ASSISTANT HEAD COACH/LINEBACKERS JOE VITT
Opening statement:
"So it was a disappointing loss for our football team today. I have said it before, I take full responsibility for this loss. I didn't do a good job of preparing our football team to come in here and get the job done. We will go back to work tomorrow. The future as far as the playoffs go looks bleak right now but we will still work to get better every day. That's what our responsibility as coaches is and that's what we'll do. "
QUARTERBACK DREW BREES
On the failure to score at the end of the 1st half:
"Obviously we were going down to get points in the two minute. Honestly I thought we had more time than we did. Last time I looked at the clock I saw 17 seconds and next thing you know I thought we had time to throw one underneath and clock it but then the clock was down to 7 when I looked back up and that wasn't enough time to get the strike. That's my mistake. That can't happen we have to get points at least three and definitely another shot at the endzone so that was on me. That can't happen."
On what do he attributed to not being ready at the end of the 1st half:
"We were so close it's not like you can dial up a two minute play you have to come up with something a little more creative. We needed to do that to get communicated but I felt like we managed the clock all the way down and then unfortunately once we got inside the 10 just lost track of it. I thought I had more time."
On with the interceptions:
"I felt as good coming into this game as I have all season about the passing game about throwing it. As I look at all of them. You know the first one their free safety made a nice play but I could have thrown that ball better and put it out of reach and given Marques (Colston) a chance. The next one to Chris Ivory it was a five yarder that just went off his hands and the guy was right there to pick it off. The next one to Moore was a bad decision. I was trying to make something happen and then it actually gets tipped. It doesn't really matter how they happened though the responsibility is mine. It's the first time it has ever happened to me and is extremely disappointing. I pride myself on being a great decision maker and the guy that is going to help us win the game and not be a detriment and turn the ball over like that. A couple of critical mistakes today that ended up costing us the game and I'm okay saying that because I have to hold myself accountable. I've made some critical mistakes in the last few weeks and they have cost us dearly. I felt like our team really played their butt off in all phases. Were there mistakes made yes, but we played well enough to win."
GUARD JAHRI EVANS
What was the problem on the offensive side of the ball tonight:
"They are a good team and that's why they have the wins that they have . We struggled early with a few movement things up front they were doing but I think we settled down in the second quarter before halftime. We got things corrected and were doing a good job. We just couldn't put enough points on the board to beat these guys. They are a good team and executed well and better than us."
WIDE RECEIVER LANCE MOORE
On the missed touchdown reception in the end zone in the first half:
"That's all on me. That's a routine play and just one momentary lack of concentration and it kind of killed our momentum right there. "
Did those kinds of things add up for you:
"They did. It was a game of lost opportunities. "
LINEBACKER JOHNATHAN VILMA
On if the Falcons' running game early in the first half was a deciding factor:
"Definitely was. They put up 17 points real quickly. The first drive they scored. They scored again. It was 14 nothing before we could blink our eyes. They held on. We end up making a little run at the end. But, defensively we can't do what we did early on in the game and expect to win against good teams like this."
Was the run game a surprise with the zone defense concentrating on stopping (Matt) Ryan:
"No. I think they had a good game plan. They wanted to emphasize running to start off on. They did a good job of that. We got a handle on it in the second half, but, by that time it was a little too late."
On chances on making the playoffs:
"Very difficult, to get up for these games, it won't be difficult. To sit here and say we win these games and make a playoff push, that's reaching right now. We are going to have to have some things happen, with other teams losing, even if we win out. We have some tough challenge ahead of us."
DEFENSIVE END CAMERON JORDAN
On the inability to stop the Falcons running game early:
"They did a couple of different things. They ran the ball pretty efficiently in the first quarter, just sort of switched up the game a little bit. We were expecting a little bit more pass to begin with. We adjusted and knuckled down and I think we did pretty well. "
SAFETY ROMAN HARPER
On the defense overall:
"We didn't tackle well. I got to wrap up. We cut down on all that and they don't get anything that they had. Maybe we could've held them to a field goal or something like that and the score; it's a totally different game. "
