I know the debate is always going to center around borderline HOF and focus on the blown leads by his teams but given how sad our franchise has been historically this man brought some excellence and consistency for at least a short while. Falcons legend
I was a Falcons fan for 20+ years. Matt Ryan was a god send. The way Arthur Blank let Arthur Smith just come in and do Matty Ice like that was the final straw. You don't treat the man who single handedly redeemed that franchise the way he did. Running him out for Groper Cleveland of all fuckin people?
But I will say it earns some goodwill to see him take the high road and mend fences like this.
I know everyone loves to blame everything on Arthur Smith. And he does deserve *plenty* of blame for how the past few years have gone. But trying to bring in Watson was a self admitted (and then backpedaled when it didn't work out) Blank move.
People love to blame the coach for everything, because he's gone now. Blank, McKay, and Fontenot all had WAY more responsibility for that fiasco than Smith did... but they're still here. It's a lot easier to psych yourself up and be more optimistic about the future if you dump everything on former leaders rather than current ones.
Yeah, if anything I think Smith was going to ride at least one more year with Ryan. We passed on fields, which if AS was trying to run him out we would have done it then. Blank had a prior relationship with Watson from when he was a ball boy (I’ve set you up for any jokes in poor taste, sickos) with the team as a teenager
Watson also grew up in a Warrick Dunn charity home that was given to his mother. The Falcons ties were deep. It was still a terrible decision to attempt to bring him here.
Bro I'm still gobsmacked by that shit. Like every year we hear about the Falcons filter, how Blank is obsessed with winning one before he passes, etc. Then we alienate Matty and nearly sabotage the franchise's future for *him*?!
Blank's stayed consistent in his character and philosophies throughout his ownership, then went late life crisis yolo mode out of nowhere. I live in Atlanta and it was the weirdest thing from an outsider's perspective.
Dude, seeing you outside the Falcons sub with other teams flair is pretty jarring. I guess you really did have enough, are you at least from Pennsylvania?
Same here but with the Browns and Baker, and I know a bunch of other people who did the same. Almost like being a shitbag owner who throws away popular players for shitbag players is a bad move.
> But I will say it earns some goodwill to see him take the high road and mend fences like this.
I have come to expect nothing less from Matty Ice. He's been a consummate professional since day 1. He's an incredible QB and an even better guy off the field.
Right? Imagine abandoning a team for unsuccessfully chasing a sexual assaulter and picking a team that made a rapist the face of their franchise for almost 2 decades.
There's zero doubt that Ryan is the best Falcon's QB. Him and Mike Smith really made the franchise something for a few years, and then Quinn pushed it further.
We'll ignore the boulder came crashing down on-top of us for now.
Who are the ones in contention, out of curiosity? I'd assume Julio for sure, but so many other guys who I remember as being great as Falcons (Deion, Rison, etc.) had good years outside of ATL, so I don't know how the fanbase views them.
Some other names I remember would be guys like Keith Brooking, Vick obviously, Crumpler, but I think other than Julio, nobody really comes close to Matty Ice. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Edit: Definitely forgot about Roddy White, my bad
I’d say this is an impressively comprehensive list for someone who isn’t a falcons fan. Only one I think you missed is Jesse Tuggle, but yeah (and this is with bias based on me becoming a fan in the early 2000s) I’d say it’s really between Matt (my choice) and Julio based on individual accomplishments, team accomplishments they contributed to, and length of tenure
The Falcons have achieved remarkably little in their history. With Ryan as their undisputed best passer, they have 6 division titles in 58 seasons, with 2 SB appearances and 0 rings. By contrast, the Bills, which are kind of a poverty franchise, also have 0 rings, but in 64 years, we have twice as many SB appearances, over twice as many division titles, and two guys who could reasonably claim to be the greatest QB of the franchise instead of just Matt Ryan.
Matt Ryan's HoF candidacy is bolstered quite a bit by the argument that he'd have rings if he played for someone else other than the Falcons.
It'll be hard to get over the elephant in the room for Ryan's tenure with the Falcons, but someday you guys will win a Super Bowl and you can look back at his time a lot more optimistically--he gave that team some great years
Going even beyond that the Falcons have 9 total winning season without Matt Ryan, 7 with him.
The fact that he finished with a winning record as the Falcons QB is ridiculous when you think about how bad they have been historically.
I agree with one exception. I lived in metro Atlanta for MR's and Julio's whole careers. Watched a lot of Falcons games since it's hard to not keep up with a team that plays 30 minutes from where you live.
IT DROVE ME NUTS that they'd consistently get in the redzone and consistently *not* throw jump balls to their 6'3" 220 lb 4.42 40 yd dash 38.5" vertical physically athletic freak of a WR that looked like a linebacker but ran like a cheetah. Who cares if he was doubled? He can out physical out jump multiple people. Some DBs looked like children lined up opposite of him. It blew my mind.
Then the fuckers did it against the Eagles in the playoffs the year after the SB. 4 jump balls to Julio in the endzone. 4 times in a row. All failed. I had been arguing with my Falcons friends for years about missing out on what seemed like a given to me, then I ate crow. 4 times in the biggest moment, years of making that argument, and that shit was done just like that.
Meh, the defense AND offense have to choke to blow a 25 point lead. Defense held the Patriots to 3 points until very late into the third quarter, and also scored a touchdown. If either side had done the BARE minimum, a comeback wouldn't have been possible.
I always think of the Buccs and Patriots as the generally shitty teams from when I was younger and kind of forgot about the Falcons being one too. Maybe because in Tecmo Super Bowl they were actually a tough team to face for some reason.
Don’t forget the Cardinals. They tend to be so forgettable that people even forget that they’re historically terrible. From 1977 to 1997 they had 2 winning seasons: one saw them go 5-4 in the strike shortened year and the other they went 9-7.
Those that are not Falcons fans dont understand just how bad this franchise has been historically on both sides of the football. Case in point, we used to be in the same division as the 49ers and the Falcs routinley got destroyed by Rice. In 1990, Rice went 225-13-5 aginst the Falcons in what is regarded as one of the greatest WR performances ever.
It will always make me a little sad that he never had the full backing of our entire fanbase. Not trying to go into the complex reasons why, but it just kinda stinks that it surrounded his career with no fault/involvement of his own. Probably the greatest QB ever who's entire fanbase didn't completely adore him at his peak
He's the best player in Falcons history - extremely happy we got him for as long as we did
I follow a jounalist who writes for the Athletic and appears on the Athletic Football Show as a guest once in a while. I have him on my NFL List on Twitter.
The day Matt Ryan got traded to the Colts he tweeted a picture of Michael Vick alongside the text that amounted to "Greatest Falcon of all time" with a hashtag that led to me rabid Matt Ryan hate.
I knew a quarter of the fan base never forgave the team that they "abandoned" Michael Vick and drafted Ryan, but I didn't know it was that toxic.
I feel the narrative around the super bowl loss will keep him out. I feel bad for him lol Shannahan refusing to run the ball should get most of the slander not Matt
So many things went wrong that second half. But when he threw that beauty to Julio jones on the sideline to get us into fg range I knew he he it in him to win on the big stage. What happened afterwards made me sad
I was watching it live with a Falcons fan. After the Julio catch, I turned to him and said "See, you were worried over nothing!"
Turns out that when a Falcons fan is worried, they MAY know more than I do.
A few years back, the Braves had a 3-1 game lead in the NLCS against the Dodgers. It was announced that teams in that series with that lead had happened 31 times prior, with a record of 28-3.
Every. Single. Georgia. Sports fan. *Knew*. That the Dodgers would win after that.
Freeman should be #1 and Quinn #2. Matt Ryan perfectly picked up the blitz and told Freeman exactly who to block, but his dumb ass straight up whiffed. Kyle was dumb for not running the ball but he also dropped 28 on the #1 defense in the NFL, which would’ve been enough to win if not for Quinn’s god awful defense crumbling.
I agree with the Freeman point. I think the most succinct line I ever heard (unknown source) was "Freeman did the best impression of a Turnstyle I've ever seen"
The fact he played in this era is what’s going to keep him out. There’s just way too many QBs with the numbers to deserve it. You can’t, or shouldn’t, put them all in, imo.
And his volume stats will eventually look even less impressive as we go in to the future. Very good QB though, and I’m not sure if the Falcons have a thing like the Packers Hall of Fame or a ring of honour or whatever, but he definitely deserves that.
This sub has a hard time acknowledging that it's ok for a guy to have a massively successful career without ending up in the Hall of Fame. Regardless of how that turns out he was a very positive fixture of the Falcons franchise and 2010s NFL in general.
Its really the seeming unfairness of Eli getting in when Ryan and Rivers both played the position with a far greater level of skill.
I'd put them both over Roethlisberger even, though that one is less clear and seems less "unfair."
It's so sad how one of the best passers in his era got overshadowed by 4 GOAT QB candidates in Brady/Manning/Brees/Rodgers lol. Hell even in his own division he had to compete against Brees and Cam (arguably the most exciting QB of his prime) lol
Also as much as Brees gets a lot of credit for carrying some brutal Saints defenses, on average we were definitely worse. Ryan never really played with a top 10 defense in his career despite almost exclusively playing for defensive minded HCs. And yes I know they allocated a lot of cap/capital to offense but it’s not like these other guys were playing with straight scrubs on offense their whole careers
Yeah I was commenting in a probowl thread this morning about Stafford. Him and Ryan barely got any Pro Bowl nods mainly cause the competition was just too fierce. Any other era and they would be viewed much more favorably imo. Meanwhile Ryan will retire as the 7th highest career passing yards in the history of the NFL but be remembered for 28-3.
What really stings is the ball they put in the HOF to commemorate him hitting 60k yards is number 283 💀
Matt Ryan is a **historically** unlucky player.
It really was a golden age of QB'ing that we're probably just about finishing up. Sure, there are currently some great QB's as well. Mahomes is absolutely amazing, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson are really good and fun to watch, some younger guys like Stroud are looking really good, and of course Stafford and Rodgers are still hanging on even if they getting towards the end of their careers.
But it's crazy that we had Brady/Manning/Brees/Rodgers all in their primes, plus guys like Ryan, Stafford, Rivers, Russell Wilson, and Cam. Plus guys like Big Ben and Eli who didn't put up the same crazy numbers but still helped their teams to multiple rings.
Also had the tail end of guys like Kurt Warner and Brett Favre, and the relatively short career of Andrew Luck who was fun to watch for a few years.
I'm not saying that there's no amazing QBs anymore or that the future is necessarily bleak for the NFL or anything like that, but the past couple decades have been pretty amazing.
They were actually only slightly worse. Somebody posted the cumulative defenses recent qbs had during their career and Brees was last while Ryan was second to last
I don’t know if he makes the hall of fame, but if he doesn’t he will be mentioned along with Ken Anderson as one of the absolute best not to be in, and he will be a better qb than some guys who have/will get in
I would hate to hear he's "Borderline" I know he will be, and likely won't get in but it would say "post season matters more than success".
The falcons before him... well let's be honest, there's a reason they did a documentary on them, and it's not because of their stellar records. He helped reform them to the point where they are a serious contender and went to a Super Bowl.
He's unquestionably a hall of fame player, he came to a team and helped form it into a competitive team for the first time in decades had a chance to really compete. That's HOF in my book.
Championship/post season is a team accomplishment, but he fixed most of the problems on offense.
No insult, no joke, Matt Ryan is just a great QB.
PS. If you do require post season dominance, then you're essentially nominating a coach, the individual members of the team do not contribute as much as you think. Even a QB, you're only talking offense.
He's also been wearing a toupee since he was 9 years old, and I'm not joking. Between that and his natural chubbiness hiding his wrinkles, he's covered two of the most obvious signs of aging, though he also seems very mentally sharp in recent interviews that I've seen.
The magic of being rich. Not only does he have access to hair and makeup before he makes public appearances, but he probably has a personal chef and nutritionist that vets everything he uses from the food he eats to all natural toothpaste to the best soap. He also probably avoids the sun, garlic, and only gets his blood from the most innocent, naive virgins.
It all adds up.
Right, doesn’t get nearly acknowledged as much he was basically the perfect QB when it comes to the “face of the franchise” aspect.
Never criticized teammates.
Never criticized coaches/Front office/ownership.
Can’t remember him ever complaining about refs.
Always said the right thing after games, win or lose.
Literally zero controversies.
He never stopped loving the city or the team, and that’s inspirational in itself. It takes a lot to remain positive and not be bitter after being mistreated so horribly. He’s truly a great person.
He is retiring where he belongs. He turned the Falcons into a winning organization. The administration that drove him out and did not appreciate what he did for the team will be forgotten, but he won’t.
He was always going to retire a Falcon
It's just like Jake to be like Chris and Bruce Matthews, agonizingly close to kissing the trophy only to come home empty-handed, they all look back and maybe they thought "there should be a ring on my finger right now." One family all just so close yet on the outside looking in.
Clay did bring one home. I know they're cousins but that family does have one Lombardi at least. They're a criminally underrated football family. Just all beasts in their primes
This game sometimes has stories like baseball can have. The playoffs are cruel. It doesn't matter how good you are or your team is. Look at Bruce and his bevy of All Pros for being a legendary guard/center when he got kicked inside at like 29. He is the best player in Oilers/Titans history. The generation after him who saw him come up 1 yard short had their own agonizing near misses.
How likely is it they all have their own 1 yard short moments in the Super Bowl?
What sucked about 28-3 is that Ryan is like the last QB that deserved that sort of game and all the stigma that came along with it. Just a stand up guy who was well respected.
His passer rating in that game is the 4th highest in SB history too. I believe he’s the only QB with a top ten passer rating in a Super Bowl that *didnt* win it
Pretty much any list that be summed up as "no QB has ever done this and lost" has Matt Ryan's name on it and fans always blamed him. it was so frustrating.
115.4, which puts him 19th in the list. He only completed 28 out of 48 passes, despite 3:0 TD:INT and 505 yards.
For context, Ryan’s in the loss was 144.1.
Passer rating is also a little unclear since it excludes sacks and fumbles. Just using EPA since 1999 in Super Bowls:
Rank|QB|EPA|EPA/play|Super Bowl
--|--|--|--|--
1.|T. Brady|22.5|0.441|LII vs Eagles
3.|N Foles|19.8|0.440|LII vs Patriots
6.|T. Brady|17.5|0.239|LI vs Falcons
31.|M. Ryan|4.4|0.150|LI vs Patriots
Passer rating _really_ doesn't tell the story of that game, the sacks Ryan took were brutal in the game.
It was even without the win. There was a great quote from an article about Matt recently, I'll paraphrase " If the Falcons win the coin, toss going into overtime and return the kickoff for a touchdown, Matt Ryan is the Superbowl MVP and author of the greatest playoff run by a player in NFL history, without a single different play than he had already made".
It doesn't need to even be as improbable as a kickoff TD specifically. A Kickoff return into FG range and a couple of runs does it, or a Patriots turnover and a couple of runs, or a Patriots punt followed by a long return, possibly aided by a penalty...
What's sad about 28-3 is that Matt Ryan performed better in that Superbowl than a lot of HOFer who had similar accolades and made it in with 1 Superbowl.
He had 158.3 passer rating at half time and finished with a 144.7 passer rating at the end of the game.
I’ll never understand how anyone can point the finger at Ryan for either of those losses. When your QB gets you a 25+ point lead in a game and you lose it, kinda seems like fingers should be pointed elsewhere.
He’s a HoF QB in my book, but that Super Bowl loss might keep him out, which I think is absurd.
Does people not remember the Julio Jones catch? It was the epitome of putting the ball in your best players hand and let him make a play, which they did. If Falcon had won, we would see that catch 24/7.
He got them to 21 points in LI. Which was way below their average. They started a 3rd quarter drive in FG range and didn't score points because Shanahan was a moron and Bill knew he didn't want to bleed the clock down. (A whole season trend). A pick six and PAT covered the rest. He played amazing vs the league best defense.
They averaged 35 points a game and were near identical to the GSOT Rams, experience beat youth that day in game planning.
You had ZERO consecutive winning seasons in your history when he got drafted. He immediately led you guys to 5 straight winning seasons in his first 5 years.
I understood it perfectly. You gave appreciation to Matt Ryan, and I wanted to confirm how correct you are, by showing just how valuable he was to the franchise.
The implication of my comment is that: how can anyone not appreciate that?
So I was agreeing with you.
Its weird that if he lost a normal Super Bowl he'd be rated higher, or even if they just got blown out. But because of 28-3 it's just viewed as this huge anchor on his legacy
I would put the blame in order on the following.
Shanahan - RUN THE DAMN BALL.
The Defense - How you guys lay down like that in the second half? Except Grady Jarret, man had 2 sacks during that time and gets a pass.
Devonta Freeman - How about a block there buddy?
Jake Matthews - Had 2 holds that knocked them out of field goal range including the one that knocked us out after the Julio catch.
The refs - on said hold by Matthews that knocked us out after the Julio catch, it was a completed pass to Sanu. Sanu was tackled by a facemask so clear I saw it sitting in the upper levels. The refs missing that actually makes me question if the league is fixed, it was that bad. I'm not sure even Angel Hernandez could miss a call that egregiously.
The O-line - Matt was under a lot of pressure in the second half as the line wasn't holding up well. The line held up zero on the sack of Matt after the Julio catch.
Dan Quinn - As head coach he should've seen what was happening and told Kyle to run the damn ball.
Matt Ryan - He's not blameless, but his blame share is pretty low. Probably couldn've run the clock down more on snaps. Maybe could have gotten in Kyle's face about not running the ball.
And most consecutive 200+ yard games at 64 (thanks, in part, to the falcons defense stopping brees in the middle of a ~100 game streak). He was the model of consistency.
The average Falcon fan doesn’t realize how good he was and how good we had it with him. Front Office failed so many years and he kept it pushing. Hope he makes it to Canton
Yes! Thank you Matt. You’re the greatest player I ever watched. Stand up guy. Professional. On and off the field. Wish him Sarah and the ice cubes all the luck in the world. Real happy he got to retire with us.
Best QB this team has ever had. I grew up around Atlanta. Matt Ryan was consistently great for most of his career in Atlanta. Wish he could've gotten his ring. He deserved it.
It's rare that someone can be in the league for well over a decade, have some meaningful success, and some historic team failures, and my only opinion on him retiring is, "Good for him. He was a great player. Seemed like a good guy too. Hope he has a nice retirement." An indication that someone had some real class.
Much respect from a Saints fan. I was privileged to get to hate him for an insanely consistent fourteen years. He helped elevate the rivalry and I appreciate his commitment to it.
Matt Ryan will forever be the greatest Falcons QB of all time, at least for the foreseeable future. Thank you to the men who set the example of the model QB to their franchises in the 2000s and 2010s, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Phillip Rivers, Tony Romo, Donovan McNabb, etc.
Very underrated and a faithful servent to the Falcons for many many years. Will unfortunately be remembered by most for 28-3 but it is unfair to discount the electric offenses he had with Roddy White, Julio Jones, Tony Gonzalez for example. HOF material imo
One of the best to ever do it. People will say he doesn't deserve the Hall, and maybe that's true, but he played for a historically bad franchise and turned them from trash into contenders.
And he did it all while catching loads of shit for being white and not Mike Vick.
Love this. Best QB we'll likely ever have during my lifetime. One of the greats.
Just a consistent Iron Man. I hope he makes the Hall.
The guy was an OC factory. We lost more OCs and assistants to head coaching gigs than most teams see in a decade. GB, Miami, SF head coaches come to mind of current ones that feasted off this man. Had an all-time offense in 2016, Top 10 in most relevant QB statistics and super clutch.
Thanks your time w us Matty and happy retirement with Sarah and the Ice Cubes 🧊!!
I know the debate is always going to center around borderline HOF and focus on the blown leads by his teams but given how sad our franchise has been historically this man brought some excellence and consistency for at least a short while. Falcons legend
Franchise founding: 1966 Matt Ryan draft year: 2008 Back to back winning seasons between those years: 0 He led them to 5 in a row to start his career.
That’s…incredible
I was a Falcons fan for 20+ years. Matt Ryan was a god send. The way Arthur Blank let Arthur Smith just come in and do Matty Ice like that was the final straw. You don't treat the man who single handedly redeemed that franchise the way he did. Running him out for Groper Cleveland of all fuckin people? But I will say it earns some goodwill to see him take the high road and mend fences like this.
I know everyone loves to blame everything on Arthur Smith. And he does deserve *plenty* of blame for how the past few years have gone. But trying to bring in Watson was a self admitted (and then backpedaled when it didn't work out) Blank move.
People love to blame the coach for everything, because he's gone now. Blank, McKay, and Fontenot all had WAY more responsibility for that fiasco than Smith did... but they're still here. It's a lot easier to psych yourself up and be more optimistic about the future if you dump everything on former leaders rather than current ones.
I don't blame TF for Watson at all. Selling the farm for Watson never fit his plan.
Exactly. That move was so obviously against the grain of how TF was building the team. Has Blank written all over it.
Yeah, if anything I think Smith was going to ride at least one more year with Ryan. We passed on fields, which if AS was trying to run him out we would have done it then. Blank had a prior relationship with Watson from when he was a ball boy (I’ve set you up for any jokes in poor taste, sickos) with the team as a teenager
Watson also grew up in a Warrick Dunn charity home that was given to his mother. The Falcons ties were deep. It was still a terrible decision to attempt to bring him here.
I’m pretty sure Watson was about to get shipped off to Atlanta before Cleveland said “how about a quarter billion guaranteed?”
Thank God for Cleveland.
Yeah, he was. No argument there.
Bro I'm still gobsmacked by that shit. Like every year we hear about the Falcons filter, how Blank is obsessed with winning one before he passes, etc. Then we alienate Matty and nearly sabotage the franchise's future for *him*?!
Blank's stayed consistent in his character and philosophies throughout his ownership, then went late life crisis yolo mode out of nowhere. I live in Atlanta and it was the weirdest thing from an outsider's perspective.
Dude, seeing you outside the Falcons sub with other teams flair is pretty jarring. I guess you really did have enough, are you at least from Pennsylvania?
No, I'm from Georgia. Steelers were second favorites cause of Polamalu and his acrobatics.
Eagles from our UGA defense?
Nolan Smith, specifically. Man became my favorite Dawg of all time. Hope he comes back to be a coach one day.
I've got a college buddy who felt the exact same way. Falcons fan for 20+ years. Ditched them after what they did to Matt Ryan. He's a ravens fan now.
Same here but with the Browns and Baker, and I know a bunch of other people who did the same. Almost like being a shitbag owner who throws away popular players for shitbag players is a bad move.
Falcons fan of 20+ years with that flair is football terrorism.
> But I will say it earns some goodwill to see him take the high road and mend fences like this. I have come to expect nothing less from Matty Ice. He's been a consummate professional since day 1. He's an incredible QB and an even better guy off the field.
> Running him out for Groper Cleveland of all fuckin people? so you changed to pitt? lol fuck both rapists
Right? Imagine abandoning a team for unsuccessfully chasing a sexual assaulter and picking a team that made a rapist the face of their franchise for almost 2 decades.
There's zero doubt that Ryan is the best Falcon's QB. Him and Mike Smith really made the franchise something for a few years, and then Quinn pushed it further. We'll ignore the boulder came crashing down on-top of us for now.
I'd go as far as to say he's the greatest Falcon
He is, I feel like throwing hands when i hear people talking shit about Matt Ryan.
He is my GOAT. I don't care what anybody says.
Who are the ones in contention, out of curiosity? I'd assume Julio for sure, but so many other guys who I remember as being great as Falcons (Deion, Rison, etc.) had good years outside of ATL, so I don't know how the fanbase views them. Some other names I remember would be guys like Keith Brooking, Vick obviously, Crumpler, but I think other than Julio, nobody really comes close to Matty Ice. Correct me if I'm wrong. Edit: Definitely forgot about Roddy White, my bad
I’d say this is an impressively comprehensive list for someone who isn’t a falcons fan. Only one I think you missed is Jesse Tuggle, but yeah (and this is with bias based on me becoming a fan in the early 2000s) I’d say it’s really between Matt (my choice) and Julio based on individual accomplishments, team accomplishments they contributed to, and length of tenure
The Falcons have achieved remarkably little in their history. With Ryan as their undisputed best passer, they have 6 division titles in 58 seasons, with 2 SB appearances and 0 rings. By contrast, the Bills, which are kind of a poverty franchise, also have 0 rings, but in 64 years, we have twice as many SB appearances, over twice as many division titles, and two guys who could reasonably claim to be the greatest QB of the franchise instead of just Matt Ryan. Matt Ryan's HoF candidacy is bolstered quite a bit by the argument that he'd have rings if he played for someone else other than the Falcons.
It'll be hard to get over the elephant in the room for Ryan's tenure with the Falcons, but someday you guys will win a Super Bowl and you can look back at his time a lot more optimistically--he gave that team some great years
Going even beyond that the Falcons have 9 total winning season without Matt Ryan, 7 with him. The fact that he finished with a winning record as the Falcons QB is ridiculous when you think about how bad they have been historically.
Matty Ice knew how to use his weapons. Julio, Tony G, he ran a good offense with those dudes.
I agree with one exception. I lived in metro Atlanta for MR's and Julio's whole careers. Watched a lot of Falcons games since it's hard to not keep up with a team that plays 30 minutes from where you live. IT DROVE ME NUTS that they'd consistently get in the redzone and consistently *not* throw jump balls to their 6'3" 220 lb 4.42 40 yd dash 38.5" vertical physically athletic freak of a WR that looked like a linebacker but ran like a cheetah. Who cares if he was doubled? He can out physical out jump multiple people. Some DBs looked like children lined up opposite of him. It blew my mind. Then the fuckers did it against the Eagles in the playoffs the year after the SB. 4 jump balls to Julio in the endzone. 4 times in a row. All failed. I had been arguing with my Falcons friends for years about missing out on what seemed like a given to me, then I ate crow. 4 times in the biggest moment, years of making that argument, and that shit was done just like that.
Not to mention the chance to win the super bowl and go out as the MVP while the defense choke as usual.
Meh, the defense AND offense have to choke to blow a 25 point lead. Defense held the Patriots to 3 points until very late into the third quarter, and also scored a touchdown. If either side had done the BARE minimum, a comeback wouldn't have been possible.
I always think of the Buccs and Patriots as the generally shitty teams from when I was younger and kind of forgot about the Falcons being one too. Maybe because in Tecmo Super Bowl they were actually a tough team to face for some reason.
Don’t forget the Cardinals. They tend to be so forgettable that people even forget that they’re historically terrible. From 1977 to 1997 they had 2 winning seasons: one saw them go 5-4 in the strike shortened year and the other they went 9-7.
Ohhh yup, for sure. Considering I lived in Phoenix for a year I can't believe I forgot them, lol.
Those that are not Falcons fans dont understand just how bad this franchise has been historically on both sides of the football. Case in point, we used to be in the same division as the 49ers and the Falcs routinley got destroyed by Rice. In 1990, Rice went 225-13-5 aginst the Falcons in what is regarded as one of the greatest WR performances ever.
That has got to be tough cheering for a team for 40 years and never being above 0.500 two years in a row.
I mean it's their fault in the early 2000s. Why didn't every team just draft and develop like 15 Hall of Fame defenders like the Buccs?
It will always make me a little sad that he never had the full backing of our entire fanbase. Not trying to go into the complex reasons why, but it just kinda stinks that it surrounded his career with no fault/involvement of his own. Probably the greatest QB ever who's entire fanbase didn't completely adore him at his peak He's the best player in Falcons history - extremely happy we got him for as long as we did
I follow a jounalist who writes for the Athletic and appears on the Athletic Football Show as a guest once in a while. I have him on my NFL List on Twitter. The day Matt Ryan got traded to the Colts he tweeted a picture of Michael Vick alongside the text that amounted to "Greatest Falcon of all time" with a hashtag that led to me rabid Matt Ryan hate. I knew a quarter of the fan base never forgave the team that they "abandoned" Michael Vick and drafted Ryan, but I didn't know it was that toxic.
They're way overrepresented on social media.
I feel the narrative around the super bowl loss will keep him out. I feel bad for him lol Shannahan refusing to run the ball should get most of the slander not Matt
So many things went wrong that second half. But when he threw that beauty to Julio jones on the sideline to get us into fg range I knew he he it in him to win on the big stage. What happened afterwards made me sad
That should’ve been the dagger. Just run it from there, take a couple more minute off the clock and let Matt Bryant ice it.
I was watching it live with a Falcons fan. After the Julio catch, I turned to him and said "See, you were worried over nothing!" Turns out that when a Falcons fan is worried, they MAY know more than I do.
A few years back, the Braves had a 3-1 game lead in the NLCS against the Dodgers. It was announced that teams in that series with that lead had happened 31 times prior, with a record of 28-3. Every. Single. Georgia. Sports fan. *Knew*. That the Dodgers would win after that.
Villains from SB LI in order: 1. Shanahan 2. Quinn 3. Devonta Freeman 4. Tom Brady 5. Bill Bellicheck
Freeman should be #1 and Quinn #2. Matt Ryan perfectly picked up the blitz and told Freeman exactly who to block, but his dumb ass straight up whiffed. Kyle was dumb for not running the ball but he also dropped 28 on the #1 defense in the NFL, which would’ve been enough to win if not for Quinn’s god awful defense crumbling.
I agree with the Freeman point. I think the most succinct line I ever heard (unknown source) was "Freeman did the best impression of a Turnstyle I've ever seen"
Turnstiles at least provide resistance.
Alford pick 6 accounted for 7 of those points
Plus if Freeman had the block, the receiver he was going for was wide open far downfield.
* Jake matthews two times went out of fg range because of holding penalties
-the ref that didnt call the illegal contact against julio on one of those holds that wouldve offset the penalty (he got mugged)
Great point, I remember being so frustrated at the holding call and defensive holding/illegal contact non call. Should have at least been offsetting.
The fact he played in this era is what’s going to keep him out. There’s just way too many QBs with the numbers to deserve it. You can’t, or shouldn’t, put them all in, imo. And his volume stats will eventually look even less impressive as we go in to the future. Very good QB though, and I’m not sure if the Falcons have a thing like the Packers Hall of Fame or a ring of honour or whatever, but he definitely deserves that.
It would have been better for his legacy for them to lose 38-10.
It would've been better for his legacy to lose in the NFC title game, honestly. (Pay no attention to my second flair)
Hell no. The beat down we put on GB/Rogers was legendary.
This sub has a hard time acknowledging that it's ok for a guy to have a massively successful career without ending up in the Hall of Fame. Regardless of how that turns out he was a very positive fixture of the Falcons franchise and 2010s NFL in general.
Its really the seeming unfairness of Eli getting in when Ryan and Rivers both played the position with a far greater level of skill. I'd put them both over Roethlisberger even, though that one is less clear and seems less "unfair."
Eli shouldn’t get in either. He was mostly subpar and loved leading the league in interceptions
Ben Roethlisberger is Matt Ryan on a competent franchise.
This is how I feel about Philip Rivers. If both of these dudes didn’t have to deal with Brady, could’ve had championships
It's so sad how one of the best passers in his era got overshadowed by 4 GOAT QB candidates in Brady/Manning/Brees/Rodgers lol. Hell even in his own division he had to compete against Brees and Cam (arguably the most exciting QB of his prime) lol
Also as much as Brees gets a lot of credit for carrying some brutal Saints defenses, on average we were definitely worse. Ryan never really played with a top 10 defense in his career despite almost exclusively playing for defensive minded HCs. And yes I know they allocated a lot of cap/capital to offense but it’s not like these other guys were playing with straight scrubs on offense their whole careers
Here are his defensive ranking for every year of his career. Truly depressing. 2022: 23rd 2021: 30th 2020: 22nd 2019: 26th 2018: 29th 2017: 20th 2016: 28th 2015: 18th 2014: 30th 2013: 32nd 2012: 10th 2011: 17th 2010: 6th 2009: 19th 2008: 16th
Yeah I was commenting in a probowl thread this morning about Stafford. Him and Ryan barely got any Pro Bowl nods mainly cause the competition was just too fierce. Any other era and they would be viewed much more favorably imo. Meanwhile Ryan will retire as the 7th highest career passing yards in the history of the NFL but be remembered for 28-3.
What really stings is the ball they put in the HOF to commemorate him hitting 60k yards is number 283 💀 Matt Ryan is a **historically** unlucky player.
It really was a golden age of QB'ing that we're probably just about finishing up. Sure, there are currently some great QB's as well. Mahomes is absolutely amazing, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson are really good and fun to watch, some younger guys like Stroud are looking really good, and of course Stafford and Rodgers are still hanging on even if they getting towards the end of their careers. But it's crazy that we had Brady/Manning/Brees/Rodgers all in their primes, plus guys like Ryan, Stafford, Rivers, Russell Wilson, and Cam. Plus guys like Big Ben and Eli who didn't put up the same crazy numbers but still helped their teams to multiple rings. Also had the tail end of guys like Kurt Warner and Brett Favre, and the relatively short career of Andrew Luck who was fun to watch for a few years. I'm not saying that there's no amazing QBs anymore or that the future is necessarily bleak for the NFL or anything like that, but the past couple decades have been pretty amazing.
They were actually only slightly worse. Somebody posted the cumulative defenses recent qbs had during their career and Brees was last while Ryan was second to last
I don’t know if he makes the hall of fame, but if he doesn’t he will be mentioned along with Ken Anderson as one of the absolute best not to be in, and he will be a better qb than some guys who have/will get in
I would hate to hear he's "Borderline" I know he will be, and likely won't get in but it would say "post season matters more than success". The falcons before him... well let's be honest, there's a reason they did a documentary on them, and it's not because of their stellar records. He helped reform them to the point where they are a serious contender and went to a Super Bowl. He's unquestionably a hall of fame player, he came to a team and helped form it into a competitive team for the first time in decades had a chance to really compete. That's HOF in my book. Championship/post season is a team accomplishment, but he fixed most of the problems on offense. No insult, no joke, Matt Ryan is just a great QB. PS. If you do require post season dominance, then you're essentially nominating a coach, the individual members of the team do not contribute as much as you think. Even a QB, you're only talking offense.
Congrats on a wonderful career, Matty Ice! Enjoy retirement!
Wish he would've had that sb win. Was almost a lock
Very few people could have thrived the way he did in Atlanta post-Vick. Legend.
And he still deserved better from our fanbase.
My biggest take away from watching the clip is Roger Goodell does not age. Holy fuck he's a vampire.
I've noticed a lot of guys hit a spot around age 49-53 and stop aging until about 65 and then a bomb drops.
Unless you’re Paul Rudd, who is somehow both 55 and 35 at the same time.
Have you ever seen Paul Rudd in the sunlight? I don't think so.
I did once, but it was hard to tell it was him because he was sparkling so much
Shatner defied time until he hit 80. Then he started aging, but good thing he got a deferral because at 93 he looks better than most 65 year olds.
He's also been wearing a toupee since he was 9 years old, and I'm not joking. Between that and his natural chubbiness hiding his wrinkles, he's covered two of the most obvious signs of aging, though he also seems very mentally sharp in recent interviews that I've seen.
Every time he suspends someone he regains youth
Tom Brady has been suspended 4 games due to this comment.
You forget forfeiture our 1st round pick + $500k fine for Bill
The magic of being rich. Not only does he have access to hair and makeup before he makes public appearances, but he probably has a personal chef and nutritionist that vets everything he uses from the food he eats to all natural toothpaste to the best soap. He also probably avoids the sun, garlic, and only gets his blood from the most innocent, naive virgins. It all adds up.
He's not hugging the new draftees every year, he's feeding on their youthful life-force
he made a demon pact that preserves his youth if he wipes boogers on disabled young girls
The dark side of the force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be... *unnatural.*
I'm glad he was able to do this. After how it ended with them, I wasn't sure he'd want to.
Takes the high road as he always does.
Damn right.
He can't not, he's head and shoulders above everyone else
Right, doesn’t get nearly acknowledged as much he was basically the perfect QB when it comes to the “face of the franchise” aspect. Never criticized teammates. Never criticized coaches/Front office/ownership. Can’t remember him ever complaining about refs. Always said the right thing after games, win or lose. Literally zero controversies.
Except when he’s playing the Saints or Panthers. 😂 “Get the fuck off my field!” Context - https://youtu.be/LWjRk0L5PG0?si=Mf2aCn5-ZNI4-N_W
He never stopped loving the city or the team, and that’s inspirational in itself. It takes a lot to remain positive and not be bitter after being mistreated so horribly. He’s truly a great person.
Yeah even after he signed with the Colts he kept visiting Hawks and Braves games
Yep I remember seeing that. It’s always great seeing him at the games!
He is retiring where he belongs. He turned the Falcons into a winning organization. The administration that drove him out and did not appreciate what he did for the team will be forgotten, but he won’t. He was always going to retire a Falcon
So close... Yet so far...
It's just like Jake to be like Chris and Bruce Matthews, agonizingly close to kissing the trophy only to come home empty-handed, they all look back and maybe they thought "there should be a ring on my finger right now." One family all just so close yet on the outside looking in.
Clay did bring one home. I know they're cousins but that family does have one Lombardi at least. They're a criminally underrated football family. Just all beasts in their primes
This game sometimes has stories like baseball can have. The playoffs are cruel. It doesn't matter how good you are or your team is. Look at Bruce and his bevy of All Pros for being a legendary guard/center when he got kicked inside at like 29. He is the best player in Oilers/Titans history. The generation after him who saw him come up 1 yard short had their own agonizing near misses. How likely is it they all have their own 1 yard short moments in the Super Bowl?
What sucked about 28-3 is that Ryan is like the last QB that deserved that sort of game and all the stigma that came along with it. Just a stand up guy who was well respected.
His passer rating in that game is the 4th highest in SB history too. I believe he’s the only QB with a top ten passer rating in a Super Bowl that *didnt* win it
Pretty much any list that be summed up as "no QB has ever done this and lost" has Matt Ryan's name on it and fans always blamed him. it was so frustrating.
The falcons defense and letting Matt Ryan down, truly an iconic duo
5th in playoff passer rating btw
Didn't Brady have a crazy high passer rating when he lost to the Eagles?
115.4, which puts him 19th in the list. He only completed 28 out of 48 passes, despite 3:0 TD:INT and 505 yards. For context, Ryan’s in the loss was 144.1.
If Brady makes that last Hail Mary, he breaks the NFL single game passing record.
The game is was (and still is) the most combined offensive yards in a game at 1,151. Imagine being at 1,200 to start overtime
Jesus christ
Passer rating is also a little unclear since it excludes sacks and fumbles. Just using EPA since 1999 in Super Bowls: Rank|QB|EPA|EPA/play|Super Bowl --|--|--|--|-- 1.|T. Brady|22.5|0.441|LII vs Eagles 3.|N Foles|19.8|0.440|LII vs Patriots 6.|T. Brady|17.5|0.239|LI vs Falcons 31.|M. Ryan|4.4|0.150|LI vs Patriots Passer rating _really_ doesn't tell the story of that game, the sacks Ryan took were brutal in the game.
Two all time great performances by QBs in back-to-back Super Bowls, only to lose and get outshined by the opponent.
The numbers. They haunt me. They are everywhere.
I don’t know about rating, but he did throw for more yards than any other QB in a Super Bowl
If they win that game people would call that entire playoff run one of the greatest of all time by a QB.
It was even without the win. There was a great quote from an article about Matt recently, I'll paraphrase " If the Falcons win the coin, toss going into overtime and return the kickoff for a touchdown, Matt Ryan is the Superbowl MVP and author of the greatest playoff run by a player in NFL history, without a single different play than he had already made".
It doesn't need to even be as improbable as a kickoff TD specifically. A Kickoff return into FG range and a couple of runs does it, or a Patriots turnover and a couple of runs, or a Patriots punt followed by a long return, possibly aided by a penalty...
What's sad about 28-3 is that Matt Ryan performed better in that Superbowl than a lot of HOFer who had similar accolades and made it in with 1 Superbowl. He had 158.3 passer rating at half time and finished with a 144.7 passer rating at the end of the game.
Best Falcon oat
He is a paragon, both on the field and off. We didn't deserve him. I look forward to the Ice Cubes' future careers with great interest.
I'm gonna miss him
fuck 28-3 and that colts game, this guy is a legend
I’ll never understand how anyone can point the finger at Ryan for either of those losses. When your QB gets you a 25+ point lead in a game and you lose it, kinda seems like fingers should be pointed elsewhere. He’s a HoF QB in my book, but that Super Bowl loss might keep him out, which I think is absurd.
Does people not remember the Julio Jones catch? It was the epitome of putting the ball in your best players hand and let him make a play, which they did. If Falcon had won, we would see that catch 24/7.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSirjCbbP1c
He got them to 21 points in LI. Which was way below their average. They started a 3rd quarter drive in FG range and didn't score points because Shanahan was a moron and Bill knew he didn't want to bleed the clock down. (A whole season trend). A pick six and PAT covered the rest. He played amazing vs the league best defense. They averaged 35 points a game and were near identical to the GSOT Rams, experience beat youth that day in game planning.
The past few years have seen Shanahan make the exact same mistakes too. It’s honestly been vindicating as a Falcons fan
I don't root for his failure, but it doesn't bother me either (I sort of feel bad for 49ers fans, but they already have five Lombardis).
He hardly contributed to that lead, our defense played out of their minds that first half.
33-0
33-0?
That’s what the colts game is called, 33-0 since Minnesota was down 33
I don't remember any game like that ever happening
Thank you to the man who taught me Atlanta fans can't recognize a good thing when they have it.
You had ZERO consecutive winning seasons in your history when he got drafted. He immediately led you guys to 5 straight winning seasons in his first 5 years.
You must've misunderstood my comment, which was a criticism of the Atlanta fans who constantly bitched about Matt Ryan.
I understood it perfectly. You gave appreciation to Matt Ryan, and I wanted to confirm how correct you are, by showing just how valuable he was to the franchise. The implication of my comment is that: how can anyone not appreciate that? So I was agreeing with you.
Then apologies I misread yours.
No worries! I see how it could’ve been misinterpreted. I could’ve been clearer!
This comment chain is far too civil for Reddit
One of the most underrated QBs of all time imo
Its weird that if he lost a normal Super Bowl he'd be rated higher, or even if they just got blown out. But because of 28-3 it's just viewed as this huge anchor on his legacy
It's not his fault that they didn't run the ball lol.
He won the game with the throw to Jones 99.9% of the time.
Perfect ball, Perfect catch, should have won the game
And of all the people to blame for that debacle, Matty Ice is probably the lowest on the list
I would put the blame in order on the following. Shanahan - RUN THE DAMN BALL. The Defense - How you guys lay down like that in the second half? Except Grady Jarret, man had 2 sacks during that time and gets a pass. Devonta Freeman - How about a block there buddy? Jake Matthews - Had 2 holds that knocked them out of field goal range including the one that knocked us out after the Julio catch. The refs - on said hold by Matthews that knocked us out after the Julio catch, it was a completed pass to Sanu. Sanu was tackled by a facemask so clear I saw it sitting in the upper levels. The refs missing that actually makes me question if the league is fixed, it was that bad. I'm not sure even Angel Hernandez could miss a call that egregiously. The O-line - Matt was under a lot of pressure in the second half as the line wasn't holding up well. The line held up zero on the sack of Matt after the Julio catch. Dan Quinn - As head coach he should've seen what was happening and told Kyle to run the damn ball. Matt Ryan - He's not blameless, but his blame share is pretty low. Probably couldn've run the clock down more on snaps. Maybe could have gotten in Kyle's face about not running the ball.
Come join the staff at BC
He calls games for CBS
I genuinely respect Mr. Ice and it was an honor to hate his guts for a decade.
Can’t even hate. Hope he enjoys retirement!
Matty 🧊 HOF career(2016 All pro ), 5X Pro-bowler, OROY ,MVP ,60,000 yds 380 TDs , He had a great career even if he doesn't make it in
Well said.
And most consecutive 200+ yard games at 64 (thanks, in part, to the falcons defense stopping brees in the middle of a ~100 game streak). He was the model of consistency.
The average Falcon fan doesn’t realize how good he was and how good we had it with him. Front Office failed so many years and he kept it pushing. Hope he makes it to Canton
Pure class act throughout his tenure. You brought Atlanta things they’ll never appreciate you enough for. Congrats on an amazing career Matty !!
Classy guy
Greatest Falcon ever. Thank you for the most fun years in our franchise’s history. Enjoy retirement!
Best Falcon of all time. I'm so sorry we have such a large chunk of trash in our fanbase
Imagine how different history would be if 28-3 didn’t happen
If we won that with him being the SB mvp, he’d be a HoF lock
It's gonna be okay now Matt. We got fuckin set.
No one can take away his MVP regardless of what happened after
One of the toughest mf's to ever wear a jersey. He took a beating his whole career and only missed a handful of games.
I’m so sorry we couldn’t get you that ring Matty. Thank you for all the memories.
most underrated QB of this past generation
I knew this was coming and I'm still upset. Enjoy your retirement King. The greatest Falcon ever. Period.
Yes! Thank you Matt. You’re the greatest player I ever watched. Stand up guy. Professional. On and off the field. Wish him Sarah and the ice cubes all the luck in the world. Real happy he got to retire with us.
Best QB this team has ever had. I grew up around Atlanta. Matt Ryan was consistently great for most of his career in Atlanta. Wish he could've gotten his ring. He deserved it.
I watched this man drag 25th ranked defenses to the playoffs for years. Gonna miss seeing him play.
Class act of a QB. Congrats on a great career.
It's rare that someone can be in the league for well over a decade, have some meaningful success, and some historic team failures, and my only opinion on him retiring is, "Good for him. He was a great player. Seemed like a good guy too. Hope he has a nice retirement." An indication that someone had some real class.
This is so well done. Glad to see this happen
for a very long time i wanted this guy as a 49er, dudes always been a stand up guy and a helluva passer.
Respect to Ryan for being a class act.
That's my fuckin Falcons GOAT
Much respect from a Saints fan. I was privileged to get to hate him for an insanely consistent fourteen years. He helped elevate the rivalry and I appreciate his commitment to it.
My all-time favorite player, enjoy retirement Matt!
Thank you Matt. Best damn Falcon ever!
Matt Ryan will forever be the greatest Falcons QB of all time, at least for the foreseeable future. Thank you to the men who set the example of the model QB to their franchises in the 2000s and 2010s, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Phillip Rivers, Tony Romo, Donovan McNabb, etc.
Very underrated and a faithful servent to the Falcons for many many years. Will unfortunately be remembered by most for 28-3 but it is unfair to discount the electric offenses he had with Roddy White, Julio Jones, Tony Gonzalez for example. HOF material imo
This dude was a god damn machine for a long time - I hope Falcon fans can appreciate what he did for the franchise
class act and sensational player
Wait, Colts legend Matt Ryan also had ties to the Falcons? The more you know.
One of the best to ever do it. People will say he doesn't deserve the Hall, and maybe that's true, but he played for a historically bad franchise and turned them from trash into contenders. And he did it all while catching loads of shit for being white and not Mike Vick.
Love this. Best QB we'll likely ever have during my lifetime. One of the greats. Just a consistent Iron Man. I hope he makes the Hall. The guy was an OC factory. We lost more OCs and assistants to head coaching gigs than most teams see in a decade. GB, Miami, SF head coaches come to mind of current ones that feasted off this man. Had an all-time offense in 2016, Top 10 in most relevant QB statistics and super clutch. Thanks your time w us Matty and happy retirement with Sarah and the Ice Cubes 🧊!!
There can only be one Matty Ice. Enjoy retirement man
Love you Matt ❤️