To conclude Notre Dame Study Abroad Week, the NFL decided to play a game at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
Okay, the two events probably had nothing to do with each other, but there were probably some Notre Dame students spending the semester in London who decided to go. If they did, they probably regretted not going to a European football match. That, at least, would be somewhat English-related and, you know, competitive.
Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars pretty much dominated the entire game. Not to say their offense played exceptionally. Travis Etienne, Jr. only averaged 2.8 yards a carry. Christian Kirk led the team in receiving yards with 84. And with all the talk about getting Calvin Ridley really involved, he was only targeted three times: one pass in the first quarter which ended up being the Jaguars’ only offensive touchdown of the game, one eight-yard completion in their first drive of the second half and one target where he was held, resulting in a 40-yard pass interference penalty.
The Jaguars offense struggled to finish drives later in the game, as evident by Brandon McManus kicking three field goals. Their other points came off a Desmond Ridder pick-six, returned by Darious Williams.
That being said, it's hard to give the Jaguars defense a lot of credit for their play. It was more like the Falcons offense played so badly that they couldn’t help but play well. Honestly, Ridder would’ve been my choice for the Jaguars’ MVP.
When he wasn’t obviously projecting where he was going to throw, he was timid and conservative on the field. Being a conservative quarterback isn’t necessarily a bad thing. That’s how Ridder earned the starting role in Atlanta at the end of last season. Through four games, he threw only two touchdown passes but no interceptions. He went 2-2 as starter. His first half against the Jags was absolutely abysmal. On his first pick, he stared down his target so long it would’ve been embarrassing for the defense if they hadn’t picked it off. Jacksonville return, extra point, kick off, blah blah blah. The very next play, he throws another pick for the exact same reason. Both picks looked so similar that when I watched it live I thought it was a replay.
During halftime, there was serious conversation between the commentators that he should be replaced with veteran journeyman quarterback Taylor Heinicke. The defense had been playing relatively well, taking out the pick-six, the score was only 10-0.
But Ridder stayed, opening the half with a 75-yard touchdown drive with a short pass to local favorite Drake London. He didn’t really do anything good or bad the rest of the game until he fumbled on their last possession of the game.
So where does this leave Atlanta?
London, obviously.
Ok, where does this leave Atlanta in terms of the rest of the season?
Oh, that’s a more interesting question.
This season, Ridder has three touchdowns passes but also three interceptions as well. He got this role for his consistent, if at times, bland play. Not so bland anymore. Despite this, Falcons head coach Arthur Smith gave Ridder a vote of support Monday during his media availability.
"If it's hesitancy, I don't care what position you play," Smith said. "In any high-performance job, high-pressure job, you start to get hesitant, bad deal. So, you found out after some real adversity what he was about."
As I sit here writing this, I feel a jolt of deja vu. Two weeks ago, Jets head coach Robert Saleh said he saw similar progress and growth from Zach Wilson after their Week 2 loss to the Cowboys.
"I think anyone who watches football, and you look at it from a global standpoint, we’ll see that he’s so much improved in the pocket, his presence in the pocket. I thought he delivered a lot of really good passes," Saleh said the day after that loss.
Since then, the Jets have gone 0-2.
Now, the expectations surrounding the Jets and Falcons couldn’t have been more different this season. The Falcons didn’t lose their star quarterback to a season-ending injury. And no head coach is going to go out to the media and admit his young, struggling quarterback isn’t playing to expectations without announcing a change.
But these performances of both teams’ current starting quarterbacks lead to a more universal question: After what amount of time or level of bad play, do you pull your quarterback and go in a different direction?
Quarterback is the most important position on the roster. They are usually the leaders and faces of the organization and one of two players that touches the ball on every single play. Still don’t believe me? Look at the salary cap percentage for each team. There are thirteen teams whose highest-paid player is not their quarterback. Two of those teams are above .500 winning percentage right now.
The reason the best quarterbacks make so much money is the league is in a position right now where if you do not have good quarterback play you will not be successful. So when teams like the Falcons and the Jets leave bad quarterbacks out there week after week, they are signaling to the other 52 men on their roster that they are not here to win but to just make it to next year. And we’re going into Week 5.
Sending that message absolutely destroys a franchise. The Jets will survive this, injuries happen. But when was the last time the Falcons were competitive? The third quarter of Super Bowl LI, which was six years ago at this point.
Calvin Ridley couldn’t wait to leave the Falcons. As soon as their rookie contracts are up, players like Bijan Robinson and Drake London will be out of Atlanta as soon as they can.
Bad teams in the NFL come and go. Always have, always will. But teams are always surprised that when they continue to delay necessary course corrections, they don’t win games, they don’t advance to the playoffs and their best players want out.
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