The Atlanta Falcons have been blessed with a stud QB who has been the most reliable since his rookie year in 2008 when he turner the franchise around.
When Matt Ryan was drafted third overall, the Falcons were in terrible shape. Their starting QB at the time, Michael Vick was in prison and coach Bobby Petrino had left Atlanta in the dust for Arkansas.
Since then, Ryan has been the most successful QB for Atlanta and the only Falcons player to ever win an NFL MVP award.
According to Adam Schein’s list of dark-horse MVP candidates for NFL.com, Ryan is in the running for another.
Schein’s Reasoning for Ryan’s Second MVP
While Ryan already has an MVP to tag along with his accomplishments, Schein believes he could deserve a second one.
“OK, admittedly, this is the least-bold name on the list — by far,” Schein writes. “After all, Ryan already has an MVP under his belt.
“Still, the Ice Man never gets proper credit for being awesome. He’s rarely brought up in conversations about the game’s top signal-callers. And that’s just wrong. Frankly, Ryan would be listed much higher on here if I felt more confident about the Falcons‘ defense or head coach, as this award is largely dependent on team success.
“But I think Ryan will put up monster numbers this season with the plethora of weapons he has at his disposal. Todd Gurley is a significant upgrade over Devonta Freeman. Julio Jones remains a force of nature. Calvin Ridley is a great No. 2. And trade acquisition Hayden Hurst gives Ryan a fine weapon up the seam. Get ready for some fireworks in Atlanta.”
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Most Underrated QB
Schein made a valid point when he said “Ice Man never gets proper credit for being awesome”
Matt Ryan is no doubt the NFL’s most underrated quarterback of the past decade and doesn’t get the same respect he deserves as other QBs do.
I think the difference is, Ryan goes out on the field, does his job, and doesn’t make a big fuss about it. He is also rarely on social media so you don’t see him chiming in on nonsense like you do other from other top QBs.
He has been consistently near the top of ESPN’s QB Rating statistics since 2008, except for 2009 when he was injured. But, you probably didn’t know that either.
Ryan’s Stats That Nobody Talks About
There are only 10 QB’s in all of NFL history who have 50,000 passing yards and ‘Ice Man’ is one of them.
Throughout his entire NFL career, Ryan has only missed 3 games. The last game he missed was with an ankle sprain during the 2019 season against the Seahawks. Up until that game, Ryan hadn’t missed a game since 2009 and was on a 151 regular-season game streak of starts, marking the fifth-longest streak for the position in NFL.
Ryan became the best quarterback in Falcon’s history and is their all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns. He has also turned into one of the most productive and consistent QBs in the entire NFL, PFF rating of 90.
The last time won NFL MVP was in 2016 and he has been selected for the Pro Bowl four times. Derek Carr hasn’t even been selected as many times and Eli Manning has the same as Ryan.
I may be biased, but Schein had every right to put Ryan on his NFL MVP list for 2020.
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Falcons’ QB1 a Dark-Horse NFL MVP Candidate for 2020