Here’s what Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had to say after the 45-32 win over the New Orleans Saints on Monday night:
Opening statement: “I thought our running backs were awesome tonight. Both those guys – Tevin (Coleman) and Devonta (Freeman) – have been really consistent players for us and tonight it was fun to be a part of that. I thought our offensive line did a great job establishing the line of scrimmage, both in the running game and the passing game. I thought we handled the environment well. This is a tough place to come; it’s loud and I thought we did a great job with that. Overall, I just think we executed really well on offense.”
On moving the ball without using Julio Jones: “We’ve got a lot of unselfish guys, and we have a group of guys who just want to win. I mean, and I’m not positive, but I think we had eight different guys catch the ball. That’s a lot of people for a defense to key in on. Our wide receivers also did a great job on seam blocking on the outside a lot to get our running backs into the secondary so they could be as effective as they were.”
On the anniversary: “Obviously, ten years ago was a special night for the city of New Orleans. For them to come back from everything they went through and the way that game (in 2006) shook out; it was a special night for this city and we have a lot of respect for that; there’s no question. I think there were two guys on our team now who were there ten years ago; Jonathan Babineaux and Matt Schaub. The rest of us were really not a part of that, so it wasn’t our deal. Tonight was a totally different thing for us. Tonight was for us to go out there and compete on a Monday night, and not to worry about all of that outside stuff.”
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