Here’s what the Falcons had to say after the 27-21 win over the Cowboys on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium:
Nate Landman, inside linebacker
On the pass rush: “It was great. It helped us a lot. Get off the field. Create negative plays. Put that offense back. Let us keep fighting. Gave us more opportunities for us to call our pressures and some of cool calls on third downs.”
More on the pass rush: “We preach that you play how you practice. This week we had a great week of practice on the pass rush. Those guys are working hard. It’s kind of like a dam, hopefully we broke that and they start flowing. Those guys are working hard. Today was a testament to that.”
On beating the Cowboys at home: “There are still things to correct obviously. A lot of things to learn from. Good things and bad things. Excited for this stepping stone to move on to next week against the Saints. Credit to the Cowboys. They gave us their best shot and we came out on top. That’s just the NFL.”
Demone Harris, outside linebacker
On the pass rush: “It felt great. Obviously, that’s been an emphasis for the past couple of weeks. The media and everyone around Atlanta has been scrutinizing us about it. It felt good to get that going. It felt good to see my teammates get sacks. AK got one today. Grady had one and Kaden had one. It was just good to see us working as a unit. Pass rush is just one person. It’s four guys working as one…. I feel like we all did our jobs today.”
On the getting the win: “It’s huge. It was the next one. Next will be an even bigger one. We are just looking to play as a team. I think we are just growing as a team. Growing as a defense. Trending in the right direction. It just felt good to have the chemistry on that side of the ball, especially with the pass-rush.”
Kaden Elliss, inside linebacker
On the being 6-3, compared to last season: “I’m not really into comparisons. The group that we have is special. Our coaches that we have this year are special. Starting with (coach) Raheem (Morris) and (general manager) Terry (Fontenot). The players that added this year and the players that we kept. I love the culture.”
On his role this year: “It’s a different defense. My role has changed a little bit, but at the same time I’m still going to go out there. I’m still wearing the green dot. Communicating and setting up the defense. (Defensive coordinator) Jimmy Lake has been dialing some things up. So whatever he asks me to do.”
On the pass rush: “It was amazing. We stayed the course. We still haven’t arrived yet. Never too high. Never too low. Just keep stepping.”
Arnold Ebiketie, outside linebacker
On the pass rush: “Urgency. Urgency had to go up. We understood that last week against (Bucs QB Baker) Mayfield it wasn’t good enough. We knew it was going to be on us to get the job done.”
On if it was fun: “Anytime you have a lead and it’s a one-dimensional game and you can just go out and rush the passer, that’s always a fun game to play.”
On getting his first sack of the year: “It felt good. It felt like it took forever. It definitely did. Sometimes you understand. I had a couple of chances earlier in the season and didn’t convert. At times you can get frustrated, but you have to just keep working. Just trust the preparation and everything else will take care of itself.”
Grady Jarrett, defensive tackle
On the pass rush: “We were really just trying to get after the quarterback and make it a point of emphasis. It really has been that every week. Playing relentlessly. It’s still somethings out there to be had. So, I think that is something that we definitely can improve on. To be able to get him down, that’s only going to make us better.”
On his game: “Getting a sack, getting a tackle for loss on a big stop. I was really bummed coming out near the end of the game, but I needed to for precautionary reasons. I was on fire today. I really felt good and I just wanted that to transfer to my teammates. I think it did for sure. The Benz was rocking today. I can say enough thanks to the fans. They showed up.”
On the Saints and his Achilles strain: “Going through the week, go through the process and see where we stand. We are confident. I’m super confident in myself and my ability to prepare and do what we’ve got to do, but we are going to be smart.”
On QB Kirk Cousins: “It’s getting better every week. What the people see, is just a fraction of what we see. As a man, we are grateful to have him.”
On getting the pass-rush going: “It’ felt good. It was something to build on and keep hunting.”
On if it was a group effort: “Group effort for sure. Even from the front guys rushing, but the coverage on the back end. It was married together today and that is what we really wanted to make happen.”
On his injury: “Precautionary. We’ll see going forward how serious it is and what I’m dealing with. But the mindset is precautionary.”
DEANGELO MALONE, outside linebacker
On playing some defense: “It felt great. I was told by the coaches that I may have a possibility of playing. Getting a little opportunity. I just wanted to make the best of it and play amongst my teammates.”
On the pass rush: “It felt good. I felt like every guy was brought it. They did their job. We just had the energy.”
On when he knew: “They told me. They kind of like threw it out there. I kept practicing. Just doing what I do. Game day. The opportunity presented itself. I was excited. I was ready.”
On the big win over Dallas: “It was humongous. This was my first time playing them. Just going out there and get a (win) with your teammates, it feels so great.”
Chris Lindstrom, right guard
On what he believes makes their culture special: “I think there’s buy-in, there’s belief everywhere. I think we’ve had the opportunities to go win games when, you know, we probably shouldn’t have or people didn’t think we could have, but we have belief in one another. And when you go out there and you do that not once, but multiple times, I think there’s a thought you’re never out of it. And then, you know, Terry [Fontenot] can’t get enough thanks, at least for me as a player, for the quality of people that he brings into the organization. There’s really amazing people across the board. And when you have people like that, you know, giving their all and everything, it’s really fun and really easy to support them.”
On how rewarding it is as an offensive line to allow QB Kirk Cousins to have time in the pocket: “We just, we know we got a strain and Kirk does such a great job communicating with us. And, you know, we knew our assignment and just really tried to strain, and we know how good those guys are. So if we’re able to give Kirk and those guys time, even, you know, whatever, they’re going to get open and make an explosive play and what a great catch by Ray-Ray [McCloud III] there and, you know, really capitalize on that.”
On seeing RB Bijan Robinson have a day like today receiving and rushing the ball: “Yeah, it’s incredible. I think what just makes him so challenging and what makes it great for us as an offense is him being able to do those things protect us as offensive linemen, because then they can’t screw their heels in and come after us as much because of the things that he’s able to do. It’s so fun when you’re transitioning to run down the field and you see Kyle [Pitts] or Bijan [Robinson], you know Kyle caught that ball today and spun out of it and fought for the first down. That’s nice. Like, you know what I mean, first-and-10 is a heck of a lot better than third-and-3. So, when those guys give you that effort like that, it’s awesome.”
RAY-RAY MCCLOUD III, wide receiver
On whether he has a feel for QB Kirk Cousins’ energy: ”You get that feeling because of the energy in the room, but that’s our job as a team, when one of us is not up we pick the slack up and we pick them up. Kirk does a good job of making sure he feels it. He makes sure the whole team feels him. That’s the good thing about it man, having so much around you just being able to pick up off of and just grind with because you can’t do it by yourself.”
On being part of such a versatile offense: ”It can be frustrating sometimes, but it’s like a bittersweet thing, because you can run a good route and the ball goes somewhere else. In our room, our receiving room I can speak for, because I’m not in the tight end room or the running back room, just the receiving room, but we’re just so excited when we see each other make plays. Every room’s not like that and when we’re out there, personally it’s a bittersweet thing but the sweet part is winning. We see our boys making plays and it’s their time to shine cause we’re all going to celebrate.”
On where this team can go: ”As far as we want to, the sky’s the limit. I think every game is showing something different. Run the ball, throw the ball, Kirk [Cousins] threw for 500, Bijan [Robinson] and Ty [Tyler Allgeier] go run the ball in the dirt as much as they want to. We showed little flashes of everything today I feel like, as a team I think we are gelling together well, executing and just keep getting better.”
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