ORCHARD PARK, New York -- Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan was not real happy with being called for taunting after scoring an apparent touchdown in the fourth quarter of the 29-15 loss to the Bills on Sunday.
Here’s what he had to say after the game:
On his touchdown, non-touchdown: “Obviously, I didn’t think I was down. I wasn’t trying to give myself up or anything like that. It’s disappointing. But the rules are the rules. You have to play by them.
On his taunting call: “Then, you know, football is an emotional game. So, there are lots of things that are said out there. I’m disappointing in myself in that the timing costs us. But I didn’t think it was anything that bad.”
On the loss of Pitts: “It’s tough. It’s hard to replace his skill set.He played extremely for us when He was out there. Our guys stepped up. I thought Parker Hesse, he played really well and he gave us everything that he had own the stretch. I’m of him for that effort. Our wide receivers competed and played really tough, so it’s always hard. It’s always difficult when someone goes down, but you have to rely on the other guys to step up and I’m proud of those guys. I thought our effort and intensity and the way that they played was something as a teammate I really appreciate.”
On the first drive of the second half offensively: “That was an opportunity for us to grab the momentum in that game and to have to punt after having such great field position and to not come away with points and specifically not a touchdown, those are difficult to overcome. Obviously, the best football teams in this league take advantage of those, and we did not do a good enough job of that today, and it’s part of the reason we lost.”
On whether a limited number of healthy tight ends hindered what they wanted to do offensively: “Definitely changes some of the plays that we have and personnel groupings, but for the most part, we were in a position where we needed to throw it and go fast. While we’ve done that at times in those personnel groupings, we’re more than capable of doing it from some three wide receiver sets with one tight end and a back. It’s always tough, trust me, when you don’t have your full complement of guys, but you have to find a way to do it and we had our chances. We really did. It’s disappointing that we didn’t take advantage of them.”
On whether Buffalo’s defense was what they expected them to be: “I think they’re a good defense. There’s no question about it. We knew that coming into the game. They’ve played well, really, the entire year, and I thought we did some nice things. I thought there was really good positive stuff for us in the run game, kept them off-balance. Held up enough at certain times to get the ball out and move the chains and create some explosives. We just need to be more opportunistic again. We had a short field off of a turnover and had a chance there at the end. It’s just disappointing that it didn’t shake out the way we wanted it to.”
On his thoughts when the touchdown went to a review: “Two things, one, if you get a chance, let it rip into the end zone. Two, if there’s not really that look that you like, try and find something to get half of it back and try to get into a spot. I thought I had a chance on the wheel route with Russ and just a little bit wide on the throw.”
On whether he was arguing that Bills S Jordan Poyer hit him late if he did give himself up: “It was worth an argument in my opinion.”
On whether he made that argument to the officials: “I was already on the sideline, so I didn’t get a chance to make that argument on the field. I probably shouldn’t go into it. It’s just disappointing to me because – it’s just disappointing how it shook out. Again, whether I agree with either of the calls doesn’t make a difference. Those are the rules.”
On whether this was his first taunting call of his career: “Yeah, it is my first.”
On whether there were things going on on the field that led to his taunting call: “Quite frankly, I didn’t think it was a taunting, but that’s my opinion. Whether I agree with what they call, it’s up to their discretion. I’ve never been called for it before. I was surprised that it was called there, but those are tough calls for the officials too.”
On the difficulty of knowing the team has been eliminated from postseason contention: “It’s disappointing. You work so hard in the offseason to try to give yourself a chance to be playing in the playoffs and give yourself an opportunity to make a run at a Super Bowl. When you fall short, it’s tough, but I am proud of the way the guys have fought. All year, there’s been no let-up. Guys have been resilient, guys have worked really hard and there’s a lot that the young players on our team can learn from and a lot of things that I think we can learn moving forward and be better off for these experiences that we’ve learned from. I think it’s going to make us tougher and better as we move forward.”
On the difficulty of establishing a rhythm offensively when sitting for long periods of time: “I don’t think it’s that much different. I think when you get out there, you have to keep plugging away one play at a time. I thought we did a pretty good job of getting into drives and getting going. I think the defense is tough to go against and they do a good job of making it difficult on you to get into that rhythm, but I thought for the most part we did a pretty good job of that.”
On how he thought the team handled the elements: “I thought we handled it fine. I didn’t think it was a factor either way, good or bad. I thought we handled the cold, snow, whatever, the way you should. Come up, play and play your game.”
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