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Arthur Smith eludes to new-look Falcons offense with Desmond Ridder

Originally posted on SportsTalkATL | By Alex Lord | Last updated 8/4/23

Everyone knows how different the Falcons personnel will look in 2023 compared to either of the first two seasons under the new regime.

One thing not many people are talking about is the schematic changes. Everyone knows Ryan Nielsen will implement his own system to go along with a haul of free agents to bode. However, Arthur Smith’s offense should look different than either of the two years.

The Falcons have sported three starting quarterbacks across two seasons, two of which have widely different skill sets, which Smith pointed out earlier in the offseason and once again on Friday.

Smith on Atlanta’s offensive evolution, “If Matt Ryan walked into one of our offensive meetings, there would be a lot of things foreign to him and he was here a year and a half ago.”

"We have a lot of ways that we feel we can move the football." Arthur Smith said that yes, they threw the ball a lot with Matt Ryan. and yes, they ran the ball a lot with Marcus Mariota, but all of that was playing into the strengths of the team at the time.

The offense's…

— Tori McElhaney (@tori_mcelhaney) August 4, 2023

With Matt Ryan under center, the Falcons passed a lot more than they ran, ranking around league average in attempts and yards passing while ranking near the bottom in rushes and rushing yards. Given the strengths of Ryan, Smith’s offense was tailored to the veteran’s high football IQ and lack of mobility. However, the tendencies shifted with Marcus Mariota.

With the much less accurate but more mobile Mariota, the Falcons rushed more than about every other club in football and did it more efficiently as well, while throwing it among the least amount of times in the league.

Different offenses will give different verbiage, terminology, personnel packages, checks, reads, etc. And it will once again change in 2023 as the team hopes Desmond Ridder is the long-term answer.

Falcons fans can expect another offensive shift, something in between the 2021 and 2022 schemes with Ridder at the helm. Despite boasting the athleticism to assume the role Mariota operated under, Ridder will pass more often than his predecessor. It will be a much more balanced offense than we’ve seen under Arthur Smith.

This article first appeared on SportsTalkATL and was syndicated with permission.

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