Head Coach Raheem Morris Week 12 Media Availability | Monday, November 17th | Press Conference

Head Coach Raheem Morris Week 12 Media Availability | Monday, November 17th | Press Conference

All right. Um, you know, obviously tough loss yesterday. Um, obviously the big injury news that’s come out today. You know, Michael will go to uh to IR. Um, don’t have any further information on some of those type of things, but I’m just putting out that he’ll go to IR. So, that’ll be at least a four-week deal. Um, if anything comes up after that, you know, obviously got some some second opinions. There’ll be a bunch of different things that has to go on um over the next couple of course of the days and and figure out what else that is. And um you know, we do got some good news coming back with uh obviously Devine coming back and some of those other guys um from last week, but um Drake, another big one from yesterday. He’ll be probably week to week um and how that thing looked. Um so we’ll kind of figure that out. It’s kind of the presence we kind of use when we don’t know, but we’ll see. You never know. Drake can do come back tomorrow and feel a lot better and but we’ll get a feel for how that goes and and he’ll be a week toe guy. That’s probably the major ones you want to talk about. Yeah. Coach, uh, could you elaborate on, uh, Michael’s injury and, uh, the transition that you all have to make at the position? Really can’t elaborate on the injury because, um, don’t know much more than what I just said about him going down, getting a second opinion, doing those type of things. But, um, definitely the transition to be going to Kirk, you know, getting a chance to get Kirk out there as a starting quarterback. He’ll go through all the rotations this week. He’ll go through everything that we need to get done in order for him to go out there and, you know, get a win um, for the football team and for us. And uh that’s what we’re gonna that’s what the transition be to Kirk. Is he getting a second opinion on a possibly a partially torn ACL? Is that what the second opinion is on? Can you determine that? I don’t want to say that, you know, because that’s just not my place to say yet, you know. I want those guys to get a chance to look at it and see it. Um go look in it and get all the details about it. Um give them my opportunity to do it and definitely when I find out I’ll update it with you. Not trying to hide anything from you guys, but I want to make sure before we actually confirm anything about your quarterback. Diablo is returning or Diablo will be back this week. Open get a chance to open up window and get a chance to go. Is there a concern that that might be gone for the rest of the season? Um there’s always concern anytime you put anybody on IR with all our guys. There’s always a concern about that. You know, hurting for the young man, you know, especially how well he’s playing at the beginning of that football game, you know, uh really finding his groove. Um I like this week of preparation. I like the way he went through everything. I like how he was prepared at a very high level. I like how he took a lot of ownership on it yet last week. Um, and really was ready to have a bounceback week and um, it’s just as uh, it’s heartbreaking to for him to go out and get hurt and there’s always a concern of of any of those type of things missing time. And I just want to confirm so you say Diablo’s back. So are you saying he’s going to be playing on Sunday or just that he’s opening his 21day window? Well, definitely opening the window and uh, assuming everything goes well, he should be back playing. Can you clarify the timeline for the second opinion, Mike? I’m just trying to understand. I mean there have been points this year the injury reporting has been uneven and I just want to understand the timeline and what we can expect to know when um I don’t know that you know obviously you got the second opinion um obviously those second opinions got to come from outside the building um and we’ll just wait on those things and as soon as I get it those I’ll definitely get that stuff to you guys or David to put something out for sure when it when it comes to a knee especially someone like Michael who has had a history of of knee issues um you know I asked about the rest of the season, but could there also be even be concerned about spring program, training camp, that type of thing? Is that something that you guys are even considering yet or concerned about yet? Yeah, obviously that’s going to come with the second opinion. That’s going to come with with everything that we have going on. So, you know, these guys, you know, it’s just the process you go through. Um, yesterday comes out of the game. Had a chance to return. We didn’t rule them out. Um, and then you got to go through the stuff this morning with all the imaging and all things that has to happen, the second opinions. And when those things get back to us, we’ll uh let you guys know. And then Madri, it’s it’s his is his right knee or his left. I’m not sure. It’s which knee um it was the uh I’m not sure the extra side of the knee, but it was definitely the knee. Um he banged up and be a week toe thing for us. Mike’s Mike’s injury is the same knee that the bone bruises on. Are they related in any way? Is it I don’t want to answer that, you know, like I don’t know if they’re related. Um, I think there are always kind of a, you know, some some ways around that stuff, you know, and definitely could be and I, you know, those are doctor-like questions, you know, but, um, for sure we’ll get all that information to you as we get it. So, you you thought he could come back in yesterday and I saw he finished the game on the sideline. He wasn’t in a ton of pain. he was definitely out there and um he wasn’t sure, you know, he couldn’t didn’t sure just didn’t feel as stable as he wanted it to and um so we had to keep him alive so to speak in the game and so he had got a feel this morning and uh and obviously it’s going to be an IR situation required for us to put him on. So that’s what we’ll do. And he had an MRI here this morning. He did it this morning. Uh what you told team this morning and then what was your message? you know, um, we keep letting these opportunities slip between our fingers and our hands and whatever else you want to say and and we got to we got to go out there and we got to win these football games and the guys can and they’re capable of doing it. You know, the way we started the game yesterday, not exactly the three and out or how we started on the the long drive touchdown, but what we got going right after that, you being able to go down and score on three consecutive drives, you know, getting that thing to 21, being able to get a bunch of major stops on defense, you know, going to the halftime with a lead. Um, and we got to go out there and win these football games that we’re capable of winning because we can. Um, we got enough people, we got enough guys, we got all hands on deck, everything we need. Um, and they know it and we got to go win these football games with five straight losses and then, you know, you lose your quarterback. Obviously, this is not the greatest situation. How do you how do you kind of recenter folks? How do you kind of get guys back on on track? Uh, you know, you know, obviously it hurts your heart when your quarterback goes down or anybody in your football team, any of your guys. That’s that’s definitely uh always one of those things was going to be harmful, but you got to recenter. You got to focus. You got to go with the next man up mentality. Um you got to lean on, you know, other people other places to be able to go find a way to get those things done. You know, you got really good football players here, whether you’re talking about Ban Robinson, Tyler Alier, you know, you’re talking about Mooney, you’re talking about Cal Pitts, and you got all these people that are that are really healthy that can go out there and lead you, and we’ll let the guys go lead us and get that thing done. Is Kurt to have a kind of a stabilizing force in this type of situation? You know, Curtis is, you know, Kurt’s been a guy that’s been able to go out there and start a lot of games in the league. Um, he started a lot of games for us. Um, he’s got us to a nice start last year. Um, and now he got an opportunity to sit back and watch and and really grow and u got to get him going this week. Go out there and lead the football team. How Harrison played for you guys that got extended uh play counts yesterday. You know, obviously everybody had really good moments and we had some poor moments. You know, Harrison had uh a lot of really uh good moments, a lot of big- time plays, a lot of tackles, a lot of production. You know, there’s always going to be moments that you want back. Um particularly that last play on defense or closer to the last play on defense when they got the big play, big explosive. Um Brooks went out and made a few plays, gave up a few plays, you know, but he fought and it wasn’t always going to be the best game for everybody. Um but you got to go out there and fight and they did that. Um and you got to give those guys credit for that. Um but, you know, obviously you want more. Um, and you need more in order to get a win. Kind of on that same note, Kobe Bryant got his first NFL action. What do you see from him? I think he played about 11 snaps. He was able to go out there and really have a The thing that’s most noticeable was probably the big time third down stand up uh when he’s covering the tight end manto man and then got us to that fourth and one which Kellis made the great play on for us. Um, he actually made a play down, backed up on another third down where he was able to make a tackle, get off the grass and he really went out there and contributed on some special teams stuff as a hold up as a gunner. So, I saw a lot of good things from Kobe. Um, a lot of growth, a lot of development um, from that young man. Mike and Drake out, do you lean more on the run game to emerge? It’s fair to say that, you know, you know, you got two of your better players out in your passing game. Uh, when you talk about your quarterback, you talk about Drake, uh, you definitely have to lean more and be definitely got to lean more on Tyler and all those things and definitely Cal Pitts and some of those other guys. But, uh, fair question about your job security at this point. Um, that’s what we do, you know, in this business. That’s just a part of it, right? You always think about that like just our part of it, you know, that’s that’s our job. Our job is winning and that’s what we’re supposed to do. And that’s why we that’s always going to be something that you can talk about. Is there a more specific explanation of what Drake is dealing with? What is the actual injury other than he’s he’s a knee um and obviously as a PCL um and um he’s had it before. Um done some of those things. So, we’ll we’ll kind of just let that thing roll with that. Do your record in playoff positioning have anything to do with the decision to bring Mike back or not in week 16? Will it be will it be strictly uh if he can play he’ll play or might you decide if you’re eliminated from the playoffs that he he would you would give him more time? You know I haven’t gone really past this game you know like uh getting ready for New Orleans. I know he won’t be ready to play that game and then obviously we got four weeks that we know we put him on IR for sure. Um, other than that, we’re waiting back for some opinions. We’re waiting back for the people to tell us exactly what it is and what it’s going to look like. And as soon as we get that information, we’ll give it to you guys. Direction on where to go for a second opinion or is that completely his decision? Um, a lot of those things with second opinions, you know, obviously we have we have our people here that look at it and then obviously all these guys have agents and all the agents have different people to look at, sometimes multiple um when you talk about some of the second opinions. So, they’ll get those things done. Um if direction is ever needed from us, we certainly can recommend, but usually um those recommendations come from agents, those recommendations come from the player. Um and those all the things that is kind of normal um on a week to week basis when you’re talking about the injury and dealing with that. Josh, with the change at quarterback, does will the offense have to look different? You’re going from a lefty to a righty. You’re going from a guy who’s more primarily at the pistol versus a guy who, you know, spent more time in his career on your center. how you can’t run the same exact set of plays, right? So, the offense is going to look a little different this week. Is that fair to say? Yeah, it’s fair to say it look different. You know, obviously with Kurt and uh and Mike, different playing styles. Uh definitely look a little bit different. You know, what Kurt can do really well, that’s what we’ll try to do. Um the things that he does well, the things he did well for us when he was starting, you know, some of the things he he’s done in his past would be to do some of those things. Um we’ll definitely bounce back and definitely get some, you know, have an ability to sit down and talk with him throughout the course of the week. Um, but definitely fair to say that it looked different than what it looked with Mike. You know, you named a lot of the the differences, you know, leftsided offense, right sided offense, some of those different things, but um, they look a little different. Have you personally spoken with Kurt and kind of what was his reaction now the reports are out and the next four weeks are kind of just spoke to everybody as a team today? You know, it was kind of a group team. Um, more so spent more time, you know, with Mike uh, talking with him a little bit more um, just uh, on a one-on-one basis. um you know, just hurting for the young man. You know, we we’ll move forward as we move forward through the course of the day and tomorrow and and as we get into Wednesday’s practice and some of those different things and we’ll get a chance to talk with Kurt and as we get him back in the building. You have a chance to get uh Matthew Burgger on today. Defin that that’s another guy um looked good towards the end of the week. You know, obviously um he’s felt a lot better. Um so I very hopeful that we get a chance to get him back this week. last time you had Kirk as a starter and break I believe was that Miami game. Yes. Where the offense really struggled. Um how do you make sure you don’t have that kind of repeat offensive performance this week? Yeah. The only thing you can do is go to practice and and make sure you can go get all of the things you need necessary to get it done. You know, there was a lot of limbo that week um throughout the course of the week. You know, this week right now, you know, there won’t be any limbo. Um you know, you’ll be out there. We’ll be able to plan accordingly and go about our process accordingly. Um full week, you know, full work week with all the guys working together. Uh Mike, who’s in the offer? Any news on them? D obviously got to clear the concussion protocol. Uh Mike’s feeling a lot better. Um don’t have a true blue. We’re back. Have a feeling a lot better about those guys being back. Mike has no no surgery planned at this point. No procedure planned at this point that you know. Again, all all we have Josh, not being frustrated with you, but all we have right now is we put him on IR. We’re waiting a second opinion. We’re allowing those guys and giving them peace to go through the due process and due diligence. And as soon as we have anything, I promise you, we’ll give it to you. Anything else? Yeah. Looking at the receiver room now with with Drake injured. Um, you know, it’s pretty pretty weakened. Um, and Ray Ray Mloud was a huge part of this receiver room last year. Um, it’s Don’t you miss him? Don’t you wish you had a receiver like him to to play this week? I know I based, but I got a lot of confidence in, you know, David Seals going out there and being a step up for us and do some really good things. We got to get Mooney to bounce back and do a lot of things for us that we want him to do. Obviously, Cal Fitz plays a factor into that receiver room. BJ plays a factor into that receiver room, some of the things he’s able to do. And we got a bunch of people that need some opportunities and uh they’ll get them. Uh we’ll find out about a lot of our guys this week. We’ll get a chance to look at those guys and work. Um it’s not that you uh don’t want the production from those guys. I think you can get those the production from those guys. I think we’re all just going to make decisions based off performance base. There’s always going to be those ways. But you’re definitely going to miss Drake. You know, obviously he’s been super productive. He’s been outstanding for us all year. Um he’s an emotional leader for us. Uh he’s our barnyard bully. He’s a tough guy and uh he certainly would be missed. When Darnell broke his collar bone over the summer, was there any consideration to bring in more veteran faces to uh it wasn’t No, you mean uh first day of training camp? Yes, sir. Yeah, first day of training camp. Um you know, obviously didn’t we knew how we would get them back. We had the plan, you know, obviously you knew it would take the the course of the training camp. We knew it would take about four weeks for him to get back into the play speed. You know, had the unfortunate hamstring, so you really didn’t feel like you would miss much and you felt like we’d be able to carry the load for him up until that point. So, um, so no, we felt like we had everything we needed in the building to get it done. Um, and unfortunately had it hadn’t panned out for us the right way. We saw you had to talk to Drake to kind of calm him down a little bit yesterday, but is there a part of you that sort of I mean, did you like seeing that with the team struggling now? See? Yeah, Drake’s a dog, you know. You know, but um taunting is uh was of emphasis of the league yesterday. Um and it was something that was brought to our attention. Obviously, they’re always going to give you things that are always the emphasis. And I was just making sure we didn’t cross the line, you know. Um so, when I’m talking to Drake, you definitely love who Drake is, what they do, how they go about their business. um the intensity that he brings to the game, but I just wanted to make sure we didn’t cross the line uh where it goes into the taunting phase where you can hurt your team and that that was all that was with Drake. Um it was less about calming them down. It was more about let them know what the emphasis was, you know, let’s not make let’s make sure we don’t go and cross the line of u to a penalty. And um I know y’all been busy today with the quarterback. Uh but um the Saints are coming up u you know what what have you seen from them? I know they they were rested coming off of a win. Yeah, they had a big time win versus Carolina, you know, and um it’s a young team with a young coach and um they’ve gotten better throughout the course of the year and uh it’ll be, you know, our big one of our bigger rivals and we got to go down there and get a win. Well, then the quarterback changed there. He’s a little bit older kid, but yeah, he’s young kid, you know, obviously went out there and played well. You know, I got a lot of respect for both of those guys. Got a chance to look at both of those guys coming out. um you know clearly um young man Rattler that played you know the year before like looked at him extensively a bunch um so we know a lot about him and then now Tyler you know show was going out there and you done some good things obviously getting them a win what have you seen just specifically from James and Jaylen just the way that they’ve progressed I mean statistically it seems like they’re making a big impact there but uh what have you seen from them on the from your side I think they’ve just been getting better you know every single week uh Jaylen started off you know really playing really well in the run game really strong really physical you know, throwing people around. He found some pass rush and then he was able to go and uh really get out the passure and really apply pressure and do some really good things for us that way. You know, James started off where he was really affecting the game as a pass rusher first and now I’m starting to see his run game just grow and grow into a more physical player. Um, knowing his style of play, you know, some of the things that he’s getting from his guys and some of the things that he’s been able to contribute and those guys going out there and contributed every single week. Um, I think James had a sack yesterday. um a big time what would have been a sack and a two-point play. Um obviously they don’t count, but I thought I thought it was a great rush. I thought it was some great moments out there for him. Um and Jaylen’s had those similar moments um just at different times. They just been out there playing at a really high level and um they’re going to they’re going to be really talented, good football players for a long time for us. Thanks, guys.

Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Raheem Morris speaks with the media as the Falcons get set for a NFC South rivalry matchup against the New Orleans Saints.

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