FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Head Coach Bobby Petrino confirmed Thursday afternoon that quarterback Chris Redman, who led a fourth-quarter charge Sunday against St. Louis in a Falcons loss, would start at quarterback on Monday Night Football against the New Orleans Saints.
Redman, who threw two touchdown passes last week in just more than a quarter of work, was out of football for much of the last three years. Monday will be his first start since the 2002 season when he was a member of the Baltimore Ravens.
"We're going to start with Chris Redman," Petrino said after Thursday's practice. "We liked the way he finished the game the other day. He gave us a lift. He's got a lot of confidence. So we’re going to start with him.
"Chris has a real quick release and he's very accurate. He's always been a very accurate passer. He's able to get the ball out of his hand very fast which helped the other day on our timing and he's always been very tough. He's able to stand in there and take a hit. It's good to see him back. He's fought through a lot to get to this point where he feels comfortable back on the field."
Redman said he's ready to extend his work over an entire game and welcome the challenge.
"That was one quarter," he said. "We just have to put it together for four quarters. We need to put it together for a full game. New Orleans is a great team so you just go out there and play your best.
"I'm just going to go out there and play and do the best I can. Every quarterback has their own style of play. I'm just going to go in there, try to get the tempo (up) and play good football and try to make good decisions."
Redman finished the Rams game 16-of-24 for 172 yards and two touchdowns after replacing Joey Harrington. The Falcons had a shot at victory inside the final three minutes, but a fourth-down incompletion in the red zone and an interception with 1:31 ended the threat. The touchdown tosses tied a career high for Redman, however, and gave Petrino even more confidence in a player he helped develop.
The Saints got the news of the switch on their first day of practice. Like the Falcons, New Orleans head coach Sean Payton elected to give his players Wednesday off and start a "normal" game week on Thursday due to the Monday night game.
"I think you have to start with the offense then, specifically, with the player running the offense," Payton said. "It seems as if for whatever reason this year, because the way the games have unfolded, this is probably the third or fourth occasion (where we haven't seen the previous games' quarterback)."
The Saints faced unusual quarterback situations when they faced the Buccaneers, Texans and Panthers. All three teams have started multiple quarterbacks due to injuries leaving New Orleans -- to an extent -- guessing on the game-day starter.
Bucs backup Luke McCown threw for more than 300 yards and two touchdowns against the Saints last week (a 27-23 Tampa Bay victory).
Petrino said he noticed a spark from multiple positions on the Falcons offense after Redman entered the game Sunday, including the play of running back Jerious Norwood who helped set up both scores with some of his 94 rushing yards and explosiveness out of the backfield.
The Falcons fell behind 21-0 at halftime however, creating a deficit that proved too much.
"It was the fact that everybody got energy from it,"Petrino said Thursday when asked for some insight on the switch. "Our defense got energy from our offense moving the ball. That's really what I talked to the team about. In the first half you could say our defense didn't come out and play like they usually do but that's not really true because they made plays. What we have to do is respond offensively."
