Making his Colts debut Sunday at Houston, Matt Ryan eclipsed 60,000 passing yards for his career, a milestone achieved by only eight players, all of them either soon-to-be Hall-of-Famers or already enshrined. Ryan will inevitably join those quarterbacks in Canton someday, making room in his bedroom closet for a gold jacket to call his own. Unfortunately for Ryan, until he wins a championship, most casual fans will associate him with the heartbreak and humiliation he experienced in Super Bowl LI, squandering a 28-3 lead to the Patriots in one of the most improbable comebacks you’ll ever see.
In the years since, Atlanta’s second-half meltdown has been the subject of much ridicule, becoming an overnight meme with many regarding it as the worst collapse in NFL postseason history. And, wouldn’t you know it, the ball that put Ryan over 60K, which is currently on display at the Hall of Fame, was numbered 283, a painful reminder of what could have been.
Ryan, for the life of him, can’t seem to escape his worst moment, haunted by a singular defeat that, for better or worse, has come to define his legacy. The Patriots, coming off an uninspiring performance in a season-opening loss to Miami, find themselves miles away from relevance, but at least their fans will always have the lasting memory of 28-3, the ultimate trump card and an argument-ender with no expiration date.
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