Here's what Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had to say after the loss to the Texans:
On the state of the team after this loss here?
"Yeah, disappointed for sure. That was a tough one and to sit here five games in and be 1 and 4, it's difficult for sure. Not what we had wanted coming into it. But we're going to be the ones who have to dig ourselves out of it. And I think that when you're in situations like this, I've always felt like you gotta make the big things little and we've gotta chip away at it tomorrow and make sure when we get back to work tomorrow we'll evaluate what we looked at today. We're the most honest and we have our best session that we've had all year on a Monday and let's focus just on that."
On what the team was thinking going into halftime:
"Just thinking it was going to be — you know, we're in a good spot, going to be a tight football game. It's always good when you can score before the half. Your chances of winning go way up. So that was a huge touchdown for us in that situation, but we just weren't good enough in the third quarter, and offensively we've got to be consistent for four quarters and we didn't do a good enough job of that in the third."
On whether he was hoping they'd get a chance to close the gap late in the game:
"Yeah, that's the idea. When you're down a couple of scores is to find a way to get it to a one-score game. And in this league anything can happen in those situations, and you've got to have the belief that we're going to make the plays when we're in those types of games. We didn't today which is disappointing, but you can't sit around feeling bad for yourself. You have to get back to work and you have to find a way to be better."
On spending the week in Arizona helping the team come together:
"I think so. I think that's a great way to view it. We're going to be in Arizona for the week as a team. And it gives us a really great opportunity to spend time together and to make sure that our football is right. I mean that's more so than anything, that's the most important thing is to make sure that our ball and our execution is right when we square off with Arizona next week."
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On whether it was frustrating to score 32 points and not win:
"That's the kind of game it was. Our job as an offense is to find a way to score one more point than they do. And we had chances to do that today. And we didn't take full advantage of the opportunities that we had. We've got the capability to score points, there's no question about that. When you're in a game like that you've gotta nail every opportunity and we didn't do that today."
On positive takeaways from today's game:
"It's tough to find positives when you're not getting the results you want, but, yeah, there's always things we do well throughout games, and you want to accentuate those as we move forward. But we've gotta clean up the little things that have kind of held us from operating on all three phases as well as we can, and that's got to be the point of emphasis tomorrow and for the rest of the week so that we're a better football team come next Sunday."
On whether he reaches a tipping point and becomes upset:
"Listen, I think if you asked my teammates, there's definitely times where I raise my voice. I just believe that those things are better handled in the locker room and together. I mean that's part of being a team is being able to have honest conversations with each other. But that stays in there."
On how he would surmise the first five weeks of the season:
"I think there's a number of reasons why we haven't played as well as we have, but I think that's a good sentiment to have. I think everybody needs to look in the mirror and take ownership for what you're doing, and I think that's the best way for all of us collectively to be better if we improve individually. So I like that mindset, is to be honest with yourself and to take a look at the things you're doing well, try and keep doing those, and the things that you're not doing as well, try and improve in those areas."
On whether he feels there is a lack of camaraderie or chemistry:
"No. I think we've got a good core, good locker room. Guys play hard. We just haven't played well. I do think that Dan (Quinn) talks about it all the time, the brotherhood. Guys are playing hard, but we've got to play better. We've got to execute better, and so I don't find that an issue, no."
On what goes into being consistent on Sundays:
"Well, I think it's about being consistent all week. You know, I don't think you just show up on Sunday and you become an efficient, consistent football team. I think that starts when we start to prepare tomorrow. I thought at points it was better for us, but at other spots it wasn't. So we've got to get back to work and make sure that the reason we're giving things up and the reason we're not executing at a high level, we're kind of trying to solve those issues, and again, keep doing the things we're doing well and try and accentuate those."
On the disconnect between practice and not being able to execute on game day:
"That's a great question and I feel like the mindset and the attitude has been there, and the effort and those kind of things have been good. It really comes down to, about performance on Sundays. And so that's one of the things we've got to evaluate, find out why what we're doing during the week isn't translating into what we're doing on Sundays."
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