Head coach Mike Smith
On team's first lost:
"I felt like it was a very hard fought football game in terms of the effort. We made way too many mistakes in all three phases and I felt like we had many opportunities. You have to convert when you get into these third-and-1 situations. I know there were two early in the ball game that we didn't convert. We talked about having to score touchdowns when we are in the redzone. We have to do that when we are down there."
On the rivalry with the Saints:
"The Saints have been playing a lot better on defense and a lot better as a football team over the last four weeks, winning three out of the last four. They are playing with a lot of confidence. Like I said, when these two teams meet you can throw the records out the window. It's going to be a hard fought battle. Unfortunately we didn't do enough to win today."
On not scoring at the end of the game:
"It's very frustrating whether its 1 yard or 10 yards. When you don't win it's frustrating because that's why we're playing the games. We are wanting to get the win. We're close but we weren't able to get that accomplished and we'll learn from that, we'll evaluate it as a staff and this will be something that we will learn from as we move forward."
Quarterback Matt Ryan
On the team's performance:
"We had some opportunities at the end of the game but we just came up short. Credit to them; they made some good plays. We had our chances but we didn't make them and when you're playing against a good football team like New Orleans, you have to make those plays and that's something that we have to improve on moving forward."
On not scoring the touchdown to win the game:
"When you get the ball down there, you feel like there's no question that you are going to punch the ball in but credit to them. They did a good job. They made the big plays that we didn't make and moving forward that's an area where we have to be better."
On team's first lost:
"You want to win every game that you go into and worry about the things that go with it at that point. But we understand that moving forward that we are in a pretty good spot and we got a lot of football in front of us. We just need to be playing our best football as we move forward."
