The shakeup has arrived. The Falcons surged to 3-3 after six games, limped their way to 4-4 after squeaking out a win over the Panthers, and then immediately dropped four of their next five games. The bye figured to be a time for the team to make changes if they were struggling, and they did.
The big one is Desmond Ridder being elevated to the starting job in place of Marcus Mariota, with other lineup tweaks possible but not yet announced. The team is hoping that a moribund passing attack will come to life with the rookie at the helm, but more than that, they’re hoping to rescue a season that would be on life support if not for the Buccaneers also being a lousy football team.