Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Mike Smith
(Opening remarks) –This was a game that we had a ton of opportunities to have chances to win the game. We just didn't make the plays when they were presented to us. We've got to be a lot more efficient the red zone. We cannot leave out of there without scoring touchdowns. We've got to get the ball in the end zone. I thought that we played well in spurts. We're not going to win whole lot of games in the National Football League when you lose the turnover battle, which we did today. But we're going to keep working to make the improvements that we need to make as a football team."
(On the Dolphins' game-winning drive) –"Obviously we did not get enough pressure. We didn't play tight-enough coverage. And they made the plays and we didn't. You've got to make those plays at the end of the ballgame."
(On when he felt the game was getting away from the Falcons) – "The game got away when (the Dolphins) went ahead, there, at the end when we had two timeouts and we're in a situation where we have to score a touchdown. And when it really got away from us was on that last interception. Our guys fought to the very last play."
(On deciding to attempt a field goal late in the game based on the spot of the ball) – "I thought it was too far (to go for the first down). If it was going to be a half a yard or less, we had determined we would go for it. When they brought the chains out it was a good yard, yard and a half. And that's very difficult in those situations to know until they unwind and bring the chains out it was definitely more than one yard."
(On the performance of the Falcons' second-string players) – "Ee had a lot of guys that played … it was good to see those young guys step up. It'll be interesting to watch the film. Paul Worrilow got a number of snaps in the ballgame today. (Joplo) Bartu continued to play … so, those guys, we knew would be able to step up and go out and compete. And I thought that they did a nice job standing on the sideline. We just didn't get the outcome that we wanted today."
(On if he felt like the Falcons played well enough to win) – "The scoreboard says that we didn't. There's certain indicators in a football game that have a more high probability for winning. For losing. When you lose the turnover battle, the way we lost the turnover battle today, that's probably the biggest one. Then our red zone efficiency on both sides of the ball wasn't as efficient as we needed it to be. Those are probably two of the biggest indicators of whether you're going to win the game or not."
(On if the Falcons suffered any injuries) – "I have not spoken to the trainer. Certainly we'll have the information on Wednesday when we give our injury report."
(On if despite the loss, if he was happy with his team's performance) -"Again, we didn't win the ballgame. I liked the effort. I liked the resolve that we showed in terms of running the football. We wanted to run the football. We came in and I thought we did it. I thought that both Jason Snelling and Jacquizz Rodgers did a very good job. The offensive line controlled the defensive front. I thought that we applied pressure on the quarterback; we had five sacks on our side. And again, you look at the indicators that I had mentioned and that's really the difference in the ballgame. The red zone efficiency on both sides of the ball for the Falcons and losing the turnover battle."
Atlanta Falcons K Matt Bryant
(On his kicking performance today): "I missed the last one."
(On how he feels about the rest of the season going forward):"You got to go out and win. Get ready for the next one. This one is over with. Can't do anything about it now. There's 13 more games left in the regular season. Do our best each game to try to get into the playoffs."
Atlanta Falcons WR Julio Jones
(On the up and down battle in today's game from his perspective) –"They were the better team today. They won and we lost. You know, but you got to get back in there Monday and start that workin' man. We got to continue to get better."
(On his strong individual performance today, and still coming out with a loss despite a good passing game) –"It wasn't good enough. It wasn't (a) good game. I mean, we lost."
(On where the Falcons go from here) – "We just got to keep building. We got to get healthy. Got to keep working, man. Got to keep building on trying to be successful, and go on out there and getting that W."
(On how it feels to lose the game in the fourth quarter) –"A loss is a loss. I mean they were just a better ball team today, like I said. We just got to get better. I mean, if they blew us out in the first quarter, it's still an L(loss). No team wants to take a loss, you know, but we just got to get in there and regroup tomorrow, and just try to make the Falcons better."
Atlanta Falcons S William Moore
(On what things the team can build off of for next week) –"We need to focus on how to finish the game. We had a lot of explosive plays, but they out competed us."
(On what the expectations were coming into today's game) –"Number one was to get our first road win of the season, and executing what we had planned for today's game and to hold the other team to a minimal amount of points."
(On the play of the Falcons offensive and defense) –"I think both sides played really well, but like I said, it came down to finishing; we started off fast, the offenses had good momentum, but it came down to finishing and that's something we have to work on."
(On whether or not the weather impacted their performance) – "Not at all; the rain came out of nowhere but we adjusted to it. The rain didn't stop anything; the offense did a great job throwing the ball."
Atlanta Falcons RB Jacquizz Rodgers
(On improvements for next week's game against New England) – "We need to work on the offense. We need to score touchdowns when we are in the red zone. That would have helped a lot this game instead of three we would have had seven. That has been our problem. We need to fix that and become a better red zone team. We have to minimize the penalties and play penalty free football."
(On the disappointment of this loss) – "In this league you want to win every game. We lose we have to fix the things that went wrong in this game and come up ready next week."
(On the second quarter domination) – "That was the plan me and Jason take up the work load. We got one guy down so it was our duty to step in and have no let down. We wanted to be efficient and find ways to get the running game going early."
Atlanta Falcons QB Matt Ryan
(On feeling like they had the game in control) –"Statistics don't always tell the whole story. We did some things well today, offensively and defensively, but we made too many mistakes when we had opportunities to score points. Offensively in the red zone I think we were two of five today and we know when we go against a good football team like Miami that number has to be higher. We've got to score more touchdowns when we're down there. We had opportunities, we had guys step up with some guys out that I thought played really well but we just didn't do enough to get the job done."
(On not being able to pull the win out in a close one) – "We've been on the right end of it a lot of times in the five years that I've been here. Today we weren't and I give credit to Miami as they fought the entire day. They played their hearts out and ultimately at the end of the game, when they needed it, they made the plays and we didn't. We've been on the good side of it before, we're on the wrong side of it now and we've got to figure out a way to get back on the good side of it."
(On whether he feels they did enough with the guys who weren't playing) – "No, I don't think we did and obviously we didn't leave here with the win. It's all about finding ways to get W's. Regardless of who was playing out there I think everybody gave great effort but we need better execution. It's a production league and it's a production game and we didn't produce as well as we needed to today."
(On what slowed them down in the red zone) – "I thought we ran the ball really well today. There were just some mistakes. On the last one I've got to do a better job on the last play in the red zone when they sent pressure and I had to throw the ball away. I've got to be better in that situation. I've got to find a way to get it out and get it in our playmakers hands and give our guys a chance to make the play. I think it just came down to some mistakes and that's something we have to try to get cleaned up."
Atlanta Falcons RB Jason Snelling
(On the up and down emotional rollercoaster game today) - "It was the ebbs and flows of the whole game. Give the Dolphins credit. They made enough plays when it counted, ultimately, it helped them win the game. So you've got to give them credit. We've got a lot of things to work on. We still got to work on that finishing thing. (We) did a lot of good things but didn't get the outcome we wanted. We'll get back to it tomorrow and try to correct what we need to learn and move forward."
(On getting the call to play along with Jacquizz Rodgers due to Steven Jackson being out of the game, and how he felt running the football today) - "Felt good. My hat's off to my offensive line, wide receivers, across the board. All ten guys when the runners had the ball were blocking their butts off, and were able to allow me and Jacquizz to get downfield and make some plays in the secondary, and make some good runs."
(On if the Dolphins defense lived up to the expectations from the running back's perspective) -"Yeah I mean the Dolphins defense was aggressive. They made a lot of plays, and like I said, we were able to make some good runs, but they made a lot of good plays when it counted."
(On what happened in the fourth quarter when the game was tied) - "They just made more plays than we did. It's simple. We had the opportunity, and we didn't make the plays we needed to make and they did."
(On how the Falcons move forward from this loss especially with not having a losing record at this point in the season in a while) -"It's easy. We just go back in there tomorrow, next couple days, and make these corrections: The things we need to do to fix what happened out there, and move on. You got to, you know, it's the next week."
(On if the coach said anything after the game about the team's effort with all the injuries this week) -"Yeah, I mean we had great effort, but we expect that. We're not playing out there for effort. We're here to try to win. We knew all week that we had guys out, so there no excuse about, you know, that."
Atlanta Falcons DE Osi Umenyiora
(On what he can take away from the game) – "We need to win."
(On what the team can build on for next game) – "We lost the game. There is no such thing as building off of a loss. We have got to get better."
(On his two sacks and forced fumbles) – "I didn't make the plays when they counted."
(On what he needs to do to improve for next week) – "We have got to finish the game. We have talked about that for entirely too long. We've just got to finish."
Atlanta Falcons WR Roddy White
(On the loss) –"We just didn't make enough plays. On the offensive side of the ball we have to find a way to make more plays and be more efficient in the red zone. Stemming from last year, that's a problem we have to fix. We have to make more plays down there. We are kicking too many field goals instead of scoring touchdowns."
(On what the team needs to do to prepare for their next game) –"We just have to get ready to play. We are under .500, so we need a win and we have to get ourselves ready to play. It's a big game for us. We can't fall too far behind the pack."
(On the effect of the weather on the game) –"I don't think so. I think we did a good job of running the ball today. We just need to be more efficient and score touchdowns instead of kicking field goals."
(On what the team needs to do to improve) – "We just have to continue to find ways to get better. We are a very good football team at home and we have to go home and try to get a win."
(On the play of the team despite the injuries) –"We don't look at it as; these guys are down, as an excuse. That's football. Guys are going to get hurt and you have to get ready to play week in and week out. I feel like we have enough playmakers on this team to win, so if a couple of guys are down we just have to go out there and make up for it."
(On overcoming the team's 1-2 start) –"Yeah, it is three games and we have 13 more opportunities, but we have a long way to go. We have to find a way to win games and win them consecutively."
