Frank Ryan over Matt Stafford hands down
By STEVE KING
I kind of laughed — not in a good way, either, but in a sarcastic, disbelieving and incredulous one — when I read some comments coming out of Los Angeles right after the Rams won Super Bowl 56 a week ago.
The crux of it all was: How is anyone going to keep Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame now?
What does a Super Bowl win mean for Matthew Stafford?
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) February 14, 2022
"Yes he's a gold jacket, ABSOLUTELY. The ultimate team goal, to win a Lombardi, Matthew Stafford actually has, and he was a huge part of winning this Super Bowl." — @RealMikeRob pic.twitter.com/zFkDnZhHPO
What?
What?!
What?!!
Are you kidding?!!!
Granted, Stafford played quite well down the stretch, leading the Rams down the field for what turned out to be the winning touchdown in the 23-20 decision over the Cincinnati Bengals. All this came despite the fact that, because of injuries, everybody in SoFi Stadium and those watching on TV around the world, knew full well that he was going to have to throw to wide receiver Cooper Kupp. Kupp, of course, caught the one-yard scoring pass, giving him two for the game. Stafford had three TD passes overall.
But the story goes sideways after this, at least as far as Stafford is concerned. He did not win the Super Bowl MVP award, which is odd for the quarterback of the winning team. It went, instead, to a … defensive player, of all things, in tackle Aaron Donald, probably the best player in the game. He showed why — in both regards — by making two great plays to halt the Bengals after they had advanced to midfield and appeared to be on their way to at least deadlocking the game with a field goal, if not winning it with a touchdown, on the arm of some young guy named Joe Burrow.
Nonetheless, some people in Detroit, where Stafford had played for the Lions for 12 disappointing, frustrating years, without anything close to even a playoff victory, or even many trips to the playoffs, let alone a shot at the Super Bowl, before being traded to the Rams last offseason. He was up and down through 2021 — his MO for his days in Detroit — and the Rams slumped badly before he and the club hit their stride in the playoffs, sort of, anyway, with a big come-from-behind win over the outmanned San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.
Recalling, and realizing all this, then, and also with the awareness that induction in any Hall of Fame, including the one in Canton, is built on an entire career, not the mere pittance of bits and pieces of one game, even it’s for the championship, it raises a lot of questions, including one big one.
So, Stafford in the Hall of Fame?
Only if he buys a ticket. That’s what a lot of people in Detroit are saying.
Instead of Stafford, how about someone else — another quarterback who is better known locally — and was just better?
Or, let’s put it bluntly — in fact, much more so — in saying that if you’re going to consider Stafford — if you’re going to go way out on a limb and have the audacity to think him in such lofty terms — then you have to also at least think about Frank Ryan, a name that no one has mentioned until just now.
Now we’re talkin’.
Ryan played for the Browns for seven seasons, 1962-68, but in his first year, which was the last for head coach Paul Brown before getting unceremoniously fired by owner Art Modell, he shared the starting job with Jim Ninowski after arriving in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams in the offseason, and in his final season, he started the first three games before injuries caught up with him and, with him, the offense and the team overall struggling, he was replaced by Bill Nelsen.
However, in the five seasons in between, 1963-67, that he was the full-time starter, he was arguably the most productive quarterback in the NFL and among the two or three most winningest.
Ryan was installed as the full-time starter — no more sharing with Ninowski, who was in his second stint with the Browns — by new head coach Blanton Collier as one of his first orders of business after getting the job. It would turn out to be a key decision for Ryan, Collier, the offense and the team.
The Browns offense — and again, the team itself since the quarterback and his club as a whole are indelibly linked — took off with Ryan as starter in 1963. The Browns won their first six games, their fastest start through that number of contests in 10 seasons, giving them almost as many wins as they had in all of 1962’s 7-6-1 finish. Moreover, they were scoring an average of 34.2 points a game during that stretch. They ended 10-4 and were second in the Eastern Conference by a game to the New York Giants. Ryan was the reason, throwing for a then team-record 25 touchdowns.
He passed for 25 scores again, best in the NFL, in 1964 as the Browns posted an even better record of 10-3-1 and won the East for the first time in seven seasons. He rose to the moment on the biggest stage of his career, passing for three TDs, all to wide receiver Gary Collins, as the Browns won the league title for the first time in nine years by crushing the favored Baltimore Colts 27-0.
Ryan had 18 TD passes in 1965 as the Browns went 11-3 and got back to the championship game, where they lost to Green Bay Packers.
His 29 TD passes in 1966 broke his own team record and led the NFL as the Browns finished 9-5 and just missed going to the playoffs.
And in 1967, he had 20 more TD throws as the Browns went 9-5 again and this time got to the postseason.
During that five-year period, Ryan passed for 117 touchdowns with 74 interceptions as the Browns went 49-20-1 (.707). Playing exclusively in 14-game seasons, he had 134 TDs overall in his Browns career, second only in team history to Brian Sipe.
That’s Hall of Fame stuff, much more so than Matt Stafford’s stuff and also that of some other quarterbacks already enshrined in Canton.
READ NEXT: These players should be in the Hall of Fame
