1. The no-spin zone: Here’s Falcons coach Arthur Smith’s full answers on the decision to stick with Desmond Ridder at quarterback:
On whether he is evaluating making a change at the quarterback position:
“I appreciate the question. It’s always going to come up when you’ve got two games back-to-back that you don’t score enough points. I understand the question. We’ve got a young player in his eighth start, and you’ve got to find out – there’s a fine line of being stubborn in situations and coming out in halftime and see what he’s got because otherwise you’ll never know. To Des’ credit, obviously nobody liked the result of what happened early in the game, but to come back – threw two picks, one was a pick-six – and see what you got, see if you become hesitant, see if you’ve got anything to you, and I thought he came back, and it wasn’t what you wanted result-wise, but he gave us a chance. The biggest thing we’ve got to do is we have to jump-start, you go from feeling OK, being 2-0, and in the last eight days give or take, you don’t feel very well. That’s putting it blunt. So, we’ve got to find a way to start faster. There’s different things, we’ve looked at it schematically, always look at what you’re calling, what you’re doing differently, but we have to get that solved so we’re not sitting there in a 10-nothing hole.”
On whether Ridder will continue to be the starting quarterback:
“Look, I wouldn’t be sitting here getting on here pontificating about what went on in the game if we’re making a change.”
On where he is in conversations about a quarterback change:
“Well, you talk about big picture, as you guys know this, you’re talking about young quarterbacks in (the NFL) and things that you want to be able to see, there’s a fine line between always jerking the wheel and making a guy more hesitant, and you got to make the best decision for your team going forward. If you think that the biggest issue is making a change, then that’s what’s what you have to do. Nobody’s going to sit there and do the same thing over and over. Whether it’s true or not, that’s one of the definitions of insanity that gets credit, but you understand that. You don’t want be stubborn that way. And then the fine line, if you objectively look at it, now you’re talking about putting it all on one person. There’s a lot of things that go into it. If you didn’t think we gave you a chance and you didn’t have evidence of it, that’d be a problem. So you’re talking about eight starts, four and four, the biggest obstacle we’ve got is starting fast. The last two results were hard to win, not getting off to a start and putting yourself in a whole like that. We played well at home. We know we got to be better on offense. So there’s a lot that goes into it. What you don’t want to do is, there’s a fine line, like I said, just jerking the wheel and being over reactionary. And then, objectively looking it and (say), ‘Hey, what’s the best thing for this team?’”
On whether losing games makes a change at quarterback more imminent:
“Look, when you’re not winning, everything’s on the table. That’s your job to make decisions. The ultimate goal is to win. As you’re building this thing and you got a lot of young skill guys out there – we’ve made a huge investment in our defense. They’re playing really well. We made an investment of up front. Regardless of the final score, I thought the O-line played with much better intent yesterday. I thought it was (guard Chris) Lindstrom’s best game of this year. And obviously, we don’t love the end result there so you’re looking at a lot of things. You’ve relied on some young guys who’ve done some good things. We got to be more consistent, there’s no doubt about it. So you just look at it all. But that’s our job daily, being objective (and saying) ‘Hey, it is working schematically? Are there things we need to change up?’ We got to get something going early.”
On what would tell him that it’s time to make the change at quarterback:
“We understand going into this that you have a quarterback that we drafted in the third round, didn’t have the fantastical hype coming in. We know that we invested in certain places. We made that switch last year, and like I said, you’re eight games into it. There’s no perfect answer, but if you thought something was not going to work and there’s no signs of hope, well certainly, that’s at any position, you got to make a change. Now, it may feel bad. We all do. The last eight games, you go from being 2-0 – nothing’s ever perfect, but in these kind of games, we have to jump-start. So we got to see this week and every week. It’s our job, but we’ve got to start faster.”
On whether anything has surprised him about Ridder through four weeks:
“Yeah, I think you’re always looking at that. If you’re not getting the results that you want early on – I think you’ve always got to look at yourself first. What are you asking a player to do? You put him in the best position to succeed. So, that’s what you want to evaluate, right? OK, well why are we not getting the results, do you feel good about this? Knowing the player, you’re talking about eight starts and you’re putting the most – everybody knows this is the most pressure-heavy job in pro sports. That’s what you needed to see coming out of halftime. When you jerk the wheel, how are you going to respond? Adversity is going to tell you everything about people in any industry. Those are the things that give you hope. The biggest thing that we have to do now is let’s get that production early so we’re not sitting where every possession is like a two-minute drive to win the game where your margin of error is even smaller. That’s what happens when you put yourself in a hole like that. You get into those drives, you come into a long drive in the third quarter, and he makes a hell of a play to (wide receiver) Drake (London). He does a good job selling the double move and put the ball where he needed to. It’s a great catch that gave us some life. Then you get into another drive and you stall out. You don’t get what you anticipated, and you put yourself behind the sticks. Then, you get down there and get a good play – not clean on the execution, put yourself behind the sticks. (Tight end) Jonnu (Smith) makes a good play, (Ridder) makes a good throw and puts us in fourth and three and they bring cover zero. We’ve got to get the look that we want – obviously, credit to them, we didn’t. That’s how the drives become so pressure-heavy in the second half when you put yourself down like that. You’ve got to see what any player does when it’s real in those pressure situations. That’s what you’re looking at from yesterday. We know going back – you have to acknowledge, we’ve got to get going early because now it’s a thing, clearly. We’ve got to get going early and get ourselves to score more points.”
2. Falcons plan to jump-start the offense: Former San Francisco coach Bill Walsh is credited with creating a script of plays to open the game. He called them “openers.” He usually tried to go 10 to 15 plays, but legend has it that he would go into the 20s with his plays.
The Falcons are struggling at the start of game and need a jolt.
“There’s a couple of things: we’ve got to get them into a rhythm,” Smith said. “There’s things that you call early in the games, whether it’s screens, you try play actions, you try all kind of different things to get going.”
In the season opener, the Falcons tried to go deep on the first play of the game and the ball was batted back to Ridder, and he caught it.
It hasn’t improved.
“(Sunday against Jacksonville) the one thing that you’re in there backed up, so made the change a little bit, but not very clean on the first two, so getting into the third and long backed up,” Smith said. “We get the ball into (Bijan Robinson’s) hand, they brought pressure in there to see if they could try to create a play, and got the ball in Bijan’s hand, and we came up a yard short.”
3. Series history: This will be the sixth meeting between the teams. The Texans lead the series 3-2. In the most recent meeting, the Texans blew out the Falcons 53-32 on Oct. 6, 2019.
Deshaun Watson passed for 426 yards and five touchdowns. Wide receiver Will Fuller, who looked like the second-coming of Jerry Rice on that day, caught 14 passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns as coach Dan Quinn and his defensive staff never adjusted to the Texans throwing deep crossing routes.
4. Back to the Benz: Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud was spectacular against Georgia in the College Football Playoff semifinals game in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 31 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
He completed 23 of 34 passes for 348 yards and four touchdowns in the 42-41 thriller.
Stroud is backed up by Davis Mills, who played at Greater Atlanta Christian and Stanford.
5. Peach State posse: Right after taking Stroud, the Texans selected defensive end Will Anderson with the third overall pick.
Anderson, an AJC Super 11 player from Dutchtown High and Alabama, also is off to a strong start. He has 15 tackles, a sack, five quarterback hits and a tackle for loss.
Defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins, who is from Covington and played at Eastside High, and defensive end Jonathan Greenard, who played at Hiram, both start for the Texans. Rankins, who was drafted 12th overall by the Saints in 2016, is in his eighth season in the NFL.
Also, former Georgia Tech standout Shaq Mason starts at right guard for the Texans.
6. Offensive possessions: The Falcons have had 45 offensive possessions and have scored six touchdowns and seven field goals.
The problems may run deeper than just not getting off to a fast start.
7. Injury report: Thinking out loud here, if Kyle Pitts is not 100%, why is he playing and should he be on the injury report?
Wide receiver Josh Ali (ankle) was inactive and didn’t make the trip to London.
Also, cornerback Dee Alford was checked for a concussion in the game against the Jaguars. He returned to the game.
8. Where to watch, listen and livestream Texans at Falcons: What you should know about Sunday’s game between the Falcons (2-2) and the Houston Texans (2-2), which is set for 1 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
TV: Fox.
Local radio: 92.9 The Game. Play-by-play: Wes Durham. Analyst: Dave Archer. Executive producer: Beau Morgan. Engineer: Miller Pope. Pregame/postgame show – Hosts: Chris Goforth and Mike Johnson, with Dylan Matthews and Orin Romain as studio producers.
Satellite radio: SiriusXM NFL Radio. Falcons channel 226 or the App. Texans channel 385 or the App. (Games also are available on the SiriusXM App. Fans can find their team’s channel under the “NFL Play-by-Play” tab or by searching their team’s name.)
Livestream: Streaming inside the Atlanta market: Fans in the Atlanta market can stream the game on the Atlanta Falcons app. NFL app (subscription required). Out of the country: GamePass International.
9. Depth chart: Here’s a look at the Falcons’ official depth chart for the game Sunday:
OFFENSE
WR Mack Hollins, KhaDarel Hodge
TE Kyle Pitts, MyCole Pruitt, John FitzPatrick
LT Jake Matthews, Isaiah Prince
LG Matthew Bergeron, Jovaughn Gwyn
C Drew Dalman, Ryan Neuzil
RG Chris Lindstrom, Kyle Hinton
RT Kaleb McGary, Storm Norton
TE Jonnu Smith
WR Drake London, Scotty Miller, Josh Ali
FB Keith Smith
RB Bijan Robinson, Tyler Allgeier
J Cordarrelle Patterson
QB Desmond Ridder, Taylor Heinicke, Logan Woodside
DEFENSE
DL Grady Jarrett, Albert Huggins
DL David Onyemata, Ta’Quon Graham
DL Calais Campbell, Zach Harrison, Joe Gaziano
OLB Bud Dupree, Lorenzo Carter
ILB Kaden Elliss, Andre Smith
ILB Nate Landman, Tae Davis,
OLB Arnold Ebiketie, DeAngelo Malone
CB A.J. Terrell, Mike Hughes
S Jessie Bates, Jaylinn Hawkins
S Richie Grant, DeMarcco Hellams
NB Dee Alford, Clark Phillips III
CB Jeff Okudah, Tre Flowers
SPECIAL TEAMS
K Younghoe Koo
P Bradley Pinion
LS Liam McCullough
H Bradley Pinion
PR Dee Alford, Mike Hughes, *Scotty Miller
KOR Cordarrelle Patterson, Mike Hughes
* Added as third punt returner since he went in for Alford versus the Panthers.
