Cooper Rush - Speaker, falcons Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-20 | Full transcript (primary source).
Cooper Rush spoke to the media following a challenging game for the Falcons, addressing the team's performance and their upcoming matchup against the Green Bay Packers. The press conference took place on September 20, 2026, as the team looked to regroup after a tough loss.
Transcript
Rush: Yeah, we just turn it over. You turn it over in this league, games can get away from you, and that's kind of what happened. So it wasn't our day on that end. The credits of them, they played really well. And on to Green Bay.
Rush: Yeah, it's frustrating. We're competitors. No one likes to go do that, no one likes to lose. But like I said, it's the NFL. It's what happens some days, and it's always about out in the next week. And you're going to watch it, clean up some stuff, and move on to Green Bay.
Rush: I mean, you play quarterback. It's just what happens. It comes with the territory, and you got to play better. It's how it works, and we look forward to playing better.
Rush: Yeah, it's a tough story. I got unfortunate there. Get down half a step sooner. Want that one back, just hang on the ball. So yeah, a tough start. Our defense in that first half battled their asses off and gave us a chance trying to get stuff going. They played really well early on when we kept turning the ball over.
Rush: No, it felt good today. We were rolling, felt good.
Rush: Yeah, I mean, a week like this, it's hard playing in four days, but it's also kind of a blessing after a game like this. You just get to go out there and compete again in four days. So we'll be chomping at the base of the group on offense and defense, and I'm excited for it.
Rush: Yeah, I mean, I thought, I was hoping I was down. Got to hang on to it either way, or just throw it to Han in the flat there. But saw green grass, just got to get down a little earlier.
Rush: Your teammates is what football is. It's a great group of guys. It's a long season. Every week there's ups and downs, and right now we're a little down, but we're battling. A bunch of professionals in here, we know how to do it.
Rush: Yeah, like I said, great group. It's a great team. I've been here a short time, but I've noticed the type of documents in here, and it's a good group.
Rush: Yeah, one, just congrats. Hoppin' is sharing the NFL. It's pretty awesome, undrafted guy. So yeah, I thought he'd hit himself really well.
Rush: I think it's always a little confidence boost just to get in and kind of get into a game for the first time. It was kind of the same in the preseason, getting in for the first time. I played in a regular season game, getting in there, and getting my first taste of action. So I think it's definitely a confidence boost.
Rush: I mean, the mindset always just has to be, you've got to always be ready if you're the backup. You always want to play away from going in. If something happens, like even something as simple as if Cooper's helmet had popped off or something, I would have to go in for a play when he had to come out. So you've always got to be ready for that moment. And as the game went on, I just stayed ready for the moment.
Rush: I think that can definitely help a lot. I think having film of yourself to watch is always good, whether it's in practice. And then if you're not getting a lot of reps in practice, getting individual drills and watching the film from that, just seeing what your throw motion looks like, what your feet look like, stuff like that, and how you can make yourself better just from watching yourself and now watching myself from actual in-game reps, there's definitely going to be a lot to grow from, but I'm excited for it.
Rush: I mean, it was definitely just a play where we turned it over. So we went to the sideline. We flushed it, and we made sure that we got back on the field, and that didn't happen again. But I know that we're about to get in the groove, and then just something like that happens, but it's a hard job to make sure that nobody's down on themselves, make sure nobody is poor me, because that's the last thing that we want.
Rush: You know, man, that's a hard question. That's one of those things where my job, our job, is to have the best output for whoever it is going throughout that week. Obviously, I know this league is a quarterback position. It's what helps teams, what drives teams. But for us, man, if we go into the mindset, man, who's going to be the quarterback? Then we're not doing our job effectively. But you know, man, I'm going to continue to just keep on trying to fight as much as I can, control what we can control. And whenever that announcement happens or whatever happens, we'll adjust and we'll get right to it.
Rush: Oh, bless it. Bless it. I started to match football, man. I love those kind of games. That's prime time. So we get to go out there and have fun, have fun playing. And we have to regroup, get back to it, and go to the Packers and put on the show, man. But I think it's a blessing for us.
Rush: Yeah, just don't look at the outside stuff, outside noise. Just stay with the teammates, stay with the team, stay with your family, and continue to get better with watching the film and seeing. We all made mistakes. So continuing ourselves hard on those mistakes and then getting ready to go for the next opponent. But that's all I'll say to him. Just make sure that no outside noise. Just keep it in and we're going to support you to the best of our ability, because that's what we're here to do. And we're brothers, man. So make sure that you be all right.
Rush: Yeah, man, they're confident. They've been doing it their whole life. Their confidence is there. They call to play efficiently. They do it well. So I know some things happen throughout the game, but they're calling plays really well. And we're understanding it, but we just got to go execute it the right way.
Rush: Ourselves, and making sure that we are executing every situation, going through every situation. And just the little things, those little things, those little penalties that we can clean up, it all plays an effect throughout this game. So for us to watch that film and really tell ourselves, we can't ever put that on film again. It's never going to win you a game. It's only going to lose this game. So now it's just us, we can't feel bad for ourselves. Because really, nobody else cares. They don't feel bad for us. So it's really on us as an offensive unit, as a team, to not put that s--- on the field again. And I believe we'll do it. Because we're just confident guys that love each other from the coaches down. And that's what we're going to do.
Rush: You can't focus on it. I love our fans, man, a lot, every single one of them. But if we let ourselves focus on the boo and stuff like that, then that'll creep in our mind and that'll make us have a bad performance. I know that's just what comes with this game. For us, it's our job for them to not boo again. So I know the emotion that comes with this. And the emotion is high right now for them. So it's just our job to go out there and execute.
Rush: Connection in the locker room, that's the biggest thing. And not pointing fingers. And that's how you don't allow things like that to snowball. And you have belief in one another and belief that we are going to turn the corner. And also understanding and having hard conversations with yourself and with each other when we watch film that it wasn't good enough. And understanding the why of that and holding each other accountable. And then the same turning around. And it's our job to go to work and to get it right. Because if you sit here and mull around about it, then it's supposed to hurt. It does hurt. And it's not good enough. But then the same breath, you have to go back to work. And we have no other choice.
Rush: Yeah, I mean, for us, it's a preparation standpoint. And it's part of the challenge of being in the NFL is that there's adversity that strikes teams. And we need to be able to overcome it. And so we need to be there to be the best for speaking as an offensive lineman is like for any quarterback that's back there, we need to be better for them. And so pocket, timing, run game, and just make sure that we're as clean as we can be to do our part. And so we'll have those conversations tomorrow on where we can improve.
Rush: Absolutely not. I think Mike is on his medical journey. And I think somebody who's faced as much personal adversity as Mike and has had the challenges that he's had in his career, he knows the timetable that he has for himself to be right. And we want him to be out there and feel confident in his knee and feel confident in himself. And so when he's ready, we know that as his teammates, like that he's doing everything in his power to be back.
Rush: I mean, yeah, it sucks. But for me, I understand their frustration. They're frustrated with us as players. We're frustrated, and it's our job. It's part of the deal of signing up and playing on Sundays that you have that responsibility. But in the same sense that it doesn't impact our performance going out there. It's not a great feeling, but in the same sense that we know we need to be better. And players just buying in, and there was no finger pointing. There's no jumping on guys and stuff like that. We have whatever, I don't know when it started, but the NFL game is a long game, and a lot of things can happen. And so there's belief in buying, and our job is to always keep striving at one possession at a time. And so that's your mindset as a player.
Rush: Obviously, I feel like it's always tough, man. Our job is to stop the offense at the end of the day, no matter what circumstance it is. We've got to be better. We've got to create turnovers ourselves, and we didn't do that today, so we'll be better.
Rush: I think it was a good pick route. I'm not exactly sure what happened. I got to watch the film, but I think it was a good pick route. Got to the flat.
Rush: I don't blame them, man. They came here to see us win games, and we're not doing that right now, so we've got to step it up. And that's how I see it. I don't see that as them coming at us. They want us to be better at the end of the day, and we just got to be better for them.
Rush: Not in high school or college. I had my last team, though, in the league. I will say I experienced that a little bit.
Rush: Oh yeah, it always motivates me. I always strive to get better, and clearly we have a lot of talent in this building, so we just got to be better.
Rush: Yeah. I mean, that's a great way to look at it. Either way, we got to look ourselves in the mirror and see what we did around this game and fix that for future references. But, yeah, it's always good to have a short week, so we can get back to work and forget about this one.
Rush: Like I said, we can't just, you know, we can't let a loss like this, the body of the locker room. We all got to stick together and remember, you know, that we're all here for a purpose. You know, like I said, we just got to get back to work.
Rush: As a ball player, bro, you got to let it go one way or the other. We still got a job to do, not get the frustration from the fans, but, you know, we still got to put our head down and work.
Rush: You know, they just, they kind of hit on all cylinders today. You know, the game plan that we put out for those guys didn't go as planned, but that's why we make adjustments and the adjustment that we did make was a little too late. So, you know, we just got to, you know, start way faster than we did today. And, like I said, we just got to put our head down and work. That's all we can do right now.
Rush: Um, yeah, I thought we handed it well. I thought we had a couple of sudden changes in the first half. Um, I think halftime score was 13-0. Um, so I really thought we had a chance, even, you know, with, you know, Dafuna, after 30-yard line, it was tough at times, but in those moments, I think as a defense, we got to be able to celebrate those moments for an opportunity to lift this team, to lift the stadium, get some type of momentum. So, um, it wasn't good enough today.
Rush: Yeah, I mean, it's early. It's week two. You know, nobody won their Super Bowl in two weeks. Ain't nobody, um, didn't make the playoffs in two weeks. So, um, we got a lot in front of us, um, but you just got to make sure you correct the mistakes. You can't just let it keep rolling over to the following week. Um, and what a great opportunity to go on Thursday night football and, uh, show the world who this team really is.
Rush: Yeah, it was just a sudden change. Um, the stuff that we talk about, you know, those type of things happen in the game of football and, um, you know, the great teams, their defense, they stand up and they force field goals or, um, they create a turnover to give the ball back to the offense. So, um, I feel like we didn't, we did that a couple of times, um, but there's a couple of times where we got to, we can't let them score seven. And, um, I think that's where it got out of here.
Rush: Um, you know, this city is prideful. Um, I've been here for four years now. Um, they want to win. You know what I'm saying? Uh, this locker room understands that. Um, this organization deserves the win. The city deserves the win. So I understand, um, the frustrations.
Rush: Um, I mean, that should be our mentality whenever, um, is not to give up explosive plays and, uh, force teams to kick field goals and keep it tight. Um, no matter what's going on on the offensive side, we got to stick together. And, uh, I think as a team, as a defense, as special teams, when our offense isn't playing well, we got to make a play to give them some momentum to, you know, maybe have a short field or, um, go and, you know, have a positive play. So, uh, can't really control those types of things.
Rush: Um, I just think they have a, you know, um, a great offensive mind coach, coaches over there. Um, they've been in the system for three years now. So, uh, they know what they want to do. Um, they do a really good job of, you know, playing in Bryce's strengths, playing in a lot of empty and making sure that he's not putting in, um, tough spots. So, uh, they got a really good team. Um, they got it figured out over there and, um, we'll see.
Rush: Yeah, um, you know, just stuff that happens in the game. Um, you know, we're in cover three and, uh, he threw a good ball and that's what it was.
Rush: Yeah, um, yeah, it's hard when, uh, when teams are up on you. There's a lot of, it's hard to get the ball back. Um, you know, they play it safe in front of the ball, run a lot of bootlegs, the ball's not in the air a lot. So, um, we got to be able to create those early enough to put points on the board so we can have more opportunities at it.
