Here’s what the Falcons said after the 40-23 win over the Vikings:
DEION JONES, middle linebacker
On his interception: “It was play-action and I had the over. I kind of (dropped) off to it. He ended up throwing it right to me. It was a great opportunity to come up plus-one for the defense and get the momentum started.”
On the win: “It was awesome, especially for all phases. For the the offense to take the baton and go down and score, that’s exactly how we want to get it started.”
On the run-and-hit meeting with Morris: “That was kind of the point. Our emphasis at practice was to get back to running and hitting. All the other stuff comes afterwards. It was just like we always preach about the ball, a lot of guys are ball hunting. But we also need guys running, flying and hitting. Then the ball comes when you do that.”
On holding the Vikings to 32 yards rushing: “Just us locking in on the run. We knew what it was going to take to win this games. One of the things we focused on was stopping the run.”
A.J. TERRELL, cornerback
On the post game celebration: “We just had fun in the locker room. We all know we need to get back to work to keep it going, but of course, we enjoyed our first victory.”
On his first NFL interception: “Just trusting in the defense. We were in a call that put me in position to make a play. I went in for the catch and the ball didn’t want to hit my hands right. My legs were there and I just tried to hold on to it before it hit the ground. It went my way. But the feeling is always great getting a forced turnover. It was great.”
On his plans for his game ball: “I’m going to give it to my son.”
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
JULIO JONES, wide receiver.
On his hamstring: “(There’s) nothing holding me back. I’m ready to go. More practice and more games to be all the way myself. At the end of the day, I felt great coming into this game. No complaints. No hamstring injury issues. No tightness and things like that to prevent me from bring who I want to be on game day.”
On coach Raheem Morris being tough on the team last week: “It’s small things, but they are huge. Being able repeat a play. He was like, no you’ll get it later on. When you’re in a game you can’t repeat that play. You have to be perfect right then and there. There was no we’ll get it next time, we’ll get it next time.”
On what changed: “The intensity that we practice with. We performed while we put out good effort."
On not blowing the lead: “Just for us, in house, it was big for us to understand what we have here. At the end of the day , we have to do to it. We just have to believe in one another. Get put in the right situations and then we have to execute."
On his TD celebration: “I’m a big Braves fan. Any time in Atlanta, I’m riding with them. I’m looking forward to Game 7. Even us, we were 0-5. We have lost five games. We don’t look at that kind of stuff. We have to do what’s in front of us today.”
On moving forward: “It’s very important, for us we still have to do what we do. We could have played better in this game. We just have to correct those mistakes that we (made) in this game. Ultimately, we got the win, but there is still room for improvement for us.”
Falcons' next four games
Lions at Falcons at 1 p.m. Sunday Oct. 25
Falcons at Panthers at 8:20 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29
Broncos at Falcons at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8
Falcons at Saints at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22
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