Huge play yesterday to set up the game winning FG. This kid looks like a 10 year vet out there and is playing at a probowl level already. There was alot of Ryan-hate out there before the draft but he seems to be silencing the critics and the Falcons have big one of the biggest surprises of the season.
I think most of the hate is now being directed at attention whores who make "I told you so" threads. Well its that or the run offense. Or Passing D.
didn't mean to make it an i-told-you-so thread, just trying to talk about how he is surprising alot of people and winning on a team that many picked to finish last this year. I'll edit accordingly
It wasn't really about hate. It was more about moving up to #3 to get him and coughing up extra picks in the process. Now we have Brett Favre as our QB. Add Brett Ratliff into the mix who's ready to go to the next level by the kind of plays he's made in the pre-season and Matt Ryan sort of becomes an afterthought.
I remember this board not wanting him. I was a fan of Ryan and I'm really happy that he's got "it" and looks strong so quickly, and good for ATL to have a new role model at QB, making them quickly forget the Vick era... just wish that when Mikey T inquired about the trade up to #3 to get him, it actually went through.
I heard about Tanny calling about Chris Long and Ryan only, I never heard any trade up rumors about DMC... I'd rather have those two than DMC anyway, he's got toe injury now.
At #3 we wouldn't have gotten Long. Now, if that whole DMC smoke-screen was the plan going into the Draft just so that we could take Ryan, it fooled me. But on an interview with Ryan on NFLN, Ryan said the team that he hardly talked to or didn't stay in touch with going into the Draft, was the Jets. So, who knows what we would've done there.
I admit i didn't really like him as a prospect but he's been playing well. Sam Baker and Curtis Lofton are also playing well, and Turner is second in the league in rushing, they had pretty damn good offseason. I still wouldn't take Ryan if we could go back and do it again.
Looks like the rookie of the year for the NFC, That pass yesterday was amazing with no timeouts to throw it to the sideline great job by Ryan
I like "I told you so" threads because payback is nice. The Ryan supporters took some abuse here in the spring. Maybe that's too strong a word. I'll say that we were annoyed and aggravated having to repeatedly note why Ryan would be good and having to explain why we were not idiots and morons.
I'll definitely eat crow here. Leading up to the draft, I was a major proponent of not getting Ryan. I think I kept saying that he was the top rated QB by default because it looked like a weak class. Well, after seeing him play at this level, so far he looks like the real deal. And I gotta give credit to the Falcons for putting a nice supporting cast around him: their OL is pretty good, Turner is good, Roddy White has emerged. If they continue to get weapons, there's no reason he shouldn't grow into one of the better QB's in the NFL.
On defense, Michael Boley is very good. I found him to be one of the top strongside linebackers in the league in '07, but with the team a horror show, he didn't get much pub. Curtis Lofton, a rookie linebacker, has looked okay so far. Jerious Norwood is one of the best backup RBs in the league. Mike Smith has coached well through 6 games. I noticed that once again Harry Douglas ran a reverse yesterday. They weren't successful with it this time. I think they've called a reverse for Douglas five times already this year.
Speaking for myself, I hadn't watched any of Ryan's games because BC hasn't been a force in years. Without watching the games and knowing he was not a phenomenal athlete and knowing he had high interception numbers, I figured I wanted McFadden instead, who I had watched on tv.
Yea, I'm on edge for not sleeping much lately. Ryan is truely the supprise of the draft so far. We all knew MacFadden would be good, but a rookie QB playing thihs well so early is almost unheard of. I hope the kid keeps it up.
remember that? it was like telling the world that the president is a big purple alien and he's going to morph into his true form and kill everyone on draft day. No one believes you and they put you in the crazy house and you scream your ass off that the end of the world is coming.... then it happens and every one dies except you because the alien comes to you and says-- "hey you called it" its kinda like that.
Nice to see him look so good. I thought he was overrated, but I also didn't pay much attention to him because I didn't see him as an option for the Jets anyway. My crow doesn't taste too bad after adding some hot sauce though. He looks *really* good. Roddy White is a sick WR too.
