Alex Lord at it again.

[HASHBROWN3]

Falcons HC isn’t open to Desmond Ridder hypotheticals but might not have a choice

https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/falcons_hc_isnt_open_to_desmond_ridder_hypotheticals_but_might_not_have_a_choice/s1_16493_37849880

Originally posted on SportsTalkATL  |  By Alex Lord  |  Last updated 9/6/22

 

When the Falcons traded away Matt Ryan, the team quickly found his replacement(s) by signing Marcus Mariota and then drafting Desmond Ridder shortly after. Much had been made about the quarterback competition in Atlanta, but once the team reported for camp, the veteran quickly separated himself from the rookie. Mariota was named the starter, but the Atlanta media has been persistent in the Ridder hypotheticals. To which Arthur Smith has shut down over and over again.

In an interview with Jeff Schultz of The Athletic, Smith continued to dismiss any chance of Ridder playing in 2022, citing his primary focus on the task at hand — beating the Saints in Week 1.

How many games does Desmond need to play for you to get an accurate assessment of him?

I’m not answering hypothetical, fantasy football and that kind of BS, Jeff.

No. I’m just asking you a question. Before you make a decision on quarterback next year, you’re going to want to know what you have in Desmond Ridder, right?

We want to know what we have in Marcus Mariota. So if you want to make this about ’23, and you can ask every which way, we’re focused on Week 1. We’re not going to go near some hypothetical. That’s not where our focus is now. Our focus is on the New Orleans Saints. If you want to hang out with the bots on Twitter and social media and get all these hypothetical GM scenarios or great team building or some of these other asinine narratives, go ahead.

 

Ridder will likely not unseat Mariota as the starter; after all, the veteran has done nothing to relinquish the starting job. However, Ridder needs to be ready to play during the regular season regardless of what Arthur Smith says because Mariota has been susceptible to injury. Since 2015, the former No. 2 overall pick has dealt with a laundry list of health issues, which I have detailed in a previous article.

Date	League	Injury	Details
Jan 12, 2015	Non-NFL	Shoulder A/C Joint Sprain	Mariota sprained his right shoulder in the National Championship game.
Oct 18, 2015	NFL	Knee MCL Sprain Grade 2	Mariota was rolled up on in Week 6 against the Dolphins and sprained his MCL. He missed the next two games.
Dec 20, 2015	NFL	Knee MCL Sprain Grade 2	Mariota sprained his right MCL and missed the final two games.
Dec 24, 2016	NFL	Leg Fibula Fracture	In Week 16, Mariota suffered a broken fibula against the Jags.
Oct 1, 2017	NFL	Thigh Hamstring Sprain/Pull Unspecified Grade 1	Mariota missed only 1 game.
Dec 22, 2018	NFL	Cervical Neck Stinger	Mariota missed the season finale.
Sep 9, 2018	NFL	Arm Elbow Sprain	Mariota missed 1 game with a pinched nerve.
Nov 18, 2018	NFL	Cervical Neck Stinger	Mariota missed 1 half of play but returned the following week vs. Houston.
Aug 27, 2020	NFL	Chest Pectoral Strain Grade 2	Mariota was placed on injured reserve as he was dealing with a strained pectoral during the training camp. He missed the first five games of 2020 season.
Aug 12, 2021	NFL	Leg Quad Strain	Mariota missed preseason games because of a quad injury
Sep 13, 2021	NFL	Leg Quad Strain	Mariota aggravated a strained quadriceps during the Week 1 win over the Ravens. He was placed on IR and missed five games.

Falcons fans might not know much about Mariota, but he’s as competitive as they come in the National Football League. Fans in Atlanta got their first glimpse of that against the Lions when the veteran scrambled multiple times without giving himself up. He fights for every yard, which certainly provides a spark for the team and fan base, but he constantly puts himself in harm’s way. You never want a guy to change his style of play, but at some point, he has to realize that he’s QB1.

Ridder needs to be ready to play because if history repeats, Mariota will eventually miss some time. This isn’t something I’m hoping for at all; it’s just how the old saying goes, “prepare for the worst, hope for the best.”

 

The Falcons are going into each week with the expectation to win football games, and Mariota under center gives the team the best chance of doing that. Fans are looking into the future, with the prospect of landing Bryce Young or CJ Stroud being tantalizing. To pull that trigger, the fan base believes the team can’t make an informed decision without knowing what they have in Ridder. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case with this new regime.

The Falcons will try and win as many games as possible, but Arthur Smith would be wise to acknowledge at least the fact that Mariota could miss time with injury. It’s best to hope for the best and prepare for the worst

[HASHBROWN3]

Oh and here’s Alex outside Smith’s office

[Tribal Chief]

This is what happens when y'all run MVP off. You have yourselves to thank for sportstalkatl 

[hjerry]

I'm actually enjoying Smith telling the media to go **** themselves whenever they ask a question that he doesn't want to answer 

[hjerry]

1 minute ago, Tribal Chief said:

This is what happens when y'all run MVP off. You have yourselves to thank for sportstalkatl 

I mean, OP posted it. Pretty sure that's where the blame goes lol

[Tribal Chief]

Just now, hjerry said:

I mean, OP posted it. Pretty sure that's where the blame goes lol

Heck I'm starting to think he works for them in some capacity 🤔🤔

[JayOzOne]

19 minutes ago, Tribal Chief said:

This is what happens when y'all run MVP off. You have yourselves to thank for sportstalkatl 

More like ClickBaitATL. Not this post, but 95% of everything Falcons related on Yardbarker.

[Mister pudding]

How on earth did Green Bay know Aaron Rodgers was good sitting behind Favre? 🤔

[HASHBROWN3]

46 minutes ago, Tribal Chief said:

Heck I'm starting to think he works for them in some capacity 🤔🤔

Alex Lord is my dad!

😫

[HASHBROWN3]

48 minutes ago, hjerry said:

I mean, OP posted it. Pretty sure that's where the blame goes lol

I’ll take it all.  I ain’t skeered.

Are you holding a pitchfork though?? 😘

[1989Fan]

“Lead sharpening lead!”

- Alex “the Lord” Lord

[Voice of Reason]

23 minutes ago, Mister pudding said:

How on earth did Green Bay know Aaron Rodgers was good sitting behind Favre? 🤔

You know what? It’d be great if they’d come up with some way the players could meet with the coaches throughout the week and go over plays. Then they could have Ridder run our offense in a controlled setting. That way they could get a good observation of Ridder. Heck, this could actually allow them to observe every player and possibly get our team more familiar with the playbook! Man, I just wish something like this existed. Oh well. 

[Faithful Falcon]

1 hour ago, Tribal Chief said:

This is what happens when y'all run MVP off. You have yourselves to thank for sportstalkatl 

What MVP? 

[HASHBROWN3]

1 minute ago, Faithful Falcon said:

What MVP? 

Nobody ran him off man.  LOL!

[Faithful Falcon]

26 minutes ago, Mister pudding said:

How on earth did Green Bay know Aaron Rodgers was good sitting behind Favre? 🤔

They knew what type of player Rodgers could be, but they didn't realize the chip he had on his shoulder. Playing great in high school, and not getting many offers. Playing great in college, just sit in the Green Room all night. Not to mention, only players projected to be drafted in the top 10 were invited then. 

[Faithful Falcon]

3 minutes ago, HASHBROWN3 said:

Nobody ran him off man.  LOL!

He ran off after the 2016 season. 😂

[Mister pudding]

3 minutes ago, Faithful Falcon said:

They knew what type of player Rodgers could be, but they didn't realize the chip he had on his shoulder. Playing great in high school, and not getting many offers. Playing great in college, just sit in the Green Room all night. Not to mention, only players projected to be drafted in the top 10 were invited then. 

Everybody knew Aaron was the next best thing (2-3 years after being drafted), even when he sat. My point was, coaches know how to evaluate players

[HASHBROWN3]

AS did the right thing. He’s not going to allow premature Ridder talk hijack our plan for how the team intends to approach the early season. 
The only reason I posted this Alex Lord thingy is because I thought it was pretty bold of him to use that Schultz riff to poke Smith.

I’ll back off the yardbarker stuff, but it’s easy to find falcons reposts there for the most part. I don’t personally give one hoot about that site & HAVE NO AFFILIATION LMAO! 🤣

[Faithful Falcon]

Just now, Mister pudding said:

Everybody knew Aaron was the next best thing (2-3 years after being drafted), even when he sat. My point was, coaches know how to evaluate players

True 

[Ians0280]

44 minutes ago, HASHBROWN3 said:

I’ll take it all.  I ain’t skeered.

Are you holding a pitchfork though?? 😘

That's what she said

[ATLskinjob]

1 hour ago, Tribal Chief said:

This is what happens when y'all run MVP off. You have yourselves to thank for sportstalkatl 

I miss him.

[ATLskinjob]

35 minutes ago, HASHBROWN3 said:

AS did the right thing. He’s not going to allow premature Ridder talk hijack our plan for how the team intends to approach the early season. 
The only reason I posted this Alex Lord thingy is because I thought it was pretty bold of him to use that Schultz riff to poke Smith.

I’ll back off the yardbarker stuff, but it’s easy to find falcons reposts there for the most part. I don’t personally give one hoot about that site & HAVE NO AFFILIATION LMAO! 🤣

Man I can't help but laugh when Smith gives these poor unsuspecting reporters both barrels of being a straight up a-hole.

But honestly I think they deserve it most of the time for asking him such thoughtless questions. I would get pretty sick of that hypothetical questions game real quick myself.

These reporters are handling him wrong. The more dumb questions you ask him the more he closes up. 

He's most friendly if you can get a laugh out of him or just get him to start talking about something that he's interested in. Like chips on shoulders.

Amateurs.

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by ATLskinjob

[Tim Mazetti]

2 hours ago, HASHBROWN3 said:

We want to know what we have in Marcus Mariota. So if you want to make this about ’23, and you can ask every which way, we’re focused on Week 1. We’re not going to go near some hypothetical. That’s not where our focus is now. Our focus is on the New Orleans Saints. If you want to hang out with the bots on Twitter and social media and get all these hypothetical GM scenarios or great team building or some of these other asinine narratives, go ahead.

Dam. I like it. Much more info given from the HC than Belichick would.

[Tim Mazetti]

50 minutes ago, HASHBROWN3 said:

AS did the right thing. He’s not going to allow premature Ridder talk hijack our plan for how the team intends to approach the early season. 
The only reason I posted this Alex Lord thingy is because I thought it was pretty bold of him to use that Schultz riff to poke Smith.

I’ll back off the yardbarker stuff, but it’s easy to find falcons reposts there for the most part. I don’t personally give one hoot about that site & HAVE NO AFFILIATION LMAO! 🤣

Keep the yardbarker please.

[youngbloodz]

2 hours ago, Tribal Chief said:

This is what happens when y'all run MVP off. You have yourselves to thank for sportstalkatl 

Oh he is gone? When this happened lol