Atlanta Falcons deciding their own fate starting Marcus Mariota

There was hope headed into the Atlanta Falcons bye week that the team would turn the offense over to rookie quarterback Desmond Ridder. The Falcons were embarrassed on the Thursday night football stage losing to an obviously tanking Carolina Panthers team led by P.J. Walker. Atlanta was a mess offensively and couldn’t take advantage of the numerous chances the defense gave the team.

Marcus Mariota was an objective disaster and clearly showed why he shouldn’t be a starting quarterback in this league. Fast forward through the bye week and the Falcons made it clear that they were sticking with Mariota because the season was still in front of them.

It is this nonsensical reasoning that has left some fans wondering how bad Desmond Ridder could possibly be? You have a quarterback in Mariota that is very clearly the problem and reason your team is no longer on top of the NFC South and yet you maintain Mariota is the starter based on the fact your team still has winnable games in front of them hoping they can pull themselves back into division or wildcard contention.

Let’s be realistic in 2022 a team starting Marcus Mariota isn’t going to make the playoffs. Mariota is the known quarterback who can give the Falcons a boost in the run game and is an absolute wildcard otherwise. The most reliable aspect of his game has been gut-wrenching turnovers that always happen at the wrong time. His lack of chemistry with Kyle Pitts and random inability to complete college-level throws at times is what will define his season with the Falcons.

When Atlanta has won this season it has been because of defensive plays or the team stepping up as a whole and overcoming the mistakes their quarterback has made. Your team isn’t going to win because of Marcus Mariota who is clearly a bottom-five quarterback and arguably the worst starter in the league. Marcus has thrown seven interceptions this season and put the ball on the turf eight times giving teams a combined fifteen chances through ten games, this obviously isn’t counting his erratic throws that give defenders a consistent chance to make a play.

To put this in further perspective look at the NFL’s current leader in interceptions (Josh Allen-10) Allen has thrown ten picks on 341-pass attempts in comparison to Mariota’s 7-interceptions in 231-attempts. Allen is well over 100-attempts past Mariota and yet has thrown only three more interceptions on the year. This speaks to the lack of trust the Falcons put in Mariota and the high volume of turnovers he manages to create despite the lack of attempts.

Starting Mariota is a decision that is sealing Atlanta’s fate this season they are no longer a team that can compete for their division or a wildcard spot. Perhaps even with Desmond Ridder as the starter, their fate would be the same, however, it is hard to imagine the rookie could be much worse as a passer. Considering the precise passing he showed in Cincy and in the preseason Atlanta not giving the rookie a well-deserved chance is a terrible decision that seals Atlanta outside of the playoffs yet again.

Mariota has already received a gift few NFL quarterbacks get in having a team handed to him after losing his starting job. It is time to give up on a player who clearly isn’t an NFL quarterback and is not going to be the guy to break Atlanta’s playoff drought.