Atlanta Falcons QB Matt Ryan is NFL Spin Zone’s Player of the Week
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan hasn’t enjoyed his best season with 19 touchdowns and 15 interceptions, but he came up huge in the team’s Week 16 upset win over the Carolina Panthers, completing 23 of 30 passes.
Although Julio Jones deserves a shoutout for catching nine passes for 178 yards and a touchdown on 11 targets, including a ridiculous 70-yard grab for a TD over linebacker Luke Kuechly, Matt Ryan is my pick for “Player of the Week”. The Atlanta Falcons QB-WR duo received a quality performance out of veteran Roddy White, who took advantage of the fact that he finally got to face a veteran corner with as little speed as him, and it’s a reminder that Ryan could have more games like this if both he and Jones can get some more consistent help from a No. 2 receiver in 2016.
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Jones has been a beast all season long for the Falcons with just under 115 receiving yards per game, so Ryan’s ability to step up to the challenge helped put Carolina over-the-top. 178 receiving yards is certainly impressive, but Ryan’s numbers on Sunday were even more worthy of praise.
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Facing a Carolina defense that is fourth in yards per game allowed, first in interceptions forced (21:22 TD:INT ratio), and second in net yards per pass attempt, Ryan flourished. The numbers he put up are numbers most quarterbacks have against a defense like the Washington Redskins or Jacksonville Jaguars. Not only did he complete 76.7% of his passes without a single interception, but he also averaged a whopping 10.2 yards per attempt. Ryan received plenty of help on the stat sheet from Jones on the 70-yard touchdown, but he would have averaged 8.1 yards per attempt even if that pass were incomplete.
The 306 passing yards, 119.6 QB Rating, and all of the other numbers sure are excellent, but Pro Football Focus has one stat that trumps them all.
I’ll let Khaled Elsayed take it from here:
"Ryan was nearly immaculate against Carolina, completing 23 of 29 aimed passes, with four drops — meaning he was guilty of just two off-target passes. That’s incredible accuracy."
Against arguably the second-best pass defense in the NFL, Ryan took what the defense gave him and dissected them, using Jones to his full advantage, dominating on play-action passes behind Devonta Freeman‘s 22 carries (overcoming the fact that Freeman averaged just 3.3 yards per carry), and tossing passes to the likes of White and tight end Jacob Tamme.
It was easily Ryan’s best performance in an otherwise uneven 2015 campaign, and he looked more commanding than ever, relentlessly attacking an elite defense that remains ninth in the NFL in scoring defense. Even when the Panthers put pressure on Ryan (Kawann Short had two sacks, by the way), he still found ways to move the ball.
Dec 13, 2015; Charlotte, NC, USA; Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan (2) looks to pass during the second quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
Interceptions have been a problem for the Falcons franchise quarterback this season, so it’s almost remarkable that he managed to go without throwing a pick against a Carolina defense that has four players with at least three interceptions this season.
Better yet, Josh Norman was the only player to defend a single one of Ryan’s passes, even though the Panthers have seven players with at least five PDs on the season.
Ryan will face the horrendous New Orleans Saints secondary next week, giving him the opportunity to carry over the momentum from his 300-yard day against Carolina to a Saints defense that was shredded by Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns in a Week 16 win.
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Now that Ryan has broken up his streak of five straight games with an interception thrown, the accurate Boston College product has to be back in the good graces of the fan base again. He’s clearly not the problem, and adding a better weapon in the passing game this offseason should be enough to help Ryan have more of these types of big games in 2016.