With how exceptionally well he played as a rookie last year, it’s easy to forget that Matt Ryan only has 24 career starts under his belt.

Ryan did some great things in the Falcons’ 35-27 loss to the Saints on Monday night, most notably throwing a 68-yard rainbow to Roddy White to cut New Orleans’ lead to 28-21 early in the third quarter. He also found White and Tony Gonzalez on some key third downs to keep the chains moving and leave the Saints’ dynamic offense on the sidelines for most of the second half.

But he also made some mistakes that second year quarterbacks are unfortunately prone to making. Things like zeroing in on Gonzalez or forcing a pass into a well covered White late in the first half that led to a huge defensive touchdown for the Saints. He also looked rushed in the pocket at times and took a couple of unnecessary sacks because he didn’t go through all of his progressions. For a young man who has built the reputation of having ice water in his veins, “Matty Ice” looked uneasy several times when the Falcons needed a big play in the passing game.

Atlanta got a tremendous effort out of Michael Turner tonight, who rushed for 151 yards on 20 carries with one touchdown. With how well he ran, Ryan should have had more big play opportunities in the passing game. But it seemed like most of his throws were to covered receivers that couldn’t do much with the pass after the reception (save for White’s 68-yard touchdown, of course), which means he wasn’t hitting receivers on time or in stride.

Give credit to the Saints’ defense, because there were several times when the coverage was outstanding and Ryan had to eat the ball. The interception he threw in the fourth quarter was just a great play by linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who tipped the pass that was picked by Tracy Porter to kill a potential scoring drive. Defensive end Will Smith also owned left tackle Sam Baker, so Ryan was under constant duress.

But I think when Ryan looks back at the film from tonight, he’ll see that he had more opportunities to make plays and was either too quick to make up his mind or wasn’t patient enough to let the play develop. From what everyone says, his work ethic rivals that of Drew Brees and Peyton Manning and he wants to become great. He’ll get there – he certainly has all the intangibles. But if the Falcons are going to make the playoffs again this year, Ryan is going to need to learn from a game like this and move forward in his development.

After one half of football, Indy had led the Titans 7-6 and their usually Swiss-cheese front seven was surprisingly stuffing the Titans’ powerful running attack. Veteran quarterback Kerry Collins has been lauded for his game management skills this year, but essentially criticized for not making enough big plays in the passing game.

But that all changed in the second half as Collins found open receivers in the second half and killed the Colts secondary with timely passes on big third down plays. The Titans managed to score 25 second half points in rout to a convincing 31-21 win, which is not only significant because they remain the only undefeated team in the league, but also because they got the proverbial monkey that is the Indianapolis Colts off their back.

Anyone who is still waiting for the Titans to crash down to earth can put those opinions to rest. They’re clearly the best team in the AFC and while it’s still hard to believe they won’t lose a couple games this year, they should have one of the top two playoffs spots locked up eventually. (Especially with the Pats, Colts and Chargers down this year.)

As for the Colts, I don’t know what Tony Dungy was thinking going for it on 4th and 1 at midfield early in the second. The game was tied 14-14 and Tennessee’s defense was starting to tighten up. I realize he has all those offense weapons at his disposal and should be able to pick up one yard, but why go with a run up the gut then? It completely shifted the momentum in the Titans’ favor and that proved to be the difference in the game. The Colts are pressing and worse, they’re in a ton of trouble.

The numbers for Anderson were impressive – 18 for 29, 310 yards, 2 TDs – but what doesn’t show up in the stat sheet is how well Cleveland’s offensive line played. They picked up every blitz the Giants’ defense attempted and consistently opened holes for Jamal Lewis and the Browns’ running game. (Lewis, by the way, had his best game of the year. He ran hard all night.)

What Cleveland did was turn the Giants’ game against them. The Browns were more physical, aggressive on both sides of the ball and constantly pressured Eli Manning. And besides committing 45 penalties (including 40 on one drive in the forth quarter), the Brownies played close to perfect. Without a doubt, this was a complete performance.

That said, the Giants also played like absolute crap. Eli had that same dumfounded look on his face tonight as he did when he first came into the league. He made a couple of nice throws, but his three interceptions were brutal and ones that rookie quarterbacks make. Cleveland did a great job of getting in his face all night and he didn’t handle well. Again, the Browns took what New York does best and used it against them.

I know Brown fans love the win, but some of them must feel a little queasy knowing Romeo Crennel will still patrol the sidelines with each victory.