Here’s what the Falcons had to say after their 20-13 upset victory over the previously undefeated Carolina Panthers on Sunday:
MATT RYAN, quarterback
On how he feels after taking some big hits today:
“I feel great. Obviously, that was a great team win, my body feels fine. It was a gutty performance across the board. We knew coming in that this was a good football team and it was going to take our best effort. While we weren’t perfect, we played really well and really competitively and were really good on the offensive side on third down.”
On Julio Jones’ 70-yard touchdown:
“It was a great play by Julio. To be able to escape the pocket and realize he’s down there with a safety and a linebacker, I feel like that’s a good chance for us to throw up a ball and give him an opportunity to make a play. I really don’t feel like there’s anybody in the League who’s better in that situation than him. He made a great play, and to be able to stay on his feet and take it in for a touchdown was a huge play in this game.”
On the importance of this win after such an up-and-down season:
“I thought it was huge. We’re still alive with a chance, and we wanted to make sure that we gave ourselves that opportunity. But even more so to come out and play like we’re capable of when we haven’t done that at different times of the year that felt really good.”
JULIO JONES, wide receiver
On losing to the Panthers 38-0 a few weeks ago then giving them first loss:
“We weren’t playing Falcon football. We had to get back to what we do and what we believe in. Starting the game fast, then finishing the game fast.
On Matt Ryan playing through injuries:
“We know he took some shots. He knows we’re going to be there for him, and we know he’s going to go out there and give it his all. He gets hit sometimes and you can hear it in his voice because he can barely get the play call out, but he stays out there. We know we have to block and make plays for him.”
On Roddy White having more yards than the entire Panthers receiving core individually:
“The guys played well out there at practice this week, and he challenged those guys, ‘Play Julio, play Roddy, play those guys like it’s a real game.’ We challenged each other the whole week and it showed today.”
RODDY WHITE, wide receiver
On Panthers celebrating during the game:
“I didn’t like that, but that’s what they are as a team. They have guys parading around back-and-forth and jumping around, but we tend to save stuff like that for after the game. Hopefully we find a way to get into the playoffs and get another shot at those guys.”
On the 38-0 loss compared to this game:
“Well, we played better today. We had some long drives on offense and they did too, so both of us were burning up the clock on offense. Whenever we have opportunities like that we have to cash in, and we did a good job of getting points today.”
SHAYNE GRAHAM, kicker
On what Coach Quinn said to him after the first missed field-goal:
“To be honest with you, I really don’t remember. Those are opportunities, whether it was blocked or tipped, I really don’t know, but I felt it wasn’t the cleanest hit off my foot. I’ll take the blame for that, and my job was to not do that again. Luckily I got a few more opportunities throughout the game.”
VIC BEASLEY, linebacker
On affecting Cam Newton:
“We had a great week of practice. We were able to get to him a couple of times the first time we played them; we just kept hunting and kept faith. We’ve been pressuring quarterbacks a lot this year.”
On him moving faster than normal off the line:
“I’ve been able to give pressure to quarterbacks throughout the year, but we’ve been continuing to work together and we were in a great place this week to get it done.”
