Matt Ryan Proves He Really Is From Here

Losing quarterback Matt Ryan walks off the field after the Patriots erased a 25-point deficit to the Falcons to win the Super Bowl | AP Photo: Tony Gutierrez

Matt Ryan grew up in Exton.

That’s 45 minutes to an hour outside of Center City Philadelphia, but it didn’t stop local media from localizing his story as a Philly guy, even if Rolling Stone went to Exton and couldn’t find anyone all that excited about the Super Bowl.

There’s sometimes a debate around these things. Is Villanova a Philly school? Whenever Mike Trout — the Millville, New Jersey, native who’s put up superhuman numbers in his first five pro baseball seasons — is in the local news, people point out that Millville is about an hour outside Philly, too. The debate over Matt Ryan and Philadelphia is a little silly, of course, since he did attend high school in the city (at Penn Charter).

But even if he didn’t, the localization of even tenuous connections is always going to happen. Local media, especially television stations with a large coverage area, are going to try to find someone connected to any major national story. The local news still interviews disgraced Tour de France winner and Lancaster native Floyd Landis (about his new marijuana company!)

But there can still be a debate about whether these athletes are from Philly. Except for Matt Ryan, of course, who proved last night that he truly is an athlete from the City of Philadelphia.

The Falcons led 28-3 halfway through the third quarter of last night’s Super Bowl. Win expectancy models gave the Patriots a 1 in 500 shot to come back to win the game last night. New England did just that, winning 34-28 in the first-ever overtime Super Bowl.

They did it with the help of a fourth-quarter Matt Ryan fumble and a crucial sack after Atlanta had moved into New England territory late in the game.

“There’s nothing you can really say,” Ryan said postgame. “That’s a tough loss. Obviously, very disappointed. We were very close to getting done what we wanted to get done, but it’s hard to find the words.”

We can, Matt: Choking away the big game sounds exactly like something a Philadelphia athlete would do. We feel for you, Matt “Couldn’t Even Go Undefeated My Senior Year at Penn Charter” Ryan.