What the Falcons are saying about the Patriots ahead of Super Bowl LI
"They execute better than just about everybody."
As kickoff for Super Bowl LI on Sunday approaches, the time for talk is coming to a close. But don’t worry there were plenty of quotes from both sides during the traditional Super Bowl week media blitz.
The matchup of Falcons-Patriots, pitting the league’s top offense against its best defense, gave players and media members plenty to talk about.
Here’s what the Falcons have been saying this week about the Patriots ahead of the Super Bowl:
Matt Ryan
On how the Patriots defense might force adjustments with Julio Jones: “We’ve got to move him around a little bit and try to make it difficult for them to tee off on where he’s going to be. Even when he gets double teamed he has made plays for us all year. So we’ve got a lot of guys who can do it and I know Julio is going to have a great game for us.”
On his relationship with Tom Brady: “I’ve gotten to know Tom over the last seven or eight years. We met, really for the first time when they came down for training camp, and I got to spend some time with him. Tom has been awesome to get to know. He’s incredibly supportive. We exchange text messages back and forth quite a bit. I think all quarterbacks and younger guys have looked up to Tom throughout their career. His consistency, his longevity, just the way he has competed throughout his entire career has been impressive. So, I think all of us have looked up to him.”
Julio Jones
On if he thinks he’ll be double-teamed: “Definitely a lot of doubles. They just play it differently thought. We’ll see. I don’t know. I can’t tell you what they’re going to do on defense.”
On if he thinks double-teams will create chances for teammates: “Of course. You can’t double (cover) everyone. For me to go out there and if they’re going to double (cover) me, I have all the confidence in the world that my brothers are going to do their job.”
Vic Beasley
On importance of pressuring Tom Brady: “It’s so important that we get to him, even if we get him off the spot. Tom Brady doesn’t get knocked down that much so put pressure in his face and get him off his spot and get him kind of frustrated will definitely help us at least try to come out with the win.”
On the Patriots’ short passing attack: “We just have to keep rushing. We can’t get frustrated. We can’t get mad at ourselves because we’re not getting to him. We just have to understand to keep working and it’ll come.”
Jalen Collins
On Tom Brady: “We just have to go out there and challenge them, take away his looks and not give him any pre-snap reads so he can pick the defense apart.”
On studying Patriots’ offense: “You try to find a few things that stay consistent from week-to-week, certain things that they like to do. But for the most part you really just have to prepare for everything they’ve shown because it’s tough. They might make something up new or they might feel like they can do this against your defense from other defenses that are kind of similar.”
Devonta Freeman
On similarities with Tom Brady: “A lot of things, but me and him both play with a chip on our shoulder. I feel like I have something to prove every single day. I look at Tom and the same thing. You’ve got that passion that he just wants to be on the field and hit the pedal. Same thing for me. I just want to win. I don’t sign up to be anything but the best. If I’m playing football I’m playing to be the best. If I’m playing the game I’m aiming to win. That’s for me, but I know it’s the same thing for him.”
On facing the Patriots defense: “I think they do everything really good. But, I always say, it’s all about us. We have to go out and do what we do. Take care of the ball. They aren’t going to make mistakes and we aren’t going to make mistakes because we are going to be prepared for this game. It’s a big moment for us.”
Kyle Shanahan
On the Patriots’ defense: “There are two mindsets. First thing is that other people need to step up. You have to make them pay for gravitating to one guy and stuff like that but also as a coach, that doesn’t mean you just want to ignore your best player the entire game. There’s a fine balance between that. You try to get a guy a ball but you also know that if you beat your head against the wall, that’s exactly what they want you to do. You have to mix it up. You have to attack coverages. You have to hope people step it up when you get it into the right spot when the opportunity is the best. But we also have to get him involved. So you have to see how the game’s going to play out and what you have to do to get him involved. The main thing is, it’s not so much up to Julio (Jones), it’s going to be up to the rest of the guys.”
Dan Quinn
On Tom Brady: “Yeah, I think if we had to talk about all the superlatives that he does have, it would take a while. The guy is a fantastic player and a fantastic competitor. But past that, it’s about this matchup for this game. There is nothing that we can look back to, okay back in 2002 or this, for us, it’s what can we do over the last two weeks to make sure that man – are we ready to go attack? So that’s where our focus lies. We want to make sure we’re playing at our best. That’s what we do at practice to make sure the strain, the battle, to get through to one another, because we’re not going to change and makeup a whole bunch of new defenses and new coverages over the last two weeks. But, what we can do is do what we do really well. Their offense, and Tom in particular, for years, has just functioned at a really high level. They execute better than just about everybody on lots of their routes. They’ve had years and years of reps at that. But, all that said, it still comes down to in between these white lines, Sunday afternoon, us against them battling for it all and that’s where our focus is.”
On the Patriots’ utilization of the slot receiver: “Sure, I’d be glad to talk about that. I think they’ve done a fantastic job of knowing best how to feature their guys, whether it’s running back, wide receiver, tight end, but talking specifically into the slot, you’re looking for guys that can beat man-to-man and break guys off and winning against the leverage that they have. They’ve got a really clear vision of how to do that and have for years. Like you said, all the way back to Troy (Brown) with his versatility, the job with Wes (Welker), (Danny) Amendola and Julian (Edelman) inside. So, having guys who have that kind of unique stuff who can beat man-to-man inside, it makes it a real challenge for the defense. You can think you have the right coverage at the right time and the guy can break off to get open. Then you combine that with the accuracy of Tom (Brady) and where he can go with the ball, it definitely poses a challenge for the defense. They’ve got a lot of unique things that they do offensively, but I would have to agree that the way they feature the inside players is a factor.”
