Here’s what Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had to say after the 34-23 win over the Packers on Sunday at the Mercedes-Benz Staidum:
On the offensive game plan and efficiency:
"I thought it was a great week of practice where guys were on top of the plan. You could tell from the walk-throughs, the practices that we had and the meetings we were having that guys kind of understood what we were trying to accomplish. It's always fun when you see that come to light, especially early in a game. I thought the first drive of the night was exactly how you want to start a football game. I'm so proud of the way we competed and executed. There's still some things we can clean up though. We had some procedural penalties and mental mistakes that we made. There's a lot of room for improvement but all in all I thought the guys did a good job."
On whether it was the plan to get the ball to Julio Jones early:
"It was just the way the defense shook out. The last two times we played them there was a lot of double coverage on Julio and tonight that really wasn't the case. We had some opportunities where he got singled up. Anytime he gets singled up, he's going to make plays for us. On the first pass, we hit a deep crossing route. It was just his speed and his athleticism out-running their defense that really jump started our play-action pass for the game."
On establishing home field advantage at Mercedes-Benz Stadium:
"It's pretty nice in here. Thank you, Arthur (Blank). It's amazing. From a player's standpoint, honestly there's nothing else you could want from a building. We have every opportunity to get ourselves right. We have space. The field is perfect. It's loud. You could tell that the place was rocking tonight. I think it's something that we can build on. I think we're going to start some traditions here that will be things that last for a long time and become a fabric of this organization and really the city. I thought tonight was a great start. The environment was electric. As players, we certainly feed off of that."
On the physicality of Mohamed Sanu and how he played tonight:
"The size of those two guys that you mentioned are a game-changer for us. Sanu had two or three catches over the middle tonight where HaHa Clinton-Dix was coming down from the opposite side. He's such a big target so you can trust throwing it over the middle. He's going to come underneath and he's just fearless. He's a huge part of what we do. I'm so proud of him. There was a critical situation on a third down, and we called his number. He came out with an excellent play for us to convert that third down. I was fired up for all of our receivers. Everybody got involved tonight. Justin Hardy did a great job and came up with a couple of nice catches for us. Taylor Gabriel did a great job. We've got a good group of guys."
On whether this game shows that the organization has moved on from the Super Bowl:
"I don't think about it too much. I think everybody else does because the question keeps coming up. For us, we were focused on playing week one against Chicago, and getting better this offseason. We tried to answer it that way, but it kind of seems like nobody really believed you when you were saying it. It's felt that way in our building for sure. Were we disappointed in it? Absolutely, but we got past that. We started working on trying to become the best 2017 football team we could be. We're two games into it. Mission accomplished on those two first games."
On how Ty Sambrailo and the offensive line performed after Ryan Schraeder left the game:
"It's been a while. Those guys have been so durable up front for us, but great job by Sambrailo coming in. Obviously, he's only been here a couple of weeks. We asked him to go in and really play the duration of the game for us. I think Schraeder was down on the last play of the first drive so he really played the game for us. I thought he did an excellent job. It's not an easy thing to do to come into a new system with as much as we do as far as changing plays at the line of scrimmage, and the number of calls that we have in per the game plan. I was really impressed with how he handled himself tonight."
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