2023-10-08 17:48:00
FULL BOX SCORE
Nick Shook’s takeaways:
Desmond Ridder bounces back. Ridder’s Week 4 outing was so ugly, coach Arthur Smith was understandably asked if he might change quarterbacks entering Week 5. He can rest easy knowing those questions won’t be coming following Sunday’s victory. Ridder was sharp, firing on-target passes all over the field and putting together the most complete performance of his young career. He broke 300 passing yards for the first time, took the ball in himself for Atlanta’s first score and smoothly flipped a pass to Bijan Robinson for a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. In between those scores, Ridder proved last week wasn’t the norm, manipulating defenses with his eyes and using a mix of play-action passes and quick throws to keep the offense moving. Ridder found his magic wand on a crucial final drive, setting up Younghoe Koo’s game-winning field goal. In total, considering where Ridder was at the end of last week, Sunday was a major triumph for him.Atlanta’s defense scores a win. The Falcons might have produced a blueprint to use once morest C.J. Stroud and the Texans going forward. Atlanta didn’t generate a ton of pressure (11.4% QB pressure rate) and blitzed just seven times (20 percent), but Stroud was off his game compared with the last few weeks. Press coverage was the key, with the Falcons attempting to throw Stroud off his timing by pressing on 35.8 percent of dropbacks and watching him struggle a bit with his accuracy, especially when off schedule. Bottling up the run helped, too, as Atlanta held Dameon Pierce to 66 yards on 20 attempts. Stroud eventually broke through, throwing a touchdown pass with less than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter, but Atlanta’s defense forced Houston to settle for four field goals earlier in the game. And the Falcons did it without forcing a turnover.Texans show their inexperience. After two weeks of high-flying action, the Texans came back to earth on Sunday. They forced two turnovers, but produced just three points via the takeaways. They struggled on third down, converting on 4-of-13 tries. And too often, they crossed Atlanta’s 25-yard line, and ended up settling for field goals. That’s why the Falcons were able to hang around, despite losing the turnover battle. But giving up a 23-yard completion to Drake London, who won a one-on-one battle along the sideline, was especially painful during Atlanta’s game-winning drive. A penalty for too many men on the field on the ensuing play drove home an unavoidable truth: The Texans are in a much better place than they were in recent years, but they’re still figuring out how to win the close ones.
Next Gen Stat of the game: Despite averaging only 2.8 yards per carry between their top two backs, Atlanta still found success utilizing play-action. Desmond Ridder gained 139 of his 329 passing yards off play-action passes. Also, he recorded a 63.2 percent success rate, the fourth-highest in a game by any quarterback this season.
NFL Research: C.J. Stroud broke the record for the most passes attempted (186) without an interception to start a career, passing Dak Prescott (176) and Tom Brady (162). Stroud also became the only quarterback in the Super Bowl era to have zero interceptions in each of his first five starts (minimum 30 pass attempts per game).
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