Plenty of easily predictable events transpire throughout the National Football League each season. This year, for example, the reigning back-to-back Super Bowl Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, sit atop the AFC with a 13-1 record through 15 weeks. Surprised, are we? However, just as many events unfold that no singular individual could’ve possibly seen coming. One such example is how Desmond Ridder came to start his first game of the season as a member of the Las Vegas Raiders, playing against the Atlanta Falcons.
Atlanta, who drafted Ridder in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft, chose to move on from their young quarterback after only two seasons. The Cincinnati alum was traded to the Arizona Cardinals in the offseason in exchange for wideout Rondale Moore in a deal that neither team saw any benefit from this year.
Prior to the season’s start, Moore suffered a knee injury that effectively ended his ’24 campaign before it began. The speedy receiver remains with the team that traded for him in the meantime; a sentiment that can’t extend to Ridder.
During their end-of-preseason quest to trim the roster to 53 players, Arizona waived their recently acquired signal caller. Two months later, the Raiders came calling, and Ridder headed to Sin City.
None of that is particularly hard to imagine happening, though. The unpredictable part lies in quarterbacks Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell both being unavailable for Las Vegas entering Week 15, leaving Ridder as the man under center to start the day.
And, as fate would have it, the team Ridder will be playing against in his first start of the season is the Atlanta Falcons—the club that selected him in the draft three offseasons ago, who had no plans to see him in 2024 after shipping him to Arizona.
Desmond Ridder set for first start with Las Vegas Raiders
Thanks to a knee injury that’s prevented O’Connell from logging any amount of practices this week, the Raiders are ready to roll with Ridder as their signal caller.
Desmond Ridder is just as ready himself.
“I’m excited and blessed to have the opportunity to be able to go out there and step out on the field, and be able to play the game that I love,” the 25-year-old quarterback explained. “Whether it’s against the Falcons, the Titans, it doesn’t matter who it’s against. Any opportunity that I get to out there and showcase my talents is an exciting time.”
By the numbers
Defensively, there isn’t too much separating the Raiders and Falcons on the stat-sheet. While Las Vegas has allowed the third-most points this season with 361, Atlanta isn’t too far behind with 333; the ninth-most league-wide.
Opposing teams have done the bulk of their damage against these clubs through the air. Only two teams across the NFL have given up more passing touchdowns than the 24 Sin City has. Unfortunately for the Falcons, they stand as one of those two teams, tying for the most league-wide with 26 allowed.
Atlanta, currently on a four-game losing streak, has given up an average of 29.3 points per contest through their last month of football. The Raiders have been responsible for 27.5 points surrendered on average during the same time period.
It should be noted that Maxx Crosby, who played in 12 of the team’s 13 games this season, won’t be suiting up for the remainder of the year.
Although the two are comparable defensively, their offenses have been on completely different levels.
With a mark of 18.2 points per outing, Las Vegas scores more points on a weekly basis than only five clubs. The Falcons average more than a field goal per game, in comparison, averaging 21.4 points on the scoreboard through each contest during their ’24 campaign.
Things haven’t been so easy for Atlanta as of late, however.
The past four contests have proved particularly difficult for the Raiders’ offense, failing to hit 20 points each outing. And while Atlanta managed to put up 21 points last week, their offense has struggled worse than Las Vegas’ through their last four duels. Sin City has managed to average 17.0 points during this timeframe while the Falcons have mustered up a mere 14.3 per outing.
The bottom line
Antonio Pierce has seen how his offense operates with Minshew and O’Connell starting under center, but not Desmond Ridder. Neither have other teams for that matter—including the Falcons.
That’s an advantage the Silver and Black have as they get ready to suit up for Monday Night Football.
If the Raiders want to walk away with a win, they’ll need their new starting quarterback to lead their offense to more points than either of his position-mates have through the last handful of weeks. If that doesn’t happen, it’s hard to see a world where the Las Vegas Raiders walk away victorious; an outcome a large portion of Raider Nation would prefer in any event.
*Top Photo: Dylan Buell / Getty Images
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