Here's what Falcons coach Dan Quinn had to say on Monday, a day after the 35-22 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
Opening statement: "Good afternoon. The last two games for us, we really learned our formula and leaned on that regarding complementary football. All three phases making a presence and an impact on the game. We need that connection. We did not do that yesterday, and we've got four days to get that right. We've got another division game right here at home, and usually you have a day to look back before you move forward. That's not the case this week, and sometimes that's a good thing when you don't perform like you want, so we're ready to get rolling. We said we were going to reevaluate things, where we were after this four-game block, and this is where we'll go, so all-in attitude and intention, ready to get rocking for this week. I don't have a lot for you injury-wise yet, have not met with the medical staff, so I'll give you some update on that later today. From last week we were certainly looking for Ish (Kemal Ishmael) and Free (Devonta Freeman) to begin to participate with that, but I don't have anything else with guys participating from yesterday. Glad to open to up to you guys from there, and wanted to make sure I hit you up on what I knew injury-wise. We'll give you a better report this afternoon once we're done with the medical staff."
On evaluating the injured player's return timelines: "Well, 100 percent, no matter what we think about it for the players first. Our number one goal, to say, 'Hey, we're always going to make the best decisions for them.' First game, last game, any game."
On Chris Lindstrom 'fighting hard to come back': "Yeah, he is."
On Chris Lindstrom recovering from injury and returning to play: "No, I would totally leave that to the medical staff, to say if he is fully cleared and ready to do his thing, then he should go. He's put the work in so you'd rather reward that work as opposed to pull it back. If there would be in his case or any of the players, if there was a chance he couldn't, then that's our job. 'Nope, that's where it ends.' "
On Kemal Ishmael and Devonta Freeman participating today: "Yeah, participate in some practice starting today. Obviously it's a walk-through practice so nobody is going to be hauling, but Ish (Kemal Ishmael) and Devonta [Devonta Freeman] will hopefully start participating in that, but like I said, from the rest of the team, I don't have an update for you until this afternoon."
On takeaways from the offensive line's performance against Tampa Bay: "Yeah, for sure. I think with most things, with complementary football, there's usually a number of factors involved, and I would say to me where this game changed I thought — well, a couple of things. One, we talked about it a little bit yesterday. Big play down the seam to (Jaeden) Graham, held to a field goal. Next one, come back, don't capitalize on the turnover right away. Those are the swings that we have to do because the next swing on their end they scored right before the half and then came out and scored in this drive in the third quarter. We allowed a 20-some-yard scramble on a third down, so that to me is where the game changed. Then you're down two scores and you're playing in a different style and attitude. Like most things, we're going to look at it, and if there are personnel moves to make, we'll certainly be bold enough to do that. More often than not, it seems like it's one but I don't think we played particularly well offensively. Does that make sense what I'm saying? Yeah, that's the highlight. There are a lot of factors I thought that went into it, but yeah, we're going to look at everything."
On stalling at the 40-yard line and working to convert more touchdowns: "Yeah, I think he was probably even referring to earlier there had been somewhere we knocked ourselves out of field goal range to go, and that was another case of that yesterday. When you had a third down, we took a sack, those were some shorter fourth downs that you would consider going for, but we had a false start on one to go. Those are ones where you shoot yourself in the foot, so to speak. They knock you back, also, so I think he's probably referring to that as well. Any time you're finishing with a field goal and not scoring that's a big piece of it as well."
On Chris Godwin picking apart the zones: "Yeah, I can hit you on both of them because two of them were on a similar coverage. On one of them, we had said he went down the seam for 70-yard touchdown pass. Deion (Jones) is what we call the run-through player, so he would be matched up on him but a safety over the top. In that instance, you'd hope, 'OK, that's a worst-case scenario of a 20-25-yard gain,' and you don't like it but you can live with it. When it goes for the big explosive, that's the hardest part. We tip our hat to them, give them credit, but yeah, that's one you hope you can stop for sure."
On Saints matchups: "Right, and a quick turnaround. I think that's what's fun about the division games. It's like, records, throw them out. It's two teams that are going to go battle for it and go. We know that, and so matchup-wise, offensively, I think everything starts with Drew (Brees) with them and his accuracy. Throwing to leverage and away and where a certain coverage or a look to go, I think that's where he's at his best. Clearly the match-ups for them start with Michael (Thomas) and then go through the running backs and then to the tight ends. For a long time that's been a big part of their offense. On the defensive side, they've done an excellent job in the run game. That's been one of their strengths that they've had. I thought at the linebacker, D-line wise, [Cameron] Jordan obviously, and then at the linebacker spot, I thought (Demario) Davis, their run-and-hit factor, blitz. He's taken his game, I thought, to another space. Then different ways they match up in the secondary, certainly anticipate more of their corners coming back. We'll see if that's the case. Those are some of the ones from a matchup standpoint that you think of. They've got an excellent field goal kicker who's got range and distance to hit big ones, so you've got to know where that line is and where you have to defend sometimes on a third or fourth down. It'll be fun. It's a short week but also a division game here at home, a night game against two teams that certainly enjoy playing one another. I would say is probably the nicest way to say that."
On the offensive line being in sync: "Yeah, I referred to that earlier. I think it wasn't our best game offensively. To me, there were two instances and I'll repeat that, where the game I thought changed. One early we had to kick a field goal on our first drive, got a turnover and ended up punting on that one. If that goes the other way, then the game changes their way. Where it changed I thought for them, they scored right before the half with maybe 40 seconds or so left and then scored again in the third quarter. That kind of flipped how you'd play, the style and attitude to go. When you can rip it in pass rush without the threat of runs because you need scores and explosive plays to go, not a good recipe for how to play."
On playing zone versus man coverage: "I think you want to have some balance as you're going. If you play all man-to-man or if you were going to play all man-to-man, there are certain things you would do against that. There's the same thing if you played all zone, there's going to be a lot of completions. I think you want to have the balance. What you'd like to be able to do is have good enough guys so that it could look like man-to-man and then play differently. On that particular play, it's certainly one that we think we could stop in zone. Sometimes there are plays against zone that you've heard the term flood a zone or high-low a zone, those are things that the answer to that is man-to-man. In that particular instance, that's not the answer on that particular play that went for the long run, so I recognize the question for sure, but you do want to have a balance. But on that particular one, it was not a man or zone issue."
On what he was envisioning for Russell Gage after drafting him and how his role has changed: "Well, I think first off, one, we knew that he had speed and toughness, so the first vision for him was going to be, 'Could he develop into a special teams player?' I thought last year, having a veteran like Justin Bethel was a good mentor for him to come into the league. Many times I saw Justin on the sideline (asking), 'What did you get, what did they do?' He was kind of getting him involved. We knew he had speed and he had a really good change of direction, so there were all these different possibilities. 'OK, a slot, what about a returner? He's got over 32-inch arms. Could he be a corner.' It just took time first to develop and say, let's play him on special teams, see where it could go to, and then full-time at receiver last year. A little bit, not a lot. As he got into this spring, that's when his role increased. It was a special teams emphasis first and then to his credit, he was the one that worked past that role to say, OK, there's a bigger role for you here."
On what makes Michael Thomas good at creating separation: "Yeah, he is, and even the targets, when he's in man-to-man coverage. I think, one, he's got a ridiculously good change of direction. He can really put his foot in the ground and stop, so that can be a comeback or out breaking route of how to beat somebody's leverage. Then the catching radius he has, I think quarterback wise they know exactly where to put the ball. That kind of accuracy from Drew [Brees], you can see, 'All right, where is the leverage? I'm going to throw it away from the leverage and here's this guy with this big catching radius to go.' Then I thought he was really aggressive. When there's a ball that could be a 50/50 jump ball kind of scenario, he really plays it aggressively. Yeah, he's at the top of his game for sure."
On who on the offensive line he has been pleased with throughout the duration of the season: "From a whole body of work? I thought [Kaleb] McGary for one coming in, for a first-year player and into the system, going against good guys right off the bat, I thought for sure him. [Jake] Matthews has been another one. Then [Alex] Mack to me has always been the one that's out in the front, calls, down the field, directing all the things. Those would be the three that jump out to me when first asking about it."
On playing at a different level: "Well, I think that's the challenge to say we want to find consistency. That's the hardest part of it, game and game and game and series and series and series. That's what we're going to keep continuing to battle for. I thought James [Carpenter] has done a good job of battling through his injury and coming back on the other side of it stronger and ready to go. We worked Wes [Schweitzer] in, obviously, some yesterday, and we'll see where we go with Chris [Lindstrom]. We're certainly hoping there's a chance that we would get him back in the near future and not too distant."
On the emphasis he played on the four-game block: "Yeah, I think that setback, you want to make sure, we knew what the formula was for two games, and when we got away from that formula we saw what the results were. When our moment comes to deliver, we have to deliver. Whether that had been like I said, offensively in the first quarter or defensively at the end of the second quarter. Those are the moments that we've got to make sure we piggyback off one another, we get the turnover, we score, we get a stop and give the ball back to the offense for them to go and attack. Those to me are the things that we're looking to do, and like I said short week. Sometimes that's not a bad thing when you don't have a good performance; you want to get right back out and play and get rolling again. We were clear about that last night with the guys, and we've got four days to get it right. We'll work like crazy to do that."
On playing on Thanksgiving: "Well, I think just having a night game at home, there's a certain environment that goes along with that here in our city in front of our fans. That to me alone is a big deal whether it's a Sunday night or a Monday night or a Thursday here in our city, that's a big deal. We're pumped to be a part of it for damned sure."
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