When explaining the last 18 months of his career, which included a season with the Indianapolis Colts, Matt Ryan could only sum it up as a “[expletive] show.”
Without a shadow of a doubt, Matt Ryan will go down as the greatest quarterback in Atlanta Falcons history. During 14 seasons with the franchise, he led them to 120 wins, seven trips to the playoffs, three NFC South division titles, and an appearance in the Super Bowl to cap off an MVP award-winning campaign in 2016.
However, all good things must come to an end, and to the surprise of the future Hall-of-Famer, the organization traded him to the Indianapolis Colts before the 2022 season. Unfortunately, while there was hope that Ryan would be the missing ingredient that could help Indy make a deep playoff run, his lone season with the franchise was an absolute disaster.
He was benched midway through the year and handed back the starting QB role several weeks later after the team fired head coach Frank Reich and hired inexperienced former player and team consultant Jeff Saturday. Those trials and tribulations during a 4-12-1 season were more than enough for Ryan to decide he wanted to walk away from the sport and try his hand at broadcasting for CBS in 2023.
Indianapolis Colts record (2022): 4-12-1
This week, the four-time Pro Bowler has been making the media rounds to talk about his career switch. And during a chat with The Athletic, he held little back about how difficult it was to be traded and be a part of the disastrous 2022 Colts team.
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“I mean, it was a [expletive] show, you know, it was a [expletive] show of 18 months basically is the best way to describe it. But I think everybody in our family handled it well and came out of it stronger and in a really good spot. [Being traded] was hard, there’s no doubt about it because for 14 years every morning I woke up, I knew exactly what was expected of me. When that changes, that part was difficult, but you get thrust into a new situation so quickly.
“… [Being in Indianapolis] was one of those things; you know, I felt like I was going into it in a position where I’d probably seen it all in 14 years and then realize, ‘No you have not, you have not seen it all. There’s a lot of other things that are going to come up. It was a difficult year, there’s no doubt about it.”
– Matt Ryan
The Indianapolis Colts when 4-7-1 in the games he started during the 2022 season. Which, while horrid, is still better than the 0-5 other QBs faired for the team last season.