Atlanta Falcons: Is there something wrong with Matt Ryan?

The Atlanta Falcons have appeared like a shell of themselves and are yet to replicate the team’s successes at the beginning of the year. But what is going on? Are there any solutions to these issues that are crippling their efforts for a playoff spot?

It has to be Matt Ryan. The quarterback of this team must step up and shoulder everything moving forward. Sure, some blame could the supporting cast, but there is not one player on the Falcons who has been more consistently inconsistent than Ryan.

Take a look at games over the past few weeks, and, unfortunately, the inefficiencies of the offense will always rest on the person that has their hands on the ball most.  This is the most important position in all of sports, and Ryan’s play has been sub-par of late.

If he had played like this during his first six years of play, the Falcons may have drafted a functional backup just in case. But, unfortunately for now, Matty Ice appears to have thawed out in this new offense under Kyle Shanahan.

Everyone will argue he is still among the tops in the league in passing yards. But he has only thrown five more touchdowns than interceptions this year. Among the quarterbacks with touchdown-to-intereption ratios close to Ryan (five or less), there is only one noteworthy quarterback that is on a winning team, and that’s Peyton Manning. Quarterbacks like Ryan Tannehill, Joe Flacco and Matthew Stafford share similar margins to Ryan, and they are already practicing their golf swings for the offseason.

These quarterbacks referenced leave a lot to be desired, and we all know that Matt Ryan is much better than this. But until he improves, the red hot start for the Falcons will only be remembered by the cold, desolate confines of the freezing cellar of the NFC South where their only companions are the lowly Buccaneers.

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Of course, there are many that the Falcons must rely on to improve their season, but it starts and ends with the quarterback. It is this signal caller that just signed a hefty extension, and Matt Ryan now must live up to the call of his gigantic contract.

If he continues to operate at the same ratio of touchdown and interceptions, then the Falcons will be joining the Lions, Ravens, and Dolphins on the golf course the first day after the regular season is over, knowing that they had failed to live up to expectation.

There is still plenty of time for Ryan to rectify himself, but the time to fix it is during this bye week and see if it comes to fruition when they take the field against the Indianapolis Colts. If the Falcons want to matter in the NFC South, Ryan must return to the form of a few years ago when he was one of the shining stars as a young quarterback in the league, and he must take on more responsibility for this team.

The fate of the Atlanta Falcons is now squarely on his shoulders.