Matt Ryan, 32 and set to enter the prime of his already sterling career, has doggedly remained true to himself and his team as he has continued to work on his game over the years.

It has been his stable, understated and dynamic leadership that vaulted the Falcons from a solid playoff team early in his career to defending NFC champions and Super Bowl contenders.

Ryan has put the historic Super Bowl LI collapse in his rear-view mirror and redirected his efforts to getting on the same page with new offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian and quarterback coach Bush Hamdan.

His offseason plan hasn’t changed much over time, but he continues to find ways to stay motivated.

“I think we all are searching for ways to get better,” Ryan said. “If you are not trying to find things to improve on and to work at, I think boredom could set in.

“But when you are constantly trying to find ways to improve, as a competitor you’re going after that so hard that boredom doesn’t really set in.”

Ryan, who became the first player in franchise history to win the NFL’s most valuable player award last season, remains passionate about the game.

“This is what I love to do,” Ryan said. “It’s the only thing, honestly, that I ever wanted to do. I’m lucky and fortunate to be able to do it. I enjoy it every day. Ten years in, it’s still exciting to be at minicamp. It’s fun to be out there and playing this game.”

With the team set to break for the rest of the offseason, Ryan felt that the Super Bowl LI loss was amply addressed and he expects that when the players reconvene for training camp in late July, they’ll be rid of their 28-3 demons and ready to move forward.

He’s not expecting any Super Bowl hangover.

“We’re already back at it,” Ryan said. “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.

“Anytime that we kind of dwell on that is wasted time. We have to focus on trying to become the best football team that this group can be.”

And he clearly feels the team is in a good place.

“I sense that from all of the guys,” Ryan said. “I think that everybody has that mindset.”

The Falcons will enter next season as favorites to win the NFC South. They will be trying to become the first team since the 1993 Buffalo Bills to return to the Super Bowl after losing the game the season before.

“But 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.”

Hamdan, breaking in as an NFL coach after seven years in the college ranks, has been impressed with Ryan.

“I was blown away with how intentional, really, all of these guys (are),” Hamdan said. “They don’t waste time. If they are going to do something, they are going to do it the right way.

“As coaches, we have a playbook and a lot of our answers come from the play-book. There are a lot of times that I think both Matts (Ryan and backup Matt Schaub) give the answers from a lot of experience. It’s been a unique experience for me piecing this offense together and learning this offense, but also getting the offense from their point of view as well.”

Hamdan has observed the fire that Ryan has used to propel his career. In five of his nine seasons, Ryan has led the Falcons to the playoffs.

“He works with a chip on his shoulder,” Hamdan said. “That’s what has been really unique for me to see him day-to-day. Seeing what he looks like in May and June, how he attacks everything that he does. It starts there.”

Hamdan also believes that Ryan sets the tone for the rest of the team.

“From a player’s standpoint, if you just really have watched him over the past four or five years, there is certain element of toughness that you don’t just think about naturally, maybe with the quarterback position or him in general,” Hamdan said. “But time after time, it shows up with him standing in the pocket, moving the pocket with walls of people in his face. I think it starts with toughness.

“The second thing there is just his accuracy. We refer to it as strike-point accuracy that allows him to give receivers the ball in position where they can advance it as well as running backs.”

Hamdan plans to aid Ryan on some of the finer points of his game, including the bootlegs and rollouts that are required in Sarkisian’s offensive scheme.

“When you look at the offense as a whole, one of the strengths of it is that everything looks the same,” Hamdan said. “A lot of the (play-) action passes, a lot of the keepers occur from the simple standpoint that it looks like a run and all of sudden, one guy is switching his route and Matt is getting outside and using that.

“It’s intricate. It’s extremely important in the run game as well. Again, we have the ability to keep them honest. To keep an extra guy out of run defense is critical. It’s a staple of this offense and we just have to continue to grow with it.”

Hamdan, echoing the sentiments of Sarkisian, sees just minor tweaks for Ryan and the scheme.

“Obviously, this is a tremendous system,” Hamdan said. “What they’ve done the last couple of years here really probably changed the league in a lot of ways with what they’ve done.

“But I think every year is new. You have different players every year. You have to be able to feature certain guys and play to their strengths. But again, if I were to give a percentage (of change), I’m not really sure. I definitely think that the system in place is a very good system. Obviously, Sark brings ... a lot of years of calling plays (as a college coach) and we’ll benefit from that.”

As for the just completed minicamp, Ryan felt the team was moving with a purpose.

“This time of the year is cleaning up the things that we’ve worked on in OTAs,” Ryan said. “There are always things that pop up during the seven practices that we had this year. Specific, detailed things.

“That’s what we (were) doing (during the minicamp), trying to find ways to get a little bit better before (the) break.”

If Ryan has his way, he will be at the controls at least for another 10 years.

“I’m going to do everything that I can to make sure it lasts as long as I can,” he said.