The Atlanta Falcons (4-5) lost their second straight game on Sunday, a 31-28 loss to the Minnesota Vikings (5-4). Despite taking a late lead in the fourth quarter, the Vikings marched down the field for the game-winning touchdown.
“We can’t sugarcoat it or make excuses,” Falcons head coach Arthur Smith said in his postgame press conference. “We had our chances and we didn’t get it done.”
Atlanta made a quarterback change prior to Week 9, swapping out Desmond Ridder for Taylor Heinicke. The veteran QB passed for 268 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Smith was asked to evaluate Heinicke’s performance.
“Obviously, we did turn the ball over, but I thought he operated on third down pretty well,” Smith said about Heinicke. “We’ll obviously huddle up and evaluate everything but he definitely gave us some chances. He did make some plays on third down.”
When pressed about whether or not Heinicke would remain the starting quarterback, Smith declined to answer. Watch his full press postgame conference below, via the team’s YouTube channel.
