Matt Ryan

BIOGRAPHY

Matt Ryan was born May 17, 1995, in Exton, Pennsylvania. He is a quarterback in the NFL.

Ryan began attending Boston College in 2003 and redshirted his first year with the team. Before the 2004 season, he was named the starting quarterback for Boston College due to an injury to Quinton Porter. He made his collegiate debut on October 2, 2004, against the UMass Minutemen and completed two of three passes for 16 yards in the 29–7 victory. He would not complete his first touchdown until November 20, 2004, against Temple, after throwing a 32-yard touchdown pass to Larry Lester. Replacing the injured Paul Peterson, he completed 9-of-15 passes for 121 yards in the 34–17 victory. He made his first collegiate start on November 27, 2004, in the final game of that season, completing 24 of 51 passes for 200 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions in a 43–17 loss against Syracuse. He also played against North Carolina in the Continental Tire Bowl. He completed one of his two passes for 13 yards in the 37–24 victory. Ryan was also quite proficient in the classroom and was awarded the 2004 Freshman Male Scholar-Athlete award that same year. Ryan earned various accolades for the 2007 season. He was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Year and the ACC Player of the Year. He was awarded the 2007 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, given annually in the United States to the nation's most outstanding college football senior quarterback, the other finalists for the 2007 award were Hawaii's Colt Brennan, Louisville's Brian Brohm, Oregon's Dennis Dixon and Kentucky's Andre' Woodson (all of whom were drafted at the 2008 NFL Draft). He was selected to play in the 2008 Senior Bowl. He also won the 2007 Manning Award.

After drafted by the Falcons with the 3rd pick in the first round his most successful season was in 2017. Where he started off the 2016 season with 334 passing yards and two touchdowns in a 31–24 setback to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The next game, a 35–28 victory over the Oakland Raiders, he passed for 396 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. In Week 4, Ryan threw for a team-record 503 yards and four touchdowns while teammate Julio Jones caught 12 passes for a team-record 300 yards and a touchdown in a win over the Carolina Panthers. Ryan and Jones were the first quarterback-receiver duo in NFL history to combine for at least 500 passing yards and 300 receiving yards in the same game. In October 2016, he set an NFL record for most consecutive games with at least 200 passing yards with 46 straight games. In Week 9, in the 43–28 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he had 344 passing yards and four touchdowns to earn NFC Offensive Player of the Week. In Week 17, in a 38–32 victory over the New Orleans Saints, he had 331 passing yards and four touchdowns to earn NFC Offensive Player of the Week. Ryan improved greatly from the previous season. He threw for a career-high 4,944 yards on just 373 completions and 534 attempts, second in the league, and a career-high 38 touchdowns and a career-low seven interceptions, also second in the league. Ryan's 9.3 yards per attempt and 5.0 air yards per attempt ranked No. 1 among NFL quarterbacks in 2016. He threw a touchdown pass in all 16 games for the first time in his career and was the only quarterback to do so for the 2016 season. On the season, he threw a pass to an NFL record of 13 different receivers. Ryan was selected to his fourth Pro Bowl and was named First-team All-Pro. Following the regular season, he was recognized as the NFL Most Valuable Player by the Pro Football Writers Association. Ryan was named the NFL Offensive Player of the Year and the NFL Most Valuable Player for the 2016 season. He earned the Bert Bell Award for the 2016 season. He was ranked tenth by his peers on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2017.

As the #2-seed in the NFC Playoffs, Ryan led the 11–5 Falcons to a 36–20 home victory over the #3-seed Seattle Seahawks in the Divisional Round. Ryan passed for over 300 yards and had three touchdowns. In the NFC Championship, Ryan led the Falcons to a 44–21 home victory over the Green Bay Packers. Ryan threw for 392 yards for four touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for a fifth touchdown, just the fourth player to do so in a post-season game, as the Falcons earned a trip to Super Bowl LI. The game against the Packers was the last one ever played at the Georgia Dome. During Super Bowl LI against the New England Patriots, Ryan finished with 284 passing yards, two touchdowns, and a lost fumble. Although the Falcons led 28–3, it became the subject of one of the most historic downfalls in sports history as the Falcons lost the Super Bowl 28–34 in overtime. Ryan became the first quarterback in franchise history to pass for over 1,000 yards in a single postseason. Of the quarterbacks to achieve the feat, he achieved the highest passer rating, 135.3, and joined Joe Flacco as the only one to not throw a single interception.

In March of 2022, he was traded to the Indianapolis Colts.