GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Player and coach reaction from the Cardinals overtime victory over the Falcons...
Falcons Interim Head Coach Emmitt Thomas
On the game:
"Right now we're hurting for our football team. We're very proud of our football team. They showed a lot of character, a lot of perseverance, a lot of fight. We got ourselves in a hole early in the ballgame. We came back in the second half and played Falcon-type football. We came up a little short, but we have to take our hats off to the Cardinals too. They're a fine football team, almost made the playoffs, but our guys showed a lot of hustle and I'm very proud of them."
On Chris Redman's play down the stretch:
"Our offensive staff felt we could throw the ball against this team, and they came out and executed very well. We didn't run the ball as well as we probably would like to, but we came out with a good game plan, we threw the ball, and I thought Redman played extremely well."
On how he was able to keep the team motivated throughout the game:
"We just stressed to them that they're pros. We laid an egg last week, and we wanted to come out this week and play Falcon football, make the fans of Atlanta, our owner and our organization proud. The guys had a good week of work, the coaches put out a good game plan, and they executed. We came up a little short defensively, but they played hard."
On whether it was difficult to motivate the team for this game:
"No, not at all. We tell them don't worry about anything you can't control. We have a good owner that's going to take care of them, so just prepare and play football. We had a good week of work, like I said. They came out and executed very well. We just played a good football team today."
On the play of his wide receivers today:
"Roddy [White] has been having a good year. I was very excited for number 19, Laurent Robinson, to come in and play well. He scored the big touchdown for us. I think they are coming of age, and they've got good football ahead of them."
Falcons Quarterback Chris Redman
On the team's effort today:
"Guys battled all the way to the end. We're all proud of the way we played. I liked how we were down at halftime and nobody in this locker room quit. We all wanted to rally together, and we almost pulled it off."
On getting the team moving offensively late in the game:
"It felt good, but I'm obviously disappointed because we needed one more. We've got to go back to the drawing board and figure out a way to get one more out there. But I think a lot of guys played well, the offensive line blocked well, the receivers did a great job catching the ball."
On the play of Roddy White and Laurent Robinson:
"Laurent [Robinson] and Roddy [White] had big nights. I'm really happy to see Laurent get in the end zone, because I've been telling everybody about this guy. I'm glad to get him in the end zone. We just have to keep improving and find some positives, because there were some positives out there today."
On being a starter in the NFL again:
"It's great. You hate to lose games. That's no fun, but at the same time, it's good to be out there. I feel comfortable, and I think that's the biggest thing. I'm starting to ease into it, so we're just going to go with the positives."
Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt
Opening Statement:
“I want to commend the Falcons. They have had a tremendous year of turmoil with a lot of reasons not to play and they really played hard and did a good job. It was obviously a tough battle and we were lucky to come out on top”
On Anquan Boldin:
“Obviously you can count on Anquan (Boldin) in these critical situations. I think we are fortunate to have two guys Larry (Fitzgerald) and Anquan that are big time players out there. It seems to me this year in situations where we have had to make critical plays both of these guys have stepped up. Today it was Anquan’s turn for the most part. It’s just nice that those guys have really been struggling with injuries the last couple of weeks and in a game where maybe a lot of guys wouldn’t have played, they still had the same fire and determination. I think that speaks a lot about our team and what we are trying to get done.”
If he was ever tempted to say “what if” Anquan was healthy all year:
“There are a lot of those and we can’t worry about those. The biggest thing I am excited about today is we were in this situation a couple of times this year and today we found a way to win it. Maybe we learn from our past experiences and if you can do that as a team then you have a chance. All of the close games that we have had this year, maybe now as we go forward, we know that we can come back, tie it up and win it in overtime. That’s a huge step for us.”
On the team never giving up:
“I think that speaks of our football team. I think that they believe in what we are doing. We didn’t play very well in the fourth quarter offensively and defensively we didn’t get them off the field, but we didn’t quit. I think they believe in what we are doing and today we made some plays. We can build off that. The most important thing today is winning at home. That is a big deal in this league. It’s tough to win a game and if you can establish some sort of home field advantage then you have a chance. I am excited that we got another win at home and we have one more. I’m really excited that we had a chance to finish it. We held in there and found a way to win which is a learning experience.”
On penalties:
“If you don’t have penalties and turnovers you have a chance. I think that we had an emphasis on doing that and maybe we are starting to get it with the penalties. We played a good solid game today and a clean game. Maybe that’s a stride. I would like to see it two weeks in a row before I say that for sure.”
On the drive to Neil Racker’s game winning kick:
“We’ve had good success this year when we have pinned our opponents deep. Whether Steve (Breaston) has gotten a good return or we have gotten good field position, we have gotten points off of it. I felt like in that position because of the way we were playing it was better to take the shot and try to pin them up, have our defense get the stop and put us in good field position. So that was the meaning behind that. It didn’t have anything to do with Neil (Rackers) it was more the way the game was going today.”
On injuries:
“The only thing I know about Nate (Hodel) is it is his ankle. I don’t think that it is fractured. I think it is just sprained but we will find out more about that. Other than that I don’t think that we had anything aside from some bumps and bruises but nothing else. We will have to get Deuce (Lutui) an MRI on his knee. We just didn’t want to risk it. We were afraid of putting him in and if he got hurt we would be thin at guard. We knew if we went with Elton (Brown) he was good to go and if we had to bring Deuce back we could. That was more of a preventative thing.”
On what worked the first half that didn’t work the second half:
“We just didn’t do a very good job. I didn’t do a very good job in the call playing situations. It’s just a guessing game and we had some situations in the second half where we tried to run it or it was a blitz or we tried to throw it but they were playing it off coverage and we just didn’t make those plays. There was a couple in the second half where we missed the pass. Some of it was bad luck. We got caught on a run into a blitz and we lost two yards and then it put us into second and long where we didn’t convert the third down. I think we have to look at what we are doing in that second half. We were trying to run the ball and we were trying to take the clock down but maybe we lost some of our aggressiveness with what we were doing in the first half. We will learn from that and not do it again.”
On if he had regrets about not running the ball more:
“I think we were moving that ball. We got it down and had third and one in the red zone which I think would have been a big deal for us had we gotten the touchdown. I would have liked to run it a little bit more. I think there were a couple of runs where we didn’t get much on it.
Cardinals Kicker Neil Rackers
On kicking the game-winning field goal:
“It felt good to come through when the team needed me.”
On not getting the opportunity to kick long field goals:
“I didn’t really read into it. I don’t know his reasoning, but he’s the head coach. I don’t go out on the field unless he tells me to.”
On making two important field goals:
“It’s nice; it feels great. Ironically they were about the same distance as the ones in the San Francisco game and I put them both through. Maybe it was the big man’s way of giving me a Christmas gift.”
On Atlanta trying to “ice” him:
“My favorite thing to do is have some time out on the field alone, so I was happy they froze me both times.”
On the team not quitting:
“I don’t think there is a person on this team that is ever going to quit. My teammates have never had a negative thing to say to me this year, and that says a lot. A lot of other teams would have those issues, but I don’t. These guys aren’t going to quit and they haven’t quit on me.”
On showing emotion after the game-winning kick:
“I was fired up getting the win for the team, and they put me out there and it is my job to put points on the board.”
Cardinals Wide Receiver Anquan Boldin
On his big game:
“We had different packages in and we tried to move me around, coming out of the backfield, in the slot, outside. We had a lot of different looks trying to create some mismatches, and we were able to take advantage of that today.”
On the team not quitting:
“I think that’s been us all year. No matter what the situation is. Even if it looks like things aren’t going our way, guys still continue to play hard and continue to fight. It would be easy to come in and just go through the motions. We’re out of the playoff picture and we had two games left, but guys take their jobs seriously. We love what we do, and that’s what you see every time you put the Cardinals on the field.”
On the second half:
“I think we just got a little too relaxed, we kind of lost our aggression as a team, but when we needed plays we found a way to make them.”
On the game-tying drive:
“We’ve been in that situation before, and coaches say that when you are in those situations, even though they didn’t turn out our way in the past, you have to learn from them and I think we have. Everybody stayed calm. We got the ball back with about a minute something on the clock and no timeouts. We’ve been in that situation before and moved the ball up the field, and that’s what we were able to do. We were able to tie it up and get a shot in overtime.”
On his toe feeling better:
“Adrenaline is a great drug. It’s getting better. It’s not to the point where I want it to be. I still can’t cut the way I want to, but it’s manageable.”
On maybe not playing due to injury:
“Not even. For me it was a big game. Every time we step on the field, and for me, I know any time or any play could be my last play. So if I’m able to go out there I will.”
On having nothing to play for:
“A lot of people say that, but we think we have a lot at stake. I think we are a lot better off finishing at 8-8 then we are finishing 6-10. We want to close the season out on a good note and have some momentum to build on going into next season. These last two games are big for us, and we are grateful to get this one.”
On his screen pass for a touchdown:
“BJ (Bryant Johnson) threw a great block, left me one-on-one with the safety, and I was able to run through a guy to get the touchdown.”
On his one-handed catches:
“The second one was actually not to me. I think it was supposed to go to Fitz (Larry Fitzgerald) or somebody behind me, but I saw the ball coming across and I didn’t leave it to chance. I did not know if it was a bad ball or going to somebody else. I’ll catch it now and ask questions later.”
Cardinals Quarterback Kurt Warner
Opening Remarks:
"Never, never, never a dull moment. It was never a dull moment. It feels nice to be on the winning end of things instead of losing. That was what was so great about this win. Maybe we could have taken care of it earlier and in a little different way, but when you have the dramatics and a lot of things come together that didn't happen for us earlier in the year, hopefully that's a sign of things growing up and us maturing and us stepping into the roll of having to make plays when we have to. Guys did that today. I'm so excited for Neil (Rackers) to have a chance to make two big plays at the end and to put those through for us. It was a great way to finish up and go into the holidays, that's for sure."
On having zero turnovers and few penalties:
"That's always important. I know sometimes you guys don't think so, but we try not have any every game. We try not to have any turnovers and try not to have any penalities. It makes everything a little bit easier. It makes it a little harder on other teams to be successful so obviously that's important and we know that and it's something we need to continue to work on. It was a good step for us today, but something we need to work on week in and week out."
On the play of Anquan Boldin:
"Anquan is Anquan now. You guys know what that means, a lot of people out there don't. I know he's had a frustrating year not being able to be himself. I don't know how many times I told him over the last couple of games how much I appreciate him battling, him being out there now doing what he does because it makes us a whole different football team. He's just a special, special player and a special, special competitor. As you guys see, we got a number of those guys. I'll go to war with a guy like Anquan and we'll battle to the end and I like our chances because he's special."
On the team's play the first half vs. the third quarter vs. the fourth quarter:
"We made some mistakes in the third quarter across the board. We just made some mistakes. We did some things that we can't do and it hurt us a little bit in crucial situations, a couple of third down situations. I think that was the bottom line. I don't think it's anything that they did, they changed. It was just us not executing on the same level that we did in the first half, you know seeing what's going on, making the right reads and throws. That's really what it was. Again, I don't want to take anything away from the Falcons, they battled their butts off. But, I just really think we stopped ourselves today. You have to give (the Falcons) credit for doing some different things and forcing us to be really efficient in certain situations and we weren't. I can think of a couple times in the third quarter and early in the fourth when we could have stretched it out a bit and made it harder for them, but they played well at the right time and we didn't"
On the range of emotions in the final minutes of the fourth quarter and in overtime:
"A lot of emotions, but we're used to them. Our hearts are stronger because we've been around those situations for a couple of years. We've seen everything. I think the great thing was we had timeouts left and managed things well enough that we had a lot of time left. Again, I like our chances. You get (Anquan Boldin) out there, you get (Larry Fitzgerald) out there and mix those other guys with them, with (Bryant Johnson and Jerheme Urban) and I like our chances in those situations. That's what I think it came down to, we managed our situations better than we've done in the past. Because of that, it gave us an opportunity to take the game into overtime and our guys stepped up big in overtime and made some plays."
On how the "hurry up" offense feels:
"I think that's one thing all year long that our guys feel comfortable with and I give the coaches a lot of credit for doing that. We've continued to expand the package to things that I really like to things the players do well. Again, I have to give the coaches credit because they've adjusted things since day one. They came in here with a mold and a model to improve. The one thing that I've appreciated about the coaches through the years is that they've listened to my suggestions. They've opened up to the players to say 'what's best for our football team?' 'What can we do to be successful?' They've done a tremendous job and I give them a lot of credit. Part of that is the no huddle, the four wide, getting matchups properly. You got (Johnson) and (Fitzgerald) out there at any given time, you know something, I jump at those guys. When you give me the freedom to see what's going on and make some different adjustments, I think it makes us even tougher. I give a lot of credit to the coaches to continue to find ways to put us in the best positions to win and utilize the skills we all have. It's been good. That's definitely been the key to us all year, that we've run the n o huddle all year. When we've had to do it in certain drives, we will score points. That's a lot of working together when we're not in a panic situation."
MORE FROM THE FALCONS-CARDINALS GAME:
- GAMEDAY: All the coverage from the Falcons-Cardinals game
- GAME RECAP: Falcons rally, but fall to Cardinals in OT
- STATS AND PLAY-BY-PLAY: NFL.com Game Center
- GAME NOTES: Updates and injury news from the University of Phoenix Stadium press box
- INACTIVES AND STARTERS: Inactives and starters from Week 16
- QUOTABLE: Thoughts on the game from Falcons players and coaches
- VIDEO: Interim Head Coach Emmitt Thomas
- VIDEO: Quarterback Chris Redman Highlights
- VIDEO: Falcons-Bucs Highlights
