Jan 20, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan (2) throws in the pocket against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game at the Georgia Dome. The 49ers won 28-24. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

It’s a question that has been on my mind lately…

At one time (pre-teens to be exact) I was superficial jerk when it came to judging quarterbacks. My opinion at the time was if a QB didn’t have a Super Bowl ring, they weren’t good enough for me to acknowledge their existence. The reason why, is because I acknowledged every position on the field ALONG with the signal-caller. My father and other football fans I grew up around taught me that football was a team game, and that the quarterback was a part of the team. So I never put the QB above the team unless they were supremely talented. To me, Quarterbacks in the 90′s were not as fun to watch as some of the other positions, so they had to be really good for me to care about them.

Rather than pay attention to statistically mediocre QB’s, I only paid attention to the “Elite’ few. Back then, there were only a handful of QB’s I was familiar with…Brett Farve, Dan Marino, Steve Young, Troy Aikman, and Joe Montana. Even though Joe Montana was in the twilight of his career by the time I turned into a full-time football junkie, he was one of the first quarterbacks that I knew about due to his championships. Joe has four Super Bowl rings, and you can’t argue against the QB that has won that many titles. He’s the standard to which I’ve judged all elite signal-callers.

Unarguably the best team during the 90′s were Jimmy Johnson’s Dallas Cowboys. They were the face of the NFL during that particular decade and at the time, it was OK to call them ‘America’s Team’(How times have changed). They were stacked with talent; 4 future HOF’ers and a few perennial pro-bowlers to be exact.  Troy Aikman was the signal-caller for the talented team. He helped lead the Cowboys to 3 Super Bowl championships, solidifying his Hall Of Fame status before the end of the decade. Was he the star of the team? In my mind, no. Aikman was a solid QB, but I believe a lot of his success was attributed to the team around him. He had Emmitt Smith, an accomplished offensive line, and a distinguished defense to take pressure off of him, and he didn’t have to put up phenomenal stats game after game (He never threw over 25 td’s in a season). All he had to do was play mistake free and when he did, everything else took care of itself.

Let me reiterate by saying there’s nothing wrong with being the product of great coaching and a talented team, the problem is when fans/analysts fail to acknowledge the fact that most times it takes a great, balanced team to win a championship. If all it took was an ‘elite’ QB to win a championship, Dan Marino would have a handful of rings. But, even without the Super Bowl ring that evaded him his entire career, it could be argued that Marino is the greatest QB of all-time. He held almost every QB record when he retired in 2000. The lack of a championship should not hurt his legacy and what he’s accomplished in the NFL.

Lately, my perspective on how to evaluate an elite QB has changed a little. It started when I witnessed Joe Flacco win his first Super Bowl along with Super Bowl MVP. At the beginning of the 2012-13 season, people questioned whether Flacco was an elite signal caller. While he was up-and-down during the regular season, Joe answered his critics in the playoffs by playing flawless football. Flacco underwent a Montana-metamorphosis, then threw for 11 touchdowns with no ints on his way to his first Super Bowl victory. But even prior to this season, Flacco has had a reputation of slacking thru the regular season then heating up in the playoffs. He’s been in each of his first 5 seasons and has accumulated 9 post-season victories, tied with Tom Brady for most in a QB’s first five years starting.

Now lets speak on Joe Flacco’s 2008 draft counterpart Matt Ryan. Ryan has been to the playoffs in 4 of his first 5 seasons, but his first 3 playoff attempts were anything but successful; All ‘One-and-done’s’ until this past season. Prior to this season, Matt Ryan played with the ‘couldn’t win in the playoffs’ stigma. A stigma that frustrated fans and analysts who sided with the opinion that Ryan was a young superstar in the making. With a phenomenal rookie season, the bar was set high for the young Falcon-prodigy. While his regular-season work is among the best of any NFL QB their first five years in the league, his playoff success has left a lot to be desired. But, rather than speak on his 1-4 playoff record, lets speak on the infernal domain of a franchise that Matt Ryan was drafted into.

Matt Ryan was drafted 3rd overall by a Falcons team fresh off the Vick/Petrino debacle, and many thought it would take at least 3-4 years for Atlanta to recover. They were statistically and record-wise one of the worst teams in the NFL in 2007.

29th- Points allowed

29th- Points scored

30th- First downs made

26th- Rush yards gained and rush yards allowed

If there’s a statistical ‘Hell on Earth’, the 2007 Falcons were definitely submerged in it. Matt Ryan, Mike Smith, and Thomas Dimitroff turned this team into a perennial-winner in one off-season…Not to say that Joe Flacco didn’t step into an abysmal situation himself.

Baltimore went thru a line of QB’s before they found a winner in Flacco. The Ravens were lowly-ranked in just about every passing category for years. They were perennial top-15 in defense and running the football, but had trouble putting points on the board due to inept QB play. It’s amazing how much of a difference a good QB can make to a team.

Flacco took Baltimore from 5-11 team to 11-5 and from then on, the organization had his back. But, you could argue Joe inherited a pretty solid team. All the Ravens needed was a half-way decent QB to make them one of the formidable teams of the NFL and Joe is a lot more than what they asked for. When Joe was drafted in 2008, the Ravens had 4 established veterans and/or possibly future HOF’s on that defense…Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Haloti Ngata, and Terrell Suggs made for one of the strongest defensive cores in the NFL during their time together. They also had a pretty good run game with Willis McGahee, Le’Ron McClain (and later Ray Rice).

The Atlanta Falcons had to approach the Matt Ryan’s situation differently; They had to continue to build around him. When Matt Ryan arrived, all Atlanta had was Roddy White, Michael Turner, and John Abraham. They had to continue to add playmakers on offense and defense in order to surround Ryan with a team that could take pressure off him. Thomas Dimitroff  added Sean Weatherspoon, William Moore, Julio Jones, Tony Gonzalez, and even newly signed Steven Jackson, doing everything in his power to make this team a Super Bowl contender. Because, in the end, it takes a team to win a Super Bowl, not just an ‘elite’ QB.

Before I began typing this article, I did some research on past Super Bowl winners. Drew Brees in 2009 and Peyton Manning in 2006 were the only two times I felt a QB truly carried their team to a championship in my entire life of watching football. The other teams the last eleven years? Baltimore, New England, Pittsburgh, and New York Giants all had talented defenses to put pressure on QB’s, which took pressure off their own. I think Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson are proof that you don’t have to be the greatest QB in the world to win a SB, just the beneficiary of being on the right team (with the right defense) at the right time.

Which brings me back to my question…What should an ‘Elite” QB be defined by?

Playoff wins? Is Mark Sanchez better than Matt Ryan? No.

Super Bowls? Is Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson better than Dan Marino? No.

Regular Season stats? Is Tony Romo better than Joe Flacco? Yes, unless it’s the 4th quarter or a meaningful game…

It should be a combination of all three…With (a lil’) less emphasis on the Super Bowl and more on playoff appearances, wins, and consistency. An ‘Elite’ QB should also be defined by his relentless work ethic and character on AND off the field. He’s a QB with the ability to create his own luck in clutch situations. He makes the right decisions, puts the team first, and makes them better whenever he’s on the field with them. With him calling the shots, the team is playoff bound year-in and year-out.

Who still argues Matt Ryan is not an Elite QB?

Nov 29, 2012; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan (2) smiles after the game against the New Orleans Saints at the Georgia Dome. The Falcons defeated the Saints 23-13. Mandatory Credit: Josh D. Weiss-USA TODAY Sports

With talks of extending Matt Ryan’s contract looming around the minds of fans, many questions pop up.  Of course we wonder how much it will be, but we also worry if it will be of the size of Joe Flacco’s, and will it make or break the team?  Joe Flacco signed a $120 million contract for 6 years.  That averages to $20 million a year and sounds like a ridiculous amount of money.  As an apparent cause, they lost so many of their key players this offseason.  Kruger signed with the Cleveland Browns,   Ellerbe signed with the Miami Dolphins; Ed Reed opted out to join the Houston Texans along with Flacco’s favorite target Anquan Boldin going to the NFC champions San Francisco 49ers.

However, all those losses weren’t to save room for Flacco’s massive contract this year, because his salary-cap number this season is only $6.8 million.  The Ravens could have resigned many of those players.  So comparing the Matt Ryan and the Falcons and what happened with Joe Flacco and the Ravens isn’t really a great comparison.  The Ravens are full of experienced, middle aged talents that would rather sign for a bigger deal for several years into where Flacco’s contract would start getting expensive. The Falcons have a nice mix of cheaper, young talents and experienced veterans who may only play for a couple of years while trying to get the Falcons over that playoff hump.

But what kind of contract will Matt Ryan get?  Ryan and Flacco share the same agent so you can expect a hefty price.  How hefty is the question.  To figure that out, we need to look at the rest of the quarterback market because that’s what determines the price.  You already know Flacco’s contract, he just won a Super Bowl.  And we are learning that the Packers are willing to make Aaron Rodgers the highest paid quarterback, but he also won a Super Bowl.  As we all know, Matt Ryan didn’t.  And as we all painfully know, he only has one playoff win under his belt.  Who could we turn to in order to see a similar situation?  Oh wait, that’s right:  Tony Romo just signed a 6-year, $108 million contract. That’s what sets the bar for Matt Ryan.

I don’t think anyone will argue that Matt Ryan is better than Tony Rommo.  Even with great numbers, Romo chokes.  He throws horrible game-losing interceptions.  We’ve seen that happen to Ryan every once in a while, but it happens to everyone.  However, while Matt Ryan is consistently saving the game, Tony Romo can’t do that.  Blame it on the coaches or O-line, or whatever, Romo is no Matty Ice.  I would imagine a contract like his is worthy of a great leader like Ryan, but Jerry Jones decided Romo is worth it.  This twists the arm of the Flowery Branch front office.  Because Arthur Blank is a nice guy and willing to pay a guy what he’s worth, maybe a little extra, he’ll set the bar at bigger than Romo’s.  Then Ryan’s shark agent will start pushing for a lot more money.  Of course, he doesn’t want to compare it to Joe Flacco’s contract; he’ll get Rodger’s contract done first and work based off of that.  So when asking for money, it’ll be more like “Hey, I’m not asking for Aaron Rodgers kind of money, but something reasonable.  Like, I don’t know, say…Joe Flacco!”

We all would love Matt Ryan to take a home town discount for something that will be cap friendly for years to come, but that won’t happen.  Expect it to look very similar, but a little cheaper than Flacco’s deal.  It’ll probably be around a 6-year deal worth $112-$118 million. Don’t expect it to affect the Falcons like it affected the Ravens.  But pray it happens this year, because if Ryan does end up winning us a Lombardi Trophy in 2013, you can expect it to cost the falcons the most money for a quarterback ever.

Aug 9, 2012; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones (11) catches a touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens during the first quarter of a preseason game at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Josh D. Weiss-US PRESSWIRE

I think it would be safe to say that Julio Jones was the story of the preseason game. About that, I have no doubt. 6 catches for 109 yards and  TD in just over a quarter of play is very impressive.

The other impressive thing was how sharp Matt Ryan & Co. looked offensively (with the exception of the interception which I will address). The first series started with two Michael Turner runs, but quickly followed with a 13-yard slant to Roddy White, a 26-yard post route to Julio Jones, a WR screen to Jones for 19 yards, and another fade route for 6 yards. Man, this offense was hitting on the first drive. It consummated in a beautiful goal-line fade to Jones for a touchdown. If you know anything about me, you’d know I am in love with the goal-line fade, and this was a well thrown ball and an even better catch. My goodness, it was just so well executed. That is my dream for this Falcons team, for them to abuse defensive backs who don’t turn to play the ball by using jump balls to Jones and White. I really, really loved that fade play.

One thing I have to comment on was that the touchdown pass as well as a couple of the other passes weren’t thrown at the Ravens #1 corner Ladarius Webb; they were thrown at the #2 corner Cary Williams. He obviously isn’t as good as Webb is, but he is still going to be a starter for the Ravens in 2012. The Falcons picked mercilessly on him.

There was one play that stood out to me that the Falcons did pick on Webb was a 36-yard pass down the field to Julio Jones. It was a go where Webb tried to jam Jones, but instead got called for pass interference. The pass was perfect nonetheless, right past Webb, and right in front of the safety. Neither of them could make the play, or even get a big hit on Jones, the connection went that well. Very exciting play. Ryan had to loft it to put it in that perfect spot so he didn’t really get to showcase his arm strength. However, he did get to showcase his newfound connection and confidence in Jones.

The defense, not to be outdone, looked really good when the first team was on the field. The first three defensive series, the Falcons forced 3 three-and-outs. The tackling from the corner positions was very good (Asante Samuel did a good job on Torrey Smith), and there was a good amount of contribution. There were a couple other players who really looked good yesterday. First was Stephen Nicholas. There were lots of plays where he took up blocks, but there was one where he really penetrated into the backfield and made the tackle on Ray Rice. It really was a fantastic play. On the very next play he batted down a pass from Flacco that was intended for a receiver. I watched at he came clear across the field, got in the passing lane, and made a disruption. It was another great play.

Sean Weatherspoon didn’t play long, but he made his presence felt. On 3rd down in the first defensive series, Weatherspoon came in and smashed Flacco right as he was releasing the ball. It didn’t result in a sack, but it was a very hard yet clean quarterback hit, something the Falcons rarely did and we need to see more of. Weatherspoon looked good.

The final contributor of great note is Peria Jerry. There has been a lot of talk about how much the Falcons need him to start producing at some level. He certainly did that last night by getting in the backfield, putting pressure back there, and even got what looked to me like a couple quarterback hits. He looked really sharp.

Others of note: Kroy Biermann tripped into a sack; Akeem Dent had a big hit for a sack.

The one thing that I paid special attention to was the offensive line situation. The line that started the game was Baker, Blalock, McClure, Garrett Reynolds, and Clabo. I’m not too terribly surprised. I was surprised that Reynolds didn’t fold like a chair when asked to block someone. He actually performed fairly well. Granted Terrell Suggs was out, and I didn’t even see rookie Courtney Upshaw on the field, but they still had all of their big nasty three up front (including Haloti Ngata) which is most of what an o-line needs to block against a 3-4 scheme. They performed admirably and Ryan was rarely hit. Like I said, a major pass-rusher was missing for the Ravens, but they sill protected him well.

In the third offensive series, Joe Hawley took over from McClure, and he performed well. He was the center when they ran the ball into the end-zone with Jacquizz Rodgers. It wasn’t the most forceful push up front, but it certainly moved the defensive line enough to get diminutive Rodgers into the endzone for a touchdown. I think Hawley did well.

I’m sure everyone is curious to see what Peter Konz did; I didn’t see him until the late in the second quarter and he lined up at right guard with the second team unit. I didn’t see anything special out of him mostly because the other linemen were giving up a lot of pressure at this point. It is the second and third stringers at this point I guess, but I would have liked to see a little more out of them.

There was one thing that really worried me, and that was the injuries to important players on special teams. Bradie Ewing went down early with what looked like a knee injury after a punt coverage play. He is probably the best fullback on our roster and we need him if Mike Cox doesn’t perform well.

The most pressing injury was that to Akeem Dent. He is projected as our middle linebacker in 2012, but also suffered a head injury on special teams. Why a stater with a key role like MLB is playing special teams, I have no idea. But he suffered the injury nonetheless. I just hope that he recovers quickly, the injury isn’t serious, and that he can practice and play really soon. If the Falcons are weak at the MLB position without Dent, it could be really bad for the defense in 2012.