DETROIT — Desmond Ridder is only 24 years old with seven NFL starts on his resume, so don’t take this as some declaration that there is no hope for him in his NFL career. But hope right now is wheezing, along with the Atlanta Falcons offense.
This level of offensive failure wasn’t expected on this team’s bingo card after Atlanta spent consecutive first-round draft picks on a running back, a wide receiver and a tight end and hired a coach who has long called plays for a living.
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The Falcons are 2-1. If you don’t go any deeper than that, it’s not a bad view to this point. But take a few steps back and things get gloomy real quick. Ridder has been a problem. He was unimpressive through most of the first two games against the Carolina Panthers and Green Bay Packers until strong fourth quarters enabled wins — and, yes, that is what mattered most. But Sunday’s performance in a 20-6 loss to the Detroit Lions was pure misery. Ridder was 12-for-25 for 119 yards with five sacks early in the fourth quarter when the score was 20-3, after which yardage against a prevent defense became empty calories.
When a team drafts Kyle Pitts, Drake London and Bijan Robinson, it’s not supposed to fail to score a touchdown. It’s not supposed to start 1-for-10 on third down and have six possessions where it fails to get a first down.
It’s not supposed to average 2.8 yards per play.
Or fail to cross the 50 in seven of the first nine possessions.
Or fail to make it to the opponent’s red zone until there are only five minutes left in the game.
A team with Pitts, London and Robinson is not supposed to take possession after a Jessie Bates interception at the Lions’ 43 and then run four plays: 4-yard run, 2-yard run, incomplete, incomplete.
The Falcons have a Ridder problem. Because even with clear protection issues on one side of the ball (seven sacks) and an anemic pass rush on the other (zero), the primary difference between Atlanta and Detroit on Sunday was the play of their quarterbacks.
Jared Goff made plays. Ridder made mistakes.
Ridder’s teammates and coach Arthur Smith maintain confidence in him. Of course they do. It’s three games in, so nobody is going to start a Taylor Heinicke campaign right now. But even Ridder acknowledges he missed some throws, missed some reads. He said he has to think and react quicker.
“Through three weeks, we haven’t even skimmed the surface of what we’re supposed to be,” he said of the offense.
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He understands the criticism. When asked whether this game was a rude awakening after his comeback efforts against the Packers last week, he said: “I wouldn’t say it’s a rude awakening. More so a test. And we went out there and failed the test.”
Smith seemed to abandon the running game early. Robinson (10-for-33) averaged only 3.3 yards per carry, and the team was only 20-for-44 (2.2). But almost nothing worked. Smith appeared to have lost confidence in Ridder in the third quarter when he opted for a Robinson run on third-and-6 from the Lions’ 29 and trailing 13-3.
The coach denied that. He said he viewed that situation as “four-down territory” and intended to run the ball twice in hopes of getting a first down. But when Robinson was stuffed for only a 1-yard gain, Smith opted for a 47-yard field goal try. Younghoe Koo missed.
“Obviously, the play didn’t work,” Smith said.
Even if Smith’s explanation for his decision is true, what does it say that he has more confidence in consecutive running plays in that situation than a Ridder pass attempt — with Pitts, London, Mack Hollins and even Robinson as potential targets?
Smith maintained his confidence level in Ridder is “real high.”
The quarterback’s teammates echoed their support.
“That’s my guy, and I’m going to ride with him until the wheels fall off,” London said.
I immediately looked around for randomly rolling tires.
“I hope he doesn’t listen to none of that (criticism) because I think he’s a great quarterback,” Robinson said. “He’s a great leader as well. He needs to keep his faith high and understand this is just one game. Don’t let this game set him back, mentally or physically. Quarterbacks can always go to social media and look at different things there, but for him, that’s not the way to go. He knows that. He just has to get better and learn from it. We’ve all got his back.”
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Smith and general manager Terry Fontenot built this team to try to make it comfortable for their quarterback. But one undeniable truth about the NFL is that quarterback play most often makes the difference in wins and losses.
Next week, the Falcons face the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence in London. The week after, it’s the Houston Texans and CJ Stroud. Both are first-round picks their teams chose to build around.
The Falcons will face their share of average teams with average quarterbacks the rest of the year, so this might still work out. They won’t have many Sundays as miserable as this one. But ultimately, Ridder has to prove he’s the guy or the franchise will move in a different direction after the season. He did nothing to alter that reality Sunday.
(Photo of Derrick Barnes sacking Desmond Ridder: Mike Mulholland / Getty Images)