3 Reasons Atlanta Falcons finally benched Desmond Ridder in heartbreaking loss

2. Seven turnovers in ten quarters

One would think that the Atlanta Falcons quarterback would be focused on ball security a week after losing three fumbles in key situations. Ridder threw three interceptions and cleaned that up the following week but balanced it out by dropping the ball three different times. While one of the fumbles was on the pass protection the other two cannot be defended.

This was a point further driven home when Taylor Heinicke was put into the game and dealt with bad snaps. They were obvious and set the quarterback up for failure but Heinicke was poised and secured the football.

This week's fumble from Ridder could somewhat be put on pass protection but one would hope after a week with three fumbles your quarterback would wrap up the ball as he attempts to escape the pocket. In truth, you simply cannot be a starting quarterback in this league and put the ball in harm's way so often.

The moment that Atlanta put Heinicke into the game the offense had a different feel and flowed consistently looking like the unit we thought we were getting at the start of the season. Can this continue or is it simply a team responding to an injury?