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Home > Mark Bradley > Archives > 2008 > August > 14
Thursday, August 14, 2008
How will fans in Dome receive Ryan?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Matt Ryan will play before his new audience for the first time Saturday night, and in the four months since he was drafted we’ve had cause to wonder just how he’ll be received. Most new quarterbacks arrive bearing a clean slate, but Ryan’s has been smudged, at least in the eyes of some Atlantans, because of who he isn’t.
He isn’t Glenn Dorsey, whom a seeming majority preferred as the No. 3 overall pick. Nor is he Michael Vick, whose singular skills turned the Falcons into a hot ticket. The Georgia Dome became Mike’s House, and when the confessed felon landed in the Big House more than a few of his fans swore they’d never cheer for the Falcons again.
Will any of those intransigent folks be on hand for Saturday’s exhibition against Indianapolis? If so, will they be wearing their No. 7 jerseys? Will they boo Ryan when he takes the field? (As if anything that happened to Vick was anybody’s fault but Vick’s.) Or will those who claimed to be Vick fans (as opposed to Falcons fans) simply stay home?
The guess here is that Ryan’s home debut will be warm but not effusive. He won’t set off wild cheering, but he’ll hear no chorus of booing. (Unless he throws three interceptions, in which case all bets are off.) He’ll see more No. 7 shirts than No. 2’s, but most of those wearing Vick’s jersey will be disposed to cut the new guy some slack. If not, why come at all? Where’s the fun in banging your head against yonder wall?
It helps that Ryan was clearly the best quarterback among Falcons at Jacksonville last weekend - indeed, the team reports that it actually sold a few tickets this week off the strength of that encouraging performance - and it will help even more if Ryan’s Dome baptism doesn’t wind up with him taking a figurative bath. First impressions, you know.
The guess is also that 90 percent of those self-described Vick fans who swore they’d never again support the Falcons will rush back once this team starts to win. Let’s face it: If you live in Atlanta, there’s only one NFL team to support. You can hold your breath until you’re blue in the face, or you can choose to live in the present tense.
Like it or not, Michael Vick is part of the past. Like it or not, Matt Ryan is the future.
