Here’s what Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota had to say after the 27-24 win over the Bears:
On the importance of Sunday’s win: “Huge win. And it’s nice to do it at home in front of our fans. Like I said, at the end of the day when you’re playing games like this and they’re meaningful at the end of the year, the games will continue to get bigger and bigger. It’s fun to be around these young guys to kind of help them understand what’s going on, but we’re excited about what’s next.”
On the conversation in the huddle prior to the fourth-and-2 late in the game: “We just wanted to make a play. We were hoping for it. We appreciate the confidence from Art (coach Arthur Smith) to allow us to do that, and CP (Cordarrelle Patterson) made a great play.”
On having a balanced attack offensively Sunday: “Really, I think it started distributing the ball, letting our guys go make plays, kind of lightening up the boxes a little bit. And, as those things happened, being able to establish the run, control the line of scrimmage. You’ve got to give a lot of credit to our guys up front. I mean, really, they dominated, and to be able to do that and to be able to be balanced like that, it makes us tough to stop.”
On what he’s thinking when Patterson returned the kickoff 103 yards for a touchdown: “Yeah, we were standing there saying great drive, great drive. Really cool, really special moment. It’s cool to be a part of that, right? Be a part of history. And I knew when they kicked it to him, especially after what it happened with the fumble earlier, there was no way he was going to let that be a touchback. So, again, he’s an incredible player. Still got the wheels, man, for being 10 years in. Once he hit that second level, he was gone. It was fun to watch.”
On Smith mentioning TE MyCole Pruitt and how important Pruitt has been to the offense: “He doesn’t get a lot of credit, and he deserves a whole lot. Like not only does he block at the point of attack and do a lot of different things for us. Unfortunately, with Kyle (Pitts) going down, he had to step into a bigger role and had a huge play for us on one of those keepers. It’s kind of fun for me. I’ve known MyCole since we were in Tennessee together, and I have complete faith and trust in him. And he’s done a lot of the dirty jobs, and it’s cool to see him have some success today.”
On the resiliency of the team: “Yeah, and it starts on top. We’ve got a really cool culture that’s being built here. We’ve got a really cool, just mentality, and you know what, it’s fun because these guys are younger, and they’re really embracing that type of mentality because it’s not easy. It’s not easy to get everybody to buy in. And when things are going south and you’re not winning games, you’ve got (a) two-game losing streak, you know, it’s so easy just to kind of dive and focus on your own individual things and not worry about what’s going on with the team, but our guys have totally bought in. It’s fun to be a part of, and really, like I’m excited for our guys.”
On facing adversity personally the past two weeks and playing well today: “Yeah. No, I mean, as a professional athlete, you would love for every week to be perfect and be throwing a bunch of touchdowns and a bunch of yards and be scoring a bunch of points. And it’s never really that way. And I think the time that I had in Tennessee really kind of built me for situations like over the last couple weeks. And just kind of water off my back. I understand I have to do my job, go back to work, do whatever I can to help this team win.”
On whether he viewed this game as a referendum on whether he will be the starter the rest of the season: “No, not at all. I think when you start to think about those types of things, you let outside noise kind of dictate how you play, eventually it’s going to happen where you’re not going to like what the situation is. So I just focus on what I can do. Really just controlling what I can control, going to work, always putting in the time and the effort, and when it comes to the game, coming loose and playing.”
On what it meant to put together a drive late in the game to get points on the board and ultimately win the game: “Well, it’s huge, right? Like you understand kind of the situations and the scenarios, and Art does a great job of explaining those types of things to us. You know, they can’t score points if they don’t have the ball. And I think, unfortunately, we haven’t been able to convert some of those in late games. And to be able to do that today I think is a huge confidence booster for this offense, and I think it’s something we can build off of moving forward.”
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Atlanta Falcons 2022 schedule
Sept. 11: Saints 27, Falcons 26
Sept. 18: Rams 31, Falcons 27
Sept. 25 Falcons 27, Seahawks 23
Oct. 2 Falcons 23, Browns 20
Oct. 9 Buccaneers 21, Falcons 15
Oct. 16 Falcons 28, 49ers 14
Oct. 23 Bengals 35, Falcons 17
Oct. 30 Falcons 37, Panthers 34 OT
Nov. 6 Chargers 20, Falcons 17
Nov. 10 Panthers 25, Falcons 15
Nov. 20 Falcons 27, Bears 24
Nov. 27 at Washington, 1 p.m.
Dec. 4 vs. Pittsburgh, 1 p.m.
BYE WEEK
Dec. 18 at New Orleans, TBD
Dec. 24 at Baltimore, 1 p.m.
Jan. 1 vs. Arizona, 1 p.m.
Jan. 8 vs. Tampa Bay, TBD
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