What the Falcons said after the 19-10 loss

On whether he showed enough to win the backup quarterback position: ”That’s not up to me.”

On his assessment of his play tonight and his touchdown pass to WR Juwan Green: ”I thought just the feeling of throwing a touchdown pass and celebrating with the teammates and coming to the sideline and getting high fives, that was just a feeling I haven’t had in a while and it felt well good. I don’t know, it’s like that shot in golf that brings you back. It’s like that’s why we do it. It was fun. Glad I got to feel it again. Hopefully get to do it a bunch more in the future.”

On his opportunity in Atlanta and whether he thinks it could be his last: ”I think once you get cut, you’re just like, dang. You sort of go through worst-case scenario, and you have to sort of use everything I’ve been taught through my career, meditate a lot, a lot of sort of sports psychology, everything you do through your whole career to stay mentally strong, snap out of it, and just remind yourself a couple hours later that I know I’m talented and I can play. I just need the opportunity and the right situation and sort of the right mindset. I feel like I’m sort of more capable right now seizing an opportunity just because I feel like I’ve grown as an individual since my rookie year. I just feel like I’ve matured as an adult, a human. Yeah, funny enough, the way my career has gone I feel like as a human I’m in a better place than I have been in a while and it’s a good feeling going out and having fun playing football. I missed it.”

On having success in high school but not reaching that success in the NFL to this point: ”I think I’m just working on getting my confidence back. I’m the kind of football player I just like making plays. I got to work on just being more consistent and taking what defenses gives me. But just naturally within my game, that’s how I separate myself, is I make plays with my arm, and in order to do that, I play best when I’m confident. When I walk up to the line of scrimmage, there is no hesitation, just working on getting that back. I just haven’t thrown the ball the much in the last two years, B-squad in Tampa and battling for a three spot in San Francisco. Like I said, most fun part about the night was getting to play football, just knocking off some rust and having fun.”

On the last time he’s felt confident: ”I mean, there were a couple games in Arizona where I really feel like -- you don’t really notice it until it sort of comes back, but honestly, out here. I wasn’t really confident in play calls just because I was barely spitting them out, but it was coming off my hand probably better than it has in a while. Just feels really good.”

On the last six days in terms of preparation: ”The package kind of incidentally grew in the middle of the game. We highlighted the plays we were in, but we ran through them pretty quick. In my headset he is like, ‘You good with this play?’ and I’m giving him a nod like, ‘Yeah, I think so.’ Sort of nudging a receiver like, ‘Yo, what do you have on this?’ "

On working with QB Matt Ryan: ”It’s been amazing. Sometimes vets you have to, guys in this the past, like ask them, sort of ask them questions and pick their brain and balance your personal sort of, not curiosity, but your want to ask questions and annoyance, and you kind of have to walk that fine line, but Matt is like overtly quizzing us on our calls. What are you doing here? What are you doing here? If I ask him anything, immediately, Matt has been amazing and I’m very grateful, and hopefully if I’m still here in a week I get to see him go through the course of a season. Yeah, really excited, and he’s been unbelievable in a short time I’ve been here.”

On what he means by he’s matured as an adult and a human: ”Yeah, I mean, people say you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. And that is true in the macro sense of the NFL. Said some dumb things coming out that I’m not all that proud of, but I’ve had a lot of chances to make first impressions with new teams and I think each one has been a little bit better at understanding that line and how to come in and support/demand things from guys and get everyone going and how to conduct yourself. Just like what coaches to go ask certain questions. There is a lot behind the scenes. I don’t know. Just feel like I’m growing up and excited for the future.”

On where he felt his maturing occurred: ”I mean, I owe a lot of my personal and professional development, to Fitz, Ryan Fitzpatrick, because I think -- not thought I knew it all, but like I didn’t really understand what it really took to be a pro and to be a professional quarterback in this league. I started all through high school and college and into the NFL up to that point, other than like three games in Arizona, but got benched in Miami and then I just like this isn’t working out. Like I’m tall, smart, I can throw the ball. What’s going on here? I’m going to follow Fitz around all day, every day, every minute, and see what he thinks, does, and all that. Sort of from Fitz I learned how much time and effort and discipline and sort of multi-faceted like thing being a quarterback is. So (I) got released from Miami, went to Tampa, because I was like, I want to learn from Tom. I want to see the best. Miami is still paying me so I can be on the practice squad and not have to worry about it. I am going to take a year and study what it means to be a quarterback. And getting to be in the same room with arguably the greatest of all-time (was) amazing. So after that year it was like, let’s go to San Fran and see if what I’ve been studying this last year and a half has helped me out a little bit. Didn’t work out, but came here, and I feel like this is a really good opportunity to just play football again. That’s what I keep saying. I am just really sort of grateful to be able to just go out and throw a touchdown and celebrate with teammates.”

On the reason for incompletions on the first few drives: ”Just miscommunications. There were probably a lot more than you guys noticed, too.”

On directing traffic on his first third down: ”Yeah just trying to get my guy in motion and I think he was like lining up or something, trying to get his feet in the ground. Just had to yell his name and tell him cut across.”

WR Russell Gage

On Hurricane Ida making landfall in Louisiana: ”I’ve been following the whole thing and you know, it’s crazy. It brings back old memories, but I’ve been following it a lot.”

On his family evacuating for Hurricane Ida: ”Yeah, so my family came down. That was a decision we made you know, to get them away from everything. They came down to be with me.”

On watching the news to keep up with Hurricane Ida: ”Yeah, so especially leading up, I was in the hotel and my TV was on CNN the whole time. I was just kind of listening to them, checking out everything. Like I said, it brought back old memories to them talking about the winds, the possible flood areas, and everything so I’ve definitely been following it and also my fiancé has some family down there and she gets information from them. She then feeds the information to me. So, yeah I’ve been following it.”

On his memories of Hurricane Katrina: ”It was just so much chaos, disaster, you know, just not good. Every time I think about it, I think about my situation. I have family, I have people, and as far as Katrina is concerned, they were from New Orleans, lived in New Orleans and that whole experience was life-changing, life-altering. Just knowing the possibilities of what could happen, it just creeps up on me and puts me in a different space. I think everyone is doing a good job at preparing and taking the proper measures to make sure they’re OK.”

TE Kyle Pitts

On his first NFL catch and the atmosphere of his first game: ”It definitely was fun. I feel like my heart was moving faster than my legs, but just fun being out there feeling that atmosphere and being in the game and around some guys that help me appreciate it.”

On going up against players with a different jersey: ”It was great. I just love competing, so just any time that I get the chance to go against anyone else is always a good time.”

On coach Arthur Smith not wanting his first game reps to be against Philadelphia in Week 1: ”I’ve always been preparing each game to play and to be ready and every week, just trying to make myself better.”

On reaction from crowd, standing ovation from his first NFL rep being a 27-yard reception: ”I feel like when I go in, I can’t hear anything so maybe I didn’t hear the loudness, but once I looked back at it, it was pretty fun.”

On if he feels like he’s had enough time between camp and first preseason appearance to be ready for the regular season: ”I think there’s always room for improvement and each week there is something better that you can get on. So just now, after I’ve seen what I did this game, I want to try and make it better for game one.”

On his thoughts about being named Player of the Game after having just one catch: ”I thought they would have given it to Juwan (Green) but I was appreciative of it.”

On if his one possession prepared him for the regular season: ”I think it did — just the speed and seeing how fast it really is just to try and prepare myself for the first game.”

On his opportunity to play in the last preseason game after not appearing in the first two: ”I feel like I’m just excited to prepare for each game and to act like I’m going to be in the game. So just to be able to actually go out there and play was pretty fun.”

On what he’s learned from QB Matt Ryan in the time they’ve been together: ”Preparation and sleep — those are two things he harps on which kind of helps your mind sleep first and you being better than the day before.”

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