When an offense doesn’t have the threat of a running game, it makes the job of the opposing defense that much easier. That’s what happened to the Atlanta Falcons last year, finishing in the bottom five in rushing yards and top five in passing yards per contest.
Despite weapons like Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley lining up on outside, the Falcons’ predictive, pass-heavy play-calling led to quarterback Matt Ryan being sacked a career-high 48 times in 2019.
Ryan faced constant pressure, but was still one of the league’s best when under duress. In NFL.com’s recent future looking at the ten best quarterbacks when facing pressure, Atlanta’s former MVP QB was ranked at No. 7.
Ryan had a 78.4 passer rating when under pressure, as Nick Shook breaks down below:
No one on this list faced more pressures in 2019 than Ryan’s 216, with the next closest total belonging to rookie signal-caller Daniel Jones, sitting 31 pressures away with 185. Even in his team’s worst season in recent memory, Ryan still posted a passer rating under pressure that was more than 12 points higher than the league average of 66.2.
We shouldn’t be all that surprised. No one in the NFL owns a higher passer rating under pressure in every season combined since 2016 than Ryan, whose mark of 87.9 puts him at the head of a top-five list that also includes Stafford, Alex Smith, Tom Brady (82.9) and Mahomes (81.2). Only Brady has thrown more touchdown passes while under pressure (30) than Ryan (27) since 2016. Ryan owns the highest passer rating that didn’t occur in 2019, too, with his 104.9 mark from 2016 sitting third in the top five passer ratings under pressure since 2016. And for those who will say most of these combined numbers are inflated by that memorable run to Super Bowl LI in 2016, here’s the numerical retort you weren’t seeking: Ryan tied for the third most touchdown passes thrown under pressure in a single season with nine, and he did so in 2018.
Adding All-Pro running back Todd Gurley should help take a little bit of the pressure off of Ryan in 2020. Slow starts also played a role last season as Atlanta was often playing catch-up after the first quarter and forced to abandon the run game.
Offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter will have to do a better job of keeping defenses on their heels if he wants Ryan to make it through the full year.
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