The kid gloves were off for Matt Ryan in his first preseason performance and the 72-million-dollar man showed why he may be a sound investment after all. Those who clamored for LSU’s Glenn Dorsey may be quieting a bit after watching Ryan throw for 113 yards on 9-of-15 passing, including a beautiful 25-yard scoring strike to Roddy White. Sure, the throw was behind him, but that would be nitpicking from a performance that many expected to see in the third or fourth quarter.
The best part about Ryan’s debut was the freedom offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey gave his prize pupil. As opposed to handing the ball off every snap, the former Boston College Eagle was allowed to spread his wings, and was given free reign to go downfield (Ryan averaged 7.5 yards per pass compared to 5.2 yards for the other three quarterbacks), and the rookie showed off his vision and composure under the heat of the blitz on several occasions. This was exactly the kind of performance that should further justify Ryan’s role as a starter when the regular season hits. Yes, Jacksonville probably didn’t throw the kitchen sink at Ryan in terms of blitz packages and coverages, but let’s not forget that the rookie was slinging it against first teamers, stepping up in the pocket and throwing the ball with a conviction that we haven’t seen from a Falcons quarterback in a while.
THE UNSUNG HEROES
Offensive lineman Sam Baker has been in the starting lineup from the minute he stepped onto the field at Flowery Branch, and he may never see the sideline after his first game in the red and black. Collectively, the offensive line gave up three sacks, but Baker was sound in his first NFL action. The same can be said for Curtis Lofton, who showed that Tony Taylor may be on his way to second-team status. Lofton was a playmaker at middle linebacker, recording six tackles and recovering a fumble, in addition to his work on special teams. And while not a rookie in terms of NFL experience, Brent Grimes is relatively inexperienced at defensive back. With Chris Houston sitting out, Grimes tied Lofton for the team lead in tackles and he and the rest of the Falcons’ cornerback-by-committee rotation kept Jacksonville out of the end zone aerially against a group of massive receivers.
As stated a few days ago, the NFL preseason is the most meaningless preseason in all of professional sports. Even though they lost, however, the Falcons can chalk up their game against Jacksonville as a win. Coach Mike Smith said he’s not one for moral victories, but how about progress? It was certainly made with the way No. 2 was throwing the football, it was shown in the way the team dealt with injury adversity (Todd Weiner and Chris Houston) and things can only get better with another week of practice from these Falcons. In close games like these, though, the team is certainly counting on improvement from the kicking game.
Indianapolis (sans Peyton Manning), you have been warned.
Horne can be reached at ehorne@scoreatl.com.
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