Cover 9@9: Raheem Morris has earned a head-coaching shot

It’s also pretty clear after seven games that Morris is a qualified NFL head-coaching candidate and likely will land a job in the league if the Falcons elect to look elsewhere after the season.

Since taking over, the Falcons have gone 4-3 by playing disciplined football. Morris and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich have found a way to create a pass rush and create turnovers.

If the offense executed down the stretch against Detroit and New Orleans, the Falcons would be 6-1 under Morris. There also was the matter of three dropped interceptions against the Saints and a fumble that rolled out of bounds.

Morris, in an appearance on Sirius NFL Radio with Jim Miller and Pat Kirwan, said those missed opportunities were the difference between how they beat down Las Vegas and lost 21-16 to the Saints.

In the first meeting against the Saints, the offense was manhandled in the second half of the 24-9 loss. The score was 10-9 at halftime.

It was telling that against the Saints in the second game, the Falcons had only one penalty. Roughing the passer was called on defensive tackle Grady Jarrett.

That was one of the beauties of coach former coach Mike Smith’s teams. They rarely hurt themselves with penalties, were well-managed and played clutch down the stretch.

The fact that players had to stand up in front of the team and talk about their penalties was awesome. They had to own how they hurt the team.

Morris has not expressed his desire to be the Falcons’ next head coach. You get that “go 1-0 each week” shield from him. However, one of his former players, the legendary Tim Brown, spoke up for Morris.

While appearing on the Sirius NFL Radio show with host Alex Marvez on Saturday, Brown spoke fondly of Morris. He reminded us that he finished his illustrious career with Tampa Bay in 2004.

It must be noted that Brown, one of the classiest players of his era, didn’t throw a fit when he didn’t immediately go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He went in with style in 2015, unlike the petulant receiver who shall remain nameless.

But, back to Morris ...

At the time, Morris was the Bucs’ assistant defensive backs coach and Mike Tomlin was the defensive backs coach in 2004. The two made an impression on Brown, and he thought they’d both be NFL head coaches one day.

He was right.

Morris got the Tampa Bay job in 2009 at the age of 32. Tomlin has been Pittsburgh’s coach since 2007 and coached the Steelers to the Super Bowl XLIII title.

Before asking how Morris was doing, Brown shared his belief that Morris wants a job as a head coach and that he particularly wants the Falcons job.

The Falcons close out the season with games at the Chargers, at home against the Bucs, at the Chiefs and at the Bucs. They’ll be favored in only one of those games.

The Chiefs are in another world, so it will be interesting to see if beating the Chargers and maybe splitting with the Bucs will be enough to impress the Falcons.

If not, Houston and Detroit have openings. The Jets, Broncos, Chargers and Jaguars might, too, and there’s always a surprise firing or two on the Monday after the regular season.

Based on how the Falcons are playing, Morris will be on somebody’s sideline next season as a head coach.

2. Third-down back. Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter said that running back Todd Gurley’s role in his first game back after missing one was to play on third downs and in the red zone against the Saints.

After only one carry in the first half, it was stunning – to some – that Gurley had three consecutive runs with the game on the line.

“He let me know that he was capable of playing in the role that we had for him,” Morris said. “My job was to point out the specific role that I needed him to play for us and see if he was willing or able to do those things, along with our trainers and doctors and everybody else involved.”

3. Oliver surging. Falcons cornerback Isaiah Oliver is having a strong second half of the season, as he did last season. He’s been flourishing since his move to nickel back, and he played some safety against the Saints.

“Intelligence is a skill-set that I think is undervalued in the NFL,” Falcons defensive backs coach Joe Whitt said. “He’s is a very smart player. He can tackle at a high level. He has length. He can communicate with linebackers. Him playing in there and communicating with the ‘backers has been a benefit for this defense.”

4. Road trip. The Falcons are leaving for the game in Los Angeles on Friday.

“We have to go stay at our hotel and we’ll be out there for two days,” Morris said. “(On a) normal West Coast trip you get two days and you get a chance to walk through the stadium. I’m not sure how L.A. is going to be right now with the lockdown, but obviously, right now is not the fun year, so we’ll be in the hotel.”

The Falcons will have some isolation protocols.

“We’ll be in our own isolations within our own rooms and using our (contact tracing) devices like we’re using right now in order to talk to each other,” Morris said. “We have this creepy team call that we have every night when we’re on the road and at home on the phone calls when I talk to myself, I feel like, when I’m talking to the team and delivering the message. We’ll do all of those things.”

The position groups will meet in the giant room that’s normally reserved for the entire team. They’ll meet in 10-minute segments.

“Then we’ll do our walk-through out there, outside,” Morris said.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

5. Pro Bowl-bound? Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo has made all 24 field-goal attempts since Week 4.

Koo made a field goal at 50-plus yards for the fourth consecutive game against the Saints. It’s the longest such streak in franchise history and tied for the longest such streak in a single season since the NFL/AFL merger in 1970.

Koo has made at least three field goals in three games this season, which is tied with Matt Bryant (2012, 2016) for the most in a single season in franchise history.

Koo also is tied with Jay Feely (32 in 2002) for the second-most made field goals in a single season in franchise history.

6. Falcons favored: The Falcons entered the week as 2½-point favorites over the Chargers on betonline.ag.

Here are the opening lines:

Week 14 NFL football lines

Thursday, Dec. 10

· New England at Los Angeles Rams (-6)

Sunday, Dec. 13

· Houston (-2) at Chicago

· Dallas (-3½) at Cincinnati

· Kansas City (-7½) at Miami

· Arizona (-2) at New York Giants

· Minnesota at Tampa Bay (-6)

· Denver at Carolina (-4½)

· Tennessee (-7½) at Jacksonville

· Indianapolis (-3) at Las Vegas

· New York Jets at Seattle (-13)

· Green Bay (-10) at Detroit

· New Orleans (-6½) at Philadelphia

· Falcons (-2½) at Los Angeles Chargers

· Washington at San Francisco (-4)

· Pittsburgh (-2) at Buffalo

Monday, Dec. 14

· Baltimore (-2) at Cleveland

7. Television announcers: The game will be broadcast by Fox, with the play-by-play handled by Joe Davis, color by Brock Huard, and the sideline reporter will be Jenny Taft.

8. Tale of the tape: Here’s the tale of the tape for the game.

Falcons Chargers

25.9 (13) Pts/Game 23.1 (22)

371.3 (11) Tot Off. 386.2 (7)

100.7 (25) Rush Yds/Game 113.3 (15)

270.6 (7) Net Pass Yds/Game 272.9 (3)

30:54 (12) Poss Avg 32:02 (4)

25.2 (17) Opp Pts/Game 28.8 (27)

394.4 (27) Opp Tot Off. 338.6 (9)

109.2 (12) Opp Rush Yds/Game 124.2 (23)

285.3 (30) Opp Pass Yds/Game 214.4 (5)

+5 (8) Turnover Differential -3 (22)

9. Depth chart. The Falcons released their official depth chart for the Chargers’ game Tuesday.

Wide receiver Laquon Treadwell, who was activated to the roster last week, was slotted behind Calvin Ridley on the second team.

He made his Falcons debut on special teams against the Saints.

Here’s the depth chart for the Chargers game:

OFFENSE

WR 11 Julio Jones, 13 Christian Blake

LT 70 Jake Matthews, 73 Matt Gono

LG 77 James Carpenter, 65 Justin McCray

C 51 Alex Mack, 61 Matt Hennessy

RG 63 Chris Lindstrom

RT 76 Kaleb McGary, 75 John Wetzel

TE 81 Hayden Hurst, 87 Jaeden Graham, 88 Luke Stocker

WR 83 Russell Gage, 15 Brandon Powell,

WR 18 Calvin Ridley, 80 Laquon Treadwell

QB 2 Matt Ryan, 8 Matt Schaub

HB 21 Todd Gurley, 23 Brian Hill, 25 Ito Smith, 30 Qadree Ollison

FB 40 Keith Smith

DEFENSE

DE 93 Allen Bailey, 92 Charles Harris

DT 97 Grady Jarrett, 90 Marlon Davidson, 94 Deadrin Senat

DT 96 Tyeler Davison, 50 John Cominsky

DE 56 Dante Fowler, 55 Steven Means, 91 Jacob Tuioti-Mariner

LB 45 Deion Jones, 59 LaRoy Reynolds, 46 Edmond Robinson

LB 54 Foyesade Oluokun, 43 Mykal Walker

RCB 34 Darqueze Dennard, 20 Kendall Sheffield

LCB 24 A.J. Terrell, 44 Tyler Hall

NCB 26 Isaiah Oliver, 33 Blidi Wreh-Wilson

FS 37 Ricardo Allen, 41 Sharrod Neasman

SS 22 Keanu Neal, 32 Jaylinn Hawkins

SPECIALISTS

K 7 Younghoe Koo

P 4 Sterling Hofrichter

LS 47 Josh Harris

KO 7 Younghoe Koo

KR 15 Brandon Powell

PR 15 Brandon Powell

Falcons’ final four games

Falcons at Chargers at 4:25 p.m., Sunday

Buccaneers at Falcons at 1 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 20

Falcons at Chiefs at 1 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 27

Falcons at Buccaneers at 1 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 3

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