CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Here’s what Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins had to say after the 38-20 win over the Panthers on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium:
Opening Statement: “Great to get a win on the road. They are always hard fought, and it was fun to pull away in the last couple minutes but for most of the game, it was tight. I thought that A.J.’s (Terrell Jr.) interception and then the offense kind of playing complementary football, being able to go down and get a touchdown off of the turnover was a big moment and change in the game. Pleased with the way we ran the football. I thought Zac (Robinson) did a great job of staying with that and committing to it especially, in the second half. He asked me at halftime what do you like, and I said like running the football. I just felt like when you get four to six yards a pop, it’s hard to try other things when you can do that. I thought both Tyler (Allgeier) and Bijan (Robinson) ran really hard and a couple of runs by Tyler where he gave that second effort was really impressive. They were also doing a great job at pass protection and catching the ball in the pass game. They continue to show up for us as complete players and I thought we were pretty efficient in the pass game. I thought we started a little slow with the first two incompletions, and then from there kind of were able to build. I thought the defense for the Panthers did a good job of keeping a roof on everything. We had a hard time getting behind them, so we had to find some zones underneath, and not beat ourselves and be strong on third downs. For the most part I thought we were better on third downs. A lot of positives there and now we’ve got to build on it and keep trying to stack some wins.”
On the 52-yard pass completion to Kyle Pitts: “I think they dropped him. I think it was a busted coverage. I think they were both thinking they had to guard (Darnell) Mooney in the flat and dropped him. I think that’s kind of what happened.”
On what did you see in the first half with running the football: “The first play of the game we got like six yards on a run and when you’re doing that, it’s just kind of let’s do it until they can stop it. Zac does a good job of staying pretty aggressive. But for me, when you run the football well, let’s run the football. I believe that a lot of times, you throw to score and you run to win, and to be able to run the football, makes a difference.”
On the versatility on offense: “It’s the same thing as I said last week after the game is that you execute the game that’s called. Zac called a game today to not throw for 500 yards, and you play the game that’s called. I thought that’s what we did today, and that’s why the run game was productive. I think when you get to playoff games, when you get to tough environments on the road, the ability to run the football takes a lot of pressure off your pass protection, off of your pass game and all that you have to do there. The more we can be versatile as an offense, we can be tough to defend.”
On how the run game helps the entire offense: “Well if you’re running the football well, it certainly should help. It should give you third and manageables and third and shorts. It should help your play-action game. It should hopefully get some single-high looks. It all starts there for everybody there in the NFL. If you can run the football well it can open up a lot of doors for the rest of your team.”
On the team facing criticism early in the season and now are on top of the division: “If we lose next week, we’ll be criticized. That’s pro football, right? You’re only as good as your last game, and criticism is a part of the business. This is what you sign up for. Coach (Bill) Belichick always said ignore the noise and go about your business. But you understand that you’re only as good as your last game, but really is your next game so you have to go out and prove it again.”
On the team’s growth of taking what the defense gives you on offense: “I thought the Panthers’ defense did a good job of preventing explosives. Tried to get behind them and had a hard time doing that. I think the key there is when you’re going to check it down or when you’re working underneath, you can’t beat yourself. You can’t have penalties. You can’t have these long third downs. You can’t have negative plays. So, I thought the combination of running the football well but then also avoiding penalties and avoiding negative plays I thought was positive, and we’ll just keep kind of building as an offense in the right direction and see where it takes us.”
On the team being able to focus this week after an emotional win last week: “Yeah, I had a little bit of attention all week long feeling like there were too many pats on the back from Thursday night and then you go on the road in the NFL, and I’ve seen this happen before, where you just aren’t the same. So, after the three-and-out, coming off the field to start the game, I was like gritting my teeth a little bit. Proud of the way we just played, and were able to pull away and get a road win. Because there is that emotional factor that you have to overcome.”
On the balance offensive attack today: “I think it’s a little bit of both. I think it’s a week-to-week league. It could be one game is off-balance and other games it’s balanced. With only 30 attempts and with the way we were running the football it was probably going to be hard to really get those guys going in the pass game. But I think ideally, we would love to see kind of a good balance across the board. But we’re not going to do that and sacrifice being the most explosive offense we can be.”
On the team finding their identity: “Yeah, I think every week, we’re starting to learn one another better, starting to understand what Zac wants us to look like and how we can execute it better. I think the rest of the league would say that, too, though. I think we are growing, not just as an offense but as a team. Even what Coach Raheem wants it to look like and we’ll just keep trying to move in that direction. We had a good week of practice. We have to keep having great practice habits and have great conversations post-practice, Wednesdays, Thursday, Friday. That’s kind of where it all starts to help you win on Sunday.”
On your offensive line play today: “Yeah, zero sacks today was great. I talked last week about how having so many dropbacks, almost 60 dropbacks the previous weeks, they handled it really well and I think today again pretty much the same way. Pass rushes in the NFL are difficult. It’s the real deal. They always have their hands full, and it makes a major difference when they can step up and give us time.”
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