DENVER -- Here’s what Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins had to say after the 38-6 loss to the Broncos on Sunday:
Opening statement
“Not good enough today. The Broncos deserved to win and it’s disappointing. Now we have to go back and fix what wasn’t good enough, and make sure we play our best football starting against the Chargers.”
On not being able to sustain drives
“I think the first drive we moved football really well. We got down there and a holding call put us back. Then we got down there again on the one-yard line and they called it an illegal procedure. The two penalties put us in third and really long. The third drive we got a field goal. The drive stalled on third-and-long, had the fumbled snap which didn’t help, and then the fourth possession kind of ran out of time. We moved the football down to field goal range, but we couldn’t get out of bounds to stop the clock and try another field goal. The three and out to start the second half hurt. They went down and scored, putting us in chase mode. The interception on the next drive didn’t help as well. It was combination of many things, but it certainly felt like coming away with a touchdown on the first drive would have been a much better start.”
On if the offense feels the pressure to come out strong right out of the gate
“I think you always want to have that attacking mentality, regardless of the score or the situation. You have to play the game that that is unfolding, regardless of how it’s unfolding.”
On what brings the team back
“There’s no magic formula, but I think having conversations this week is important. What are we doing well? What are we not doing well? How do we fix it? Those are important questions to ask, but the answers are even more important as to how you fix it. That’s to be determined. Those are important dialogues that still need to happen and time will tell. We’ll look back and see how the answers to those questions were.”
On how he feels after being on the injury report this week
“Yeah, I’m good. When you have a walk-through, they don’t really know what you could have done. If I had a full speed practice, I would not have been on the report because I would have done everything.”
On QB Michael Penix Jr.
“He’s doing a great job. A hard worker, and our quarterback room has always been working together from Day One to help each other grow. Not just one person, but all trying to get better every single day together.”
On RB Bijan Robinson
“I would have to go back and watch it go give you a better answer. We certainly did not get the chance in the second half to run the football because of the score. The game took it away from being a game where he was going to get a lot of chances running the football. He certainly made a tremendous play on that third-and-10 to have late hands and make that catch. On the first drive of the game, he made some plays. I just think the game getting away from us a little bit prevented it from being a game where he would have a lot of touches.”
On if you can control effort and physicality
“I do think it is something you can control. You can control your effort. You can control those things in preparation. When it is in your control, you certainly feel like you have power over that.”
On balancing the last couple of losses versus leading the division
“I do not think we will be in complacency (mode). That would not be a concern of mine right now. I think it is the league. Each game is its own entity. That applies when you win and play well or when you lose and play poorly. There has to be this ability, and it can be difficult mentally and emotionally, to separate each game from the previous one or from the next one and just go play that game regardless of what has transpired. You start to bring in the previous game, the high or the low, which can set you back either way. So just keep playing one at a time is what you have to do. That can be easier said than done, but that is certainly what you have to do every week.”
On cleaning up penalties
“Holding calls are going to happen. Those have been difficult at times this year to slow down drives. Certainly, the pre-snap ones are the ones you go back to try and control. Those are the ones you feel like you have even more control over. We had a few today. During the bye, we have to talk about what we can do to give ourselves a greater likelihood of avoiding penalties in how we approach how we play to see if we can clean that up over the back stretch of the season.”
On penalties in the red zone
“I have never had to reach a five technique, so I do not think I am the person to ask. I feel kind of clueless talking about it. It is a fast game. You are always trying to play fast. The difference between holding and not holding sometimes can be a third of a second where you did not let go and other times you did. That is something I have never done so I could not comment as well.”
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