What Falcons coach Dan Quinn had to say on Wednesday

On whether Tevin’s hamstring is a grade one, two, or three string:

“It’s one that he’s feeling better with for sure. I won’t get into the degrees of it, but we’re hopeful it’s going to be shorter than longer. I can definitely tell you that. He felt good today. He’ll participate in some running and rehab, but he won’t practice today.”

On how Stevan Ridley looked:

“We’ve always been impressed by him and his size as well. In the workout yesterday, he caught the ball well and ran it well. In our walk-through today, he’s been busy at work with Coach Turner getting the system down and understanding the details of it. It’s a very good group at running back, and they’re certainly going to look out for him and help get him up to speed too.”

On the performances of Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman throughout this point in the season:

“Freeman and Coleman together make a terrific tandem. They both have skills both as a runner and as a receiver. We love the back and forth that they play with. They support each other like crazy. We’re bummed Tevin got banged up in the game the other day. Freeman’s totally capable of handling the workload. He showed that in the game and he’s showed that before. We have to see how long Tevin is injured. Will he be able to participate in any practice tomorrow or Friday to know his availability for the weekend. For the first part of the season we know how explosive they are and the ability they have both running the ball and catching it. They’re a hard matchup, hard man-to-man when you put them on backs and they’re difficult in the run game. We’re very fortunate that we have both of them and I love the partnership that they have together.”

On managing Dwight Freeney’s practice workload throughout the season and where he is energy wise:

“That was by design for sure to make sure that when he’s able to do his thing we want to make sure we’re featuring him in the best things that he does which include third down and two minute. For us, we’ve tried to limit his work early in the week when we’re not as much into our nickel package and then when we spend the majority of our time in third down at the end of the game in the two minute scenarios we love having him in there so he gets his reps and his turns. He’s been an excellent addition not just on the field, but off the field as well. He really puts in the work preparation wise, sometimes that can be a good cue for the other men who are in the room knowing I can take my preparation to that level as well. That’s no secret why he’s done so well. He’s extremely talented, but he’s also really diligent in terms of the preparation that goes to get ready.”

On any lessons he learned last year that he could take to this year in order to avoid the fall off in the second half of the season:

“We talked about that a lot in the offseason and our team is so different from our 2015 to our 2016 team. We’re equipped, we know with the adversity that comes we’re a resilient group and I can’t emphasize enough how different the club is from last year to this year with our mindset and the way we attack. We love the process that we go through to get ready and honestly that’s where the focus is, not looking back as much as it is right now. We recognize the process we went through, it was painful as hell to go through, but at the other end of it some things were gained and it’s a lot different team this year.”

On what was gained:

“I would say just going through some of the hardships and having that experience, knowing that what did we do wrong in a scenario that would allow that to happen. You gain from experience both good and bad. For us, that was a difficult one.”

On how the team has shown they are mentally stronger:

“The ability to reset fast, knowing when you’re right back in on ‘Tell the Truth Monday’ in the weight room back into your workouts and into the meetings. When I go to walk-through and I see them getting together without even any coaches there, I want to go through this play again. Those are the small things that maybe I hadn’t seen before that I see now knowing that it’s a group there’s a lot of things that happen behind the scenes from player to player that type of communication and those are like small examples that I get to see on a daily basis that I know the work’s getting put in.”

On whether there’s less video than normal at this type of year:

“They do have a different look and oftentimes that happens in this league where they get injuries or however it works. The thing is they’ve got a terrific system. We know they’re equipped to go in a number of different ways like most really explosive teams do when a guy goes down having the ability to put Montgomery in. Those are the key factors that next man up and they stand up. Aaron Rogers is the one that makes a go for sure for them. That’s no big opening statement here. What I can tell you is that we have a lot of respect for his game the way he’s able to adapt and the way he’s able to create outside the pocket. Those are just a few of the things that we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

On the Packers being multi-dimensional and whether it changes the way they game plan:

“They’re a pretty big nickel outfit to begin with for us and then if they go in another route then we’re able to adjust to that too. As you go through a four or five game breakdown, you don’t always know whose likely going to be up as far as running backs, tight ends, or receivers go. You just go with your best guess, make your estimates, and then you go let it rip. That’s what we’re doing this week. We’re equipped to go whatever style they want to go.”

On whether the workload will go mostly to Devonta Freeman if Tevin Coleman can’t go:

“Yeah and that’s what he’s shown he has the ability to do that. What a nice advantage that is now to know that he took a good workload but not all of it through our first seven ball games. He’s equipped for it but we’ll lean on the other guys too.”

On whether they addressed that this is the third team their playing coming off a Thursday or bye game:

“We did not address that. The things that are kind of out of our control we don’t generally get too jammed up on so that’s one for me. I’d heard that but I had forgotten about it.”

On Julio Jones being on pace to finish with more yards than he did last year:

“I like to hear the first part knowing there’s a number of different people that can get in the action, and that’s when it’s so challenging. From a defensive perspective, tight ends, the running backs, and the receivers, when everyone gets involved it makes some of the things where you can’t just go to him all the time or a certain coverage or a certain look. We love the fact that other guys are involved in the game. It doesn’t surprise me that he’s performing well even with significant coverage at times going to him. The guy’s an ultimate competitor. Sometimes you can even put gas on the fire and when he gets doubled he can get even stronger. I’m not surprised that he’s doing well again.”

On Mike McCarthy commenting on Julio Jones route running skills:

“It does because he can change direction like a man much smaller than 225. Oftentimes the guys who are such great change of direction guys aren’t the bigger guys. The bigger guys who have lots of long speed, but it’s harder for them to change direction. What makes him such a unique player is he has the additional size, but can also break guys off in man to man routes. That’s in a nutshell one of the things that make him so hard to defend because you better not put a smaller player on him to think you want to stay on him and then we go up top and he can go and aggressively get the ball too. He’s a handful. Playing against him before, I’m glad I didn’t know then what I know now.”

On Green Bay being number one against the run:

“In their base package, I think the outside linebackers are very good edge setters. They’ve got real size in bulk inside, and then when they play in their nickel package they have a good pressure package which can knock you out of some run looks. Both the base package and the sub package are the different looks that they give but especially in their base package. I think that’s when their most stout.”

On the big difference with Vic Beasley:

“I think that’d be a good question for him. What I can tell you is that when you put that work in at practice and he’s starting to really feel what that vibe feels like to get ready and knowing that each week the opponent that I’m playing at offensive tackle may have a little difference. Some guys punch with their inside hand and some guys bail. Having that relentless approach to the film, ‘this is going to be my game plan as a rusher this week.’ For him it starts with his get off. I think he’s really been jumping off the ball. He’s got a better awareness of how to run the stunts and the communication playing alongside the guys next to him. I’d say it’s a combination of the work that he’s putting in on the field and then the work that he’s putting in in preparation of this opponent knowing every week it’s a new canvas, new paint, and new brushes and you get to paint it how you want to. I think he’s understanding that concept for sure.”

On the offense still staying aggressive aside from the two interceptions:

“I think the bigger one for us is let’s make sure we’re really tight in what we’re doing. We had some fouls last week that also for sure set us back. I know we can control that part of it. The reason I know that is, their pre-snap and post-snap fouls that we’ve had through these first seven games and those are within our control. We understand there’s going to be a time where you’re going to get caught for holding or for a contact defensively, but let’s make sure those pre-snap ones for sure are there and then we don’t have to put ourselves into some bad spots. But we do have belief in the guys. They’re playing really well for a reason because they know how to let it rip and they know the looks they want to get. We’re going to continue it that way.”

On whether he thinks Julio Jones has gotten that respect from officials to give him a call:

“Yeah for sure he does. We’ll let the officials decide how they’re going to call it. That’s their training and expertise. It’s up to us to go let it rip and play as aggressive as we can. That’s put of our control what they may or may not call. What I can tell you is we’re going to attack. If they call a foul, they do and if they don’t, we’re going to line up the next play and let it rip again.”