Here’s what the Falcons said in the locker room after the 36-30 overtime win over the Bucs on Thursday night:
KYLE PITTS, tight end
On KhaDarel Hodge’s big play: “I felt like that was amazing. I feel like we’ve seen Red do that before. So, that was something that I knew he had in his bag and I was glad to see him do it.”
On the last drive or regulation: “Just knowing that we had to get on the ball. We had to have good time management.”
On getting the ball clocked: “Just knowing how many people need to be on the ball and every body being set. We practice that in practice. It’s something we have been going over and we executed well.”
On the offense: “I just think as an offense we took a step. Obviously, I was (made) a contribution into it as the other receivers were. Just playing as one.”
If it matter that he got some catches after being shut out last week: “It doesn’t. We came out with the win. Red is the game winner. It’s about the team. We got the win today.”
On the win: “I think it would be pretty big for anybody. Just the momentum behind it. The energy and the team. It’s a good time for us to reload, come back out there and deal.
DARNELL MOONEY, wide receiver
On what they felt they could exploit in the matchup: ”The biggest thing is we knew they were going to pressure. So, handling the pressure, getting the ball out of Kirk (Cousins)’s hand, you know, early. I think we did that very well. I have to watch the film to see exactly what was going on. I feel like that was the biggest thing we had to work on.”
On the offense clicking more this week: ”No, it’s just, you know, guys keep running routes. Staying confident in the offense. It was a good flow tonight. Great flow. Just understanding big plays on first down and trying not to get behind the sticks. It was there a little bit, but we ended up doing our job. We got the win, so.”
On Kirk Cousins going to him again after his drop: ”I mean, he understands that’s uncharacteristic of me, for sure. Fatigue definitely caught me there, and my eyes were juggling all around when I spun out, got in a collision. Definitely uncharacteristic by me. As a player, I feel like I’m great. Those plays are not things I do. Everybody can, you know, can sulk on that one. It’s not going to happen again.”
DRAKE LONDON, wide receiver
On Kirk Cousins’ 509 passing yards: ”That is crazy. That’s classic Kirko right there. I’m glad we got to see it tonight, and I’m happy he pulled out the win.”
On being able to execute in crucial moments as a team: ”We don’t blink, just straight resilience. So I’m really, really pleased. If one aspect of the team is not doing too hot, or maybe something just went wrong, the other’s going to pick them up, whether they’re special teams or defense. So I’m really, really happy how we just came together as a team.”
On being comfortable in close games after five one-score games this season: ”I don’t want to say that we’re comfortable. I mean, I would like to chill in fourth quarter at some point. But I think it goes back to that mentality of just don’t blink. We all want to win. We’re all competitors, and that’s what it just boils down to at the end of the day.”
On the momentum going into this week: ”I think everybody felt the need to just go out there and play their best ball. So very, very happy. We would like to finish people off a little bit earlier. But at the end of the day, we got the dub.”
KHADAREL HODGE, wide receiver
On the game-winning touchdown: ”I checked in for (Drake London) when he went down. I knew I had to take advantage of every opportunity. Kirk (Cousins) trusted me on a little spot route. I got behind the coverage and when I saw green I just took off. I said I can’t get caught in this moment; I knew the guys would be on my hood if I do. So, I scored and it’s still surreal right now. I can’t believe it.”
On contributing with touchdowns in back-to-back weeks: ”Any type of way is a blessing. Like I said earlier, I like to call myself a Swiss army knife for the team. I’ll do everything, whether block, punt return, kickoff, or whatever. I’ll make a tackle. I’m going to catch them. I try to do everything. Like I said, for them to trust me in this moment, I’m so grateful, and I thank God for it.”
On his football journey and getting to play on Thursday Night Football: ”It’s big. Coming from an HBCU, Prairie View, it’s a tough road. You’re fighting every year for a roster spot, fourth and fifth receiver. Just to get out of the mud you got to …and I’m about to get out of the mud every day. You take advantage of every opportunity, whether it’s on teams or whether it’s on offense but you juts have to have that mindset not to quit because adversity is going to hit and you just have to keep going.”
On Kirk Cousins’ performance: ”I was on the sideline when I wasn’t in, so I started watching the show myself. I was like, ‘Oh he hot tonight,’ and I said, ‘They let him get in the groove.’ He got in the groove and I didn’t know he was at 500 [yards], but congrats to Kirk, he took over tonight and that’s big time.”
JD BERTRAND, inside linebacker
On earning his opportunity to play and having a great game: ”Thank you, I appreciate it. I feel like there’s always going to be room to improve, no matter what. I felt comfortable. I feel like I made some plays out there. Honestly, it was just awesome just to be out there with the boys.”
On possible adjustments that need to be made: ”I think sideline adjustments, there’s always going to be stuff. But I think I felt pretty comfortable. It’s honestly great to be able to play with the two safeties back there [S Jessie Bates III and Justin Simmons] ILB Kaden Elliss. They’re such good communicators, so it makes my job a lot easier.”
On slowing down the Buccaneers’ offense: ”I think the focus always was to start with the run game, stop there, and then be able to eliminate (Mike Evans), and that was kind of the goal. I think we did it well enough. Obviously, we’re going to go back there and there’s going to be some plays we want, and that’s how it’s always going to be.”
On playing in a crazy game with so many changes: ”It’s crazy, I literally came in here and I was like, is that just every NFL game? I guess it is. It’s pretty crazy, but it adds a little bit of stress levels, but it couldn’t have been more fun.”
On the differences of playing in college versus the first NFL game: ”I think for me in the first game, I haven’t tackled basically since the second preseason game, so there’s always going to be a little bit of work right there. So I think going forward, it’ll be a little bit better and a little bit more emphasis on that in practice, but I think I felt pretty comfortable out there. Coach came up and said he felt very confident with me out there.”
On staying ready and not getting too high or low with the changes of the game: ”Honestly, I feel like it helped me stay in the moment. I feel like you get to the sideline like alright, we’ve got to get ready to go, we’ve got to get ready to make a stop, and so you’re sitting there on the iPad trying to make any adjustment, communicate with the D-line, with the safeties, and so I really feel like it helped me.”
JESSIE BATES III, safety
On the feeling after the victory: ”It feels great. It feels great just to win anyway. But, when it’s a hard-fought game like that, when you’re down the whole game, and the team just keeps on fighting back and giving the offense the ball back, and we come out with that win – I’m sure the percentages were very slim for us to go back, but that’s just the definition of this team. Never give up. It’s tough to do and this whole locker room was never wavering. I’m just excited for that.”
On his view of KhaDarel Hodge’s game-winning touchdown: ”Yeah, I didn’t know what route he ran. I’d just seen that he was running away from everybody. Red is somebody who you know – he’s not a main target. He’s not somebody that’s the number one receiver. But, Red is somebody that’s out there on the field. He’s the last one on the field catching every single day. The first thing that came to my mind when he scored, I was like, ‘He deserves that.’ Like I said, it says a lot about not just Red, but the people that we have in this locker room. It’s special.”
On how much he practices punching the ball out: ”Yeah, it’s something that you just work every day. You get yourself in position to make a tackle, but I always say a tackle is not good enough. You’ve got yourself in a position to make a play, why not just punch the ball out? I just try to put it on tape during practice, during games. If we can get all the other guys to start punching at the ball, we’ll be happy with the results.”
On making a play to get the ball back to the offense: ”Yeah, I know that they had the ball. I think our offense tried to go for it on fourth (down). That’s what you do on a four-minute type of offense. You try to give the ball back to our offense. You’ve got a quarterback like Kirk Cousins; you just never stop believing as a defense. Just giving them an extra chance is everything.”
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