On Sunday afternoon, the Atlanta Falcons found themselves in an all-too-familiar position facing a one-score deficit as time ticked away in the fourth quarter.
In his third start of the season and with fewer than five minutes to play in the game, Falcons rookie QB Desmond Ridder was able to chew up enough time on a 72-yard drive and put the team in position for Younghoe Koo to nail a short FG to give the Falcons the 20-19 win.
Of the 16 games played by the Falcons this season, 13 of them have been one-possession contests. Despite not performing as well last season in such games compared to this year, 5-8 this season compared to a 7-2 mark last season, Coach Arthur Smith joined Dave Archer after the game to give his thoughts on the level of improvement he's seen from the offense and specifically Ridder, who came up big on a third-and-7 conversion in Arizona territory with about two minutes left in the fourth quarter, which kept the drive alive and put the offense in position to kick the game-winning FG.
“He’s able to adjust, he keeps his cool in tight moments,” Coach Smith stated. “If he made a mistake a week or two, he fixes it.”
Smith pointed to the incomplete pass to Cordarrelle Patterson in the fourth quarter, which would’ve given the former third-round pick out of Cincinnati his first TD pass as a professional, as an example of Ridder’s progression from last week to this week.
“He had that same throw last week and he put it high and this one he ripped it right on the back shoulder, put it where he needed to,” Smith added, “Stuff like that is encouraging to see, play extension, his pocket awareness because Arizona was throwing everything they had at him.”
Ridder finished the game 19 of 26 for 169 yards. Although he hasn’t found the end zone through three starts, he also hasn’t thrown an interception and has only accounted for one turnover, a lost fumble versus Arizona. He’s also seen the offensive line play much better as his sack numbers have gradually decreased over the past three weeks, going from being sacked four times in his first start at New Orleans to only taking one sack, from future Hall of Famer JJ Watt, on Sunday.
The Falcons will close out the season next week at home as division champ Tampa Bay comes to town so this will be the last chance during the 2022-23 schedule for Ridder to put his skills on display and make his case for the starting job in 2023-24.
