Matt Ryan Is In Somebody's Top Five
by Dave the Falconer on Jul 23, 2008 11:57 AM EDT
in Falcons News
14 comments
USA Today's Reid Cherner and Tom Weir (shown on the site doing the classic "let's pose our writers with some sports *@#$!") have ranked the five most intriguing NFL QB situations, and Matt Ryan and the Falcons have made their list.
Looking at the list, I have to hope it's not actually ranked in order of interest. Matt Ryan and Brady Quinn may actually battle to start this year, but I'm relatively sure nobody's overtaking Vince Young, Jay Cutler and even JaMarcus Russell. It's also either a coincidence or a statement on the NFC that everyone else on the list plays for an AFC team.
But it does raise the very relevant question of when Matt Ryan is going to get a chance to start. My gut says it won't be until at least week 10 (when the Falcons will either be in the thick of it or long out of it), but what do you guys think?
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Protect the investment
Hope the Falcons don’t rush him, and pick their spots wisely.
A couple of decent opportunities to start Ryan may be game 8 against Oakland (only 27 sacks last year) and game 11 vs. Carolina (16 sacks).
Some of you may remember that Bartkowski was rushed along behind an inferior OL. His development was slowed by that, and his knees were a mess by the time his skills peaked. Have the Falcons learned their lesson? Time will tell.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
by tom slick on Jul 23, 2008 12:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I can only think of....
....an instance of two were starting a high drafted rookie from day one that didn’t turn out disastrous. Peyton Manning & Dan Marino. I am with tom on this one. We shouldn’t throw him to the wolves.
PS: Big Ben doesn’t count as he wasn’t the day one started and was thrown into the situation by virtue of Tommy Maddox blowing donkeys that year.
In a way, each of us has an El Guapo to face.
by runningback on Jul 23, 2008 4:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I can think of some more people runningback
Eli Manning, and Vince Young. Vince was the rookie of the year, and Eli Mannig won the Superbowl. Also if you just baby a person , then you get a Alex Smith or Matt Lienart. This kid Matt Ryan is very mentally tough and I know he can handle it with flying colors. Plus I went to the mini camps, he is way better than both Redman and Harrington. You can’t bench that kind of talent.
It gets me how nothing gets me or gets to me, and If you shootin fo the stars then just shoot me. - Lil Wayne
by KillaBMF on Jul 23, 2008 5:16 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Touche
VY was rookie of the year but I think it’s still too early to tell as far as what kind of success he will ultimately have. Being rookie of the year didn’t help his team enough to make the playoffs. Call me crazy, but I don’t think he made any strides last year and I may be cynical, but I am just not that impressed with him.
Talent is obviously important, but you can’t rely on talent alone. I REALLY hate to bring this up, but a good example of amazing talent is our former starting QB. Sure he was exciting to watch, but would he have ever brought a SB trophy to ATL? Before the shit went down had Vick’s ability to be a pro QB reached it’s ceiling?
Ryan Leaf had TONS of talent and look how far it got him.
In a way, each of us has an El Guapo to face.
by runningback on Jul 23, 2008 6:01 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I wouldn't count Young.
Young had a 66.7 QB rating, as a QB that isn’t successful. Here is a list of QB’s it hasn’t worked with:
Alex Smith
Joey Harrington
Byron Leftwich
Michael Vick
J.P. Losman
David Carr
Tim Couch
Akili Smith
You could possibly add Eli to the list but after the playoff showing I wouldn’t.
I think at soonest Ryan should start after the bye week but IMO next season would be best. I don’t care what everyone out there says, “Are you going to pay him that much to sit on the bench?” I’d rather pay him money to sit on the bench learning than sit on the bench as a bust for that much money.
by Kevin71 on Jul 23, 2008 6:46 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
You got it all wrong.
First off, Alex Smith, J.P. Lossman, and Akili Smith didn’t even start the first week. That is actually the case that the QB was being babied, and he didnt pan out. We definitly are not gonna win any games with Redman, so they should atleast get Ryan’s feet wet. He has said himself that he wants to start. Plus, who knows, he might even be good. All i’m saying is they should put the Best quarterback in for week 1; if its Redman or Matty Ice.
It gets me how nothing gets me or gets to me, and If you shootin fo the stars then just shoot me. - Lil Wayne
by KillaBMF on Jul 24, 2008 11:50 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Brett Favre ain't coming here ...
... but league rules require us to play someone under center. And what happened to Bartkowski, Harrington and the Mannings in the past has very little if anything to do with Matt Ryan. No, it’s not ideal to throw a rookie QB into the fire (just as it’s not a good idea to build a team around a QB) but KillaBMF makes the key point when he says of Ryan, ”... he might even be good.”
He is going to play no matter what makes sense, or what the fans or sportswriters think. He might struggle, he might be a bust. But he’s the best we’ve got and I’d be surprised if he sits for more than 4 games. School’s out baby, it’s time to go to work!
by Falco Chicquera on Jul 24, 2008 3:14 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Contradict much?
“he might be a bust. But he’s the best we’ve got “
If he’s a bust, then he clearly is not the best we’ve got as Redman proved more than capable to lead the team at the QB position. But, that’s completely off topic, as are all of the comments with the exception of Tom Slick. The question is not if Ryan should start Week 1, but rather in which week do we believe he should take over as the starting QB.
Dave has him starting in Week 10 and Tom has him starting in Week 8 at the earliest. As for me, I’m going with a special double answer. I say he should start in Week 4 if at that point Redman has completely played himself out of the position. If not, then I say let the Redman roll and start Ryan in either Week 6 or Week 8 at the latest. I asically see those three games as being favorable match-ups and possibly lessening the damage that can be done to our OL. I also picked those weeks because it allowed enough time to properly evaluate both Redmans progress in real gametime as well as Ryans progress in absorbing the massive NFL playbook during practices. Then, of course, there has also been plenty of time available to evaluate our offensive line to make a determination if it’s something we really want to subject our new shiny 72 million dollar toy to.
Basically, my short answer is to start Ryan once the team has had sufficient time to do a proper evaluation of our game team, which is obviously going to be much different than our practice and training camp team.
By the way, I’ve been noticing a lot of posts (not just here, but everywhere on the web) on how players look great during training camps and offseason workouts, and I’d just like to say that it should probably stop. Of course they look great. There is no competition, no other team trying everything physically possible to stop you from looking great, no pressure, and no contact. If they didn’t look great, then you might have something to talk about. No one is going to have a good idea as to how this team is going to perform until they hit the field in a real game in Week 1.
by Jesse28 on Jul 24, 2008 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Ryan should start under 3 conditions...
...and only under these conditions:
1. We are more than 6 games into the season
2. Our record is no better than .400
3. Our O-line is playing MUCH better than expected!!!
Falcon Fans UNITE!
by Blue Falcon on Jul 25, 2008 2:34 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Agree
I think people sometimes forget that any QB behind a crappy O-line is very vulnerable to career-altering injury. Don’t play him until the line has the ability to protect him! Maybe Grady Jackson will help (but that’s another thread).
With all the money we’re paying Ryan, we MUST give him the environment he needs to succeed. One of the reasons Vick didn’t develop into a better passer was the poor pass blocking he got. Lucky for him that he had his feet to bail him out when his blocking broke down. A lesser runner would have ended up as a pile of pulverized red goo on the field.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
by tom slick on Jul 25, 2008 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Wolves
I’ll say one reason the Vick didn’t develop into a good passer is because he always had a run first mentality and also couldn’t hit the side of a barn if he was standing in front of it. Yes o-line played a part, but he was never truly worried about being a good passer. i mean why would you be when you could chase down the road runner?
I do believe we need to give Ryan the environmet he needs to succeed; however, if Coach Smith feels like that environment is throwing him to the Wolves the so be it. There are example of great QB’s coming out of that situation (and i’ll admit we also have an example on our bench of it not working out… aka Joey Jo Jo), so why not give the guy a chance? If the o-line shows it can hold i say see what the wolves can do. If it can’t then Joey knows what its liked to get sacked (124 times) so get him out there. Last year was a wash, but he played well i believe with what he had. Redman showed us what? One good game against the Seahawks 2nd team? Come on. I say let him go back to selling insurance.
Just some thoughts, what do y’all think?
If my mother put on a helmet and shoulder pads and a uniform that wasn't the same as the one I was wearing, I'd run over her if she was in my way. And I love my mother.
-Bo Jackson
by Pregame with Pabst on Jul 25, 2008 3:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
the above post was supposed to be a response to slick’s
my bad
If my mother put on a helmet and shoulder pads and a uniform that wasn't the same as the one I was wearing, I'd run over her if she was in my way. And I love my mother.
-Bo Jackson
by Pregame with Pabst on Jul 25, 2008 4:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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