Atlanta Falcons: 3 Standouts vs. Vikings in Week 1
3. Calvin Ridley
The first player that stood out for Atlanta in the Week 1 contest in Minneapolis was wide receiver Calvin Ridley. Ridley, who came into the game looking to have a big performance with teammate Julio Jones likely gaining a lot of attention from the Vikings defense, put together a nice game for the Falcons.
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While tallying a total of six targets in the loss, Ridley finished with four catches for 64 yards and one touchdown, averaging 16 yards per catch for Atlanta. His longest reception was when quarterback Matt Ryan found the wideout for a 20-yard catch.
Ridley, who is in his second season in the NFL and with the Falcons, picked up Sunday afternoon right where he left off in 2018 during his impressive rookie campaign.
In 2018, Ridley appeared in all 16 games while starting in five of those contests, finishing the year with a total of 821 yards receiving. While hauling in 64 catches on 92 targets, Ridley tallied a catch percentage of 69.6 percent along with 10 touchdowns and 51.3 yards per game a year ago.
As a new trusted target for Ryan behind center, Ridley proved to everyone once again that he will continue to be a key player within the Falcons offense and a nice complimentary piece to counter Jones on the other side of the field.
One thing that we have seen with Ridley in the year-plus that he has been in the league is his effectiveness when he and his team get into the red zone, becoming one of the top targets for Ryan when the Falcons near the end zone at the end of offensive drives.
On Sunday, although Jones was gaining a lot of attention among the Atlanta offensive unit, Ridley continued to be that constant option at wide receiver and will need to continue to have performances like he did in Week 1 for the remainder of the season to provide the Falcons with multiple targets in multiple areas on the field.