that way.”

Ryan noticed a greater degree of comfort during workouts that he organized with teammates, and he hopes that leads to more consistency on the field. Especially in one area of the field.

“I think last year we led the league in red zone turnovers, so that’s one of the things I know we don’t want to do moving forward,” Ryan said. “I think we’ve got the right guys in place to be a really efficient, really good red zone team. And that’s something we’re going to work very hard on this offseason.”

It’s easy to overlook the Falcons because they essentially have fallen off the map since making it to the NFC title game in 2012. But they made it to 8-8 last year under Dan Quinn, which lays the foundation for a move to the right side of .500 in 2016 — and a viable run at the postseason.

Especially since they quietly made a viable late-season run at the playoffs in 2015, which included being the only team not named the Broncos to beat the Panthers.