Crazy that both the Braves and Falcons traded their “face of the franchise” player in the same week. The Dirty Birds were weighed down by Ryan’s massive contract, and weren’t ever going to improve with him taking up so much salary. I was always a Matt Ryan fan. The Falcons problems were only Ryan’s fault in that his humongo salary limited getting players to compliment his tremendous ability, knowledge, and work ethic.
Despite the constant beating Ryan took both on the field and in the media, he never complained or blamed others. He played under three head coaches and five offensive coordinators. Some say he got the raw end of the deal, but all those millions and millions the Falcons continue to pay him even out the deal. At least Ryan goes from wearing one of the ugliest uniforms in the league to one of the best.
With the Colts, Ryan is surrounded with offensive talent: a superior offensive line and one of the best running backs in the league, in Jonathan Taylor – who has been putting up Herschel-like numbers in college and as a young pro. Kicker Rodrigo Blankenship should be recovered from the hip injury that sidelined him last season. So it will be up to Matty Ice to carry Indy deep into the playoffs.
No doubt the Falcons will be horrible in 2022. They’ll still take $65 million in cap hit for Ryan, Julio Jones, and other players. As a transition they signed former Titan and Raider QB Marcus Mariota, who seemed to have bolstered his stock last season in Vegas.
Will be interesting to see how quickly the Falcons move to draft their QB of the future, either next month or wait a year. Unless the prefect QB is available when they draft, I’d be fine with them waiting.
The team has many needs besides QB. Not sure if they have any RBs or WRs on the roster. One guy they don’t need: the oft-injured Julio Jones, recently release by the Titans, who released their mistake. IDEA: since the Falcons are already paying $20 million to Jones this year, perhaps signing him wouldn’t tie up any additional money against the salary cap. Probably not how it works.
I always liked Matt Ryan. He’s kinda like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, the guys who stand in the pocket but can rid of the ball at the last second, as opposed to taking off running at the first sign of pressure. Ryan is the type QB who knows what the defense will be doing, more than most QB’s. A leader on the field. Also gave back to the community. When Ryan boarded the jet today to fly him to Indy, his young twin boys were both wearing #2 Colts jerseys.
I read on social media that Freddie Freeman’s wife had removed all the Atlanta products from her clothing website. Not sure if it’s true or not.
Hall of Famer SAM THOMPSON [SABR Bio] is still the all-time career leader in RBI per game, more than a century after his retirement. He averaged 0.92 RBI per game in his career. Second and third on the list are Joe DiMaggio & Babe Ruth. The 61 RBIs he amassed in August 1895 has also never been equaled for any one calendar month. Thompson was part of an outfield trio that is considered by many to be among the best ever. The 1881-1895 Philadelphia Phillies outfield featured Thompson, Ed Delahanty & “Slidin’ Billy Hamilton. In 1894 they hit .415, .405 & .403 respectively. Thompson learned baseball from his father, who picked up the game from other military men. His great grandfather served in the American Revolution, and his father was a Union soldier in the Civil War.
DENISON: The White House warned that the Russian government "is exploring options for potential cyberattacks."...Like Denzel Washington, we can view our abilities and resources as gifts given by the "grace of God" and use what we have "to help others."...A study shows that teenage Christian boys from working-class families who regularly participate in their church and demonstrate faith in God are twice as likely to earn bachelor's degrees as their nonreligious or moderately religious peers. Research by the Barna Group reports that 61% of practicing Christians said they are flourishing in romantic relationships and friendships, compared to only 28% of all US adults...Unfortunately, many of us settle for a religion about Jesus when we could have an intimate relationship with him. To experience such a relationship daily, as Oswald Chambers reminds us, I must give up "my claim to my right to myself."
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