When Desmond Ridder lines up behind center for the Falcons on Sunday, it won’t be his first NFL start.
But it will be the first time he takes the field in a season designed to prove that he’s Atlanta’s quarterback of the future.
The 2022 third-round pick out of Cincinnati has received plenty of praise from the Falcons brass and his teammates throughout the offseason and training camp. But Ridder’s performance is a major factor in whether Atlanta will become a contender this season.
“I’m ready to roll,” Ridder said in his press conference this week. “Ain’t no doubt about it. I’m ready to go out. I know every single one of the guys in that locker room have my back, and I’ve got theirs. Every time we put that ball down and go to play, it’s time to strap up and go.”
Ridder said there’s “a lot less anxiety” going into this start compared to his debut in Week 15 last season. But he still feels the inherent pressure of being an NFL starting quarterback.
“I feel that responsibility every single day because that is my job,” Ridder said. “That is my responsibility to make sure not only myself doing everything I can to push this team forward, but everyone else as a whole — as an offense, as a special teams, as a defense, as a team — that we’re all headed in the right direction.
“So, as the position of quarterback, I feel that pressure every single day of just going out there and making sure that everyone is where they need to be, and like we were talking about earlier, that we’re a smooth and flawless team.”
As for the offense in general, Ridder feels like the group has been “looking great.”
"[W]e’ve got a couple of new things in that we’ll go in there and we’ll work out,” Ridder said. “As far as my relationship with all of the receivers and tight ends, and anyone who could possibly get the ball, it’s great, and we’ll keep continuing to build throughout — not only this week and coming soon, but throughout the entire season. We always talk about we just want to continue to grow, one percent each day, come in here and get better at something, whatever that may be.”
The Falcons went 2-2 in Ridder’s four starts last season, with the quarterback completing 64 percent of his passes for 708 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions — though he did fumble three times with two lost. He finished with an 86.4 passer rating.
