WIDE RECEIVER TOMMYLEE LEWIS
On his first career receiving touchdown:
"It came with a loss, so it was just okay. If it would have come with a win, I would've been a little more excited. Since it came with a loss, it was still cool, but I want to give the ball to my mom when we win."
On taking over for Alvin Kamara after his injury:
"It's part of being a pro. You have to know everything in the offense because something can happen at any moment to anybody."
On being ready to play:
"That's what you practice and prepare for, so that when it's game time it's just natural."
On how effective the return game was tonight:
"I felt like I did a pretty good job. We harped on it all week. My blockers did a good job. They were on their assignments and I all I had to do was run with the rock."
DEFENSIVE END CAMERON JORDAN
On committing so many penalties tonight:
"At the end of the day, we didn't do enough to get a win. Without being condescending about some of the calls that were made and without complaining, we had an opportunity to seize the game and we didn't do so. We said we were going to put pressure on Matt Ryan. Early in the first quarter, we started that out and hit him two or three times. Then in the second quarter, we got to him three or four times. Third quarter we got to him about four or five times and then in the fourth quarter finally it got home. He did a great job of getting the ball off. Playing the Falcons, I can say in my mind we were the better team tonight a thousand times, but it doesn't matter. They got the win. Great teams are able to win those tough battles and it doesn't matter what the refs call. We know what we were striving for and we wish we would have gotten that fourth turnover with Manti Te'o. At the end of the day, we fell off a sack or two, and that is on me. When you talk about the ability to put pressure on them, I think we accomplished that. However, we never should have let them get that close in the game."
On the level of frustration after the game:
"How do you put a gauge on that? I mean clearly we had the third-and-six situation and we had the ability to get the ball back and take a chance and that was taken away from us. At the end of the day, we shouldn't have let them get close. We should have had those three points going into the half. It is what it is. There were plenty of phantom calls and of course there were times where we were being held and they were not getting called for it. There was a time the defense got a holding call and my defensive tackle had his whole jersey ripped on the side, but of course, as we saw, at the end of the day we did not do enough to win the game. It doesn't matter what happens. It doesn't matter what penalties were called. We should have overcome them because that is what great teams do."
On the many injuries that took place in tonight's game:
"[Hau'oli] Kikaha came in tonight and got a sack. Manti Te'o should have had a pick. [Chris] Banjo came in and had an interception. When you talk about the ability to say next man up, I think that is a firm foot forward. Even at the end we still kept fighting. We clearly were making plays happen. During the last drive, the first one was a two-yard gain, the second one was a forced fumble, and the third one was taken away from us due to the penalty call. It is a Thursday night. There may be a Buffalo Wild Wings commercial for this because some of those odd calls were made. At the end of the day, we didn't do enough to win. Without being too frustrated about it, without saying we got robbed, without saying we were the better team, we clearly didn't do enough to win."
LINEBACKER MANTI TE'O
On the amount of penalties:
"Players play, coaches coach, and refs ref. We can't control that, so I will let coach [Sean Payton] talk about that. I'm just proud of the way we battled. It wasn't a perfect game, but we battled until the end. This is a learning experience. The best thing about playing a conference game in the NFL is that we get to see them again. I'm just proud of the way my guys battled out there."
On the frustration in the locker room:
"We lost. It is definitely not a happy feeling. The best thing about Thursday games is that we have a little bit of extra time to recuperate and recover to get ready for the next game. This one stings a little bit extra because it is a conference game. Those type of games are the ones that we want to win."
On responding to injuries:
"That's what training camp is for. We want all of our guys out there, but regardless of who is out there we battled. For the guys who we did have out there, I couldn't be more proud of the way we played. It's time to heal up and luckily for us, we have them again in a week and a half."
CORNERBACK KEN CROWLEY
On the way the defense played:
"We knew that we were going to have to play a tough game. We had guys ready on the sideline to come in and replace those guys to step up. I feel like we played a great game even though the calls did not go our way. These Thursday games are killer with the short week. You just have to do as much as you can and win at the end of the game. It is hard because we were so close. We have to put it in the past because we have to get ready for the Jets and get them."
On the impact of penalties continuing Falcons drives:
"It's tough. We play so much man which is tough on those guys, and the calls didn't go our way. But you just have to live with it and improve on whatever we have to do on tape with our technique. We are not going to stop playing aggressive and going at them. Some of them might not like it, but we will still keep doing our thing."
SAFETY KENNY VACCARO
On how he feels after being injured:
"I'll be alright. Any time you have to play three or four days later after a Sunday game, I had a lot of scar tissue get broken up this last game [Sunday], which is a good thing. However, it also causes inflammation, and it causes my adductor to really hurt. It's just to the point in the game where it was too sore, and I just couldn't go anymore. I didn't have a setback or anything, and I should be good to go for the next game. I have 10 days rest now, and it is perfect timing."
On how the defense played tonight:
"They did a heck of a job. We knew they were going to get their yards, but we did not want to give up anything over the top or deep. I don't think we gave them too many explosive plays. There were a few explosives in there, but nothing that was a fifty or a forty-yard touchdown. [Chris] Banjo stepped in and did a heck of a job. There are a lot of different packages and moving parts when a man goes down, and I don't think the media and the fans understand that. I think guys did a great job of stepping in and playing. A.J. [Klein] went down super early, and Manti [Te'o] did a great job stepping in and playing. We have been like that all year. We have showed a lot of resiliency. We may have lost this game, but it is one of those things where it shows what type of team we have."
On having Marshon Lattimore back:
"It means everything. As good of a season as he is having, you can put him on a number one guy and know he is going to compete and do his thing every down. I am proud of him coming off an injury and obviously you are not in the shape and not able to work out like you want to when you are hurt, but he did a heck of a job."
On how this loss affects their team:
"It was a gutsy loss. It came right down to the end. We lost six or seven guys, but I am proud of everyone in this locker room. I think this is one of those losses that won't benefit our team necessarily, but it will help bring us closer together. It helps us understand that we can fight through any situation whether it is calls, whether it is injuries. We are going to keep fighting, and those guys did a heck of a job."
GUARD LARRY WARFORD
On the field goal try before the half:
"Throughout the whole game or even throughout the series, if the tackle was lined up too far off of the ball, the referees will give us a warning. On that field goal, they chose not to give us a warning and they called it. You just have to be perfect. This league can be unforgiving. We just can't have those small mistakes. We can't complain. If they call it, then they call it."
On whether the call was unusual:
"I guess so. I think that we had a similar one at a home game. That's their discretion and we can't control that."
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