Here’s what Falcons coach Dan Quinn had to say after the 36-20 win over Seattle on Saturday:
Opening Statement:
“As we get started, I think it’s worth talking about for us, this game, was won during the week. The preparation the guys put in. I wish you could’ve seen that. The intensity of getting ready for one another, it was great all the way through the week. That type of strain and effort to get each other ready to play against a really good team was totally at hand. For us, we told the team it was going to be about the ball in this game. The last time we played them we were minus two and today plus two and for sure that was the difference. But most importantly I thought the fans lit it up for us tonight. We called for it, they delivered, and no doubt they’re a huge part of our brotherhood as this team goes and the city and the connection with the fans. For them, we appreciate it and we’ll find out if we get another one.”
On how surgical Matt Ryan moved today:
“They’re a very disciplined group so for Matt we had certain plays that we liked. I thought the offensive line gave him time. We knew that was going to be a factor. Having the balance for us is key where we’re able to run and have play action where we can get some plays off of that. In particular, Matt just had a terrific week naturally. I felt the energy from the receivers right from the beginning from our warm up today. I thought they looked great. For Matt and his preparation, he stayed on exactly the same path that he had been on during the regular season, so it was something that we spoke about now. I thought he was on it like he has been the entire year.”
On the group of spies he used on Russell Wilson:
“Certainly looked like we could have used a few more. I’m sure you guys can appreciate that. He’s very difficult to keep in the pocket and when he gets outside whether it’s running to convert or creating time where they can throw it down the field that’s where he’s been most dangerous and it certainly was again for us today so we knew it was going to be an all-day fight and it was.”
On the performance of the defense:
“Certainly we came back and did much better. I don’t think I’ve been a part of a game where in the first quarter I think there were just two drives, so took it all the way down, scored, and we did the same coming back. After that, I thought we settled back in and made more plays and tackled better. I don’t know why we didn’t convert on some of the earlier ones but for sure for us, we knew we were going to have to take a couple footballs to have a chance to win this one. That was a very big emphasis for us so to have the ability where Deion Jones got one at the end, on the tip was one we needed at that time for sure.”
On requesting three challenges and winning:
“I got lucky. Honestly, when you have a chance to go and take a challenge at it, we thought those were ones were doing. There were a couple others that we talked about but when they don’t feel like It worked you have a very good shot at it and it’s not the right time. The one where Justin Hardy was on the far sideline we couldn’t quite tell but we took a shot at the replay and thought that it would be worthwhile to take a shot. It worked out in our favor today. I don’t know what my record is against them but not like today usually, I know that.”
On the play with Devin Hester:
“His ability to bounce out, he looked great on returns. From a number of us, especially everybody in this room, they’ve seen that movie before so we were prepared for it and he still made some terrific plays out there today. It was a factor.”
On what the key to containing Thomas Rawls was:
“Well, I think just tackling. That was the main thing for us heading into this game. He’s an excellent runner. He runs tough and gets yards after contact so we’ll go back in and see how many missed tackles we had and the yards after contact but we went into this game with that as our emphasis.”
On Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman in the passing game:
“It was definitely a factor in this game. For the entire year, we’ve been impressed by them and their ability to come out of the backfield to catch. Sometimes there are some matchups and man-to-mans that you like to match up on. Other times it’s just the fact that they can get out and space and try to create. The ability for them to add another receiver to our offense has been critical for us. It really has.”
On the emotions of this game:
“Well I think the first game against them, I’m glad that’s out of the way, from here on I hope we battle like crazy over the next ten years against a bunch of really good teams. I’m glad that game’s out of the way and now it’s like anytime you battle any other guy that you have tons of respect for and there are lots of coaches like that. The first game was weird, I’ll be honest with you, it was and then now I’m glad we got that out of the way in the regular season. Like I said, I hope we battle for years to come against one another.”
On Julio Jones’ injury:
“No concern at the moment. We’ll have more information on that later but it’ll be sore. He’s certainly somebody that’s able to battle through it. I anticipate him being ready to rock next week.”
On whether it was an aggravation or the same injury:
“It was an aggravation.”
On whether he’s rooting for Green Bay:
“I don’t know yet. I think for the fans, I am. To have that opportunity to come back here one last time I think that would be something that we would all look forward to. Past that, the coaching side of me and the matchups, I’ll have to go in and find that out.”
On his vision when he walked in the door two years ago:
“That was something Arthur and I spoke about the toughness, resiliency, the ability to attack in all three phases. For us, there’s always areas that we want to improve upon and that’s no different from today. It’s going to come down to the finish. We’ve got a bunch of stuff that we want to get corrected and see if we can make some real improvement next week. We are much closer to that identity and I think the players have a much clearer vision of what that looks like as well.”
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