As he reminded them, “the media can only jam you up if you allow it too.”

“We want to make sure our responsibility is to each other, and that’s one of the fun parts of our team,” Quinn said on Wednesday.

In other words, he wanted no bulletin board material and no quotes that will take the focus off the team’s preparation for the game.

Judging by the comments players made at the practice facility, Quinn’s message came in loud and clear. You couldn’t have found a more polite — or boring — group.

“You don’t want to be that guy [who] gives bullets and bulletin board material,” Atlanta defensive end Tyson Jackson said. “You’ve got to understand the question that’s asked, and if there’s anything you don’t feel comfortable answering, you can pass.”

“You just want to keep it as even-keeled as possible.”

Jackson doesn’t think the Falcons intentionally were boring last week as much as they were careful. He still believes players can show their personality without saying outrageous things or dealing with outrageous topics.

“Everybody will have their own way to approach the media,” Jackson said. “But looking back at past Super Bowls, there are some insane questions being asked out there. You’ve got to be prepared.”

Jackson admitted it was fun coming up with questions to anticipate, although there were none he wanted to share.

“The questions that have been asked in previous Super Bowls you are [thinking], ‘Wow! Why would they ask that? It has nothing to do with the Super Bowl,'” he said. “I’m pretty sure all 63 guys in the locker room are prepared for what’s out there for us. I know I trust them.

“The Super Bowl is a media circus, so you’ve just got to get ready for it.”

7. Jan. 12, 2008: Divisional round — Patriots 31, Jaguars 20 — The Jaguars sat in zone coverage for most of the game while rushing four defenders and Brady responded with his most efficient playoff game ever, going 26-of-28 for 262 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions. His passer rating was 141.4, an all-time playoff high for him, as he pretty much made it look easy.

6. Feb. 6, 2005: Super Bowl XXXIX — Patriots 24, Eagles 21 — Brady finished 23-of-33 for 236 yards, with two touchdowns (one to linebacker-turned-tight-end Mike Vrabel) as the Patriots’ defense ultimately held off the Eagles when it counted. Brady’s favorite target was receiver Deion Branch, who had 11 receptions for 133 yards to earn MVP honors.

5. Feb. 3, 2002: Super Bowl XXXVI — Patriots 20, Rams 17 — From a bottom-line stats perspective, this game is closer to the bottom of the list (16-of-27 for 145 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT), but it gets a bump from a clutch standpoint. While John Madden was telling the TV audience the Patriots should take a knee and play for overtime, Brady — then in his second NFL season and first as a starter — helped lead the Patriots to the winning field goal at the final gun.

4. Feb. 1, 2015: Super Bowl XLIX — Patriots 28, Seahawks 24 — It took Malcolm Butler’s goal-line interception to seal the victory, but Brady was remarkable in the fourth quarter to help the Patriots storm back from a 10-point deficit. He finished 37-of-50 for 328 yards, with four touchdowns and two interceptions, to earn MVP honors, and then gave the truck he won as MVP to Butler.

3. Jan. 10, 2015: Divisional round — Patriots 35, Ravens 31 — Brady was 33-of-50 for 367 yards, with three touchdowns and one interception, to lead a furious second-half comeback from 14 points down aided by an unusual tactic in which the Patriots declared eligible receivers ineligible. Brady added a 4-yard touchdown run that he capped off with an emphatic spike, and then his fire transferred over to the postgame interview room when he countered criticism from Ravens coach John Harbaugh by telling him to study the rulebook.

1. Feb. 1, 2004: Super Bowl XXXVIII — Patriots 32, Panthers 29 — A scoreless game until just over three minutes left in the second quarter turned into a shootout the rest of the way, with Brady finishing 32-of-48 for 354 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Similar to his first Super Bowl, it required a game-winning drive in the final minute, with this one aided by a Carolina kickoff that went out of bounds and helped the Patriots start the drive on their 40.

There will be plenty of talk this week regarding Shanahan’s imminent departure and his potential replacements, so the topic of it being a distraction is sure to resurface. Plus, Shanahan himself shouldered a heavier burden when he spoke about the challenge that awaits Sunday against the New England Patriots, who boasted the league’s top scoring defense in allowing just 15.6 points per game. The Falcons had the league’s highest-scoring offense at 33.8 points per contest.

“It’s the best defense that we’ve seen in the NFL this year,” Shanahan said last week. “The numbers show it. And watch the film and you see exactly why their numbers are the way they are. They are extremely tough to score against. That’s why they’re No. 1 in the NFL. I believe only one game this year someone scored 30 points [against them].

“They have very good players all around, players that are interchangeable that can be pass-rushers, that can be linebackers, that can be corners, that can be safeties. And they have an extremely good scheme. So, it’s by far the biggest challenge we’ve had this year.”

The Falcons have shown the ability to score on anyone, hitting the 40-point mark six times, including the playoffs. Shanahan’s playcalling helped paved the way for an MVP season for quarterback Matt Ryan. And Ryan’s establishing an NFL first by completing touchdown passes to 13 different receivers proved how difficult Shanahan’s offense is to defend.

Now it’s up to Shanahan to come up with a masterful way to move the ball down the field against the Patriots. He has kept his focus on that up to this point.