Sports Commentary
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Matt Ryan is not Michael Vick.
That was evident on Monday as the third pick in the NFL Draft wrapped up his first mini-camp with the Atlanta Falcons.
LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 16: Actress Kate Walsh and NFL player Terrell Owens pose in the press room at the 2008 ESPY Awards held at NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE on July 16, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. The 2008 ESPYs will air on Sunday, July 20 at 9PM ET on ESPN. (Photo by Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images)
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LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 16: Actress Kate Walsh and NFL player Terrell Owens pose in the press room at the 2008 ESPY Awards held at NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE on July 16, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. The 2008 ESPYs will air on Sunday, July 20 at 9PM ET on ESPN. (Photo by Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images)
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NFL athlete Eli Manning, center, accepts the award for best game for the New York Giants victory in Super Bowl XLII at the ESPYs Awards on Wednesday July 16, 2008 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
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NFL athlete Eli Manning, center, accepts the award for best game for the New York Giants victory in Super Bowl XLII at the ESPYs Awards on Wednesday July 16, 2008 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
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LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 16: (L-R) Actress Kristen Bell, NFL athlete Adrian Peterson, actor Zac Efron and actress Sophia Bush pose with Adrian Peterson after Peterson won best breakthrough athlete at the 2008 ESPY Awards held at NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE on July 16, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. The 2008 ESPYs will air on Sunday, July 20 at 9PM ET on ESPN. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
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Actress Kate Walsh and NFL athlete Terrell Owens present the award for best game at the ESPYs Awards on Wednesday July 16, 2008 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
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Actress Kate Walsh and NFL athlete Terrell Owens present the award for best game at the ESPYs Awards on Wednesday July 16, 2008 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
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Former NFL athlete Michael Strahan,of the New York Giants, accepts the award for best team given to the New York Giants at the ESPYs Awards on Wednesday July 16, 2008 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
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Former NFL athlete Michael Strahan, center, of the New York Giants accepts the award for best team given to the New York Giants at the ESPYs Awards on Wednesday July 16, 2008 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
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NFL athlete Adrian Peterson poses with award for breakthrough athlete in the press room at the ESPYs Awards on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
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Ryan doesn’t have Vick’s sprinter speed, and he doesn’t have Vick’s cannon arm.
And that suits Ryan just fine.
“I watched Michael Vick, just like everybody else,” Ryan said Monday afternoon. “He was a ton of fun to watch, and a great player. But I do have a different style, so I don’t concern myself much with thinking about that.”
Vick represents a disappointing -- albeit exciting -- past (just two playoff victories in six seasons before his prison sentence for dogfighting and gambling).
Ryan, the anti-Vick, represents the future.
“I can’t worry about that stuff,” Ryan said of the inevitable comparisons to Vick. “What happened in the past, happened in the past. Right now, I’m focused on the future and doing everything I can to be successful next year.”
But the Falcons should ground that bird for most – if not all – of the 2008 season.
There are countless examples of blue-chip busts at the position, including one presently on the roster: Joey Harrington. The third overall selection of the Detroit Lions in the 2002 NFL draft, Harrington started the third game of the season, and he finished the year 3-9. In that same draft, David Carr was the No. 1 pick, and he was unceremoniously shuttled out of Houston after the 2006 season.
“This team is very cognizant of the odds and the percentages,” Falcons general manager Tom Dimitroff said. “That said, Mike Smith has said from Day One to every player that every job is open for competition. You can take all the stats and probabilities but, in the end, whoever is the best person for the job will be starting.”
Ryan symbolizes the new Falcons -- replete with a new coach, general manager and players -- as much as any one else in the organization.
Ryan appears to have a clean background, and he comes in as bit of an underdog, just like Dimitroff and Smith.
Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins beats the tag of Brian McCann of the Braves to win the game for the American League in the fourteenth inning of the 2008 All-Star Game held at Yankee Stadium. (Noah K. Murray, The Star-Ledger/US Presswire)
Noah K. Murray, The Star-Ledger/US Presswire
Spain's Honda rider Dani Pedrosa lands in the padding of the track boundaries after crashing during the MotoGP race for the Motorcycling Grand Prix of Germany at the Sachsenring circuit in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Germany, Sunday, July 13, 2008. (Andreas Beil, AP)
Andreas Beil, AP
Fans in the bleacher seats watch a home run by Texas Rangers' Josh Hamilton (on screen) during the Major League Baseball All-Star Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium in New York on Monday, July 14, 2008. (Frank Franklin II, AP)
Frank Franklin II, AP
Philadelphia Soul's Mike Brown leaps over tackler Cleveland Gladiators Jason Ball on a kick-off return at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, July 12, 2008. (Ron Cortes, Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT)
Ron Cortes, Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT
Spanish matador Rafael Ribio Lujan 'Rafaelillo is tossed by a Miura's bull during a bullfight in Pamplona, northern Spain, at the San Fermin festivities on Sunday, July 13, 2008. The fiestas 'Los San Fermines' held since 1591, attracts tens of thousands of foreign visitors each year for nine days of revelry, morning bull-runs and afternoon bullfights. The San Fermin festival gained worldwide fame in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel 'The Sun Also Rises.' (Daniel Ochoa de Olza, AP)
Daniel Ochoa de Olza, AP
Photographers wait for the pack to pass alongside a field of sunflowers during the ninth stage of the Tour de France cycling race between Toulouse and Bagneres-de-Bigorre, southern France, Sunday July 13, 2008. (Christophe Ena, AP)
Christophe Ena, AP
James Horwill of the Wallabies leaves the field with an injured eye after a fight broke out during the second Bundaberg Rum Series test match between the Australian Wallabies and France at Suncorp Stadium on July 5, 2008 in Brisbane, Australia. (Cameron Spencer, Getty Images)
Cameron Spencer, Getty Images
Fans hold Madonna photos as New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez (L) waits to bat against the Toronto Blue Jays during the third inning of their MLB American League baseball game in Toronto, July 11, 2008. (Mike Cassese, Reuters)
Mike Cassese, Reuters
Manny Ramirez #24 of the Boston Red Sox offers up his beverage from the Green Monster during a pitching change on July 13, 2008 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Red Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles 2-1. (Elsa, Getty Images)
Elsa, Getty Images
Stefano Barrera of Italy, left, fights with Slawomir Mocek of Poland during the foil teams final at the European Fencing Championships in Kiev, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 9, 2008. Italy won the final. (Efrem Lukatsky, AP)
Efrem Lukatsky, AP
But he too oozes optimism and confidence.
Ryan seems to pat the ball too much and, despite a substantial wind up, he doesn’t throw the ball on a rope. But Ryan also seems to get the ball where he wants to. He didn’t look very sharp early in practice Monday, with gusty winds on the outdoor practice field, and the best throw of the day belonged to current starter Chris Redman, who hit rookie receiver Harry Douglas for a 35-yard strike. But Ryan settled down later in the session, and he was perfect in running the two-minute offense before the final whistle.
He got rolling with a quick strike to Douglas on the left sideline, and then he squeezed a ball to veteran Michael Jenkins into a very small opening between two defenders. He pump faked the ball and then darted a pass to Laurent Robinson on a comeback. Then, he capped the impressive drive with a short slant placed low so only the receiver could make the play in the end zone.
Afterward, he sounded like a pro.
“The number of completions is insignificant,” Ryan said. “It’s really just about getting the ball in the end zone. But that was fun.”
Take that success, though, with a grain of salt. It appeared he only faced one blitz, and he certainly will face more daunting situations than he did on Monday.
But when practice ended, Smith insisted the starting quarterback spot was wide open.
“We are not ruling out anything in terms of who is going to start,” Smith said. “We are going to let them go out and compete. I can say that the quarterback position is one of the more difficult positions to transition.
“If anyone can do it, I think Matt is a guy who can.”
Rookie quarterbacks are not all doomed.
It’s just most of the blue-chip prospects are taken by moribund franchises, and they are thrust into the lineup, usually surrounded by a weak supporting cast. They maybe take too many hits (think Carr, who was sacked an astounding 76 times as a rookie), and they develop bad habits that they may never be able to break. There are exceptions, like Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger. But he was protected by a veteran and star-laden offensive line, and he was empowered with talented skill players. He made a relief appearance in the second game of his career, and he started in the third. But Roethlisberger didn’t attempt 30 passes in a single game until the playoffs.
The Falcons clearly are inferior to the 2004 Steelers. The Falcons have some young receivers with potential (Laurent Robinson and Douglas sure looked good on Monday), but their offensive line is in the early stages of rebuilding.
So far, though, Ryan has made a good impression.
Ryan looked at ease with his teammates on Monday, joking with veterans and encouraging rookies.
“He had some nerves and jitters the first day,” Jenkins said, “but he was real calm and he was real comfortable.
“He came in, and he took control of the huddle,” Jenkins said. “I thought he did extremely well.”
Sometimes, Ryan seems too good to be true.
He was diplomatic about running with the third-stringers during some drills (“All the guys are so talented,” he said), he said he looked forward to immediately returning to the team headquarters to watch film with his veteran coaches.
“It’s just trying to come in and earn the respect of the guys walking around, and just try and play well and work hard and get better,” Ryan said. “You can’t worry much about the other stuff. Just got to focus on what you can control.”
Those are the kind of comments Dimitroff and Smith like, among the reasons they liked Ryan more than other talented players like defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey.
“We’re excited about Matt, and all he has to offer,” Dimitroff said. “He’s got a presence about him, the intelligence about him. He not only has ability on the field but off the field, as well.”
And Vick’s future with the Falcons?
“Right now, Michael Vick, with all due respect, is still in a situation that is very precarious,” Dimitroff said. “We need to think about going forward.”
But, if the Falcons are wise, they will push Ryan forward at a slow and steady pace.
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