Arthur Smith and the Atlanta Falcons are still in the process of discovering what they have at the quarterback position. Coming into the season, quarterback Desmond Ridder carried a significant question mark above his head. After the unceremonious exit of last year's quarterback, Marcus Mariota, this was Ridder's season to lead, as head coach Arthur Smith had stated early in the offseason. Now, how would he perform?
It's only two games, but if you were to glance at his statistics thus far, they won't astound you by any means; in fact, they're rather pedestrian. However, the Falcons find themselves at 2-0 for the first time since 2017, which Smith and staff will certainly not scoff at. So, are the Falcons good? Is Desmond Ridder good? It seems that both of those are a work in progress, completely dependent upon one another to truly answer.
In the Falcons' first game last week against the Carolina Panthers, Ridder was 15-for-18 for 115 yards and a touchdown, which was good enough to garner a 24-10 Atlanta victory. In Sunday's game against the Green Bay Packers, Ridder went 19-for-32 for 237 yards. Those numbers aren't eye-popping in any way—good or bad. Ridder did, however, suffer his first real blemish of his career when he threw his first NFL career interception and narrowly avoided two others.
But all that mattered was that the Falcons won the game, 25-24, holding onto a late lead for once—which, as we all know, is very un-Falcons-like. It wasn't without some ballsy decisions on the part of Smith, though.
The Falcons still struggle in the redzone
While yes, the Falcons have been prone to blow late leads, part of that has to be due to their inability to score enough in the first place. With Mariota at the helm last season, they showed they had a system in place, yet they could never fully put it together because of Mariota's inconsistent play. That's been the fear with Ridder, who Falcons' fans definitely see a lot of similarities to Mariota.
On Sunday against the Packers, the Falcons still showed signs of struggling to score when in or near the red zone. On three significant drives during the game, the Falcons settled for field goals instead of capitalizing with touchdowns.
For instance, in the first quarter, they settled for a field goal at the Green Bay 6 after a 15-play, 67-yard drive. In the third quarter, they settled for another field goal at the Green Bay 15 after a 13-play, 66-yard drive. The final drive of the game saw the Falcons drive 66 yards, taking 5 minutes and 10 seconds off the clock, resulting in yet another Younghoe Koo 25-yard field goal, his fourth of the day. But a few plays made the drive interesting.
Inside Green Bay's 30, the Falcons had what many thought was an easy fourth-and-one decision for Smith with 2:07 left in the game. Smith decided to go for it, though, trusting his rookie running back, Bijan Robinson, who ended up gaining six more yards than he needed for the first down. Still, only four plays later, with the clock now down to 57 seconds, the Falcons settled for Koo's last field goal of the day, giving them the lead and victory.
Arthur Smith is coaching for his job
Smith is coaching for his job this season. I've said that since the end of last season. Smith not only knows the Falcons' history, but he's also been a part of too many games where his own Atlanta teams have blown late leads. He certainly couldn't be happy settling for four field goals for the day after as many trips to the red zone, but he doesn't quite have the capable quarterback to get his offense into the red zone it seems. That's why Smith took the risk of forgoing a high-percentage kick to take the lead with just over two minutes left on the clock and going for it on fourth down with his rookie running back, Robinson.
While Ridder led each of the four drives that combined for a total of 199 yards, and ultimately help lead Falcons in the comeback to win the game, he never finished them the way Smith and Falcons' fans would have liked.
It's pretty simple: the Falcons cannot afford to settle for field goals all season. This team needs to convert those opportunities like the ones they had today into touchdowns to maximize their full potential. Ridder will have to play a pivotal role in ensuring the Falcons' red zone efficiency improves. But does Smith trust Ridder enough to do that? Right now, the Falcons seem to be just settling, not finishing. That must change if they hope to make their first playoff berth in seven years.
“There is always room for improvement, always something you can do better,” Ridder told The Athletic. “One of the worst things you can do in this league as a football player is feel like you have made it or worked hard enough to be where you’re at. For me, I feel like I’ve always got to work harder, always got to do that extra thing, or always have to be better.”
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