What the Falcons had to say after the loss to the Chargers

On what teammates told him after the play: “You know, just keep my head up. They know the type of guy I am. I definitely take accountability, and it definitely (stinks). I definitely contributed to that loss by dropping the ball, but I just got to move on and look forward to this Thursday game.”

On what he can learn from the play: “You know, hold the ball with two hands, probably that. Maybe, you know, switch out the leather palms to, you know, the stickies maybe, but, you know, just got to move on from this point and become a better football player.”

On the emotions during the play: “It really (stinks). Just got to hold on to the ball. You know, my teammates telling me it’s OK, but I’m probably the hardest on myself. I should’ve held on to the ball. Probably should’ve fell on it, probably got out of bounds, all of the above. I just got to move on from here.”

On flipping the page to prepare for the Panthers right away: “Honestly, just turn the tape on of the Panthers either later tonight or early tomorrow morning and, you know, go to work at practice tomorrow.”

On whether he’s had a fumble recovery or a similar moment in his career: “You know, in college, a few times, but, you know, in the league this is only my second year. So this was my first one.”

CALEB HUNTLEY, running back

On the inconsistency offensively from quarter to quarter in Sunday’s game: “I don’t know. Just like the execution, we left some plays out there that had we completed, it would have been a different game, but, man, that’s football. We have to focus on the next opponent.”

On the key to starting the game well: “I feel like we did a good job staying patient and hitting the runs, but, you know, there’s always some meat on the bone after you watch the film. I feel like we can rally after this loss and can come out on top Thursday.”

On Graham’s fumble in the fourth quarter: “It’s not his fault, trying to make a play. You know, he is not a ball carrier, so he doesn’t have the ball in his hands all the time. I feel like he did a good job of, you know, getting on the ball and trying to make a play, but things happen. We can’t, like you said, we can’t just go by one play. Those periods in the game where, you know, things could’ve changed the outcome. We can’t just look at one play and like, aw, man, that was the turn of the game.”

On whether it’s helpful to play again Thursday night to put the loss behind them: “It is. It’s a shorter window for recovery, but I feel like just being out there on the field will get us back rolling and get us back loose and ready to go.”

JAKE MATTHEWS, left tackle

On the offense struggling after a fast start: “It was just a lack of execution, just a couple of things that we needed to tweak in protection. Then we got rolling again, and I felt we had chances at the end of the game to put them away, and we just have to give them credit, they made plays, and it was a tough-fought NFL game. We’ll get back to work and fix things. Like I said, we have a really big game on Thursday, so we need to get ready for that.”

On whether the team struggling to get over .500 with multiple opportunities to do so this season gets into the heads of players: “Honestly, personally, I haven’t really thought about that. The goal is to win every week, and like I said, we’ve had chances, and unfortunately, we haven’t been able to pull through.”

On whether he believes this was a game the team should’ve had: “You can’t really say that because the reality is, they won the game. I can say that we did some things well; I just think we could’ve executed better at the end to put them away. Unfortunately, we didn’t do it, so we’ve got to go get to the film, fix it really quickly and bounce back on a short week with a really vital divisional game on Thursday.”

On whether it’s tougher to have a game coming up on a short week or whether that helps the team move on quicker: “The quick turnaround might help a little; I don’t know, but losing always (stinks). We put a lot of work into it all week and had so much confidence going into it, but you’ve just got to give them credit, they made more plays than us in the end and there’s stuff that we can fix, and the future is still bright. So, we’ve got to clean it up and go from there.”

TYLER ALLGEIER, running back

On how Cordarrelle Patterson changes this offense: “He’s just an explosive guy; you see it on the field. The first play of the game, a 5-yard hitch turns into an explosive 10-yard first down. It was good to have him back.”

On how he’s evolving as the season progresses: “I’ve always had a goal of being an all-around back. I’m still striving to be that, and there’s still stuff to learn. Just grateful to get back to work.”

On the running backs sharing the ball: “I think the trust we have in each other. One, two, three, four, really, it’s really like punches. It keeps the defense off guard. Everyone knows what they’re doing.”

On getting ready for Carolina: “Just have to take care of your body. It starts tomorrow; really it starts tonight. Once we get into the building, we’ve just got to get ready for a divisional opponent.”

On the most frustrating aspect of this loss: “The games within the game. There’s a lot of plays that we’ve missed out on. I think I’m just grateful to learn on the field or learn in the film room and look at where we can be better.”

On what he said to Graham after the fumble: “It’s just unfortunate. Like, what are the chances? We still believe in TQ, I still believe in TQ. He made great plays on the field. Just an unfortunate thing to happen, just the games within the game. We’ll still learn from it and then just get better from it.”

RICHIE GRANT, safety

On his interception and how it came on a key moment right after a turnover: “Right. Yeah, they had gotten a little bit of momentum from our fumble, but the defense came out and said we gotta take it back. Was fortunate enough, tips and overthrows, I think he tried to get up field too fast and the ball was in the air, I saw it, I caught it and I just tried to get what I could.”

On overall the emotion of the game: “It’s tough, man. It’s tough losing close like that, you know. Especially when you’re out there on the field, but it happens, man. We have a short week, so we can’t really linger too long. Thursday, we have a big division game ahead, and it’s a must win.”

On what they are going to do to turn things around: “Exactly, we do have half the season left, and like I said, we do have a big division game Thursday. Our sight and our minds need to be on that game. Like I said, this is a tough one to swallow, but it is what it is and move on forward to Thursday.”

KYLE PITTS, tight end

On whether he felt there was miscommunication with QB Marcus Mariota on deep shots Sunday: “No. We just didn’t execute. We’ll get back to work this week.”

On emotions after the loss: “I mean, obviously it (stinks) we didn’t come out and get the win, but we have another opportunity this Thursday coming up.”

On it feeling good to get back on the field quicker than normal: “I guess you could say that. We have another opponent this week, take the time to work and prepare, and we’ll get this one.”

On getting ready for Carolina: “Put this behind us and just go back to work this week. We’re going hard this week, it’s a division game and try and beat them twice.”

On what coach Arthur Smith said after this tough loss: “Keep fighting. It’s a long year. We got another game this Thursday. We want to win this game and the division.”

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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 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