FLOWERY BRANCH – Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder, who’s off to a 4-4 start with an 82.1 passer rating in the NFL, doesn’t plan to play in fear of getting benched.
The Falcons (2-2), who have struggled offensively, are set to host the Texans (2-2) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Falcons’ offense has scored just one touchdown over its last 22 possessions on the road against Detroit and against Jacksonville in London. Despite the lack of scoring efficiency on offense, Falcons coach Arthur Smith plans to stay with Ridder as the starting quarterback.
After throwing interceptions on back-to-back plays against the Jaguars, Ridder said he didn’t think about getting benched.
“No, that’s playing in fear,” Ridder said on Wednesday. “That’s not something that I want to do or would advise anyone to do is to play in fear or to play like someone’s looking over your back.”
After the interceptions and then after Ridder missed a deep throw to wide receiver Mack Hollins, the receiver snubbed Ridder on the sidelines.
“I was just coming over to say whatever,” Ridder said. “Then he just had a break of emotion. We have a standard of play for this offense and this team ... he felt it was necessary to just kind of let his emotions out.”
The blowup has been addressed by the team.
“It’s an emotional game,” Ridder said. “He obviously plays with a lot of emotion. And, you know, we just know we weren’t playing how we were supposed to be playing and that makes a lot of people mad.”
The Falcons rebounded after the interceptions and Hollins’ blowup. Ridder led the offense on an 8-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to start the third quarter.
“For me, it’s just about going out there and playing every play as a new play,” Ridder said. “And going out there and trying to you know, play the play, obviously, as best you can. Try to get the best result out of each play and not play with that fear because if you start to play with that fear (you’ll) start to second guess things.”
On the season, the Falcons have had 45 possessions and have scored just six touchdowns and made seven field goals.
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Ridder has completed 74 of 119 passes (62.2%) for 744 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. He has a passer rating of 77.9.
Over the past three drafts, the Falcons elected to add offensive weapons in tight end Kyle Pitts (fourth overall), wide receiver Drake London (eighth overall) and running back Bijan Robinson (eighth overall). They selected Ridder in the third round (74th overall) of the 2022 draft.
Ridder sat behind Marcus Mariota for 13 games last season before Mariota was benched and left the team. Ridder closed out the season starting the final four games and went 2-2 as a starter.
The Falcons want Ridder to manage the game and distribute the ball to the offensive weaponry. But that has not yet materialized into a high-scoring unit.
Detroit and Jacksonville loaded the box, stopped the run and forced Ridder to pass.
“You look at the second half and what you have to identify is can you handle any adversity,” Smith said. “When you look at the history of this league and you look at some great quarterbacks, they’ve had some games when they’ve turned the ball over. What’s causing the turnovers? Why did they happen? How do you fix that?”
The Falcons are putting a lot of weight on that third-quarter touchdown drive.
“What you want to see is what we saw in the second half,” Smith said. “It was too little too late. I thought it was pretty good quarterback play. Good throws made. Unfortunately, you get down and you’re playing every possession. We don’t convert on fourth-and-3 to get it to a one-possession game, that’s the way it went. But that’s our own fault. Credit Jacksonville, but that’s on us.”
Smith must balance Ridder’s play with possibly losing his locker room to frustration.
“I trust every single one of those guys in the locker room and every single one of those guys hopefully trusts me,” Ridder said. “You know, we’re just going to going out there and try to get better every single day.”
Ridder said he watched the game twice on the eight-hour plane ride back from London. He has his supporters.
“Bijan (Robinson) sent me a text just letting me know that he’s with me and that we’re all riding and that everything is going to be all good and that God’s got us,” Ridder said. “So, you know, that was good, obviously, to see from him.”
The Falcons’ defense, which the team spent more than $130 million in free agency to improve, has played well for long stretches. The defense shut down the Packers to allow the offense to get in gear and pull out the Green Bay game, 25-24, on Sept. 17.
But the Falcons didn’t have a chance with the offense stalling in Detroit and against the Jaguars.
The Falcons are not worried about an offense vs. defense division.
“One thing our guys are understanding is that you have to play as a team in order to win,” Falcons assistant head coach/defense Jerry Gray said. “There is not going to be one side of the ball that’s better than anybody else. That’s not going to happen up here. We have to win as a football team. Make sure our guys understand. That’s how you are going to win a championship.”
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