Watch: Former NFL MVP 'auditions' for Falcons QB job at Hawks game

Earlier on Monday, Falcons head coach Arthur Smith declined to name a starter for the team's Week 16 game against the Colts, and truthfully, Newton's throw was better than any Desmond Ridder has made this season.

Ridder cost his team two potential wins with horrible throws the past two weeks. His last throw in Atlanta's 9-7 loss to Carolina was an interception on a terrible pass that ended a promising drive that reached the Panthers' 18-yard line.

In Week 14 against the Bucs, he badly missed running back Bijan Robinson for an easy touchdown on a possession Atlanta settled for a field goal, a devastating four-point swing in a 29-25 loss. 

This season, he is 224-of-354 (63.3 percent) for 2,528 yards, 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Also on Monday, Newton appeared on "The Big Tigger Morning Show" and discussed his nearly two-year absence from the NFL. He last played in 2021 with Carolina, his second stint with the organization.

"I scare people. Because you can't control me. I'm not a puppet. I cut them strings off a long time ago," Newton said.

Teams might also be scared by how he performed over his final three seasons. From 2020-22, he had the fourth-worst passer rating among the top 40 quarterbacks in pass attempts (h/t Stathead).

In 2021, he appeared in eight games with five starts and was 69-of-126 (54.8 percent) for 684 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions.

His time in the NFL is in the rearview, where it should be. Still, it's a bad sign that Hawks fans at Monday's game against the Pistons saw the best football pass in Atlanta this year.