It’s too early to make any predictions for Matt Ryan. But one thing is for sure: Come Sept. 7 when the Detroit Lions pull into town for the first game of the season, Ryan should be the Falcons’ starting quarterback. No question about it.
While his performance in Saturday night’s exhibition game was just his first NFL action, Ryan proved he is a quick learner and can handle himself right now on this level. Sure, the mistakes will come, but against Jacksonville over the weekend, Ryan completed nine of 15 passes for 113 yards with a 25-yard touchdown pass and, while he fumbled two snaps, he was able to fall on the ball and physically handle two sacks on separate plays.
Ryan appears to be on the road to becoming ready and Falcons head coach Mike Smith said after the game, “I thought Matt looked really good. We wanted to get Matt in there early and designed to get him in there against a very, very good and efficient defense. He did good and competed very well … no interceptions and had a 105.7 quarterback rating. I think for a rookie, first time out; that is a pretty good outing.”
Instead of some crazy spread offense, which a coach like Bobby Petrino would run, the Falcons put Ryan in a position to succeed against the Jags and gave us a glimpse of what we can expect on that side of the ball this year. The Falcons are not asking Ryan to be their savior but are instead relying on the big legs of Michael Turner and company while setting up a lot of quick, short passes to keep Ryan from spending lots of time in the pocket. His touchdown throw to Roddy White, while to the wrong shoulder of the receiver, was a strong throw, which White turned and grabbed, again proving a quarterback is mostly only as good as his receivers.
Ryan certainly piqued the interest of Falcons fans on my Sunday radio show on 790 The Zone, as we received more than 20 calls about the team over a two-hour period. The listeners also wanted to talk about D.J. Shockley, who came in late and came close to leading the team to a winning score. But while his career at Georgia makes Shockley a local favorite (and I know I would like to see him succeed in this league), he is playing for the third quarterback spot on the roster.
The Falcons have made a decision on their quarterback of the future and Ryan is that guy, signing a $72 million deal after going No. 3 in last April’s draft. That’s why I think it is so important for Ryan to get most of the first-team snaps throughout the rest of the preseason.
Also, the AJC’s Falcons beat writer Steve Wyche was at the game and got some insight on something important that didn’t show up Ryan’s stat line, writing, “The most positive thing about Matt Ryan was how he treated his teammates on the field. In one instance, Justin Blalock drew an illegal procedure penalty when the team was in scoring position. Instead of ignoring things or sending off bad body language, Ryan raced right up to the left guard, patted him on the back and told him not to worry about things. Things like that go a very long way in getting teammates to respect you and protect you.”
This should excite Falcons fans and at least begin to make believers out of those that felt the team should not have taken Ryan with the third overall pick. Remember that the quarterback position in the NFL is the hardest spot to play in any sport and certainly the hardest position to fill with talent. I always like to say: Name me 10 quarterbacks in a league of 32 teams that you consider very good. Not easy, huh?
Well, the good news is it was a good first performance and, more importantly, displayed a team that struggled so much last year—both on and off the field—but one that is finally beginning to show a heartbeat.
WILL SOMEBODY TELL ME
Sorry, while it seems like the rest of the mainstream (mostly liberal) media loved the opening ceremonies and is ready to forgive China for being a human rights disaster, I didn’t get it. Money will buy anything and, from a technical side, I guess it was impressive. But what did it have to do with the Olympics and, for that matter, what did it have to do with China? I guess it did show that the Chinese can march in a straight line, which makes sense considering they now have the
biggest army in the world. But where was the meat? While we in Atlanta were torn apart by the international media when the Olympics were here in 1996, at least our opening ceremonies had one of the most memorable moments ever, with a shaking Muhammad Ali standing high atop the stadium holding the Olympic torch. Lately, I have spent some time reading about past Olympics and back in 1936, when the Germans held the Games in Berlin, they also put on quite a show. We all know now it was nothing but propaganda. I am not comparing what we saw last Friday to Berlin and certainly not suggesting China will lead us down the same path the Germans did afterwards. I’m just saying don’t get so caught up in fancy lights, fireworks and loud drums. The proof of whether this county has really changed and deserves the respect of the civilized part of this world will come later. And by the way, it’s nice to see our President having a good ol’ time in Beijing. I’m sure glad he’s focused on our economy, which is just humming along.
Rosenberg can be reached at ijrosenberg@scoreatl.com.
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