Atlanta’s second-year quarterback Desmond Ridder has come under some significant criticism after the Falcons scored just six and seven points, respectively, in their last two games.
But Ridder told reporters this week that he’s staying focused on the task at hand.
“For me, I don’t let the outside noise kind of affect me,” Ridder said in his Wednesday press conference. “I just know what I have to do every single day and that’s to improve. We talk a lot about here of the growth mindset, and for myself that’s coming in watching the film — like I said, I had eight hours to watch it on the plane, watched it twice over there, so it’s just about coming in here and getting better every single day. Not only myself but every other guy on this team getting better, so we can improve as a team.”
Ridder finished the 23-7 loss to Jacksonville 19-of-31 passing for 191 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. He also lost a fumble.
Head coach Arthur Smith said he never considered benching Ridder during that game and on Wednesday Ridder noted he never felt as if he might be benched.
“That’s playing in fear and that’s not something I want to do or would advise anyone to do is to play in fear, or to play like someone’s looking over your back,” Ridder said. “For me, it’s just about going out there and playing every play as a new play and going out there trying to play the play as best as you can, try to get the best result out of each play, and not play with that fear.
“When you start to play with that fear you start to second guess things … When you get into that game of oh, is he going to bench me? Oh, is he going to do this? That’s when you start to get into a lot of crappy play and a lot of fear.”
The Falcons went all-in on Ridder during the offseason, signing Taylor Heinicke to be Ridder’s backup and not really to push him as a starter. But if Ridder’s play and Atlanta’s offense as a whole don’t improve, then Smith might need to look at changing things up at QB.
