Atlanta Falcons: Matt Ryan certainly did not have his best game

The story around the Atlanta Falcons prior to Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers was how well Matt Ryan had been playing, but that story was put to an end this week.

Matt was constantly under a lot of pressure while also missing Calvin Ridley, but he has shown he can produce without much around him, yet he did not do that against Carolina.

Matt Ryan snapped his MVP-like streak on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers

Atlanta Falcons fans had been spoiled the past few weeks from watching the next to perfect quarterback play, Matt Ryan was playing like a madman, almost like he did throughout the year when he won the MVP award in 2016.

However, he was not very good against the Carolina Panthers defense, who continuously rattled and pressured him.

The first big mistake was on the interception when the team was sustaining a drive down the field. Ryan blindly threw the ball over the middle, not even looking to make sure there was no defender who was going to cut off the route.

Shaq Thompson made a great play—which was not his only great play during the game—on an ill-advised throw. Hayden Hurst was flowing the opposite way of Ryan while Thompson undercut the route at the perfect time.

One thing that could have contributed to this play was Matt’s hand being stepped on earlier on the drive, where he bled everywhere until he was able to make it to the sideline. That may not seem like it could have an effect on the decision, but it could have thrown him off just enough to make that poor decision, who knows.

Then there was a play near the end of the half where Matt Ryan tried to get a first down on a critical third down. He juked the defender and proceeded to reach for a first down—which he did not get—and came so close to losing the football before he was down. No one can say Matt Ryan did not try his hardest, but sometimes that is not a good idea.

There were also the plays throughout the entire game where it just felt like he could not get in a rhythm for a multitude of reasons, whether that be poor offensive line play or receivers not getting open, it was much different than the previous two weeks.

Near the end of the game, Matt had another interception when the team was trying to score quickly. He forced a ball into a window that was not there, perhaps this had to do with the team needing a huge play, but again it was not a good decision.

Matt Ryan is a seasoned veteran, he will bounce back from this, but no one can say this was a good performance by him, it simply was not, but not many players on the team had a good day either.