Coming back from the bye week, Falcons coach Arthur Smith proclaimed Desmond Ridder as the starting quarterback and said there would be schematical, logistical and personnel changes moving forward.
The Falcons unveiled their changes in the 24-15 win over the Saints on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
As far as the scheme was concerned, the Falcons wanted to spread things out and get more players open in space. That was most evident on the 26-yard touchdown pass from Desmond Ridder to running back Bijan Robinson, who got behind Saints linebacker Demario Davis and was wide open for the key touchdown.
Logistically, the Falcons moved offensive coordinator Dave Ragone from the sidelines to the press box to help Ridder with what he was seeing up high from the Saints defense.
Personnel-wise, Smith used running back Cordarrelle Patterson much more than he has this season. Patterson and Robinson received most of the carries early and then he sprung a fresh Tyler Allgeier on the wary Saints’ defense late to help run down the clock.
Ridder completed 13 of 21 passes for 168 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He finished with a passer rating of 63.3. Ridder also ran the ball seven times for 30 yards.
“Yeah, look, overall, a lot of those drives early, he got in space,” Smith said. “We talked about using his legs as a weapon, which I thought he did pretty well. They adjusted on some of the zone read stuff, which got us on that first drive in the third quarter.”
Smith was fine with the touchdown pass to Robinson.
“Big-time throw to Bijan, got him one-on-one in space,” Smith said.
Smith was not pleased with the interceptions. Ridder now has 14 turnovers on the season. The first interception, Ridder was trying to fit a ball into a tight spot to Robinson. He led him too much and the pass was intercepted by Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu.
“I was just going to Bijan,” Ridder said. “I probably threw it about six inches too far inside. He kind of -- you know, there was hands up down there in the red zone, (he) might have lost it, whatever it was. (It has) to be a better ball. (I have to) put it on him.”
Ridder’s second interception was a pass outside to wide receiver Van Jefferson that Mathieu undercut and intercepted.
“Obviously, you don’t want the turnovers,” Smith said. “Thankfully, today we were zero, and we were able to get Jessie [Bates III]’s interception and then Jessie punching the ball out. So, thankful for that. But (Ridder) is resilient. We’ll keep working.”
Ragone has been working on the sidelines this season.
“Well, first, for me, Dave and I collaborate on everything,” Smith said. “And both of us didn’t need to be down. I think there were some things with Dave’s experience that he could help Des as he was seeing unfold up top as they communicated.”
Smith is the play-caller and leans on Ragone for input.
“So, instead of both of us being down, it was just a logistical thing where I thought -- and I thought it worked well today,” Smith said. “Dave’s got a good presence and good feel, and the communication between the staff and me and the quarterbacks, I thought helped. Again, you see some things down here, but we just thought it would be a changeup, and obviously, happy with the results today.”
Ridder was fine with Ragone being upstairs.
“It was just another set of eyes up there,” Ridder said. “Being able to communicate, having another set of eyes not only up in the box....We (have) multiple (people) on the field with Taylor (Heinicke) and Logan (Woodside) and coach (Patrick) Kramer, but it was just another set of eyes to give a different perspective and hopefully be able to communicate and see things better.”
Ridder was fine with returning to a starting role.
“I mean, this week was huge as a team,” Ridder said. “It was go out there and get a win, however it came, good, bad, ugly, go out there and get a win. And that’s what we did, came out here and played as a team, both offense, defense, and special teams.
“Obviously, a lot of things we can go back and clean up. A lot of things we can be better at, but we’re pretty happy because we came out of here with a win.”
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