Report: Falcons making change from Mariota to Ridder at QB

Maybe Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith wasn’t ready to say it publicly on Sunday.

But what Smith said following a 19-16 loss to the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers — the Falcons’ fourth loss in their past five games — indicated that he was considering making a change at quarterback.

Smith had every opportunity to give Marcus Mariota a vote of confidence that he’ll be under center against the New Orleans Saints on Dec. 18 after Atlanta’s Week 14 bye.

He didn’t.

Smith’s Sunday comments paved the way for what happened Thursday when NFL.com reported that the Falcons’ quarterback change is happening with rookie Desmond Ridder replacing Mariota ahead of next week’s game against the division rival Saints.

“Anytime you are ready to go into a bye, we will evaluate everything — every job is open,” Smith said after Sunday’s game. “We need to decompress and meet as a staff and we have to evaluate everything and get over the hump and get back into the winning category. The bye is coming at a good time for us.”

Smith followed his comments by turning the offense over to Ridder, who the Falcons took with the 74th overall pick this past April after a stellar college career at Cincinnati.

The move gives Ridder experience and gives the team a good look at how he fits into the plans for 2023. It also may provide a spark after the recent struggles of Mariota, who has led the offense to more than 17 points just once in the past five games and has led the team to just one touchdown in the past 6 1/2 quarters.

Ridder stood out in testing ahead of the NFL Draft with his mental makeup, leadership and his athletic ability — he led all quarterbacks at the combine in the 40-yard dash, vertical leap and broad jump — which the Falcons hope make up for arm talent that isn’t overwhelming.

“We got to get over this hump, so we got to look at everything and we got to get back to the other side of winning,” Smith said after the Steelers loss. “There’s a lot of reasons why, like I said, it’ll be good to be able to take a step back. There will be changes made. We’ve got to look at everything.”

The Falcons, who five weeks ago were in the thick of the playoff race and in a tight battle for the NFC South Division, are now a loss away from a fifth straight losing season.

The Falcons (5-8) are behind Seattle (7-5), which hosts the Carolina Panthers (4-8) on Sunday, for the NFC’s final wild-card spot. In the NFC South, the Falcons trail the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-6), who play at San Francisco (8-4) in Week 14.

After the Falcons face the Saints, they’ll play at AFC North Division-leading Baltimore (8-4) before home games against the Arizona Cardinals (4-8) and Buccaneers.

“It’s about going 1-0 each week,” Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell said. “We can’t look too far ahead. We have to make sure we have to win that next game.” 

Mariota wasn’t thinking about losing his job for the second time in his career following Sunday’s loss.

“That’s not necessarily where my mind is at,” Mariota said. “You’re still trying to reflect on what happened during the game. At the end of the day, they (the coaching staff) have to make a decision that’s best for the team. Whatever happens, happens. But I’m not really thinking about that right now.”

Mariota, who Tennessee selected with the second overall pick in the 2015 draft, was replaced by Ryan Tannehill during the Titans’ Week 6 game in 2019.

Tannehill has remained the starter in Tennessee, while Mariota spent the next two seasons backing up Derek Carr in Las Vegas. He hoped to revive his career in Atlanta.

Mariota can look at what happened during two key, fourth-quarter drives in the Falcons’ last two games as why he lost his job.

Last week, the Falcons failed to take a lead late in the fourth quarter in a 19-13 loss to the Washington Commanders because Mariota threw an interception in the end zone on second-and-goal from the 4-yard line with 1:03 left.

On Sunday, with the Falcons trailing 19-13 with less than six minutes left, the Falcons drove to the 10-yard line before settling for Younghoe Koo’s 28-yard field goal with 5:27 left after Cordarrelle Patterson’s touchdown run was nullified on a holding penalty five plays earlier.

The Falcons got the ball back, but Mariota’s deep pass on first down from Atlanta’s 2-yard line was intercepted by Minkah Fitzpatrick with under a minute remaining.

Mariota went 13-for-24 passing for 167 yards with a touchdown and an interception, in addition to rushing for just 17 yards.

He’s thrown for more than 186 yards just once in the past 10 games. He’s failed to rush for 50 yards in each of the past seven games after rushing for at least that many yards three times in the first six contests.

Patterson rushed for 50 yards on 11 carries and Tyler Allgeier ran for 52 yards on 10 carries to lead a ground game that amassed 146 yards on 28 carries — an average of 5.2 yards per attempt.

But that can be misleading. Patterson’s longest run was 22 yards and Allgeier’s was 20, so outside of those two runs, the duo combined for 60 yards on 19 carries, an average of 3.2 yards an attempt.

“You can make it about the quarterback. How about the team?,” Smith said. “We’ve had an opportunity at the end of the fourth quarter the last two weeks. In a lot of different ways and a lot of different phases, we’ve got to get better.”