The Rise And Fall Of Matt Ryan

the playing career of Matt Ryan may be over but man was hit special the legacy of Matt Ryan very well may be remembered for the Falcons 28-3 blown lead that lost in the Super Bowl in 2017 or maybe even the 33-0 lead he blew in his last regular season game as a cult he was on the wrong side of two crazy comebacks and that'll haunt his legacy forever but don't go forgetting that Maddie ice was once him he won an MVP and at one point was even a top quarterback in the NFL before that he was a beast in college Matt Ryan has been incredible at every level he's played in and that's how he should be remembered he had a great rise but like most things what goes up must come down and Matt Ryan came down quick Matt Ryan grew up in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and went to Penn Charter where he was rated a three-star Prospect he was recruited by Connecticut Georgia Tech Iowa and Purdue before eventually choosing Boston College Ryan redshirted the 2 2003 season and then in 2004 he started in a single game which was the final game of the regular season a loss to Syracuse he had some Growing Pains to say the least Ryan completed 24 of 51 passes for 200 yards a touchdown and three interceptions he began The Following Season as the backup to Quentin Porter but Ryan did later take over for the golden eagles who ended up finishing 18th in the AP poll Ryan was solid he had a 62.1 completion percentage with 1514 yards eight touchdowns and five interceptions in 2006 Ryan started in almost every game for Boston College and was pretty good he was first team all ACC after he led the conference in yards in total offense per game Ryan impressed he had 2942 yards 15 touchdowns in 10 interceptions with a 61.6 completion percentage Ryan showed some promise and then he really burst onto the scene in two thousand 7. he was the ACC Player of the Year and even won the Manning award as the top quarterback in the country beating out Tim Tebow who by the way won the Heisman Ryan had an ACC best 457 yards had 31 touchdowns to 19 interceptions while completing 59.1 percent of his throws going into the draft Matt Ryan was the clear favorite and that thought was solidified come Draft Day the Atlanta Falcons used the third overall pick at the 2008 NFL draft on Matt Ryan Atlanta was in this weird spot after the Michael Vick debacle and drafting Ryan meant that he was the new future he was the week one starter and hit the ground running Ryan won his first career start over the Lions after he completed 9 of 13 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown he ended up having a pretty good rookie season of course he did still have his struggles too I mean he had four multi-interception games and didn't throw for more than two touchdowns in a game all year but at the very least he was promising Ryan became the first Falcons rookie to throw for over 3 000 yards and 17 total touchdowns to 11 interceptions with a 61.1 completion percentage Ryan went on to be named offensive Rookie of the Year and Atlanta had a good year going 11-5 but they did lose in the Wild Card round to the Cardinals I think it's safe to say that Ryan's first playoff appearance didn't go as planned Ryan's first career playoff pass was picked off and he had a pretty disappointing outing 26 of 40 199 yards two touchdowns to two interceptions in 2009 Ryan battled with some injuries and it led to two missed games more interceptions and the worst completion percentage of his career he did still manage to go 9-5 in his starts and had 23 total touchdowns but the Falcons really needed Ryan to make a jump in his third year and he did just that but again Ryan had a poor playoff performance he had 186 yards a touchdown to two interceptions and a blowout loss to the Packers in the divisional luckily the future was bright for Ryan and the Falcons Matt Ryan was named to his first pro bowl and really improved statistically with 28 touchdowns to 9 interceptions the next two seasons were pretty similar for Ryan and the Falcons they made the postseason both years in 2011 they lost by a pretty bizarre 24-2 score to the eventual Super Bowl champ Giants and then in 2012 Atlanta made it all the way to the NFC championship game but lost to the 49ers 28-24 Ryan actually suffered an AC joint sprain but luckily he didn't need surgery now what's really impressive is that over that two-year span Ryan averaged 4448 yards 32 touchdowns and 13 interceptions and that was good enough to earn Ryan a big payday ahead of the 2013 season Ryan signed a five-year 103.75 million dollar extension unfortunately the next three years were pretty rough for Atlanta though they only won 18 games over the stretch and the Ross Foster was weaker on both sides of the ball overall Atlanta just wasn't as good of a team but they did slowly get better and even went 500 in 2015. now there wasn't really anything too exciting going on during those three seasons and Ryan definitely turned it over a lot not only did he throw 47 interceptions yes 47 but he also fumbled the ball 22 times things weren't exactly great in Atlanta until they were see in 2016 the Falcons and Matt Ryan specifically was Unstoppable Ryan had an insane year he passed for 4944 yards 38 touchdowns seven interceptions and completed 69.9 percent of his throws all of which are his career bests Ryan just dominated the league and won MVP because of it Atlanta went 11-5 and made it all the way to the Super Bowl after beating the Seahawks in the divisional round and beating the Packers pretty handedly in the NFC Championship Ryan was great all-post season and Atlanta quite possibly couldn't have been closer to winning a title but as you know then disaster struck the Falcons famously LED 28-3 before the Patriots stormed back and won in overtime now the NFL did change the postseason overtime rule after Josh Allen didn't get a chance to touch the ball in overtime and a loss to Patrick Mahomes but the same thing happened in Super Bowl 51. New England won it all in overtime with the reigning MVP on the bench and he never got an opportunity to touch the ball that loss put a very dark cloud over the Falcons franchise and they were never really able to escape it it led to Julio Jones being traded in 2021 and Dan Quinn being fired in 2020. still the Falcons downfall didn't exactly happen overnight they were still pretty good in 2017 Atlanta went 10-6 and made it to the divisional round before eventually losing to the Eagles Ryan had 4 000 yards 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions with a 64.7 completion percentage the following season Ryan actually had another MVP worthy year he had one of the best seasons of his career falling just short of 5 000 yards 38 touchdowns and seven interceptions Ryan again was incredible but the Falcons weren't they finished with a losing record and Atlanta has had one every year since too in Matt Ryan's play definitely started to decline from 2019 to 2021 Falcons only won 18 games Ryan averaged 4 338 yards 24 touchdowns and 12 interceptions over his 14 years in Atlanta Matt Ryan started 222 games one offensive player of the year and MVP was named to four Pro bowls and broke a ton of Falcons franchise records but all good things have to end eventually in March of 2022 Matt Ryan was traded to the Indianapolis Colts for a third round pick last season was frustrating to say the least Ryan started the Colts first seven games of the year and they went 3-3 three in one over the span and Ryan was super mid he had nine touchdowns to nine interceptions with 2 000 yards the two most memorable games over that stretch came against Jacksonville in week two Indianapolis got absolutely shut out and Ryan threw three interceptions but then four weeks later Ryan threw three touchdowns without a single pick and a win over the Jaguars the next week the Colts lost to the Titans and Ryan didn't play in the Colts next two games because of what Frank Wright called a shoulder injury but once interim coach Jeff's Saturday gained control Ryan returned as the starter in the following five games Ryan had five touchdowns to four interceptions with a thousand yards the Colts went 1-4 over that stretch including a historic loss to the Vikings after the Colts flew a 33-point lead it was the biggest comeback in NFL history and safe to say that wasn't new for Matt Ryan Matt Ryan has been on the wrong side of the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history and now in League history unfortunately that'll probably be his legacy too and that was his last game so it will definitely be remembered Ryan didn't play in the Colts last three contests and was released in March of 2023. he joined CBS Sports as an analyst but hasn't exactly shut the door on an NFL return and he made it clear he wasn't retiring just yet so maybe this isn't the end but if it is then it was one hell of a ride for Maddie ice foreign

Channel: J&D Productions

Views: 39,633

Keywords: matt ryan, boston college, boston college football, 2008 nfl draft, 2008 draft, falcons, atlanta falcons, colts, indianapolis colts

Id: uDQfTgV2ofI

Length: 9min 37sec (577 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 18 2023