Falcon of the Month For October: Matt Ryan

One of the hurdles I face in this gig is writing sunny articles when sponsorship requires it or I feel like it, knowing damn well that many of you don't want to hear anything positive when things are looking pretty bleak. Matt Ryan makes that a little easier, because most of us never get tired of singing his praises.

Ryan's my choice for Falcons MVP in October for an obvious reason: He's done so much with so little. His performance against the Cardinals was rough, but look at what he had to deal with: An elite defense, zero ground game, missing his top two receivers, facing pressure from a leaky offensive line and needing to throw the ball 60+ times. Considering that, the four interceptions look more defensible, even if two of them were clearly Ryan's fault.

In the other two games in October, Ryan threw five touchdowns, zero interceptions and completed an insane 78% of his passes. They lost to the Jets and beat the Bucs in those two games, but let's be realistic: They both would have been losses, potentially ugly ones, if Ryan wasn't under center. He's making buffalo wings out of chicken poop here, and even if it's not translating to wins, I defy you to find me a better player on this team right now.

So Ryan's the choice, and probably will be in November and December, too. We're lucky to have him, even in a terrible year.

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