Matty Ice Current Best QB in NFL

It is hard to explain the sense of despair that I felt when I entered my fantasy draft and realized that I had the last pick of the draft. Perhaps my fate had been planned, based on my unparalleled success in my first fantasy year in 2011. Whatever the case, my despair increased as all my planned number one picks were quickly taken by my friends before I even had a chance to pick. With the last pick of the first round, I selected Maurice Jones-Drew who I was extremely dubious about picking considering his pre-season lockout with his team. With the first pick of the second round I knew that I desperately needed a reliable quarterback to be an anchor for my team. I had to scroll all the way down to the twentys in order to come across Matt Ryan, who I immediately selected. Upon my selection, the in-draft conversation board exploded with jeers concerning my selection of Matt Ryan. Originally I was skeptical about this pick, but this season Matt Ryan has racked up 69 points in three weeks for my fantasy team, proving that he is  currently the best quarterback in the league this year. 

Matty Ice, a popular nickname for Matt Ryan, can be interpreted in two ways: either he has ice water in his veins and is cool under pressure or he freezes up when the pressure looms. In previous years the latter would better apply as Matt Ryan has never won a postseason game despite making it to the playoffs three out of his four NFL seasons. He constantly is overshadowed by the multitude of quarterbacks that are capturing the headlines because of their out- of-this-world performances. Since Matt Ryan has been in the league, Aaron Rodgers has thrown 45 touchdowns in one season, Drew Brees broke Dan Marino's single season passing record and Eli Manning was named Super Bowl MVP.  This year, though, some of these quarterbacks have struggled while Matt Ryan has elevated his game which brings up the argument that Matt Ryan is the best quarterback in the league right now. 

In the 2012 NFL season, Matt Ryan has led his Atlanta Falcons to a 3-0 start for the first time since the Vick era in 2004. Currently, the Falcons are also arguably the best team in football which pads Ryan's status of current best quarterback. Matt Ryan has thrown a stellar 8 touchdowns to only 1 interception and has racked up 793 yards in the process. Matt Ryan is also the second leading fantasy scorer with 69points. To put this total in perspective, Brady only has 48 points and Rodgers only has 41 points. Matt Ryan's game has clearly elevated to the point where he should be considered the best quarterback in the NFL.

Some of the traditionally great quarterbacks have really struggled this year which has allowed Ryan to move up to number one quarterback in the league right now. Although the call at the end of the game was wrong, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers are off to a 1-2 start this season. The Packers passing game has shown little resemblance to the force that they were last year. Aaron Rodgers and his receivers never have been able to get in a rhythm and seem out of sync which is proven by the fact that Rodgers has thrown only three touchdowns this year, far off the pace he set last year when he threw 45. Tom Brady's Patriots also started the year 1-2. Tom Brady has thrown for more yardage then Ryan but only has half the amount of touchdowns(4). Drew Brees and the Saints endured a miserable 0-3 start to their season. Drew Bree's stat line matches up pretty well with Drew Bree's but the fact that Drew Brees has not won a game yet puts Matt Ryan ahead of him. In the NFL, the true measure of a quarterback is if he can win games while producing top-end stats. Matt Ryan has managed to do both which makes him, in my opinion, the current best quarterback in the NFL.