After losing Michael Vick and their head coach, Jim Mora, at the end of the 2007 season, the Atlanta Falcons were in deep trouble. Without the two main leaders of the team, they were in desperate need of help.
During the offseason of the 2007-2008 season, Arthur Blank, the Falcon's owner, hired a new head coach, Mike Smith, and a new quarterback, Matt Ryan. They both had high expectations to fill very large shoes left by Jim Mora and Michael Vick.
Matt Ryan was drafted 3rd overall as the Falcon's number one pick in the 2008 draft. Ryan was not expected to fill Vick's shoes for at least a couple of years, but what he did was highly unexpected. He was named Offensive Rookie of the Year after completing 265 of 434 passes for 3,340 yards, 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions for an 87.7 passer rating. Matt's 3,340 passing yards in 2008 ranked 6th for the single season record in team history. He became one of two rookie quarterbacks in NFL history to accumulate over 3,000 passing yards in his first season. He also posted a streak of nine consecutive 200-yard passing games in 2008, from weeks 6-15, and recorded eight games with a 65.0 completion percentage or higher.
Matt Ryan surprised the nation with his performance as the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. Because of his early success, many expect him to be a Hall of Fame quarterback by the end of his career. http://www.blogtoplist.com/rss/matt-ryan.html
