Matt Ryan has been struggling in recent weeks, but that hasn’t carried over to his first matchup of the year against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Aside from three tipped passes, Ryan has been rolling, with two touchdown passes already in the first half.
That second one, a slightly high pass to Calvin Ridley that the gifted receiver pulled down while dragging his feet, moved him into a tie with Fran Tarkenton for 10th all-time in NFL history. Ryan now has 342 touchdown passes for his career, and a decent chance of surpassing Tarkenton today.
Ryan needed a week like this, grumbles about draft position both too early in the first half of this one and completely understandable, because he has been scuffling in Dirk Koetter’s offense for long stretches of the season.