Here’s what Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins had to say after the 22-17 loss to the Chiefs on Sunday:
Opening statement: “All right. I’ll start and then take any questions. Disappointing night tonight. You know, you feel like you snatched defeat from the jaws of victory is kind of how it felt a little bit, if I’m saying that right. It was a great atmosphere tonight. Our fan base was phenomenal, it was a great environment and it was great to start fast. I was really proud of the way our defense held up in the second half and kept giving us the ball back, giving us opportunities and, you know, there’s just plenty I can point to that wasn’t good enough to win this game tonight, but still felt like it was right there for us to win and when you don’t do it, it leaves you with a pretty sickening feeling, so, that’s life in this league and we’ve got to build from it and as we move forward now, the NFC South opponents here, we have to figure out ways to be a better football team and be an ascending football team that plays complementary football off of each other. (I) certainly feel like we have the pieces we need to be successful, but there’s obviously more out to go get to play better to be able to win more consistently. I’ll take any questions you have.”
On the fourth-and-one play at the end of the game: “Just kind of reversed out and handed it off and then from there didn’t have too much of a vantage point so there’s not much I can offer you.”
On the team’s struggles on third downs: “Yes, I think it’s important that we stay in third and manageable and I think we were in better third and manageable tonight than we were in Week 1, but we’ve got to do all the things you’ve got to do on third down, which is to, you know, see it right, throw it right with accuracy, get the ball out, you know, protect, get open, all those things, and [we] haven’t been good enough, got to be better moving forward.”
On the challenge of losing both RT Kaleb McGary and C Drew Dalman to injury: “I thought Storm (Norton) did a very good job at right tackle. I thought Ryan (Neuzil) did a phenomenal job at center. There are so many moving parts with the center as far as protection calls, pistol snaps, gun snaps, under center snaps, handling cadence. I thought Ryan did a phenomenal job stepping in and handling a lot. It’ll be good to have a week’s work of work with him coming up to build that rapport further but Storm and him both I think stepped up in a major way.”
On WR Darnell Mooney saying the team experienced a lull in the middle of the game and how to overcome that: “I don’t have a great answer for you. I think each play is kind of its own entity, but I would agree with him that we didn’t sustain drives enough in the second and third quarter. Certainly, the end of both halves was disappointing.”
On starting the game with a good rhythm and struggling to maintain that: “I thought we had a good rhythm at the start of the game, a good rhythm at the end of the game as we were alluding to, there did seem to be a little bit of a lull in the middle of the game and for any number of reasons, kind of each play is its own entity.”
On the Chiefs ability to slow down run game: “They did a good job trying to contain the run game for the most part. Kind of leaves you in some longer yardage situations at times, but, you know, we still want to establish the run game, commit to it, not abandon it and I thought Zac (Robinson) did a good job of still getting opportunities for us to run the football.”
On his interception in the first half: “My arm got hit on the interception. Just kind of working the corner route to Kyle (Pitts) and was trying to get the ball out to him and once your arm gets hit, the ball goes up and you’re kind of powerless at that point to control where it lands, but it’s a tough play.”
On whether he thought that the late-game endzone throw to Kyle Pitts would draw a pass interference penalty: “I didn’t have a good viewpoint on it. It was tough. I was anticipating working Mooney and when the safety was there came back to Kyle but I felt like I was a little late to get to him and was running out of real estate and in hindsight if I could have the play over again, I either would have gotten to Kyle earlier or if I were to get to him as late as I did to put the ball up higher and to not even really put it in the ref’s hands at that point. That’s kind of where I correct my own play there.”
On whether there are times when he makes a throw thinking that he might be able to draw a pass interference penalty: “I think it’s more you want to give a guy an opportunity and throw with some anticipation and give him a chance and then from there, you know, you never know. So there were a couple tonight that we got. There were a couple I feel I would like to have back as far as trying to put the ball -- I was kind of fading away on a couple of them. There’s a free runner, trying to anticipate where to put the ball and if I could do it over again, knowing what I know now, I probably would have tried to place it in a slightly different spot to either get the PI or get a completion.”
On where he feels the offense is after three games and whether he feels like it’s on the cusp of breaking out: “I think we have a lot of pieces we need to be successful. I think we have to get better. I think we’ve left a lot of opportunities out on the field so far, but I think most offenses would say that around this league right now and I look forward to the challenge starting right away this week of just trying to be a better offense as we move forward because I do think that we can be.”
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