It was Desmond Ridder's first win as a starting quarterback. Never mind that it was against a struggling team missing a bunch of key players. Atlanta is ALSO a struggling team missing a bunch of key players, so it's a fair fight. The main thing that jumped out to me was the offensive game plan. To me this game was done the way the Falcons should have been running the offense all along. First item is that Ridder only attempted one deep pass the entire game. Instead of using the run to set up the deep pass, the team used a mix of runs and high percentage shorter passes. It didn't always work, but it was a big improvement over those games where they focused too much on deep passes. Another noteworthy item: Cordarrelle Patterson was used more as a receiver in this game than he was as a runner. Again, this is how the team should have been using him all season. Looking ahead to next season (when Pitts is back from IR), you could have a package where the five skill players are Patterson, running back Tyler Allgeier, wide receiver Drake London, and tight ends Kyle Pitts and Parker Hesse. Note that Pitts split out wide far more than he lined up at TE in 2021 and that he worked to make improvements to his in-line blocking for 2022. Patterson is a natural WR, and Hesse has been doubling as a fullback. This same grouping could line up anywhere from a run-heavy two back, two TE formation to a single back, 3 WR formation. I've been waiting to see more of that type of mix-and-match all season, and Smith and OC Dave Ragone are finally making it happen. The one play that seems to be getting all the attention in Falcons circles certainly caught my eye as well. It was a third down play on the final Falcons drive. Ridder threaded the needle and made a perfect pass to tight end MyCole Pruitt in a tight window. That pass basically sealed the game. It let the team run the clock all the way down to two seconds for the chip shot field goal. Ridder had the confidence to make the big throw at the big moment. On defense, Cornell Armstrong (the practice squad guy who was called up and instantly pressed into starting duty for a few weeks in midseason) has continued to work hard and improve in Dean Pees' system. For the last few weeks, he has been taking the bulk of the snaps rather than Darren Hall. I'm not sure whether to take that as an indictment of Hall as much as an accomplishment for Armstrong. Looking ahead to next year, I'd really hope to see an upgrade over both of them as the starter (Casey Hayward was the starter this year before he got hurt), with Hall and / or Armstrong in rotation as depth pieces. The loss of lineman Ta'Quon Graham was big enough that Dean Pees has been playing a 4-2-5 nickel as the base defense instead of 3-4. Grady Jarrett and the no-name quartet of Timmy Horne, Abdullah Anderson, Jalen Dalton and Jaleel Johnson rotated to keep everyone fresh (with Jarrett playing 68% of snaps) in the two interior spots. That has prevented the group from becoming a disaster - most of the time it's Jarrett and just one other guy. Overall special teams play has improved this year compared to 2021. Cornerback Mike Ford has been one of the leaders of the coverage units. I listed him as a likely Odd Man Out because he's not being used on defense at all. But if the team decides to keep any non-specialist purely for special teams duty next year, Ford is likely to be it.
