Dignity in Defeat

There are two moments from Super Bowl LI that will forever be burned into my brain.

The first came while confetti blanketed the camera view. It being the first overtime Super Bowl, the postgame chaos seemed more frenetic than usual. There's usually a thousand moving parts, setting up a podium, electronics, fireworks, music, and media cameras and photographers swarming a team trying to get situated for the Vince Lombardi trophy.

Amidst everything going on, just minutes removed from watching his team lose in an overtime period in which he never had a chance to possess the ball, Matt Ryan walked out onto the turf. He sifted his way through the media crush on Tom Brady, filtered through the insanity, reached out, and shook Brady's hand. He looked at Tom, congratulated him, and walked off the field.

The second came roughly a half hour later, in a quiet interview room, in front of a solitary camera. That's where Ryan sat, answered every single question asked, and attempted to explain what happened.

Had the Patriots not completed their comeback, Ryan would've added Super Bowl MVP to his NFL MVP season. He clearly outplayed Brady in the first half, throwing just one incompletion en route to completing the first perfect passer rating ever in a half of a Super Bowl. He was surgically accurate, carving up the Patriot defense with explosive play after explosive play, and as a result, Atlanta built up a 21-3 lead at the break.

Ryan finished the game equally as efficient. He completed 17-of-23 passes for 284 yards and two touchdowns. Mathematically, he attempted just about half the number of the passes that Brady completed (43-for-62), and Brady's 466 yards nearly doubled up Ryan. That was due, though, to New England possessing the ball for nearly 100 plays and over 40 minutes.

"We didn't have many snaps in the first half," Ryan said after the game. "We started off a bit slow, but we had some short fields. We did a pretty good job with it. (The) defense did a great job creating turnovers. I thought we came out and played well in the third quarter and did some good things, really, in the fourth quarter as well. We just had a couple of plays that kind of got us off schedule."

In the coming days, all of the attention, rightfully so, will be on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Brady is the proverbial greatest quarterback of all-time, and the Patriot dynasty, once again, is thriving in the wake of their fifth Super Bowl championship in 15 years. But if there's an underlying storyline bearing mention, it's the class and dignity with which Matt Ryan carried himself in the wake of defeat.

Given the opportunity to criticize his team or sulk at a podium, he instead every question with a refreshing honesty. He complimented his coaching staff, saying offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, "did a good job. I thought we played the way that we play. We always play aggressive and play to win and we had opportunities as players. We had opportunities and we made some mistakes on the field that, at the end of the day, ended up costing us."

He didn't downplay what happened, but he also wanted to be thoughtful into what happened. He admitted his disappointment, but he analytically looked through a missed opportunity to move the chains here or a mental mistake there. He held himself accountable, especially when talking about his disappointment in himself for taking an ill-timed sack or his one fumble turnover. He complimented the Patriots, and his candor showed the rest of the sports world the class and dignity that all of us associated with Boston College, from staff members and coaches to fans and teammates, have always seen him carry.

Matt Ryan isn't the flashiest athlete in the NFL. He won't introduce a pop culture phenomenon, and he won't provide bulletin board quotes. It might not be of much consolation to the lack of a Lombardi Trophy, but even without it, Ryan perhaps has something greater - the respect of all those who have been fortunate enough to watch him ply his trade.

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