Mike Smith Says Matt Ryan Would Have Played in Super Bowl Despite AC Joint Sprain
By Josh Hill
After the Falcons were eliminated from the playoffs on Sunday, it was revealed that quarterback Matt Ryan had sprained his AC joint during the loss. Ryan is expected to miss 4 weeks, but since the Falcons have nothing better to do than sit around, Ryan’s recovery is expected to go just fine.
“Matt has a sprained left shoulder,” Smith said after the game on Sunday. “If we had the outcome that we wanted last night, he would have participated in the game in New Orleans. He will not be playing in the Pro Bowl in Hawaii this week.”
However, while he’s not going to play in the Pro Bowl, had the Falcons beaten the 49ers and made it to Super Bowl XLVII, head coach Mike Smith says Ryan wouldn’t have missed a snap.
“He will be ready to go (by the start of the offseason program in April,” Smith said. “They feel like it’s a three to four week recovery. But again, he would have played in two weeks.”
With Ryan’s injury causing him to miss the Pro Bowl, every single quarterback on the NFC team that was initially chosen has been replaced. Aaron Rodgers said that he’ll be sitting out the Pro Bowl as a healthy scratch and Robert Griffin III tore his ACL and is trying to get healthy for the start of the 2013 season.
Eli Manning and Drew Brees have been named as replacements for Rodgers and RGIII respectively, but Ryan’s replacement has yet to be named.
The NFC roster has been filled with replacements as injuries and other various incidents have gutted the team. Nine members of the Super Bowl bound 49ers will have to be replaced and injuries and decisions to skip the Pro Bowl have caused even more replacements to be named. Buccaneers running back Doug Martin was named to replace Frank Gore and Vincent Jackson will replace Calvin Johnson.
Pretty soon it’s going to be the AFC vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with special appearances by the rest of the NFC B-team.