Despite an imperfect performance, Matt Ryan was absolutely spectacular

You can say anything you want about the Atlanta Falcons – they are disorganized, they lack talent, or they simply are a bad team – but one thing you cannot say is that their quarterback did not want to win in the worst way on Sunday.

Let’s be honest, no Falcon player had a perfect game. It was a grind-it-out type game, they fought, they battled, but ultimately the defending champs showed why they were the best team last year.

Matt Ryan wanted the Falcons to win in the worst way possible.

The Atlanta Falcons have a tough quarterback – simple as that.

Any quarterback who would want to play for the Falcons would have to be tough as they would not survive a single snap behind that offensive line if they were not. Ryan had a gutsy performance and a hard-fought game.

Was Ryan perfect? Absolutely not, but it was also a game where it would take a miracle to not make a mistake.

The first pick-six was on Matt, simple as that. We can also say, however, that the receiver fell down and Ryan was under siege the entire game – there are a variety of factors that could have affected it.

The throw should have been to the outside, it was not a good throw and Matt would be the first to tell you that.

Outside of that one mistake, – that to be fair, was a huge moment in the game – Matt Ryan put the team on his back.

How often could you see him barking out orders to receivers pre-snap, telling them where to line up? It was a common sight during the game, it shows his leadership and how smart of a player he is. He knows everyone else’s assignments better than they do.

Then you get down to all the times that he was able to evade pressure and make a play.

The one that sticks out the most was during a third down on the Buccaneer’s side of the field, where the Falcons simply had to have the conversion.

Ryan took the snap, had Devin White rushing free, Matt waited until the last second and sidestepped White making him look like a fool, and then threw a bullet to Olamide Zaccheaus for a first down.

It was a highlight-reel play and one that shows fans that a quarterback does not need to be fast to be effective in the NFL.

The second play was when Ryan scrambled to his right, had a defender right in his face, tossed the ball to Patterson, – who made a spectacular one-handed catch – and he took it right into the endzone.

While Cordarrelle had to make the catch one-handed, it was the only way Matt Ryan was going to get the ball to him with a Bucs defender in his face.

The last play that really sticks out was on the two-point conversion.

Arthur Smith made a great call by running a read-option with the last quarterback you would ever expect to run a play like that. Matt Ryan made a spectacular read to keep the ball and then he finished it off by getting hit as he fought his way into the endzone.

Again, it was not the cleanest game by Matt Ryan, he threw three interceptions, – only one was his fault – but the last thing you could ever say was that he did not want to win the game more than anyone on the field.

Matt will never get the credit for this game he deserves, it was such a hard-fought performance in an unfortunate loss for the Atlanta Falcons.