Matt Ryan has a fumbling problem.
In his first year with the Colts, Ryan is losing control of more footballs than ever before. The quarterback leads the league with nine fumbles and has lost three of them through the first four games of the season. He had two fumbles with one lost on Sunday, as Tennessee beat Indianapolis 24-17.
What gives?
“Certainly have to do something different. I think you’ve just got to protect it better,” Ryan said after the game. “I go back to, I think I’ve been pretty good throughout my career. It’s been a very uncharacteristic four-game stretch. It’s something I’ve got to clean up and got to be better at.”
Ryan has mostly been good at preventing fumbles over his 15-year career. His career-high in fumbles is 12, which was back in 2015. But after registering just six in 2020, he did have 11 last season for Atlanta.
“Turnovers are always, they’re one of the — if not the most important one or two most critical stats when it comes to winning ballgames or at least giving yourself a chance to win. I’ve got to do a better job protecting it,” Ryan said. “We collectively have to do a better job protecting it, and I think if we can do that, we can be pretty good.”
Ryan was not the only Colt who lost a fumble on Sunday, as running back Jonathan Taylor did, too. Indianapolis lost the turnover battle 3-0, which is a big part of why the club lost.
As Ryan noted, there’s not a lot of time to make corrections for Week Five as the team is heading to Denver to play the Broncos on Thursday Night Football.
“Find a way this week,” Ryan said. “I think if we can put together a clean game, just go out there and put together a clean game where we’re not turning it over, we’re executing the way we can, I think we can be very good.”