By River Gracey |Sports writerATLANTA—The Atlanta Falcons' season has gotten off to another horrid start after they dropped their fifth straight game on Sunday, Oct. 20, this time against against the Los Angeles Rams. The Falcons, who now sit a 1-6, face that reality that their season is all but over after just seven weeks into the regular season. This has become a common trend in the last few years for the Falcons, who have losing season after losing season. What’s even more disappointing, is the forgotten performance of quarterback Matt Ryan.To put the Falcons' struggles into perspective, let’s look at their loss to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 6 of the NFL season. Ryan was spectacular in his comeback effort against the Cardinals. He finished with a stat line of 30-of-36 completions for 354 yards and four touchdown passes. Ryan helped his team erase a 17-point deficit only to have place-kicker Matt Bryant miss the extra point that would have tied the game at 34. As easy as it is to blame the place-kicker for the loss, more emphasis has to be put on the lack of defense for the Falcons. They gave up 442 yards of total offense to a team that has struggled to put any points all season. This formula has been a common trend that the Falcons have been accustomed to for too long: Ryan putting up historic number’s all for his team to fail him.Ryan was drafted by the Falcons third overall in the 2008 NFL Draft out of Boston College. Ryan has gone on to earn offensive rookie of the year, four Pro Bowl selections, offensive player of the year and a league most valuable player award. The Atlanta QB also took them to the brink of winning the Super Bowl in 2017 before losing to the Patriots 34-28 in overtime.The Falcon quarterback has been one of the league’s most consistent signal-callers for the past 11 seasons. He has thrown for over 4,000 yards for eight straight seasons all while completing an average 66.7 percent of his passes. Meanwhile in those past eight seasons, his defense from 2011 to 2018 has ranked 12th, 24th, 22nd, 32nd, 16th, 25th, ninth and 28th in total defense.Right now for the 2019 campaign, the Falcons are 26th in yards allowed and 31st in points allowed. Something that is even more alarming for the former MVP is the amount of abuse he has taken in his career. In the past eight years, Ryan has been sacked a monstrous 242 times. Not only has his defense been historically bad, his offensive line is almost worse. Only one of the Falcons' offensive linemen drafted since 2008 is still with the team today (Jake Matthews). The inability to surround Ryan with talent is an obvious trend his entire time in Atlanta.The sad reality, though, is that nothing I just said matters to a lot of fans in the city of Atlanta. No matter how many stats, facts, awards or even championships that Matty Ice gets, it will always be his fault when they lose, and never gets praise when he wins. How is this? In a league that has seen teams such as the Cleveland Browns start twenty-one different quarterbacks since 2008, why is he treated differently from other quarterbacks who play the position when he has put up consistently great numbers since 2008? Why does Atlanta hate Matt Ryan? The answer: he is not Michael Vick.I think the better way to phrase that, is he doesn’t look like Michael Vick, who was the Falcons quarterback before Ryan took over the helm. He was drafted first overall in 2001 out of Virginia Tech. He played six seasons in Atlanta, as his running style and electric play took over the NFL. Off the field issues would soon catch up with him though. Vick was found guilty in his role in a dog fighting operation that would land him in federal prison for 18 months.What makes the two quarterbacks so different is they come from two completely different worlds. Ryan, a tall skinny white male, grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Vick, a young black male, grew up in a rough part of Newport News, Va., surrounded by a lot of gang and drug activity. Most in Atlanta, a city that is a majority of 53 percent black, can relate more to Vick than they can to Ryan. Vick, while nowhere near as talented a thrower that Ryan is, is without a doubt the most electrifying player to ever put on a helmet in the NFL. His athleticism and speed were something that all professional athletes dreamed of. Vick was an icon that young black people in Atlanta could look up to and relate to. People in Atlanta don’t have that same connection with Ryan.Ryan had big shoes to fill when he came to the team in 2008. The 23-year-old rookie at the time was tasked with replacing one of the most famous players in the NFL. He not only has blown away every expectation, he has quietly put together a hall-of-fame career all while overcoming a poor front office and a fanbase that didn’t want him.Matt Ryan is not only the greatest player in Falcons’ history, he is one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. There will be a spot for him waiting in the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day. Falcons' fans are very lucky to have him. They just might not realize it until he retires. Contact River Gracey at RGRACEY@augusta.edu.