Head Coach Mike Smith
Opening Remarks:
“It was a tough game out there today. We faced a really good out-of-conference opponent. My hat goes off to Coach (Mike) Shanahan and his staff. They won the football game. They were the better team. Watching the game in person, I felt like we played hard. We have a lot of things that we have to clean up. We’ve got to be more consistent for 60 minutes. We’ll get back to work tomorrow. We’ll watch this tape. We’ll make the corrections and get ready for our division opponent in Carolina.”
On setting up for the free kick at the end of the first half:
“We were at that point in time, but the clock went down to nine seconds. If we wanted it, we would have wanted it at five seconds or so. We were looking at the clock part of it and if it was a short enough kick. We felt it was a little bit long for us to attempt the free kick, but that’s what we were trying to accomplish.”
On Denver making third down plays in the second half:
“In the first drive of the game, they converted all of their third downs. Then, we got going and got in a rhythm the rest of the half. There in the second half, we had two opportunities there at the end, one on the touchdown and one when had them backed up and had great kick off coverage. They made the plays on third down, with one being the long pass on their sideline. That was very crucial. You’ve got to win on third down. The quarterback was hot and they had some good receivers.”
On the Falcons' offense:
“We couldn’t get our run game going on track. We had a nice explosive run on Michael Turner’s touchdown run. They loaded the box and I thought they did a nice job. Their defensive staff put together a good game plan. It was a hard fought game that came down to the last series. In this league, that’s what it’s about most of the time.”
On the upcoming schedule:
“We’re getting into a stretch where we have three division games in the next four weeks. Two of the three division games are at home. First and foremost to us is how we handle the division. Those are the most important games because you get an opportunity to play those teams twice.”
On quarterback Matt Ryan:
“Ryan had a really nice day. He made some nice throws on third downs to keep drives alive. There was some tough sledding out there. Both teams had less than 365 yards in total offense. It was a hard fought game.”
MORE FROM THE FALCONS-BRONCOS GAME:
- GAMEDAY LIVE: Complete coverage of the Falcons loss to the Broncos
- GAME CENTER: Stats and more from NFL.com
- GAME RECAP: Turner's touchdowns aren't enough to carry Falcons
- GAME NOTES: Official game notes from the Georgia Dome press box
- GAME BLOG: Live notes and commentary in the official game blog
- RING OF HONOR: Vote for the next member of the Falcons Ring of Honor
- VIDEO: Head Coach Mike Smith | Ryan | Abraham | White | McClure
- HIGHLIGHTS: Game highlights from NFL Network | Michael Turner Highlights
- J. MIKE'S MISSIVES: News and more from the AF.com Managing Editor
- TRANSCRIPTS: Head Coach Mike Smith | Falcons | Broncos
- INACTIVES: Inactives and starters from the Falcons-Broncos Game
- REVIEW AND RESPOND: Ask your questions about the game with Voices Heard
- PHOTOS: Images from the Falcons 24-20 loss to the Denver Broncos
- DISCUSS: Talk about the game with other fans on FalconsLIFE
