“Harry had a career day. Everybody’s role changes in the NFL. Harry’s role changed two weeks ago because of our situation at wide receiver. He stepped up to the plate and did an extremely good job today. Harry is a very good receiver, he just hasn’t had an opportunity to be the number one receiver, and he was the number one receiver in the game today.”
—Falcons coach Mike Smith on wide receiver Harry Douglas
“It feels good. Obviously, we needed it. All week I thought our preparation was very, very good and guys were locked in. We came out and, as a team, played a pretty solid football game. We made some mistakes, but overcame them and made enough plays to get it done.”
—Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan on stopping the three-game losing streak
“We don’t get to hit much in practice so when it comes to the game it’s a mind thing, it’s an attitude. You’ve just got to click it on when the game day comes. I told the guys I try to feed off your energy you try to feed off mine.”
—Safety William Moore wanted to set the tone with a big hit
“I’m real happy with Harry Douglas. Drew Davis coming out and making big plays, Darius (Johnson) coming off the practice squad and making plays. Matt Ryan played lights out today. It was a total team effort.”
—Tight end Tony Gonzalez on the win
“Confidence is a beast. Any time you can get the ball rolling early it just feels like everything can go your way. Momentum was great today. That’s something we’ve got to build off of.”
—Gonzalez on the fast start
“That was to be expected going into it. The ball is in the air, hopefully I can go make a play. If not, we have other guys on the team that can step up. That’s just the way it goes. That’s professional football. If that’s what teams want to do, do it. Then other guys have to step up.”
—Gonzalez on being double-teamed
“In this league, take what the defense gives you. If you can hit the home run, you hit the home run. If you have to dink and dunk, then you dink and dunk. If you have to rush for three or four yards, that’s what you do.”
—Wide receiver Harry Douglas on his career-high in receiving yards
“Finally, I’ve cashed in on my initials. It was good to go and get a turnover early and set the tone for the rest of the game. We played well in that first half. They moved the ball a little bit in the second half.”
—Free safety Thomas DeCoud on his touchdown return
“They were trying to gang-up on me. They were trying to bully me a little bit. They just tried to jump on me. I just had to go and attack the ball.”
—DeCoud on recovering the onsides kick in the fourth quarter
“It was a good atmosphere down there today. He made sure we were in tuned to the game and that we were on top of every situation. Before we went out on the field he made sure that we knew what we were doing. That made the game a little easier for us. If he can get down there for every game, more power to it. We won today. So, it was a good thing.”
—Defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux on defensive coordinator Mike Nolan being on the side lines
“Like Coach Smith has been saying all week, we have put hard work in and now it was time to go play and see what we can do. We actually got us a good lead. Sometimes we had a lull, but we continued to score every chance that we got. It felt great to get the win.”
—Left tackle Lamar Holmes on the offense
“You know they always got it in them, both Harry and Quizz. They are great players. They stepped up and did what they had to do. I commend them both for that.”
—Holmes on the play of wide receiver Harry Douglas and running back Jacquizz Rodgers
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