The Side Line
Was I skeptical at first? Damn right I was. I’m sure most other Falcons fans were too. After years and years of up-and-down play without any back-to-back winning seasons, capped off by the Michael Vick debacle, it seemed to me like the franchise couldn’t catch a break. I just figured drafting a rookie quarterback and throwing him into the fire was the worst possible solution.
Ryan has proven me, and a lot of others, very wrong. I know, it’s only six games into the season, and his career, but this is no beginner’s luck scenario. He has shown us his arm, his accuracy, his pocket presence, but Falcons fans can already see something else that is more valuable than any of those. He has “it”.
I’m talking, of course, about that quality that certain quarterbacks have, guys with last names like Favre, Brady, or Manning. “It” is what makes fans stay in their seats when the team is down two touchdowns with two minutes left, because they know that their leader can work magic when the game is on the line.
You want proof? Well, just look at Ryan’s latest game. With the Falcons facing a tough Chicago Bears team, he simply torched their secondary for 301 yards, a new career high, completing 22 of 30 passes, none of which more important than the final one.
After the Bears scored an improbable touchdown to take a 20-19 lead with 11 seconds left, and their ensuing short kickoff, Ryan led his offense onto the field. Most young quarterbacks would look for a Hail-Mary play, trying to beat the odds on a deep heave. Ryan instead calmly took the snap and delivered a picture-perfect 25-yard pass to Michael Jenkins on the sideline, where he could stop the clock with one second remaining., enabling Jason Elam to kick the game-winning field goal. That is not something that rookies do, it just isn’t.
No one, and I mean no one, would have put money on the Falcons being 4-2 after six games this season. A new coaching staff, new running back, and a rookie quarterback seemed to spell disaster for the Dirty Birds.
But what no one bet on was Matt Ryan’s talent or his will to win. Man, am I glad we have him. For a long, long time.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Oct 17 2008. Filed under Sports.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
