Atlanta Falcons must make the obvious decision and bench Desmond Ridder

If there were any Atlanta Falcons fans that still fully believed in Desmond Ridder it is hard to believe that is still the case. Ridder played one of the ugliest halves of football Atlanta fans have seen in the last decade at the quarterback position.

Whether it was missing wide-open receivers or staring down defenders and gift-wrapping back-to-back interceptions to push the game out of reach it was an ugly half for Desmond. Ridder clearly is going in the wrong direction in both his ability to read the field and running this offense.

You can read the body language of his teammates and coaching staff this is a team that clearly doesn't trust their quarterback and it is time to make a change.

Atlanta's defense continues to play at a high level despite the offense rarely staying on the field and the one extended drive ending with the defense scoring seven points.

Atlanta has zero choice at this point but to make the obvious move and give Taylor Heinicke a chance to show what he can do. It is hard to believe that he could be anything but an improvement though the same was said about Ridder replacing Marcus Mariota.

The mistakes that Ridder continues to make only are acceptable if you have a quarterback capable of balancing them out with big plays. Ridder has proven to be a turnover-prone quarterback while not being able to deliver the ball accurately past five yards.

Arthur Smith may not want to punt on his quarterback in game four of the season but it is the right decision and any other player that was playing at this level would be benched without hesitation. Atlanta clearly needs a reset on offense and Taylor Heinicke may or may not be the answer but there is only one way to find out.