ATLANTA — If you are a Falcons fan, you probably know a lot about Matt Ryan. You may have seen him throw all 367 touchdown passes that he completed for the Falcons. You likely heard him give countless postgame interviews from locker rooms around the NFL. Perhaps you learned about his background, family and motivations.

But you probably didn’t know that in his 14 seasons with the Falcons, he was not only a four-time Pro Bowler, but also the equipment managers’ most devoted ally.

Brian Boigner, the Falcons’ retired director of equipment operations, recalled a trip to Green Bay during coach Dan Quinn’s tenure. After a walk-through at a local high school, Quinn called up Boigner to instruct players on what they should do with their gear upon their return to the hotel. It was simple — go back to their room, change out of their practice attire and put it in a laundry bag before getting lunch.

However, a few players disregarded or forgot and sat down for lunch at the hotel still in their gear.

“And Matt walked up to them and said, ‘I thought I heard Boigs four times in three minutes tell you what to do when you get back to the hotel,’ ” Boigner said. “ ‘Why are you guys sitting down eating?’ ”

Any quarterback can stick up for his teammates. Not every quarterback will take on his teammates to stick up for an equipment manager. Ryan, who April 22 announced his retirement from the NFL, was not every quarterback.

“The thing about it is, Matt always had our back,” Boigner said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Atlantans grew to admire Ryan largely for what he did on the field — the poise under pressure, the pinpoint accuracy, the toughness and the leadership. But part of it, too, was what looked a lot like decency and humility that he displayed in interviews, his charity work and in interactions with teammates, coaches and fans.

Boigner and Jimmy Hay — Boigner’s longtime assistant and now the manager of equipment operations — were with the team for the entirety of Ryan’s Falcons career. They volunteered their confirmation that what was seen from afar also was true up close when no one was watching. From their positions serving Ryan and his teammates, the two longtime Falcons staffers saw Ryan act the way you hope your star quarterback would — treating people like he would want to be treated and not acting like he thought he was a big deal.

“The high-profile guys are sometimes high maintenance, need a lot of stuff,” Hay told the AJC. “Literally, whatever we gave him, he managed it and he’d wear it out until we’d have to force him, like, Hey, let’s get you a new shirt or new shoes or whatever.”

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