{"id":674693,"date":"2026-01-13T19:11:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T19:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/674693\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T19:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T19:11:15","slug":"falcons-matt-ryan-takes-a-shot-at-philip-rivers-after-colts-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/674693\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcons’ Matt Ryan Takes a Shot at Philip Rivers After Colts Comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

With former NFL<\/a> quarterback Matt Ryan stepping into a new role, he didn’t hesitate to throw a subtle jab at one of his former rivals from the league.<\/p>\n

Ryan, 40, previously spent 13 years playing for the Atlanta Falcons<\/a>, leading them to a Super Bowl appearance against Tom Brady. He also finished his playing career by suiting up for the Indianapolis Colts<\/a> for a final season in 2022.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to the 2025 season, and Philip Rivers unretired after five years of not playing in the league. He also returned for the Colts, but was unable to help them achieve enough wins and momentum to reach the postseason.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Ryan, now the Falcons’ team president, spoke about his new position with his longtime team and how he plans to handle things from the front office.<\/p>\n

Read more: Aaron Rodgers Addresses Retirement Decision After Steelers\u2019 Loss to Texans<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

“I’m not trying to call plays. I’m not trying to run your offense. I’m not trying to pull a Philip Rivers and come back and play,” Ryan quipped.<\/p>\n

“Not trying to do any of those. I think most importantly, I’m trying to get the right person in here in both of those positions,” Rivers indicated in his press conference remarks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following his retirement from the league, the former NFL Most Valuable Player worked as a CBS analyst, as many former players and coaches do. Ryan most recently appeared on CBS’s “The NFL Today” panel.<\/p>\n

Neither Ryan nor Rivers achieved a Super Bowl ring during their impressive careers. While Rivers never appeared in the big game, Ryan did, but unfortunately is on the bad side of history and those still-running “28-3” jokes about how the Falcons lost the game to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. <\/p>\n

Ryan now has an opportunity to make a difference within the Falcons’ organization, and, based on his recent remarks, it begins with installing the right personnel for the team.<\/p>\n

On the Sunday evening after Atlanta won its final game of the season, finishing 7-9 and tied for the NFC South division lead, the team fired GM Terry Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking to find two people who are excellent in their role and what they\u2019re asked to do, but also can provide a really strong working relationship together,\u201d Ryan said regarding their search to fill the vacancies.<\/p>\n

After that, Ryan also has a significant role in many other team decisions, including which players to bring back, release, trade, or draft. The Falcons won\u2019t have a pick until the second round, due to trading it to the Los Angeles Rams in last year\u2019s NFL Draft trade to select James Pearce Jr., who is now a top rookie edge rusher in the league.<\/p>\n

Read more: Adam Schefter Explains How Steelers Loss Could Impact Mike Tomlin\u2019s Future<\/a><\/p>\n

For more about the Atlanta Falcons and the NFL, visit Newsweek Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With former NFL quarterback Matt Ryan stepping into a new role, he didn’t hesitate to throw a subtle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[254,2005,7,2004,392,2381,2859,6,3725],"class_list":{"0":"post-674693","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-atlanta-falcons","9":"tag-colts","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-indianapolis","12":"tag-indianapolis-colts","13":"tag-indianapoliscolts","14":"tag-matt-ryan","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-philip-rivers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115889379385901947","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}