FLOWERY BRANCH -- The Falcons will stay with Taylor Heinicke as the starting quarterback, coach Arthur Smith said on Monday.
“Going into this week, we’ll go with Taylor,” Smith said. “We’ll kind of reassess after this week, going into the bye.”
Heinicke took over for Desmond Ridder, who started the first eight games of the season and led the league in turnovers with 12. Heinicke had one turnover in the Falcons’ 31-28 loss to the Vikings on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“There are always things to work on,” Smith said. “He’s played the last six quarters and we’ve scored 48 points with him back there. Actually, we want more than that. But that will be the plan this week.”
Heinicke was 21-of-38 for 268 yards, a touchdown and an interception against the Vikings. Smith initially committed to Heinicke for just one game when he announced the move from Ridder following the team’s loss to the Titans Oct. 29.
The Falcons were 10-of-18 on third-down conversions against the Vikings, a 55.6 percent success rate which was a single-game high this season.
“I thought he operated on third down pretty well,” Smith said. “He gave us some chances. He did make plays on third down.”
The Falcons have a major decision looming following the Arizona game - stick with Heinicke or hand things back over to Ridder, who showed some promise with improvements in the passing game despite the turnover issues.
The first game after the bye - a home contest against division rival New Orleans on Nov. 26.
“The bye comes at a good time,” Smith said. “You don’t want to play a two-quarterback system and what not. But I think just kind of where we are at and every thing that’s going on. The bye week will be a good time to assess.”
The Falcons will move over the final seven games with either Ridder or Heinicke.
“I certainly don’t plan on it being week to week after that,” Smith said. “We need to do everything we can to go get this win out in Arizona. That’s got to be our ultimate focus this week.”
The Falcons felt Heinicke game them a better chance to win against the Vikings.
“Going into it, the focus was Minnesota,” Smith said. “There was a lot of things going on, rolling into this week. Just kind of looking at everything, where we are at. Really, this whole situation that we think is best for our team right now, for Taylor.”
Ridder will get his due process over the bye week.
“It doesn’t mean anything is over for Des, but we need to go get this win out in Arizona,” Smith said. “Certainly we feel that’s the best chance with everything that’s going on right now.”
