NFL Today: Can Matt Ryan Lead Atlanta to the Playoffs?

This week, Houston’s D lived up to the hype in shutting down the Steelers to advance to the Divisional Round; Pittsburgh fans – unimpressed with this performance – let their opinions be known whether Mike Tomlin should still be coaching their team (and they were heard as he stepped down the following day); and Nico Collins (concussion) came out early for Houston, meaning Xavier Hutchinson could be a sneaky play this weekend. Other Fantasy football related stories we’re tracking include…

Is Michael Penix Jr. the Long-Term Falcon QB?

Early on this season, we lauded the defense of the Atlanta Falcons and sure enough, the unit made big strides this season. However, the offense regressed tremendously, leaving the team stuck once again at eight wins.

Make that eight straight seasons out of the playoffs for Atlanta. (Speaking of playoffs, now that the Wild Card round is complete, you can print off an updated bracket for the Divisional Round; you’re welcome.)

The Falcons’ consistent failure to make the postseason led to Head Coach Raheem Morris (who won 16 of 34 games over his two seasons) and GM Terry Fontenot getting fired on January 4. Six days later, all-time Falcon great Matt Ryan was brought in to the newly created position of president of football, leaving him to fill the GM and head coach roles.

Candidates for the GM gig include:

• Ian Cunningham, assistant GM for Chicago, and the likely favourite here;
• Josh Williams, the 49ers’ director of scouting and football operations;
• Mike Disner, currently Detroit’s COO; and
• Brandt Tillis, VP, football operations for the Panthers.

For its new coach, could Atlanta turn to recently fired John Harbaugh? It’s clear he’ll be able to call his own shot from the various coaching vacancies around the league. If not Harbaugh, other possibilities include: Kevin Stefanski, Mike McCarthy, Klint Kubiak, Brian Flores, Jeff Hafley, Mike LaFleur and Joe Brady.

Whoever takes over this team will have to assess whether Michael Penix Jr. is the right quarterback to lead this team back to the playoffs. For what it’s worth, in his introductory press conference, Ryan expressed his love for Penix, but was noncommittal about the young QB’s future.

“Yeah, I’m not hired to come in and be the quarterback coach, but, you know, I love Mike,” he said.

Penix definitely showed some progress in what was supposed to be his first full season as the starter, but it ended early thanks to a torn ACL in November.

As far as that goes, Ryan said that Penix’s rehab is going well. We’ll know exactly how well he’s progressing come mid-March, when the team will have a decision to make about Kirk Cousins.

Penix managed over 20 Fantasy points just three times in 2025, and the injury has pushed him to the periphery of the top 25 in dynasty quarterback rankings. But we look at his performance in Week Four against Washington, followed up by his Monday Night Football showing the following game and can’t help but get excited about what the future holds for him once (if?) he’s healthy again.

Coming out of the University of Washington, Penix was only projected to become an average starting QB in time, and certainly his current injury – combined two other ACL tears in college – raise a red flag.

Bo Nix’s Inconsistency

As we discussed back in October, the Denver Broncos’ offense was improved this year, at least from a yardage perspective, but that didn’t manifest itself in more scoring. Still, an even more impressive showing by the D this season allowed the Broncos to improve to 14 wins – its best effort since 1998, when they won their second of three Super Bowl titles.

Can they do it again? Well, of the eight quarterbacks still in play, Bo Nix only has the sixth highest odds to win Super Bowl MVP honours (+1200 as per FanDuel).

At the beginning of the season, we expected him to lead Denver to a much better offensive showing in his second year as the starter; after all, considering the gains the team made with him as a rookie, it only made sense to believe that more was to come.

But the fact was that Nix had mixed results in his sophomore season. He had more completions and yardage and was picked and sacked less often. Great, right? However, his completion rate, YPP and touchdowns all regressed… not dramatically, but enough to consider that his second season was a small step back. Nix’s rushing also slid, but he did manage one more rushing score.

Still, contrast him as the 12th overall pick in 2024 to Penix (eighth overall in the same draft), and it’s clear who has developed better so far (in fact, at least one analytic system had Nix as the NFL’s best QB this season). It helps that Nix has been extremely durable whereas Penix’s injury history has followed him to the professional ranks.

From a Fantasy perspective, Nix was inconsistent this season, and you can argue that Penix was a tad better, when he could actually suit up. Still, the fact that Nix had at least 42 yards rushing in each of the last two games salvaged his value to an extent after some substandard passing performances down the stretch.

Consider him a top four QB for the Divisional Round.

RotoRob Tune of the Day

San Francisco rock band The Tubes started in 1972 and have been at it since. In 1978, they released their first live album, What Do You Want from Live, which featured “Crime Medley,” including bits of the themes from Dragnet, Peter Gunn, Perry Mason and Untouchables.