By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff
It's time for people to realize that Matt Ryan is not a superstar quarterback. He never has been.
With the Falcons' 28-19 loss at the hands of the Panthers, Atlanta dropped to 5-4 after going 11-5 and making the playoffs a year ago. Matt Ryan was credited with turning the program around, even though he ranked 16th in the league in touchdowns behind Chad Pennington, Tyler Thigpen and Kyle Orton, 13th in yards behind big names like David Garrard and 17th in completion percentage while the passing offense was a mediocre 14th in the league. But I suppose when Joey Harrington, Chris Redman and Byron Leftwich were your quarterbacks the year before, Matt Ryan would look like a savior.
This season, Ryan has taken a step back from mediocrity. Ryan is completing less than 60 percent of his passes (59.8 percent, good for 20th in the league), for 2,008 yards (good for 17th), Ryan is tied for 10th in touchdown passes, but has already thrown more interceptions in nine games this year than he did in 16 games last season. Ryan has thrown at least one interception in his last six games, has thrown multiple interceptions in four of those games. In those multi-INT games, he's thrown as many or more INT's than TD's.
Ryan has not done anything to deserve superstar status in the NFL and really did little to deserve as much credit as he did in college. In his college career, Ryan had 56 touchdowns, but 37 interceptions. In his senior season, he did throw 31 touchdowns, good for 10th in the nation and tops all-time for a BC quarterback (but come on, Doug Flutie was No. 1 before him. Not saying a lot), but he tossed 17 interceptions, which was the second most by a college quarterback that year. His passer rating was 61st in the nation. The fact that he never should have been considered for the Heisman never became more clear than when he choked in back-to-back weeks against Florida State and Maryland, then was further confirmed in the ACC championship against a team he had already beaten, throwing two picks, one that killed a potential scoring drive and the other a pick-six, and no touchdowns.
Now he's taken his mediocre show to the professional ranks.
It's time for the media to get off Matt Ryan's junk until he actually does something to deserve it.
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I agree Maza. I didn't think he'd be a great pro at all, but last year he was really good for a rookie and I was beginning to eat my words. But this season he's taken a major step back. He is currently overrated, no doubt.
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