Here’s what Falcons coach Arthur Smith had to say after his team’s 20-19 win over the Cardinals on Sunday:
On how it felt to get a win: “It was a good feeling for us. We’ve been in some of these close games with a young football team in some critical spots. These opportunities to grow and to execute in those moments, it was cool to see. (Rookie quarterback) Desmond (Ridder) , the third-down pass to (MyCole) Pruitt, the situation there, big-time play by him. That was a tight-window throw. Have to have it. Then Tyler (Allgeier), the offense executing in that situation right there, knowing when to go down. Smart football player, and it allowed us to play that situation and walk off with the field-goal win.”
On having several rookies playing meaningful snaps and setting rookie records and whether that inspires hope for what the team is building moving forward: “I mean, a lot of hope. I mean, it’s not just the rookies. It is nice to see those guys that we invested fit our culture. Some second-year guys and other guys, the guys that are in Year 3 to 4, there’s a lot of growth. Especially the line of scrimmage. Look at a guy like Chris Lindstrom, the jump he’s made from Year 3 to Year 4. Really proud of those guys up front, too. Even a guy like Matt Hennessey gets in a position battle, handles it as well as anybody could have, him and Drew (Dalman). Had an opportunity in the Chargers game (in 2021), gets hurt. Circumstances, you know, comes back, rehabs, and goes in there and plays left guard. Guys like that makes it really fun to coach this football team.”
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
On whether he felt Ridder was more comfortable as the game went on: “Absolutely. Tried to make sure we started faster, at least from the passing attack. I felt we did that. We had some long drives there. Tried to stay aggressive. I thought it would be the best thing for the team, and it was good situational stuff for Desmond. Continued to pay off. I thought we executed in some critical situations. Things we’ve got to clean up. Obviously, the turnover down there, the blocked punt kind of bounced out, I guess. We’ll just have to keep finding ways to try to improve and to win. It’s going to come down to the close games. And the way the team works, I’ll be sad that next week’s the last week for us, but that’s the way it goes.”
On whether Ridder taking deep shots was the next step they needed to see from Ridder: “You know, again, they have a say in it, too. You want to take a bunch of deep shots. Well, if they’re giving you certain looks, it’s going to be hard to do that. That’s the challenge. Knowing that, hey, if you’re running the ball well, and if you’ve got some misdirection stuff coming on, and the way they were trying to stop the run game and using pressure, we get a chance. Give us a look, one-on-one, we’ve got to challenge those, and we’ve got to hit them. I thought it was a pretty good throw. I thought his pocket awareness was really good. He extended some plays, got us out of some things. That’s what you want to see. If you want to be a real starting quarterback in this league, got to be able to do that. So again, you know, the throw he made to (Cordarelle Patterson), I know what the call was, but I thought it was a better throw than he made a week ago in Baltimore on a very similar type play. So those things are encouraging. Really, the operation, the game comes down to this. You can make a lot of stats quarters one through three. If you want to be a big-time quarterback, you need to win critical third downs in the two-minute and win the game like he did right there.”
On whether they saw Ridder’s mobility going through the draft process: “You realize how good of an athlete (he is) in terms of awareness. There’s all kind of different guys that may be better running, you know. They get targeted that way, but when you have guys that are athletic, that have pocket presence and can extend plays, it certainly helps because you can use them in certain quarterback run situations or movement stuff. But when they can extend plays in the pocket, it does change people’s rush plans, which certainly helps the offensive line.”
On practice-squad wide receiver Cameron Batson’s status after his arrest: “We put out the statement (Saturday). I’m going to let that stand and let the whole process play out. I don’t have a new update. I’ll stand with the statement we gave yesterday.”
On whether Batson is still on the roster: “I’m going to go with the statement. I’ll leave it at that.”
On what went into the decision to have cornerback Isaiah Oliver play a significant number of snaps on Sunday: “The game plan. You know who the quarterback was going to be. Kind of told you what kind of mode they were going to go in, and it proved right as they started the game. They play a lot of that spread out and 11-personnel. They’ve got a lot of wideouts they like to roll in there. They have a pass-catching tight end in Trey McBride. A lot of it was the game plan.”
On what led to running back Tyler Allgeier getting a career-high 20 carries: “It’s stuff he’s been doing well all year. A lot of it, the challenge too is CP is such a versatile player. You use them together, there’s a lot of plays we use CP as a wideout. You saw the one in the red zone. There were some other plays we did. It’s nice when you can mix and match. Even Avery, the role Avery – get two backs in there – Avery can carry the football too. It’s fun to have versatile guys like that. Tyler continues, he’s consistently shown this, especially the second half of the year. As the game goes on, he’s harder to tackle. Such a smart, instinctive player. Another guy that we’re really excited about here.”
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Atlanta Falcons 2022 schedule
Sept. 11 Saints 27, Falcons 26
Sept. 18 Rams 31, Falcons 27
Sept. 25 Falcons 27, Seahawks 23
Oct. 2 Falcons 23, Browns 20
Oct. 9 Buccaneers 21, Falcons 15
Oct. 16 Falcons 28, 49ers 14
Oct. 23 Bengals 35, Falcons 17
Oct. 30 Falcons 37, Panthers 34 OT
Nov. 6 Chargers 20, Falcons 17
Nov. 10 Panthers 25, Falcons 15
Nov. 20 Falcons 27, Bears 24
Nov. 27 Commanders 19, Falcons 13
Dec. 4 Steelers 19, Falcons 16
BYE WEEK
Dec. 18 Saints 21, Falcons 18
Dec. 24 Ravens 17, Falcons 9
Jan. 1 Falcons 20, Cardinals 19
Jan. 8 vs. Tampa Bay, TBD
