How the Falcons prepared rookie quarterback Desmond Ridder for his first startAT SOME POINT this season, it felt like the Falcons were going to get a look at Ridder, either because Atlanta was out of playoff contention or because Mariota struggled.
Ridder, for every regular season practice this year, has worked with the scout team...It has been his role for 13 weeks, a combination of learning how to be an NFL quarterback while simultaneously mimicking others.
Since Atlanta drafted Ridder in April, there has been a clear development plan. The Falcons wanted to push him but not overload him, see what he could handle without placing him in a position that could stunt his success. In minicamp and throughout the season, Falcons coaches have praised how Ridder handled things mentally -- from learning the playbook to picking up on his offensive scheme -- and his maturity.
Then comes this: For anywhere between 15 minutes to a half-hour after practice, Ridder and a collection of Atlanta offensive players, who primarily spend their time on scout team, stay on the field running through plays. These are their reps to learn Atlanta's offense.
Falcons HC Arthur Smith had seen careers ruined by too much, too soon. Ridder was coming in to learn and then, potentially, start. He would not be thrust immediately into the top role.
It's a tricky balance. There have been points where Ridder wowed teammates with throws in practice, but to truly know the progress he has made is difficult because he's being given the play on a card before it is run. It's a play he's not necessarily familiar with but also a scenario where sometimes he's told to go to a certain spot no matter what.
Other times, he's reading progressions based on Atlanta's defense. So it's a rep, sort of. But it is experience, something that could help Ridder for multiple reasons, including him not being tied to one style of play.
Draft picks are never guaranteed successes anyway, and third-round quarterbacks don't have a huge history of success as starters...How Ridder will handle an offense that uses motion pre-snap 62.3% of the time -- fifth-highest in the NFL -- and an offense lining up in the pistol an NFL-high 37% of the time is unclear. But the physical skills, Atlanta's defenders have seen some of it.
RIDDER'S FIRST PLAN was a success. He attached himself to Mariota to try and learn as much as possible. Mariota and Ridder were the first players in the building daily, going through plays and scripts early as preparation. Ridder, realizing where he was in his own rookie development, recognized the need to push himself in addition to the help Mariota and the coaches provided.
Ridder began using the flash card learning tool Quizlet to help accelerate his process. Quizlet creates digital flashcards to help facilitate learning and memorization, part of what Ridder needed to jump-start the process. Prior to Quizlet, Ridder said, he was finding there were small details he wasn't grasping.
Throughout his football life, he always has sought different ways to improve. This helped him marry formation and playcall together. The toughest thing to pick up, London said, is the playcall process. Often in college, it's completely different than the NFL -- signals or signs instead of calls -- a mental transition as difficult as a physical one.
All of it has helped. In those post-practice workouts, Darby said Ridder has started finishing the playcall before London.
"From rookie minicamp to now, it's like a whole different dude," said running back Caleb Huntley, a post-practice regular. "Every practice, it's little things he's gotten better at. Accuracy, the deep ball, just different reads and where the ball needs to go on a given play.
"He's made progress in that area and also being a leader."
Where situationally Atlanta had been strong the first half of the season on third down, in two-minute situations and in the red zone, the Falcons faltered the past five weeks, converting one-third of their third down chances, scoring touchdowns on 53.8% of their red zone trips (No. 14 in the league) and scoring in the red zone 76.9% of the time, tied with Indianapolis for No. 27 in the NFL.
Handling situational football is one of the most important tenets of playing quarterback to Smith, and the Falcons were having issues. Atlanta wasn't moving the ball, scoring or winning. It was time to make a change and see what Ridder can do.
There's no guarantee it will be better than what Mariota did, because Mariota's experience was valuable, and his ability to run helped create many opportunities for Atlanta's running backs in zone reads. Ridder is a rookie, and there's always a level of unpredictability there.
But he has been working for a year for this -- really since he was a kid when he stopped playing linebacker in order to play quarterback full-time in sixth grade. What he has done as a backup and how he has prepared to start has led him here.
Ridder is getting a real shot as an NFL starting quarterback.