The Falcons are the living embodiment of dysfunction in the modern NFL. With an elite quarterback in his prime, a team that’s loaded with offensive play-makers and a defensive-minded head coach with Super Bowl experience, they are just 1-5 in 2019.

While Dan Quinn is shouldering the blame for Atlanta’s unthinkable start, it’ll be Matt Ryan that ultimately gets the finger pointed at him if this team misses the playoffs again.

Last season, Ryan threw for nearly 5,000 yards, 35 touchdowns, seven interceptions and passer rating of 108.1, yet the team won just seven games.

In Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals, Ryan completed 30 of 36 passes for 356 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. That’s one of the best performances we’ve seen from any quarterback in the league this year, yet it wasn’t enough for Ryan to beat a rookie QB and first-year head coach in Week 6.

In fact, Ryan has a league-leading 15 touchdown passes through six games, but the Falcons are currently a dumpster fire.

This brings me to my point: quarterback play and team success are not as tied to one another as we’ve been led to believe.

When quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are consistently being praised for the success of their teams, it undermines players like Ryan, who don’t receive a fraction of the respect they deserve.

Former first-overall pick Carson Palmer made an interesting point last week when talking about Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford — saying Stafford was the most talented QB he’d ever seen.

Carson Palmer was asked on @TikiAndTierney who he thought the most talented QB he's ever seen was. He answered with Matthew Stafford while serving some backhanded Ric Flair chops to the Lions organization: https://t.co/6mJzcmVa9F — Benjamin Raven (@BenjaminSRaven) October 9, 2019

Stafford playing for an inept organization like Detroit hasn’t stopped him from putting up big numbers, but he’ll never be considered in the NFL’s top tier unless he wins a Super Bowl.

Stafford has never even won a playoff game, while Ryan’s won a handful, and should have won Super Bowl 51 if not for an all-time defensive collapse.

Even with great numbers, fairly consistent team success over his career, and being one of most durable quarterbacks in the league, Ryan is lumped in with the likes of Stafford, Kirk Cousins and Philip Rivers.

This isn’t to say Ryan bears no blame for the Falcons’ 1-5 start — he’s actually thrown seven interceptions which is tied for the third-most in 2019. But the 12-year veteran is completing an absurdly high 72.1 percent of his passes, good for the third-highest completion rate in the league.

That’s especially impressive when you consider Ryan is throwing for over 335 yards per game, trailing only 2018 MVP Patrick Mahomes.

So while a great quarterback will ultimately improve a team’s chances for success, the correlation between having one and winning games isn’t as prevalent as it’s often made out to be.

Ryan is one of the best quarterbacks in the league, even if his win/loss record hasn’t reflected that over the past two seasons.