Even after his disastrous game in London on Sunday, the Atlanta Falcons will keep things rolling with second-year quarterback Desmond Ridder.
Head coach Arthur Smith confirmed in his weekly Monday press conference that the team will continue with Ridder at quarterback despite losing two-straight games against the Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars.
After getting off to a fairly decent start against the Carolina Panthers and Green Bay Packers, the Falcons’ offense has cratered in the past two weeks. The team has only scored 13 points in two games, and Ridder has struggled mightily in that span.
Ridder threw two brutal picks on back-to-back drives against the Jaguars, including one for a defensive touchdown. He’s also made our Christian D’Andrea’s list of terrible quarterback performances in the past two games.
Ridder’s inability to get offensive drives going for the Falcons has hurt the team’s ability to get to the red zone in recent weeks. While it’s not all on the young quarterback, his subpar play is a big reason why expectations for a high-flying Falcons offense this season haven’t come through as planned so far.
Growing pains are expected at the position, but Ridder’s flashes don’t outweigh his mistakes right now with Atlanta losing games.
However, Smith does not sound ready to yank Ridder from the lineup and has said he’s felt the quarterback has given the team a chance to win in his last two starts.
“If you didn’t think he gave you a chance, you didn’t have evidence of it, that’d be a problem,” Smith told reporters in his reasoning to keep Ridder behind center for the Falcons. “You’re talking about eight starts, [a 4-4 record]… The biggest obstacle we’ve got is starting fast. The last two results [for the team], [it’s] hard to win.”
Smith said the team wants to avoid “jerking the wheel” when Ridder struggles, meaning that patience will be high on the agenda for the Falcons when it comes to helping the quarterback shake off his early-season woes.
On one end, the Falcons have invested a lot in Ridder’s potential for this season, and it’d feel cowardly and reactive to pull him from the starting lineup after two bad performances and two decent ones, especially after the organization has hyped him up as it has.
On the other end, this is a Falcons team that some pegged as NFC South favorites, one that hasn’t been to the playoffs since the 2017 season. With Ridder under center, the team could fall behind in that mission if his play doesn’t improve. At a certain point, a change might be inevitable.
Even if calls for the Falcons to start former Washington Commanders quarterback Taylor Heinicke may grow louder in the weeks to come if Ridder’s play doesn’t improve, it seems like the Falcons will want to see this through with Ridder until it’s not responsible to keep him in.
If Ridder can’t hold onto his job in Atlanta, the Falcons will be looking for a new starter for the third time in three seasons in the post-Matt Ryan era.
