Matt Ryan

Week Seventeen Analysis: While this is the perfect matchup for Matt Ryan to go off and have a day similar to Week 12, where he bested the Bucs for 353 yards and a score, it's not likely to happen this week. The Falcons have home field advantage locked up, so while Ryan should start the game, he could for a quarter or three quarters, or who knows. What we do know is that he will rack up some great stats when he is in. Tampa has allowed multiple passing scores in four straight games and has given up nine 300-yard games this season. Ryan could do enough in a half to warrant a start.

Week Sixteen Analysis: Matt Ryan has topped 270 passing yards in 10 games, and he's thrown multiple touchdowns in nine games, and he did both last week. Ryan heads to Motown this week to face a Detroit team that has not allowed a quarterback to top 200 yards or throw a touchdown pass in two weeks. Although in fairness, they faced Aaron Rodgers in lousy weather and Ryan Lindley. Prior to those two games the Lions had yielded multiple touchdown passes in five of their previous six games, so there's no way Matty Ice is left out in the cold this weekend.

Week Fifteen Analysis: Matt Ryan has had his share of problems completing touchdown passes as of late. With only seven passing touchdowns to eight picks in the last six games, fantasy owners have been saved by Ryan's yardage totals alone. Matty Ice has now thrown for more than 300 yards five times in the last six games. He moves the sticks through the air, which matches up well with the New York Giants. The Giants are allowing 12.9 yards per completion, which is the third-worst mark in the NFL. While they have allowed a touchdown pass in seven straight games, they've only allowed multiple touchdown passes in three of those seven.

Week Fourteen Analysis: Matt Ryan started the season on his hottest streak ever, and but he's cooled off considerably. In his last five games, Ryan has completed five touchdown passes to seven interceptions, and his paltry 165 yards and one touchdown against the Saints last week was a bit of a disappointment to say the least. A trip to Charlotte is not an easy task for Ryan as the Panthers have held six of the last seven quarterbacks they've faced to fewer than 250 yards. This is a tough matchup for a cold Matty Ice.

Week Thirteen Analysis: Matt Ryan has now thrown for over 300 yards in each of the last four games, but the concerning part is that he's thrown seven picks to only four touchdowns in that span. His best performance over the last month was against this week's opponent, the Saints, in which Ryan had 411 yards and three touchdown passes. The Saints have allowed the second-most passing yards, passing touchdowns and rushing yards to opposing quarterbacks this season. That's a lot of "number two", if you catch my drift, and it adds up to the unquestioned worst pass defense in the NFL. So look for the man who wears #2 for the Falcons to have another huge performance on Thursday.

Week Twelve Analysis: You can't spell "interception" without "ice." That was never more apparent than this last week when Matty threw five interceptions and no touchdowns against the Cardinals. Matt Ryan was the first quarterback to win a game with those two numbers since Bart Starr did it in September of 1967. He still threw for 301 yards in the game, which was his third consecutive game with 300-plus yards, but the lack of a touchdown pass was sorely missed by fantasy owners. Ryan's got an awesome shot to make up for all of that this week against the Buccaneers. In their last five games, Tampa has allowed 13 touchdown passes and is yielding an average of 326 passing yards per game.

Week Eleven Analysis: With nine games in the books, Matt Ryan has thrown three touchdowns in five of them. That's awesome. What's more, he's topped 275 yards in six games. Consistency wins fantasy championships, and Ryan just isn't posting clunkers. And, he's often times explosive, like last week's 400-yarder with three touchdowns. Arizona's once-tough secondary has been picked apart over the past two games, allowing seven touchdown passes to Alex Smith and Aaron Rodgers, making Ryan an elite start again.

Week Nine Analysis: The Dallas secondary remains one of the league's best defensive success stories. They're third-best in passing yards allowed, and fourth-best in passing touchdowns allowed. They dropped the hammer on Eli Manning last week, holding him to his only scoreless game of the year. They have a similar challenge this week, as they face Matt Ryan, a guy who has scored in every game, and scored at least twice in every game but one. Ryan just finished violating the Eagles, with three touchdowns against their solid secondary. But Dallas is just plain better, and their corners, Morris Clairborne and Brandon Carr can hang with Julio Jones and Roddy White.

Week Eight Analysis: Inexplicably, last week, against a reeling Oakland secondary, Matt Ryan snapped a string of 10 games without multiple interceptions, and he also posted his first game without at least two touchdowns. It was a massive disappointment. And now he faces a materially better secondary, and on the road, no less. Over the past three games, the tough Eagles secondary has faced three good quarterbacks, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, and Matthew Stafford. Those guys averaged modest numbers, especially by their standards: 275 yards and 1 touchdown pass. Ryan has the talent and tools to post a huge box score in any game, but this matchup makes an explosion unlikely.

Week Six Analysis: It's back to back No. 1 quarterback rankings for Matt Ryan.  Last week he validated my ranking by finishing with 345 yards and two scores.  This week, it might be even better.  Prior to last week's bye Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger murdered the Oakland secondary. They combined for 722 yards and seven scores.  Meanwhile, Ryan has scored multiple touchdowns in every game, and is second in touchdowns scored, with 14. Ryan's three weapons, Julio Jones, Roddy White, and Tony Gonzalez are all clicking. It should be a slaughter.

Week Five Analysis: It's only week five, and I already feel like a broken record. How many ways can I describe how bad the Redskins secondary is? I've already used the following adjectives: Crappy, horrific, dreadful, appalling and eye-gougingly painful to watch. According to Roget, that only leaves awful, terrible, sickening, and ghastly. I like ghastly. Let's go with ghastly today, okay? The Redskins' ghastly secondary has allowed the most passing touchdowns, and the second-most yards, 319 per game. This despite facing Sam Bradford, Andy Dalton, and Josh Freeman over the past three weeks. Needless to say, the red hot Matt Ryan will pass unabated through this secondary.

Week Four Analysis: With another big game last week, Matt Ryan has now thrown multiple touchdowns in 9 of his last 13 games. And, even better, he's posting explosive games, having scored three or more touchdowns in half of his last 10 games. When I watch Carolina's secondary, they don't seem to be playing well, yet they've allowed just one passing touchdown in each game. Perhaps that's because they're busy giving up big running performances. Still, I like Ryan to perform no worse than two of his peers, Eli Manning and Drew Brees, did over the past two weeks, meaning a couple touchdowns and around 300 yards. He topped both of those numbers last time he met Carolina, in week 14 of last year.

Week Three Analysis: With his two touchdown performance on Monday night (which should have been three touchdowns, no thanks to Julio Jones), Matt Ryan has now thrown multiple touchdowns in 8 of his last 11 games. Although it wasn't his crispest performance, he's become matchup proof, and the Chargers don't change that. They've faced some lousy quarterbacking in Jake Locker and Carson Palmer so far this year. Holding them to one passing touchdown apiece doesn't offset the multiple touchdowns San Diego allowed in 8 of the last 9 games of last year, with mostly the same secondary. The Atlanta running game is completely dead, so expect plenty of passing from Ryan in this one.

Week Two Analysis: It's awfully hard to know if what you're seeing in the preseason is reflective of what's going to happen in the regular season. For example, the Jets fooled us all. But, our faith in Matt Ryan, who moved all the way up to be my #5 QB by mid-August looks to have been dead on. His four touchdown day was the best QB performance of the opening week. The Denver secondary still has Champ Bailey, and free agent Tracy Porter snagged an interception last week. But this is hardly an invincible unit, and the Falcons can attack with three great receivers, Jones, White, and Gonzo. Last week, Ben Roethlisberger put up two scores with an inferior passing attack, on the road. I expect no less for Matt Ryan.

Week One Analysis: No quarterback has had a better preseason than Matt Ryan, and it's possible that no secondary had a worse preseason than Kansas City's.  Their first team secondary was riddled by Sam Bradford and Russell Wilson over the past couple weeks.  Many of you are justifiably wary of drawing conclusions from preseason play, so let me assure you, Ryan's high ranking this week has more to it.  After a very slow start, Ryan finished last year very well. In the second half of the year, he averaged an impressive 277 yards per game with 2.2 touchdowns per game.  The Chiefs have good personnel in their secondary, including Brandon Flowers, Stanford Routt, and Eric Berry.  But, Matt Ryan, and his copious weapons look like more than they can handle.

NEXT: #8 AARON RODGERS