Knowing what you knownow, Matt Ryan or Jake Long?

[WVDolphan]

No. In his limited playing time, Chris Redman was actually a serviceable starter. Matt Ryan had a good supporting cast last year, and now with Tony Gonzalez his weapons are second to only Brady. Redman could've at least lead the Falcons to a winning record. Michael Turner was the reason the Falcons made the playoffs. Matt Ryan just managed games. Long term, though Ryan's obviously a franchise QB and will be there in Atlanta making Pro Bowls for the next decade so it was still a good pick.

In retrospect, I probably should've said that Ryan "was a solid starter," not that he "is a solid starter." I'd be surprised if he didn't become a top 10 QB next season.

You obviously didnt watch any of their games and if you did you simply dont understand what you are seeing. Matt Ryan plays the QB position about as well as anyone in the league already. Given the fact he was a rookie, it is likely he will only get better. If he gets better there is a strong chance he will become the premier QB in the NFL within the next few years.

So....the answer to the question posed in the thread......lets see, top notch LT vs. one of the best QBs in the league......duh. We goofed. Period. Get over it. Stop denying Parcells missed the boat on picking Matt Ryan. The guy is an absolute beast.

EDIT: Oh yea. Vs. Chicago. Throwing a 20+ yard out into a perfect very small window, with massive pressure in your face, with under 10 seconds to play, to set up the game winning FG......is that what you call managing the game??????????????? Good call buddy. There probably arent 3 QBs in the league who couldve made that play if they even had the opportunity to be in that situation. Get real. Thats premium stuff.

Thats just one example of Matt Ryan last year doing much more than managing the game. Manage the game is what Flacco did. Matt Ryan commanded the game.

 

[ckparrothead]

Matt Ryan was not the best QB in the NFL last year nor was he tied with anyone for the best QB in the league.

 

[WVDolphan]

Most of you are nuts! I like Jake Long too, but the decision is clear cut... Would you take Marino or Anthony Munoz? It's the same question. Talking about supporting casts and other factors is pretty irrelevant when the question was posed simply as Long vs. Ryan... not will Henne be good or Flacco or what not. Just knowing the talent of the two players as individuals, you have to take the QB every time! Every time! Picking a HOF LT over a HOF QB is an utterly rediculous argument and almost indefensible. Just like those of you who say there are other good QB's, I can say there are plenty of lesser known LT's that do a fine job. So the question becomes do you want HOF QB with very serviceable LT or a HOF LT with a very serviceable QB? There's no doubt! Let me have it, I can't wait to see the homer's rational reactions.

Peace,
B

Exactly. Its complete nonsense, pure homerism, or both that would cause someone to say Long.

 

[Wadeshow]

Now look at it this way Put Ryan into the dolphins roster of last year but take out Long. We prolly would of ended up at a 6-10 record beacuse Ryan would not have any time to throw cuz our o-line still would of stunk and next thing you know hes a bust like Harrington, carr and the rest of those guys. O-line is more important then anything else you protect the Qb he can make the passes its not even debatable.

Marino was blessed with playing under one of the best lines and his stats show it look at players like Brady, Manning all have or had great o-lines in there primes.

 

[j-off-her-doll]

The ability to make difficult throws is only part of being a QB. Many QB's played better than Ryan last season:

Cassel
Pennington
Big Ben
P. Manning
Cutler
Romo
McNabb
A. Rogers
D. Brees
K. Warner

. . .

A few of those names are debatable, but Ryan has by no means arrived. I think he'll be one of the better QB's in the league eventually, but his success has been overblown.

 

[So Be]

Matt Ryan is already a franchise QB in his rookie season. That's pretty hard to top. QB has to be the toughest position to draft a winner in the NFL, followed by Left Tackle. It's a close call but I'd have to give the edge to Matt Ryan.

I can't wait till the season starts and I hope we beat Atlanta.

Great question in hindsight, how history may have changed.

Do we still sign Penny?
What would Ryan have done, if anything?
OL still a problem?
Different draft this year?

It's making my head hurt. I leave history alone, and enjoy having Long. :)

 

[ckparrothead]

The ability to make difficult throws is only part of being a QB. Many QB's played better than Ryan last season:

Cassel
Pennington
Big Ben
P. Manning
Cutler
Romo
McNabb
A. Rogers
D. Brees
K. Warner

. . .

A few of those names are debatable, but Ryan has by no means arrived. I think he'll be one of the better QB's in the league eventually, but his success has been overblown.

Cassel did not play better than Matt Ryan. Cutler is a little bit of a stretch, too. And Roethlisberger didn't turn it on until the post season.

 

[Pachyderm_Wave]

I would still take Long, as well as Ryan played last year, he still does have to prove himself for a 2nd years in a row.

In College, he did very little until his final year, and as a QB, he had a lot of help to succeed, while Long was on an O-line that only had 2 players still there from the year before, and one of them was now playing a different position from 07.

Long was one of the top linemen all through college, and looked great last year, Ryan only looked awesome in year 4, and very good in his 1st year of the NFL.

Besides, for all we know, we could have a better product waiting for his shot behind Penny.

For all we know we could also have another Patrick Ramsey waiting behind Pennington too....

One thing I most certainly have to disagree with you on is that Matt Ryan had a lot of help in college to help him succeed....it's exactly the opposite.....he had virtually NO help...

Only ONE other player was even drafted off that BC offense and that was Gosder Cherilus.....Matt Ryan was playing with a bunch of scrubs and walk-on's around him....not to mention a 280 pound, true freshman turnstile at RT where he faced constant pressure from...

Matt Ryan was the only player that teams had to try to stop at BC....and they couldn't do it......Ryan is the ONLY reason why that team even reached #2 in the BCS....and Tom O'Brien knew that....that's why he jumped ship to N.C. State immediately after Matt Ryan left...

 

[CharlieTheTuna]

Jake long may have been the most (or at least second most) important players in the Wildcat formation. His versatility allowed him to move to the right side of the line and be a dominant run blocker. Without him, some of the biggest plays of the season would not have been possible.

If you make the first pick expecting to be satisfied with only the very best player, you'll likely be dissapointed. Usually they will be a top 10-20 player in their draft class, but they can also never amount to anything. We should we thrilled that there are so few players from this draft class that we would trade our guy for. Imagine if we picked Gholston.

The fact is that right now, if I'm forced to be unbiased, I would take Ryan. Not just because he is a QB, but because he was the better player last year (Next year could be a different story). Still we got a top 5 player in the draft, who was one of the biggest reasons for our 10 game improvement. Live with it.

 

[ckparrothead]

Please don't suggest we could easily have the next Patrick Ramsey sitting behind Pennington. That's way too close to the potential truth.

I'm not saying that Henne IS the next Ramsey, just that if you were assuming that Henne doesn't pan out, and you had to pick a guy that didn't pan out that most resembles Henne...Ramsey's a pretty darn good one.

And that freshman turnstile was Anthony Costanzo, I believe. And man did he ever lay down and spread'em for Chris Ellis when they played Virginia Tech. It was awful. He's done that against too many DEs. But, at the same time, he also has a great frame and some mobility. It's just not connecting.

 

[tay0365]

Exactly. Its complete nonsense, pure homerism, or both that would cause someone to say Long.

Or maybe you are as much in love with Ryan, as you claimed many were of Beck.

Face it, getting a LT as good as Long is very rare, and a very important part of building a team, not saying Ryan is not the real deal, he had a very good season, and could prove to be a top QB, but please he was far from spectacular last year...Pennington with his so called weak arm did more then him last year.

 

[Pachyderm_Wave]

Great question in hindsight, how history may have changed.

Do we still sign Penny?
What would Ryan have done, if anything?
OL still a problem?
Different draft this year?

It's making my head hurt. I leave history alone, and enjoy having Long. :)

Penny? lol Chad Pennington? Seriously?

Are you really suggesting that it's better to have 2 years or so of watching Chad Pennington get manhandled by top defenses until an unknown commodity sitting behind him is ready....over potentially 10-12 years of a franchise caliber quarterback such as Matt Ryan????

It's absurd....

So what if Miami didn't go 11-5 and get obliterated in the first round of the playoffs last year had they drafted Ryan?? Since when is that the goal?

It was understood FINALLY after coming off a nearly winless season that Miami was in for a rebuild anyway.....and Matt Ryan would've been the perfect place to start...

That's sorta like saying.... "Thank goodness we signed 11 year veteran Fred Taylor at runningback....otherwise we would've had to draft Adrian Peterson".....

 

[tay0365]

For all we know we could also have another Patrick Ramsey waiting behind Pennington too.......

True....we really have no idea, I am only say, you never know, but noting is for sure.

One thing I most certainly have to disagree with you on is that Matt Ryan had a lot of help in college to help him succeed....it's exactly the opposite.....he had virtually NO help...

Only ONE other player was even drafted off that BC offense and that was Gosder Cherilus.....Matt Ryan was playing with a bunch of scrubs and walk-on's around him....not to mention a 280 pound, true freshman turnstile at RT where he faced constant pressure from...

I was not saying in College, I meant the NFL, as far as College, all I said was that he had only one great year.

Matt Ryan was the only player that teams had to try to stop at BC....and they couldn't do it......Ryan is the ONLY reason why that team even reached #2 in the BCS....and Tom O'Brien knew that....that's why he jumped ship to N.C. State immediately after Matt Ryan left...

He had a great Senior year, but before that he was very average if not less. Not knocking him, the guy did look good last year in the NFL, and could be a great one, but as far as I am concerned, that is still to be proven.

 

[So Be]

Penny? lol Chad Pennington? Seriously?

Are you really suggesting that it's better to have 2 years or so of watching Chad Pennington get manhandled by top defenses until an unknown commodity sitting behind him is ready....over potentially 10-12 years of a franchise caliber quarterback such as Matt Ryan????

It's absurd....

So what if Miami didn't go 11-5 and get obliterated in the first round of the playoffs last year had they drafted Ryan?? Since when is that the goal?

It was understood FINALLY after coming off a nearly winless season that Miami was in for a rebuild anyway.....and Matt Ryan would've been the perfect place to start...

That's sorta like saying.... "Thank goodness we signed 11 year veteran Fred Taylor at runningback....otherwise we would've had to draft Adrian Peterson".....

For whatever it's worth, questions are not suggestions. :)

 

[Pachyderm_Wave]

I've always hated this thread.....