On Atlanta's defense: "First thing you see is they fly to the ball. They get 11 hats to the ball. They've got good team speed. I think [DE John] Abraham still has a lot in the tank left. He's the career sack leader and he's playing really well, especially on passing situations. I like their d-line play overall. [DT Jonathan] Babineaux, I was actually in Atlanta as a coach when Babineaux was drafted and it's neat to see his progress. He's really made himself into a fine football player. He plays all four spots up front. So they've got some good generated pass rush with the front four and they just fly to the ball well with their secondary. Those two veteran corners are smart players. They diagnose pattern reads really well and make good jumps on the ball."
On his time coaching in Atlanta: "Yeah, the three years I was there '04, '05, and '06, with [Owner] Mr. [Arthur] Blank, they did a great job of setting up a family structure. The organization really put in place a lot of successful things for the players to have success as far as their athletic performance program, the facility they have, they really stepped it up when he took over and made a lot of improvements. And while I was there, they actually built I think it was $4 million of dormitories in the back end of the facility and that's where they have training camp now. They really did it first class."
On the run breaking out: "It's more from our self-examination. We've done a good job of really diagnosing, okay, what are our strengths and weaknesses in the running game? What should we do more of in our strengths? And then having two weeks of practice, having two good days during the bye week and the bonus day on Monday of our line working together and really doing a fine job. So I'm excited; I'm looking forward to seeing the result of the good work that's been put in."
On if they scheme differently playing in a dome and on turf: "Not really, from our side. From my experiences, I'll tell you this – their front four, as typical [of] most teams that are turf teams, they do play at a faster level on turf than they do on grass. So you have to account for that when it comes to protection issues. But as far as our side of the ball, our guys are so used to playing on turf from their high school, college, and pro careers, you don't change a whole lot from that standpoint."
On Brandon Myers: "Well, sometimes coordinators will go to more four wides on third downs, but he's become a very efficient receiving tight end for us, so we've stayed in three wides with him on the field for the fourth and it's really helped us out because the attention he's getting from linebackers now gives us a little more one-on-one with the receivers. It's been nice to see his progress. It's really helped us out."
On having Darrius Heyward-Bey and Denarius Moore back: "That's been great the last couple of days to have those two guys together and full speed going. So I'm excited to have both of them out there. The young guys have come along now with another two weeks of practice. This is probably the healthiest we've been at that position this year, so that's a good plus for us."
On knowing where Heyward-Bey is at: "That's a good point. That's a tough deal any player has to go through when you take a big hit like that, but he's shown…he took a couple hits in practice already this week and he's bounced right back from it, so I'm feeling confident that he'll be fine."
On importance of Heyward-Bey to the passing game: "Very important and his contributions, especially on third downs, with the size, you get one-on-one match ups, you try to create them with the defenders, is a plus for us. Also, in the red zone, using his size. Their defense plays a lot of zone down there and we'll try to find some seams and break a tackle and his size provides that for us after he gets the ball in his hands."
