Here’s what Falcons coach Dan Quinn had to say after the 23-17 win over the Redskins on Thursday:

Opening statement. Number one, going into the game, we were really looking for effort. We made a big point of that. That counts twice for us. In a number of places we saw that. I thought it was clearly demonstrated how hard the guys wanted to go and compete for one another. To me, that totally showed up.

On Matt Schaub's play. "It was good to see Matt take a few shots. That's why he's here, to show that he can do it and for him to be in the rhythm… I thought he had a good night. We are not surprised. He's had a good training camp. He's been a terrific partner with Matt Ryan in support. We are fortunate that we have him and he got in some good work tonight.

On the first-team offense. Every time you want to go can we get the ones down the field. The thing that I was disappointed with tonight was some of the pre-snap penalties. I think we can get that part of our game better. That's discipline. We know there are going to be some aggressive ones, but the ones that are prior to the snap, whether if it's a shift or a motion not correct. Or if it's jumping offsides, that's part of our game that we can get right. We left some of those out there. That's why we are going to come back. We have a lot of work to do this week. I am pleased with the capture of the effort. That's what we'll set out to do again this week.

On the first-team offense. We are still kind of in the camp mode. We'll get back right to it on Sunday. We have a bunch to work on and things to get better at. What I was pleased with, you could see how much the team was in it for the guys at the end. That's a really good sign. You saw everybody on the sidelines. They were in it for one another. We have plenty of work to do in a number of areas. Third downs on both sides, we still need a lot of work at that and that's what this time of year is for. It was our first (exhibition) season game. We'll go right back to work, tell the truth tomorrow and as we get back on the field next week, we'll get right back into camp mode.

On the tackling. There was some good tackling that jumped out to me. I saw Spoon had one. I know Poole had one. I thought Campbell had one. Those are the type of commitment to contact hits that we want. I want to see the leverage on the tackling…For the first time out, I felt like there was some physicality. We were looking for compete and toughness out of the guys. That competition, that urgency, the finish, that toughness and even the resiliency, when I miss a tackle or I have a foul, can I come back the very next play and battle for it again. We have a lot to work on, but I'm encouraged because I know that this group can become together.

On the play of the rookies. Overall as a class and we talked a bunch about it last night. Some of the guys even talked about their first play as a rookie in their first game in the (exhibition) season. It's a really cool night. Every year, kind of demonstrating for the rooks, this is your night. You're first time into it. I couldn't have been more proud of J.D. (McKissic) for his first play to take it back to the house. He'll be the guy years from now talking about 'well in first game in (exhibition) season, one my first touch, I took it back. It's a good group. They see how hard they have to battle and strain. There are definitely some tired rookies in there. I said you are just getting started. I looked at pair of them sitting on the chair and they were gassed. I said, 'you have no idea.' We are just getting rolling with those guys. But they were ready to play. The rooks were.

On playing Matt Ryan more. I think in the (exhibition) season, it's really important to stick with the plan. There is a lot of evaluation that goes into some of the players that we are looking at.

On the injuries. (Kemal) Ishmael, I assume that we'll have him back for Sunday. The guys who were injured going into the game, (Keanu) Neal, (Levine) Toilolo (and Terron Ward), we expect to have them participating in some fashion on Sunday.

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