Here’s what Falcons coach Dan Quinn had to say after the 23-17 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday:
Opening Statement: "Before we get rolling, first wanted to recognize that there was a lot of red and black in the stadium today, and man did that feel good. With all the crowd we brought with us from Atlanta today, and before we get going, I know there was a lot of people affected by the storm down in South Florida, both on our staff and with the players, lots of families, lots of thoughts with them. Earlier in the week, for those of us that gathered together, we thought this was going to be a tough game, and it certainly was. We thought both sides, lines of scrimmage, would be hard to get space in the run game and it was. On their side, we had a lot of respect for their runner and the style they wanted to play. We weren't surprised that it was going to come down to be close, and we talked about that a lot as a team. Then having the resiliency at the end to fight and stand up there when it got close. Those are dividends that get paid later on when you're in those situations. I wasn't disappointed we had to stand up at the end. Terrific play by Brooks Reed to close it out, but the story of the fourth quarter had to be Austin Hooper and the plays he made, on the scoring play and then extending the drive. With that, I'm glad to open up to your questions."
On Brooks Reed’s rush at the end, how he saw it from the sidelines
“It was a really good get off by him. Anytime you can make the quarterback have to hold it for a second, that’s what happened in man-to-man, so I’m sure, I wasn’t looking for the coverage specifically on that play, I saw the back get out, but it was really a strain and finish. You’ve heard us talk about pass rushes and the finish is where it counts. It was good to see him get off to a good start today and have that game winner at the end. That’s the kind of strain and effort pass rush is and he totally exemplified on that play.”
On his reaction in film room and Austin Hooper’s stiff arm
“We would say we are pretty pumped for them. Guys were pretty excited for him after the game. Probably some question his speed. I think he put that to rest. I heard there was some talk of that. It was just a terrific play. We have a saying ‘I do my job so my brother can do his, my brother does his so I can do my own’ and on that one, what an example by Matt[Ryan] too. Of all things going, here’s a busted coverage. The really experienced guy knows where to find that weakness. That’s typical Matt going to attack where a breakdown might have occurred. When you find those opportunities and you nail them, it’s such an important part. Like I said, we knew this was going to be a battle for it, and we got big strong front and plenty to do. But certainly just getting started for us in ’17 and we’re excited for where we are headed.”
On Chicago’s offense responding down 20-10
“They converted a couple more third downs. I have to tell you, I was impressed by the back being able to break some tackles and miss them. I’m talking about 29 [Tarik Cohen] specifically, one of the third downs. That part for sure was a factor. A couple times we thought we had the play stopped and defended, and we didn’t. In the first half, it was the big play and the run game that he had a nice job by him. At the end, quickness of getting the ball out and we made some tackles, kept it in front to give us a chance to go for it at the end. I would just say our tackling, our leverage showed up a few times it looked like to me.”
On Robert Alford’s play
“I had a clear shot of that one. We played a couple snaps man to man down there, we feel very comfortable in that role doing that with those guys. It was a big play by Rocky (Robert Alford) and those are ones that often times don’t show up on the stat sheet. That was a game changing PBU and we’re exciting to see that.”
On anticipating difficulty in run game:
“We knew it would be a challenge for sure. They’re stout and they square so we were hopeful. I didn’t anticipate that much of a challenge. We thought we would get it going eventually, the more reps, the more turns, because often times the benefit of that is the play action that goes along with it. Usually when we get the play action going it softens up the run a little bit, and today we just didn’t have the space we’d hoped we’d have. So it’d be worth us going back and looking and getting right back to it. We knew it would be tough, but we didn’t know certainly it was going to be that strong.”
On if it was frustrating to see the Bears get pressure:
“It was a style that we were prepared for. I don’t think it was anything that they did too unique or too different for us. Just a matter of us, can we do it better. Sometimes it may be one player, just missed one block. Or one tight end, and the back side was great. That one play doesn’t get done, that’s where it can break down. It looked to me at times, we had a couple of guys miss on a block or miss on one to keep us from getting to going like we like, so that’s what we have to avoid. It wasn’t a whole sale knocking it back to go, but when you miss one here, one here, one here you only have so many shots at it. So that’s what we go back and look at.”
On if he thought there were more opportunities for Julio Jones to get some touches:
“I don’t know. I’ll know more of that tomorrow. Will be a good topic to discuss as we’re going. There’s always unique stuff that goes to him, but if that’s the case where it’s not as often this day, I’m sure there’s plenty of others where he is going to get a lot of targets.”
On not having any turnovers but having penalties and how he views this:
“It allows you to do that pretty strongly. The one for [Robert] Alford, I’m going to look down the sideline. I know why they called the one on the punt return early against Hardy so we we’ll go back and take a look at it. It did feel at times too many fouls and then we didn’t turn the ball over, which we’re always pumped about offensively.”
On having four sacks today:
“It was good to get the guys going in the rush. We’re hopeful that’s where some of our turnovers get created, on the sac force fumble. We thought we might have had one on Glennon at the end, then they went back to review it. But those are the kind of the game changers, the sacks that go as force fumbles. We knew that part of our game was going to come to life. We’ve worked hard on that part, our pass rush, we’ve added some guys to it to help in that area. In the offseason that was addressed, and one of the things we wanted to improve upon, so I’m glad they’re off to a good start.”
On what he made of De’Vondre Campbell’s play today:
“You know what, it will be one you guys probably won’t talk about a lot, but it was a deep play in their end zone in the fourth quarter. They took a shot to the running back. It’s a typical play that we see. But the guy had great speed. It was good to see De’Vondre with his speed and length make a play on it. That was a play last year against Kansas City that he got beat on. It was the same play. So for him to have, this play came and they tried to attack me on the same way and make the play, I was really pumped for him on the sideline.”
On the speed of the defense:
”It’s the speed and length at linebacker and at safety. Our strong safety with Keanu Neal and our linebackers with Duke Riley and De’Vondre Campbell and Deion Jones. The speed of those four in the makeup, that’s what we’re looking for to play the style that we like to, so we’re pumped for that. We definitely missed some tackles too, and we have to tip our hat to 29 [Tarik Cohen], made some plays today and showed he’s going to be a factor.”
On how much Tarik Cohen reminds him of Darren Sproles:
“We talked about that going in. He didn’t have any catches in the preseason, so we didn’t have a great sense for it. What does that mean? Not like we weren’t thinking about it, because we knew he had such an explosive career at A&T. So when we went back we said how many catches did he have, he had a ton of catches, so we are like this guy can catch. Then he’s back there on punt return, so he is that type of back. You can split him out wide and use him as a receiver. They have a good combination with the big back that can pound in between the tackles and a guy that can get out outside. They’ve got two good ones as well.”
On the affect of the storm coming into this week with practice schedule:
“Not that we’re aware of. We were told that it could be in Sunday and Monday as it’s going, so we’re not anticipating any change from our end in that way. More just our thoughts for our friends and family that are down that way and especially some of the players and their families. Just went through it with Houston and through Arthur [Blank] and the team and really the whole organization trying to help out down there. We have a sense it’s going to go down and help out the other way too, and we’re glad to do that. Help when we earn chances to.”
Credit: David Banks
Credit: David Banks
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