Matt Ryan might be an MVP ... 'Champion' is the real test - ESPN
Kevin SeifertNFL Nation
ATLANTA -- OK, Matt Ryan.
You're up.
This is your time.
It took you nine years to get this far. In a week, you'll play in your second NFC Championship Game. The winner will advance to Super Bowl LI in Houston. These opportunities don't come often. Your Atlanta Falcons? They have advanced this far only four times in their 51-season history.
You're the presumptive NFL MVP and one of the most statistically proficient quarterbacks of this generation. But we don't know yet if you're a champion. Can you take a team to the Super Bowl championship? Will you elevate your legacy to the highest levels of history? Or will you go down as a great passer who fell short of transcendent?
I know. Matt Ryan is only 31 years old. And there are many reasons why a team does or doesn't win championships. Quarterback play is the most important factor, but it's not the only one. There may never be a better chance for Ryan and the Falcons to make a run, especially after dispatching the Seattle Seahawks in Saturday's 36-20, divisional-round victory.
After years of varying organizational holes, the Falcons this season have given Ryan the best defense and playcaller (Kyle Shanahan) he has ever had. If not now, then when? Ryan wasn't having any part of such talk Saturday night. He politely deflected my every attempt to put the next few weeks into the context of his career.
"If you spend your time thinking about that," Ryan said, "it takes away from taking care of your business that week. I always believe that if you handle your business week to week, all the other stuff will take care of itself."
People who know Ryan say that's simply his personality. He works hard to remain in the moment, at least in public. Like it or not, however, his career will be judged one day in part on whether he was the quarterback of a Super Bowl champion.
It's a fact that most NFL quarterbacks come to understand at some point in their lives. A few years ago, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers put it this way: The regular season is about earning the big paycheck, and the playoffs are about legacy.
"The great quarterbacks," Rodgers said, "are remembered for their playoff successes and triumphs and Super Bowl championships and Super Bowl MVPs."
With a few exceptions -- Dan Marino, Jim Kelly and Warren Moon among them -- Rodgers is right. We'll soon find out if Ryan can get there.
Is he ready? On Saturday night, I sought out Falcons pass-rusher Dwight Freeney, a 15-year veteran who has seen it all, including a championship in 2006 during his time with the Indianapolis Colts.
I asked Freeney if Ryan is up to the task. The defensive end shrugged his shoulders.
"Yeah, why not?" he said. "But remember, he's not out there by himself. I think sometimes people have this perception that the quarterback has to lead the team. No, he doesn't. He needs to do his job. If he does it exceptionally? Great. If he doesn't? Guess what? We've got running backs, receivers, other guys, a defense and special teams to pick up the slack. It's a team."
Still, the tendency in the playoffs -- especially at quarterback -- is to rise to the proverbial occasion. Ryan admitted he tried to do that earlier in his career, and it was part of his 1-4 playoff record before Saturday's game. Part of his development, it seems, is not trying to play better in the playoffs than he did during the regular season.
His cool control was never more evident Saturday than in the third quarter, when he backpedaled and held the ball against a Seahawks blitz to give Devonta Freeman just enough time to break away from linebacker Bobby Wagner. The extra time -- Ryan didn't panic and trusted Freeman to get to his spot -- sparked a 53-yard gain.
According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Ryan completed 10 of 13 passes for 154 yards against the Seahawks' dangerous blitz packages. That 76.9 percent completion percentage against the blitz was the best he has ever posted in a playoff game.
Ryan was following what he said was the best advice he has ever received about postseason play: "Do the same thing you've done all year," he said.
"When I was younger, you're trying to do that but you [start to] listen," he said. "There's more noise outside the building during the playoffs. You find ways to adjust and understand how to deal with that. That's a message I've gotten from a lot of people through the years." Among them: Freeney, just before Saturday's game. As he watched Ryan embark on what could be a defining moment of his career, Freeney felt compelled to approach Ryan and say, quite simply, "Be you."
Freeney added: "I don't know if he was thinking that already or not, but sometimes I feel obligated to say certain things because of my experience. I've been in this. I know what it takes. Yes, the moment is huge, but if you try to do more than you normally do ..."
Freeney's voice trailed off. He picked up.
"I told Matt, 'Just do you.' And he did a great job in a big moment."
Drew Brees was 31 when he played in (and won) his only Super Bowl. At 30 years old, Peyton Manning reached the Super Bowl for the first time. Matt Ryan isn't late. But this is his time, his chance, his moment. Let's see if he can grab it.
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