Falcons’ Marcus Mariota shaking off the rust with his ballhandling

“I don’t necessarily think it’s that,” Falcons coach Arthur Smith said Wednesday. “I think a lot of times, we need to continue to improve. Stuff that we need to work on in practice to make sure that no matter who’s back there, and you’re going to ask people to do stuff, there’s an option on a play, that we have the consistency.”

Against the Saints in the season opener, Mariota committed a costly fumble on the 5-yard line that ended a possible touchdown drive that would have put the Falcons up 30-10 in the third quarter.

In the loss to the Rams a week later, the defense gave the ball back to the offense with plenty of time left and only 37 yards to go. A potential game-winning drive ended with Mariota throwing a high pass that was intercepted by Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey.

In the Seattle game, the offense was in the process of running out the clock, and Mariota fumbled an exchange with running back Tyler Allgeier.

“Just a small minor detail can be catastrophic,” Smith said. “So, what we have to do is make sure we are cleaning that up.”

The Falcons needed a defensive stop to secure the Seattle victory.

“That’s on me,” Mariota said. “You know, in that situation, just being smarter with the football.”

Mariota said he was pulling the ball out to run with it. The fumble was recovered by Seattle.

“Selfishly, I was trying to go close it myself,” Mariota said. “You know, I thought I could have got around the corner there. But it’s all part of this learning process.”

A former starter earlier in his career who was the backup with the Raiders in 2020 and 2021, Mariota is being patient with himself.

“(That was) my third game, again, for a couple of years,” Mariota said. “And those are processes, those are things that we’ll continue to grow on and things we’ll work out.”

Mariota has completed 50 of 79 passes (63.3%) for 640 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. He has a passer rating of 85.4.

“What Marcus has, he’s got a very, very quick release, and in certain times in different situations. That’s why I think he’s been effective in the red zone,” Smith said. “The one he threw to Drake (London) in L.A., those are tight-window throws.”

Mariota has thrived with the timing of some passes.

“When you are anticipating guys breaking out of that when you are running some of that play-action stuff,” Smith said. “That one backed up isn’t usually the case, and same thing in L.A. If you’re getting any kind of pressure and you can’t set your feet, you’re not even using all of your arm.”

According to Next Gen Stats, Mariota outperformed his expected completion percentage of 50.8% when he completed 13 of 20 attempts (65%).

He finished with a passer rating of 99.8, and he averaged 10.4 air yards per completion and 15.7 air yards per attempt, which ranked third and first, respectively, among QBs in Week 3.

Mariota’s athletic ability has bailed him out of some plays.

“When he fell down in L.A. and popped up (and completed a pass to Parker Hesse),” Smith said. “I don’t know how many guys can do that. Same thing (against Seattle); he does it. He’s got good spatial awareness. We’re always working that stuff, but we’ve seen a lot of progress.”

For the second game in a row, he found London in the red zone for touchdowns.

“Drake, just his ability, his natural ability to feel zones,” Mariota said. “He felt it right away once the guy vacated it, that he could look quick. It’s always nice to throw a 4-, 5-yard pass for a touchdown. And he made some incredible moves after that. But hats off to the kid. He’s got good feel.”

Even with the blunders, Mariota was pleased to get his first win.

“Not necessarily relief,” Mariota said. “The expectation for us, especially these first couple weeks, you know, were to win games. So it feels good. Our expectation, as a team, is to be playing in games like this, to continue to win and put some of these together.”

Offensive coordinator Dave Ragone was philosophical about Mariota’s play.

“When you talk about the quarterback spot, not to make any excuse by any stretch, the realization of the quarterback position is that everybody has to do their job to get great quarterback play, and the quarterback has to do his job,” Ragone said. “So, that could be anything from assignment to alignment. So, when the ball snaps, it’s execution.”

But how does that relate to Mariota’s ballhandling issues, which also included a bobbled snap on a key third down against the Saints.

“When you single out one position, it’s all 11 guys,” Ragone said. “For us moving forward offensively, it’s about getting those guys in sync on the same page, making sure that we don’t beat ourselves. Then we execute at the most stressful and tight situations in games.

“For me or Marcus or any of our players, it’s about how we actually represent ourselves as a unit and go out there and execute in those critical situations.”

Earlier in practice Wednesday, Mariota was working on his ball-fakes and throwing passes during the open portion of practice.

“But, at the end of the day, there is a responsibility when you are the quarterback to make sure things are right,” Smith said. “That’s a job description.”

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Atlanta Falcons 2022 NFL schedule

Sept. 11: Saints 27, Falcons 26

Sept. 18: Rams 31, Falcons 27

Sept. 25 Falcons 27, Seahawks 23

Oct. 2 vs. Cleveland, 1 p.m.

Oct. 9 at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m.

Oct. 16 vs. San Francisco, 1 p.m.

Oct. 23 at Cincinnati, 1 p.m.

Oct. 30 vs. Carolina, 1 p.m.

Nov. 6 vs. Los Angeles Chargers, 1 p.m.

Nov. 10 at Carolina, 8:15 p.m.

Nov. 20 vs. Chicago, 1 p.m.

Nov. 27 at Washington, 1 p.m.

Dec. 4 vs. Pittsburgh, 1 p.m.

BYE WEEK

Dec. 18 at New Orleans, TBD

Dec. 24 at Baltimore, 1 p.m.

Jan. 1 vs. Arizona, 1 p.m.

Jan. 8 vs. Tampa Bay, TBD