The Atlanta Falcons wrapped up their preseason Saturday afternoon when they welcomed in the Jacksonville Jaguars for their final game before the games count. The Atlanta Falcons rested most of their starters on Saturday. This meant that Desmond Ridder got a chance to start the final preseason game and show what he had one last time before the regular season.
Ridder got off to a slow start as he threw a pick in his first pass attempt of the game, but bounced back on the second drive. Going a perfect 5-of-5 on the second drive and capped off the drive with a nice dump-down pass to another rookie in Tyler Allgeier.
This would be Desmond Ridder’s only touchdown pass of the game, but overall he looked good for the most part. The rookie struggled from time to time, but bounced back, made some really tough throws in the pocket and used his escape ability to get away from the Jacksonville pressure. The thing about Desmond Ridder that the Falcons broadcast talked about was his elite arm strength and his ball placement. The booth first commented on the rookies arm strength in the second quarter saying, “That’s the thing you will notice with Desmond Ridder and Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder they will let that thing fly and he definitely has the arm strength to make those throws.” In the third quarter, Des made a beautiful throw to Frank darby down the sideline in tough coverage for a big 35-yard gain. The broadcast had a ton of praise for Desmond’s ball placement and how he fits those tight throws into perfect windows. “Look at that Desmond Ridder throw, this kid has such a good arm and has great ball placement to fit it into Darby there.” Overall Desmond Ridder made some more impactful plays this preseason and really caught the eye of a bunch of people in the NFL. The next time we see a Desmond Ridder highlight it will hopefully be in the regular season and we get a real chance to see what he can do with a full squad.
