There is an old saw about football.
If you have two (or more) quarterbacks, you have none.
However, the Atlanta Falcons might be turning that on its head.
This past offseason the Falcons signed Marcus Mariota, the former second-overall selection, to a two-year deal. Then in the draft, Atlanta managed to wait until the third round to draft a quarterback, adding Desmond Ridder with the 74th-overall selection.
Prior to drafting Ridder, Atlanta added a ton of talent, including wide receiver Drake London, pass rusher Arnold Ebiketie, and linebacker Troy Anderson.
Through two preseason games, both quarterbacks have played well. While Ridder is getting the bulk of attention, which is likely to be expected with a rookie, Mariota has been nearly perfect in limited action.
That might make for a good problem for Atlanta this fall.
How Ridder has impressed
For many, Ridder was the top quarterback in the 2022 draft class. Those who ranked him at the top pointed to his mental acumen, and ability to run an NFL offense almost immediately.
For those evaluators, the early returns are right in line with how they viewed Ridder coming out of college. Anticipation throws, adjusted expectations when the defense rolled their safeties, and smart decisions with the football were staples of his career at Cincinnati.
This early completion, from the second quarter against the Detroit Lions in the first week of the preseason, is a prime example:
This concept is very similar to how Kyle Shanahan and other teams run their Dagger design, with the inside receiver running a through route instead of a straight vertical, and the outside receiver banding his dig route by angling outside a bit before cutting towards the middle. Ridder reads this concept perfectly, as the Lions drop into a two-high coverage. He knows a linebacker is going to try and match the through route, getting underneath the first receiver to split the middle of the field, and as such he brings his eyes and his feet to the dig route, making an anticipation throw as the linebacker sticks on the through route.
On this throw from the third quarter, Ridder makes another anticipation throw as he delivers the curl route on-time and in-rhythm:
Anticipation throws like these are great signs that a quarterback is reading the field well, diagnosing what is happening in the secondary, trusting his eyes and reads and letting it rip. This was a trait of Ridder’s in college, and it is great to see such throws early in his NFL career.
This continued on Monday night against the New York Jets. Ridder hit on 10 of 13 passes for 143 yards in the outing, and again his mental acumen stood out. Take this completion from late in the second quarter, as Ridder executes a run fake before setting up in the pocket to execute a Flood concept to the right side of the field:
Ridder’s read, as well as his technique, is impressive. As he starts to come out of the run fake, he gets his eyes downfield to confirm the coverage. He sees the cornerback and safety bracketing the deep route, as well as the window for the intermediate out route. So he knows mentally where to go with the ball.
But the physical part of the play is the next step. He hits his drop depth but does not rush the throw, using short, choppy steps to climb the pocket and time up the throw to the route perfectly. The ball comes out right on time, putting the receiver in position for more yardage after the catch.
Atlanta turned to the same design a few plays later, with similar results:
As noted earlier, Ridder had success on Dagger concepts in his first preseason game. Near the end of the first half against the Jets, Atlanta dialed up another Dagger concept for the rookie, which he executed to perfection:
Once more, you see Ridder’s ability to execute a play-action design, snapping his eyes around while coming out of the fake to pick up the coverage, and make the right decision with the football. And when it comes to the timing, and anticipation, look at the state of play when Ridder lets this ball go:
Now, one of the concerns about Ridder coming out of Cincinnati was ball placement. Which is why you might have noticed your Twitter timeline melt down Monday night when Ridder hit on this throw:
This is an incredible throw. Ridder comes out of the mesh with the running back, and spots a linebacker dropping to try and pick up the tight end crossing the field. With the linebacker retreating, Ridder knows he has a chance to be aggressive with the throw, and takes his shot. The rookie puts this into the proverbial shoebox, leading to a 17-yard gain.
Ridder has been extremely impressive this preseason, and his coach has taken notice. Smith was visibly upset at times Monday night, directing some of his criticism at his rookie quarterback over penalties and mistakes. After the game, Smith shared why he was upset with Ridder.
“I got high expectations for Desmond,” Smith said. “So, we’re going to be hard on Desmond, ’cause he’s a good player, and he can take that kind of coaching. And he understands, we’re not waiting on him as a rookie, we’re trying to speed him up. He made some good throws. There’s some stuff he has to clean up, especially on the operation.”
Atlanta might not be waiting on him as a rookie, but there is a veteran who might have something to say about the matter…
Do not count out Mariota
Monday night was Mariota’s most extensive action of the preseason yet. He did see action against the Lions in Atlanta’s first preseason game, hitting on both of his passing attempts and adding three rushing attempts for 23 yards and a touchdown.
In the game against Detroit, we saw Mariota make throws on the move on boot-action concepts like this one, where he connects with rookie Drake London on the crossing route:
Whether it is Ridder or Mariota under center, this is the kind of design you can expect to see a lot of from Atlanta this season. Mariota executes this perfectly, getting outside the pocket and making a precise throw on the move to London, who adds another 13 yards after the reception.
On Monday night, Falcons fans saw more of Mariota under center, and had to be pleased with what they saw. On his first attempt of the night, Mariota connected with second-year tight end Kyle Pitts on this vertical route, dropping in a perfect throw after freezing the safety in the middle of the field:
This is one of those moments where holding the post-safety in place actually matters on a vertical route to the outside. Pitts is working out of a condensed split, and his route only takes him to the bottom of the numbers. There is a chance that the post-safety can make a play on this throw with a good read and jump, but by freezing him in the middle of the field — and flashing the ball on the crossing route — Mariota holds him in place.
Atlanta fans saw another example of Mariota on boot-action, as he hits the receiver in the flat on this design:
This is a great example of a quarterback making life easy on himself. While you would love to hit one of the deeper routes, whether the crosser coming from the backside or the deep corner route to the tight end, with the wide receiver wide open initially on his quick out pattern, there is no need to complicate matters. Take the easy throw, move the chains, and get the next play from your coaches.
Mariota also flashed some anticipation of his own, on this quick hitch route to the left side of the field:
Atlanta dials up a pair of half-field concepts on his play. On the right side they run a Drift concept, with the inside receiver sitting down on a curl while the outside receiver runs the Drift route, breaking inside a bit deeper downfield and looking for space.
On the left side, they run a Hoss concept, with the outside receiver hitching up while the inside receiver runs the seam route.
New York drops into Cover 6 — Quarter-Quarter-Half — with the cornerback over the hitch playing off coverage as he drops into his quarter of the field. Mariota sees this and knows he has free access to the hitch route. So again, he takes what the defense gives him, getting the throw out on-time and in-rhythm.
Then there is the touchdown Mariota hit on, which is a ball that is also thrown into the proverbial shoebox:
Again, Mariota does a good job with his eyes on this touchdown. The Jets are in single-high Cover 1 on this play, with the post-safety looking to read Mariota’s eyes. The QB freezes him in the middle of the field, using the dig route as bait, before flashing his eyes outside to throw the post route to Olamide Zaccheaus. Mariota drills in this throw well before the safety arrives, and the Falcons are on the board.
Again, the old saw holds that if you have two quarterbacks, you have none. Right now, the Falcons are turning that on its head a bit. Mariota, the veteran, is performing well and is likely their Week 1 starter. But the rookie appears to be ahead of schedule, and is certainly pushing the veteran from behind. The question might not be if Ridder starts this season, but when.
Which is perhaps a good question to have for the Falcons.
