Arthur Smith was impressed by Desmond Ridder
The Atlanta Falcons are naming Desmond Ridder as the starting quarterback next season. Ridder enjoyed success at the college level, leading the Cincinnati Bearcats to a College Football Playoff appearance. Ridder was taken in the third round of the 2022 draft. Head coach Arthur Smith explained why the Falcons trust him to be the starting quarterback next season.
According to an interview on the Rich Eisen Show, Smith said Ridder is good at keeping his composure in high-pressure situations, and the Falcons need that on third and forth down:
“We certainly saw that early on as we threw everything we could at him and he was impressive. We felt that he was ready to take over at that time of the season, and I thought he did a nice job. Cool, collected under pressure.
At the end of the day, you’ve got to be able to operate on critical third downs, fourth downs, two-minute situations, and I thought he’d done that pretty well. And certainly there’s a lot of things we all can continue to improve, but we’ve got a lot of faith in him.”
We’ll see if he can stay under control for the Falcons next season. The Falcons can win a wide-open NFC South division if they can win a few big games in 2023.