Here’s what Falcons head coach Dan Quinn had to say after the 29-28 loss to the Chiefs:
Opening Statement:
“Tough fight today. We knew this was going to be that and we had a sense it would come down to the end and it did. I reminded the team in the locker room it never comes down to one play. We certainly had our opportunities all throughout the game to make some. We made some and didn’t on some. When you have a loss like this it’s hard mentally to find a good space to put that. We’ll come back to fight, but for them, scoring they had a fake punt, went for a touchdown, interception, and a two point. We knew this game was going to be about the ball and it certainly was but like I said I reminded the team it didn’t come down to one but it’s hard when you have a loss to find a spot for it.”
On what happened on the two-point conversion:
“I didn’t get a great look at it. I’ll have a better explanation for that tomorrow when we get together. I didn’t see the coverage he had or how he took his shot to go get it on that particular play. On the interception that went for the touchdown I knew the coverage that was there. I couldn’t tell you off the top of my head right now.”
On why they called a timeout on the fake punt:
“We wanted to go to a different call as we went against their personnel group. It was just a little back and forth match against them and their offense. It was just a matter of in that situation against the call we wanted to go to a different spot and see if they’d go to a different spot. They ended up going different as did we.”
On whether they had the normal punt coverage on the field:
“We did so hitting it right in the A gap which is one that we do cover. Like I said, it’s hard to find a spot sometimes for those kind of plays. We talk about where they come right down to it.”
On whether he thought about onside kicking with only one timeout left:
“I didn’t right there. I thought we had our timeout and we were playing well. We had gotten some stops so I really thought we would try to use it and take it. If they got it to the two minute, use that as the second timeout and then keep our other one but I didn’t think of using it as an onside. I thought we kind of found our legs under us defensively. It certainly wasn’t that way in the first half but from about the mid-second quarter on, I felt the defense, they kind of got their legs under them and were playing better so I thought we’d get the stop.”
On whether Julio Jones was banged up:
“He was. He had a lower body injury but he came back to play. He missed some time and then came back. It was nothing that would keep him out long. He got banged up then got right as players do.”
On talking with Julio Jones on the sidelines:
“We communicate a bunch on the sideline just making sure he was right and feeling good. He’s such a competitor and he was ready to go pretty quick.”
On any update on Jake Matthews:
“It was a sprain for him and we’ll have more information for you tomorrow. He was not able to return today. He was certainly trying to so hopefully it won’t be a long-term issue with him.”
On how they will try to move forward from a tough loss like this:
“That’s part of the game and the world that we live. It’s hard to find a space mentally for tough losses but that’s what it’s about, being tough-minded and having resiliency is what our team totally stands for. It’s hard tonight but we’re going to get right to the truth of it tomorrow and put our plan together to go play at our best next weekend. That part of our game, mental toughness, and resiliency we’ve got a lot of tough competitors so I expect that part to come to fruition very quickly.”
On how he addresses Matt Ryan’s two interceptions that led to the nine points:
“He’s certainly disappointed in those throws and wants them back. We’ll address them with the team tomorrow.”
On the rookies having missteps:
“I do know some missed tackles usually that comes down to leverage and I know those are correctable and fixable. No need for us to go further than that until I look at the tape with them and get those issues corrected. Tackling still comes down to leverage and owning that leverage and making your hits. When we have those it usually looks pretty good and when we lose that leverage oftentimes that’s not. I know those issues if that’s what you’re speaking of specifically. We’ll get that addressed.”
On whether it’s hard to expect your team to refocus after having an unbelievably sudden change like that:
“It’s not from an offensive and defensive standpoint because on defense your mindset would go from ‘okay we’re getting ready to go two minute’ and then it shifts into a four-minute spot so you’re able to quickly get into those worlds. These are the plays we want to go to stop. So yeah that little break in time and right when it happened, that’s kind of what we shifted from a two-minute mindset to a four-minute mindset. I thought we had some right calls to get some stops. We played some man to man in that scenario to do that and we didn’t get the stop at the end especially on the third down. Like I said, it doesn’t come down to one play but having those stops at the end to give us another shot to go get it definitely stings.”
On how he viewed the play on the 10-yard line:
“We thought we had a good look. We had the right play on for what we thought would be the right call. They defended it but going into it we were hoping to get a specific look against a call but we weren’t able to get it done.”
On whether Devonta Freeman got held:
“I’ll have to look at the tape on that one. Generally, there’s a lot of battling that goes for it. Most times everybody thinks they do.”
About the Author
