In addition to head coach Arthur Smith and Matt Ryan, only Cordarrelle Patterson and Deion Jones spoke to the media after the Falcons’ 48-25 loss to the Buccaneers Sunday:
CORDARRELLE PATTERSON, Running back
On not winning the game: “It hurts honestly. We were there, something we talked about all week - scoring points, touchdowns and just having the chance to go in and take the lead. We had the opportunity, but we didn’t do it.”
On how good the Buccaneers defense is: “Like I said this week, this will probably be the best defense we will ever play. Their front seven are no joke man and it showed today. They did a good job of stopping us, but that’s no excuse for us. We have to keep grinding and keep running the ball.”
On bouncing back: “It’s football, you make mistakes. It all depends on how you bounce back. Mistakes happen. It is what it is. We have to be (men). It’s football, it’s long. It’s a marathon. We just have to pick up and keep going and keep fighting.”
On there being a small margin of error against the Buccaneers: “Playing a team like that you can’t make mistakes. They’re going to capitalize off everything we do wrong and we (saw) it today. We just have to keep our heads up and just keep playing football.”
On how concerned the team is for back-to-back losses: “We’re not concerned at all. We have real men in this locker room with real families. We do this for a living. This is our job and we aren’t concerned. This is something we signed up for to come in and play football each and every day. If you’re concerned, you’re in the wrong sport. It’s football. This is a kid’s game. We’re having fun while playing it. You have to keep that same mindset. You can’t get frustrated. It’s a long season. Things happen and you just have to pick your stuff up and keep moving.”
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
DEION JONES, Inside linebacker
On if the pass rush was what the team was expecting: “We tried to pressure them up the middle, get (Tom Brady) out of the pocket, get him off the spot, make him make mistakes.”
On the consistent rush limiting Brady after early success: “We just kept consistent with our rush plan, kept chopping at it and it finally started to come out for us.”
On the strip-sack from Dante Fowler Jr;: “We just kept playing hard, keeping our foot to the pedal, guys made plays, especially ‘Tay’ (Dante Fowler Jr.) – good rush, got the ball out and Mykal (Walker) was there at the perfect time. Like I said, we just got to keep capitalizing off of those types of plays and keep grinding.”
On what it means for the defense to lose A.J. Terrell: “Don’t really think about it too much, you know it’s next man up. We trust the guy who’s behind A.J. It sucks that he went out like that, but T.J. (Green) still played tough, still flew around, and we appreciate him for that.”
On cutting the lead to three in the third quarter: “Like I said, we’re fighting, always fighting, until the clock hits zero. Appreciate the guys for that. We’ve just got to keep striving and keep getting better as the season goes on.”
On the key to limiting big pass plays: “Just trusting our coverage. Playing deep, make them force some checkdowns, and getting a good rush.”
The Bow Tie Chronicles
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Falcons at New York Giants, Sept. 26 at 1 p.m.
Washington FT at Falcons, Oct. 3 at 1 p.m.
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