FALCONS HEAD COACH MIKE SMITH

Opening statement:

"We knew we were in for a 60-minute battle today. As soon as we got off the plane we knew it. That’s a very good football team over there, their record indicates it—they were 5-1. We needed every man in that locker room to step up and make some plays and I really like the fight and the determination and the effort that our team played with today. We made some mistakes, but we made some plays when we had to. (I’m) very pleased with the way we played on third down defensively and how we made it hectic and chaotic for the quarterback for the most part around the throwing spot—and that was the thing that we wanted to do. There were some unbelievable plays in that game by both football teams. And like I said, that’s a good team over there and we were very fortunate to win today. With that I’ll open it up for questions."

On what worked today on third down:

"Yes, one of the things that I think was very important for us it that we were –as I just mentioned, we got, put pressure on the quarterback – I thought that our guys had a very good understanding of what we were trying to get done and they executed it. There were some things formationally that we wanted to take advantage of when we saw certain formations and we wanted to take away their two prime threats—81 and 87—and I thought that they did that on third down especially. We had some strategies and some things that we wanted to try to do on third down and I thought that they executed extremely well."

On DT Corey Peters tip at the end of the game:

"First-and-ten to fourth-and-ten, I’ll tell ya, I know where I wanted it to be and I thought the officials did a nice job in handling it. They did not allow them to go up there and snap the ball. It’s something that I think that they did a very good job, so that the reply official could take a good look at it and they got it right and I think that’s what replay is all about—to make sure that the play was right."

On if he noticed the tip right away:

"Did I notice it right away? I had people in my ear. I didn’t, again, it was such a small tip, but you did see the ball change. Our guys up in the box who we have watching it basically said it was, and of course, I think there was a 1:43 seconds, the flag is already not an option, so we just had to rely on the officials making the play, and I thought that the mechanics that they did was right and it’s a good decision."

On what went through his mind when QB Matt Ryan went down:

"What goes through my mind? We gotta get Chris Redman ready and again, it just shows you the resolve and the resiliency of this guy. He got whacked pretty good; we had to take him into the locker room and really get a good examination. When I saw him coming out of the tunnel, I was trying like crazy to see if we could get him back out there for that third down. Can you go? And Matt said, ‘Hey, I need to just see if I can put some pressure on it.’ He just kind of took a shot and said, ‘Hey, I’m ready to go.’ He goes out there, and completes, his first play back, he completes a third-down conversion."

FALCONS QB MATT RYAN

Opening statement:

"Good win for our football team today. It was a tough opponent, really good opponent and a tough place to play. Loud environment. I thought the guys did a great job, the effort was really good today—we kind of grinded it out—and it was a big win for our football team heading into the bye week. So with that, I’ll open it up to questions."

On how he felt after going down:

"I mean, obviously it hurt on the field, but you know, once I was able to kind of shake that off and then go to the sideline, have them examine it, come in, have them do a little bit more thorough of an examine in here, (I) felt good—felt good enough to go and you know, was happy that it wasn’t worse than it was.”

On if he heard Ndamukong Suh’s derogatory remarks, calling for a cart, etc.:

"I didn’t hear any of that.”

On if he told HC Mike Smith he wanted to go back in right away:

"Well, when I first came to the sideline, I didn’t know, because I wanted, you know, to make sure the trainers had a chance to look at it—want to be smart in those situations. Once I came back in, you know, was able to get it taped and move around on it, I knew I was going to be fine. So, I came back out and told Mike I was going to be good to go, then came in on third down."

On what happened on the injury, if he tripped:

"No, I just caught his foot and kind of landed funny, that was basically it."

On if he is experiencing any pain now:

"I feel pretty good."

On the running game and getting things going:

"Yeah, that was…we knew that was kind of what it was going to be like coming into it—is that they’re physical in the front four and their linebackers are good. They spill things to linebackers and they make tackles. We knew that there was going to be some tough sledding, but we kind of kept at it and we were able to, you know, have a couple of those break through and have some big gains. So, I thought our offensive line played really well today. I thought Michael Turner, Ovie (Mughelli), and Jason Snelling, and Quiz (Jaquizz Rodgers) were huge for us."

On the first back-to-back wins this season:

"It was important for us. We talk about all the time kind of stringing those wins together and we were able to do that for the first time this year, so 4-3 is, you know, not a bad place to be heading into the bye week. We’ve got an opportunity to get some rest, and you know, hopefully go on a stretch final.”

FALCONS WR RODDY WHITE

On his touchdown catch:

"We knew that we would get press coverage down there in the red zone; they played a lot of one high. Matt called a play that would get me the ball down there in the end zone. So, took an inside release and kind of looked up and found the ball, and tried to run and go get it. So, reached up my hands out there, then it stayed on my fingertips."

On the win:

"It was a big win. We marked this one on the calendar. After getting back to 500 last week, we felt like this would be a crucial point in our season. We are coming up almost on the halfway point, we felt like we had to get over 500. We did this week and we got to go after the bye week and get us another road win."

On QB Matt Ryan going down and returning:

"I was talking to him before he got off the field. I was like, ‘Hey man, we’re going to need you back in there. He was like, ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’ So, he got up off the ground and Chris (Redman) came and made a big third-down throw and Harry (Douglas) did a good job in splitting the safeties and getting up field. It was an excellent throw, it hit him right in stride and gave Harry a chance to get up field and get some yards after catch. We were excited, as an offense to see him (Matt Ryan) back in the huddle and we were on a roll after that."