close
close

Countdown to Kickoff 2024: 102 days, 102 instances of Atlanta Falcons legend Matt Ryan eclipsing 275+ yards

Theo

The countdown to the 2024 kickoff for the Atlanta Falcons continues as we are just 102 days away from Atlanta’s Week 1 matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Atlanta Falcons legend Matt Ryan started 222 games for the Falcons during his 14-year career. In 102 of those games, Ryan eclipsed 275 passing yards, third in that span behind Drew Brees and Tom Brady.

In this exercise, we note some elements of these 102 matches, including his best matches.

Best game: September 18, 2014 – against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Look, a lot of great things happened in this game:

  • Devin Hester passed Deion Sanders for the most career touchdowns against former head coach Lovie Smith.
  • Atlanta matched its largest halftime margin of 35, also against Tampa Bay in 2012.
  • Atlanta posted its second-largest scoring margin, surpassed only by the 62-7 defeat of the New Orleans Saints in 1973.

But at the forefront was Matt Ryan’s performance. On “Sound FX,” head coach Mike Smith spoke to Ryan, who told him he wanted to “let loose.”

Man, has he ever done it.

Ryan went 21 of 24 for 286 yards for three touchdowns and finished the day with a passer rating of 155.9. Ryan’s three incompletions are tied for the fewest he throws any time he throws more than five passes in an NFL game.

Wins are not a quarterback stat

From 2008 to 2021, four players have played more than 100 games in which they threw for more than 275 yards in a single NFL game: Drew Brees (128), Tom Brady (114), Matt Ryan (102) and Aaron Rodgers (101).

Below are the records of each of these players in these instances:

Player Earn Loss Tie Earn %
Drew Brees 83 45 0 64.8%
Tom Brady 93 21 0 81.6%
Aaron Rodgers 67 33 1 66.8%
Matt Ryan 52 50 0 51%

Ryan had many great days, but there were times, even on his best days, when the team as a whole couldn’t get it done. In fact, of Ryan’s top five games according to passer rating, when he threw for 275 yards or more, Ryan only had three. The other two, the New Orleans Saints, managed to get out of overtime in 2018, and the Falcons defense gave up 340 yards to rookie Kyler Murray en route to a 34-33 loss behind extra points missed late by Matt Bryant.

Ryan had the most games of 275+ yards against the Saints, but more often than not the Falcons were unable to capitalize, winning only four of seventeen games.

Matt Ryan: Panther Tamer

When Ryan played against the Carolina Panthers, he usually won money. In their 28 games, the Falcons under Ryan devastated the Panthers 10 times, nine of them with Ryan posting 275 or more passing yards.

The most notable performance came in Week 4 of the 2016 season, as the Panthers recovered from their crushing loss in Super Bowl 50.

This game, however, we don’t just remember Ryan’s 503 yards and four touchdowns on 28-of-37 passing.

Julio Jones completed 12 of 15 targets as he went for a Falcons record 300 yards against the Panthers.

Related Posts