Atlanta Falcons: Is Matt Ryan good enough to win it all?

Quarterback Matt Ryan just turned 31 years old and is coming off three rough seasons. I he good enough to lead the Atlanta Falcons to a Super Bowl title?

The life of an NFL quarterback isn’t for everybody. When things are going right for their team, the praise is constant and over the top. When stuff is falling apart, the quarterback quickly becomes enemy number one.

Such is the case for Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, who was nicknamed “Matty Ice” for how cool he was under pressure for the team that suffered through a lot of adversity before his arrival.

After seeing Michael Vick head to prison and their coach Bobby Petrino quit on them, Ryan came in and was able to lead the team to an 11-5 record as a rookie. He followed that performance up with another four winning seasons in a row for the Birds, but then things went south.

The Falcons haven’t had a winning season now since 2012 and much of the blame is being hurled at the former savior of the franchise. But is Ryan to blame for the shortcomings as of late?

It’s hard to give an answer to such a question that will please die hard fans, but in reality no, the blame never falls squarely on one man’s shoulders. The NFL is the ultimate team sport and the Falcons have proven that over the past three seasons.

They have been incredibly thin along both the offensive and defensive lines, which has led to a less-than-stellar run game and almost no pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

Sure, Ryan has struggled at times, but that can be attributed to the team losing the battle at the line. Overall, his numbers have not decreased much and he still shows the same accuracy on his passes.

So the next question becomes if Matt Ryan is good enough to win a Super Bowl, and the answer to that is absolutely. Maybe Ryan will never be placed in the same category as Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, but he could be compared to Eli Manning or Joe Flacco.

The difference is those players had enough pieces around them to win when it mattered most. The Falcons are headed in the right direction with receiver Julio Jones and running back Devonta Freeman emerging as stars in this league.

Defensively, things are looking better now as well with the additions of safety Keanu Neal and defensive linemen Vic Beasley and Ra’Shede Hageman in recent drafts. They also made some great moves this offseason to bring in center Alex Mack and receiver Mohamed Sanu.

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Look for the Falcons to finally snap their cold streak and get a minimum of nine wins in 2016. Then maybe Matty Ice can start to get some of that positive press again.

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