If Falcons coach Arthur Smith were one to follow the herd, he wouldn’t have spent the eighth overall pick on Bijan Robinson, the prevailing wisdom being that running backs aren’t worth it.
He similarly wouldn’t have made Kyle Pitts the highest-drafted tight end in league history if he weren’t an outside-the-box thinker.
So giving quarterback Desmond Ridder all of one series (albeit one with 15 snaps) in the preseason falls in line with his unwillingness to do things simply because conventional wisdom would suggest that the starting quarterback needed more than that after playing (and starting) in four games as a rookie last season.
Among the league’s expected starting quarterbacks who threw more passes than Ridder’s nine this preseason – Patrick Mahomes (17), Josh Allen (17), Trevor Lawrence (16), Russell Wilson (19), Kenny Pickett (15), Baker Mayfield (15), Brock Purdy (14), Tua Tagovailoa (13) and Deshaun Watson (13). Further, all played two or more games to Ridder’s one.
Other expected starters also logged more exhibition action than Ridder (first-year starters Sam Howell had 37 and Jordan Love had 33). But the point is that the aforementioned quarterbacks have played and accomplished more in their careers than Ridder – some way, way more. One would expect them to need less sharpening and polishing than the 23-year-old from Cincinnati (he turns 24 on Thursday; not too late to get him a present!) who bears the hopes of the local NFL franchise.
Smith’s willingness to be unconventional in the cookie-cutter NFL is applaudable. The Falcons enjoyed the modest success they had last year in no small part because they went run-heavy in a league oriented to passing. He is banking on his vision for “positionless football” – relying heavily on the versatile and talented trio of Robinson, Pitts and fellow first-round pick Drake London – to be the team’s ticket to its first playoff berth since 2017.
Smith’s decision to limit Ridder – and nearly all of the team’s first-string offensive and defensive players – to one series of preseason action (against Cincinnati in the second of the three preseason games) could prove prescient. In coming weeks, Falcons fans may well rush to Twitter to hail Smith’s preseason management plan as judicious and discerning (at least the ones who like to appear perspicacious).
But here’s the flipside to Smith’s plan – oftentimes, things are done in a certain way because they make sense. And the ones whose methodology Smith is veering away from aren’t a bunch of convention-hewing goofs. (Well, maybe a few are.)
The case to keep Mahomes under wraps for the preseason is an easy one to make. But the two-time MVP played one series in the Chiefs preseason opener and three in the second. Other starters, including Pro Bowl offensive linemen Creed Humphrey and Joe Thuney, played in all three games.
You can call Chiefs coach Andy Reid a lot of things, but probably not a convention-hewing goof.
“I think knocking the rust off for the (starters) is important,” the two-time Super Bowl champion head coach said after the team’s second preseason game. “A little communication, continuity there, I guess may be the word, you’d say – just bringing things together and working off of each other.”
After playing his starters for two series – some for more – against the Falcons in their 24-0 win at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Thursday, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin gave a pithy explanation.
“I think it’s difficult to box without sparring,” said Tomlin, perhaps most noted for never having a losing season in 16 years as Pittsburgh’s head coach. “So preseason is the opportunity to spar and sharpen our sword for battle.”
At his post-game news conference, Smith addressed the Steelers electing to have their starters spar while the Falcons did not.
“Everybody’s got to do what they think is best for their own team and where they’re at,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. There’s a lot of ways to look at it.”
After the team’s Saturday practice, he told media that had the two-deep offense been healthier, “I maybe would’ve changed our thought” about playing Ridder. He went on to say that if he was really concerned about Ridder, he would have played him against the Steelers. Smith said the team needed to get repetitions in full-speed, padded situations, and got them in joint practices with the Dolphins.
“There’s no perfect answer,” he said.
It isn’t only Ridder who has been lightly seasoned before the regular-season opener at Carolina. Robinson will go into his first-ever NFL game with a total of 12 preseason snaps and four rushing attempts. Rookie guard Matthew Bergeron, an expected starter, was on the field for 23 snaps, all in the game against Cincinnati. Veteran receiver Mack Hollins, who will be counted on to connect with Ridder, banked 14 preseason snaps.
The starting defense, which is incorporating several new starters with a new coordinator, will go into the opener having shared 10 preseason snaps together, and those against the Bengals’ No. 2 offense.
Smith gave another window into his thinking prior to the preseason game against Cincinnati, the only time that starters played. He called the parceling of the snaps in all three preseason games a balancing act between players trying to make the team and those projected to start “so they can play a full game on September 10.” Smith evidently deemed 15 offensive snaps and 10 defensive snaps enough for that task.
This isn’t to say that Smith’s path is errant. It can be safely assumed that Smith has invested immense thought and discussion with his staff into the decision. The team, too, did have its own version of a sparring session, two days of joint practices with the Dolphins.
And Ridder isn’t the only quarterback going into the season not having worn much tread of the 2023 tires. Dak Prescott hasn’t thrown a preseason pass since before COVID-19. A collection of the game’s biggest names at quarterback – Jalen Hurts, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, Kirk Cousins and Jared Goff, among a few others – also did not venture a single snap of preseason. (There being a clear difference in experience between those quarterbacks and Ridder.)
Smith is right in that there’s no perfect answer. One size does not fit all. And there’s literally no one in the world who knows more about the readiness of Ridder and his teammates for the season opener than the Falcons’ mustachioed commander.
He’ll succeed or fail on his oft-unconventional terms. Might as well add one more to the pile.
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