Confirmed as starter

Head coach Arthur Smith confirmed Monday that Ridder will reclaim starting quarterback duties Sunday against the Saints, and the Falcons plan to stick with the second-year signal-caller as their starter for the rest of the season, Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com reports.

Smith's announcement doesn't come as a major surprise, as Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported over the weekend that Ridder was set to move back into the starting role after he had been benched in favor of Taylor Heinicke (hamstring) for the two games leading up to Atlanta's Week 11 bye. Though Heinicke isn't expected to practice this week while he continues to recover from a hamstring strain he sustained Week 10, he lost both of his games as starter and completed just 54.7 percent of his throws for 6.1 yards per attempt in those outings. As such, Heinicke's injury doesn't appear to be the only reason that the Falcons are turning the starting job back over to Ridder, who has fared better from an efficiency standpoint than Heinicke over nine appearances (65.4 percent completion rate, 7.1 YPA) and presents a slight upgrade as a rushing threat (150 yards, four touchdowns on 32 carries). Turnovers (six interceptions, six lost fumbles) have been the main bugaboo for Ridder, but Smith is hopeful that the time on the bench in addition to the confidence the quarterback displayed upon replacing Heinicke late in the Week 10 game will serve as a springboard for Ridder to show improvement coming out of the bye week.