Super Bowls shouldn’t define the legacy of Matt Ryan
By Joe Beasley
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is certainly on his way to the Hall of Fame. Even with all his accolades, people still like to question his greatness because of one thing, the elusive Super Bowl win.
Matt Ryan at the helm of the Falcons have had the most successful stretch in team history and it’s not even close. The Falcons were a top 10 team during the last decade and a lot of that success is due to the play of Ryan.
Yes, we know about the shortcomings in the playoffs but how many of those can you blame on Matt Ryan directly?
Everyone wants to bring up the Super Bowl loss against the Patriots, but the team put up 28 points. Ryan isn’t completely blameless in the situation, but there have been quite a few times where Matt Ryan and the offense has had to bail out his defense.
It’s kind of hard to remember a game in which the defense had to save the day because Ryan didn’t produce.
Using Super Bowls to rank or judge the greatness of quarterbacks is just ridiculous. Super Bowls are a team accolade and that trophy is given to the best team that year, not to the team with the best quarterback. Eli Manning had a solid career but was his career better than Ryan’s?
Overall it wasn’t but let’s face it, he’s going to the Hall of Fame because of his two wins against Tom Brady and the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl shouldn’t define Matt Ryan’s legacy
The fans of the Falcons want a Super Bowl trophy bad especially since they were so close to finally having one. For the sake of Ryan, this writer hopes he ends up being the quarterback to bring the Lombardi trophy Atlanta to quiet all the naysayers and so no one has to question his legacy.
Ryan has dealt with at least one of the following during his career:
- lack of a running game
- lack of a defense
- numerous offensive coordinators
- injuries to key players
- the Falcons front office
Even with all that, the Falcons have been one of the best teams in the league and that’s because of Matt Ryan. He’s never had the stability of quarterbacks like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees. These guys didn’t have to worry if the coach was going to last the season or if the front office was going to make a crazy move that didn’t benefit the team.
Ryan will end up as one of the best quarterbacks this league has ever seen.
Dan Marino never faced this kind of disrespect during his career and he might be one of the best quarterbacks talent-wise ever in the NFL. With what he has at his disposal, Ryan has done a great job turning that into success.
Next. Patrick Mahomes contract doubled the value of Matt Ryan. dark
A team accolade shouldn’t affect his legacy now or in the future like we have seen for Tommy Nobis, Jeff Van Note, or Jessie Tuggle.