Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan got the nickname “Matty Ice” because of how well he played late in close games, but he was ice cold in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 24-21 loss to the Colts.
The Falcons took a seven-point lead into the final 15 minutes, but Ryan was 6-of-16 for 52 yards and two interceptions as that lead faded away for a fourth loss in their last five games. Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson returned one of those interceptions for a touchdown and the loss touched off another round of questions about what’s wrong with Ryan.
Coach Dan Quinn didn’t single out Ryan when discussing his frustrations with the offense as a whole and wide receiver Roddy White was on a similar path when he said it was on everyone to pull the Falcons out of their skid.
“What do I say to him? Nothing because I know what type of player he is,” White said, via ESPN.com. “He competes and works as hard as anybody in this league. We’re all in a funk. It’s not just Matt. We’ve got to help Matt out. We’ve got to catch some balls that we’re able to catch. We’ve got to help him out, especially when he’s not playing Matt Ryan football. We’ve got to go out there and make up for the things that he’s not doing well right now. We all have to play better as a collective group and give a better collective effort. Matt Ryan doesn’t jump offsides or have holding penalties. We’ve got to go out there and fix all the stuff we’re doing on offense and don’t just depend on him to win the game for us.”
The upcoming three-game stretch has the Falcons facing the Vikings, Buccaneers and Panthers in games that will say a lot about their playoff chances so time’s running short to fix an offense that returned from the bye looking like the same one that was troubling the team earlier this month.