Matt Ryan and Tom Brady haven’t faced off against each other very much in their careers. Entering Sunday’s game, the two quarterbacks had met just four times. Brady had won all four, most memorably in Super Bowl LI.
In their first meeting as NFC South rivals, Brady, now at the helm of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, once again emerged victorious over Ryan and the Falcons. Though Atlanta led 17-0 at halftime, Buccaneers came back from that deficit to win, 31-27.
Neither team was able to find success running the ball as they combined for just 88 total rushing yards. That meant Ryan and Brady had to throw the ball — a lot. Ryan finished with 34 completions on 49 attempts for 356 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Brady had 390 yards, including 320 in the second half, and two touchdowns while also not throwing a pick.
“You’d obviously prefer to be much more balanced,” Ryan said. “That wears on the defense when you are, but we weren’t. We’ve gotta look at the film and figure out how we can be better in that department. Ultimately, you’ve gotta find a way to do it, regardless of balance, no balance or how things are shaking out. We had chances and we didn’t make enough plays in the second half.”
After throwing three interceptions last week in a loss to the Chargers, Ryan was looking for a bounce-back game and got it in the first half. Atlanta scored touchdowns on two of its first three drives, both on passes from Ryan. Ryan wasn’t sacked a single time in the first 30 minutes while completing passes to a career-high 11 different receivers.
“We went out there and executed our roles (in the first half),” interim head coach Raheem Morris said. “The defense went out there and got stops. The offense went out there and scored touchdowns. We were able to get three. We were able to execute our game plan at a high level. A big part of our game plan today was protecting Matt. ... Another big part of it, for all of those guys, was to be able to keep the chains moving and get those guys going and score points. We were able to execute those things in the first half.”
To open the second half, Brady led the Buccaneers on a seven-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to narrow Atlanta’s lead. The Falcons were able to respond with a touchdown drive of their own, capped by a seven-yard touchdown pass from Ryan to tight end Hayden Hurst.
But after that, the offense began to struggle. A 52-yard field goal from Younghoe Koo was Atlanta’s final scoring play of the day. On its next drive, Tampa Bay took the lead, and though there were over six minutes left to play at that point, Ryan and the Falcons weren’t able to get down the field to score.
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
A few deep balls landed just out of the hands of the intended receivers and Ryan was sacked twice at key points, including on their final drive of the game. After the touchdown early in the third quarter, Ryan had just 55 passing yards the rest of the way.
“We just didn’t execute as well as we needed to,” Ryan said. “We had a handful of chances there in the second half to make some plays and we didn’t do it. I think if you have one or two go a little bit differently, it changes momentum.”
While Ryan and the Falcons’ offense slowed down in the second half, Brady — as he does — began to string drives together and executed the comeback. For the fifth consecutive time in their careers, Brady came out on top of the matchup.
In two weeks, the Falcons travel to Tampa Bay to close the regular season, and Ryan will be looking to notch his first win against Brady — and end the season on a high note. The next matchup was clearly on Ryan’s mind while sharing words with Brady after the game.
“(He’s a) great player, has been a great player for a long time,” Ryan said. “Just telling him, ‘Played well, good game, and good luck next week. We’ll see you in two weeks.’”
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