A lot had to go wrong for the Falcons to blow their fourth-quarter lead to Washington in Week 4. And while it’s easy to look at the box score and say the offense did its job, there were several key drops that would’ve potentially put the game away. Calvin Ridley, Atlanta’s undisputed No. 1 wide receiver, did not have his best day.
Ridley was targeted 13 times and only came away with seven receptions. The former first-round pick only accounted for one official drop in the contest, but he had his hands on a number of others that he’s proven capable of catching in the past. Ridley went one for five on the day on contested catches. Either he was struggling to create separation or Washington’s secondary is just that good.
Falcons head coach Arthur Smith discussed Ridley’s performance on Monday afternoon.
“Up and down,” said Smith. “We expect more and Calvin knows that. I’m not telling you anything I don’t tell the players. He’s one of our top guys and he’s one of our captains and nobodies got higher expectations than he does for himself than we do. That’s why I call his number. I believe in Calvin, but like all of us, we can all play better.”
This shouldn’t be a lingering issue with Ridley as Julio Jones had similar games where he seemed unfocused and dropped key passes. When you take deep shots, sometimes drops just happen. Plus, it’s not like Ridley has had a ton of opportunities to burn defenses deep this year. Ryan’s mostly been throwing shallow, underneath passses.
We’ll see how Ridley responds this weekend against the Jets in London.
