Here's what Falcons coach Dan Quinn said after the 53-32 loss Sunday to the Texans:
Opening statement: "We'll begin with some of the recap and what we discussed with the team. Prior to the game we obviously made an emphasis. You guys heard us talk about that of coming out stronger in terms of how we'd like to play. So to take a halftime lead, 17-16, certainly part of what we thought and went for. I thought the game totally changed in the third quarter with how many explosive plays, and that's where I felt the shift took place. So, we're disappointed across the board. One hundred percent gut check time for us. Not what we expected. We got a week on the road together. We'll head out to Arizona tonight, but we have to get things correct in our game together. So that's what we plan on doing. At this point across the board, certainly the second half especially, it's almost been a flip of what we've done prior. So that's definitely maddening, but that's where we're at and that's where our focus will be this week to get our football aligned and play like we want and like we're capable of doing. So that's what we plan on doing."
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On the 51-yard pass completion and QB Deshaun Watson's long scramble being two key plays in the third quarter: "I thought those were the two, yeah. The explosives usually take place when you're going through a game and those are the ones that just can't be a part of it. One happened to be a zone, jumped offsides. Wasn't anything matched up in any man-to-man concept. But that was I thought one of the catalysts that gave them some energy in the third quarter and certainly the scramble did as well."
On the team focusing on mobile quarterbacks but not getting the results: "I think especially going into the game we thought we had some chances to get after them to hit them. When you don't get those done, you gotta look hard at what we're doing and how to do it. So results for us are not coming through like we'd like to on third down, especially in the shorter distances, and that's some of the things, just a few of the things, we'll obviously be working on this week."
On what happened on the Texans first touchdown: "In cover-two that''s what we were playing on the first touchdown. It was normal — it was a zone, so it wouldn't be a help call for him in that space."
On the communications between the secondary: "Rico (Ricardo Allen) is always in the front of that. I always appreciate his communication. We'll have a full report on what took place and if there was miscommunication and if there is changes to be made from a personnel side, we'll obviously look into everything in terms of how we play. There's no excuse for having a performance like that.
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On whether the Texans were scheming Will Fuller V open: "The last one was man-to-man but the earlier ones, the longest one was not. In fact, it was cover-two, so in those ones it wasn't a match up issue that you were looking for that would get us out of whack. We certainly had good knowledge of Will heading into it, the shot plays, the speed he had. But to see the long explosives, we certainly obviously practiced that and were aware of that going into the game. You better take care of (DeAndre) Hopkins as well. There were times when we did roll coverage to him, but when that happened — I wouldn't say that happened — that's not why all Fuller's happened but I'll obviously take a look and see which ones we can correct so it doesn't happen again."
On giving up 50 points: "More than that, just as the head coach, you know, because you really want to have pride in your performance and what you're doing and the preparation that goes into it. I told the team this past week wins don't happen by accident, and you've got to earn them and you got to do right in how we're doing it. When we don't, those are the results. So that's the intent of focus. If we have to do less to get it right, we will. But no doubt, backs against the wall and gut check time for us, but all across the board disappointed in our performance tonight."
On whether Kendall Sheffield will see more playing time: "He certainly is ready, and you're correct that he did play more as it was going through for the game. And (Damontae) Kazee was also injured, so we slid him back inside to nickel. But, yeah, he was going into the game with some more reps and he did that tonight."
On what he meant by 'do less to get it right': "Well, yeah, if there's errors, what do you take out? If there are a communication error or an error in how we're playing things, we're not going to have those. We worked hard on our fundamentals to get that part right. We've worked hard on our tackling. We've worked hard on the penalty side of things. If there's any other issue, we're going to address head on and go after it. This is not a group that's going to wait by and hope it gets fixed, be right in front of it and address anything that needs attention."
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