“I think today’s game was an example of our guys coming out and starting fast, playing with a lot of energy, heart and determination. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch. There was a stretch there, early in the first half, where we really had some issues with some explosive plays. It will be a great learning experience for our young players that were out there playing, but we found a way to win the ballgame. I thought keys in the game were the seven turnovers. They come in bunches. I believe now we’ve had 11 in the last three games. That is a positive, and I thought the defense did a very good job coming out after halftime and, I believe, holding them to 13 yards in 10 plays in the third quarter.”
—Falcons coach Mike Smith on the victory.
“I was on the backside of the play. I ran to try to close out the edge, saw the ball and I just tried to scoop it up, get as many yards as I could. When you have 11 guys playing together, it’s hard for an offense to be productive on you. It’s about flying around.”
—Falcons defensive end Malliciah Goodman on his fumble recovery.
“When go out as a defense, we don’t care where the ball is lined up. We don’t care what the situation is. We are going to go out there and try to win the game. Everybody is going to put in 110 percent on every play. There are going to be ups and downs in football. Receivers are going to catch balls. Runners are going to break runs. Everybody gets paid. It’s the small things that we worked on during the week that helped us win the game.”
—Falcons nickel back Robert McClain on winning the game.
“When you get into that end of the field there’s not a lot of ground to cover and you know you are going to have somebody in the hole. I was able to get underneath him and try to deliver a blow.”
—Falcons running back Steven Jackson on running over Washington’s Josh Wilson.
“It came down to that two-point conversion. And even the on-side kick was dramatic. A game full of drama but I’m glad I was able to pull it off.”
—Jackson on the dramatic ending.
“The defense played outstanding. You get seven turnovers you should win. And we did win. But at the same time, offensively we should be able to convert those into more points on the board. A little disappointed in that. But, at the same time, we got the win.”
—Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez on the turnovers.
“That’s something we’ve been struggling with all season is those explosives. That just comes from lack of communication all the way around. No finger-pointing. It’s not one guy that did. It come from all the way around. The defense has got to be on the same page and that just goes to show you one breakdown and it’s going to be all the way to the house.”
—Falcons safety William Moore on letting out too many big plays.
“Why wouldn’t you? If I was him, I would have went for it. It’s not like they are playing to get into the playoffs. They went for the win. It was a gutsy call. Luckily, we were able to rise up and stop them.”
—Falcons defensive end Osi Umenyiora on Washington going for the two-point conversion.
