Here's what Falcons coach Dan Quinn had to say about the 35-22 loss Sunday to the Buccaneers:
Opening statement: "We said it was going to be a fight. Every divisional game is. We had an opportunity to start strong and play the complementary football that we've done over the last few weeks, but we didn't have any success doing that today. So it didn't carry over. What I told the team inside, there's no time to sit on this one. Five nights from tonight, we're right back at it to go again. We've got to be able to recapture all three phases playing together, but another divisional game coming right back up here right back at home, and we certainly intend on playing the tough, bold and aggressive way that we have the past few weeks. Glad to open it up to your questions regarding the game."
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On the six sacks and 12 quarterback hits today: "I think that says quite a bit right there. We knew in the run game, one of the strengths of their team was their run defense, so we knew that part. You'd have to win some hard yards and move on some. We didn't get much going in that space. And then to the second half, to fall behind, I've talked to you about that before. That's when you're totally out of balance and when you can tee it off and go, but not to the standard of the level that's acceptable for us for sure."
On the difference between today's game and the last two games: "Getting the turnover early I thought was going to be big and then a big key to it. The explosive pass that went for the touchdown, I thought that was one — you know, any time you give up a big explosive, you want to know the reason why. I thought a couple of the seam plays certainly looked like to me to be kind of daggers that certainly hurt us. I thought on third downs, having opportunities to get some stops where [Jameis Winston] scrambled around, ran for a first down in the second half, I thought we didn't get a chance to recover after some of those. I thought the big explosive plays, certainly to [Chris] Godwin down the seam, I thought was one of the real factors in the game."
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On the pass rush: "I thought, again, kind of the same thing. When the game shifted in the second half, you don't get the same chance to just — like I had said earlier, for them to pin their ears back and for us not to. Although we didn't get the hits, you know when you can move a quarterback off the spot, sometimes that's going to be the case with him. Not being able to finish on some sacks, I thought it was a big factor. I don't know how many scrambles for first down. It might have been two, I can't recall. Not to get the amount of sacks and hits, that's a big deal."
On whether or not they moved guys into different positions: "We did."
On keeping the pressure off of Matt Ryan: "On the first one, where they hit a seam play on cover two, so in cover two, two-deep safeties, they hit a seam down the middle of the field, I thought Deion [Jones] was in a position to make a play on it. He didn't make it. If you look back, I'm sure there's correctable moments for a safety, whether that be for a landmark. That's where the ball went on the first one. As far as the rotation went, we did have Wes [Schweitzer] in some. That was by design for him going into the game to have him rotate some through. As far as one specific protection or something different, I thought there wasn't one specific thing that, if we were to change — obviously, you don't like the hits and the sacks, but there wasn't one specific technique that we were going to go to from a protection standpoint. All right. We'll see you guys on Thursday."
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