Here’s what Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had to say after the 25-17 win over the Panthers on Thursday:
On his 13-yard touchdown run and when he knew it was paydirt: “Well, I never know. You never know until you’re really in there. These guys can recover pretty quickly, but just fast enough. I feel like I’ve always been that way throughout my career – just fast enough to make them pay sometimes on third downs. It was a big score for us there. We needed it.”
On teammates showing him love for nearly matching his season total in rushing yards in tonight’s game: “I can’t tell if they’re laughing at me or just having a good time and excited for it, but they’re always good when we get them and I think guys get fired up by it showing that there’s different ways to get the job done.”
On the spark RB Brian Hill provided for the offense: “I thought he ran the ball hard, no question about it. He’s a guy that he’s got great speed and explosiveness when he gets through the line. Our offensive line did a nice job of opening up some holes for him and I thought Brian ran the ball very effectively for us.”
On the importance of the rushing attack late in the game, capped by RB Todd Gurley’s touchdown: “It was huge. Not only do we get the ball in the end zone, we chew up a bunch of clock there at the end. I thought our offensive line wore them down throughout the game and Todd and Brian just finishing runs the way that they do made it tough on them there at the end of the game.”
On how painful it was to see WR Calvin Ridley go down and players that stepped up on offense: “You just feel so bad for guys. I know how hard Calvin has worked throughout the year and through the offseason. Hopefully it’s nothing too too serious, but we have other guys that are capable of doing it. I thought Julio played really well for us tonight. I don’t know how many catches or yards he had, but he had a bunch of explosives. Christian Blake did a nice job, had a few good catches for us, contested catches that we needed. I think Hayden Hurst did a nice job as well. I thought it was a good effort by our guys to step up when Rid went down.”
On WR Julio Jones tying Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss (35) for the second-most games with at least 125 receiving yards in NFL history: “Just to start the game the way we did, to let them know it was going to be that kind of night and then his clutch plays throughout the game to keep the chains moving, I thought he played extremely well. It’s no surprise he’s on a list with Randy Moss. He’s one of the best to ever do it and he played really well for us tonight.”
On whether the Panthers defense did something different to get pressure or whether they were winning one-on-one battles: “I think they just played well up front. I really do. I think they did a nice job. I don’t think it was anything all that different from what we were doing, but it was just they played well.”
On what needs to improve in the red zone moving forward and what didn’t work that resulted in a number of field goals: “I’ll have to watch the film to take a look at some of the things that we can improve, but you nailed it, when we get down there, we have to come away with more touchdowns. I think we were maybe 2 of 6 for the night in the red area. So, you’d like to be above 50 percent. You’d like to be scoring more than 50 percent of the time you’re down there and that’s definitely an area that we want to address, but it’s always nice to address those areas after a win.”
On whether he believes this win could help spark some more wins: “Absolutely. We’ve been in every game we’ve played this year. We’ve had some crazy losses to be frank. I really believe that we have the caliber of team to go be in every game that we’re going to play in for the rest of this season. Why can’t we win them all? That’s the mindset that I have.”
On the severity of the weather conditions and whether the offense can do anything to take advantage of a sloppy field: “It was a little wet, a little windy for sure. I think the wind was more of the issue than the rain. There in the second and third quarter, it got blowing pretty good, but I thought we did a good job of handling the conditions. I thought we threw the ball fine. I thought we protected it fine. I didn’t see it as an issue for us.”
Falcons' upcoming games
Broncos at Falcons at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8
Bye Week
Falcons at Saints at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22
Las Vegas Raiders at Falcons at 1 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 29
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