Kirk Cousins and Matt Ryan are eerily similar and that’s terrifying
By Luke Parrish
Ryan tumbled after his near-elite run
Matt Ryan and the Falcons stumbled into the next three seasons as the quarterback aged. Atlanta is 18-30 over the past three seasons with Ryan under center and his numbers have taken a huge dive. With 37 interceptions in three years, Ryan has regressed back to his old self from before his MVP run in 2016.
He has taken a slight dip in yards per season down to 4,338, which is still a remarkable number but not when you factor in his attempts. Ryan has averaged over 600 pass attempts per season since 2019, but the results have not been too kind. His touchdowns have dropped to just 24 per season with 12 interceptions and 43 sacks, all of which are significantly worse than the previous three years.
The Falcons had some issues to deal with internally as far as contracts go but losing Julio Jones has certainly impacted the offense. With no proven run game or a true WR1 at their disposal last season, Ryan was playing with scraps. Calvin Ridley is not expected back with the team, so that will only make things worse in Atlanta.
Adam Thielen, an aging but productive target, had a similar impact for Kirk Cousins as Julio had for Ryan (no, this is not me saying that Thielen is the same player as Julio Jones). As he heads out the door, can we expect a similar dip in production from Kirk Cousins?