Matt Ryan and company turned in a highly efficient afternoon to pick up their third win of the season and first at home. Top-to-bottom, the Atlanta Falcons were effective.
With the offense clicking, the defense played some of the complementary football we’ve been craving and managed to put the Broncos to bed. However the key for the team’s successful afternoon came from a familiar name that has oddly enough been the focal point of criticism during his tenure in Atlanta.
Matt Ryan, again, showed us that this is his team and that he should still be the guy to lead the Falcons into coming seasons.
He was effective again Sunday finishing 25 of 35 passing (71.4 percent) for 284 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. That continues his red-hot streak in his last three games. In that span, Ryan completed 82 of 112 passes (73.2 percent) for 990 yards (330 per game), five touchdowns, and only one interception. People have criticized his touchdown total (12 on the season), but that has as much to do with the emergence of Todd Gurley and his eight red-zone touchdowns as it does anything else. Ryan has been fantastic and after nine weeks; he leads the NFL in passing and is second in completions.
Even though he has consistently played at this high level throughout his 13-year career, the veteran quarterback has a history of unfair criticism. He has been passed over in player rankings (I’m looking at you, NFL100), he has been widely ignored on the national stage, and even the Falcons’ own fan base has been clamoring for a change.
That has never made any sense to me.
Ryan added another “fastest to” record to his belt when he supplanted Peyton Manning for the most completions through a player’s first 13 seasons. He passed the same Hall of Fame quarterback this time last year when he became the fastest to 50,000 yards (only one of 9 in NFL history). He only holds 21 franchise records including career passing yards, touchdowns, and completions among virtually every single season record possible.
I don’t know how any reasonable person can read that and think that it’s time for a change.
Sure, the new era of quarterbacks are as much athletes as they are passers. They are able to use their legs to maneuver the pocket and can stretch the field with powerful arms. Even without that flash, he has been the best quarterback in franchise history and has notched an MVP. He knows his skill set and he still produces at an elite level.
It’s understood that Matt Ryan will be 36 when the Falcons line up next season with a new head coach and general manager at the helm. But 36 doesn’t mean what it used to. Quarterbacks are playing longer than ever before and they have maintained their high levels of play.
Big Ben is 38, Aaron Rodgers is 36, and then you have your 40-somethings in Tom Brady and Drew Brees. With Ryan’s magnificent history of good health, there’s no reason to except that he can’t do the same. Pair his health with his consistent annual production and you have a guy that can still be the franchise quarterback for this team.
The next head coach may want a quarterback that he can grow and develop, but it would be a mistake to move off of Ryan prematurely. Ryan is still the guy that puts this team in the best position to win football games. In fact, he is still a guy that can attract the premiere coaching talent, especially with the weapons at his disposal.
Ryan has proved to us that he can be, and should be, the guy to lead the Atlanta Falcons into the next era of this franchise.
