By Chris "Raiden" Grewe
Published: March 23, 2008 PrintEmail
Why exactly is Matt Ryan better than Brian Brohm again?
By Chris "Raiden" Grewe, PSH Columnist
Volume 4, Issue 4
I keep hearing all these draftniks and prognosticators and carrier's-on
going on and on about how Matt Ryan is such a better pro prospect than
Brian Brohm, and quite frankly, it's driving me nuts because I can
never seem to get one simple question answered...
Why?
Well, that question, I'm going to try to answer myself here, and
usually when I have to make the opposition's argument for them
myself...well...they don't really have one to begin with.
Let's start with these knocks on Bobby Petrino, er, sorry, it's now
Steve Kragthorpe's offensive system. You see, for the three previous
years where Brohm played in Petrino's system, I never once heard a
draftnik go "oh, he'll never make it in the pros, he's a product of the
system." Now that we're just about a month away from the draft, it's
all I'm hearing. Funny, a year ago, when he was well on his way to
being the first overall pick of the Atlanta Falcons and being reunited
with his college coach, it was a great offense for him to learn in. A
year later, now it's a question mark?
Really?
Somehow after one year in an offense where his TD/INT ratio actually
stayed relatively consistent, his yardage increased by almost 1000
yards, he threw about 1.5 times as many passes (even factoring in he'd
missed two games the previous year, that'd still be roughly 80-100 more
passes), and completed a higher percentage, he's a worse pro prospect
now?
Really?
Now let's look into this myth of how Matt Ryan's better. Statistically
speaking, he threw for more yards, more interceptions (by 7 mind you),
and played in two more games than Brohm this year (counting an ACC
title game and a bowl appearance, which do factor into the stats). Oh
yes! And his quarterback rating was right around, eh, 25 points lower.
In fact, in no year in their college careers did Ryan's quarterback rating even come within 25 points of Brohm's.
Not even looking at it from a statistical standpoint (since those can
be deceiving), looking at the guy's physical attributes, they've both
been banged up, and they've both missed some games somewhere along the
line. Brohm is just as athletic as Ryan in my estimation, and they both
move around decently well in the pocket. Brohm's advantage is his arm,
while not a cannon, it's at the very least, not a question. With Ryan,
you've got a major question mark there as to whether or not he's got
the arm strength to make it.
Pro Day workout aside, I've yet to be impressed by Matt Ryan, and even
that pro day exhibition means very little to me for a quarterback
because frankly, after two months of practicing almost just for that,
you better be able to his the majority of your throws with nobody in
your face and no threat of being hit in a controlled environment.
With Brohm on the other hand, there's a proven track record of this guy looking the part since Day 1 of his freshman year.
If anything, these two are evenly matched quarterbacks, at least in my
mind. If I were go with one over the other, it'd be Brohm and I'd spend
the rest of the time I had to decide pouring over the breakfast menu.
They're both in that boom or bust category, and teams if they study the
film enough are going to determine that Brohm makes solid reads and
isn't going to kill you with the major mistakes, and he has the arm to
develop into something at the next level. I don't necessarily see these
same qualities with Matt Ryan.
So tell me again, why's Matt Ryan better than Brian Brohm?
