The Falcons didn’t intend to tank in 2022. It’s just where they ended up.
They will be playing Arizona next week at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with only draft positioning on the line after they were eliminated from playoff contention Saturday in a 17-9 loss to the Lamar Jackson-less Ravens in Baltimore.
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“Same (stuff), different year,” Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett told reporters after the game. “You have to keep fighting, but everybody fights. We have to win some games. To not even have a chance to be in the postseason, it’s frustrating.”
"Same ****, different year."
Grady Jarrett understandably frustrated after today's loss to the Ravens which, combined with the Panthers win against the Lions, eliminated the #Falcons from postseason contention. pic.twitter.com/jn4gQ30myS
— Miles Garrett (@MilesGarrettTV) December 24, 2022
Atlanta (5-10) entered the season fighting back against any notion that its best plan this year would be to play for draft status rather than the playoffs, and its approach seemed validated when the team was 4-4 and in the thick of the NFC South race at the end of October. But the Falcons have lost six of seven games since, averaging 16.4 points per game and changing quarterbacks along the way.
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“Ultimately, it’s about winning, but you can look at a lot of progress being made,” said coach Arthur Smith, who fell to 12-20 in his two seasons in Atlanta. “Our guys are a resilient group. We need to win. There has been a ton of progress. It’s different from last year when we were in some one-score games, completely different team and different situations going back and looking at them. We’ve got to find a way to get over that hump.”
Atlanta’s loss combined with Carolina’s win means the Falcons won’t participate in the postseason for the fifth consecutive season. Atlanta would be picking seventh in the draft if the season ended today. Next week’s opponent, the Cardinals, are 4-10 and are in position for the No. 5 pick. They host Tampa Bay on Sunday night.
Although a loss would improve the Falcons’ chances of finding a difference-maker in the 2023 draft, Smith continued Saturday evening to preach the value of victory.
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“We need to win, and we need to make progress so I can stop coming up here and sounding like a broken record,” he said. “Getting over the hump, that’s our charge. We need to win at home and win for our fans and then finish this thing out right.”
Rookie quarterback Desmond Ridder made his second start in adverse conditions against the Ravens (10-5), who clinched a playoff berth with their win and New England’s loss. Ridder was 22-for-33 for 218 yards in a game with a kickoff temperature of 17 degrees. His numbers topped last week’s performance against the Saints, but he still doesn’t have an NFL touchdown (nor has he thrown an interception).
“I thought his decision-making was good, and he was pretty accurate,” Smith said. “I thought he made some big-time throws when the pressure got on him in the second half, and that’s what you want to see. He was calm and collected, and I thought he delivered the football. A couple things here and there that we have to look at down in the red zone, short yardage and things like that, but I thought from the pocket presence against a quality defense that gives you a lot of looks, I thought he had pretty good poise.”
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Ridder said he trusted his line more than a week ago and thought his play improved because of it.
“Really just settling in, which I thought I did well,” he said. “I just wish we could settle in as soon as the ball kicked off. That’s something we will continue to work on and continue to keep (trying to be) fast off the start. But, you know, as the game went on, obviously, things got more comfortable, and I just played the game.”
High point!
📺 FOX | NFL+ pic.twitter.com/OP4cMTmXsS
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) December 24, 2022
Ridder again locked on fellow rookie wide receiver Drake London in the passing game. London fumbled for the second straight week, again after making a fourth-down catch, but bounced back to finish with seven catches for 96 yards after the team’s equipment staff cut the sleeves off his shirt following the fumble.
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“I think that was just the last straw with the sleeves,” London said. “I did everything I possibly could and it still slipped out, so I’ve just got to take some time. I didn’t fumble the rest of the game, and that’s a positive sign.”
London took the blame for the loss despite his big day.
“I’m shooting my team in the foot, it’s as simple as that,” he said. “I’m the one who (messed) up. I’m the one who keeps putting the ball on the floor, and that shouldn’t be the case. I want to make sure that this team knows I’m sure-handed, and right now, I’m not doing that. It definitely hurts me and kills me. All I can do is just learn from this. I know I keep on saying that, but just take the next step forward and keep on going.”
London’s nine targets equaled the total of the team’s other wide receivers (Olamide Zaccheaus, 7; Damiere Byrd, 2).
“They have pretty good chemistry,” Smith said of Ridder and London. “It’s pretty obvious. There’s a trust factor there.”
While Ridder said the cold didn’t affect his game, London, a Southern California native, conceded he wasn’t a fan.
“It’s the coldest game I’ve ever been in,” he said. “You know I don’t see any of this stuff. This was a different type of atmosphere and different weather, so it was tough, but I think I managed well.”
The weather outside is frightful… 🥶@DrakeLondon_ | #DirtyBirds pic.twitter.com/Bgi7DPGHtS
— NFL (@NFL) December 24, 2022
Another rookie, running back Tyler Allgeier, led the Falcons in rushing with 74 yards on 18 carries.
The Falcons ultimately were undone by their red zone offense. Four of their final five drives ended inside the Baltimore 20-yard line, and they still couldn’t manage to crack 10 points. One drive stalled when Ridder was flagged for intentional grounding on a play on which the Falcons believed his arm was hit on the throw.
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Smith was irate on the sideline after that play and a handful of others but declined to criticize the officiating after the game.
Falcons head coach Arthur Smith was not happy with a holding call that took an Atlanta touchdown off of the board. pic.twitter.com/j5TNGo0MI3
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) December 24, 2022
“I would rather give that (fine) money to people that need it in Atlanta than give it to people in the league office or whatever they do with it,” he said.
The Falcons also saw what Smith believed was a MyCole Pruitt touchdown called an incomplete pass after an unsuccessful Atlanta challenge. The Falcons, the least-penalized team in the league (61), were flagged five times for 48 yards, compared with one penalty for 6 yards for the Ravens.
Referee Bill Vinovich told a pool reporter after the game that the contact to Ridder’s arm on the intentional-grounding call wasn’t significant enough to affect the throw.
“It’s a judgment call whether the contact affected the throw significantly enough to take off the intentional grounding,” Vinovich said. “He would have had to get the ball all the way back to the 1-yard line. In my opinion, he was just dumping the ball to save yardage.”
The Falcons’ goal in the final two games of the season is “just finish,” Ridder said.
“No matter what our position is in the division — the playoffs, whatever, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “Finish every single day of practice as hard as you can go and continue to keep working, keep continuing to get better. And then when it comes on Saturday, Sunday, whatever it may be, finish the game. Finish all four quarters — it doesn’t matter what it has to be — and then, obviously, finish the season. We’ve been on a bumpy road up and down this entire year. We wanted to get over that hump today. Obviously, we did not, so now it’s just about going to get the next one.”
(Photo of Desmond Ridder getting tackled by Marlon Humphrey: Tommy Gilligan / USA Today)
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