ATLANTA -- Postgame reaction from Falcons and Saints players and coaches...
HEAD COACH BOBBY PETRINO
Opening Statement:
”It was a bad day for us and it is a hard thing to take. We couldn’t stop them on defense. Anytime you give up drives of 99 and 95 yards it is hard to win the game. Offensively, we moved the ball at times, but we could not get past the 40-yard line. We did manage to throw a couple of touchdown passes. I think our inability to run the ball really hurt us on offense. QB Chris Redman hung in their despite taking some hits and completed some balls. It is hard to be consistent on offense when you can’t run the ball or convert third downs.”
On not scoring before the end of the first half:
“That really would have helped. It would have swung momentum heading into the second half. The fact is that they still drove the ball and we turned the ball over. We saw the blitz and Redman did what he was supposed to do and WR Michael Jenkins did what he was supposed to do, but the ball bounced off his hands and they got the interception for the touchdown. The game turned quickly.”
On what the team is going to do next:
“We’ll come back in on Wednesday and take a look at it, and then we get back to work. We have to find something to rally around. I thought that is what we would do after our second half in St. Louis. I thought our toughness and competitiveness that we showed there would carry over, but it did not happen tonight.”
S LAWYER MILLOY
On QB Drew Brees:
“We couldn’t get pressure on him because they had him in a three-step drop. That obviously makes it harder to get pressure because he is able to get the ball off quicker. At some point you just have to make a play and we couldn’t get it done tonight. We couldn’t step up. Later we got into some shell defenses and they were able to rip us apart. So, they switched the game plan out when they saw us switching our game plan out. We didn’t feel like we were going to be able to get pressure on them. It’s a lot on Chris Houston’s plate in terms of protecting against the pass. Considering that he is on the other side of DeAngelo Hall, that makes his job much harder because he’s the rookie in this situation. Right now, if we can’t blitz, then we can’t get the pressure on them.”
TE ALGE CRUMPLER
On the outcome of the game:
“It seems like everyone expected this outcome except for us. It hurts when we continuously come out and lose games because we feel like we are a good football team.”
On the frustration throughout the season:
“You realize that this is really bad. I have not been around something like this in my whole career, but you have to continue to fight with your teammates. All in all, we have three games left and we have to continue to move forward.”
On QB Michael Vick and his sentencing:
“For me, today was a really tough day because of the situation pertaining to Michael Vick. I thought about him a lot today, but at the end of the day you still have to put those situations behind you and come out and play good football. I know that it’s going to be a tough road for him over the next 23 months, but the good thing is that he will come out of this situation still young. In fact, he will be younger than I am right now so there’s still a lot of time ahead of him in terms of his career.”
QB CHRIS REDMAN
Opening statement:
”I thought our offense came out strong tonight. We just weren’t able to sustain the momentum throughout four quarters. The Saints defense did a good job of putting the pressure on us and forcing us out of our normal flow of the game. Our offensive attitude needs to be to at a point where each time we step out on the field we’re putting up points. I just don’t believe we had the tempo that was needed for an opponent like New Orleans. We weren’t in and out of the huddle with the intensity and focus as we had in practice all week.”
On his pregame thoughts:
“I was really focused on the game and I wasn’t able to watch any of the news before the game. I didn’t listen to the hype or put myself in the situation to be distracted. Overall, I think we were in the position to stay in the game, but we just didn’t execute like we needed to.”
On WR Roddy White’s touchdown catch:
“I saw Roddy running down the field with a step on the defender so I wanted to put the ball just where it needed to be. He made an excellent play on the ball, which he has been doing all season. It is good to see him flourish as a receiver and it was good to see him step up when we needed him to.”
WR MICHAEL JENKINS
His thoughts on getting through a losing season as a professional:
”You just have to find it somewhere. It’s tough when you have a season like this, but it all comes down to playing football. Football is something that we love to play. It’s 0-0 at the beginning of every game. You just have to believe that you can win.”
CB DEANGELO HALL
Thoughts on the game:
“There were some guys that came out and didn’t play to the best of their ability and it showed. I don’t want to believe that the season came to a head in this game. I just want to believe that those guys just played harder than us. I still feel as if we’re a great team. In spite of missing a few key pieces to the puzzle, I still feel like we’re a great team. Even though we didn’t look like it today, I feel as if we can compete with anyone out there. Football is life. Life is going to give you some bad breaks, but you just have to take it in stride and keep going. Throughout the game, it felt as if they just had one more step on us. It felt as if everything they did worked, and everything we did, didn’t work. Sometimes you just have those types of games. I can’t put a finger on one particular thing. Overall what they did worked, and what we did didn’t work.”
Thoughts on the season and Vick’s absence:
“Despite Vick’s absence, we kept going for the simple fact that we wanted to let him know that we’re still thinking about him. That was my personal reason for going on with the season. He’s not forgotten. Although his pictures and jersey’s are gone, we wanted to let him know that we still care about him. We still care about him as a human being, and not just as a running quarterback or a playmaker.”
Thoughts on plans for the rest of the season:
“We’ve pretty much been to the bottom. There’s nowhere left to go but up. It’s going to be big how these young guys and veterans respond. I’m going to be very eager to see what happens. One thing is for sure, I’m going to come out and play as hard as I can play. This whole situation with Mike (Michael Vick) has shown that you’re only one play away from never being able to play the game that you love and have so much fun playing. One day away, one play away, one situation away. Anything can happen.”
SAINTS HEAD COACH SEAN PAYTON
On his team’s effort and play:
”It was a good team effort and a good win. I am proud of our guys. We fought back and played a good game tonight. It got sloppy at the end of the game. I thought that defensively we tackled very well. The turnover for a touchdown was a big play in the second half and that gave us a good bit of distance. I thought we were good and balanced offensively. Third down was an important number tonight. This is the number one team in the NFL in third down efficiency and I thought that we did a good job keeping some drives going.”
On injuries to his team:
“A few guys were nicked up. Right at the deadline, we deactivated Josh Bullocks because his quad was giving him some problems. It was something that crept up earlier in the week. Chris Reis come in and played a bunch. He did a good job. The only injury that occurred was to Eric Johnson and we will see how he is tomorrow. It is going to be a short week.”
On penalties:
“I thought that we played pretty clean. I was pleased at halftime to see that we had not had any penalties and we only had one turnover on the punt. Both sides did a good job at protecting the football. Defensively we came up with a big interception. We have a number of things that we need to work on but it was an important win for us. I was pleased with the effort.”
S ROMAN HARPER
On his key second half interception:
“Oh, it was big man. It was my first professional interception. It hit me right in my hands and I got a couple of big blocks. I took it to the house. The best part was giving the same ball to my mom, who was in the stands tonight.”
On staying alive in the playoff hunt:
“Somehow we’re still in it. We’re going to let the chips fall where they may. All we can do is what we do and we can’t worry about what everyone else is doing. We have to take it one game at a time.”
DT HOLLIS THOMAS
On appearing in the Falcons backfield early and often tonight:
“Baby, it’s not over until it’s over, so we we gave just a little extra tonight. I just did my part tonight. I just helped us all handle our business. Last week (against Tampa Bay) I had a not so good game. I just wanted to come out tonight and show my teammates that last week was a fluke.”
DE CHARLES GRANT
On playing against the Falcons without Michael Vick at QB:
“I feel for Mike, his family, and what he’s going through. I pray for him all the time. With Mike, they bring a different kind of playbook to the game. A lot of people don’t want to admit it but he brings a lot of excitement to the sport. The thing about Vick is you know you’re going to get a scramble or two. This quarterback they have now, you know he’s going to get rid of the ball quickly.”
On playing like a team on a mission:
“You know, last week we played Tampa Bay and we could have won that football game, but we can’t get it back. If we want to be in the playoffs, we have to win these last four games. Like coach said, we have to win one at a time. Hey, we won four in a row before. We can do it again.”
QB DREW BREES
On passing so effectively:
”Spread it around and when you find something early on that is working you stick with it. We were able to throw the ball very effectively and spread it around and get it in a lot of guys hands. And how about the big day that Aaron Stecker had. He is a true warrior that stepped it up today. We came away with the victory.”
On winning a key game:
“When you are sitting at 5-7 and look ahead, you say that we have to win all four (remaining games), but you can’t win four in a row until you win one. That was this night. Monday Night Football, on the road, in the division, it doesn’t get any bigger than that.”
WR MARQUES COLSTON
On the Saints offensive game plan:
”We came into the game, knowing they were going to play a lot of man to man coverage. We were able to just come out early and capitalize on some big plays.”
On coming into the game relaxed:
“We know how to win. That is not really going to make us tense. We had to just come out and play our type of football. It’s on to Arizona next week, and hopefully, we can put together another complete game.”
On the offense scoring fast and often:
“It was great to come out and get up on them early. We played well start to finish. That’s definitely the kind of win we needed to get back on track.”
WR DAVID PATTEN
On how good it feels to get a much needed division win:
“It was a good night. You lose one of your top dogs in Reggie (Bush), and everybody else has to step up around him. They were able to make a few plays tonight.”
On the Saints throwing the ball effectively:
“We know we have a top flight quarterback, so now, it gives your receivers more opportunities to make big plays. We felt like we were going to get the opportunity tonight. We just wanted to make the best of that and I think we did a pretty good job.”
On playing on the big stage on Monday Night Football:
“You’ve got all of your family watching you and you’re center stage. You just want to come out and have a good showing for your friends and family who are watching you. Fortunately, we were able to come out and have a good night and look good in front of our folks.”
MORE FROM THE FALCONS-SAINTS GAME:
- GAMEDAY: All the coverage from the Falcons-Saints game
- STATS AND PLAY-BY-PLAY: NFL.com Game Center
- GAME NOTES: Updates and injury news from the Georgia Dome press box
- INACTIVES AND STARTERS: Inactives and starters from Week 14
- QUOTABLE: Thoughts on the game from Falcons players and coaches
- VIDEO: Head Coach Bobby Petrino
- VIDEO: Quarterback Chris Redman
- VIDEO: Chris Redman Highlights
- VIDEO: Falcons-Saints Highlights
