Matt Ryan: The Best Player to Ever Win Offensive Rookie of the Year Honors?

Atlanta Falcon quarterback Matt Ryan was named the Associated Press 2008 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year on Tuesday.

Ryan won by a landslide, as 44 of the 50 nationwide sportswriters that participated voted for him.

The 2008 rookie class was filled of participants that could have won the award.

Along with one of the top defenses in the league, Joe Flacco led the Baltimore Ravens to an 11-5 record and get back to the playoffs after a disappointing 5-11 record last season.

After parting ways with Cedric Benson, the Chicago Bears were searching for answers at running back to help out the struggling offense. Matt Forte out of Tulane appeared to be that answer, as he led the Bears in rushing with 1,188 yards and eight touchdowns.

Many other rookies made major contributions to their teams' success this season, including DeSean Jackson, wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles, and Chris Johnson, running back for the Tennessee Titans.

Over the years, we have seen numerous rookies have an immediate impact on the team they play for.

In his first season in the league in 2004, Ben Roethlisberger helped lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 15-1 record before falling to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship.

In 2007, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson ran for 1,341 yards and 12 touchdowns in just 14 games. He also set the single-game rushing record just eight games into his career when he ran for 296 yards in a game against the San Diego Chargers.

Roethlisberger and Peterson both had superb seasons in their first year in the league. However, neither of them had to go through what Matt Ryan went through.

Last season, everything seemed to go wrong for the Atlanta Falcons. After receiving a 10-year, $130 million contract, Michael Vick let down the franchise by running an illegal dog fighting ring at one of his homes. He was suspended by the NFL and was sentenced to 23 months in prison.

With three games left in the 2007 season, Bobby Petrino resigned as head coach. In the same week, he took the head coaching position at Arkansas. Everything seemed to be going wrong for the Falcons.

In March, Atlanta traded two-time Pro Bowl corner back DeAngelo Hall to the Oakland Raiders for a second-round draft pick. Hall had caused nothing but headaches for the Falcons last season. He was fined $100,000 at the beginning of the year after a confrontation with Petrino. He also made comments about Petrino after the coach released defensive tackle Grady Jackson.

Most rookies deal with an enormous amount of pressure. There are so many expectations for a player when he comes to an organization for the first time. The Giants expected Eli Manning to eventually perform on the same level as his brother. The Saints expected Reggie Bush to put up explosive numbers like he did when he was at Southern California.

The Atlanta Falcons were different from most franchises. When Vick was the quarterback for the franchise, they were playoff contenders every year. They even made it to the NFC Championship game in 2005.

Before the start of the 2007 season, the Falcons were once again playoff contenders. Fans knew how fun it was to watch Vick play and that he was the reason why the Falcons had another chance at the playoffs. Most of the tickets sold for games that season were because of the fact that Michael Vick was the Falcons quarterback.

A few weeks before the season, all of the hopes and dreams of Vick leading the Falcons to a Super Bowl vanished.

In the 2008 NFL Draft, the Falcons were looking for answers. They were looking for a fresh start and a new player around which to focus their franchise. This is where Matt Ryan came into play.

The Falcons selected Ryan third overall out of Boston College. He signed a six-year contract that was worth an estimated $72 million. The deal made it clear that they were moving on from revolving their franchise around Vick.

Imagine being inside the head of Ryan on draft day. None of us can imagine the amount of pressure on a guy such as Ryan to replace a star quarterback such as Vick. So how did Ryan live up to the amount of pressure he was facing?

In his first career NFL game against the Detroit Lions, Ryan's first play was a 62-yard touchdown pass to Michael Jenkins. The Falcons went on to win the game, 34-21.

Ryan completed almost 62 percent of his passes for 3,280 yards, 15 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. Not bad for a rookie quarterback.

Ryan's statistics are the least important part about this season. Despite the numbers, Ryan helped the Falcons do something that nobody expected them to do after last season: clinch a playoff spot.

The Atlanta Falcons finished the season with an 11-5 record, just one game behind the Carolina Panthers for the NFC South title.

Does Ryan deserve the Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year award? Absolutely.

What Ryan accomplished in his rookie season was phenomenal. Most franchises take a couple of years to recover after a disastrous season like the Falcons had.

A star quarterback in jail for dog fighting. The trade of a two-time Pro Bowl cornerback because he was nothing but a headache to the team. The resigning of a head coach in the middle of the season who signed with a college team in the same week.

Whether you want to admit it or not, nobody expected the Falcons to recover this quickly. The fact that they were able to make the playoffs this season is nothing short of amazing.

Ryan may not have the best statistics when you compare him to others who have won the award.

However, no other previous winners went through what Ryan went through during his rookie season. The amount of pressure he had to overcome as the Falcons new starting quarterback cannot be measured. Not only are analysts picking the Falcons to win their opening round matchup against the Arizona Cardinals, but they are picking them as Super Bowl contenders, too.

After helping the Falcons overcome a season to forget by leading them to the playoffs, Ryan is arguably the best player to win the Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year award in NFL history.