Tony Gonzalez 'Loves' Marcus Mariota, But Says Atlanta Falcons Need 'Super Bowl QB'

Tony Gonzalez, the Pro Football Hall of Famer and one of the all-time great Falcons, is a believer in Marcus Mariota - to a point.

Tony Gonzalez says he "loves Marcus Mariota.''

But even "love'' has its limits.

The Atlanta Falcons have handed the keys to the car to Marcus Mariota, who is charged with the responsibility in the post-Matt Ryan era of at least driving Atlanta to respectability - while at the same time reviving his own career.

Gonzalez, the Pro Football Hall of Famer and one of the all-time great Falcons, is a believer in the "respectability'' part and in the "reviving'' part.

“I love Marcus Mariota, he’s a good quarterback,'' said Gonzalez as he sat down with Kelly Price of Fox 5 Sports.

But ... (yes, you knew there would be a "but) ...

"But,'' he continued, "if you’re talking Super Bowl, you just look at the names who have played in the Super Bowl over the last 20 years. It’s last name Manning, Brady, Mahomes, Wilson. Drew Brees, Rodgers. It’s those type of quarterbacks that you gotta have at the helm if you ever want to be a Super Bowl-caliber team.”

While that is technically not entirely true, the essence of Tony's point is accurate: The chances of a team advancing to Super Bowl contention in a "QB league'' are greatly enhanced when a team employs a franchise QB - as Atlanta itself re-learned when Ryan was doing all of that for the Falcons.

Ryan has been traded to the Colts. A new era is beginning under second-year Falcons head coach, Arthur Smith. And the Falcons are 0-1, with Sunday's Week 2 matchup pitting them against the defending Super Bowl champion Rams.

TONIGHT: @tori_mcelhaney & I are stoked to have the 🐐 Tony Gonzalez on #RiseUpTonight!

We discuss the current #Falcons, the fourth-quarter elephant in the room, his favorite ATL memories, & more.

Here's what he said about Marcus Mariota when I asked if this is a playoff team👀 pic.twitter.com/VPWCIeJ27a

— Kelly Price (@thekellyprice) September 16, 2022

Maybe, eventually in 2022, Desmond Ridder, this year’s third-round pick, will get a test to prove himself worthy of being the quarterback of the Falcons future. But even if he does only that, Gonzalez is suggesting, it won't be enough.

The Falcons are “eventually going to have to bring in that type of quarterback, that franchise quarterback,” Gonzalez said.

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