On getting run game going: "Yeah, not necessarily because of their run game statistics, it's just what you need to do. With an offense like they have, an explosive offense, you want to control the clock a little bit and get your defense as much rest as possible. Running the ball is what we want to do. Obviously, we want to do it better than we have and that's why we continue to work at it. But it's what gets the play-action game going. It's what gets explosive plays because Darren [McFadden] can score from anywhere so it's something we expect you're going to do."
On if Palmer has played Falcons on the road before: "Yeah, I've played there a handful of times, quite a few times."
On playing at the Georgia Dome: "It's just being in a dome, it's always going to be a little bit louder. It's probably not the loudest dome. I know Minnesota gets extremely loud and New Orleans, but still, anytime you get in an enclosed structure like that, being 5-0, being where they are with the expectations that team has, we know that crowd will be into it and it will be a hyped game. The way to get it quiet is to go out and get big plays and stay on the field and run the ball and try to quiet them down that way."
On key to staying in rhythm on offense: "When you look at the overall passing game, it just comes down to execution. It's not always just the quarterback and receivers, its 11 moving parts, being efficient, being in the right place at the right time and just executing everyone's job individually. And that's something, obviously, you go on the road and you get in 3rd down situations, especially third and long situations and it gets extremely difficult with it being as loud as it's going to be. So we want to stay out of third and long situations and be good and efficient in first and second downs and be able to not have to sit back in gun in max protections on 3rd-and-10 and try to get 10, 11 yards every time."
On playing well after a bye week: "It shouldn't be hard there. You're going in…there's only two undefeated teams left. Their crowd, like I said before, is going to be loud and intense. So it shouldn't take us long to wake up. You got a little bit of rest coming off a bye, but hopefully we shake that off fast. I expect to, with as big of a game as we're going to and as difficult a situation and hostile environment we're going into, I expect we'll bounce back and be ready to play."
On if teams test Atlanta's split safety defense:"It's tough. Their corners play with a lot of depth. They'll start up near the line of scrimmage and turn and run out to a lot of depth and run out with a lot of speed. So it's not a team that…they don't need to give up big plays, they don't need to take changes. Their offense has scored so many points and they've had such great field position to start, there's no reason for them to really jump underneath routes and to be susceptible to big chunk plays. We're not going to go in and just try to chuck the ball over their heads every play, but we need to take our shots when the shots present themselves."
On Darrius Heyward-Bey: "Like he hasn't missed a week. He caught the ball really well today. He looked extremely fast like he always does. There wasn't one instance in practice or in meetings where he seemed a little foggy at all. And that's always the issue, it takes a little while to come out of a daze, but he's out. He's ready to play."
On a breakout for the wide receivers with Heyward-Bey and Denarius Moore back: "Yeah, this is the first time we've had both those guys, or second time, both those guys have started. Hopefully, we'll keep our fingers crossed, we can keep them on the field. It's time. It's time. We've put in a lot of work and then Dmoe went down for quite a while and then we lost Darrius Heyward-Bey last week, so hopefully, with the work we got in last week at the beginning of the bye week and this week, we hope to really kind of take off with those two guys on the outside."
On Atlanta having the same core guys on offense: "There's definitely a good reason for a lot of their success. Michael Turner has played a ton of games in a row. Their offensive line has been healthy. Obviously, Matt Ryan has been healthy. The more continuity and the more rhythm and timing you have with especially your go-to guys, those two guys on the outside are really their go-to guys, the more success you're going to have. Especially on third down and in the red zone because that's when windows get tighter and the game really picks up. So yeah, it means a lot to them and both those guys on the outside are tough to knock out of the game."
On if he's been around Tony Gonzalez and his impressions: "Yeah, a little bit. He doesn't look 36. He doesn't look 36 at all. We were talking about him and they played on Monday night, a game I watched on TV. You don't get a chance to see their offense work obviously when you're playing against their defense, but the times I've seen him on offense, he just doesn't age. He doesn't slow down. He catches the ball so fluidly and so naturally and then he's 6'6" and got phenomenal wingspan so he's a huge target. I know he's talking about maybe one more year, maybe this is his last year, from the way he looks on film, he could play for a couple more at least."
On progress in the running game: "I mean, I look at statistically, but we talk about run game efficiency and our yards per attempt have gone up, our efficiency has gone up. I said that before, when you're an arm tackle away, it's still not a good play, but we look at it as the glass is half full. We're an arm tackle away from Darren ripping off a 10-yard, a 40-yard, a 50-yard or whatever it may be. We're not discouraged. I know a lot of people outside of this facility are discouraged in our run game, but we're going to continue to work at it. We're not going to give up, we're not going to stop running the football. If anything, we're going to run the football more. That puts the ball in our best player's hand and we're not discouraged, we're going to keep doing it."
