2016 NFC champs go for home run
Three Falcons: questions facing
Will the real Matt Ryan please step forward?
the
Atlanta’s quarterback recently signed the richest contract in NFL history, an extension that will pay $150 million (a record $100 million guaranteed) over five years, beginning in 2019. But what is all that dough actually buying?
Ryan was the league MVP in 2016, when he led the Falcons within a whisker of their first Super Bowl victory.
He passed for 4,944 yards and 38 touchdowns, completing 69.9 percent of his passes, and his 117.1 passer rating was the fifth highest ever. But last year, his yardage total fell by nearly 1,000, the TD passes were cut almost in half to 20 — he never had three in a single game — and his interceptions just about doubled (from seven to 12) while the completion percentage (64.7%) and passer rating (91.4) dipped substantially.
Viewed one way, Ryan’s 2017 numbers were fairly representative of his career norms while his MVP stats are significant outliers. Yet the drop-off was hard to swallow given the offensive personnel from the Super Bowl squad returned virtually intact — and will do so again in 2018 with the notable addition of first-rounder Calvin Ridley as the slot receiver.
The obvious explanation for Ryan’s regression was offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan’s departure to San Francisco after the Super Bowl LI implosion. His replacement, Steve Sarkisian, had one year of NFL coaching experience before 2017 and was widely blamed as the reason the league’s highest-scoring offense in 2016 fell to 15th, posting nearly 200 fewer points. However, Ryan and Co. made a quantum leap from 2015 to 2016, Shanahan’s second year as play caller, and the hope is that continuity under Sarkisian will yield similar results this season — assuming, naturally, that Julio Jones’ offseason absence doesn’t blow any collective progress on the Sark learning curve.
One thing’s for sure: The franchise is clearly expecting its financial commitment to generate something closer to the MVP version of Ryan than the average one.
Are you paying attention to wrong side of the ball?
The offense’s struggles largely defined Atlanta’s disappointing post-Super Bowl season. Yet overshadowed was the rise of a promising young defense, one that allowed just 16.1 points over its final seven games, including the postseason.
General manager Thomas Dimitroff added second-round corner Isaiah Oliver and thirdround lineman Deadrin Senat in the 2018 draft, ratcheting up the athleticism quotient for a unit that already had an ample supply.
This group will truly flourish if pass rushers Vic Beasley — he had five sacks after leading the NFL with 15½ in 2016 — and Takkarist McKinley, a firstround pick in 2017, are able to step up their production.
And watch linebacker Deion Jones. Coming off his first Pro Bowl campaign, it might not be long before he replaces Julio Jones as this roster’s most riveting player.
Will the Falcons make Super Bowl history?
Last season, the Minnesota Vikings lost the NFC Championship Game, falling a win shy of becoming the first team to play a Super Bowl on its home field. Now the Falcons have that chance, with Super Bowl LIII set to be staged in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
It wasn’t long ago that this team led the Patriots 28-3 in the second half of Super Bowl LI. And despite a sense the Falcons underachieved in 2017, they came closer than anyone to knocking the eventual champion Eagles out of the playoffs.
The offense must reclaim its rhythm. And navigating the NFC South — the quickly improving Buccaneers were the only team in the division that didn’t reach the postseason last year — won’t be easy. But Atlanta has the firepower to do so.