Falcons coach Raheem Morris: ‘You’ve just got to pray for Morice Norris’

Here’s what Falcons coach Raheem Morris had to say after the game with the Lions was suspended because of an injury to safety Morice Norris:

Opening statement: “It’s tough to even talk to those guys. They’re so emotional about the game. They’re so emotional about what we do. They’ve all got a lot of respect for the other players in this game, and that was the ultimate show of it by the teams right there. You’ve just got to pray for Morice Norris.”

On the conversations leading to the decision to run the clock out: “Just (Lions coach) Dan (Campbell) and myself. Respect for his family, Morice Norris. It was that simple.”

On what goes through his mind when something like that happens: “It’s not a lot of times that that happens. You know, I can’t sit here and tell you that I’ve been through a lot of things, or seen a lot of things. I don’t think any of us have. That was the moment, and the decision was the right thing to do for our football team and the Lions football team.”

On whether he anticipates any backlash from the league on the decision to stop the game: “No, no. It wasn’t my thought right now, like I told you. The thought process for both of us was about Morice Norris and his family. That’s what it was all about.”

On what he said to his team after the game: “Didn’t have to say much. You look in their eyes and you saw it, and when you get an opportunity to address the team, you talk about your prayers and your thoughts for Morice and his family. You talk about them and their families and their well-being and all the things that we’ve been a part of together. It was pretty simple to talk about those things with those guys.”