Falcons vs. Saints: Matt Ryan Must Outplay Drew Brees in MNF Finale

This wasn't a great season for Monday Night Football, but ESPN's weekly primetime extravaganza sure is wrapping things up in style.

Tonight's game features a matchup between the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints, who will be doing battle for the NFC South crown. The Saints can win it with a victory, while a win for the Falcons will keep them in the running for another week.

Given the offenses of these two teams, it's entirely likely that we are going to see a shootout. Drew Brees has been playing outstanding football all season, and Matt Ryan has quietly been playing excellent football in the last several weeks.

Now, I will note that I've already written that I'm picking the Saints to win this game in a shootout. I just think they have too much firepower, and the Falcons aren't about to knock them off in their own backyard.

That is, unless Matt Ryan has something to say about that, of course.

The belief that Matty Ice doesn't show up in big games is almost becoming a cliche at this point, but there's a reason for that. When the stakes are high, Ryan tends to stumble, and the Falcons stumble with him. So as well as he and they have been playing recently, you have to have your concerns.

I would say that Ryan needs to step it up, but I honestly don't think that will be good enough. To lead his team to a win over Brees and the Saints, Ryan is going to have to be the better quarterback out on the field tonight.

There's no reason Ryan can't be the better quarterback. He has a stud running back in Michael Turner to help keep New Orleans' defense honest, and he has two receivers in Roddy White and Julio Jones that other quarterbacks around the league would love to have. He also gets to throw to a future Hall of Fame tight end in Tony Gonzalez.

In addition, Ryan has the luxury of going up against a Saints defense that ranks 28th in the league against the pass. Seeing as how their secondary is at best decent and their pass rush is inconsistent, that makes sense.

As such, the only thing standing in the way between Ryan and a huge game is Ryan himself. This has always been the case, and it always will be the case until he proves that he can go toe to toe with anybody and any team.

The Falcons are going to be competitive tonight no matter what Ryan does, but bringing Drew Brees down to an un-Brees-like level is asking too much. The Falcons had trouble doing it in their first meeting in Atlanta, and they're going to have even more trouble doing it on the road.

It's for Ryan to pick up his teammates. Doing so won't win him a Super Bowl, but it will silence the doubters for at least a week.

That may not sound like much, but every baby step is a springboard in disguise.