The Complicated Legacy of Matt Ryan
In the third quarter of Sunday’s 48–25 loss against the Bucs, Matt Ryan showed a brief glimpse of what has made him great over the past 14 seasons. He led a tough drive for a touchdown and the dove into the endzone for a gritty two-point conversion to bring the Tampa lead to within a field goal. For a brief second the Falcons had momentum going into the 4th quarter, but it turned ugly late and the game ended in a blowout. Tom Brady advanced to 11–0 against Ryan and the Falcons in the process.
This game seemed to encapsulate the career of Matt Ryan well. There were periods of individual brilliance that kept the Falcons in the game, despite porous offensive line play and an ineffective defense. Matt Ryan ended the day with over 300 yards and at times dominated, but he threw two backbreaking pick-sixes to seal the game for the Bucs. He was a good player bested by a great one in Tom Brady. There were already many calling for the Falcons to draft his successor this year, but the Matt Ryan era in Atlanta is coming to an end.
When talking about Matt Ryan though, you have to first talk about how things started. Before he was arrested in 2007, Mike Vick was maybe the biggest sports icon in the history of Atlanta. He was a once-in-a-generation talent that perfectly embodied the city, playing with flare and creativity never seen before at the position. #7 jerseys lined every hallway in schools across Metro Atlanta. He was the greatest player in the history of Madden to the point where you were basically cheating if you used him. But he was also plagued by poor coaching, inconsistency, turnovers, and an overall nonchalant approach to game preparation. All of the talent never really translated to team success. His deepest playoff run ended in the 2004 NFC championship against the Eagles, followed by 8–8 and 7–9 seasons that ended his run with the Falcons.
When Vick went to prison in 2007, the Falcons had a miserable 3–13 season in Bobby Petrino’s brief and disastrous tenure in the NFL. Looking to completely shift course, they did a 180 and went from Vick to a skinny kid from Boston College who was in many ways the anti-Mike Vick. He was a boring pocket passer from the northeast that fit the prototypical mold of a QB in 2008. It was always going to be a huge uphill battle to win over the city that had adored Mike Vick for so long. Despite winning right away in his rookie year and taking the team to the playoffs kicking off over a decade of high-level success, it still feels like he never really has.
There’s a thin line between the great and the elite when it comes to quarterback play in the NFL and Matt Ryan has straddled that line for 14 seasons. That’s particularly remarkable because he also became the quarterback with the most yards through their first 14 seasons on Sunday. He’s ninth in NFL history in passing yards and will likely climb a few more spots by the time he retires. Yet people will likely argue the notion I just made that Matt Ryan has ever been an elite quarterback at points of his career. His salary always further complicated the conversation as he is one of the more well-paid players of his era with $267 million in career earnings. That kind of price tag will always raise the expectations, and it’s always seemed like he needed to do more.
He isn’t necessarily great at anything, but is very good at many things. He has decent arm strength, only average athleticism, and a penchant for throwing very untimely interceptions in the red zone. On the other hand, he is very accurate, gets the ball out of his hand quickly, has been durable, and has always been an excellent leader and competitor throughout his career.
It’s often said that he greatly benefits from the talent he gets to plays with, but I think an underrated characteristic of Matt Ryan has been his ability to elevate his teammates over the years. Roddy White was having a middling career and became a 10,000 yard borderline hall-of-famer once Ryan showed up. He helped Tony Gonzalez finally get his first playoff win after years of coming up short in Kansas City. Players like Taylor Gabriel, Austin Hooper, Mohamed Sanu, Harry Douglas, Michael Turner, Tevin Coleman, and Devonta Freeman all had their greatest success with Ryan and Falcons, and many translated that to bigger contracts with other teams. People may argue Julio made Matt Ryan successful more than vice versa, but Julio still had more receiving yards than anyone in the NFL during their 10-year relationship.
The Falcons have also experienced unprecedented success with Ryan at the helm. The franchise has been around since 1966 and had never experienced back-to-back winning seasons prior to his arrival. In 2016 and 2017 they were able to win playoff games in back-to-back years. It may be difficult to call him the best player in franchise history with Julio and Deion Sanders available, but he is obviously the most important. None of this success happens without Matt Ryan. He has provided the Falcons with something every team team craves: stability. He’s going to give you a pretty good shot to win every week, which is an invaluable asset to have for 14 consecutive years in the NFL.
When everything is there around him (elite playcalling, offensive line, playmakers, running game, health), he can be as deadly as any QB in the league. But if any of those elements are missing, he often can’t overcome it and a losing season could be on the table. In 2016 it was all there and looked what happened. Kyle Shanahan was the hottest playcaller in the league, all five offensive linemen played 16 games, the running game was elite, and Julio Jones was at the top of his game. The Falcons scored the seventh most points in league history, Ryan won the MVP, and the Falcons were a quarter away from winning the Super Bowl.
And that’s where it call comes back to, doesn’t it? The Super Bowl. When you blow a 25 point lead late in the third quarter in the biggest game against the best team, that’s going to be a big part of your legacy. Ryan has just a 4–6 career record in the playoffs, but all would be forgiven if they just finished off that game. When you’re a Super Bowl MVP QB, you’re a Super Bowl MVP QB. There’s no taking that away.
There’s an immense amount of blame to go around for what happened, but it always falls back on Ryan, which really isn’t fair. In the eyes of the public, he somehow had to find a way to overcome intensely illogical playcalling, poor clock management, missed blocks, and a tired defense to win that game and he didn’t do it. To many, that’s how he’ll always be remembered. I guess the truly great ones probably do find a way.
The Hall of Fame debates will be hot when it comes to Matt Ryan, and they shouldn’t be. It would be a no-brainer with that Super Bowl win. An MVP and Super Bowl MVP QB that’s in the top 10 all time in Passing Yards? Forget it.
And that’s the thing. His career is so much more than just one game. He’ll end up as one of the most prolific passers in league history and was an MVP at the top of his game. He’s elevated a deadbeat franchise to heights they have never been to before. He’d definitely be in if it was up to me, but it’s no certainty. The one certainty is that Falcons fans will miss him when he’s gone.
