Head Coach Raheem Morris Week 13 Media Availability | Monday, November 24th | Press Conference

Head Coach Raheem Morris Week 13 Media Availability | Monday, November 24th | Press Conference

[Music] Yeah. Coach, um, uh, you know, what was your field review after you got a chance to, you know, break down the game and look at some of the things y’all were able to to get done on Sunday against the Saints? Um, Saints obviously a very physical team. You know, start on the offensive side of the ball first. was proud how we went out and stuck with the run, you know, really versus a really physical, strong team, even though they weren’t all efficient at the beginning, just being able to stick with it and kind of grind through, you know, some of the tough downs versus that defense. And what Brandon Staley presents, um, I thought they did an excellent job, whether you’re talking about Zack or or Leed or our front, um, being to go out there and stick with that, I think we end up with 120 yards, whatever the case may be. um you know both be you know and obviously uh Tyler going out there you know grind away some tough yards and then being able to go out and 13 personnel with all those tight ends out there and being able to create some space create some lanes get some cutbacks and things of that nature being able to stick with it and playing a bunch of unconventional guys who hadn’t been out there a bunch for us all season but you know finding a way to come up with a a game plan that these guys can go out and execute and I thought those guys did a nice job with that on offense you know then obviously that opened up some play action pass and a shot down the field for us that really opened for us and gave us a chance to go out there and play. You know, on defense, it was nice to watch those guys go out there really um on the two big drives that we gave up to get them down the red zone and not allowed him to get in um two times was was was absolutely phenomenal. That was awesome. I think they kicked the field goal after the bat snap, but being able to stop on the fourth down one down there and being able to get him to, you know, get the bat snap. They almost had a bat snap earlier. You know, TA made a great catch and uh to force that bat snap or whatever the case may be to get the ball over his head to make them get attention grounded in there, make him kick the field goal. um and really uh really opened it up for us to to go out there and hit the explosive and then get to the two-minute drive and then to watch us get into the two-minute situation and not have to blitz as much to get some pressure to generate it with our front four. Um to watch those guys get the the pressure the amount of pressure that they was to get the amount of um sacks they were to get getting home with the front four rushing you know uh really yesterday I think out of out of season low for us. I think David just told me that as far as the pressure and things of that nature and on special teams really a nice nice day outside of two plays. You know, the the long kickoff return where we kind of lost leverage and then the other one where we kind of got a big kickoff return um and had a uncharacteristic penalty come up and and bite us and and move us back. But really fired about the tape, really fired about the guys and what they were to do and accomplish as a team. Big- time team win for us and uh I was proud of the guys. How did Floyd and uh Diablo do in their return to uh play? flow was awesome. You know, the amount of rush that he was able to provide out there, you know, bunch of pressures, really won the sack, got close a couple of times out there, kind of fell off, I think one got close on a couple other ones, whatever the case may be. Um, Divine was absolutely outstanding. Um, he’s the eraser. Um, he’s that guy that kind of eliminates, you know, every once in a while it’s a bad play. When a guy gets out of the gap, he cleans it up because of his speed. Um, his ability to go out there and cover and and really put you at ease and do a lot of different things that Dine does was uh was great to have those guys out there. Dine and his big club almost getting a pick. Um, that was a lot of fun and uh watching those guys go play, they were they were absolutely awesome. Jaylen Walker and uh James Pierce Jr. are now one and two among rookie sack leaders. Have they exceeded expectations in a way or they add expectations? How would you kind of evaluate that? I didn’t really compare them to everybody else. You I kind of just compare them to what we thought we can get from them. Um, and we got them. You know, we immediately talked about those guys being able to be an immediate edge presence for us and being able to go out there and be contributors from day one. So, I think they’re at expectations on what we kind of hope they would do. You know, you never really want to put those sack expectations on rookies. We kind of talked about this early on. I think the sack leader last year from a rookie standpoint was Jared Vers with four and and so it’s like sometimes you put unrealistic, you know, expectations on some of these young guys coming into the league because of what the freak did. Javon Kur did his rookie year, right? Just as an example. Um, it’s hard to get to the quarterback. It’s hard to rush the quarterback. It’s a it’s a process. But I think they have really done a nice job of really filling in those roles and really getting better and better every single week. You know, Jaylen had to deal with a little bit of groin issues earlier. We’re worried about the setback. It definitely hasn’t done that. It’s allowed him to get better and better. James clearly um has been able to go out there every single week and get better and better every week. And I’m I’m really proud of both of them. Have you seen Pierce Have you seen Pierce make a bit of a leap in recent weeks? I think it’s like four might be four straight games now with the sock for for him. Um I think three straight games. It’s hard to say like to see him make a leap because the pressures were already there. The the intent was the right way. He’s actually gotten to the sack now, you know, like in Minnesota game. I mean, I think he could have had three sacks. I think he fell off too, you know, so it’s hard to say he’s like just starting to get it because he’s it’s kind of been going. But he definitely has gotten better. Um he’s learned the spots. He’s learned more about the calls, when he can absolutely shoot his gun, when the control rush has to go down, when it has to be power, you know, um, how do you rush in the red zone, how do you rush out in open grass, you know, limiting the mistakes on some of the like pressures that we have and things of that nature. Watching him drop in coverage yesterday and make a couple plays, like he’s definitely gotten better. Um, and he’s definitely got a better grasp every single week in his studio’s process. You know, his process has gotten better in practice. His process has gotten better in the meeting rooms. process has gotten better uh and has really showed and become game reality for us. There’s been a lot of talk over the last few weeks about, you know, that that not having a first round pick coming up in April, right? But you guys used that pick on James Pierce Jr. Yes. a few months ago, right? You know, looking back and and where are you now and what you’ve seen from James Pierce, still feeling as strong about that now as you did back in April? Yeah, man. I we love James Pierce. I hate to say I, you know, he’s done a great job of providing us a lot of uh relief in some of our pass rush and things that we wanted to do this year. So, being able to go get Jaylen and being able to double it up and get James. Um, and also really, I can’t remember which one it was. Was it Watt or was it Billy? We provided the pick as well, being able to trade back or swap us, whatever the case, but whatever we did. Um, I thought I think you got to factor in all of those things to being able to make our football team better and our defense better this year. So, like, you know, like I love those guys. Have a few questions on offensive scheme if you’re ready for it. Sure. Um, I think that there everybody’s talking about there was a serious uptick in play action, Kirk going under center. I know last night you said that a lot of the decisions involved accommodating Kirk is when you’re saying those things like are you referring to that play action and and kind of going under center looks? um some of it, you know, in and those things that in that in that matter, you know, some of his types of routes, you know, but like realistically, I don’t know if it was an uptick in play action, it was probably about the same whether we were in pistol or whether we up under with the number of play actions. Um I think we got the really big explosive last night that we we was able to get out of it that was really turned into it. Um I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me on what it was and all those type of things. it was like uh whatever the case may be, but like when you look at it from a defense perspective really pistol and dot when we plan it on defense usually is the same thing. Um every once in a while you have some teams that come out of pistols and they they get drop back pass like we were able to do um Allah Tampa last year with Kurt or Allah a couple games um this year because it kind of hides some of your gun stuff that you want to do uh when you are passing. So like it’s just kind of a matter of what you think you need in order to go out and win that football game. you know, some of the concepts, some of the things that we do with Kurt. Um, some of the ways we’re able to create the pocket for Kurt to, you know, Kurt’s going to be there, you know, we know that and like so be able to make them nice and comfy and cozy in that pocket with some of the things we want to do in our protection schemes and of that nature. Like I think all those things factored in, but it was like how do we get the best version of all of our guys and all of our in our quarterback and find a way to go out there and get a win? And I got to give those guys a lot of complimentary work on what they did last week. Being able to get those things, even changing personnel groupings somewhat more than we were accustomed to, like and that wasn’t because of Kurt. That was something that we wanted to do to make sure that we can get the best out of our guys. Can you talk more about that with the especially the the 13 personnel and deploying it at the rate that y’all were yesterday? I mean, saw a lot of success doing it. Was that something that y’all even pinpointed prior to this game or was this a game-pecific look that y’all were wanting? You know, this week it was pretty game specific, you know, like um there’s a lot of different things that change up when it comes to those type of things. I think think you’ve seen a bunch of different personnel groups or more personnel groups this year than he even did last year and it was kind of like game specific on how you want to do it, how you want to deploy it. You know, whether you’re talking about, you know, Van being out as a wide out a little bit more than he has been in the past and he’s been able to do some of those things for us this year or this or yesterday with it being 13 and getting those guys out there being deployed in different spots whether it’s Mooney, whether it’s Cos, whatever the case may be. So like I think it was really game specific on the game planning that we want to have done for this week and I think those guys again kudos to Zach, kudos to all the guys that had a part to it. Obviously there coach Koger um he was a coach today having you know 13 personnel out there. Uh how much looking back on last week? I know y’all talk to Kirk all the time about what he wants to do and and what y’all want to do as an offense, but what were kind of those levels of conversation? like did Kirk come to y’all and say, “Hey, here’s what I’m most comfortable with. Here’s what I would like to do.” And y’all married it to what y’all have been doing with Mike? Like can you kind of walk me through that process? Now, we have a system and the system’s been in place, you know, when Kurt was here before. You know, obviously he was starting in to do those things. So, we kind of know um what it looks like, what that whole process look like, what Kurt likes. So, it doesn’t go so far as that Kurt coming in saying what he wants, but we build a plan like we do every Tuesday. You know, obviously Kurt comes in, he has he’s able to have a lot of input into it. Um, so when he comes in and we can say exactly what he likes, especially after we get some practice reps and do those things and go out there and look at it and I love this concept, love this, love that, you know, love this scheme, love being here, um, love this protection for these reasons. I like to do these things and like, you know, it’s just it’s just what you want to have with your quarterback, the ability to go out there and communicate to make sure you get the best stuff across and that’s what they were going to do this week. And um, I I see it going that way moving forward. I guess to that with having Kirk, you know, obviously long time better veteran in this league. How valuable is it that you know when Michael goes down, you have that option where a lot of teams don’t have that? It was absolutely outstanding. Um it was the whole reason the purpose of you know being so adamant about like having Kirk a part of this football team, you know, um talking about a great guy, great human. Um a guy that we brought in here to be our starter, right? You know, obviously it worked out that Mike became our starter and then you got a guy that’s going to be ultimately supportive through the time that he was able and now his numbers called and he’s able to go out there and execute for us and get us a win and like I thought that was uh that was huge. I have kind of a random one for you. Sure. Uh Jake Matthews uh he’s one or maybe two starts away from being number five all time as far as game started streaks at offensive line. His dad is number one, right, Bruce? Wow. He’s going to be number five. Don’t be that guy, Mark. John running. Um, that’s kind of crazy, right? You know, to have a guy who’s been here since 2015. It is. It’s actually sick, you know. Um, you’re right, Tori. It’s 189. That’s That’s absolutely It’s a credit to to Jake. Number one, first and foremost, is, you know, obviously you got to give the family credit because they got some some family history that’s that’s unique. Um he has a little boy that I see running around that’s probably going to have a 200 yard 200 game streak as well based on the looks of him. Um um it’s a credit to way he takes care of his body. It’s a credit to everything that he does. Is credit to the organization u being in one organization being able to um credit to not only the performance team now but the performance teams from the past to be able to help him do those things. And obviously um Jake sought out ways to make sure that he always is available for his football team. like he’s absolutely stud and um he’s unbelievable. It’s uh you know this is kind of a strange question to be asking like at this point in the season, but you have like two young individuals in like Mike and Billy who now are looking at long roads to recovery. They’re looking at potentially not like getting back on the grass at full go for months and months. Yep. How do you keep those guys engaged as they’re going through recovery to the point of like keeping their minds right? Actually, Tori talked about that um a little bit with Mike more so than Billy. Billy happened on Friday, right? So, I didn’t talk to him nearly as much, but they’ll all be getting their surgeries, doing that stuff, and then obviously there’ll be a small amount of recovery time where um you’re down, you’re out, and then um you do those things. And then once you get back into it till you got the ability that you’re mobile and do some of those things, you want to keep your mind fresh. Um, so getting those guys a part of whether it be Billy working with the DBs or doing some little small assignments for the DBs or whatever the case may be. And the same thing with Mike. Um, being able to get back in doing some things on offense just to make sure his mind’s fresh. And then once you get back to being able to do some things, you know, obviously on the grass. I mean, that’s what he’ll be doing with our guys and our people that’s getting them right. Um, but you definitely want to keep those guys fresh. Definitely want to keep those guys within the game plans. Definitely want to keep those guys knowing exactly what’s going on. you know, part, you know, particularly they’re pretty much both the quarterbacks of our defense, right? Talking about the nickel and our quarterback. So, like getting those guys to stay involved with the daily game plans and the daily rhythm and routine. Um, that won’t happen for a little bit, you know, up until they can get back and be mobile enough to do those things, but, you know, obviously want to get those guys back as quickly as possible. During is Penn uh this week in LA that we saw, I believe so. Don’t have a day on me right now. I know it’s upstairs. I didn’t really look at that. I know the day is coming up. Um today’s Monday is either is either Tuesday or Wednesday let I can’t I can’t give you the exact date on that but definitely coming up really quickly and Billy’s definitely planned as well. I don’t have a date on that. And uh we saw uh you know all the doctors are weighing in the internet doctors and whatnot saying the nine or 12 month recovery window. I am not going to participate in the internet. Your doctor your doctor. I tried to get your doctor. They wouldn’t give them to No, they not going to get doctor. Get a doctor. They used to Did they What year was that, Lyn? 90 something. I’ve never heard a doctor talk. We used to get the doctor all the time. Julio, but we had the doctor. I never heard a doctor tell you the doctor on Matt Ryan’s turf toe. You’re just saying how old you are. Yeah. But anyway, your doctor telling you, what’s your doctor telling you? They all have the same thing you have, right? Until you go in there and actually do it. Okay. You can’t do it. No. You know, you got to go in there and do it. Then everybody’s going to be a little bit different, you know? But like you definitely have a a roundabout estimate based on prior injuries and history of people. So, you know, talk about all those things. I don’t want to guess that. I don’t want to be a part of I don’t want to be part of the internet doctor status. Yeah. Yeah. That’s where we left. It’s a bad place. Yeah. No doubt. Uh going back to what you said at the top about um winning with four up front defensively. Uh I I believe you were right in that it was the lowest blitz rate that y’all have had. Tori, now you know stats for losers and I got that from David walking in here. Okay. Well, I’m just telling you. Um, but that is something I know it’s stats are for losers, but that is something that Jeff said back in October that he was like, I don’t want to be a blitzheavy defense. I want to win with four. Um, to see that, was that something that y’all pinpointed going into this game that y’all could take advantage of or is this kind of a I don’t want to say identity marker of where you want to be, but like a good sign of development for the young guys up front. So to answer the question, did we identify it as a spot um as a game that we want to try to rush for? Yes, we identified it as that. Um and to be able to go out there do it and execute it to get the lead to be able to show that was absolutely outstanding. Um the blitz team, you know, obviously we start off with a a bunch of different pressures. Um and we’ve been able to do a bunch of that during the year. Um and then obviously as every good defense, every good offense and everything, you kind of make subtle adjustments and you kind of make some subtle adjustments to those things. to watch those guys go out and rush as for yesterday was a lot of fun and I’m very proud of how they’re able to rush together and to get all that stuff done. Uh anything on the Jets coach? I know coach Gwyn a few cross paths was actually in 2000 2000 uh I don’t know was it one maybe I was intern with the Jets. Aaron Aaron Glenn was the uh starting quarterback. So I know Aaron well, Victor Green, you know, Aaron Glenn, that was Marcus Coleman, that’s secondary, Nick Ferguson, bunch of bunch of really good football players. Vic lives here. Yeah. Um uh bunch of really good guys and obviously been able to stay in contact with Aaron over the years. So watched his his coaching career uh kind of kind of go. Um you know, obviously started he was in New Orleans. Um he’s been down in in Detroit where he kind of you know put together a really good defense and now he’s up there and you know obviously forming a young football team that’s ready to come out and play and know made a bunch of different trades and acquired a bunch of different picks and he’s got some really good football players that you know Jeff knows very well and Rudy. So we’ll go up and try to find a way to win. Anything else? Thanks y’all. Thanks. Thanks guys. Thank you guys. Look at that. He has beat out Mark’s got a big wrestling show up in Greenville.

Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Raheem Morris reflects on the Falcons road win against NFC South rivals New Orleans Saints as the Falcons look to start their preparations to take on the New York Jets.

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