Watch: Matt Ryan very briefly considered blocking a defensive lineman

Matt Ryan knew it would be idiotic to try to block Nick Fairley.

Dan Gartland | Sep 27, 2016

Watch: Matt Ryan very briefly considered blocking a defensive lineman /

Quarterbacks who have been in the NFL as long as Matt Ryan usually get the “savvy veteran” label tagged on them automatically. Ryan earned it on Monday night, though.

On a fourth quarter run by Devonta Freeman, Ryan turned around to make a block on a defender coming up from behind. He looked, saw it was 308-pound Nick Fairley and said, “Nah, I’m good.”

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“Honestly, I was thinking I was gonna be on ‘C‘mon Man’ next week,” Ryan said after the game. “I was going down thinking, ‘Ugh, man, this happened on a Monday night game. That’s definitely gonna happen next week.”

He’s probably right.

Published Sep 27, 2016

DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).