Mike James
The One... and the Two
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Registered: May 2003
Local time: 09:46 AM
Location: Rice University
Posts: 1191
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Falcons Quotes
Wednesday, September 3
Quarterback Doug Johnson on this weekend’s game: “I think we’re all excited to get out there and have a game plan set for a certain team and go out there in front of everybody and show what we can do.”
Johnson on the Dallas defense: “They work hard, they fly to the football and they’re a fast defense. They’re really aggressive.”
Johnson on the differences in game preparation for preseason and regular season contests: “In the preseason, you work on certain things through the four weeks and in a game plan during the regular season, you try to figure out what a team’s weaknesses are and exploit them. Every defense has a weakness and hopefully you can capitalize on it.”
Johnson on any difference in his game preparation now that he is the starter: “I prepare like I’m a starter even when I’m a number two guy playing behind Mike (Vick). He runs around a lot and a lot of things can happen, so I’ve got to be ready like I’m starting every week. It’s no different than any other week for me. I prepare hard like I’m going to play, if I’m a number two or a number one.”
Johnson on the preseason as an indicator for regular season success: “You can’t really judge a lot of things from the preseason because you don’t game plan against teams and you try to run certain plays that you’re trying to get better at. I think we need to improve on third down. We weren’t really good on third down. But the slate is clean now. Everything is zero-zero. No one cares, no one remembers about preseason. We were 4-0 my second year here and then went 4-12 in the regular season, so the preseason has nothing to do with the regular season.”
Linebacker Keith Brooking on Dallas being favored: “It lights a fire a little bit. I think it should for all of these guys in this locker room. Respect is a big thing around the league and being a two-point underdog can light a fire under you. But that’s not what makes me want to go out and beat Dallas. We have a tremendous amount to play for this week. It’s the first week of the season. This is what we’ve been waiting for: this moment, this time. All the hard work from April, all the workouts, all the sweat, with as many guys we’ve had show up here in the offseason and then with going through camp and two-a-days, we’ve been waiting for this Sunday. It’s an exciting time. I’m looking forward to it. I can’t wait. I know everybody in this locker room feels the same way. We don’t care about what the perception is out there. I don’t care if we’re a 20-point underdog, we’ve got a job to do. My job is not to let my teammates down and take care of my responsibility on every play. If everyone on this football team does that, then we’re going to be just fine. There’s no doubt about it.”
Brooking on Dallas quarterback Quincy Carter: “You watch him on film and he doesn’t look as comfortable when he’s in the pocket when he plants his feet. He looks better when he’s on the run. They try and get him out on a lot of sprints. But when he’s straight dropping back, a lot of times if he feels even a little bit of pressure, he’s trying to get outside and get on the run and he looks a lot better doing that. Our focus from a defensive pass rush is keeping our lanes and not losing containment. We have to do that because the more he scrambles around, the more we have to cover and that creates a lot of problems for your defense. Plus, he can make plays on his feet just running the ball down the field.”
Brooking on stopping the run: “Going into every game, defensively you have to stop the run. That has to be your main focus. (Bill) Parcells, he has the type of mentality where I know he’s going to come out and try and pound the ball on the defense and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Defensive end Patrick Kerney on playing games that count: “It’s been such an emotional buildup the past five, six, seven months, not playing football and playing preseason games. Yeah, they’re exciting, but everything goes up a notch from the preseason to the regular season and from the regular season to the playoffs and here we are at another level. I, personally, feel like I’m boiling over emotionally and ready to pour it out and ready to test myself for three hours.”
Kerney on going 0-4 in the preseason: “We went 4-0 in the preseason last year in the preseason and went 1-3 (to open the regular season); it’s not a real good forecast for how you’re going to start the season. We’ve got a lot of confidence – especially defensively – right now in our unit and I think the offense is going to get more rhythm, more playing time and get that running game going. I’m as confident as can be in this team.”
Kerney on Quincy Carter “I think if we hit him early, we can rattle him. (We need to) keep him pinned in the pocket because he’s most dangerous when he’s on the move. We’ve got to surround him with people and if he does decide to move, bring him down…It is obvious on film that he’s making bigger plays when he’s on the move and he’s more comfortable when he’s on the move. We’ve got to keep him in the pocket and hopefully give him some happy feet and not let him get in that improvisational rhythm that he gets into.”
Kerney on being the underdog: “You’ve got a locker room full of professional athletes, most guys who have been doubted their whole lives and are here because they said ‘I’m going to show you differently’. This is just another case. If you don’t believe us, we’re going to show you differently.”
Source: www.AtlantaFalcons.com
Last edited by Mike James on 09-06-2003 at 05:26 AM | Reason For Edit: Formatting Fix
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09-06-2003 05:24 AM
