Falcons' Desmond Ridder addresses critics after win over Texans

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder again addressed criticisms and so-called "outside noise" following Sunday's 21-19 win over the Houston Texans that improved the Falcons to 3-2 on the season. 

"I don’t hear very much of it," Ridder insisted shortly after Sunday's victory during a conversation with NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. "I try to kind of keep my head out of it, just keep my head down and keep grinding. We’re all about a growth mindset here and getting better every single day, not really worrying about what’s going on in the outside world." 

Ridder offered similar comments last week after the Falcons were linked with Minnesota Vikings starter Kirk Cousins. The 24-year-old then completed 28-of-37 pass attempts for 329 yards with a touchdown and zero interceptions against the Texans. Despite that performance, Dan Graziano of ESPN said for a piece published late Sunday night that "the sooner (Cousins) gets to the (New York Jets) or Falcons or whoever needs a real quarterback to maximize an otherwise strong roster, the better." 

Ridder is doing all he can to ignore such chatter and instead focus on this coming Sunday's home game versus the 2-3 Washington Commanders.

"We know every single week that the Atlanta Falcons are never out of the fight," Ridder told Breer. "There’s never going to be any quit. I think everyone on this team knew that. But you know for us, it was just about everyone on the team playing together and I think this week was one of our first true weeks where we played team football. And we still haven’t even played our best team football, that was just a snippet of what it can be. There’s still a lot of great things ahead." 

According to ESPN stats, Ridder began Monday ranked 25th in the NFL among qualified players with a 42.3 adjusted QBR and 24th with an 85.8 passer rating on the season. Across the campaign's first five games, he matched four touchdown passes with three interceptions. 

As of Monday afternoon, OddsChecker listed the Falcons as two-and-a-half-point favorites to defeat the Commanders at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Week 6.