Desmond Ridder ranked near the bottom of NFL.com’s QB Index
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By: Deen Worley
The Atlanta Falcons let quarterback Desmond Ridder start the final four games of the 2022 season, and the coaching staff saw enough to give him a shot as the starting quarterback in 2023.
Ridder ended Sunday’s win over Carolina with only 115 passing yards and looked as if he wouldn’t even hit the 100-yard mark for much of the game.
Had it not been for a 45-yard reception by Kyle Pitts, Ridder would have had the worst passing performance of the week. Instead, that honor went to Giants QB Daniel Jones.
After Week 1, Ridder was ranked No. 30 on NFL.com’s QB index. The Falcons signal-caller dropped one spot after Sunday’s game:
At the end of the first quarter against the Panthers, Ridder was 3-of-3 passing for -11 yards. Fortunately for Atlanta, the game didn’t follow this trend. Ridder didn’t do anything special, but luckily for him, his teammates were magicians. – Nick Shook, NFL.com
Shook’s comments about the Falcons passing attack are pretty on point. While Ridder did end the game with a passing touchdown, rookie Bijan Robinson did the heavy lifting on the 11-yard reception.
Robinson and Tyler Allgeier carried the load for most of the day, as Shook points out:
Ridder was at his best on quick passes, in which he didn’t need to work through his progression to find open targets, and Atlanta unsurprisingly relied heavily on its two-headed rushing attack of Robinson and Allgeier. The Falcons gained 130 of their 221 total yards on the ground. Ridder didn’t need to do a ton to help the Falcons win, and he doesn’t get a boost in the rankings because of that fact.
If Ridder takes a step forward and shows improvement against Green Bay, then we may see more recognition come his way on the national level. Until he becomes a bigger part of the game plan, though, this is about where we can expect to see him ranked.
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Originally posted on Falcons Wire
