Atlanta Falcons: Breakdown & grades for Desmond Ridder's 4 starts last season
Desmond Ridder 2022 breakdown: Week 17, Arizona Cardinals @ Atlanta Falcons
Result: Win (ATL 20, ARI 19)
Stats:
- 19/26 (73%)
- 169 passing yds
- 90.1 QBR
- 0 TD
- 4 rushes for 9 yds
- 1 sack for -1 yd
- 1 fumble lost
- 0 interceptions
This is where we really saw Desmond Ridder improve which is good because the situation was finally in his favor. He did what he needed to do against a weak Cardinals team at home.
The Atlanta Falcons starting quarterback was able to get future Hall of Famer J.J. Watt to jump offsides twice early in the game—a skill that the Falcons should take advantage of in 2023.
Ridder fumbled partway through the game on a botched snap from under center—which cannot happen again.
Despite the fumble, he still managed to will his team to a win by leading them on a textbook game-winning drive that melted the clock.
I charted Ridder as going 4/5 on passes at or behind the LOS, 9/10 on short passes, 5/7 on medium passes, and 0/1 on deep passes. His one incompletion on a deep pass was on a throw where he threw a beautiful pass down the sideline but the receiver was interfered with enough to cause the ball to drop to the turf (no penalty was called).
In total, I marked him as having two "A+ throws" and two dropped passes.
Ridder wasn't under pressure as much as the two prior weeks which certainly helped him have an efficient game passing the ball.
All in all, Ridder showed more improvements in a game where he finally had some external help.