Here’s what the Falcons had to say after the 22-17 loss to the Chiefs on Sunday:
KYLE PITTS, tight end
On the non-call on what appeared to be pass interference: “You never want to put it in the refs hands. You want to make the play on the ball. I just have got to make that play.”
On if he could have caught the pass: “Yeah, I always feel that I have a shot at the ball. It was just unfortunate that it didn’t go my way.”
On not pulling out the win: “It’s always tough, not finishing in the red zone. There are things we can fix, go back to the drawing board and get prepared for this week.”
On going 2 of 9 on third downs: “Just small detailed things. Things we’ll go back to the film and look at and fix.”
DARNELL MOONEY, wide receiver
On any changes to be made on third down play calling: ”I’ve got to go watch some games and see what’s going on. I feel like we had a good third-down plan all week. Like I said, I got to go watch it.”
On potentially being 3-0 after three consecutive one-score games: ”I mean, we felt like we had this one. We got the Saints then the Bucs, then get into a little mini bye. I felt like we will be very strong, the Saints are pretty good. It didn’t happen, obviously, but we can take care of these next two, I’m sure.”
On building rhythm with Kirk Cousins over three games: ”Like I said, the ball just finding me, the coach is opening up for me and just trying to make a play every time.”
On where he feels the team is despite the loss: ”I mean, we felt like we could have beaten them, we’re just beating ourselves. Like I said, negative plays, flags, turnovers, we can’t have those. We just got to be smarter, play smart ball, and be good on everybody.”
BIJAN ROBINSON, running back
On his overall thoughts on the game: “Well first, I have to give honor to God always for getting us out healthy and let us have the opportunity to play for Him. But it was tough. They made us fight for everything that we had to get. Like you said, they’re number one team in the NFL who just won the Super Bowl. I feel like we had it in the bag. We were right where we wanted to be. Obviously, there are some mistakes on our side of the ball. We’ve just got to pick up a couple of guys in that last play then we’re good. We’ve got to be better on our side.”
On losing some offensive linemen to injuries: “Obviously, we’ve got to pray for Kaleb (McGary) and Drew (Dalman) because those are two main guys on our offense, and those are the guys that get us rolling. So, with them going down, it was a little bit tougher. But shoutout to Storm (Norton) and Neuz (Ryan Neuzil) for stepping up. Kansas City brought pressure, it seemed like, every play. I had to stay in and help most of the time in the second half to make sure Kirk wasn’t going to get sacked. It was definitely tough. They played an eight-man box, so for running it was definitely a lot tougher to find those creases, but I had to try and convert two or three on the runs, but it was tough.”
On the last fourth-down play: “We had a call go downhill. It looked like it was going to be different, so we changed the play. When we changed the play, we had to account for a couple of guys. No. 32 (Nick Bolton) came free right up the middle, so it was tough. When I get the ball, I have to try to make a decision right now. He came out and tried to switch and go and that was my line, so it was hard for me. Obviously, I’m going to try and do better to break that tackle and make that play regardless of the situation.”
On general takeaways from the game: “It doesn’t matter who we play. We’ve got to have the mindset of we’ve got to beat everybody we play against. With them (Kansas City), they came in and they were just another team on our rack that we had to take care of. Obviously, we fell short of that. We just learned that we’ve got to stay consistent. The up and down – we can’t be one way one week and do something different the next week. We’ve got to stay consistent and stay the right way. It doesn’t matter what team we play. It doesn’t matter if they’re the defending Super Bowl champs or not, we’ve got to stay in the right mindset, the right motive every single play.”
GRADY JARRETT, defensive tackle
On the potential this team has: ”We can get a lot better, and there’s some opportunities for us to be better. When we fix those, it’s going to be a great sight to see. That’s the exciting part.”
On the atmosphere in the stadium: ”Oh, man, that atmosphere was awesome. I just wanted the fans to continue to bring it because we’re going to get some wins. We’ve got to be better at home. We’ve got to protect our home field. There’s no excuses.”
On how much he’s looking forward to the next two division games: ”Looking forward to it for sure. The South is coming, and we’ve been running things. We’ve just got to do what we’ve got to do to put a good performance together. Know it’s going to be a dog fight every game.”
JESSIE BATES III, safety
On losing two starting centers and defense stepping up: ”Yeah. Rah (Raheem Morris) does a really good job of not just challenging the starters. He challenges everybody that’s in that building to be the best every single day. When something like that happens, whether that’s on offense, defense, whatever it is, it’s a next-man-up mentality. I thought they did a really good job of stepping up and giving Kirk (Cousins) some time to make plays. That’s our mentality: next-man-up. Those guys stepped up, Neuz and Storm did a really good job.”
On how the defense faired against the reigning Super Bowl champions: “That’s an offense that, they always find a way to win. Find a way to move the ball. I thought that we did a really good job for the most part of keeping some explosive plays off of us. I feel like they threw out everything that they had and I thought we did a really good job of responding. I think the runs got a little leaky tonight. Just got to clear up some of our third-down stuff and then we’ll be good. When you can force an offense like that to kick field goals in critical games like that we give our offense a chance to get back in the game.”
On the Falcons potentially being a defense-first team: ”No, it’s a team-first. It doesn’t matter if it’s defense or offense. Obviously, that’s our mentality on defense. We’ve got to go out here and win games. Offense should have that same mentality, same thing for special teams.”
On the no pass interference call on Kyle Pitts: ”It was hard to see it when it was live, bang-bang type of play. Clearly, I’m going to say it was a pass interference), but nothing that we can do now. It is what it is.”
TROY ANDERSEN, Inside linebacker
On the effort the team put in: “Yeah, I mean, I think that you try to make every play, and you try to make them kick field goals that they get down the field and then obviously in crunch time, getting those three-and-outs, getting the ball back to our offense, giving them as many chances as possible. It’s the goal.”
On what he and Kaden Elliss were talking about while watching the offense take the field: “Yeah, I mean, obviously our offense is explosive, and they have talent. Yeah, it’s fun to watch them go to work.”
On what good the defense can take away from holding the Chiefs as well as they did: “Yeah, I think there’s always things that are good and bad. You know, the tape will tell the story, and we’re going to go back and watch it and learn from it and hopefully grow and improve on it going into this week.”
On what it was like to watch Patrick Mahomes work his magic on the field: “Yeah, I mean, he’s the best in the world for a reason. Just how he sees the game and how he sees the field, yeah, he’s tremendous. He’s a great player.”
STORM NORTON, offensive tackle
On facing the Chiefs’ defense: ”Week in, week out, we’re going to face great players. This week was no different. We have high expectations in our room, and we just couldn’t get it done today.”
On whether there are positives to take from this game: ”Like I said, at the end of the day, we want to win. We have to take stuff from it, learn from it, and then apply it next week.”
On Kirk Cousins’ leadership: ”It’s everything for us. We’re always leaning on Kirk. I mean, he’s that guy, that captain. Everyone is kind of looking at him for that guidance. We’re all playing for each other.”
On how they are feeling three games into the season: “You just have to take it week-by-week – can’t get too high or too low. It’s a marathon of a season.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
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