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Analyze The Past To See The Future (Matt Ryan Article)


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The Atlanta Falcons are coming off of a disappointing season, in fact, the Falcons are coming off of two disappointing seasons. After a 2012 season that saw him dominating defenses and leading game winning drive after game winning drive all the way to the NFC championship, everything went down hill. In the past two seasons the Falcons have totaled a win/loss record of 10/22, which is a 31% winning percentage. That's a horrifying turn for a team that two seasons ago had been mere yards away from the Superbowl. Can these losses be attributed exclusively to Matt Ryan, or even primarily Matt Ryan? No, nor should they be. (Though certain Michael Vick and Jake Locker loving fans would tell you otherwise. Speaking of which, where are those guys now? Ouch.) There are a few reasons that thanks to recent changes in personnel and scheme, Matt Ryan could have a huge season ahead of him.

After the loss of Gonzalez, Ryan has a reliable Tight End again.

Levine Toilolo still has potential, some may disagree, but some aren't writing this article. However, last year was not a good year for the skyscraping string bean. However, the Falcons new acquisition Jacob Tamme could be something Matt Ryan didnt have last year, a reliable pass catching tight end. But wait, theres more! (This is now an infomercial for TammeWow, of Tight Ends Incorporated) Tamme provides something that Tony Gonzalez, who lets be honest was getting a bit long in the tooth by the time he became a Falcon, never did. Tamme can be a legitimate threat down the seam for deep balls, which can add a new wrinkle to an offense that already includes Julio Jones, Roddy White, Leonard Hankerson, and Devin Hester, speaking of which.

He has more firepower than a World War II Fighter Plane.

Julio Jones Average Yearly Receiving Yards and Touchdowns:

1082 yards, 7 Touchdowns. (This, despite only playing 5 games in 2013)

Roddy White Average Yearly Receiving Yards and Touchdowns:

1036 yards, 6 Touchdowns.

So looking at the numbers here, both of Matt's number one receivers on AVERAGE have over a thousand yards and a half dozen or more touchdowns.

Lets not forget the new additions though, lest we be ignorant. We've already covered Jacob Tamme, but the Falcons also added Leonard Hankerson and Justin Hardy, lets take a look at them shall we?

Leonard Hankerson:

Leonardo DeHankrio hasn't had the best showing in his NFL career thus far, in part because of subpar quarterback play and in part because of injuries. However, lets take a look at how he's played in two quarters of preseason action thus far. In his showing against the Jets, Hankerson had one touchdown and three receptions, including a 12 yard reception good for a first down. In the game vs Tennessee, Hankerson had yet another first down reception to aid in a scoring drive. Though his career thus far has been quite mediocre, reports from training camp have suggested Hardy could be on the precipice of a breakout year.

Justin Hardy:

Justin Hardy, 6 foot nothing, 186 pounds soaking wet holding a Tijuanan puppy. In his Junior year, Hardy set the school record for receptions and receiving yards in a single season. Not satisfied, Hardy set the record for most receptions in FBS History. Need I say more?

Ryan has more receiving power than he could ever hope to use, but that wont help if he cant get a run game going. Luckily.

Kyle Shanahan knows how to use HBs.

In 2014, amidst the Manziel Massacre, Kyle Shanahan somehow managed to pull over 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns out of Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell. Crowell was an undrafted free agent, and Terrance West was a third round pick. I will grant you that the Browns had a relatively strong offensive line, but it was marked by a strong center and a strong left tackle, both of which the Falcons have. (Note: Joe Hawley is not the best center in the league, and certainly no Alex Mack, but he gets the job done.) The Falcons have a third round HB and a fourth round HB waiting in the wings, fighting like dogs (Oops, poor analogy Atlanta) for the starting position. This competition will result in both players pushing 100% on every play, with the Falcons offense, and Matt Ryan, reaping the rewards.

Also there's Antone Smith. Nuff said.

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Speaking of Kyle Shanahan..

Kyle Shanahan is a magical football wizard.

Look I'm not even gonna go into this one. The guy got Matt Schaub to lead the league in passing yards.

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Matt Schaub.

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Seriously.

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He made that guy lead the league in passing yards in 2009. I'm not even going to say anything.

In short, there are a lot of reasons why Matt Ryan could have a ridiculously strong year this year, from receiver to run game to a magical space wizard Offensive Coordinator, but the most we can really do is speculate. For now, speculation has to be enough.

Edited by EightyEight
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However, the Falcons new acquisition Jacob Tamme could have something Matt Ryan didnt have last year, a reliable pass catching tight end.

Overall good write up. But this sentence should be euthanized.

Jacob Tamme has a reliable pass catching tight end? Matt Ryan must be jealous.

:p

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yeah, and i don't think that matt schaub led the league in receptions....heckova accomplishment for a qb....completions is what he probably meant

Thanks for pointing that out, I appreciate all of you pointing out my mistakes so that I can fix them. He led the league in passing yards in 2009. I'm still confused about the Article thing because I'm almost positive Article is how it's spelled. I googled it and everything.
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Thanks for the encouragement guys! I fixed the Tamme issue. Willy Monday was that a grammatical issue or you just didn't like it?tongue.png gazoo I googled it and artical isn't even a word, though it appears it may be the way Article is spelled in the UK.tongue.png

Are you the author?

Thanks for pointing that out, I appreciate all of you pointing out my mistakes so that I can fix them. He led the league in passing yards in 2009. I'm still confused about the Article thing because I'm almost positive Article is how it's spelled. I googled it and everything.

(Running message board joke) wink.png

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Thanks for the encouragement guys! I fixed the Tamme issue. Willy Monday was that a grammatical issue or you just didn't like it?:p gazoo I googled it and artical isn't even a word, though it appears it may be the way Article is spelled in the UK.:p

Alas, an explanation for the quite popular offseason thread here title "great artical....," the Brits did it! Lol

Everyone knows it's really spelled ardicle ;)

In all seriousness though, you did a good job on it. I really like the idea of Shanahan running our offense with all these weapons. Ryan likes being able to move around more based on his comments.

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I, too was a little put off by the statement regarding Matt having two disappointing seasons, and also when I initially thought that you were referring to Tamme as an improvement over Gonzalez, but good read, nonetheless. I personally would say that we were a defense away from a Super Bowl, and are finally now beginning to address it. Matt has worked his *** off to outscore our defensive mediocrity for years now.

Edited by jaschart
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I haven't been hired by anyone so far and I can't afford a website of my own yet so I'm just posting here to hone my skills.:)

Websites aren't too much I think I pay about 9 a month for hosting and my domain just renewed for $17 for the year. Most hosting places have templates that you just fill in the info or there are enough wysiwyg designer programs that a 2 yr old could use.

Other option is host it yourself and get a free dynamic DNS service but I wouldn't recommend it.

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