MATT RYAN, quarterback
On Julio Jones’ season
“It was unbelievable to be a part of it. His season was as good as you can play individually. He’s a big part of our success and has been in the past. I’m just so happy for him, so proud of him. He’s the best teammate you can possibly ask for and it was fun to be a part of it.”
On how his season went
“When you don’t have an opportunity to keep playing into the playoffs and you didn’t play as well as you would like, obviously that’s disappointing. There will be some things that I think we can correct. I think there were a lot of positives, a lot of really good things we did this year, but at the end of the day, we didn’t do them often enough and I didn’t do them often enough.”
On mistakes in the fourth quarter
“We had opportunities throughout the entire game, specifically in the second half, to finish that game and we didn’t do anything to help ourselves in those situations. From that standpoint, it’s disappointing because we talk all the time about finishing. Finishing the right way. That’s what Dan [Quinn] preaches every day and we didn’t do that.”
JULIO JONES, wide receiver
On what he will remember most from this season
“That we didn’t finish the way we wanted to finish this year. We got hot then couldn’t find a way to win a game. The effort was there, but we just couldn’t get over the hump. We’ve been playing pretty well the last two games, and this game right here was more so us playing for each other.”
On what it means to pass Jerry Rice for most yards in a season
“Nothing. I just do what my team asks of me. I just try to go out there and make plays, and I’m going to try to do better next year. Jerry Rice is a great receiver, I feel like he’s the GOAT [greatest of all time], but I don’t have anything to say about passing his record.”
RODDY WHITE, wide receiver
On what are the missing links
“I don’t even think we have missing links. We just need to hold on to the ball. That’s been our Achilles heel’ this year. I don’t think we’ve turned over the ball this much in three or four years. When you talk about missing pieces, when you are in the every game and turn the ball over two or three times that’s why you lose games, especially in the red zone. We didn’t cash in. We kick a field goal right there and we have an opportunity to go into overtime. It is what it is. We’ve got to find a way to hold on to the football and not make as many mistakes throughout the game. We’ve got to do it week in and week out. When the defense gets us about 30 turnovers on the season and we are still on the minus side, that’s not good. That’s bad football on offense.”
On if thought they would be be 8-8 after 5-0
“No. We were rolling. We were getting after people. At that point we started turning over the ball. Three, four five games in a row we had three turnovers per game. That got us out of our mode of finishing games. We didn’t have a chance to finish because we kept giving the ball away. We’ll fix that and we will come back and be ready to play.”
On what they can learn from the season
“We learned a lot. A lot of people got better on our team. Guys that we had to depend on, count on, played big for us. Devonta (Freeman) played really, really, really well this year. We are going to expect him to do a little bit more next year. Hopefully we can improve through the draft at whatever spots they feel we need.”
On defensive improvement last year to this year
“Those guys were rolling, man. Those guys did an excellent job of getting turnovers all throughout the year and helping us out and getting the ball back for us. Came up with a lot of key , timely stops in order for us to win games. They played well.”
On if he’s disappointed they didn’t score more against weak Saints defense
“I thought we were on a good run right there when we scored 17 points in the first half. I was looking at the scoreboard and if we score 17 in this half, we will be OK. But we didn’t get any points in the second half. We didn’t get anything done. WE kept having long drives but we didn’t get any points out of them. I am looking at the drive chart and we have 10 plays, 11 plays, 12 plays, 12 plays and no points. It’s frustrating because literally just ran five minutes off the clock and we got nothing out of this.”
JONATHAN BABINEAUX, defensive end
On the game being like the season has gone
“Of course we all know that turnovers are the key to winning in this league. Unfortunately we didn’t win the turnover battle today. As a defensive unit we always have a chance to top an offense, and we didn’t. They ran the clock out and kicked the field goal to win.”
On building on defensive improvement
“No doubt. If everybody can just be on the same page and follow what ‘Q’ has for us, there is no limit to our team.”
On if the 8-8 record is a reflection of the team
“I feel that we were (better) but at times we didn’t’ play up to our standards, our abilities, the way we play ball around here. Those eight losses are definitely not the way we should have played.”
KROY BIERMANN, defensive end
On trying to stop the Saints offense
“As a unit, we played together. They got a couple big runs on us. They were able to drive the field on us, which is going to wear on the defense a little bit. It is just unfortunate.”
On the team this season
“I know this coaching staff is on the right track. Their philosophies are second to none. They know what they are doing. They are getting guys to grow and develop. We live and learn through the trials and tribulations and in the victories. There is a lot to be said and a lot to learn from this season.”
DEVONTA FREEEMAN, running back
Declined several media requests to talk after the game.
