Through eight starts, Desmond Ridder really hadn’t done anything to make Falcons fans believe he deserved the reins as the franchise quarterback.
Outside of the fourth quarter against the Packers in which he had a lot of help, Ridder had been mostly bad. He struggled to see the field, make decisions on time, and lead the offense as a whole. Worst of all? There was minimal, if any individual improvement from the Falcons signal caller.
It brought criticism on several fronts. Arthur Smith got flack for his play calling and the lack of usage of his talented pass catchers — Kyle Pitts and Drake London. Two top 10 draft picks that had hardly got any burn.
Now, London and Pitts didn’t say anything publically except support their quarterback. The pair consistently came to the defense of Ridder, but I questioned whether London and Pitts were losing faith. Or maybe the entire locker room was having their doubts about Desmond Ridder?
Well, the Falcons’ third-round pick not only silenced fans and analysts with his career performance against the Texans, but he may have also gained some respect around Flowery Branch.
Ridder had the best game of his young career, completing 28-of-37 passes for 329 yards through the air to go along with a rushing and passing touchdown. Those should’ve been even better too had Jonnu Smith and Bijan Robinson not turned the ball over and killed promising drives.
A lot of fans, including myself, had to walk back some criticism of Ridder’s first four games. Though they were warranted at the time, the resilience Atlanta’s quarterback has shown early in his career is promising. It’s surely resonating in the locker room as well.
This performance by Desmond Ridder did a lot more than just ease the worries of fans. It surely reinforced his place as a leader and potential franchise quarterback for the Falcons.
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