Matt Ryan Will Lead the Colts to An AFC Title This Season
You can tell me he’s washed and terrible now but trust me, Matt Ryan still has something left in the tank. As an extremely frustrated Kyle Pitts fantasy owner this past year, I watched a lot of Atlanta Falcons games. Far more than I would have liked to if I’m being honest. One thing I could clearly tell though was that as bad as the offense was, it could have been much much worse had their quarterback not been as good as Matt Ryan is.
The struggles the Falcons had this year were far more about a terrible offensive line, a new coaching staff adjusting, and an abysmal array of weapons only exacerbated by Calvin Ridley stepping away. Look, Cordarelle Patterson was really fun to watch but he isn’t gonna make you an elite offense all by himself.
Don’t get me wrong, Matt Ryan wasn’t perfect. But when he had minimal time in the pocket, an almost nonexistent run game for the majority of the year and just a lack of help in general, there wasn’t a ton he could do. On the Colts however, Ryan will have an elite offensive line to work with, and an amazing running game to take some pressure off him. Now, Michael Pittman Jr. is pretty much the only exciting receiving threat on the team right now but that can be addressed this off-season.
Regardless of adding more receiving talent, Philip Rivers with my grandmother’s arm and Carson Wentz with my 9 year old sister’s decision-making were able to lead this Colts team to relative degrees of success. Matt Ryan is far and away better than either of them were at that point in their careers and I firmly believe that. A lot of people don’t and that’s fine. I’ve watched too much of Ryan though to think he wouldn’t be successful in a offense with competent pieces around him. And no, his age doesn’t scare me one bit.
Now this was honestly a best case scenario for the Colts if they didn’t land one of the big 3-Russel Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, or Deshaun Watson. Somehow all they gave up was a third round pick and got essentially the most elite “game manager” type of quarterback in the league. Quarterbacks are everything in today’s NFL and Ryan is a legitimate top 15 quarterback right now that gives the Colts a great shot at least winning a lot of games.
Now realistically, I think they just won’t be able to compete once they get to the playoffs. I mean you’ve got 4 stacked AFC West teams in of itself all with great quarterbacks, add on Burrow with the Bengals, Watson now on the Browns, as well as teams like the Ravens, Patriots and Titans that aren’t just going to go away and you’ve got a conference of death. Super Bowl contenders is a reach even though I love the move. I think an AFC South title is a great possibility. The Titans outperform their expectations every year and clearly Mike Vrabel knows what he’s doing but I think Matt Ryan is exactly what the Colts need to beat them out for the division. And let’s understand that with the talent in the conference, a Wild Card might be almost impossible so the division means everything this year.
I’m extremely excited to see Matt Ryan play this year though and although it may not be a Brady with the Bucs or Stafford with the Rams situation, I have every reason to believe Ryan gives them a shot to win a lot of games next year. Colts fans, you’ve got a good one.
