Over the years, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco have become close professionally and personally.
The bond between them started after they were the first two quarterbacks taken in the 2008 draft and both were instant successes. Ryan and Flacco have gone on to varying degrees of success that they’ve turned into lucrative $100 million NFL contracts.
In the post-Michael Vick era, the Falcons needed a quarterback and tabbed Ryan with the third pick in the draft. Flacco, who was more of a projection coming from a FCS school, was taken 15 picks later, by the Ravens.
Ryan has guided the Falcons to a 62-38 regular-season record, but has a 1-4 record in the playoffs. He took the Falcons to the NFC championship game after the 2012 season.
Flacco has a 66-36 regular-season record and has a 9-4 mark in the playoffs. Along with a linebacker Ray Lewis and a stout defense, he guided the Ravens to a victory in Super Bowl XLVII and was named the MVP.
“I really like Joe,” Ryan said on Wednesday. “He’s a good guy. I’ve been happy for him and his success. He’s done a great job in Baltimore.”
The two have bounced ideas off of one another .
“I think everybody does,” Ryan said. “When you have a relationship with somebody, you always talk about certain things.”
This will be just the second regular-season meeting between Ryan and Flacco. The Falcons won the last game 26-21 in 2010. Ryan connected with wide receiver Roddy White with 20 seconds to play to lift the Falcons to the victory.
“It’s always fun to play Matt because we did come in together,” Flacco said. “It’s a shame that we’re in opposite (conferences) so we don’t get to play each other all that often. I know that we’ve played in a couple of preseason games, but this is only the second time that we’ve played each other.”
This will be Ryan’s first trip to Baltimore for a regular-season game.
But back in 2012, if the Falcons could have held on against San Francisco they would have played each other in the Super Bowl.
“It will be a little bit cooler if we got to play each other more,” Flacco said. “I always enjoy going up against the Falcons, seeing Matt and seeing him close up.”
As far as the personal side of their relationship, both are guarded.
“I don’t have any crazy stories for you,” Flacco said. “If you’re looking for a good story, I’m not sure that we are the two best guys to ask for that.”
But this season, Ryan and Flacco are trying to lead rebound campaigns.
Flacco has the Ravens off to a 4-2 start after they went 8-8 and missed the playoffs last season.
Ryan and the Falcons, who trying to rebound from a 4-12 season, have stumbled out of the gate with a 2-4 start.
The Ravens have implemented a new offensive scheme under coordinator Gary Kubiak, who came over after being fired in Texas.
Flacco has completed 63.6 percent of his passes and has thrown 12 touchdowns passes to three interceptions. He’d been under the 60 completion percentage mark for the past three seasons.
“He’s not really a stat guy,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “Over the years, we have not (compiled) a lot of stats offensively which I think sometimes, in the quarterback conversation, hurts Joe’s status to some extent. I am happy to see him doing some things that way.
“In the end it’s about winning games and Joe really understands that as well as any quarterback that I’ve ever seen.”
Ryan got off to a hot start, but thing started to slow down as injuries have started to mount.
The offense hasn’t been in sync since injuries to guard Justin Blalock (back), center Joe Hawley (knee) and right tackle Lamar Holmes (foot) against Minnesota. Since the injuries, they’ve scored just three touchdowns over nine quarters and two have been on long catch-and-run pass plays to Antone Smith.
Since those injuries, the Falcons have been out-scored 49-0 in the fourth quarter of the past three games.
“We’ve had opportunities to make plays and we just haven’t made them,” Ryan said. “We have to remain confident in the belief that we’re going to go out there and make those plays when they present themselves.”
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