“I like the way we took the ball away there at the end of the game. Those two turnovers were critical.”
—Falcons coach Mike Smith on the two key plays
“We finished strong today and we want to finish strong in the fourth quarter of the season.”
—Smith on pulling out the victory
***“You just have to keep going. That’s one of those things. You just have to keep battling. You have to keep plugging away. (Buffalo) is one of the best front-sevens in the league. Obviously, they lead the league in sacks and up until this game led the league in interceptions as well. They’re a talented bunch. We knew that coming into it. I thought our guys kept battling, regardless of what happened with the sacks.”
—Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan on getting sacked early and often by Buffalo, which finished with six sacks and nine quarterback hits.
***“You know, I’m not going to hide the fact that we’re a Dome team and it feels a little bit better when you’re inside. I’m all about the attitude, the way we approached it. Obviously, this season didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but we still have four games left after this, and if we go out there and fight, just like we did last week (against the Saints, we’ll be fine.)”
—Tight end Tony Gonzalez on the victory.
“It’s a little bit smaller. Little bit more cozy in here. The turf was a little bit not up to the standard where I would have liked it. But at the same time, it doesn’t matter. You adjust. Both teams have to play on it, and we came out and that’s what we did.”
—Gonzalez on the Rogers Centre feeling like a home game.
“It’s big. As a whole defensive unit, we take pride in our jobs; we take pride in what we put up on the board; we take pride in our stats; we take pride in winning. The season hasn’t gone the way we wanted it to go, but we go out there and we fight nonstop. Regardless of the score, regardless of the offense, we’re going to go out there and fight, and that’s what we did. We fought all four quarters, and the ball came constantly our way this game.”
—Cornerback Robert McClain on the defense making some plays down the stretch.
“They got out on us early. It was 14-0, and we didn’t fold, we just kept fighting, kept getting stops, and our offense kept going. We were very resilient today.”
—Cornerback Desmond Trufant on the team resiliency.
“I’m definitely in my rhythm. (Dirk) Koetter is allowing me to get multiple touches. He’s allowing me to stay in the rhythm of the game, and that’s when I feel at home, that’s when I feel that I’m at my best. The offensive line is doing a good job of giving me some push, giving me some options, and once they do that, I have to take advantage of it. Every run is not going to be a big run, but my style of play, I play with authority. Authoritative runs. So it will wear down the defense, which allows for the other guys to come in and get a change of pace as well.”
—Running back Steven Jackson on the rushing attack
