Matt Ryan statistically put up great numbers this season in Dirk Koetter’s offense throwing for close to 4,700 yards and 28 touchdowns. In my previous article we took a look at Matt Ryan’s 28 touchdowns and were impressed by Matt Ryan’s ball placement, execution on goal line plays, and ability to utilize his great receiving corp. In this breakdown we will take a look at the opposite side of the spectrum as we look into Matt Ryan’s 14 interceptions.
Stats
Matt Ryan - 415/618 (66.1%), 4,694 yards, 7.5 ypa, 28 TDs, 14 INTs, 29 rushes for 145 yards
First let’s take a look at the intended targets of Ryan’s 14 interceptions during the 2014 season:
Receiver Breakdown
| Roddy White | 4 |
| Harry Douglas | 4 |
| Julio Jones | 3 |
| Devin Hester | 1 |
| Levine Toilolo | 1 |
| N/A* | 1 |
*N/A: Please look at Play 3 to see what I mean by this.
Quarter Breakdown
| 1st Quarter | 0 |
| 2nd Quarter | 5 |
| 3rd Quarter | 5 |
| 4th Quarter | 4 |
Down Breakdown
| 1st Down | 6 |
| 2nd Down | 3 |
| 3rd Down | 2 |
| 4th Down | 3 |
While here is a breakdown of Ryan’s passes by distance and location.
Distance Breakdown
| Fewer than 6 Yards | 2 |
| Between 6 and 15 yards | 3 |
| More than 15 yards | 9 |
Location Breakdown
| Deep Left | Deep Middle | Deep Right |
| 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Intermediate Left | Intermediate Middle | Intermediate Right |
| 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Short Left | Short Middle | Short Right |
| 1 | 0 | 1 |
Finally, here is a route breakdown of the intended targets:
Route Breakdown
| Out | 2 |
| Dig | 2 |
| Post | 2 |
| Corner | 2 |
| Hitch | 2 |
| Seam | 2 |
| Flat | 1 |
| N/A* | 1 |
*N/A Route: Please look at Play 3 to see what I mean by the “N/A” route.
Play 1
Situation: 1st and 20 at ATL 10
Description: Q4 - (3:30) (Shotgun) M.Ryan pass deep right intended for R.White INTERCEPTED by H.Smith at ATL 31. H.Smith ran ob at ATL 30 for 1 yard.
Opponent: 4. MIN
Offensive Formation: Shotgun Left
Offensive Personnel: 12
Defensive Formation: Cover 2
Matt Ryan in shotgun has WR84 Roddy White on the right outside running a “bench” route underneath the Vikings’ deep Cover 2 zones. On the outside receivers, the Vikings are playing five underneath zones. In this play, Ryan takes the snap and then finds the safeties sitting deep in their coverage. Ryan then turns and throws the ball deep down the sideline forcing the ball to WR84 White. Instead, FS22 Harrison Smith intercepts the pass to seal the game for the Vikings.
Take a closer look at CB21 Josh Robinson who is playing the underneath zone directly over WR84 Roddy White. Robinson actually vacates his zone and uses the deep safety help as “bracket” coverage to protect the underneath and over-the-top potential of Roddy White’s route. White was completely covered. At this point in the game the Vikings are up by 10 points with 3:30 left and Robinson was essentially gifting the underneath tight end flat route to the Falcons, but Matt Ryan doesn’t take it. Instead he forces the deep ball deep not allowing the Falcons ANY chance at coming back in this game.
Play 2
Situation: 3rd and 10 at ATL 28
Description: Q3 - (13:28) (Shotgun) M.Ryan pass deep right intended for R.White INTERCEPTED by Q.Demps at NYG 45. Q.Demps to ATL 49 for 6 yards (J.Rodgers). FUMBLES (J.Rodgers), RECOVERED by ATL-J.Rodgers at ATL 44. J.Rodgers to ATL 44 for no gain (Q.Demps). Penalty on NYG-P.Amukamara, Defensive Holding, declined.
Opponent: 5. NYG
Offensive Formation: Shotgun Split Slot Left
Offensive Personnel: 20
Defensive Formation: Cover 1 Robber
From shotgun, Matt Ryan takes the snap and immediately feels the pressure coming from the left side of the pocket. DE90 Pierre-Paul beats LT70 Matthews on a speed rush around the edge. Ryan escapes to the outside left and replants his feet looking downfield. Good so far.
Next, Matt Ryan tosses the ball deep across his body to the opposite side of the field intending for WR84 Roddy White on the deep crossing route.
Ryan completely doesn’t see the deep safety Demps playing Cover 1 over the top who jumps the route for the easy interception.
Just terrible field vision and awful job by Matt Ryan on this decision. He should have never thrown this ball to White. This ball should have gone to WR17 Hester underneath on the dig-route. Hester would have picked up the first down easily and kept the drive going. By this point in the game, the Falcons were actually up 13-10 so there was ZERO reason for Ryan to throw this ball deep.
The good news for the Falcons is that FS35 Demps tried to get “cute” with the ball and RB32 Rodgers strips it for the Falcons to recover. However, the Falcons simply should never have been in this situation to begin with.
Play 3
Situation: 1st and 10 at ATL 47
Description: Q3 - (:22) (Shotgun) M.Ryan pass short right INTERCEPTED by C.Vaughn at DET 48. C.Vaughn to ATL 7 for 45 yards (J.Jones).
Opponent: 8. DET
Offensive Formation: Shotgun Slot Right Far
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 2
This is Matt Ryan’s worst interception of his career and prompted some in the media like Frank Caliendo to respond with:
Matt Ryan just threw the ball to Barcelona instead of London. #FalconsGraphicsDepartment
— Frank Caliendo (@FrankCaliendo) October 26, 2014
What happened? Matt Ryan simply was trying to dump the ball to a “safe spot” according to him.
This raises a red flag to me. A safe spot is out of bounds. No quarterback coach ever tells a quarterback to throw it away in the middle of the field across your body.
If Ryan was trying to actually target a wide receiver across the field he could have looked for WR11 Julio Jones on the opposite sideline which STILL would have been a terrible, across the body throw that might have gotten picked. Just awful.
To all Falcons’ fans: I’m sorry. My rant is over…let’s move on!
Play 4
Situation: 3rd and 9 at ATL 10
Description: Q2 - (15:00) (Shotgun) M.Ryan pass deep left intended for J.Jones INTERCEPTED by J.Haden at ATL 29. J.Haden to ATL 29 for no gain (J.Jones).
Opponent: 12. CLE
Offensive Formation: Shotgun Slot Right Near
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 1 Robber
Ryan from shotgun has WR11 Jones in the left outside running a deep 15-yard out, one of the hardest throws in football. CB23 Haden is covering W11 Jones in off-man coverage and is actually adjusting his helmet looking away from the line of scrimmage as the ball is snapped. Haden turns to Jones and blanket covers him instantly shutting down the prolific wide receiver.
Ryan takes the snap and immediately targets Jones. Ryan stares him down the whole route and then forces the ball to him on the sideline. Haden takes the underneath coverage guessing that Jones is not running a double move up the sideline. This puts Haden in a perfect position to intercept Matt Ryan’s 15 yard out.
Terrible decision by Ryan to force the ball here. He needs to move on to his next read. Overall, the Browns actually did a great job covering this play on 3rd and 9, so definitely give credit to them and Joe Haden for reacting so quickly after the snap.
Play 5
Situation: 1st and 10 at ATL 45
Description: Q2 - (6:45) (No Huddle) M.Ryan pass short right intended for D.Hester INTERCEPTED by M.Burnett at ATL 47. M.Burnett to ATL 15 for 32 yards (J.Rodgers).
Opponent: 14. GB
Offensive Formation: Singleback Slot Right
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 1
If you read my previous article on Matt Ryan’s 28 Touchdowns, this is the same packaged play that burned CB23 Haden for a deep touchdown to WR11 Julio Jones (Play 4, specifically). This time the Green Bay Packers do a great job of covering Julio Jones deep, but actually leave the intended receiver #17 Hester open underneath on 1st and 10. This is where the ball should have gone after Matt Ryan realized that the deep routes were covered, but he wastes precious time hoping Jones or the deep sideline pass gets open instead of dumping the ball to the easy read.
Since the read is late, WR17 Hester is covered on the sideline by this point and Matt Ryan completely misses seeing the defender for an easy interception.
Play 6
Situation: 4th and 5 at CAR 36
Description: Q3 - (:23) (Shotgun) M.Ryan pass deep left intended for H.Douglas INTERCEPTED by T.Boston at CAR 16. T.Boston for 84 yards, TOUCHDOWN. PENALTY on CAR-J.Norman, Unsportsmanlike Conduct, 15 yards, enforced between downs. Penalty assessed on KO.G.Gano extra point is GOOD, Center-J.Jansen, Holder-B.Nortman.
Opponent: 17. CAR
Offensive Formation: Shotgun Trips Left Near - “Rope”
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 2
Matt Ryan from shotgun takes the snap and immediately looks left to watch WR83 Douglas run a seam route from the left slot. Underneath the go route to the sideline, WR11 Julio Jones runs a dig route from the left outside which confuses the two defensive backs as one is supposed to drop with Douglas, but neither do. FS33 Boston is playing the deep left Cover 2 zone. Boston watches Ryan’s eyes and sprints to cover Douglas breaking free on the seam-route intercepting the pass.
This is a great defensive play by Boston, and a poor throw by Matt Ryan. Ryan tries to anticipate Douglas’ release into the secondary and doesn’t ever look off the safety which pulls over Boston for the interception. In other words, he stares down the receiver and forces the pass to him instead of looking over to WR84 White breaking free up the middle of the field on his seam-route.
By my count, Matt Ryan was responsible for 11 of his 14 interceptions. Two of the interceptions were on last second heaves deep in the game with less than 30 seconds left, while one of them that could be blamed on a missed defensive pass interference call. Overall the common theme was that Matt Ryan forced balls to covered wide receivers like the Joe Haden interception in Play 4 where he was completely covered or even Play 1 to Harrison Smith. This is something Matt Ryan needs to work on to progress to the next level of quarterbacking. In many cases some of Ryan’s decisions to force the throw or make the decision reminded me of Eli Manning and his 14 Interceptions.
Matt Ryan, like Eli Manning, clearly has the talent to be a top tier quarterback, but what’s holding him back is the attitude to force the ball to his WRs instead of being more analytical about it. I find this very strange actually. Many of Tony Romo’s 9 Interceptions during this season were caused by him trying too hard to make plays similar to the days back in 2009 or 2010 when his supporting cast was much weaker. Matt Ryan has always had a pretty great receiving corp with Roddy White, Julio Jones these past few years, and Tony Gonzalez. The offensive line on the other hand needs some work though.
As an aside, the Kyle Shanahan signing as the offensive coordinator is a very intriguing move to me. Shanahan’s schemes with their ability to stretch the defense, use misdirection, and slice the inside linebackers apart should fit perfectly into the Matt Ryan’s skill-set and use of his supporting cast. In my opinion, you should definitely look for big things to come next season from this offense through the air and even on the ground.
Follow Samuel Gold on Twitter: @SamuelRGold.
