Head Coach Mike Smith
Opening remarks:
A: “It’s a much better feeling to come up here tonight with a win. Our football team went out and played extremely physical. They played hard. It was a hard fought game against a very good football team. I was pleased in a number of areas and again there are some things that we want to address. The thing that I was most pleased with is that this is the third straight game here in the preseason that we have rushed for over 100 yards. We’ve talked from the very beginning that we’re going to be a football team that controls the line of scrimmage. When you control the line of scrimmage, you’re a team that should be able to run the ball effectively. The other thing I was very impressed with was our defense. This is now 10 quarters that our defense, albeit it being the preseason, that has not given up an offensive touchdown. Coach (Brian) VanGorder and his staff have done an outstanding job of getting those guys to buy into our system and what we’re trying to get done. They had a very solid game tonight. Our coverage units backed up the previous week with a very good performance tonight. We won the field position in terms of starting point. I think that’s very important. Coach (Keith) Armstrong and Coach (Tom) McMahon have really got those guys the last two weeks running down the field and playing with a lot of energy. It was nice to see John Abraham come back, play well and rush off the edge. There were a number of young guys that did some very good things. Chevis Jackson had an interception in the first half. It was a very fine play. Curtis Lofton, who got his first start in the NFL, had six tackles. He did a very good job coming down hill. Kroy Biermann made some plays. Thomas Brown had a nice run there on the touchdown play and Harry Douglas played well. It’s really nice to see those young players on our football team making contributions. I need to address something. It’s a little easier to address in terms of what we need to get done when we have a win. A lot of emotions are in a football game. There are a lot guys that are trying to impress coaches about their passion for the game and how hard they want to play. We had entirely too many personal foul penalties. It will be interesting to watch the tape. We’ve got to address that. It’s a lot easier to address when you come out with a win.”
Q: What can you say about Brian Finneran’s performance on special teams and his catches tonight?
A: “Brian had a very solid night catching the ball. He had some conversions on third down. He had a big play that was a tackle on kickoff coverage. It’s nice to see Brian coming back from being out for two seasons with a knee injury. I thought that we threw the ball around pretty well. 11 receivers caught passes. That’s pretty good when you’re moving the chains and throwing it around to all the different receivers.”
Q: How do you assess Matt Ryan’s play tonight?
A: “Matt progressed again. We wanted to get Matt in as many different situations as we possibly could through this process. He threw the ball efficiently. He was 15 of 21 for 102 yards. He didn’t really get any long throws down the field. He had a nice touchdown pass. I thought he did a nice job. He operated well against a physical football team. There are learning curves and we’ll go back and watch the tape and see how our entire football team did. Matt did a nice job for his first start.”
Q: Are you ready to name a starting quarterback?
A: “We’re going to go back and watch the tape. We’re going to be very systematic. We’ve said from the very beginning, in terms of how we’re going to put this football team together that it’s very important that we as a staff get in and watch the tape. We want to really evaluate where we are as a football team. We’re getting down to two weeks before the regular season. We’re not ready at this point to name a starter. We will continue to evaluate. When there is clarity, we will make that announcement.”
Q: How did Todd Weiner play and fit in with the group tonight?
A: “It was great to see Todd back. It’s something that we’ve wanted to do. We’ve been bringing him along in training camp. He got to a point where he could practice in a couple of two-a-days in a row. He’s feeling good. He started the game for us and thought he did a nice job. It was impressive to see the way the offensive line operated. Again, with three different (offensive) units out there for three games, we’ve rushed for 100 yards. They’re doing a nice job having Todd out there with his experience is very beneficial."
Q: Talk about the defense and special teams helping the team with field position.
A: “We did a nice job in terms of getting that turnover (Chevis Jackson interception) and fielding two big punt returns, which really helped us out. We have to address our penalties and when we are in position to make big plays, we have to make them.”
Q: How do you think quarterback Matt Ryan played tonight?
A: “I think he played well and he handled himself well against a good defense.”
MORE FROM THE TITANS-FALCONS GAME:
- GAMEDAY LIVE: Complete coverage from the Falcons win over the Titans
- GAME RECAP: Falcons get win in Ryan's first start
- GAME BLOG: Live notes from the Falcons-Titans game
- NOTEBOOK: Official game notes from the Georgia Dome press box
- J. MIKE'S BLOG: Additional thoughts from AF.com's managing editor
- FALCONS LIFE: Discuss the game on the message boards
- QUOTABLE: Head Coach Mike Smith | Falcons Players | Opponents
- VIDEO: Head Coach Mike Smith
- VIDEO: Matt Ryan | Harry Douglas | Thomas Brown | Chevis Jackson
- NFL NETWORK HIGHLIGHTS: Short | Ryan Highlight
- TAILGATE TOUR: Shots from the tailgating outside the Dome
