Is Ryan the long term answer for the Falcons? (1 Viewer)

[wiscstlatlmia]

If the long term answer is mediocrity

 

[MikeApf]

Here we have a QB that has played reasonably well in the regular season and has shown improvement over the past three years. But, he still hasn't managed to win a playoff game during his three year tenure. He hasn't thrown for more than two hundred yards in a playoff game and has multiple interceptions in each of his playoff games. Currently the NFC does not have the name QB's that the AFC possesses, but Rodgers seems to have established himself as NFC royalty. Vick also played well this year and some have projected Bradford to be the next superstar. Roddy White established himself as a premier WR the year before Ryan came to town, when Harrington and Redman were slinging the ball. Ryan doesn't seem to have made White much better than the previously mentioned duo. Turner is aging and the Falcons will have to address their running game. The defense also seems to carry the Falcons. Atlanta was 5th in PPG, but was exposed last night (although the Falcons contained the Packers in week 12). Is Ryan merely a game manager that depends on a dominant defense?

As a fan of a team (Washington) without a legitimate starting QB, I say if you are Atlanta, you hold onto Ryan as long as you can! You don't know how good you have it. Ryan is fine.

 

[FavreCo]

Here we have a QB that has played reasonably well in the regular season and has shown improvement over the past three years. But, he still hasn't managed to win a playoff game during his three year tenure. He hasn't thrown for more than two hundred yards in a playoff game and has multiple interceptions in each of his playoff games. Currently the NFC does not have the name QB's that the AFC possesses, but Rodgers seems to have established himself as NFC royalty. Vick also played well this year and some have projected Bradford to be the next superstar. Roddy White established himself as a premier WR the year before Ryan came to town, when Harrington and Redman were slinging the ball. Ryan doesn't seem to have made White much better than the previously mentioned duo. Turner is aging and the Falcons will have to address their running game. The defense also seems to carry the Falcons. Atlanta was 5th in PPG, but was exposed last night (although the Falcons contained the Packers in week 12). Is Ryan merely a game manager that depends on a dominant defense?

As a fan of a team (Washington) without a legitimate starting QB, I say if you are Atlanta, you hold onto Ryan as long as you can! You don't know how good you have it. Ryan is fine.

No kidding. Homers are always #####ing about their QB on the team message boards. They have no idea how hard it is to get someone as good as Ryan. They could have T-joke or Kolb for instance.

 

[rockaction]

Here we have a QB that has played reasonably well in the regular season and has shown improvement over the past three years. But, he still hasn't managed to win a playoff game during his three year tenure. He hasn't thrown for more than two hundred yards in a playoff game and has multiple interceptions in each of his playoff games. Currently the NFC does not have the name QB's that the AFC possesses, but Rodgers seems to have established himself as NFC royalty. Vick also played well this year and some have projected Bradford to be the next superstar. Roddy White established himself as a premier WR the year before Ryan came to town, when Harrington and Redman were slinging the ball. Ryan doesn't seem to have made White much better than the previously mentioned duo. Turner is aging and the Falcons will have to address their running game. The defense also seems to carry the Falcons. Atlanta was 5th in PPG, but was exposed last night (although the Falcons contained the Packers in week 12). Is Ryan merely a game manager that depends on a dominant defense?

As a fan of a team (Washington) without a legitimate starting QB, I say if you are Atlanta, you hold onto Ryan as long as you can! You don't know how good you have it. Ryan is fine.

No kidding. Homers are always #####ing about their QB on the team message boards. They have no idea how hard it is to get someone as good as Ryan. They could have T-joke or Kolb for instance.

Dead last in deep passing accuracy per Pro Football Focus, can't throw outside the numbers. Awful arm strength. Roddy White advocated giving up on the deep ball as a concept in the offense during Week 14 or 15. They have Jones and White, and the least passes completed over twenty yards of any team. Something is up with the scheme, him, or something. There's reason to complain. Not a homer, watched him all year. This bubble. Has burst.

 

[FavreCo]

Here we have a QB that has played reasonably well in the regular season and has shown improvement over the past three years. But, he still hasn't managed to win a playoff game during his three year tenure. He hasn't thrown for more than two hundred yards in a playoff game and has multiple interceptions in each of his playoff games. Currently the NFC does not have the name QB's that the AFC possesses, but Rodgers seems to have established himself as NFC royalty. Vick also played well this year and some have projected Bradford to be the next superstar. Roddy White established himself as a premier WR the year before Ryan came to town, when Harrington and Redman were slinging the ball. Ryan doesn't seem to have made White much better than the previously mentioned duo. Turner is aging and the Falcons will have to address their running game. The defense also seems to carry the Falcons. Atlanta was 5th in PPG, but was exposed last night (although the Falcons contained the Packers in week 12). Is Ryan merely a game manager that depends on a dominant defense?

As a fan of a team (Washington) without a legitimate starting QB, I say if you are Atlanta, you hold onto Ryan as long as you can! You don't know how good you have it. Ryan is fine.

No kidding. Homers are always #####ing about their QB on the team message boards. They have no idea how hard it is to get someone as good as Ryan. They could have T-joke or Kolb for instance.

Dead last in deep passing accuracy per Pro Football Focus, can't throw outside the numbers. Awful arm strength. Roddy White advocated giving up on the deep ball as a concept in the offense during Week 14 or 15. They have Jones and White, and the least passes completed over twenty yards of any team. Something is up with the scheme, him, or something. There's reason to complain. Not a homer, watched him all year. This bubble. Has burst.

No doubt he has a weaker arm but scheme is bad. When they lined up in their gaol line formation with 1 wideout (maybe) on 1st and 10 at the 50 one game, I thought we were back in the 70's.

 

[siffoin]

I've been a fan of the Falcons for more than 30 years. The first NFL game I ever went to was in 1978...New Orleans V. Atlanta in Fulton Cty Stadium. We won in the last seconds when Bartkowski tossed a bomb in the final seconds to set up the game winning TD. That play (Big Ben II) was THE highlight for 20 years until the NFC Championship in Minnesota. The Super Bowl was over before it even started when Mr NFL Good Guy of the Year got busted getting a pre-game BJ the night before. In between there were some highlights, but always filled with lower lows. From seeing Jerry Glanville telling "Mississippi" Favre he'd never see an NFL field...to Jeff "the witch" George getting in a fight on the sidelines with June Jones...to Dan Reeves doing the "I'm lucky to be alive after my heart-attack" Dirty Bird. Vick was exciting...and that's the only thing good I have to say about him. The lowest of the low came in Dec 2007, when Vick got sentenced to prison, we got crushed on MNF, and Petrino quit all in the span of 24 hours. Those events in my mind were near equal to losing the franchise in a plane crash.

So before anyone goes about asking if Ryan is the LT answer for the Falcons...remember THAT was the franchise Ryan inherited.

Go back and look at the threads pre-season 2008. Not a one of you thought the Falcons would win more than 3-4 games. Most considered that team the absolute worst in the league with the possibility of being the first franchise to lose 16 games (thanks Lions for one losing streak the Falcons do not own).

Since Ryan we've won back to back to back to back seasons- when we'd never even had back to back in the 40 years prior. With Ryan we've gone 11 wins, 9, wins, 13 wins and 10 wins. This year Ryan threw for close to 4200 yrds. Had a QB rating over 92. Tossed 29 TDs. Whatever positive franchise records being held for Atlanta QBs that Ryan doesn't currently hold he will in the next season or 2. The guys is thoughtful...a team player, hard worker, and a VERY positive face of the franchise. Considering the 2007 season, Ryan is way way more than anyone could have realistically expected.

Now truth be told...the expectations are now very high. And without a doubt the team and Ryan specifically have not performed well in the playoffs. In fact they haven't performed well in any big game I remember (the exception when they beat the Jets in 2009 in NY to get 9 wins and back to back winning seaons, and when they beat Baltimore last year on Thursday night). Losing to Arizona the first season...fine Kurt Warner was a great QB and honestly I place the blame on that loss on Keith Brooking failure on 3rd and 16. Last year Ryan was terrible against GB...but in looking at that Packer team from then to now, I'm not sure Ryan at his best could have overcome Godgers who played the game of his life in the ZONE as if Bagger Vance was whispering advice through his helmet allowing Rogers to find his "authentic arm". This past weeks loss to the Giants however was completely unacceptable. Zero points with the amount of talent on that offense. As a fan it is beyond frustrating. But I place blame on Mularkey for bad and conservative game plans...for Mike Smith and his questionable 4th down calls...on Ryans receivers for dropping balls, for Turner running into the OL and falling down...on the OL for not having with mental and physical wherewithal to get 6" of push...on the D for allowing all those 3rd and long conversions....AND I place blame on Ryan...because he knew all of that ahead of time and still didn't win the ### #### game.

With that said I do believe Ryan is getting better. My hope is that the team will learn how to better utilize the weapons they have on the team. My hope is they get new coordinators who play a style of offense more suited to 201_'s than to the 1970's. My hope is that the future of Matt Ryan will be similar to another QB who 10 years ago all the armchair GM's said couldn't win the big one either after an 0-3 playoff record. Time will tell. But with the exception of a small few other QB's there is no one I'd rather have at the helm than Ryan for the foreseeable future.

I can tell you one thing. Knowing what we know today about Matt Ryan- if it were 2008 again, Bill Parcels would be tripping all over himself to get to the podium to announce" With the first selection in the 2008 draft the Miami Dolphins pick QB Matt Ryan".

Finally, you can't ever win a playoff game without playing in a playoff game...the franchise is moving in the right direction with Ryan. He's by far better than anything we've ever had...and it's not even close.

 

[mphtrilogy]

they fell in love with the pass, they need to crush the run, and tgonzo needs to be swapped out, continue to build a tough d and ryan could be a better than average "game manager", they can with him, just dont ask him to carry the team...

 

[Wilbur Wood]

He's in the Mark Sanchez tier: OVERHYPED by the media

Wow.Meanwhile - Sanchez has won FOUR road playoff games!!!And he's got nothing like Roddy White, Julio Jones or Gonzo for targets let alone having the same targets for multiple years. Matt also has 2 more years of college ball and 1 more Pro under his belt.

Ryan is 0-3 with 3 really bad playoff showings. Starting to also resemble a "dome QB" which is never a good thing in terms of ability to win big games late in the year.

 

[dickey moe]

Romo or Ryan -- who would you rather have as your QB?

 

[SWC]

Romo or Ryan -- who would you rather have as your QB?

no matter what you say both romo or ryan have less possibility of pooping their pants on the way into the stadium because they saw a car that looked like it belonged to a defensive player from the other team like blaine mr depends undergarments gabbert does take it to the bank

 

[gradin123]

I think Atlanta needs a new coach. THe Falcons have all the weapons to be an elite passing team but they keep giving the ball to the slug Michael Turner.

The coaching in the Giants game was horrible.

 

[gradin123]

they fell in love with the pass, they need to crush the run, and tgonzo needs to be swapped out, continue to build a tough d and ryan could be a better than average "game manager", they can with him, just dont ask him to carry the team...

Totally wrong. Run teams don't win in the league anymore, it is a passing league now. The last two Super Bowl champs (Saints and Packers) are the mold of the new elite teams and it is very likely one of those two teams wins the Super Bowl this year too. The Falcons have great passing weapons in White and Jones and they need to play like the Saints,Lions or Packers do offensively. Michael Turner is severely on the decline. He is a slow plodder. The problem with the Falcons this year was they stuck too much with the run. Look at the two 4th and 1's and the late 3rd and 1 they failed to convert. They tried to "crush" the run and they failed miserably. If they pass on any of those plays they likely convert.

 

[Luke Skywalker]

Not a Falcons fan but Ryan isn't that bad. He doesn't have a very good arm, but he can make plays on the move and is generally pretty smart with the ball.

Their offensive concepts are prehistoric and they don't have an identity as a team. None of that is really the QB's fault.

 

[humpback]

I think Atlanta needs a new coach. THe Falcons have all the weapons to be an elite passing team but they keeping giving the ball to the slug Michael Turner. The coaching in the Giants game was horrible.

They're going to have new coordinators at least.

 

[JamesTheScot]

Not a Falcons fan but Ryan isn't that bad. He doesn't have a very good arm, but he can make plays on the move and is generally pretty smart with the ball.

Their offensive concepts are prehistoric and they don't have an identity as a team. None of that is really the QB's fault.

This.I get the sense that the Falcons thought they would be a good passing team just because they added talent at WR. It takes more than having good WR's and then calling a pass play. It still takes calling the right pass play at the right time even when you have talent.

It's as if the Falcons thought that being "creative" with the passing game meant simply calling more pass plays than usual.

 

[David Yudkin]

Here are the regular season win totals for each team since Ryan entered the league and the # of playoff appearances for each franchise. Things haven't worked out in the playoffs so far, but I am pretty sure there are a lor of other NFL teams that wished they could have done as well as the Ryan-led Falcons have done.

NE 48 3NO 45 3PIT 45 3BAL 44 4ATL 43 3GB 42 3NYG 39 2PHI 38.5 3IND 38 3SD 38 2NYJ 37 2TEN 36 1CHI 35 1DAL 34 1SF 34 1HOU 33 1ARI 32 2MIN 31 2MIA 31 1CAR 28 1DEN 28 1CIN 27.5 2OAK 26 0TB 26 0JAX 25 0KC 23 1SEA 23 1BUF 23 0WAS 23 0DET 18 1CLE 18 0STL 12 0
It also didn't dawn on me that the Ravens were the only team to make the playoffs the past 4 seasons.

 

[FavreCo]

Not a Falcons fan but Ryan isn't that bad. He doesn't have a very good arm, but he can make plays on the move and is generally pretty smart with the ball.Their offensive concepts are prehistoric and they don't have an identity as a team. None of that is really the QB's fault.

1 INT every 47 attempts is near the top of the league. Not his fault the playcalling blew chunks.

 

[JamesTheScot]

that star presense is pretty palpable when Rodgers, Brady or Brees play. Peyton historically. Eli is getting it.

How long was Eli a "just doesn't have it" guy?San Diego sent Brees packing, remember?Remember the naysayers when GB decided to roll with Rodgers?Ryan is still fairly young and has always been asked to be a game manager. Concluding that he doesn't have "it" at this juncture still seems a bit premature. I used to think the same thing about Eli.

 

[rockaction]

Here are the regular season win totals for each team since Ryan entered the league and the # of playoff appearances for each franchise. Things haven't worked out in the playoffs so far, but I am pretty sure there are a lor of other NFL teams that wished they could have done as well as the Ryan-led Falcons have done.

That seems to be saying that he just wins. I can point to Denver and the football smart set (FO, PFF, Brian Burke, etc.) and how much fun they've made of that sentiment when it comes to Denver this year.

I can also point to the Giants completely jamming themselves in between the numbers and not even respecting Ryan's ability to throw the ball deep. If "long-term" implies "championship," then you've got issues. I know, TRENT DILFER! Okay.

Look, his dead last deep ball accuracy isn't just bad. It's everyone who took 25% of their teams' snaps dead last bad. In 2010, he was 22nd out of 24 in deep ball accuracy for starters taking 50% of their teams' snaps, and 33 out of 37 for guys taking 25%. In 2009, he was 24th out of 26 starters who took 50% of their teams' snaps (and 33 out of 39 for 25%, the names of which make even teenage girls go "ewwwwwwww!") He regressed this year. As for the scheme complaints - he can't throw a deep out, or a fly, or a corner, or a post, or a go, or a double-move timing route, or a... you get the picture. He can't throw it yet. That's probably not just scheme when there's three years of starting snap sample size.

I mean, when an Atlanta reporter can't distinguish the tongue-in-cheek nature of a statement, something is an issue, especially when Atlanta subsequently did just what White asked.

http://www.atlantafieldreport.com/171/roddy-white-feels-falcons-should-scrap-the-deep-pass

Unless he improves this, you've got the Rajon Rondo effect, where there's a great player in almost all phases of the game, yet his team is eager to get rid of him because of one glaring deficiency that allows defenses to completely adjust to the rest of the offense. In Ryan's case, it's not that he's an awful quarterback, but when it's all on the line, he'll get run over by the attentive folks in the NFL.