ATLANTA — The Dirty Birds are finally back in The A.
On Friday night, Falcons football returns to Mercedes-Benz Stadium as Atlanta will host last year's AFC North division champions, the Cincinnati Bengals.
Falcons fans have every reason to tune it as well, at least for the first half of the game. Head coach Arthur Smith said during training camp Tuesday the team's starters will see their first action of the preseason after being held out during last week's preseason opener in a win versus the Dolphins in Miami Gardens.
This week's game is a chance for fans to see the new-look roster at Mercedes-Benz Stadium led by second-year quarterback Desmond Ridder, who is excited to get on the field and take a couple of hits to prepare for the 2023 season.
"I'd love to get hit once or twice in that game just to shake some of the rust off," Ridder said. "Hopefully not too many hits, but maybe one or two won't be bad for me. It doesn't matter how many drives I just want to get in there, keep the ball moving forward and continue in a positive way."
Among those Falcons starters expected to see action right out of the gates tomorrow night is highly-touted rookie running back Bijan Robinson. The No. 8 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft out of Texas is expected to pace the backfield in touches this season, despite the Falcons having a 1,000-yard rusher in Tyler Allgeier and veteran Cordarrelle Patterson also seeing looks.
Patterson, however, will miss the remainder of the preseason after suffering a soft tissue injury during training camp.
Meanwhile, the starters on defense are looking to build on a dominant performance from the reserves against the Dolphins where they forced multiple turnovers and finished with five sacks. The game is showing what culture defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen and the rest of the staff have built.
"That comes from the top. Aggressive. Attacking. Going forward. Forward body lean. Run and hit. Those type of things," Nielsen said.
The Falcons hosted the Bengals inside The Benz on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The game finished in a 13-13 tie.