Atlanta Falcons running back / receiver Cordarrelle Patterson was the team’s offensive MVP in 2021. He’s back with the Falcons, but this time there will be a new player under center for the first time in over a decade.
Patterson was asked about the difference Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder bring to the offense, and Patterson couldn’t help but laugh as he realized he indirectly put down his former quarterback.
“Both of those guys got some wheels on ’em,” said Patterson of Mariota and Ridder. “Those guys love running. It’s new. It’s different from Matt. Nothing against Matt; I love Matt. That’s my guy, but those guys… they can run,” Patterson said with a laugh.
“Now I said, Matt couldn’t run,” Patterson finally let out as he laughed.
“Those guys have got a little more speed than Matt. That’s all I can say.”
Patterson brought it back to a more serious level when he was asked how much more dynamic the offense can be with a mobile quarterback.
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“Sometimes it makes us mad,” said Patterson. “Sometimes we might be open and the quarterback want to run. So we’re going to be bumping heads a lot probably this season.”
“We’ll see.”
The Falcons are pegged to be a bottom-five team by virtually every media outlet in the country including being ranked 31st by NFL.com.
For them to exceed expectations, they’ll need Mariota, the starter heading into the season, to be at least as effective as Ryan in moving the offense. As Patterson said, it will be different, but that doesn’t mean it has to be worse.
Falcons fans will get their first glimpse of their new looks offense on Friday night at 6 p.m. on FOX as they take on the Detroit Lions. Matt Ryan and the rest of the Falcons’ starters sat out the preseason games in 2021, but expect to see more of the eventual starters against the Lions as the team has more competition at every position.
