Falcons: Falcons vs. Saints

[AUTiger7222]

I was just watching the game again and saw a stat that I didn't see during the live broadcast. In Matt Ryan's last 3 games vs. Saints (This was before the Thursday game) he had attempted 50 passes. It's the only time in NFL history a QB has attempted 50 passes in 3 straight games vs. a single team. If you look at Ryan's stats in those 3 games they are pretty dang good.

29/52 (55.8%), 351 YDS (6.8), 2 TD, 1 INT - 81.5 QB Rating
34/52 (65.4%), 373 YDS (7.2), 1 TD, 0 INT - 92.9 QB Rating
34/52 (65.4%), 411 YDS (7.9), 3 TD, 1 INT - 100.7 QB Rating

Now look at Michael Turner's stats in those 3 games.

22 CAR, 96 YDS (4.4), 0 TD
11 CAR, 39 YDS (3.5), 0 TD
13 CAR, 15 YDS (1.2), 0 TD

Now look at Drew Brees stats in those 3 games.

30/43 (69.8%), 322 YDS (7.5), 2 TD, 0 INT - 106.9 QB Rating
23/39 (59.0%), 307 YDS (7.9), 4 TD, 2 INT - 96.8 QB Rating
21/32 (65.6%), 298 YDS (9.3), 3 TD, 1 INT - 113.8 QB Rating

Now look at how many points the Falcons defense gave up in those 3 games.

26
45
31

It's hard to win games when your defense is giving up that many points forcing the Falcons offense to play from behind and abandon the ground game. Want proof? Look at Thursday's games. Look at the difference in everyone's stats.

Ryan - 18/33 (54.5%), 165 YDS (5.0), 1 TD, 0 INT - 78.5 QB Rating
Brees - 28/50 (56.0%), 341 YDS (6.8), 0 TD, 5 INT - 37.6 QB Rating
Turner - 12 CAR, 83 YDS (6.9), 1 TD
13 points

I don't think it's by happenstance that the Falcons lost the 3 games in which Ryan had over 50 attempts and Brees didn't and then won the game that Brees had over 50 attempts and Ryan didn't. Not too many QB's find themselves on the winning end of games when they throw the ball 50 times in the NFL. Since the NFL merger in 1970 it's happened 91 times. So 91 times in 42 seasons comes out to about 2.2 times a season on average there's a game in which a winning QB attempts 50 passes. It's just not a good combination for success.

Now of course with there being more passing now days than there ever has been before it's happening more often. It's happened 8 times this season compared to just 2 times in the entire decade of the 70s.