Defensive end John Abraham
On the Panthers game plan:
They were a better team today. They played better and were able to execute and get in the end zone. We kind of gave them too much. Delhomme played a great game and showed up.
On the Carolina passing game:
They threw a lot of quick stuff and then they started sitting back and throwing it deep. They had a good game plan. They had me not rushing as much and doing some things I usually don’t do. So they did a good job.
On the loss being disappointing after 2-1 start:
It’s disappointing because we lost but we are still confident. We are still playing well and we had a chance to win at the end of the game. That’s the best thing to say right now about a game like this because we had a chance to win, it wasn’t like we got blown out. There was always a chance that we could’ve won.
Cornerback Brent Grimes
On Steve Smith and Mushin Muhammad:
They are different type receivers. They just know how to get the ball and make plays once they’ve got it. They just had a good game today.
On the Muhammad touchdown:
The touchdown he got, that was a double move. I was just trying to make a play. Stuff like that is going to happen. I’ll just watch film and learn from it.
Quarterback Matt Ryan
Opening Statement:
I think everybody’s disappointed with the loss today. Give credit to Carolina. They played well. I think they were very opportunistic and took advantage of some of the mistakes we made as team but you’ve got to learn from it and get better and get prepared for Green Bay next week.
On drops:
Physical mistakes are going to happen in games and there’s nothing you can do. The guys continued to battle, did a great job. Ran hard and caught the ball. We were more physical on the outside today and that’s just the way it goes sometime. I think we’ve got a great group of receivers that are talented and can make a lot of plays.
On third downs:
I think we just need to be more efficient on what we do on third downs and at the end of the day it just comes down to making some plays and we didn’t make enough plays in those type of situations and I thought Carolina did.
On the speed of the game over college:
It’s definitely true but after 4 pre-season games and four regular season games under my belt I think that you begin to settle in and you adjust to that speed. I think I have a long way to go but I feel a lot more comfortable than I did prior to the season.
On if the Panthers put on a confusing look:
No. They just did a good job of executing. I think that’s the biggest thing. I think they made some plays and we didn’t, but again, they are a very good defense. They’re coached very well and they did a nice job of executing especially in the third down situation.
On the Panthers slowing the running game:
Well they have some physical guys in their front four and obviously that’s headlined by Julius Peppers. He does a great job. Their front four did a good job today. Again, we just didn’t execute as well as we would have liked to.
On if Julius (Peppers) remind him of anyone from college:
I don’t think I’ve played against anybody quite like Julius. Nobody that in fact looked like him. Probably the closest would be like a Mario Williams. I played against him when he was at NC State and his physical stature reminds me of him. Both those guys are excellent players.
On confidence from Julius Peppers after the game:
Yeah, it definitely does when you get to talk to some of the established players around the League and they continue to tell you to keep doing what you’re doing because you’re doing it the right way I think that is certainly nice to hear. It was good to talk to him after the game. He’s a really good person and I look forward to playing against him in the future.
On if anything reminded him of the last time he visited the Carolinas:
No. Those days are gone. The college memories are there. They will be nice to think about in a couple of years but right now it’s just a lot of focus on trying to win these NFL games.
On the offense in the red zone:
Well obviously as an offense you’d like to score touchdowns every time you get in the red zone and we didn’t do that today. Again, it just comes down to execution. I thought we had a good tight game plan in the red zone. We just need to make some more plays when we’re down there.
On the game being similar to the Tampa game:
No. Carolina is a different defense than Tampa. In that respect I think there were a lot of things that were different today. Again, we’ve got to do a better job of playing well and executing on the road. I think we’ve done a good job at home but we need to do a better job of taking care of business when we go on road trips.
On the no huddle:
We tried to get back into that mode, but for a couple of different reasons, either field position and game situation kind of takes away from that, but I thought we did a nice job when we did get into it. You want to get touchdowns out of it when you get in the red zone but we ended up with a field goal so we just need to execute a little better at the end of those drives.
On being comfortable in the no huddle:
It was something we did in college. It gave our team today a start and anything you can do to get the game going is good.
On changing plays:
There is certainly a lot of responsibility that falls on your shoulders in a no huddle. It’s nice because you get a chance to look at what the defense is doing and call the appropriate plays. For the most part we got into some good play calls today in that situation.
Running back Michael Turner
On pounding the ball all game:
That’s football. It’s going to be a grind-it-out game. There’s not going to be big long runs every week. We got to learn how to grind it out and get some touchdowns.
On strategy:
It was the same stuff we saw on tape. We just have to play faster and communicate better to get us ready.
On the importance of the game:
It was a very important game. It was a division game and you don’t want to lose any division games. And it was on the road too. We just can’t let it happen again when we play them back in the Georgia Dome.
On missed opportunities:
We had a blocked punt and had it across the 50 and didn’t get a touchdown.
On if Carolina was similar to Tampa’s attack:
No, it was a different team. They did a good job of doing what they wanted to do today.
Wide receiver Roddy White
On the importance of taking advantage when opponents make mistakes:
It’s big. When the defense is playing that good early in the game, they came out there and blocked a punt and we got three points out of that. Of course, we should have gotten six points out of that, but it’s just the little things like that. When the defense does get turnovers and does make plays, we have to go out there and score touchdowns instead of field goals.
On dropped passes:
Yeah, we dropped a lot of balls today. They were routine catches that we should catch and that’s on us. That’s what a wide receiver is for and we got to get better. We gotta go out there and help the young fella out. Because if we make those plays, you never know what happens. We might end up scoring on drives. As a wide receiver corps, I think we could have played a whole lot better today. But we can just wait for next weekend and hopefully get better.
On dropped balls being contagious:
I don’t know, it’s just the flow of the game. You want to make that play so bad, you want to help the offense out, you want to get us back rolling, then you forget to look the ball in or you do something else small. But little things like that are correctable.
On third down conversions:
We just can’t convert. We got to third down and some were manageable and some were third and long, but we had a few penalties and dropped a few balls on third down that would have kept the chains moving. That was all. A lot of it goes on the wide receiving corps because we got to catch the ball to move the chains and help the young guy out. It’s tough to win on the road, whether you have a rookie or veteran quarterback.
MORE FROM THE FALCONS-PANTHERS GAME:
- GAME RECAP: Falcons "drop" division game in Charlotte
- GAME NOTES: Official game notes from the Bank of America Stadium press box
- POSTGAME QUOTES: Smith | Falcons | Panthers
- GAME BLOG: Follow live updates from the press box
- GAME CENTER: News, stats and play-by-play from NFL.com
- FOLLOW THE BIRDS: On Twitter | Flickr
- INACTIVES: Gameday inactives and starters
- BOARDS: Talk about the team with other fans on FalconsLIFE
- J. MIKE'S MISSIVES: News and commentary from the Managing Editor
- VIDEO: Head Coach Mike Smith | Matt Ryan
- HIGHLIGHTS: Game highlights from NFL Network
