Here’s what Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones had to say to the media on Thursday:
On some of the keys on keeping the offense going: "You know for us, it's more about us than them. We just have to be consistent, we have to remember like you said they create a lot of turnovers on there defense. But we just have to protect the ball and do what we do. We can't be out here thinking too much we just have to go out there and play."
On the success in the red zone: "We've been doing good because of you all, because of the media. No, everyone has been on the same page. (Steve) Sarkisian has been doing a great job for us. The offensive line has been doing a great job keeping Matt (Ryan) upright and letting him scan the field and hit the open guy."
On what did he have to say to Jake Matthews on the key blocks for the touchdown: "I walked in on the bus and I told Jake great job. I can't remember what I said I just tapped on him, but I expect that everybody is going to do their job. We ran in at practice and I knew that he was going to be there to kick it out. I saw the replay and he really smacked him though so it was good."
On Matt Ryan commended Steve Sarkisian on that play-call and what were his thoughts: "Like I said we had talked about it for two weeks or so, running screens or things like that. That particular screen to me and I was like Sark what's up, I need a screen. And he finally called it and I was like okay it's money time. It's like one of those things you're going to make it rain regardless. If I had to run around the whole field I probably would have done it. But it was good, I appreciate Sark for having the trust in me that I was going to pick up the first down."
On Steve Sarkisian in general and the success he is having: "Yeah. People are always going to have opinions regardless. Good or bad. 'Oh, he's doing okay'. That's what they're going to say. But for us in-house, we always try to keep things in-house. We always believed in Sark and we're going to continue to believe in him."
On the secret of flipping the perception on Steve Sarkisian: "Like I said for us, we always believed in him. We just kept working together. The longer you do things the better you understand each other, that's all it was. For us, at the beginning, we weren't helping him out. Some guys were doing this and some guys were doing that and others were off here and there. If we don't have success but we have the talent then it's the offensive coordinator. For him, it was more so us too. You can't blame one without the other."
On the questions concerning Steve Sarkisian last year – was there one that was specifically unfair: "I can't recall but for me coming off the great season that we had before and he came in it was more like why aren't you all scoring, why are you doing this and why are you doing that. He's in a new position, he had a new group, a new crew to feel us out and call plays. He just can't' go out there and play Madden like okay, call this, call this. Football is a rhythm thing and you've got to get your players to go out there and play with you, and you're going to feel confident."
On whether there is a different sense in the locker room right now considering they're back at .500: "I don't think it's the locker room. The feel is more at practice. Everybody wants to get better, everybody wants to give each other a look. That's when we games, is at practice. Before we get to the locker room, that's where I see the biggest difference."
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