FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- The image was so often the same this season. Matt Ryan dropped back to pass and seemingly a second later, he’d have to be on the move.
The Atlanta Falcons quarterback, time and time again, would have to make decisions while watching his pocket collapse.
A clean pocket? Rare. A day without being tossed to the ground at least a handful of times? Unlikely. And yet, Ryan managed to survive, even if it didn’t always look pretty doing so.
He grasped first-year Falcons head coach Arthur Smith’s offense, and when he wasn’t scrambling, he showed proficiency in it.