CINCINNATI -- Here’s what the Falcons had to say after the 35-17 loss to the Bengals on Sunday:
TE Kyle Pitts
On whether he felt as if the team got depressed when they got down by 21 and couldn’t play the way they wanted to play
“We just play our style of football and keep turning it up.”
On the cause of slow starts in road games and how it can be fixed
“Just try to fix some of the smaller details. We’ll look at the tape tomorrow and try to move past it.”
On the 16-play drive, what was that like
“It was just playing fundamental ball and getting back to basics as a team.”
On being down 21-17, what was the mindset like
“Just keep punching. Just never think about giving up and playing all four quarters.”
On whether he thought he was across the goal line and they were going to overturn the catch
“I did think my body was in. It shook the way it did and we still scored.”
CB Cornell Armstrong
On the last 24 hours
“First and foremost I want to give glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The last 24 hours I’ve just been preparing myself for this moment. I wish I would have gave them more or I did more to do my job better.”
On the encouragement from Coach Smith and his teammates at halftime
“Here’s we’re just all about family. I got the call. I got pulled up to the 53-man roster. They were just encouraging me and telling me to keep doing what I’m doing. I make plays all week. I just have to keep improving each week. Keep stacking days and knowing that I’ve got it in me. I just want to give the guys more because they believe in my also.”
On lining up against Ja’Marr Chase
“You can say that, but I’ve been praying for this moment for the last two years. I’ve been cut, released, put back on the team, released again and this team gave me another opportunity. I really don’t look at it like there. Every moment and then on to the next.”
S Richie Grant
On the Bengals wide receivers
“I don’t keep up with yards. Who’s catching or anything. I know they are moving the ball and our job is to stop them. We didn’t do that today.”
T Jake Matthews
On his thoughts on what happened out there today
“We just didn’t capitalize in the second half. We’ve got a lot of improvements to make.”
On the offense revolving around the run game and whether he feels he has to play differently when the team gets down
“We were in that game at halftime. If we play better in the second half or start better in the first quarter, no telling how that game would have ended differently. We’ve just got to find a way to get it done.”
On whether he sees a player like Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, does he feel like he’s got to match that
“It’s a game. We’ve got to score more points than them. At the end of the day we can only control what we can. We didn’t do a good enough job on offense. If we come out better in the second half and finish the game better, it would be a different game. We didn’t give ourselves a chance to get back in it.”
LB Rashaan Evans
On the team being 3-4 and still tied for first place in the division and whether he’s ever been in this situation like this before
“I’ve never really been in a situation like this, but I have started out worse. It’s one of those situations where we’re really close to winning, get beat really bad and then get another chance to win — it’s up and down like a roller coaster. We want to be in a situation where we’re more persistent, where we stay steady. We’re trying to find that rhythm. You’ve got to give props to Cincinnati. They’re a good team at the end of the day. They’re not a team a team that you’re going to just come out and just beat because you’re there. We know at the end of the day it’s a long season and we’ve got another opportunity to get this thing rolling next weekend. The biggest thing is making sure we take control of our opportunities.
On when he sees division does thoughts of past games creep in already of what could have been
“Most definitely. You think about the different situations you’ve been in, you think about the opportunities you had, you know, chances you know you should have won and didn’t win. They go through your head but at the same time, you can prepare for games each and every week and you’ve got to have a short memory. You try to do as much as you can as you’re preparing each and every week and try to keep those things from happening, but like every game, you might get something different. You’ve got to prepare for everything.”
On a lot of track left to run, is that how he looks at it
“Most definitely. I feel positive. I still feel positive. I don’t feel bad at all. As you get close to this point in the season, you can’t have any type of negativity in the locker room.”
S Erik Harris
On as a secondary, does he think it’s something systematically
“No. What you do is you get on the plane, the video guy will come around and ask if you want to download the game, and we download the game on our iPads and we watch it as a player. We will come in tomorrow and we’ll just see what our corrections are, see where we missed out on the small details. Sometimes you just feel like ‘Golly, they just have our number,’ and then you go back and you’re like ‘Dang.,’ if we had just set there this would have guarded his zone better, man-to-man or leverage, whatever it may be. But you go back and you see those little things that start adding up. When you’re out there, you just feel like they’ve got your number but then you watch the film and it’s like they didn’t have our number. We made it a lot worse than what it was.”
On still being tied in the division with Tampa Bay after their lost today
“We don’t get caught up too much in where we are in the division and stuff like that. Obviously, we hear that but we’ve just got to play each game and win one game at a time.”
On how important is it to have veteran depth to bring in off the bench and practice squad
“It scratches everything, right? That’s why you bring in veteran guys to help out the young guys, that you bring in veteran guys that have seen it. That’s why you see a lot of veteran guys that get signed off the couch and just get thrown in there. They might not be in shape but the coaches have confidence because they’ve played in the system before or know situational football. We preach that a lot, just knowing situational football.”
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The Bow Tie Chronicles
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 at Bengals 35, Falcons 17
Oct. 30 vs. Carolina, 1 p.m.
Nov. 6 vs. Los Angeles Chargers, 1 p.m.
Nov. 10 at Carolina, 8:15 p.m.
Nov. 20 vs. Chicago, 1 p.m.
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
