How Much Blame Falls on Matt Ryan for Falcons' Struggles in 2013?

Matt Ryan's found himself in an awkward situation.

After signing a six-year extension worth up to $113.75 million and $59 million guaranteed with the Atlanta Falcons this March, his team is currently 2-9 less than a year removed from just missing out on the Super Bowl. 

The Falcons are much closer to obtaining the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 draft than they are to an NFC wild-card spot.

Who's to blame for Atlanta's cataclysmic fall from the supreme ranks?

In football, especially at the NFL level, the quarterback's the first guy to get credit for team successes and typically the first guy to get blamed for team failure.

Starting there, let's see how Ryan has fared in 2013 compared to the past two seasons (Accuracy Percentage is a Pro Football Focus metric that "accounts for dropped passes, throw aways, spiked balls, batted passes, and passes where the quarterback was hit while they threw the ball - factors that hurt the quarterback's completion percentage but don't help show how accurate they are"):

	2011	2012	2013
Completion %	61.3	68.6	67.0
Accuracy %	73.6	76.0	77.6
TD %	5.1	5.2	4.1
INT %	2.1	2.3	2.7
Yards Per Attempt	7.4	7.7	7.1
QB Rating	92.2	99.1	89.9

Sure, Ryan's been trailing in more garbage time this year than he has in the past, but it's difficult to look at the above numbers and come to the logical conclusion that Ryan has been noticeably worse in 2013. 

It's always important to remember that the game of football is interconnected. It's the ultimate team sport. 

Sports On Earth's Mike Tanier explained it this way:

"

The quarterback depends on his line. The receivers depend on the quarterback. The defense depends on the offense to not keep giving opponents the ball at midfield. Everything depends on the opponent, so AFC West numbers come with a different set of problems than NFC West numbers. In baseball, the pitcher and batter enjoy a degree of isolation from teammate effects. In football, about the only person who works in isolation is the kickoff specialist.

"

It's a simple concept, but it's easy to lose sight of amidst a high level of triumph or underachievement.

Ryan lost budding superstar Julio Jones for the season after only five games. In those outings, the former first-round pick had 41 receptions for 580 yards and two touchdowns on 60 targets. 

	2011	2012	2013
Completion %	61.3	68.6	67.0
Accuracy %	73.6	76.0	77.6
Yards Per Attempt	7.4	7.7	7.1
TD %	5.1	5.2	4.1
INT %	2.1	2.3	2.7
QB Rating	92.2	99.1	89.9

As if Jones' injury wasn't devastating enough, Roddy White was injured in the same game against the New York Jets and was unavailable for the next three contests. 

Before missing those contests, White had played in every regular-season game over the first eight seasons of his NFL career.

Talk about bad luck. 

According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), with White and Jones healthy, Ryan's average depth of target was 9.4 yards in 2011 and a respectable 8.4 yards in 2012. 

This year, it's down to 6.7—only Alex Smith's average is lower. 

Without his two prolific wideouts—Jones is clearly the more dangerous downfield threat—Ryan's been limited to shorter passes. The dynamic aspect of Atlanta's offense has essentially vanished.

Beyond the obviously devastating impact the wide receiver situation has had on Ryan, the Falcons' offensive line hasn't exactly helped either. 

PFF has it ranked as the sixth-worst pass-blocking unit after it finished 13th in that statistic in 2012.

The injury bug has done quite a bit of damage there as well.

Beyond all the offensive nightmares, there have been other issues on the other side of the ball. 

Heading into Week 11, Football Outsiders indicated that Atlanta's defense had allowed the most yards per drive and the third-most points per drive. 

For perspective, it surrendered the 22nd-most yards and 10th-fewest points per drive a season ago. To make matters worse, it's forced an NFC-low eight turnovers through 11 games. 

Ryan's been picked nine times over the last five games—an undoubtedly poor stretch.

But the only blame he should receive should be centered around his inability to carry his team through this unfathomably bad storm, which is a difficult feat we've seen elite quarterbacks recently accomplish.

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