Falcons’ Desmond Ridder: ‘We work two-minute drill every single day’

Here’s what Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder had to say after throwing for a career-high 329 yards in the 21-19 victory over the Texans on Sunday:

On how he approached this week and how the game went: “This was a week just like any other week. You know, [we] came into work every single day, just trying to improve, just trying to get better. We knew that they were just going to try to make us force [it] and do something bad. And as long as we just played within our game and played with what we did and what we do, we’d be able to have an advantage.”

On what he would grade himself after Sunday’s game: “I don’t know. Y’all are going to have to go grade that one. Yeah, I don’t know. I’ve got to go back and look at it.”

On what the difference between today and the last two games was: “Again, like you said, I think it was just our ability to be able to go out there and just keep moving the ball forward. In the past couple weeks, we might have something go wrong, a turnover or whatever it may be and then that next drive or whatever it is, you’re not able to get the ball moving, you’re not able to change field position. So, for us, you know, when things did go wrong, we were able to come back out there and move the ball down the field. And so that’s really the biggest difference. You talk about these last couple weeks, whatever it may have been, and you look at today, no, we didn’t -- that first drive didn’t go how we wanted, but obviously [we] came out the second drive and was able to go, and then there was a period of time where there was roll of punts that we had to get off. So going back, looking at it, those are the things where if we can get out of that lull and just keep our foot on the gas from the jump, we’ll be good to go.”

On his response being muted at the end of the game and whether he was feeling like he showed people something internally: “Uh, nah. I mean, that’s just kind of, if I’m out there smiling or angry or whatever, like that’s what it is, and then when I’m straight faced, I’m locked in, just kind of cool, calm, collected. Like I said postgame, it was a two-minute drill. There was 1:50 left on the clock, three timeouts, that’s an eternity in the league, and we work that every single day. We work two-minute drill every single day, so when we get in these situations, we’re comfortable, and that’s just where I felt I was comfortable at.”

On whether he feels like he proved himself today: “Sure. When you talk about that, it’s all within self. I really don’t care what the outside world has to say as long as myself and my teammates, we’re on the same page. You know, like I said, we’re just going to keep getting better, not only myself, but the team as well, and just keep improving.”

On whether he proved something to himself today: “Yeah. Proved that we can stay calm and we can stay collected. That was really one of my first true two-minute drives, obviously, to go win the game or whatever it was. Like we said, just calm, cool, collected, didn’t rush anything, didn’t try to force anything, just played it as it came.”

On the defense being able to keep the team in games and trusting the offense to be able to win it at the end with the final drive: “That’s huge. This is a team game, not just a game of 11, but a game of 53, and when we’re all out there doing what everyone needs to do, everyone’s doing their own job, you look at it, the defense did their job, got them off the field, and then we came out, did what we needed to do, and then special teams come out -- I was telling the guys on the sideline, you know, every single guy just needs to do their job. We were talking about [Younghoe] Koo’s field goal right there to win the game. As long as each person does their job to the fullest, the kick’s going to go in, we’re going to be good, and we’ll be happy after. So, yeah, you can say it was huge, whatever you want to say. But it was great for our team just to come out here and get a great team win.”

On Bijan Robinson catching his touchdown pass on his hip and what it says about his ability: “Definitely scary right there. Going down, see the little shovel pass, whatever it may have been. And you know, he caught it, and then the ball was kind of behind him while he was still down the line of scrimmage. So I was just kind of looking at it, but made that guy miss, went and made the play, and that’s what it is. It’s just playmakers making a play.”

On whether this game feels different from the Green Bay game because of what the team accomplished offensively: “Like I said, this game felt like more of a true team win. Like I said earlier, there was still a lull early there in the first half that we’ve got to get out of, we’ve got to be able to overcome, but as it goes, it was a true team win. And it feels great for everyone to come in the locker room, come celebrate, everyone be excited, and it was good.”

On his mindset taking the field for the final drive: “Thinking go win the game. You know, don’t try to force anything. You don’t have to try to force anything. You’ve got plenty of time. Just take what they give you, which I did. They played a lot of off and soft; a lot of access, banged a couple to Drake and just got the ball moving. First play, come out, dropped back. They dropped Bijan in the flat, just give it to him, he goes makes seven, eight yards. And that’s all it’s about in two minute. It’s about keeping the ball moving, getting that first, first down, never trying to force anything. And that’s what we did. Like I said, our O Line did a heck of a job right there at the end of two-minute, picking up all protections and not giving anything up, and we were able to take advantage of that.”

On whether he saw Texans S Jimmy Ward’s comments and whether they served as bulletin board material: “No. I didn’t see anything Jimmy said. We get a couple of the defensive quotes, but usually, it’s from like postgame Sunday or whatever it may have been, but no, I didn’t see that.”

On whether the team was intentionally trying to get Kyle Pitts and Drake London involved or that was just how the game went: “That’s a function of going out there and taking what the defense gives you. Those were a lot of high-low reads, and a backer might have drove on the low route, just giving it to him over the top of it. A couple of go balls, couple deep balls, couple balls that we targeted that we knew we had matchups on with them being a little dinged up at corner, and so it was just going out there, giving what the defense gave us. Like I said, different from the other weeks, never trying to force anything. Not trying to do too much and just playing the play as it comes.”

On whether there is a specific throw that he was proud of in today’s game: “No. I wouldn’t say there is one I’m proud of or whatever, but a cool throw, just because he doesn’t get the ball a lot, was the one to Keith Smith. Keith Smith got through there; it wasn’t exactly how we designed it up, but it worked. And obviously, that’s obviously a big play for him to be able to go get that ball, and it was a big play for the offense as well.”

On his final pass of the game to Drake London and how that developed: “That’s a play that we’ve repped -- you can go back and watch film. That’s a play that we’ve repped multiple times, even in that situation as well. That’s a play that when we know that we’ve got to go get something, we’re going to go do it. I mean, you know, it’s just routine. The backer kept standing up, gave me a window to put it in there to Drake; he made a play, and that’s all it is. It’s just really about letting the playmakers go make plays.”

On the Texans playing the run well and whether he felt like he needed to step up and get the passing game going: “No. That’s when you start trying to force things. That’s when things start going wrong is when you feel like you have to go do something different than what you’ve trained to do. We’ve trained to obviously put our hand in the dirt and go run, and when that doesn’t happen, obviously pick the ball up and go throw, but you know what, it’s nothing that you have to be like, oh, man, we can’t run the ball today, all we’ve got to do is throw it. Like I’ve got to try to force it in here or force one there. Like, no. That’s not how it is. And then, also, we’re going to keep running the ball. That’s what we do; that’s what we trust, so it doesn’t matter whether they stop us or not, we’re going to put the ball in our best players’ hands, which is Bijan [Robinson], Tyler [Allgeier], C.P. [Cordarrelle Patterson], guys like them, and just be able to let them go make plays.”

On whether he was changing his snap count to impact the Texans defense: “I mean, that was just changing up a snap count, which we have. And in all those situations, too, those were ones that we didn’t take advantage of. I feel like a lot of those drives on which those did happen we never got points on, and that’s something that we have to do better at. We have to be able to take advantage of their mistakes. So when they jump offsides and they give us free yards, we have to be able to go and put points on the board, which is something I feel like we could do better at.”