This is part of why I really disliked the move to put Hennessy in Wilkinson's place. There are only two centers on the roster, and the odd decision to start Hennessy meant both of them were on the field at risk of getting hurt. And it's not like he's a massive upgrade over Colby Gossett or Germain Ifedi. He was one of the worst pass protectors in the entire league last year and lost the starting center job.
Report: Kyle Pitts believed to have MCL sprain, will have MRI Monday Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts was limited to 24 offensive snaps in Sunday’s 27-24 win over the Bears because of a knee injury and he could be in line to miss more time as well. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Pitts’ is believed to be an MCL sprain. He is having an MRI on Monday to confirm that diagnosis. If the injury is confirmed, Pitts will likely be in line to miss some action while he recovers. Pitts had three catches for 43 yards on Sunday. He has 28 catches for 356 yards and two touchdowns in 10 overall appearances. MyCole Pruitt, Parker Hesse, Anthony Firkser, and Feleipe Franks are other tight ends in Atlanta, although Firkser and Franks were both inactive on Sunday. PFT
It sounds like the Falcons could be without tight end Kyle Pitts for a while. After a report emerged earlier on Monday that Pitts suffered an MCL sprain in Sunday’s win over the Bears, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the tight end is believed to have suffered a torn MCL after undergoing an MRI. Pitts is said to be seeking a second opinion before deciding on a course of action. But if Pitts’ MCL is torn, that would likely mean he’s out for the rest of the year. Pitts was on the field for 24 of Atlanta’s offensive snaps on Sunday. He caught three passes for 43 yards in the matchup — his third-highest yardage output of the season. The No. 4 overall pick of the 2021 draft, Pitts has 28 receptions for 356 yards with a pair of touchdowns in 2022. The 5-6 Falcons will visit the 6-5 Commanders in Week 12. PFT __________ __________________ Terrible news for an up and coming team in the Playoff race.
They also lost Ta'Quon Graham, and that might be even more detrimental. I've said a few times they only have two interior linemen who are middle-of-the-pack or better. That's obviously Grady Jarrett, who is a total beast. The other one was Graham, who has been a rising star and has been versatile enough to play at any spot on the line. Like Pitts, he also suffered a knee injury. But while Pitts went back to the tunnel on his own, Graham left the field on a cart. Both are being put on IR.
Still in the hunt, for now. But it's a sinking feeling to be going into the stretch without one of your two top pass targets and one of your two best linemen. One thing I did notice, ironically on the same play when Pitts walked back to the locker room, was that Dean Pees played a traditional 4-3 package on 2nd and 5. I wonder if he might turn to more frequent 4-3 with Graham out. It would play to Timmy Horne's advantage to line him up on the gap as a 1-tech in a base 4-3 rather than having him play a two-gap assignment as the nose in a base 3-4. Put Horne at 1-tech (with Jaleel Johnson rotating in for him), Jarrett at 3-tech (with Jalen Dalton rotating as his backup), the edge guys lined up wide in their regular 2-point stance but on the line, and rookie Troy Andersen joining Evans and Walker at LB. Now that the DBs are coming back from injury, he might also go the Wade Philips approach and use dime packages instead of nickel - going with two interior linemen, two edge rushers, a "rover" linebacker (probably Mykal Walker) and six DBs.
Falcons present athletic challenges for the Commanders defense The Falcons (5-6) like to run the ball as much as any other team in the NFL this season. The Bears have run it more times; however, that has many times been when a called pass play breaks down, and quarterback Justin Fields takes off running. The Falcons like the designed run and keep pounding the designed runs. Quarterback Marcus Mariota is also mobile and runs the ball a few times each game as well. They run the ball well enough; they should not be mistakenly viewed as conservative and boring. In seven games this year the Falcons have scored at least 23 points and at least 27 points in five games. Running the ball 361 times and gaining 1,753 rushing yards through 11 games, the Falcons are averaging 4.9 yards per carry. This translates to the Falcons ranking 3rd in rushing attempts out of 32 teams as well as 3rd in rushing yards in the NFL. The Falcons to no surprise, also rank 6th in the NFL in yards per rushing attempt. The Falcons’ top rushers thus far this season are rookie Tyler Allgeier (110-498), Cordarrelle Patterson (86-454), Mariota (76-372) and Caleb Huntley (70-335). They are strong; they are athletic in their run game. Falcons head coach Arthur Smith likes to show the zone read in his schemes, so Washington’s defensive ends must be careful in crashing down and losing all contain outside. If you’ve forgotten, think of the runs Daniel Jones has enjoyed against Washington in recent seasons on called zone-read runs. COMMANDERS WIRE
I have to tip my hat to the Falcons and their coach. They have done a great job with what on paper looks like a crap roster. You still have a shot to win the division. The Buccaneers have a couple of really tough games coming up. I can’t see them beating the 49ers even with Mr. Irrelevant playing QB. Brady could suffer the first shutout of his career. And then the Bengals who are on fire. I see them at 6-8 after those two games.
Falcons head coach Arthur Smith said after last Sunday’s loss that “everything is on the table” when asked about the possibility of making a quarterback change when the team returns from their bye in Week 15 and it appears he has decided to make a switch. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Falcons will turn to rookie Desmond Ridder for their game in New Orleans. Marcus Mariota has started all 13 games for the Falcons this season and the team is 5-8 in those contests. Ridder was a third-round pick in April after leading Cincinnati to the college football playoffs during the 2021 season. He has yet to take any regular season snaps and the team will be using their extended break to make sure he’s fully prepared for his initial NFL action. Ridder’s performance over the final four weeks will be an important factor for the Falcons to consider heading into the offseason. They are currently slotted to pick 10th overall and finding an answer at quarterback will be a primary goal if Ridder doesn’t show that he has the potential to be the long-term answer at the position. PFT
It's time. I'll post more on that later, but the short version is (a) the offense needs a spark, and simply making the change might provide it (b) they're running out of time to get Ridder some playing experience this season (c) the offense isn't getting any better with Mariota anyway (d) Mariota hasn't been accurate on his throws lately, so even if Ridder still needs a little work in his mechanics, he's not likely to be significantly worse than Mariota. Bonus: (e) this could light a fire under Mariota as well. And right now he needs it.
Do you believe they are kinda giving up hope on the Playoffs or is it more like a last ditch effort to achieve that goal? Who knows, Ridder might be a spark that ignites a late run to make things real interesting again. Seen Ridder a few times with the Bearcats and I really was impressed with what I seen... Im no scout, but he has many tools and a good skill-set, in my opinion. Hopefully he has the trait's and prowess to cut in the NFL, it always doesnt work that way, but maybe he has, 'it'.
I don't think they're giving up on the playoffs. They're 1.5 games out now, but they still have a head to head matchup with Tampa as well as one with New Orleans. So it's still within reach - but they HAVE to get that extra spark, especially after letting two more "should have won" games slip away in the last couple of weeks. A big factor is that Mariota's throwing accuracy hasn't been so hot over the last six weeks or so. I think I read somewhere that he's now #2 in the league in "off-target" throws. Part of that was the play selection that I hit on after a couple of other games - ditching the short passes and going strictly with low percentage deep attempts for periods of time. That might have been bad play selection, but it might have been Mariota trying to get the quick strike and just heaving it. But he has also had too many makeable plays go awry just because he wasn't accurate in placing the ball. He only completed 15 of 25 passes against Washington. That's 60%, which is acceptable, but nearly all of the completions were short passes. And he only completed 13 of 24 against Pittsburgh, with both Heinecke for Washington and Pickett for Pittsburgh racking up better passer ratings than Mariota. Both games ended when opportunities for the game-winning touchdown resulted in game-ending interceptions, but it wasn't just those interceptions that highlight the need for a "spark". Atlanta simply had nothing on offense for most of the game against Pittsburgh. The first half scoring was a pair of 50+ yard field goals. Maybe Ridder can do better to get the offense off to faster starts. Maybe not, but it's not happening at the moment anyway, so might as well give him a shot at it.
Arthur Smith: Performance-based decision to start Desmond Ridder The Falcons officially have a new starting quarterback. A report last week indicated the team would start rookie Desmond Ridder rather than Marcus Mariota after their bye week. The Falcons are back from that time off on Monday and head coach Arthur Smith confirmed that he made a change for the Week 15 matchup against the Saints. “I did make a switch at quarterback. Desmond Ridder will be the starter. It’s a performance-based decision,” Smith said at a press conference. While Smith said the decision was made because of Mariota’s performance, the former starter is also dealing with an injury. Smith said Mariota is having his knee examined and that he will likely be placed on injured reserve. With four games left in the regular season, that move would close the door on Mariota’s return barring an unlikely move to the playoffs. The Falcons signed Logan Woodside off of the Titans practice squad over the weekend and he will serve as Ridder’s backup. PFT
Like i said previously... I hope he succeeds. Real curious how he does and I sure hope they (o-line) protect him well.
The injury to Mariota makes the Woodside signing a bit more interesting. Basically it confirms that Feleipe Franks is now a full time tight end rather than quarterback.
After benching, Marcus Mariota leaves Falcons Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota is out. Literally. After being benched for rookie Desmond Ridder for performance reasons, Mariota has left the team. And the team doesn’t know if he’ll be back. Coach Arthur Smith has said Mariota will be placed on injured reserve. The minimum four-game absence would knock him out for the rest of the regular season. Via Josh Kendall of TheAthletic.com, Smith said Tuesday that Mariota is currently not with the Falcons. Smith told Mariota last Thursday that he’ll be benched for Ridder. On Friday, Smith learned that Mariota planned to “step away” from the team. In lieu of placing Mariota on injured reserve, the Falcons could cut Mariota. He’d then head to waivers, like Baker Mayfield did last week. Mariota was the second overall pick in the 2015 draft. The Titans benched him for Ryan Tannehill in 2019. After two seasons with the Raiders, Mariota signed a two-year deal with the Falcons. He received a $5 million signing bonus, and a fully-guaranteed salary of $1.75 million for 2022. Without Mariota, Logan Woodside will serve as the backup to Ridder, a third-round pick in April. PFT __________ ____________________ Wow! Took his football and went home.
The media coverage is certainly painting it that way. I'm not ready to buy the idea that Mariota just got pissed and abandoned the team though. We really haven't heard any details about the type of knee injury. I don't think Arthur Smith was intending to throw him under the bus, but so far it's definitely coming out that way. I hope to hear more from Smith later on in the week. I suspect there's something going on with the knee where the more he plays before having it cleaned out, the worse it gets and the greater risk he takes of turning it into a bigger injury. So if the coaching staff wants to turn to Ridder as the starter, this is a great chance for Mariota to have it fixed and potentially even be able to return for the postseason if the Falcons do jump ahead of the Bucs. It sounds like the team would prefer for him to stay active and get it fixed after the season, but he disagrees and went after an outside opinion. As Smith acknowledged, that's his prerogative. Whatever is going on with the knee, it did seem to be affecting his level of play. Or at least SOMETHING seemed to be different with him over the last five games. He wasn't the same in November as he was in the last three weeks of October.
It is worded strangely, to say the least, by PFT and 'The Athletic' on the Mariota situation of 'leaving the team'. IF Arthur Smith and the Falcons want him to stick around, then why would they put him in this situation? I also dont understand why the media would even mention the fact that, if Mariota is placed on waivers, 'he could then be cut'?... If Mariota wants out, I would think he would communicate that to Smith and other Falcons higher-ups. Looks like a case where the media is creating a story without Mariota without data and actual quotes from Mariota on this situation. Its possible in my mind, that Mariota may be taking time to talfk to his agent and he might even be seeking second and third opinions on the exact condition of his knee and the direction he can/could take as far as his football future with the Falcons or someone else's team. This is key, because the media has this propensity to create stories when we havnt heard an in-depth statement from Marcus yet... it would be logical to wait and see what Mariota actually has to say about the whole damn thing before conclusions are made that 'he has left the team' come out. Its an interesting development that needs more time, clarification, simple facts and a point-blank statement from the horses (Mariota) mouth.
