Here’s what Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had to say after the 21-16 loss Sunday to the Saints:
On the team’s offensive performance: ”We certainly didn’t play well enough. We needed to be more productive particularly in the first half this week and walked away with too many field goals and not enough touchdowns. It’s disappointing any time you play like that but hopefully we can be better next week.”
On what the Saints defense was doing to get off the field on third down: ”I think they’re a good defense, that’s for sure. I think part of it has to do with the type of third downs we were in. We needed to be in more third-and-shorts to give us better opportunities and we weren’t in those. We needed to play better. The combination of that makes it for a tough two games against them.”
On the wide receivers not being able to create separation with Saints defensive backs: ”I think as players you have to look what you can do better. We all have to do that. I think when they get pressure and make the ball come out before, it allows for guys to be in tighter spaces than if we had some more time. It’s a combination of being a little better on the outside, a little better playing, a little better up front and me being a little more accurate. I think that’s probably the way I see it.”
On the play calling on the second-to-last drive: ”We were productive on the first play. It got us in to good position, second-and-short. We were not productive with the last two runs. It’s tough. Our job as players is to execute the play calls and to do our jobs and make them work. We didn’t do a good enough job there.”
On his fourth down throw targeting Julio Jones: ”I just tried to give Julio a chance in the back. I didn’t know if I could hold on to the ball any longer than I did. I just tried to give him some air and give him a chance. I probably just needed a touch more air. In those situations, you have to put one up and see what happens.”
On whether the offensive talent is being underutilized: ”I don’t think we played well enough, for sure. I don’t think we played up to the standard that we’re capable of and I think everybody needs to look in the mirror and find out what are the things individually we can all do better to make us better as a unit.”
On whether he has confidence in offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter: ”Yeah I do. I’ve got confidence. Dirk does a good job of putting the plan together and putting us in situations to be successful. I think like every week, there are some things he would do differently and there’s things we’ve got to do differently as players and make plays when the situations present themselves. That’s how I feel at this point. I think we’ve got to find out a way to get the job done. We’ve got four games to go and hopefully we can be the most productive all year in this last quarter.”
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
On trying to make adjustments following the previous matchup against the Saints: ”Number one, we wanted to be productive and make first downs on first and second down. I think for the most part, we didn’t do a good enough job of that. We needed to be more efficient first and second downs and create explosives that way. When we did, we kind of got in to drives and were moving the ball well. When we did not, it put us in tough third down situations with one of the best third down defenses in the league.”
On the final play of the game: ”Calvin [Ridley] did a great job of getting out of bounds and giving us a chance there at the end to have a final throw at it. It’s one of those things, you try to put it up and give your guys a chance and hope the ball bounces the right way. Unfortunately for us, it didn’t.”
On the officials not leaving one second left on the clock at the end of the game: ”That’s tough. You’d love to have another second, another go at it. The rules are the rules and you have to play by them.”
On trying to attack the Saints’ secondary down the field and whether he saw anything different from the Saints defense today than the previous matchup: ”A few wrinkles here and there from them. For the most part, it was similar to what they’ve been doing all year. I thought we had some good chances to be aggressive and take some shots down the field. We hit on a few. We didn’t hit on all of them. We knew going into it that we had to hit at a high level in order to be successful and so we just fell a little bit short of that.”
Falcons’ final four games
Falcons at Chargers at 4:25 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 13
Buccaneers at Falcons at 1 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 20
Falcons at Chiefs at 1 p.m., Dec. 27
Falcons at Buccaneers at 1 p.m., Jan. 3
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