What Falcons players had to say after 14-9 loss to the Vikings Sunday:
JAKE MATTHEWS, left tackle
On the offense: "I have to watch the film to give an exact answer. It felt like we had opportunities, but it wasn't clicking. It was clean like it has been the last few weeks. It's a challenge, but we have to learn from it. We have a bunch of division games coming up. We'll be ready to go."
On the penalties: "I had a block in the back. That's not going to help you. It's only going to hinder you."
On third down woes: "It's hard to put my finger on it and give an answer without looking over the whole game from that perspective. We have to find a way to clean it up and execute like we had in weeks prior. I keep saying that we knew it was going to be a hard game against a pretty good front. I wasn't surprise. We didn't get it done."
On the short week: "We have a quick turnaround. Another really good team is coming here. We have to win this on to get back on track."
KEANU NEAL, safety
On the secondary: "I think we held them pretty well. Losing (Desmond) Trufant and (Brian) Poole was tough. But (Blidi) Wreh-Wilson and (Damontae) Kazee came in and did their jobs and C.J. (Goodwin) they did a great job."
On the short week: "We just have to get back at it. It's a quick turnaround. We have to get back to the drawing board and get after it."
On Wreh-Wilson: "He did really well. He came in there and did his job. Tru and Poole, they were down, and they filled the void. I'm proud of them."
On facing the Saints: "We have to focus on this next game. It's a quick turnaround. We have to get ready for New Orleans."
JULIO JONES, wide receiver
On if he was surprised: "You're never surprised. You always have to keep working. It's just not going to be given to you. People make adjustments and things like that. We just have to adjust and keep working better. We just have to remember who we are and what we do."
On not going for it on fourth down: "That's his (coach Dan Quinn's) call to make. We support him no matter what he does. He's the head coach and he has our best interest."
On third downs: "We were just missing. We were just off today. Any given Sunday, we were just off today."
ROBERT ALFORD, cornerback
On the outlook for the rest of the season: "I know this team from the coaches to the players. We still know that we are still alive. We just have to do our part and win games. It's not over yet. We just have to own our division and just win out."
On preparing for New Orleans: "We have to learn from this game today. We have to see what went wrong and correct those. We'll watch film and study those guys. Hopefully, we can execute on Thursday."
ADRIAN CLAYBORN, defensive end
On not being able to get the Vikings' offense off the field: "They were ahead pretty much every series except for a couple. We have to stop them on defense on first and second down and put them in a different situation."
On putting this game behind them and getting ready for New Orleans: "We should get everybody healthy, and we don't have to wait too long to get back out on the field."
On focusing on the division games: "Every game is important. This one sucks, but we're on to the next one."
TAKK MCKINLEY, defensive end
On not creating turnovers recently: "It's huge. Turnovers are the key to games. We talk about it but we have to find a way to get the ball out."
On his sack: "I just used my speed. I could have tried to do a better job at punching the ball out instead of getting him to the ground. It's little details like that."
On preparing for New Orleans: "We need to get our bodies right. We will get treatment tomorrow, watch film, and move on."
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