Posts Tagged ‘Matt Ryan’

There were unfair expectations for Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez coming out of USC as the fifth overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. The high expectations were not because of draft position or alma mater. They were because of the spectacular seasons rookie quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan had in 2008.

Flacco led the Ravens to an 11-5 record and a playoff birth where they made it all the way to the AFC Championship where they fell to the eventual Super Bowl champion Steelers. Flacco became the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to win two playoff games. Matt Ryan led the Falcons, who were 4-12 in 2007, to an 11-5 record and playoff birth where they fell to the eventual NFC champion Cardinals in the Wild Card round. In both players’ cases, they had first year NFL coaches leading the way, making this even more of an anomaly. Stunning.

The play of Flacco and Ryan as rookies was the exception, not the norm. Rookies quarterbacks aren’t supposed to lead a team to the playoffs in their first season. They definitely aren’t supposed to lead their team to a conference championship game like Flacco did. There’s usually a learning curve. In the past, rookie quarterbacks usually haven’t taken the first snap of the first game in their first season. That’s all changed now. Lately rookie quarterbacks have been thrown into the action upon arrival. This trend is going isn’t going away any time soon either.

Flacco and Ryan had a lot of help on the way to their successful seasons. Flacco had one of the best defenses in the league and Ryan had one of the best running backs in the league. Sanchez has the “same old Jets” to “help” him.

The success of rookie quarterbacks Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco in 2008 will make Mark Sanchez’s rookie season pressure filled, especially playing in New York.  The fact is that rookie quarterbacks do not do well in their rookie seasons.  Ryan and Flacco’s success as rookies is the exception.  It just so happens they did it in the same season.  What are the odds?  Both quarterbacks led their respective teams to the playoffs.  Flacco and the Ravens won two playoff games before losing in the AFC championship to the eventual Super Bowl champion Steelers.  Ryan lost to the NFC champion Cardinals in the first round.  

Ryan and Flacco’s success is so recent that it is fresh in the minds of fans.  Now Sanchez will be expected to have success like they did.  Before Flacco’s playoff wins last season, only two rookies quarterbacks in history won a playoff game during their rookie seasons: Shaun King in 1999 and Ben Roethlisberger in 2004.    

The pressure Sanchez will be under during his rookie season is not fair but it is reality.  He can blame Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco for that.  Sanchez would have experienced extreme pressure anyway being the fifth overall pick in the draft and playing in New York, but he will feel added pressure because of the success of the two rookie quarterbacks in 2008.  If Ryan and Flacco could do it, why not Sanchez?