Playoff Comparison: The Quarterbacks

By: Jesse Larch, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Leading up to the Eagles playoff matchup against the Atlanta Falcons on Saturday Sports Talk Philly and Eagledelphia will compare the personnel of the two teams each day until gameday is here. 

In this edition of our week-long comparison we will look at the quarterbacks. 

Atlanta QBs | Matt Ryan and Matt Schaub

Under center for Atlanta are Matt Ryan and Matt Schaub. Between the two of them they have earned six Pro-Bowl selections, one first-team all-pro selection, and one league Most Valuable player award. 

The bad news for the Eagles is that Falcons' starter Matt Ryan, an Exton native, earned all but two of those pro-bowl selections. The worse news is that Ryan is just a year removed from his MVP win. 

Still in the prime of his career, Ryan dipped considerably from his MVP-form from 2016. A year ago Ryan threw for 4,944 yards with 38 touchdowns and seven interceptions in the regular season. 

This year Ryan threw for 4,095 yards with 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions – a very average season from the defending MVP. 

The major change for Ryan this season was the departure of offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan and the addition of Steve Sarkisian in his place. The Falcons' – and Ryan – have been a far cry from their 2016 offense that carried the team to a super bowl appearance, but at the end of the day the Falcons do have an MVP-caliber quarterback calling the shots. 

Schaub spent seven years as the starter for the Houston Texans after emerging as Michael Vick's backup. Now back in Atlanta, Schaub is back to a backup role. Schaub brings 13-years of NFL experience with him to the Atlanta sideline and the Atlanta huddle if his number is called. 

Philadelphia QBs | Nick Foles and Nate Sudfeld

While Ryan and Schaub have a combined 261 games started in their careers, Nick Foles and Nate Sudfeld have combined to start just 40 games in the NFL. Additionally, Sudfeld owns none of those 39 starts to give the Eagles a major disadvantage in terms of experience. 

In Foles's seven appearances and three starts this season he has managed to post his lowest career QBR at 31.4. Foles has been a good spot starter throughout his career but has given Eagles' fan cause for concern by throwing for just 202 yards, one touchdown, and tw0 interceptions over his last five quarters played against cellar-dwelling defenses in the Oakland Raiders and the Dallas Cowboys. 

The Eagles' staff and players continue to reiterate that they have faith in Foles to previal in the playoffs, but there is an undeniable and vast dropoff between the quality of play that the Eagles were receiving from Carson Wentz and the play that they are receiving from Nick Foles. 

Nate Sudfeld showed potential in his debut in week 17 against the Cowboys, but he his still overwhelmingly inexperienced to enter a playoff game if anything were to keep Nick Foles from playing. Sudfeld has just three quarters of playing time in his two-year career. 

The Eagles have the polar opposite of the Falcon's situation at backup quarterback, with a grizzled vet behind Matt Ryan. Nick Foles will not get the perspective of a veteran quarterback to aid him in between drives considering that was the role which he as occupying before being thrust into the starting job. 

Edge

The edge at quarterback goes to the Falcons in every category. Production, consistency, experience, and talent all point to Atlanta's signal callers. It should come as no surprise that Nick Foles does not stack up to a defending MVP, but Nick Foles has proven throughout his career that he is a quality NFL quarterback and should not be discounted just because he is not in the elite tier of NFL quarterbacks.