Here’s what the Falcons said after the 21-16 loss Sunday to the Saints:
JULIO JONES, WIDE RECEIVER
On the final play of the game: ”If it had touched my hands I would have definitely caught it. I got hit when the ball was coming down. If it had touched my hands I would have caught it. It would have been a different outcome.”
On the 4th-and-9 play on the second-to-last play of the game: ”I had a corner route on that play. Matt [Ryan] just got rid of the ball. When I came out that is why I was looking for it to go to the pylon. I was going to the pylon. I wanted to keep the corner underneath me to make a play on the pylon, but he left it inside. Timing and a lot of things like that, those plays gave me an opportunity to make a play on it.”
On who is to blame for struggles offensively: ”I mean all of us. We just have to go. At the end of the day I got to go watch film and see if it was the timing, offensive line, us getting out of our breaks faster, identifying the coverage. It is everybody. We just got to go look at the film tomorrow. It is on all of us at this point. It is no single person that is accountable for this. I feel like it is on all of us. We got go watch and see what we can get better at and get better as a unit.”
On the team’s mentality going forward: ”We just got to keep battling and keep playing. At the end of the day this is what we love to do. We sacrifice a lot for this game. We are built to fight. We want to fight and we will continue to fight.”
On scoring one touchdown against the Saints this season: ”We are too good to only have one touchdown against them. We just have to take advantage of more looks and things like that. As far as this game I will have to get in there and watch film tomorrow and see what we could have done better in this game.”
Credit: AJC
CALVIN RIDLEY, WIDE RECEIVER
On the feeling after the game: ”It hurts. I mean we definitely want to get a win versus that team, the Saints. It hurts. We got to get that win right there. We got to score on the goal line. I mean even earlier in the game, score early and we won’t be in that position.”
On his personal performance in the second half versus the first half: ”I did not make the plays in the beginning in the first half. I believe I had a touchdown I should have had. I got to make that play. There was a go ball on the left. I have to make that play and a couple of others. I have to do better.”
On the progress over the past month and the mentality going forward: ”I have seen a lot of good stuff out of us. Coach Raheem [Morris] has done a tremendous job with us. With the last four games he will not let us think the season is over. He is going to have us thinking the season is still going and we still have a chance to do whatever we want to do. That is just how he coaches. We just got to play hard. I mean for our pride and for the city.”
On the Saints winning six out of seven meetings: ”I wanted the win right there so I could talk a little trash. I do not talk trash, but I wanted to because they started talking to me. I cannot say too much because we did not get the win, but I wanted to.”
Credit: AJC
GRADY JARRETT, DEFENSIVE TACKLE
On what led to the Saints offense having success on third down: ”There are some things we need to review the tape on. I do not want to prematurely speak, but obviously we got to do better and get off the field.”
What held the defense back from getting a fast start: ”Referring back to the first question, just some converted third downs in critical situations and drives being kept alive. We just got to be ready to get off the field. Like I said earlier in the week, we have to respond and try to get off on a better start.”
On the effect of the time of possession differential: ”That is definitely the game they wanted to play, control the time of possession and control the ball so they can keep the game close and run the ball with the quarterback situation they have going on. All in all we played the game the way they wanted to, which we did not want to do. But we were still in position to win the game. It is not all bad from this game, but we did not want to lose this game. We still fought all the way to the end and were in position to win in the end.”
On the impact of the fumble recovery in the red zone: ”Whenever you can get turnovers like that it is always good. It will give your team a spark, your defense a spark. We were in a spot where we had to make a big play and a big play was made. We were able to get the ball back.”
On the Saints winning six of the last seven meetings: ”It is pretty obvious. I am on my sixth year here now and dropping games to them is tough. Nobody is going to feel bad for us. We have got to there and execute and try our best to come out on top. I do not like that stat at all.”
On the mentality of the team going forward:”Whenever you get the opportunity to play this game you put your best foot forward. Always have the mindset that the best is yet to come. I believe that. I think my best football is ahead of me and I think the best football is ahead of this team. I am looking forward to finishing strong.”
Credit: AJC
FOYE OLUOKUN, LINEBACKER
On what led to the Saints offense having success on third down: ”We just have to do a better job on our details on rushes and coverages there. If the play does get extended, plaster them more and cover them tighter.”
On the difference between the two halves on Sunday: ”I have to see what plays were called and I have to see how the second half went on film. We played with a good energy. I liked the plays that were being called. We just executed them and made them come alive.”
On the effect of the time of possession differential: ”I am expecting to play like that now. If our offense does well, I think our defense has that mentality that if the offense does well that is a plus. I am expecting to go out there and playing all game. I think it does well with our defense when we have adopted that mentality. We are not putting everything on the offense and they can ball out.”
On the changes made in the second half: ”We wanted to win, and they could not score any more. We put that in the air and made sure we went out there and gave it our best effort. That was the standard, they were not going to score anymore.”
On the mentality going forward and the previous progress of the team: ”Progress is always a work in progress. We always have room to grow so whatever progress we were making there sometimes will be bumps in the road. We can always improve on whatever we were working on.”
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
The Bow Tie Chronicles Podcasts:
For more content about the Atlanta Falcons
Follow me on Twitter @DorlandoAJC
On Facebook at Atlanta Falcons News Now
Atlanta Falcons coverage on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
About the Author
