What Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had to say after the win over the Packers:
On the touchdown pass to Sanu:
“I thought it was a great call. We had seen so much double coverage to Julio – honestly, I think every snap he was in he got doubled today – so we had Mohamed Sanu right inside of it, we had a matchup that we liked on the linebacker. (Sanu) did a great job staying patient with the route and that’s what he’s brought to this team. He’s a big body, excellent in the red zone. I thought he did a great job all day. But, for me, I saw an opportunity to give him a high ball in the end zone and he made a great catch and came down and got his feet in which was nice to see.”
On running that play in practice:
“Those are routes and those are plays that you like to see how you do it during practice, you anticipate possibly getting that type of look in that situation. And I think that’s a great example for us, of you don’t just win it on Sunday at 7:30, you win it Wednesday, Thursday, Friday by the way that you prepare and I thought our preparation was excellent all week, specifically Mohamed. He did a great job this week, I was proud of him.”
On being able to finish this game after two late losses:
“Part of being a professional and part of being a really good professional is understanding that throughout the course of a season there are going to be ups and downs. You have to be able to put both the good and the bad behind you. Certainly, we didn’t get the result we wanted the last two weeks, but I don’t think anybody was discouraged. We learned from those situations, we came back and when we had our opportunity late in the game today, I thought it was executed really well.”
On Julio’s impact despite not putting up big stats:
“He changed the game. There’s no question about it. You could tell with the way that they planned going into that game that they were going to count two players on their defense to try and handle him. When you do that, other guys are going to have advantageous looks. (Sanu) had a bunch of those today. I’m not sure how many guys caught balls, but again, I felt like we spread it around really well. He just opens up so many things for other people when defenses want to play him the way that they did today and I thought we did a nice job of adjusting it and trusting our other guys to make plays.”
On Taylor Gabriel’s impact today and his touchdown:
“Gabe was – that was a great route. His patience at the top of the route to keep the defender on the outside made the play. I just tried to give him an opportunity to make a play on the ball, but that’s what he brings to our team. I think that’s why he was a huge addition for us at the end of the preseason, to add him. He’s a great vertical threat and when you’re going to double Julio like that and leave (Gabriel) singled up, he can run by people, and that was fun to be a part of and to see that from him today.”
On whether he said anything to Quinn before the final drive:
“I didn’t say anything to Dan. I think it was pretty clear what we needed to do in that situation, there’s not a whole lot that you needed to talk about. For me, the longer I’ve played, the more I understand that you never know how a game is going to shake out. Getting up or down or out of your normal concentration doesn’t help, so I try to remain that way all the time – very calm and focused on getting that next completion, getting the next first down. The message I give to the guys before we go out is in that situation, don’t worry about the touchdown play, let’s get the first first down and get the sticks moving. I thought we did a great job of that.”
On how critical this win is with other teams in the division winning:
“I don’t think we can really worry about what other people are doing. We’re halfway through the season and we’ve got a long way to go. We need to take care of our business and that’s always going to be the most important thing.”
On Austin Hooper stepping up today:
“He is so California cool, it’s unbelievable. He’s out there and he’s got like no pulse. He’s done a great job for us the entire year. Today, for him to step into a more expanded role and to play some more snaps — he was great. He did a great job for us, I’m really proud of what he’s done. For eight games as a rookie, he really seems like a veteran out there; he’s very calm and collected which is cool to see.”
On the quick turnaround with the Thursday night game at Tampa Bay:
“This is one of those things, you know you’re going to get one of these opportunities throughout the year with the short week. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned in these situations over the years is you have to get as much rest as you can possibly get between now and then and that’s what I’ll emphasize to our guys throughout the week. We’ll put this win behind us pretty quick and get back to work tomorrow. Luckily, it’s a team that we know pretty well – Tampa. We played them once already this year, have an understanding of what they like to do. But it’s also kind of fun, a change up in the routine. It’ll be a short week but we’ll be ready to go Thursday night.”
On beating Aaron Rodgers:
“I don’t really think of it that way. I think more so, going into it you know it’s going to be a game like that, playing against Aaron. I think maybe I’ve played him six times throughout my career and it feels like every game goes like that. They’re going to make plays. He’s a special player. He played really, really well today, we were just lucky enough to make one more play.”
On Matt Bryant’s franchise record and what he’s meant to Ryan:
“He’s meant a lot to me personally. None of those throws or passes matter if you don’t have a guy that knocks it right through the pipes and he’s been doing that consistently – I think I’ve been with him seven years, seven and half years, something like that – so he’s just a stud. Every day, he’s very consistent, he works extremely hard at his craft and he approaches every kick, literally every kick, the same way. I think that’s been the secret to his success.”
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