Here’s what Falcons interim coach Raheem Morris said after the 44-27 loss to the Buccaneers in the regular season finale:
On the challenge of facing Buccaneers QB Tom Brady twice in three weeks: “He’s a great quarterback. He certainly makes all of the plays he needs to make. We were not able to make enough plays down the stretch. I was really proud of how the team fought back into the game, but Tom is cool, calm and collected. He was able to come out there and lead a couple of really good drives and make a couple of really good plays, the big-time play he made down on third down and extra long was phenomenal. A great throw and a great catch by Godwin. Those guys executed that play and it was a turning point in the game which got the score out of whack.”
On what it says that the Buccaneers put up nearly 500 yards of offense: “When you come out and you play these guys, you know they’re going to get yards. You have to get the ball back. It’s like playing Drew Brees. You’re not going to stop these guys from accumulating yards. You’re not going to stop those guys from doing those things. You have to win on the critical downs. You have to win on third down and you have to win when you get the chance to get the ball back. When you have a chance to get the ball back, you have to take advantage of that and be able to go out there and play.”
On how he would summarize his 11 games as interim head coach: “You don’t. You let you guys sum that up. That’s your guys’ job. It is what it is. Had a chance to interview with these guys. It was a great interview. I had a chance to sit down with Mr. Blank and some of the people at the top, Rich McKay and some others. Had a lot of fun with that. That time is over with. Now we play the waiting game and we’ll see how it goes and see what the decision makers say.”
On his interview for the full-time head coach position: “It went well. It was fair. It was long. It was definitely appreciated. I definitely am invested into the Falcon family in that way and I appreciate those guys.”
On whether he hopes to remain the Head Coach of the Atlanta Falcons next season: “There’s no doubt. I love this football team. I love this city. I love this organization. I love the owner. I love these players. These guys are not far away and they have a chance. They’ve been battle-tested. They played against a bunch of playoff-bound teams in the last couple of weeks. They fought but have not been able to get the wins. We’re that close. We have to find a way to get over the edge and if we were able to get to this point and are in this spot again next year, we will find a way.”
On what this team is missing to take the next step: “It’s what we talked about just in general. We have to find a way to be able to run the ball more consistently. We have to find a way to get after the quarterback with our four-man rush. If we can do some of those things, we are going to be the team to beat and we’re going to be a team to deal with moving forward.”
On what the 2020 Atlanta Falcons showed the incoming general manager this season: “Not really interested in that. He’ll come up and he’ll have his own opinions, whoever that is. Those guys are going to pick a great evaluator. They’re going to pick a great guy with people. They’re going to pick a great guy as part of our family and our core values. I look forward to seeing what that looks like.”
On the struggle to run the ball this season and whether the long run by RB Brian Hill is what he hoped to see more of this season: “You never can just say one long run is what you hoped it would look like. When you have one long run, especially with a great player like that by Brian Hill making a play, you would like to see it but you would like to see it efficient. You want to get those things efficient so you can run the ball, turn around and let Matt hand that thing off and be able to eat up time and keep Tom Brady off the field. Those things always come about and help you win. Those are the things we were looking for in those situations.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
On the offensive performance today: “Really loved the fight in the team. The offense kept rolling. We came out at halftime and let those guys know it’s simple. You go out there and score when you have the ball. You go out on defense and stop them. Those guys were able to go out there and accomplish those things and get us right back into the game and made it a three-point game. We have to go out there and be able to finish the game to get to that point. We got to that point, Tom turned into Tom and was able to get us.”
On the performance of OL Matt Hennessy: “We’ll have to go look at the tape and review that but obviously he kept him off his back a bunch, we were able to get a couple of runs, we saw him on some second-level blocks. I’ll have to go evaluate tomorrow and see what’s going on there.”
On whether he had a sense for a while that WR Julio Jones would be out for the final games of the season: “No, you give Julio every chance that he can and every opportunity to try to go. He was able to run a little bit more this week. Obviously, made the decision that he couldn’t go, and it is what it is. We look forward to getting a healthy, strong, physical Julio back next year.”
On how Buccaneers QB Tom Brady was able to exploit matchups with WR Chris Godwin: “Time. He was able to sit back there, pat the ball, move around with his feet, he’s going to scan it as well as anybody in the National Football League. He found the right guy at the right time and he’s going to make the play when you give him that much time.”
On his evaluation of WR Russell Gage this season and whether he was able to step up in the absence of WR Julio Jones: “It really has nothing to do with Julio. Russell Gage is a very good football player who was part of the decision to move on from Mohamed Sanu and to be able to insert him into our starting lineup. He was able to step up when he had the opportunity. He’s a very good football player in this league and will be for a long time.”
On whether he’s at all glad the season is over given everything that’s happened this year: “No chance. I love this game. I love football. I want to coach every single week of life. This is what we all get paid to do. This is what we all love to do. I just can’t believe we get paid to do it because we love it so much. There’s nothing more that I’d like more than to continue on in these playoffs and put this team in position to be able to win. It’s a great opportunity to be able to do that and hopefully we get an opportunity next year.”
On whether he has other head coaching interviews scheduled with other teams: “All of things will be out tomorrow. Obviously, you guys will have a bunch of fun with Black Monday. That’s always fun for media people, not so much for coaches. We sit around, we’re waiting and we will figure those things out and figure out what we’re going to do with our families and be able to do an interview if we can.”
On whether he plans to interview for any assistant coaching jobs before the Falcons name a head coach: “Unfortunately, you have to do what you need to do when you’re talking about the job search. You don’t sit around and wait for anybody. You have to go out there and be a go-getter. I’m a football coach. I’m going to continue to coach football. I love coaching football and we all do. So, we’ll all be out there and have to be proactive and do what we need to do.”
Falcons’ 2021 draft position
(Heading into Week 17 Games)
1. Jacksonville Jaguars
2. New York Jets
3. Miami Dolphins (via Houston)
4. Falcons
5. Cincinnati Bengals
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