Cardinals’ Desmond Ridder gets brutally honest on why he failed with Falcons

If there is one phrase that has stuck with Ridder throughout his young career, it’s an interview with former quarterback Teddy Bridgewater who talked about stepping for an injured Drew Brees with the New Orleans Saints. The current Cardinals signal-caller would say that saying stuck with him even before he stepped in the league.

“He got injured, and I wasn’t prepared and it humbled me,” Bridgewater said, according to The Times-Picayune. “It taught me a valuable lesson. We always talk about staying ready, but I wasn’t ready in that moment.”

“That kind of stuck with me, you know, even before I was in the league,” Ridder said regarding Bridgewater’s outlook. “And that’s just one thing that stuck with me, and I’ll always prepare as if I’m the starter.”

Ridder hearing criticism from current Falcons coach

While Ridder gets a fresh start with the Cardinals in competing for the backup job to Kyler Murray, he is reminded of his time with Atlanta as new head coach Raheem Morris was honest about the quarterback play in the season prior. He would say “If we had better quarterback play, I’m probably not standing here at this podium,” which is “tough” as Ridder put it.

“Obviously that’s tough,” Ridder said via ESPN. “But as a quarterback and as any team sports player, it’s not all on one person. So, the outside world and whoever it may be, can pin it all on one person, but it’s a team sport. I didn’t play 10 percent of those games very well, but I also wasn’t the only one out there.

“For me to be able to go out there and just learn from it,” Ridder continued. “Be able to go out there and be better from it, I think that’s what’s gonna help me in the long run in my career and my longevity. So, you can’t really control what other people say, but you can control how you respond and what you go do.”

The motto of “staying ready” has stuck with Ridder and should be a strong motivation to obtain the backup role and be a reliable player for Arizona. One of the aspects he learned is that “all it takes is one play” and in the short time one play takes to initiate, anything can happen, so “you have to be ready.”

“What you gotta learn is that all it takes is one play,” Ridder said. “Four to six seconds is the average length of a play, and that’s how quick you can become the starter again. So, you have to be ready.”

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon “feel really good” about Ridder

Last year with the Falcons, he threw for 2,836 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions as he came out of the University of Cincinnati. If there is one person that has Ridder’s support, it’s Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon who also mentions the other quarterback who will be competing to be the backup in Clayton Tune.

“When you look at our starter, the things that he can do, you’re always looking at, ‘OK, well if the backup goes in, how much do you have to change?'” Gannon said. “And with him and Clayton [Tune], we feel really good about not changing very much because of their skillset. So, that’s cool.”

While people are most likely ready to write off Ridder, Gannon disagrees as being a backup quarterback is crucial. Especially with the injury history of Murray and the length of the season, “the importance of that position…has gone up the last couple of years.”

“I mean, all positions are important, but I think especially that one because the guy doesn’t typically get a ton of reps, especially as the season gets rolling on, that position’s important,” Gannon said. “And I think the importance of that position on your roster has gone up, up, up the last couple years here.”

The Cardinals are looking to bounce back after a horrid season where they were 4-13 and last in their own division. They look to get back a fully healthy Kyler Murray and a top draft choice in the upcoming draft.