Women lie, men lie, numbers don’t.  Based on the numbers that I will share, Matt Ryan was a better Falcon than Michael Vick.  I had this debate at work with my coworkers and students and I was surprised how many people here in Atlanta felt Vick was better than Ryan.  Vick’s best year in Atlanta was his second year in the league, which was 2002. He threw for 2,936 yards, 16 touchdowns, 8 interceptions, 8 rushing touchdowns with a 81.6 QB rating.

Ryan’s rookie season in 2008 he threw for 3,440 yards, 16 touchdowns, 11 interceptions with a 87.7 QB rating.  In 2010, he threw for 3,705 yards, 28 touchdowns, 9 interceptions with a 91.0 QB rating. From 2010 to his last year with the Falcons in 2021, his QB rating was 89.0 or higher. Mostly is the 90’s and his career best was a 117.1 QB rating in 2016.

Their argument was Ryan had a better team than Vick did, I agree with that opinion. However, Vick only threw for 3,000 yards or more twice in his career and both times were with the Eagles.  The Eagles Vick could still run like the Falcons Vick did, but he was a better and more accurate passer with the Eagles. In my opinion, the Eagles Vick was better than the Falcons Vick.

In 2010 Vick best year in the league, he threw for 3,018 yards, 21 touchdowns, 6 interceptions, 9 rushing touchdowns with a 100.2 QB rating. The rushing and passing touchdowns and the QB rating were all career highs for Vick.  The following season in 2011, he threw for a career-high 3,303 yards, 18 touchdowns, 14 interceptions, 1 rushing touchdown with a 84.9 QB rating. Based on these stats, I’m not sure how anyone can say Vick was better than Ryan.

Ryan is not my favorite player and I was a big fan of Vick, I always played with Vick and the Falcons on Madden. Ryan’s rookie season is better than any season Vick had in Atlanta and the Falcons made the playoffs with a 11-5 record his rookie season. Vick did lead the Falcons to the NFC Championship Game during the 2004, had the worst game of his playoff career and the Falcons lost to the Eagles. Ryan guided the Falcons to a Superbowl, should have won a ring if it wasn’t for bad play calling at the end of the game and a lot of questionable penalties.

If you want to sell tickets, have a highlight reel for a quarterback, pick Vick. If I want a pocket passer that knows the playbook, going to put up a lot of yards to many different receivers, I’m going with Ryan. I wish I was living in Atlanta when Vick played here, a lot of people said he had the Georgia Dome filled to capacity and they loved watching him. A lot of Falcons fans I met didn’t like Ryan and were ready for him to go. Highlights don’t win games, might sell more tickets, but owners want a reliable quarterback that can take their team to the playoffs on a consistent basis and that’s what Ryan did.

I would love to hear you all opinions on who you thought was the better quarterback for Atlanta.