Wherein Our Hero, Matt Ryan, Is Loved

by Dave the Falconer on May 19, 2008 1:04 AM EDT in Falcons News Comment 10 comments

As I emerge from under a pile of rubble and overtime, I come with glad tidings from the FalcBlog, who tells us much of Ryan's chance of success. More accurately, Aaron of FalcFans takes umbrage to the idea that Ryan is so much worse a pick than Dorsey that the mammoth defensive tackle can be considered the better pick:

I won't dispute whether Dorsey was the better pick/player, but I disagree wholeheartedly with the notion that the gulf between the two is so significant that it makes taking Dorsey a "safe" pick and Ryan a risky one.

What he cites for statistics are actually pretty intriguing, as is a Peter King of SI fame nugget that says the Falcons would have likely drafted Chad Henne over Brian Brohm in the second round. Yes, that's right: we don't like quarterbacks from Southern colleges.

Further, a table from the invaluable Pro-Football Reference bears out Aaron's point. Look down that list and you'll see a lot of complete duds (Travis Johnson, Reggie McGrew), some decent players (Booger McFarland) and one guy who was a very solid regular for the last ten years (Trevor Pryce). While on paper Dorsey looks quite a bit better than any of them, who's to say?

While I do think defensive tackle needed to be addressed via the draft, I think it's time to lock up the Matty Ice haterade-drinking until he does something to earn our ire. While I still would rather have had Brohm and Dorsey, it doesn't sound like a lock that it would've even happened with this current batch o' management. While Ryan is extremely risky in terms of cash and fit, there's no denying that a great career from him would go a long way toward erasing our woes.

So I salute Aaron on this one, and I for one will try to welcome our Boston College overlord. May he earn the coveted respect of we woebegone Falcons fans, who really would like to hand it over.

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Reference Table

I wholeheartedly agree that anytime you pay a player that much money guaranteed you are taking a huge risk and requiring a big payoff to justify tying up money that way, however in response to your Pro-Football Reference table, at first glance I noticed Vince Wilfork was missing from the 2001 draft and wanted to point out there may be more evidence of good DTs taken in the first round missing… though it seems the chances of picking a good player are equally dismal in the 1st round as the 3rd round where players are paid significantly less

by FalconCane on May 19, 2008 11:37 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Risk vs. Reward

Agree that the “hate Ryan” bandwagon needs to take a rest stop. It’s well worth remembering that ANY high draft pick is fraught with risk.

QB is the most important position on almost any team. Seldom do teams win Super Bowls with a mediocre QB. Though I wasn’t a fan of the pick, what’s done is done. Time to move on, and get behind our Golden Boy.

I don’t think that I’ll elevate him to “Overlord” status quite yet, though! With a decent line in front of him, he does have the tools to be our QB for years to come, and a very good one at that.

Let us beseech our Supreme Comrade to give him the support he needs!

"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"

by tom slick on May 19, 2008 2:38 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

My stance

I don’t hate Ryan and I think the use of that term is a little over exagerated with respect to peoples views of the pick. It’s the pick and its value relative to what was available in the entire draft pool of players combined with what the teams needs were at the time the pick was made that is getting most fans’ feathers ruffled. Do I think his talents are a little over blown? Sure do, but at no point have I, nor anyone else from what I have read, stated that we hate the guy or wish evil upon him. It’s more directed towards management, haha.

However, that doesn’t mean I am also going to do a 180 and call him our Golden Boy, overlord, the answer, the face of the franchise, or any other term, much less start singing praise for him when he hasn’t proven a thing. You can’t rightly expect someone to drop their views just because you are tired of hearing it no more than a Bucs fan can come here and expect you to stop being a Falcons fan just because he things you should, or I could expect you to stop with the Ryan love for that matter.

But, it is what it is, I’ve stated my piece, and I’m ready for Pre Season to get here so that I can hopefully catch a glimpse of the new crew in action. I have no personal agenda and I only want to see the Falcons suceed. How they get there doesn’t matter to me in the end. My views and opinions aren’t going to change anything that has happened nor will it change anything that will happen so I might as well prepare myself for the worst and hope for the best, whatever that may be.

by Jesse28 on May 19, 2008 2:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

But

Isn’t that really the problem?

It’s not Ryan we’re hating on, or directing our ire at, it’s the front office that’s being run like a boy band instead of an NFL franchise?

If you think Brohm/Dorsey is a better deal then by all means, let it rip. I agree with you. If the F.O. wouldn’t have gone with Brohm anyways, I consider that a further testament to how off-track this team is getting. It didn’t start here.

It started with Mike Smith, and Marcus Wiley’s subsequent comments on NFL Network about how he was a guy you brought in when you wanted to puppet the whole thing. I shrugged it off.

Then we went and got Mularkey as OC (Ick, was Hue Jackson busy?), and I thought that was a bad idea. And we got Van Gorder to pull a Bobby Petrino. That looked a little iffy to me too. But it was okay, TD came from Patriots blue-blood, and that could only mean one thing: Lombardis baby (screw the Benjamins, it’s all about the Lombardis baby). But alas, the twinkling of that shiny, far-off trophy distracted me from these concerns.

Until the draft. We passed on building the lines, and still haven’t addressed them. If there’s some overarching plan, we’re going to have to sit through a year of sucking and me saying “I told you so” because we’re not going to have an interior that stops the run for squat. Maybe next year I’ll be the one eating crow, but so far all I’ve seen are mostly bad decisions.

Dear Matt Ryan: Don't eff this up. Love, iRonin.

by iRonin on May 20, 2008 12:10 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Let me clarify

I don’t think we “owe” Matt Ryan our allegiance, nor do we owe this management group our trust. I just think it’s fair to say that after repeatedly slamming the outrage button over the last month, it might be better for our collective health to remember that first round quarterbacks can have success, and we might just turn in a decent performance this year. That’s all.

Football is not a contact sport. It's a collision sport. Dancing is a good example of a contact sport. ~Duffy Daugherty

by Dave the Falconer on May 20, 2008 2:13 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Fo' Shizzle

Dave is right. Let it be. It’s time to move on. Y’all need to stop sippin’ so much haterade.

"You never know what I'm going to do..."
- Michael Vick (Palm Beach Post 11/6/2005)

by jamesrael on May 20, 2008 9:34 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Now that Ryan's signed...

Albeit for an insane amount of money, there doesn’t seem to be much value in second guessing. The best time to evaluate team management is after they’ve had at least a year or two to post some results.

My apologies for my earlier post, where I casually referred to the “hate Ryan” bandwagon. I didn’t mean to set anyone off with my choice of words. Ryan’s done nothing to make anyone hate him personally. Some people dislike the pick, not the man, and that’s their right. My point was that it’s not terribly productive to dump on the pick, at this point in time.

"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"

by tom slick on May 20, 2008 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Production?

I’m all for an inflated self-ego (I don’t leave home without mine), but is “production” really our goal as fans?

I realize it’s not “productive” to criticize the pick, but are we being any more “productive” by riding his jock strap? This is a place for discussion, but unfortunately the most hot-button topic for discussion is slowly and steadily being eroded under the guise that “there’s nothing we can do about it.” No offense to Dave, whom I read religiously, but this is a blog. There’s nothing we can do about anything. If the Atlanta Falcons decide to offer Vick a 5 year contract tomorrow, there’s nothing we can do about it, and at that point it wouldn’t be terribly productive to express an opinion contrary to the actual behavior of the Falcons front office.

It’s an easy way to circumvent any rational discussion about this F.O. I mean, what’s the point of having or expressing an opinion anyways? We might as well have only descriptive, as opposed to normative discussions, where we simply say what has or has not happened, and express no insight, opinion, or thought to why it happened, what it means for the future, and whether or not the team should or should not pursue those interests.

::shrug:: Not trying to be a jerk, but I think the most common answer to ANY well-thought out, well-reasoned discussion about Ryan is simply “well he’s here, and he’s not going anywhere, so we might as well just shut up about it.”

Dear Matt Ryan: Don't eff this up. Love, iRonin.

by iRonin on May 20, 2008 11:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

After this contract

I don’t think you’re going to hear fluffy discussion for much longer.

I hoped that my thoughts on this wouldn’t be perceived as a call for y’all to stop talking smack about Matt Ryan, because that definitely wasn’t my intent. I’m slowly coming around to the possibility that Ryan might actually be something special, simply because I would like to survive the off-season. Some of us think Ryan’ll be fine and want him left alone, and others of us think he was an awful pick who hasn’t done a damn thing to deserve the money and attention he’s getting. There is plenty of room for both of those viewpoints, and I think they ought to both be aired.

I just want us to bear in mind, also, that none of this thus far is Ryan’s fault. If we can keep the discussion to his role with the team and whether or not management screwed up in getting him, I’m happy with that. I’m also pretty happy with a critique of his college performance, which I think is completely warranted.

So no matter which side of the fence you’re on, launch your volleys. This is a blog, as iRonin notes, and if we’re not talking, we’re not doing much at all.

Football is not a contact sport. It's a collision sport. Dancing is a good example of a contact sport. ~Duffy Daugherty

by Dave the Falconer on May 21, 2008 1:02 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

Yeah, I think Ryan will be a fine QB and I think he will do just fine in the ATL. That has never been my argument, but the decision is where I find fault.

Really though, at this point, I’m tired of talking about it. We all have our opinions and more than likely none of those will change, mine included.

by Jesse28 on May 21, 2008 7:10 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs