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Calvin Ridley is a man on fire at the moment, having turned a disappointing first week into a “shut up, doubters” stat line through four weeks that borders on bonkers.
Ridley’s numbers—15 total catches through four weeks, with 264 yards—are excellent for a rookie but not head-spinning on their own. It’s when you add in his scoring numbers that things get both ridiculous and historic, as Ridley is now outpacing every other rookie receiver in NFL history in terms of scoring through four games. That was with him having zero catches against the Eagles, too.
Calvin Ridley is the first rookie in NFL history to have six touchdown catches in his team's first four games. #Falcons
— William McFadden (@willmcfadden) September 30, 2018
Ridley has been destroying defenses in the red zone—and on some long bombs—thanks to a devastating combination of speed, refined route running, and a great feel for what he needs to do to shake the man covering him. Couple that with the impossibility of covering all of Atlanta’s weapons—with Julio Jones in particular drawing a ton of attention every week—and you have a man who is is working with favorable matchups and exploiting them every week. The Falcons have had unbelievable luck with first round receivers these past 13 years or so.
I don’t think Ridley can keep this scoring pace up, but given Atlanta’s challenges this year, I certainly hope he does.