The idea of any NFL player being “soft” is of course absurd on its face.

Even a guy like Jimmy Clausen who immediately flamed out as a pro quarterback had to work extremely hard and overcome a lot of challenges to even make it to this level. That makes the common criticism of Falcons QB Matt Ryan all the more ridiculous.

Especially following Atlanta’s Super Bowl loss to New England, the average NFL fan seems to have pegged Ryan as being either too weak, too quiet or simply not tough or mean enough to win a championship. Spurs fans will recall that the same charges were leveled against Tim Duncan throughout his career in the NBA. All he did was win five rings and two league MVP awards.

Right or not, Ryan’s reputation may be changing thanks to an unscripted hot mic moment against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on “Monday Night Football.”

In case you missed it, at one point Ryan screamed at Mohamed Sanu and Julio Jones to “get (expletive) set” at the line of scrimmage.

Some fans of course clutched their pearls and called out Ryan’s language as setting a bad example, particularly since he has two kids of his own on the way. Nevermind these ludicrous hypocrites who tuned in to be entertained by grown men beating the hell out of each other but couldn’t stomach a little casual swearing in the bargain.

Based on the social media reactions, most people absolutely loved it.

For perhaps the first time on national TV, fans got to see Ryan depart from his normal robotic act and show some genuine spontaneous emotion, and it resonated with many of them. I’d be shocked if there isn’t a spike in sales of Ryan’s jersey over the coming weeks.

If you’ve been following the Falcons closely this year, Ryan’s outburst was even more relatable given the issues he has had with receivers dropping passes and big gains getting called back by stupid penalties from his normally sharp offensive linemen.

Ryan was never soft. He was never afraid to call out his teammates in public the way that Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers do. You don’t lead a team to a Super Bowl appearance and win an MVP award without having a very potent killer instinct. Atlanta fans already knew this. Now the rest of the NFL does as well.

Here’s to hoping we hear more hot mic moments from Ryan in the future.