Falcons: Mariota’s leading receiver on deep throws is the Panthers

I believe this is what they are referring to when they say you’re pouring “salt on the wound.” We just talked about how bad the Atlanta Falcons’ deep passing game has been, or more specifically how bad Marcus Mariota has been, as the Carolina Panthers have caught more of his deep passes than the Falcons have.

This is yet another coin in the jar on why it is time for Arthur Smith to put in the rookie QB Desmond Ridder for their next game against the Saints.

Carolina Panthers have caught more Mariota deep passes than the Atlanta Falcons have

How sad is this fact? The division rival, Carolina Panthers, have caught more Marcus Mariota passes of 30-plus yards than the Atlanta Falcons have. In fact, they have caught three times as many passes that far down the field. This coming in just two games while the Falcons have had 13 games to haul those overthrows in.

Damiere Byrd is the lone Falcon to bring in a long Mariota pass and that came right before halftime against the Cincinnati Bengals for a 75-yard touchdown. It was the lone on-target pass that far down the field this year.

The Falcons played the Panthers in week eight and week ten. One of those games turned out great while the other was embarrassing. Frankly, the win was embarrassing considering what it took for them to win but we will ignore that.

In week eight, on the second offensive play of the game, Marcus Mariota dropped back and heaved a ball down the middle of the field targetting Damiere Byrd, and instead, Panthers corner Donte Jackson was the one who caught it. Similarly, in overtime, he threw a pass in the same area of the field that was intercepted by C.J. Henderson.

Then in week ten, right after the Panthers scored a touchdown, Mariota targetted Kyle Pitts deep and Jaycee Horn picked it off.

Congrats, now we can say that Donte Jackson, C.J. Henderson, and Jaycee Horn all have the same number of receptions on Mariota throws of 30 or more yards as the entire Atlanta Falcons team does.

Oh, and might as well (over)throw this in too, but Mariota has a completion percentage of 20% to opposing teams on such throws, and 5% to the Falcons.