QB Rank, Week 14: What's wrong with Matt Ryan and the Falcons?
After starting the season 5-0, the Atlanta Falcons might be the worst team in football.
Atlanta has lost seven of its last eight games, with the lone win coming against a Tennessee Titans team quarterbacked by Zach Mettenberger.
It’s a flawed team from top to bottom, and Matt Ryan’s limitations as a franchise quarterback have been exposed. He does not have a lot of talent around him – Julio Jones is a blue-chip talent at receiver and Devonta Freeman is a fringe Pro Bowl back – but a quarterback making more than $20 million a year is expected to elevate the players around him. Based on this year’s results, it looks like Ryan is not fully capable of doing that.
Atlanta’s offense is down to 24th in Football Outsider’s DVOA metric, which measures offensive efficiency based on situation and opponent, after spending the past few seasons in the top half of the league.
The biggest culprit for the fall is general manager Thomas Dimitroff, who has let the offensive talent erode while he unsuccessfully built up the defense. The offensive line is still a mess, and the team has yet to find an eventual successor for Roddy White and replacement for Tony Gonzalez, who has been retired for two years.
Pass protection has been a problem in Atlanta for a long time now, and it has become an even bigger problem now that Ryan’s group of receiving targets has devolved into a one-man show.
Jones is being asked to stretch the field vertically while also providing Ryan with a reliable receiver over the middle. First-year offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan has done an adequate job designing route combinations to help other receivers get open, but he can only do so much with a washed up White, a raw rookie in Justin Hardy and an aging Devin Hester.
With receivers struggling to get open and the Falcons line not allowing big plays to develop, Ryan has grown antsy in the pocket. He’s been too quick to hit his checkdown, which has caused him to miss open receivers elsewhere on the field.
Ryan isn’t taking a lot of chances downfield, even when there is a play to made. But even with Ryan taking a more conservative approach, he’s still turning over the ball. His suddenly poor decision-making has been the most concerning development of Ryan’s downturn this season.
You might expect a 30-year-old quarterback to be better at recognizing coverages, but Ryan has made bad decisions against even the most basic defensive tactics.
Ryan is making mistakes he has never made in the past. Maybe he’s pressing without a lot of talent around him. Maybe the talent he’s had around him in the past masked his weaknesses. Maybe Shanahan really does make life difficult for quarterbacks.
Either way, the Falcons’ passing game is no longer a strength in Atlanta. And until it gets fixed, the team will look more like the 1-7 team we’ve seen over the last two months rather than the 5-0 team we saw at the beginning of the season.
Now on to this week’s rankings…
Brady got Rob Gronkowski back this week and went right back to producing MVP-caliber numbers against the Texans. It's unclear if that hurts or helps his case for winning the award – his numbers have been below-average since Dion Lewis going down sparked a string of injuries to New England’s skill players – but he’ll deservedly get plenty of first-place votes.
The Vikings did a good job of making Palmer uncomfortable. Despite putting up an impressive stat line, Palmer made some questionable decisions. He could have easily finished the day with multiple interceptions.
With the Panthers 13-0 and now leading the NFL in scoring, Newton looks like a strong leading candidate for the MVP award. His three touchdown passes against Atlanta brought him up to 28 for the season – a career high for the 26-year-old.
Is there a more confident quarterback in the league right now? On third-and-1, Roethlisberger is throwing dimes deep down the sideline:
Big Ben’s 10 interceptions in nine games is the only weakness in his game right now.
The Packers coaches and Rodgers are starting to adapt to the lack of talent on the roster, so don’t be surprised if Rodgers ends the season on a high note after slogging through the middle of the schedule. The 2014 MVP was sharp against the Cowboys, but the offense is still lacking a deep threat without Jordy Nelson.
Wilson is completing 75% of his passes with 16 touchdowns and no interceptions over his last four games. Even if he’s been playing against poor defenses, he’s on a historic hot streak right now.
Brees was back on his game against the Buccaneers. He pushed the ball downfield with accuracy and avoided the costly mistakes that have plagued him in recent seasons.
The Manning-Odell Beckham Jr. connection is really the only good thing going for the Giants offense right now. When the two are on their game, as they were against the Dolphins on Monday night, there’s not a more explosive quarterback-receiver combo in the league.
If Robbie Gould makes a couple of late field goals these last two weeks, the Bears would have a winning record and you’d be reading stories about Cutler’s improvement. Instead, Chicago sits at 5-8 and its quarterback’s impressive season continues to go overlooked. Cutler’s combination of movement and arm strength allows him to make special throws like this:
That Rivers is still hanging around the top 10 says more about the quarterback situation in the NFL right now than it does about the Chargers’ signal-caller. His season has tailed off in the last month, but he’s still completing 66% of his passes with a 94.5 passer rating on the season with maybe the worst supporting cast in the league.
THE REST OF THE PACK:
11. Derek Carr, Raiders
12. Tyrod Taylor, Bills
13. Alex Smith, Chiefs
14. Matthew Stafford, Lions
15. Ryan Tannehill, Dolphins
16. Matt Ryan, Falcons
17. Blake Bortles, Jaguars
18. Kirk Cousins, Redskins
19. Sam Bradford, Eagles
20. Jameis Winston, Buccaneers
21. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jets
22. Teddy Bridgewater, Vikings
23. Marcus Mariota, Titans
24. Johnny Manziel, Browns
25. Blaine Gabbert, 49ers
26. Brock Osweiler, Broncos
27. Matt Hasselbeck, Colts
28. Brian Hoyer, Texans
29. Case Keenum, Rams
30. A.J. McCarron, Bengals
31. Matt Cassel, Cowboys
32. Matt Schuab, Ravens
It was a down week for both rookie quarterbacks. Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota were inconsistent with their accuracy and decision-making in losses.
Mariota threw a bad interception on a forced throw:
Winston almost matched him with a bad ball into coverage, but Brandon Browner made yet another error in a season full of them:
Bad games are to be expected for rookie quarterbacks still learning on the job, so nothing to be worried about here, Bucs and Titans fans.
BEST THROW OF THE WEEK
Sam Bradford is getting better by the week. It’s clear he’s getting more comfortable in the pocket, which allows him to take advantage of his immense arm talent.
WORST THROW OF THE WEEK
First Andy Dalton throws an interceptions on a shovel pass. Then he breaks him thumb trying to make athe tackle. Just a bad play all around.
Follow Steven Ruiz on Twitter @theStevenRuiz.