Matt Ryan Offensive Rookie of the Year

Let’s go back in time to a Saturday in April, draft day in the NFL. The dreadful Atlantans, selecting third, are on the clock. They have a tricky choice—select a mammoth defensive tackle to shore up their porous line (which is what most fans and pundits are recommending/demanding they do); trade the choice to amass extra picks; or stand firm and take a quarterback with smarts, skills, and savvy, but one that some say doesn’t have the Right Stuff to be a franchise quarterback.

Thomas Dimitroff, the newly hired Atlanta GM, stuck to his gut feeling on that defining draft choice, and picked the quarterback. Howls of disgust followed, but they are silent now. That’s because the signal-caller picked that fateful Saturday in April, Matt Ryan, is the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, and has led his team into the playoffs with an 11-5 record, a stunning turnaround from the wreckage of 2007.

It’s difficult to overstate how difficult the job of a leagues quarterback is. For a rookie, it’s exponentially harder. The game is faster, longer, more violent. Off the field, it’s even trickier. No longer are you in the huddle with your college buddies, all the same age and of similar background. A rookie pro QB has to lead a team of grown men, veterans, with differing agendas and skill sets and motivations. Just getting them to respond to your leadership is a task that many talented QBs never master.

Ryan had the Dirty Birds at hello. His first NFL pass went for a 62-yard touchdown. That’s a pretty good way to let your teammates, not to mention the coaches and the owner and the fans and the opposition, know that Ryan would be worth watching this season.

His overall numbers were shockingly good—16 TDs to 11 interceptions, an excellent ratio and perhaps the most important numerical measure of a rookie QB. 3,440 yards passing. 87.7 quarterback rating. And most importantly, those eleven wins, including four on the road. There is room for improvement, of course—that 61.1 completion percentage could come up a few points, for starters—but for a newbie, the only word is ‘wow.’

Then there is what the numbers can’t factor—Ryan’s savvy, his unflappable demeanor, his ability to change out of bad plays at the line, his slick ball handling, his control over clock and tempo, his ability to get rid of the ball and not take a damaging sack or throw a damaging pick—you get the idea. If you didn’t know better, just turning on an Atlanta game and watching the quarterback, one would never guess Ryan was in his first season.

Of course, the NFL is the most transitory of leagues—today’s success isn’t easily replicated tomorrow. But Hotlanta fans have to be incredibly optimistic about the future. After all, they get to watch Ryan in his second year, when he will no longer be just a rookie. When you have a franchise QB, you have a chance in every game, and every season is promising, regardless of the rest of the talent—that’s how important the position is. And Atlanta has a building block to build around for the foreseeable future.