By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Sometimes it doesn’t take too much thought to decide whether or not a quarterback has lived up to his draft position.

For the most part, 1st round quarterbacks fall into one of two categories. You have what we’ll refer to as the “Gigli Division” consisting of guys whose NFL careers were about as successful as the aforementioned Ben Affleck movie.

The second group is what I’ll call the “Godfather Division”, which as you might expect, consists of players that were incredibly successful.

Then there are those few quarterbacks that fall somewhere in between, the “Hangover Division” so to speak, that have had good careers, but not quite to the level you would expect based upon where they were drafted. Matt Ryan, the 3rd overall pick the 2008 draft, is that quarterback.

There are a few different criteria that most everyone uses when judging the success of a quarterback, first and foremost being, do they win games? More importantly, do they win playoff games?

Coming into the 2016 season, his eighth in the league, Ryan has a winning percentage of .578 to go along with 4 playoff appearances, 2 division titles, and the most game winning drives (31) since his rookie year.

Besides the come from behind wins those numbers aren’t overly impressive, but to his credit the winning percentage does equate to a little over 9 wins per year. As for the playoffs, well out of the Falcons four postseason appearances with Ryan at quarterback there has been only one win. It may not exactly seem fair, but you’re the #3 draft pick one playoff win in eight seasons just isn’t going to cut it.

In some cases the lack of postseason success is more a result of the supporting cast: possibly a little too many Alan’s and not enough Phil’s, to stay with the Hangover theme. That’s not necessarily the case with Ryan though.

Through his first eight season Matt has a TD:INT ratio of 1.88:1. If you take away his 2010-2012 seasons, where I admit that he played like one of the best quarterbacks in the league, that ratio drops to 1.56:1. It’s easier said than done, but you’d like to see those numbers above 2:1, at least.

I will say in Ryan’s favor he does have a career completion percentage of 64.3 and has averaged over 4,000 yards a season, which is pretty impressive.

Just to put those numbers in perspective, Joe Flacco, taken in the same draft as Ryan, is behind Ryan in every single one of those categories. (Well, except for the most important one).

My main issue with Matt Ryan in relation to expectations is that in order for him to be successful he needs to be surrounded by talented players. He has yet to prove he’s the type of player that will be able to take inferior talent around him and raise their level play. There’s a reason why his most successful years were when Michael Turner joined him in the backfield.

I know it may not sound like it, but I really do think he is a good quarterback. I guess the whole point of my rambling is this: If I told you when Ryan was drafted eight years ago that he would be the Offensive Rookie of the Year, a 3-time Pro Bowl Player, and would lead the Falcons to 1 playoff win during this eight year period, would you really be all that excited to have him as your quarterback? Wouldn’t you have expected more?