Here’s what the Falcons had to say after the 44-38 overtime loss to the Panthers on Sunday:
BIJAN ROBINSON, running back
Opening Statement: ”First off, I’ve just got to give honor to God. We all play for Him, man, and I just love playing for God, and just what he does for all of us, and how he blesses us. I give all my glory to him, but obviously, this is a tough loss, man. I mean, we had a goal set, and it just fell short of that. I understand that the opponents won, so it was already hard to overcome it. But I felt we could finish the year right. But it’s all good, because we have a new opportunity coming in for next season, and we have to attack the offseason the right way and understand that what we have to do is not for the regular season type of time, that we want to go all the way. It all starts with attacking every day the right way, but yeah, man, it was definitely hard to lose that last game.”
On his takeaways from this season: ”Just learning how to adapt, man, and learning how to just support one another when times don’t go all the way right, and understanding being great teammates is the most important thing. I love every single player in here, every single coach in here. That’s why I love what Terry [Fontenot] and Rah [Raheem Morris] do, man. They really do bring in the right personalities and the guys that work hard every single day. And I’ve seen that in practice every day, I’ve seen it in the games every day. But for us, it’s the little things that when we get better at those little things this offseason, and make sure we don’t do those in the game. I feel we’ll have such an explosive team, but it all starts with correcting the stuff that we didn’t correct.”
On handling emotions when coming up short: ”I mean, it’s tough, man, I’m not the guy to blame anybody, I’m not blaming nobody for nothing. I think that everybody plays hard, and everybody has the right mentality when they come out on the field. I respect Mike [Penix Jr.] and the O-Line. I mean, the O-Line, without them, we wouldn’t be where we’re at anyway. So, it all starts with them, first off. But, just how Mike played and how Drake [London] – I mean, golly Drake had 170 yards, dude was killing – and how we just have to step up, and that next man mentality, and Ray-Ray [McCloud], and Charlie [Woerner], just everybody that we’ve got, man, it’s all for a reason. It’s all for us to fulfill that reason in God’s plan, and I believe that everybody on this team has the right mentality. Now it’s just for us to go execute it and for everything to come together.”
DRAKE LONDON, wide receiver
On the season’s end: “I definitely have a bad taste in my mouth right now, and I think everybody does.”
On the team producing offensively while struggling defensively: “It’s a team sport, and I’m going to support those guys, regardless of what’s happening on their side. And honestly, it’s my job to do my job. It’s the quarterback’s job to do his job. It’s the defense’s job to do their job. So, that’s all I got to say about that.”
On if the future is bright with him and Michael Penix Jr.: “Definitely. The fans got a little taste of what it could possibly be, and I think we’re going to strive for that every game now. Offseason, we’ve got to get after it and get right, because we want to get into the postseason and start playing for something real.”
On what he saw from Michael Penix Jr. in recent starts: “Absolute poise. He’s got a freaking rocket, and he can sling the ball. He’s got that dog in him. He’s somebody who’s a winner, and I think you see that just right off rip.”
On what his offseason will look like: “Working on connection, working on that chemistry, and just getting better in every aspect we possibly can so situations like this don’t happen.”
JUSTIN SIMMONS, safety
On the season ending with a loss: “It wasn’t good enough at all, it wasn’t good. And I think the most disappointing thing is obviously there’s positives and negatives throughout the season, not a playoff berth and obviously we didn’t have a chance to close it out in a winning season. But to end it like that is just not the way you want.”
On why the season ended the way it did: ”There’s so much there. I’ve always been, throughout my career, just a guy to kind of self-reflect, and I think I was just looking at myself and then bigger picture looking at the defense. It just wasn’t good enough a lot of the times winning football games. Whether we’re out there first on overtime, we need to get a stop or not providing the offense with short fields or taking the ball away. Whatever the case may be and so always I’m looking at the tape from that regard. And yeah, I just think that’s ultimately what hurt us.”
On what he’ll remember from his first season in Atlanta: ”It’s hard, I honestly haven’t even thought about it. The mindset coming in today was, we’re going to take care of business. And hopefully we get some help from New Orleans and really focus on saying, ‘We’re coming in to meet tomorrow to prep for whoever we’re going to play, Minnesota or Detroit.’ So, I honestly haven’t even given that thought. Man, I love it in Atlanta. I think things are trending in the right direction. There’s a lot of firsts here, but I’ve been a part of a lot of firsts in Denver, and I just feel like things are trending in the right direction. And there’s a lot to take away from it, man. But the locker room is unique, and there’s really great leadership here. And yeah, this place is in good hands.”
ZACH HARRISON, defensive end
On what happened on the Panthers game-winning touchdown: “I don’t know, I have to watch it. It’s hard to tell, you walk off the field and you don’t see everything. You have your perspective of the game, and I just need to watch it and hopefully, I’ll have an answer for you after that.”
On the emotions on the loss and the season-ending: “Losing sucks, not making the playoffs sucks. All that we can control is what we can control. We need to attack the offseason and hopefully get back next year with some different kind of focus and different kind of approach to try to get over that hump next year and reach the potential that this team has.”
On what the defense needs to reach their potential next season: “I don’t know if I have a good answer for you right this second. I need to take some time to reflect on it and think about it. I need to watch and self-scout myself and the guys around me. But like I said, we’ve got a lot of good players, a lot of talented guys, so we’ve just got to put it together.”
About the Author
