Matt Ryan

Veteran quarterback Matt Ryan has already impressed since joining the Indianapolis Colts this offseason.

"Matt was unbelievable, did a great job, great command—really, A-Z," head coach Frank Reich told reporters at the team's minicamp. "He did everything right—just great leadership, great play. I mean the whole way he took command, great collaborating as an offensive staff with him to kind of work in and nuance some of the things we do to kind of suit him and his style."

Ryan is in his first year with the Colts after a March trade from the Atlanta Falcons, where he had spent the first 14 seasons of his career.

The 37-year-old is set to be the fifth different primary starting quarterback for Indianapolis in five years under Reich.

The Colts made the playoffs in 2018 with Andrew Luck under center and in 2020 behind Philip Rivers, but both quarterbacks retired before the next season. The squad didn't fare quite as well in 2019 with Jacoby Brissett or in 2021 with Carson Wentz.

The passing attack has also wildly fluctuated in that stretch, ranking sixth, 30th, 11th and 26th, respectively, in passing yards.

Ryan brings some much-needed stability as a four-time Pro Bowler. The 2016 MVP topped 4,000 passing yards in 10 straight years before finishing last year with 3,968. He finished last year with a 90.4 quarterback rating despite losing perennial All-Pro Julio Jones before the season and having just five games out of second-team All-Pro Calvin Ridley.

It creates high hopes for the Colts offense, which already has exciting weapons in Jonathan Taylor, Michael Pittman and second-round draft pick Alec Pierce. Pittman has especially noted the difference with Ryan throwing passes.

"The ball is just right there, and you just turn and catch the ball. I mean, it just makes it easy," Pittman told reporters during OTAs. "Matt can pretty much put it wherever he wants."

The Colts finished short of the playoffs at 9-8 last year, but the upgrade at quarterback could make this a dangerous team in the AFC.

Frank Reich is expecting big things from Nyheim Hines this season. 

The Indianapolis Colts head coach went so far as to tell reporters that if he played fantasy football, he'd be sure to draft the running back for his team:

I think that last year, as we've documented well, we got probably a tad more run-centric than we wanted to be, than I wanted us to be. Just worked out the way the dynamics were. Nyheim still made an impact in games but not as much as normal and if you look at his years here, it's been like every other year where he seems to have a better year.

I was just laughing with [senior director of football communications Matt] Conti coming in here, talking about Nyheim and I said, 'If I was a fantasy owner, if I was going to be in a fantasy league, I think I'd pick Nyheim this year. I think I'd consider drafting Nyheim. I think it's worth [it] to consider drafting him.'

Some of that is just a coach hyping up his guy. But with Carson Wentz under center—who has been known for holding on to the ball too long in an effort to hit a home run, rather than finding his first read or checkdown options like a back out of the outfield—Hines had a down year in 2021, catching just 40 passes for 310 yards and one touchdown on 57 targets.

His receptions, receiving yards and targets were career lows. 

Hines will never be the primary weapon in Indy's backfield with superstar Jonathan Taylor back there. But with an upgrade at quarterback in Matt Ryan, Hines should see a lot more targets heading his way this season.

The NFL calendar continues to bring major events, even though we're in the middle of the offseason. After the 2022 NFL draft wrapped up, the full schedule release was the next big thing for fans to look forward to. Even if we already knew who would play each other, we now know the logistical details for each team. 

The difference in playing two contenders in a row across the country compared to two bottom-feeders in a row at home is massive. The league is also as deep as it has ever been, so the margin for error in several divisions is tiny. Losing one or two unexpected games can completely change the playoff picture.

We're diving into the 2022 NFL schedule release to find the two biggest winners and two biggest losers. The winners must still convert on their opportunity and the losers still have the ability to overcome their first obstacle. A Super Bowl journey isn't complete without a little luck.

   

Winner: Indianapolis Colts

The Colts are coming off an excellent offseason when they added a veteran quarterback in Matt Ryan, a star cornerback in Stephon Gilmore and a high-upside pass-rusher in Yannick Ngakoue. This was the time for Chris Ballard to push his chips in on a quality roster and he executed well.

The Colts are already off to an advantageous start in 2022 after evaluating their schedule. They have the easiest schedule, according to DraftKings' team win projections. Their inherent advantage begins with AFC South bottom-feeders in Houston and Jacksonville. 

Indianapolis also plays the NFC East. Both Dallas and Philadelphia are quality teams, but neither is head-and-shoulders better than the Colts. As a division, the NFC East has only one team projected to win more games than lose.

Getting the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs at home are also notable advantages. Ryan will be relied upon to be the difference in these games. Carson Wentz couldn't be trusted in the most critical games of the year and was the primary factor in collapsing down the stretch of 2021.

There's still a rough patch for the Colts to deal with. Going on the road to face Denver, Dallas, New England and Minnesota is notable. In total, they face nine teams with 8.5 or more projected wins. 

Alas, this schedule release could have been much worse for the Colts' playoff hopes. Opening at Houston and Jacksonville should lead to at least a 2-1 start. They finish the year at the New York Giants and at home against the Texans.

They'll also have four prime-time games. 

   

Loser: Kansas City Chiefs

No team has a more challenging schedule in terms of oddsmakers' win totals than the Chiefs. The arms race in the AFC West certainly played a part in this formula, as each of the team's six games against the Chargers, Raiders and Broncos will be a battle. Plus, the Chiefs drew a first-place schedule since they won the division last year.

The bad news is the Chiefs also have to deal with the loaded NFC West. Three teams in the NFC West are projected to win 8.5 or more games. The Chiefs will be relying on rookies Trent McDuffie, George Karlaftis and Skyy Moore quite a bit, so the focus will be on young players to step in right away.

The Chiefs also play Cincinnati, Tampa Bay, Buffalo, Tennessee and Indianapolis. They're all projected to win 9.5 games. The only positive is they have home games against Tennessee, Los Angeles and Buffalo. 

The three potential easy games are Houston, Seattle and Jacksonville. Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes will have earned it if they can once again win the AFC West.

   

Winner: Philadelphia Eagles

After improving their roster by adding star receiver A.J. Brown, pass-rusher Haason Reddick and a draft haul headlined by mammoth nose tackle Jordan Davis, the Eagles have just one question mark at quarterback. If Jalen Hurts is ready to be a franchise passer, the Eagles are a major sleeper in the NFC race. Their favorable schedule will also help Hurts reach his ceiling.

Getting the second-easiest schedule per win totals will take some pressure off Philadelphia from having to go all-out all season long. Away games against Chicago, Detroit and Houston should be wins on paper. Then factor in divisional games against Washington and New York, and it's not hard to see a pathway to double-digit wins.

The hard games include home games against Green Bay, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Tennessee. However, only Green Bay can say it has a better overall roster than Philadelphia right now.

The three-week stretch from Nov. 20 through Dec. 4 includes a trip to Indianapolis and the home games against the Packers and Titans. Still, it'll be hard for the Eagles to complain when their opponents' 2021 win percentage was .464, 30th of all teams. 

    

Loser: Green Bay Packers

Teams that are given the dreaded London trip always get a tough draw. Instead of getting a bye after traveling to London against the New York Giants in Week 5, the Packers host the New York Jets the following Sunday. Week 7 features a road game at Washington after the Commanders enjoy a home game.

The next five weeks have several difficult battles as well. After Washington, Green Bay travels to Buffalo and then Detroit. That's followed by a midafternoon home game against Dallas on Nov. 13 followed by hosting Tennessee on Thursday Night Football four nights later. 

Their reward after Tennessee is a Sunday Night Football game at Philadelphia to close out November.

The Packers are traveling a ridiculous amount without much rest. Getting the London game so early and then having to wait until Week 14 for their bye week is rough. Green Bay is a highly talented team but will go through the gauntlet.

After 14 seasons and 222 starts, the Atlanta Falcons moved on from Matt Ryan this offseason, trading him to the Indianapolis Colts.

While some fans may take a bit of time to get used to a new quarterback under center, head coach Arthur Smith thinks it's all part of the business. 

"It wasn't tough, because it had nothing to do with the respect I have for him," Smith told Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer of the trade. "We'd moved on. He had a great career, and I'll always be appreciative of it, very thankful I got to work with him. But we moved on, and that's the nature of the game. Professionally, you have to separate that from your personal relationships and do what’s best for the team and organization. And that's what we did."

The Falcons made their desire to move on all but known by getting into the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes. While Atlanta ultimately lost out to the Cleveland Browns, the writing was on the wall for Ryan's tenure in Atlanta. The Falcons traded Ryan to Indianapolis in exchange for a 2022 third-round pick and signed Marcus Mariota to be their presumed starter in one fell swoop on March 21.

Smith is coming off a 7-10 debut campaign as a head coach, a mark that clearly left him unsatisfied with the roster's direction. The former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator went with a largely status quo roster, minus Julio Jones, in 2021 and seemed committed to Ryan as his quarterback.

That changed as the season went along, with the Falcons offense sputtering amid a dearth of skill-position talent and Ryan failing to prop it up. Ryan threw for 3,968 yards and 20 touchdowns against 12 interceptions during the regular season.

The yardage number was his lowest since 2010, and his 20 touchdowns tied for the second-worst mark of his career—a major concern given that he had an extra game to work with. Ryan's 46.1 QBR was the worst mark of his career.

The Falcons set off for what appears to be a short-term rebuild, one likely aimed at landing a quarterback at the top of the 2023 draft. 

Ryan, meanwhile, will be the latest in a revolving door of Colts quarterbacks since Andrew Luck's retirement in 2019. 

Former Indianapolis Colts legend Reggie Wayne, who currently coaches the team's wide receivers, believes the addition of veteran quarterback Matt Ryan is such a good thing for the franchise that it makes him sick, specifically because the former Atlanta Falcons QB reminds him of a certain Hall of Famer. 

"It makes me throw up how much he reminds me of Peyton [Manning]," Wayne told reporters Wednesday. 

Wayne and Manning were teammates in Indianapolis for several years, but it's hard to imagine comparing the Hall of Famer to Ryan, who has yet to win a Super Bowl and reach the kind of status Manning was able to achieve over his career. 

Manning won two Super Bowls, was named a Pro Bowler 14 times, an All-Pro seven times and MVP five times over his legendary career. Ryan, meanwhile, is a four-time Pro Bowler, one-time All-Pro and one-time MVP award winner. 

Regardless, Manning also sees something special in the former Falcons quarterback. He even helped Indianapolis recruit Ryan, Jim Irsay revealed last month. The Colts owner added that Manning's belief in Ryan "validates that the move was clearly the right one for us."

Colts offensive coordinator Marcus Brady also said last week that Ryan had spent a lot of time getting to know his new teammates, adding that he fits the franchise's offense "perfectly":

Just as far as he wants to get the ball out quickly, he's in rhythm, he's an accurate quarterback. One thing that he brings differently, he's damn near a coach in himself. He's really been, like this week and last week, he's coaching up the receivers as well. Like, 'This is what I'm looking for. This is what I except. This is the body lean that I want you to have.' It's just kind of a breath of fresh air to hear that so the rest of the room is not just hearing it from the coaches, they're hearing it from their quarterback. Because it's really about them as far as getting on the same page and timing. Definitely was excited when we got Matt.

The Colts are hoping to get more than just one season out of Ryan, too, and they hope he can lead them to their first Super Bowl title since 2007, when Manning was named Super Bowl MVP. 

If Ryan is unable to lead the franchise to glory over the next few seasons, the team will likely move on to its sixth different starting quarterback since the 2018 season.