Does Matt Ryan Belong Among The Greatest QB’s Of All Time?
By Joe Beasley
With all the names of quarterbacks thrown around as among the best ever, why is Matt Ryan’s name routinely left off?
This conversation comes up at every job, every family barbecue, every locker and most definitely at every bar……who are the greatest quarterbacks of all time and is Matt Ryan worthy of being included?
The names you usually hear Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, and Drew Brees (Yes Falcon fans, he is on this tier of quarterbacks) will come up in these conversations 12 times out of 10. John Elway, Brett Favre, Troy Aikman and Steve Young soon follow those up as well.
After the usual suspects come up, this is where it gets fuzzy. Everybody from Aaron Rodgers to Terry Bradshaw comes up on the list. The first eight guys on this list have something in common: they got the numbers, the championships, the consistency, and what I like to call “Heisman/Clutch Moments” which all contribute to their greatness.
When we think of quarterbacks who are currently playing who will be among the greatest of all time, Big Ben name pops up, we’ve already mentioned Brees, and Rodgers. Some people bring up Philip Rivers, and yes, even Eli comes up in these conversations, but hearing this got me thinking, where exactly does Matt Ryan fall on the list?
To be honest, it’s a travesty that Matt Ryan doesn’t come up in these conversations. I’m not saying that Matt Ryan is the greatest quarterback of all time, he has quite a ways to go before he is even brought up to that tier, but at the same time, we shouldn’t (this goes for the Falcon fans especially) see him as a scrub or not as good as everyone else.
He’s been a consistent top 10 quarterback in this league for the last nine years, top five QB in some of those years too and let’s not forget he did become the first Falcon ever to win a league MVP leading one of the most prolific offenses the NFL has seen. There is no reason why Matt Ryan should not be mentioned among the greatest this league has ever seen, and I have the proof why he should.