3 Reasons the Atlanta Falcons must bench Mariota for Desmond Ridder
By Nick Halden
2. Mariota has regressed as a passer
The hope heading into the season was that Marcus Mariota had learned from his time on the bench with the Raiders and Titans. Perhaps the immense talent that Mariota has would work in Atlanta and be the second chance that he needed.
Instead, it appears as if Mariota has gotten worse as a passer consistently throwing the ball high or wide of his targets four weeks into the season. It is one thing to shake off the rust for the first couple of weeks it is another to consistently overthrow receivers for four straight weeks.
It doesn’t matter if the Falcons do have open receivers they cannot count on their quarterback to make the throw. At this point, it is surprising when Mariota is able to hit his open receiver in the chest with an accurate throw. This isn’t just happening on deep balls either there have been multiple short-yardage throws in front of him and Mariota sails the ball and misses his receiver.
No matter how much the run game and defense improve throughout the season you aren’t going to win many games with Mariota as your quarterback. He is a liability as a passer and needs to be benched.