Falcons WR Devin Hester on the emotions of breaking the return TD record:"First of all, I want to give thanks to God and my mom for giving me everything. Every day, before I leave the hotel, I call and I get a prayer from her and it just motivates me to go out and do what the team is capable of doing."
Hester crediting his teammates for a big night: "I tip my hat off to my teammates; the guys in that huddle, before we break, they are constantly saying, each and every one of them, 'Hey, just follow me, just follow me,'; it is a sign of good things to come. I am very happy to be here; I'm happy that the Atlanta Falcons organization decided to pick me up as a free agent. I am just happy to be a part of this team."
Falcons QB Matt Ryan on Thursday's win: "A fun night. We talked about all week that we wanted to start fast and rebound from last week. I thought we did a great job of that collectively, all three phases. With that being said, even as good as the win was, I think there are areas where we can improve and get better. All in all, there was really good effort. I loved the energy from all three phases. We got the job done."
Ryan on scoring 56 points: "Our objective as an offense is to try and score every time we touch the ball. We did a pretty good job of putting up some points. Special teams added to it and the defense added to it. (Our) Defense had a turnover, interception for a touchdown, but also a fumble recovery that put us on the one-yard line; field position like that is pretty good. All three phases contributed to the scoring, (just a) great effort, across the board."
Falcons RB Steven Jackson on the team's win:"We were very fortunate to get this win – it was a collective effort. The defense created a lot of turnovers and as an offense, we found ways to score points. I think we had great momentum, throughout the game. I think guys played hard in all three phases of the game."
Falcons T Jake Matthews on Hester's 20-yard TD run: "We ran the reverse and me personally, I had the capture technique on the linebacker so, I tried to fake zone, going right, and ending up walling him off and ending up having a good block on him. It turned into a good play, so it was drawn up well and well-executed."
Falcons S Kemal Ishmael on his pick-six interception return:"It was the perfect alignment. We worked on this in practice, when studying their routes. I noticed it, recognized it and when I saw the opportunity, I jumped in there and made a play."
Falcons DE Stansly Maponga on the defense proving something in the win:"We wanted to play extremely aggressive against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and make a strong statement as a defense. At the same time, we have to give a lot of credit to the offense, because they set the tone for the entire team. It certainly helps the defense, when the offense is as productive as they were."
Maponga on his QB sack: "We needed to get them. We work too hard, during the week, to not get sacks and at the end of the day, it's all glory to God. We went out there and let it go, had fun, didn't think too much and we played with a chip on our shoulders. We took a step forward this week."
Falcons DT Corey Peters on improving sack totals: "We've been hearing a lot about it. (Falcons defensive line) Coach (Bryan) Cox has been really on us about pushing the pocket and rushing. I feel that Thursday was a great start; we still need to improve and get better."
