Falcons coach Dan Quinn meet with the media on Monday and still doesn’t regret his decision to kick a field goal on fourth down from the one-plus yard line.
The Falcons went on to lose to the San Francisco 49ers, 17-16, to drop to 6-3 heading into the bye week.
In addition to rehashing his decision, in great detail, Quinn said the coaches will look at running more no-huddle offense, review Roddy White’s role in the offense and lamented the notion that other teams have “figured out” the Falcons’ offense.
Here’s the transcript from his session that went just over 16 minutes, 44 seconds:
Opening statement
“It’s was Tell the Truth Monday with the team today. We were really challenged the last two weeks. That part was hard. The opportunities for us was there and for us not to have the conclusions that we wanted in those two ball games, that was hard. We’ll credit San Francisco. I thought they played a good game and really for us, the opportunities were there for us to have a chance and it didn’t come through like we want. Upon is the bye week and really the challenge that comes for the players, look back to the start of training camp, are you happy with where your game is right now. For them, that’s their challenge. For the coaches, it will be our evaluation to go through and find all of the best ways to feature the guys. Right in the middle of it. I wanted to make sure the guys know that. We’ll come back. Get fresh. Get rested up and get ready to come back after the bye and go for it in a big way. With that, I’ll open it up for questions.”
On why he didn’t blitz Blaine Gabbert more and why they offense didn’t throw down field more.
“In 63 plays, I think we called 21 pressures in the game. We have some. Some were on runs. Some were on passes. As you go through the game those are the factors that you get into. The fact that in the run game, how many are there. (Those) are our shots and how we’re going to go about. We have a style that we’re going to play, whether if it’s pressure or four-man rush. We are going to choose how we want to go about it. Offensively, we love taking our shots down the field. We had some opportunities to do that and didn’t convert on those. We want to attack the entire field. Down the field. The flat throws. Over the middle. We want to make sure that we are attacking in every phase of our game. When we didn’t have those or the shots down the field, that’s something that we want to correct for sure.”
On being vanilla on defense
“Our whole package is one that if we wanted to play a certain style, we can do that. There is also on the other side of things when you do create pressure there are other opportunities as well. We’ll find the right balance for sure going through. Certain games dictate for more. Certain games dictate for less and it also depends on our personnel as well.”
On if he make the same decision to kick a field goal
“’Well, I don’t regret the decision. I certainly regret the outcome. I always want to be decisive in how we want to go about it. At the time, I thought that was the best decision for us to go and win the game. We ended up having 2:56 with two timeouts and the two-minute (warning) left. I certainly regret the outcome, but I don’t regret the decision. We’re going to be really decisive about how we go about our approach all of the time. It just ended up that we didn’t execute the third down stop for us to have a chance to go win it on offense at the end. But the belief in the players is sky high. That’s what I went with in the game. That’s what I thought was best at the time. It didn’t work out for us. We didn’t get the third down stop.”
On if the offense has been figured out
“I think all of us can get emotional at times. It’s had to make that determination from one position. Certainly when you’re on the field. As we go through it, I’m not sure that quote, exactly how it went down. Or how it was reference, but no, I certainly don’t think that.”
On if he thought pinning 49ers on the 1-yard line if they didn’t make the fourth down
“For sure that was part of the factor. I just thought, I had a real belief in the way that we’re going to go through four minutes. We had two of those scenarios that came up this year when we had four minutes. One was (against) the New York Giants. We stopped them and ended up scoring a touchdown. There was another one against Tampa Bay and we stopped them and scored a touchdown. My though process going in was, we’re going to get the stop, they’ll come out, get the kicks, we’ll back on offense. Those are the decisions that go back and forth, but at that exact moment I thought that was the best one for the team, but we didn’t get the stop on third down and that didn’t allow it to come through.”
On if he doubted the offense couldn’t punch it in from the 1-yard line
“No confidence lost for me. It’s the fact that it was longer than a yard. It looked like a long two (yards) to go for it. It was just one of those ones, at this time, this is the shot that I took to say this is how we’re going to go win it. Had a real clear vision of how that would go down. The first part we executed. The second part, we didn’t. That was really the factor. I like being decisive in those times. I see how we are going to win the game. I took our shot at it. It didn’t come through.”
On if the run pass differential sent up a red flag
“In this case, I would say no. I thought they did a really good job defending the run. For us, the opportunities and some of the long yards where there was some TFLs that created some second downs and 12s and 13s and 14s, where maybe the pass was the better call for us there. As we look back through it, in the run game, that’s certainly a feature of what we do. For us to not go …in so many games the run has been such a big factor and for a game not to have that, it was really off base.”
On running more no huddle
“We’ll definitely look into that. We’ve got a big playbook. We have a lot of volume and our no-huddle package is certainly something that when it’s the right time to feature it, we certainly will. I know our players can execute it. It’s definitely a weapon for us. It’s one, for sure, we’ll look into it.”
On the players meeting after the game to discuss the offense and if there was any talk on the plane ride back home with the coaches
“No. Those guys are really close. So, for those guys to have a summit meeting, that’s pretty much every week. (laughs). I do know this, we have some terrific competitors. One of the best parts about this team is that guys are willing to go for it as hard as they can to get it right. I think that’s really what that….if it’s a summit meeting or a group getting together, there are such a chip on their shoulder competitors that they are saying I’ll do whatever it takes to get ourselves right. Often times, the players do have really good ideas because there’s that ownership for it. This is my idea. I’m going to make it work. I love that they have that. I honestly do.”
On the big picture of being 6-3 going into the bye week
“Certainly, the macro view where we are looking at the overall view of things. As we go through this bye, it comes at an important time for us. Can we get rested up? Can we get our treatment right? Can we get our bodies back? All of the players are dealing with something at this time of the year. It’s now been about 13 weeks of playing. For them, it’s time to recharge it. Come back and let it rip. We are going to do for it in a big way. All of the little things that we can do and find areas to improve, that’s absolutely the challenge. It’s not just offensively. It’s defensively. It’s on (special) teams. It’s all the little ways that we can improve. We are going to find that and go attack every single spot that we can. That’s our mindset and that’s what we’ll go do.”
On the timing of the bye
“It would a little bit. If it was really quick, we may have less things that we have to deal with. For us, it’s a good thing also to have it this late. It’s hard to make it to this spot and have it this late. But at the end, having a bye this late in the year also has some real positives as well.”
On the players have the rest of the week off
“Yes.”
On having the bye after a loss
“The message that I wanted to give to the guys. Let’s make sure that the ones that are in the past, let’s not keep replaying those. Those that will be out in the feature, don’t pre-play those. Let’s get right back to it. We’ll take it one game at a time. Each game we have a championship game opp. We love going through that process. As we are getting back into it will be one game at a time as we are going. We want look too far ahead and we certainly are not going to look, as a player, at this call or this one. We have to see how good we can get. That will be our mindset.”
On Eric Weems and the return game
“It really showed up. Not just from Eric, but in terms of the whole special teams unit. The blocking and the special teams units on kickoff and punt return. Eric is one of those competitors that we’re talking about. The guy who had much to prove. A chip on his shoulder and having to take over for Devin (Hester) for a long haul. He’s done an outstanding job.”
More on the decision
“That’s one thing I want to be really clear. I want to be decisive when that totally does come up. In that exact moment, in that exact time, I’m always going to do what’s best for the team. Had it been this score or that score or this scenario, you can prepare as hard as you can to get ready for them, but at the time I’m going to let it rip. I’m going to make a decision and go for it. That one turned out to be on that we weren’t able to capitalize based on the next half of the decision that had to go down. All those factors do go into play.”
On not being aggressive, when he’s preached about being aggressive
“I totally get that. At that moment I made a decision to say this is how we are going to win it. I thought we played really good in two-minute and four-minute and that’s really were the factor came down to. I had total belief that we’d get the stop, get the punt and get down, kick it and win it. When that didn’t take place, that’s where it opened things up for questions which I totally get and understand.”
On talking to Keith Armstrong before the play
“It was about where it could be. Depending on where the spot might be where we would go for it verses where it might go if we had to kick.”
On assessing the first half of the season
“I think there are opportunities for us all over. As we went back through it, there have been some games and things that we’ve done really well. The turnover part in some games, that was hard. For us to have that part cleaned up and for us to go into a plus-two for a turnover margin and for the penalties go down, those are the things that we want to keep getting better at week after week. We know we’ll play at our best when the turnover margin is high and when the penalties are down and then we are able to attack in the style that we’d like to.”
On having no turnovers
“For sure, that was a big part of it. The penalties and the turnovers were a real emphasis going into the week. We’ve got a really tough group. Speaking back to the point of guys getting together and talking, there are some real competitors on this team. That’s why I’m so encourage and excited to move forward with them. It’s had to come to the bye with a loss. It’s something that you have to deal with and move forward on. But I can tell you this, the guys who are on this team, there are some great competitors and I can’t wait to get back out (on the field) and work with them again.”
On the 49ers third down conversion
“Yes, the Gabbert keeper. At that point, we still had the two-minute (warning timeout) left. Get the stop there and I thought that was exactly the scenario where we needed to get the stop there. That would (have) allowed us to put the second half of the plan into play.”
On if the defense was surprised on the Gabbert play
“We didn’t execute as well as we could. It’s a common play that happens in a four-minute where it’s a boot (leg) or a run-pass option. We didn’t execute in that scenario, but it is a common play.”
On Beasley’s interception
“Anytime that you come through for the guys and you make a play whether if it’s a fumble or an interception, a sack, a big block, whatever it is, as you’re trying to prove to your teammates all the time…that was a good example…it was a really good play.”
On getting Roddy White more involved
“I think when we go through it this week, we are going to look at all of the things. Do we feature different players in different roles. For sure Roddy is one that we’ll talk about.”
