Tag: Raheem Morris

While consecutive victories for the Atlanta Falcons have been validating, the timing of those wins is yet another reminder of a season filled with struggle.

The disappointment for head coach Raheem Morris and company lies in the fact that the victories are meaningless in terms of the team’s postseason implications. Atlanta (6-9) was eliminated from playoff contention for the eighth straight year after its 37-9 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Dec. 7.

Since then, the Falcons have shown life with wins over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Arizona Cardinals. Morris is happy with his team’s fight down the stretch, but the what-ifs are eating at him now.

“It is frustrating,” Morris told reporters on Monday. “You know you had an ability to pull out a win versus the Panthers, don’t make the critical mistakes we made versus the Jets, and there’s always going to be those games you can flash back to.”

Of the positives Atlanta can take from an eighth straight losing season, tight end Kyle Pitts Sr. is playing as expected this season after a mostly inconsistent five-year career for the former No. 4 overall pick in 2021.

A free agent after the season, Pitts leads the team with 80 receptions for 854 yards and has five touchdowns. He has 35 receptions for 395 yards and four touchdowns across the Falcons’ last four outings.

The 25-year-old’s future in Atlanta is uncertain, but Pitts has assured himself a likely number of suitors once the year comes to an end.

“This is what he looked like throughout the whole course of training camp,” Morris said of Pitts. “But within the course of the season, he’s shown moments like he did yesterday and even a week before. To put the consistent games back-to-back like this I think is something that’s really nice for us all to see.”

Quarterback Kirk Cousins has been a spark since taking over in Week 11, while wide receiver Drake London is back after missing four games with a PCL sprain. London had three receptions for 27 yards during Sunday’s 26-19 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

As the Falcons prepare to play spoiler next Monday against the Los Angeles Rams, Morris hopes to see London closer to full strength.

“To say banged up, no. To say he’s knocking some rust off, yes,” Morris said. “Happy that he’s doing it, happy that he’s out there with his team. We all know the type of player that Drake is and what he is on an everyday basis. He was not his normal self (on Sunday), but whatever you get from Drake is always a benefit. It’s always a blessing.”

–Field Level Media

With three games left in a disappointing campaign, all Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris wants to see is his team fight.

In a season that’s seen Atlanta (5-9) find countless ways to lose, Morris’ team is coming off a rare high. Against all odds, the Falcons overcame a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit and a franchise-record 19 penalties to stun the host Tampa Bay Buccaneers 29-28 on Thursday on Zane Gonzalez’s last-second field goal.

After losing seven of the previous eight games to ensure Atlanta’s eighth straight losing season, Morris hopes the comeback win can begin a momentum-building finish.

“All you can do is go out there and put together what it should look like and how you feel like it should look,” Morris told reporters Monday. “They went out the other night and did a lot of repeatable things, but there’s still always things to clean up.”

Ahead of an offseason with several question marks — including Morris’ job security — one of the pressing matters concerns tight end Kyle Pitts. The No. 4 overall pick in the 2021 draft, Pitts’ four-plus seasons in Atlanta have been marred with inconsistency, but the impending free agent posted the best statline of his professional career Thursday.

Pitts, 25, hauled in 11 catches for 166 yards and three touchdowns, giving the Falcons what they’ve been waiting for all season. Pitts has taken advantage of the absence of leading receiver Drake London, who’s missed the last four games with a PCL strain in his knee.

“He’s out there as the No. 1 wideout, so to speak,” Morris said of Pitts. “He got the targets that Drake would get when he’s playing. We’ve seen glimpses of it throughout the season at times. You always want more. Last Thursday, he left us not wanting more. He left us really inspired and feeling really good about how he performed.”

For quarterback Kirk Cousins — who is likely winding down his Falcons tenure as the 37-year-old has a $57.5 million cap hit if he’s on the 2026 roster — the final three games can serve as an audition for a possible offseason suitor.

Cousins threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns Thursday in his best performance since taking over for the injured Michael Penix Jr. in Week 12. Making life easier ahead of a road matchup against the Arizona Cardinals (3-11) on Sunday, London’s outlook is becoming more optimistic, according to Morris.

“Day-to-day, but more hopeful,” Morris said of London’s status. “We’ll get a chance to get him out there, and obviously, you’ve got to get through practice week, and we’ll do that on Wednesday and Thursday. But I’m very hopeful that he can go out there and play for us.”

–Field Level Media

As disappointing as the Atlanta Falcons continue to be, it’s not an unfamiliar feeling for the franchise.

With Sunday’s 37-9 bludgeoning at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta (4-9) secured its eighth straight losing season and eighth that will end without a postseason berth. Only the New York Jets — who will miss their 16th straight playoffs in January — own a longer streak of futility in the NFL.

The Falcons’ final month of the regular season will mark another December of inconsequential football as the role no team wants to play, which is that of spoiler.

“That’s awful. You never want to be in this spot,” Atlanta head coach Raheem Morris said Monday of being eliminated from postseason contention. “The job is just to go out and play spoiler right now and you’ve got a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team on Thursday that we’ve got a lot of respect for, that we love to play. That’s always a highly competitive football game and I expect no different.”

The cyclical feeling of incompetence that Atlanta fans are enduring has boiled down to a game-by-game level across the last eight weeks. Since beating the Buffalo Bills on Oct. 13, the Falcons have dropped seven of their last eight games, with the same issues repeating themselves.

Not that any of the team’s three phases have excelled — Atlanta ranks 14th in the NFC with 19.4 points per game and has allowed at least 27 points in four of its last five games — but the special teams woes are especially glaring.

The team is on its third kicker after cutting Younghoe Koo and Parker Romo. The Falcons rank last in average kickoff return yards (22.8) and are third-worst in yards per punt return (6.3). On Sunday, Atlanta had a field goal blocked, allowed Rashid Shaheed’s 100-yard kickoff return touchdown and then saw Zane Gonzalez’s kickoff sail out of bounds, leading to another Seattle touchdown drive.

There’s no clear answer to the problem, as Morris alluded to.

“We have guys that are out there to make plays and we’ve got to make them,” Morris said. “There’s no excuse for that. There’s no better way to put it other than frustration.”

As the Falcons look ahead to 2026, the offseason will bring a number of questions. Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. will be rehabbing from a torn ACL, while Kirk Cousins is likely playing his final stretch with the team after signing an eye-catching free agent contract in 2024. The job security for Morris — who has a 33-56 record as head coach of Tampa Bay (2009-11) and Atlanta (2020, 2024-25) — is certainly up in the air.

But as for changes across the final four weeks, it’s moot.

“Making staff changes right now is irrelevant,” Morris said. “You’re always going to have to evaluate everything at the end of a season. We’ve got to go out there and cover kicks. We’ve got to block and protect. We’ve got to do all the things we’re capable of doing. We’ve got people that know what to do and we’ve got to execute. That is the part that is driving me nuts. The execution part.”

–Field Level Media

For the first time in six weeks, Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris had a reason to smile in his weekly Monday press conference.

Atlanta (4-7) snapped a five-game losing streak with a 24-10 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, despite the absence of quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and leading receiver Drake London. Penix suffered a season-ending partially torn ACL against the Carolina Panthers last week, while London exited that day with a sprained PCL and missed his first game of the year.

Veteran Kirk Cousins threw for 199 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in the win Sunday, after serving in a backup role for the majority of the first 11 weeks.

“It’s absolutely outstanding,” Morris said Monday of Cousins’ leadership skills. “It was the whole reason, the purpose of being so adamant about having Kirk be a part of this football team. You’re talking about a great guy, a great human. A guy that we brought in here to be a starter. … His number was called and he was able to go out there and execute for us and get a win.”

The win kept Atlanta’s slim postseason hopes alive, with ESPN giving the Falcons a 1.5% chance of ending their seven-year playoff drought.

For Morris, putting an end to the franchise’s longest losing skid in five years was a step in the right direction, even in a disappointing season.

“Really fired up about the tape,” Morris said. “Really fired up about the guys and what they were able to do and accomplish as a team. It was a big-time team win for us and I was proud of the guys.”

Likely needing to win out to have an opportunity to earn a playoff spot, the Falcons will face the lowly New York Jets (2-9) on Sunday, a matchup with history between the two head coaches.

“I was an intern with the Jets when (current head coach) Aaron Glenn was the starting cornerback, so I know Aaron well,” Morris said. “I’ve obviously been able to stay in contact with Aaron over the years and watched his coaching career grow. He’s been up there forming a young football team that’s ready to come out and play. He’s got some really good football players, so we’ll go up there and try to find a way to win.”

Morris didn’t give an update on London’s availability for Week 13, but addressed the importance of keeping Penix and rookie cornerback Billy Bowman Jr. — who tore his Achilles in practice on Friday — in the loop.

“You definitely want to keep those guys fresh,” Morris said. “You want to keep those guys within the game plans. You definitely want to keep those guys knowing exactly what’s going on.”

–Field Level Media