New quarterback, same stout running game and same close loss for Atlanta Falcons

The Desmond Ridder Era started in New Orleans on Sunday in the same manner as the Marcus Mariota Era concluded two weeks earlier in Atlanta.

The Falcons again ran the ball well, rushing for 231 yards and two touchdowns on 39 attempts — an average of nearly six yards an attempt — against the Saints, while the defense allowed fewer than 26 points for the sixth straight game.

Still, it wasn’t enough to overcome an anemic passing game, as Ridder went 13 of 26 for 97 yards as the Falcons lost for the fifth time in their past six games with a 21-18 setback to the Saints at Caesars Superdome.

It was Atlanta’s seventh loss of six points or less this season.

“Obviously you are going to have nerves and anxiety just getting out there for your first start in a crazy environment,” Ridder said. “We executed in the run game, but obviously I didn’t do too well in the passing game.”

Ridder, who the Falcons took in the third round with the 74th overall pick last spring, led an offense that ran the ball exceptionally well.

Tyler Allgeier rushed for a career-high 139 yards, the second-most by a rookie in team history, and a touchdown on 17 carries. Cordarrelle Patterson added 52 yards and a score on 14 carries, with Ridder finishing with 38 yards on six carries.

The Falcons’ 231 rushing yards were their most in a game since they ran for 248 against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 15 of the 2016 season.

“(Allgeier) is not a speed guy but when you hand the ball off you expect that he’s going to make that one guy miss. It’s going to take more than one guy to tackle him and bring him down,” Ridder said. “That’s almost a security for (me) to kind of hand the ball off and just know that he’s going to get positive yards.”

Ridder also got the ball to speedy rookie receiver Drake London, which was something Mariota routinely failed to do.

London caught seven of the 11 passes thrown his way for 70 yards after catching nine passes combined the previous three games with Mariota under center. London’s seven receptions were one shy of the season-high eight he caught against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 2.

“I told Desmond (on Saturday) that, whether he threw for 300 yards or 100, it wasn’t going to define his career,” Falcons coach Arthur Smith said. “He has a lot to learn. Watching him operate procedure-wise, he has a lot of command. The next step is to continue to find solutions and make plays. It was another close game and we had our chances. We ultimately didn’t get it done.”

The Falcons’ third straight loss dropped them to 5-9 and from second to last place in the NFC South Division behind Tampa Bay (6-8), Carolina (5-9) and New Orleans (5-9).

In a league where there’s a razor-thin margin between winning and losing, the Falcons are 4-7 in games decided by six points or fewer.

Trailing 21-18, the Falcons had a chance to win Ridder’s debut. After taking over at their 10-yard line following a Saints punt with 6:06 left in the game, Ridder drove the Falcons to midfield, where he faced fourth-and-5.

Ridder completed a 12-yard pass to London, but safety Justin Evans forced London to fumble, with cornerback Bradley Roby, a former standout at Peachtree Ridge, making the recovery.

“We need to find ways to win these games,” Falcons guard Chris Lindstrom said. “Everybody in this locker room knows that. This is not the position where we want to be, but all we can do is come to work. That’s the culture around here. There’s no quit in this team. There’s no bad attitude. Our mentality is that, eventually it’s going to break. We have to keep working at it and win these tight games.”

The Falcons have three games left, beginning with a Saturday game at the Baltimore Ravens (9-5) before closing with home games against the Arizona Cardinals (4-10) on Jan. 1 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Jan. 8.

Atlanta likely has to win all three to have any chance of making the playoffs.

While Ridder graded himself a “C-minus” or a “D” for his performance, Smith is convinced he made the right choice to start Ridder after Mariota’s poor play and lingering knee injury had the Falcons heading in the wrong direction.

“He’s not scared of the moment,” Smith said. “He was poised. And it wasn’t perfect in a lot of ways, we’ll look at the tape, but I like what he’s made up of.”