On the importance of the bye week:
"I think we need to work. But you'll take a bye week whenever you can get one. I'm fortunate enough not to really be banged up, but we do have a lotta guys in this locker room that ARE banged up. So givin' them time to heal up, givin' them time to relax a little bit, was probably somethin' we all needed."

On if it will be weird playing his old team (initial, stock answer):
"I mean, it's just another game. Obviously there's a little bit more emotion tied into this one, but it's just another one. It's another one. We just need to win. Need to win."

On if it will be weird playing his old team in their home stadium (follow-up, more honest answer):
"Not really weird. I mean, I'm not Brett Favre walking back into Lambeau. It's not that; you know, I was pretty good, but I'm not Brett Favre walking back into Lambeau. Like I said, it's gonna definitely be a lot of emotion tied into this thing; I saw a lot of those guys mature as players, you know? Mature as people on and off the field.

"[It's a] whole new coaching staff, so it's not like I know a ton of those guys. But, you know, I can't wait to just go out there and mix it up with 'em."

On if he will cry coming off the field as Brett Favre did yesterday:
"If I get a win, I might. [Bleep.] We need one. Y'all can quote me on that. We win, I'm damn sure crying. Quote that one."

On if the Falcons will be coming after him:
"I hope so. If they're coming after me, I can live with that. A chance for me to try to make a play, help us win? I can live with that all day. I hope they do."

On how the Falcons turned things around so quickly following their 4-12 season in 2007:
"Mike [Vick] was gone; we didn't have a quarterback. Petrino was an [bleep-blole]; he left. I mean, those were the two things. Obviously they drafted a great player in Matt Ryan, got a quarterback, got a coach ... I mean, this team wasn't in total disarray like everybody made it out to be."