Here’s what Falcons coach Dan Quinn had to say after the 25-20 win over the New York Jets on Sunday:
Opening statement
“I thought this today really exemplified, in a lot of ways, a good team win. I thought it was going to be a line of scrimmage game on both sides and it was. Defensively, to hold them to 43 yards (rushing), that was a real emphasis. The defense hadn’t performed how they thought they were capable of over the last few weeks in the run game, so I thought that was significant, especially on a day that was going to feature some weather and both teams were going to lean on the run game. And then our offense sticking to that and staying committed to it. One shot, you get a chance to break, which Tevin (Coleman) did. To finish that off, Matt Bryant who is, really, in this kind of environment, lots of rain, the weather was there all the way, to go 4-4 and then (Matt) Bosher dropping in a good punt at the end. I was really pleased with the resiliency of the guys and what they stand for as a group of men. It was a good team win today and one that we’re excited to talk about.”
On how bad the weather was…
“Early on it wasn’t so much and then as you came back for the second half it wasn’t good. But by the time the third quarter came it was definitely coming down hard. The wind wasn’t as big a factor tonight as the rain was. Usually it’s the wind that can jam you up in terms of kicking and throwing, but it just so happened it was one of those nights the rain was the real factor.”
On the fumbled snap on the two-point conversion…
“You expected to see the ball being a factor in the game and for sure it was where there were some drops or turnovers that took place. That one for us, losing two in that way, that was difficult. I did expect a really hard-fought, all the way down to the wire game in that kind of weather.”
On if he was pleased with the amount they ran the ball…
“Yes, and it was one that we really wanted to really be mindful for and make sure that part of our game opens up so much of the other parts with the shots down field. So even though some of the runs only go for one or two (yards), that allows a linebacker or a safety to have to suck up to where you may have a chance to throw a big ball to Julio (Jones). Those two things working in concert, and we knew that part of our game would come and it certainly did today. Although the runs, some of them are two and three yards, they’re still a factor.”
On how disappointing the red zone offense was…
“Yeah, it was, and I thought we had a chance to go finish it off. The good news was we were able to lean on Matt (Bryant). But we did put a big emphasis on that and we’ll go back and look to see what caused that. I know on the first one in the first half, I think it may have been a drop for (Austin Hooper), it was his birthday today so we let him off the hook on the second one. The first one he got. But that’ll be something we go back and look (at). That’s not a one-week emphasis for us. That’ll be something that we’ll continue to work on as we’re getting through our practice and getting ready for this week too.”
On how nice it was to get back on track with a win…
“Outside there was a lot of noise, but there wasn’t inside, so that kind of resiliency, that kind of toughness is what this group stands for. They support one another like crazy and that’s the time you do lean on one another, when it’s not going as well as you want. I wasn’t surprised to see them lean on each other in a good way. It’s what I expected, but I also admired it.”
On if all division games being ahead is a good thing…
“Well, we certainly hope so. It’ll be exciting to get back into the division. We started the NFC games early, in the conference anyway, then took this trip up to the east, which did not go well for us, in the AFC East. As we’re now getting back into our own conference, our own division, coming up, we’re definitely looking forward to that. Our division always gets the attention from our own team and as we get closer to that, that’ll be something we’ll definitely discuss.”
On the defense against the run…
“Really, that was team defense and Grady (Jarrett) is always at the forefront of it. we just tried to stress let’s be sure everybody is doing their job. It’s not a time to take a shot and see if you can go make a play. Just really consistent just everybody doing their job. That was their mantra this week and I thought they really nailed that in that way.”
On Mohamed Sanu’s touchdown…
“Not only was the catch fantastic, we expect that from him. He’s got such a big catching radius, he’s 6’3” with long arms and he has aggressive hands, so when the ball is in that area, he’s someone that really goes after it. He also had a good third-down conversion at the end of the game to extend one of the drives. It’s good to have him back and all that he brings to our team.”
On if it is special to come back to his home area…
“It does just from growing up here. This is where my love of football began. Yeah, there were some times through the last 15 or 20 years coming back into this area to play. I’ve reminisced because of the youth coaches and high school coaches that were such a big part of my life that allowed me to have football come through where it came from. I always think of that. Not o third down you don’t think of that, but maybe walking out to the stadium or arriving here, you definitely have an attitude of gratitude for coming up in this area for my love of football where it began here. But past that, it’s just normal.”
On how much better the defense is this year from last year…
“We are in a number of areas. The area we’ve still got work to do is creating some more takeaways and then providing some more opportunities for the offense. Early on we didn’t tackle quite as well as I had hoped, but I do feel we are significantly improved in that area. Today, I’m hopeful that’s more reflective of the type of run defense we can play. I thought we made good strides today in that area. But we’re significantly different in how we want to pay, but there are definitely areas we’ve got to improve upon. We’re in the middle and I think we should shoot for significantly better than that.”
On if it was his call to run the ball around the two-minute warning…
“It was.”
On if it was to take time off the clock…
“Yeah, that’s all we wanted to do and then take it down and punt it. We thought we’d have, counting the seconds, I think it was going to be 1:20 after the punt and I thought Bosher dropped a great one down there in bad weather. That was by design. Back earlier we thought let’s go for the third down and then the net one we were going to run it. It was by design as it went through.”
On how much the extra third down practice helped…
“I hope it did and it was a difficult day to throw, for sure, so it wasn’t a clean day for that. Just having that ability to go against the offense at times, some of our periods that we added were just Falcons against Falcons competing in man-to-man coverage, playing aggressive. For sure it had a factor and it’s something we’ll continue to do.”
On players saying communication was great defensively…
“I (was) and it carried right over to the sideline and that’s what we expect from that group. It started during the week at practice, carried through walk through yesterday. I felt that championship attitude of how we wanted to go about playing defense come through.”
On how the Jets losing Morris Claiborne affected the offensive playcalling…
“It affects you because you want to see how they go defend next. Sometimes does a double take place and when he’s out does that still take place? Are they still going to be as comfortable to pressure? It’s not like the first play, okay, what are they doing? But you get a sense of the pattern as he’s going. So it’s definitely something that all teams are mindful for and it depends on where. Is it a corner? Does he play inside? Is it a lineman? It happens on the same thing offensively – okay, this receiver’s down, or a running back is. But it’s definitely something you discuss as a team and what options can you go after a guy when those opportunities present themselves.”
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