In 2019, Mariota lost his starting job to backup Ryan Tannehill. The benching worked, because Tannehill reinvigorated the sputtering offense and led the Titans to a berth in the AFC Championship game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Smith was the offensive coordinator with the Titans in 2019 when head coach Mike Vrabel made the tough but obvious decision to bench Mariota in favor of Tannehill. Mariota took the demotion in stride.<\/p>\n
Flash forward three years later. As the head coach of the Falcons, Smith made a similar decision to bench Mariota in favor of Ridder.<\/p>\n
Those conversations are never easy,”<\/strong> Smith told The Athletic<\/em>. “You try to be truthful, whether they agree or not, those are the conversations you have to have.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nUnlike his demotion in 2019, Mariota didn’t handle the news well in 2022.<\/p>\n
Mariota said he needed to step away from the team to heal an injured knee. The Falcons indicated that they were unaware of any knee injuries this season.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Smith revealed that Mariota will undergo knee surgery. It’s not the first time that a player hid an injury from the team.<\/p>\n
Smith: Ridder Can Push Falcons Over the Hump<\/h2>\n The Falcons are technically still alive in the playoff hunt. But they’d have to win all of their remaining games. They also need their divisional rivals to lose key games.<\/p>\n
The Falcons have a fighting chance, which is why Smith and the Falcons decided to start Ridder. They think the rookie will help increase their chances of advancing to the postseason.<\/p>\n
The Falcons started the season 4-4, but then went 1-4 over their next five games with a slumping Mariota. Four out of those five games were decided by one score. In their previous six losses, the Falcons averaged only 15.5 points per game.<\/p>\n
We talked about trying to get over the hump in some of these close games and where we’re trying to push the offense,”<\/strong> said Smith. “We feel like it’s the best decision where Ridder is at. I wouldn’t have made this decision if I didn’t think it was in the best interest of this team, not only short term but probably long term as well.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nIf the Falcons miss the playoffs, then at least they can see Ridder in action and evaluate how far he’s come as a future prospect. By designating Mariota to the IR, he\u2019s out for the next four games, or not able to suit up for the remainder of the regular season.<\/p>\n
“Ridder always looked pretty good at practice,” said running back Caleb Huntley. “He makes the throws that he needs to, and he’s always confident, so I know he’ll be ready.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Atlanta Falcons had no choice but to send quarterback Marcus Mariota to the IR after he abruptly left the team the day after he was demoted to backup duties. The Falcons were on a bye in Week 14 when they indicated they wanted to switch things up at quarterback for their next game. Head […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":247931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82961,1074],"tags":[84117,81740,84060,84116,81004],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Marcus Mariota Leaves Atlanta Falcons After Demontion - Casino.org<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n