Atlanta Falcons: 3 Players that must shine vs. Texans in Week 5
3. Matt Ryan
The first player that is going to have to shine for the Atlanta Falcons to right the ship is veteran quarterback and former MVP Matt Ryan. As a player that we’ve been accustomed to seeing be fairly consistent throughout the course of his NFL career so far, Ryan has had somewhat of an up-and-down 2019 campaign through four weeks of action.
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In the first three weeks of the regular season, Ryan had his usual performances of throwing for multiple touchdowns while throwing for over 300 yards through the air. But his inability to avoid turning the ball over has hurt the Falcons offense up to this point, allowing the opposition to take advantage of those turnovers to turn the game in the wrong direction for Atlanta in a blink of an eye.
In last week’s loss to Tennessee at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ryan managed to throw for a sizable amount, recording 397 yards through the air within this potent Falcons offensive unit.
While converting on 35 of his 53 pass attempts, Ryan was held without a touchdown pass for the first time all year after managing to record two or more touchdown passes in the previous three games to start the year.
On the season, Ryan has thrown for a total of 1,325 yards behind center for Atlanta while converting on 124 of his 176 pass attempts to bring him to a completion percentage of 70.5 percent. With eight passing touchdowns, Ryan has thrown for six interceptions in four games which hasn’t been a common thread up to this point in his NFL career.
In order for the Falcons to continue to try and get back on track and to attempt to get a win on the road in Week 5 on Sunday afternoon in Houston, Ryan is going to have to continue to let the ball fly and go to work within a potent Atlanta offense that can run up the score at any point in a game.