Mike Lopresti: Draft can be cure, or snake oil

The first quarterback taken in the NFL draft was Matt Ryan of Boston College by the Atlanta Falcons, and this is not to rain on his parade, but the record sheet here says he threw 19 interceptions last season.

Or is that quibbling? He can pass. He can lead. He can win. Something else must be said on his behalf. Dogs do not sleep with one eye open whenever they hear he is in town.

We mention this because the first round came and went Saturday with the usual pomp and circumstance. Seldom on television can you find so much said by so many about so few. None of the draftees has any more heat than the kid wearing the Falcons cap.

If this is not the new day that the battered and bruised franchise is promising – presuming the long Michel Vick nightmare is over – everyone will know just who to blame. Matt Ryan.

But on Saturday, nobody’s future had a cloud in the sky. Draft day is when the glass is half-full, and 19 interceptions are the fine print. All primary needs are filled with just the right eager faces from college – and by the time you hear about the big hopes for this cornerback or the vast promise for that running back, you wonder how anyone will ever lose again.

Won’t it be great next season when every team goes 12-4?

On Saturday, nobody is wrong.

So Miami’s return from oblivion will be led by an offensive tackle, since Jake Long’s blocks are ferocious enough to pick him above every other player in the world.

St. Louis’ slide will be halted by Howie Long’s kid, defensive end Chris.

Al Davis will finally get back to just winning in Oakland because Darren McFadden is good enough and determined enough to outrun any off-field baggage.

The Cincinnati Bengals will be family entertainment again because linebacker Keith Rivers is by all accounts a stand-up guy in the locker room.

Arizona will have its second winning season in 24 years because it found a cornerback at Tennessee State named Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who is so fast that by the time you say his name, he is in the next county.

Baltimore will have solved its eternal quarterback problem with Joe Flacco, even if he did play at Delaware.

All the above are theoretically, of course.

Because if they all had drafted correctly before, the Dolphins wouldn’t have gone 1-15 last season, and the Rams would not be a shell of their Super Bowl selves. The Raiders would not have vanished from the radar screen, the Bengals would not have turned into a new version of Dragnet, the Cardinals’ winning seasons would come more often then Halley’s Comet and the Ravens would not have to punt so often.

Everybody sounded sure on Saturday. But pretty soon, the draftees must become rookies, and the rookies must become players, and then some of the solutions won’t work.

Of all the first-round would-be cures, Ryan is the most intriguing. He must help heal a fractured team in a fractured city. Vick’s downfall from dog-fighting charges incited debates that touched every hot button, starting with race. He remains a villain to some, a victim to others. Now he’s in prison. The Falcons have been a basket case.

All Ryan will be expected to do is throw lots of touchdowns, win lots of games, transform a franchise’s image, lure back the Vick constituency, glue together a locker room and make memories of the last horrendous year disappear.

No problem.

On Saturday, anything seemed possible, for Ryan and the other names called to duty. Millions of dollars were waiting. After this much analysis, how could any of them fail?

It starts getting harder today.