As the old saying goes, coaches coach and players play. It’s up to the players to execute what they’ve learned and Desmond Ridder didn’t.
During Ridder’s two seasons (19 games) with then-Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith, his numbers were less than desirable. Ridder put up 3,544 yards with a 14:12 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
Pittsburgh Steelers fans look at Ridder and wonder how Justin Fields will succeed under Smith. Only it’s not as cut and dry as that. Fields is a more superior athlete and all-around player than Ridder.
“Justin has a much stronger arm, and he’s definitively more accurate with his deep ball,” a former NFL executive and senior scout told Steelers Wire. “Justin’s a much more powerful and faster athlete, and Desmond is a very good athlete.”
When Fields gets the opportunity to take the, ahem, field, he’ll be running the system that Ridder did in Atlanta. “The mechanics of running any type of run design plays, Justin would be more successful because he has the tools to be more successful. Any of the deep, big ball plays, Justin’s going to be more accurate and it’s going to get there quicker and more on time because of the differences in the arm.”
So much of Smith’s offense is centered around plays with multiple formations and play action that produces wide-open targets. “Justin’s ability to hit that wide-open deep target is at a much higher level than Desmond’s,” he said.
Smith is well-versed in play-action, plays that Fields had success with in Chicago.
“His most successful plays were most often off of play action, deep sideline balls,” the source explained. “Some of it was dropback, and when he was on time and had those single high reads, he was really successful with it.”
“Coach Smith, when you look at last year, Desmond played best when he kept the ball between the hashes. Desmond’s better than Justin at throwing the ball inside the numbers in that open level between the linebackers and safeties. Whereas Justin’s much better from the hashes out and particularly from the numbers out to the sideline. There’s a distinct difference in Justin being better than Desmond that way.”
Smith will identify the differences between Fields and Ridder and coach to Fields’ strengths. “You will probably see more sideline deep balls than he threw or had the quarterback throw in Atlanta because of the differences in the quarterbacks,” he said. “That’s where he’ll adjust to Justin’s biggest issue in the middle of the field; confidence layering the ball over. That’s where you see him pull the ball back, pull it down quite a bit and have hesitation.”
Fields is more than coachable; he just needs to work on his confidence.
“It’ll come together for him, but he has to have the confidence that it won’t turn into a bad thing.”
