Falcons to make a starting quarterback change

Most teams when they are in first place in their division, do not tend to make a starting  quarterback change. However, the 4-4 Atlanta Falcons have done just that. According to Jesse Garcia of fantasypros.com, the Falcons are replacing second-year quarterback Desmond Ridder of Louisville, Kentucky with sixth-year quarterback Taylor Heinicke of Atlanta, Georgia.

Why the move all of a sudden? Well it is perhaps the Falcons just had too high expectations for Ridder, who only had a quarterback rating of 39.4% this season. Ridder also had six interceptions in eight games, which was the same number of touchdown passes he had throughout that time.

To be quite frank, it was a significant surprise to me that the Falcons went with Ridder over Heinicke at the beginning of the year. The news was actually broken to me by the manager of my local bowling alley who is a huge Atlanta Falcons fan (I am not kidding!). Heinicke signed a two-year deal worth $14 million in the offseason, and I thought spending $7 million on a backup quarterback, sounded excessive, when he was not named the starter to begin with.

It appears the Falcons could see a statistical upswing with Heinicke at the helm. Last season as the starting quarterback for the Washington Commanders, he had a record of five wins, three losses, and a tie. Heinicke also completed 161 passes in 259 attempts for 1859 passing yards, 12 interceptions, and six interceptions. He also had 28 rushes for 96 yards and one touchdown, and started Washington’s wildcard game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Minnesota will have a rookie quarterback on Sunday. They are starting Jaren Hall of Spanish Fork, Utah with the season-ending Achilles injury to Kirk Cousins. That is also a surprise, because one would have thought they would have gone with the newly acquired Josh Dobbs, who has more NFL experience.