Analyzing Matt Ryan’s interceptions against the Chargers in Week 14

The Falcons went into Week 14’s matchup with the Chargers desperately seeking a win. Los Angeles provided the last favorable opponent on Atlanta’s schedule, with matchups against the likely playoff-bound Buccaneers (8-5) and defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs (12-1) looming over the final 3 games. Needless to say, if Raheem Morris was hoping to end the season with a few wins, the Chargers were the easiest remaining target.

While the Falcons certainly weren’t bad against the Chargers, they made several key mistakes that ended up dooming them in a very close game. Los Angeles also had their fair share of blunders—the failed FG attempt at the end of the first half comes to mind—but Atlanta managed to outdo them with a series of very unfortunate Matt Ryan interceptions, including 2 big ones in the 4th quarter.

These plays had a huge impact on the eventual outcome of the game, so it made sense to take a deep dive into them to see exactly what went wrong and who was to blame. So I went to the film and created The Falcoholic Live’s first Film Review, taking a closer look at Ryan’s 3 interception outing in Week 14.

You can watch the full breakdown in the embedded video above. The short version is that Ryan was largely to blame for these particular mistakes. This was arguably his worst game of the season, and he made some uncharacteristic errors against Los Angeles. Sunday’s game actually reminded me quite a bit of Ryan’s infamous 5 INT outing against the Cardinals—where Atlanta actually ended up winning in the end.

Should this game give us concern about Ryan moving forward? No, I don’t think so. These are relatively simple mistakes to fix, and Ryan isn’t really being helped much by Koetter’s scheme either. However, fair or not, a new coaching staff is likely to judge Ryan pretty harshly on his performance over the back half of the 2020 season. A new offensive HC will be seriously considering whether or not to draft a young QB in the top 5 to top 10 of the 2021 NFL Draft, and Ryan’s play over these final games could have a lot of influence on that decision.

This is my first crack at a film review, so please leave your (preferably constructive) comments below and let me know what other types of breakdowns you’d like to see. If you haven’t already, be sure to Like the video and Subscribe to our YouTube channel!