On Sunday, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan will play against Colts quarterback Matt Hasselbeck — a quarterback Ryan said he grew up admiring.
“I’ve always been a big fan of Matt and have been since I was young,” Ryan said. “He comes from a school that prepares you really well for the NFL especially at the quarterback position.”
Ryan said when he played at Boston College 10 years after Hasselbeck, he became friends with Hasselbeck’s younger brother, Nathanael Hasselbeck.
Ryan said he would ask Nathanael Hasselbeck questions about his older brothers — Matt and Tim Hasselbeck — hoping one day he would be in their shoes.
“I got to know him pretty well and I would wear Nathanial out with questions about Matt and Tim because you know, you’re a young guy,” Ryan said. “(I asked) what did they do, how do they prepare, what do they do now, all those kinds of things. I’m sure he’d get kind of annoyed with that stuff, but I was a huge Matt Hasselbeck fan.”
Hasselbeck said he admires Ryan and his career with the Falcons and admires what he accomplished at Boston College and in the NFL.
“He’s a great player and I can’t say enough good things about Matt and his wife Sarah — they’re legends,” Hasselbeck said. “There’s Doug Flutie, and then there’s Matt Ryan and then there’s a huge drop off after that (in Boston College quarterbacks).”
Ryan, 30 years old, said he hopes 10 years down the road that he could still be playing in the NFL like Hasselbeck.
“Matt (Hasselbeck) is impressive,” Ryan said. “I think a lot of younger guys forget how good he was in Seattle and how good those teams were specifically offensively, they were really, really good.”
Hasselbeck, at 39 years old, will be starting at quarterback for the Colts Sunday in place of Andrew Luck after Luck suffered a lacerated kidney and a torn abdominal muscle in the Colts’ 27-24 win over the Broncos.
