Head Coach Raheem Morris Week 14 Media Availability | Wednesday, December 3rd | Press Conference

Head Coach Raheem Morris Week 14 Media Availability | Wednesday, December 3rd | Press Conference

Um, yeah, I’m good. All right. Regular practice um today. Uh, ready to go out and get ready, uh, to face a very challenging opponent. Very good, very good football team. Yeah, coach, just uh, looking at numbers yesterday that look like they got one of the top run defenses in the uh, league. Oh, yeah. Couple big guys up front. Um, would that be kind of where the challenge starts for you offensively? They are challenging almost on every single level. You know, they got a really good front. Um, Lynard Williams is one of the the best players in our league. You know, obviously they went out and got Daw from Dallas. You know, obviously we got a lot of familiarity with how they coach the front with uh with Adden being there. You know, they have a little bit of attack style. They have a style that they can play, be able to play the run. They have a bunch of guys up there, Byron Murphy, that uh really play the well. They got Ernest Jones at the middle linebacker position, which we know really well just based off being with them out in LA. Um very good football player in all all rights. And then obviously they picked a bunch of guys in the draft. They got their young nickel um playing who’s safety nickel. Kind of got that Baltimore type feel that they’ve had. Um coach coach has done a great job out there with that defense getting those guys going. Um they’re playing with a lot of confidence up front. They playing a lot of confidence across the board. Um and they’ll be a really good challenge for us um for our for our football team. Jones, um how does he have five picks? He is very instinctual. Um he has uh unique skill set to be able to drop in coverage and match routes and and play different patterns. He has great hands. Um he is very good skillful at at blitzing. When he has his opportunities, when he gets on backs, he’s virtually unblockable. Um you got to be locked and loaded to play this man. He’s going to be everywhere. He’s very instinctual player that was around the football at all times. He’s been like that since a rookie. Um and it’s always great to see him have success just not this Sunday. You expecting Drake to be um at practice today or where’s he? Drake will be out of practice today, but he’s still in the day-to-day, you know, format. So, we’ll kind of check him out. He’ll do some running stuff with our people on the side, but he won’t be at practice. He won’t be doing practice things today. Yes. What What are you looking for? This is kind of a general question, but what are you looking for from Kirk, I guess, for the final five games here? What is a positive? Sorry, Mark. I mean cut off, but it was pretty easy. Um, you know, obviously winning would be number one. And then the the second part of that is just being the operator he’s been the last two weeks. You know, I think I thought he’s going out the last two weeks and really operated at a very high level. You mean meaning not turning the football over, really getting our offense going, really moving the football down the field. Reed to create um down the field in our passing game, you know, obviously getting us going, putting us in the end zone in the red zone. We’ve been very effective in the red zone the last, you know, handful of weeks, you know, probably well before Kurt got in, but he’s just continued to be able to do those things. So, like all of those things are really positive strides in the right direction. Um I think Kurt’s done a nice job of really stepping in, taking over that leadership role. um you know the one Miami game you know I don’t think he’s in a great spot when he’s coming in as a backup that way or so many unknowns involved and he’s shown that over the last two weeks being able to go out there um with the full boatload of preparation and all that entails um to be able to go out there and really execute at a high level. How much input has he had on I guess you know game plan and also personnel because you guys have kind of like shuffled the deck as far as wide receivers the last couple Yeah, Kurt’s not going to go um into that room. Kurt is more just vocal on when we’re putting it in and talking about how he sees it and being able to really communicate, you know, to the guys across the board, whoever’s in the room. Um, really communicate to the coaches that’s that are involved and how he sees it and the big picture. And then if it’s something different, we can communicate those things at a higher level. Um, just because of his experience and wealth, you know, he’s not coming in with a um with a a playbook. He’s not coming with any any demands like that. He’s just coming in really, you know, adding on to it. And then after we practice, he’s really good at coming in talking about what he really likes, what he saw, you know, what’s a little blurry to him, you know, and those are the things usually that you work through when you’re dealing with these veteran quarterbacks. So that that that makes it really calm, really easy. Um he’s been able to do some of those things which has been helpful. And then as far as personnel, that’s just always going to be the best player. And it’s going to be based on practice. So like right now, we’re at the position where we’re out there practicing and we have had a bunch of full speed practice the last couple of weeks, which you guys been able to see. and you’ve been able to see guys like DT really emerge and become a guy for us and last week he went out, got a couple completions, was able to be a part of our Jet Sweep game, was able to be a part of our return game and like he’s really provided a spark for us and like those are the guys going to play that provide those sparks at this moment. So like personnel um that’ll be based on us, you know, obviously his familiarity of the people that we’re throwing to and some of those different things, but you know, Kurt’s not in the in the building politicking for anybody when it comes to those things. He’s just more or less u going through the process and being himself. to follow up on Drake having missed a couple of weeks now. Um, is there in your mind does he need to get on the field by a certain day in order to have a chance to be to be active? Uh, I wouldn’t say that with Drake, you know, Drake’s just um, you know, when he’s ready to go and we put him out there. But that, Charles, that’ll all be, you know, health related. You know, every everything we’re going to do with Drake is definitely to take care of Drake, make sure he’s good. Um, won’t put him in harm’s way by any means. Um, and when he’s ready to go, um, Drake will be out there ready to go and and playing at a very high level, which he’s always capable of doing. He loves football. We love watching him play football. Um, the connection with his guys. He he values very much. He’s at every single meeting. He’s at every single thing. He’s at all all things encompassing. So, like, uh, he’s one of those guys who wants to play football. We saw a couple of new names or at least one new name last week at at receiver. You you’ve obviously been scrambling trying to keep that going in his absence. Um, you mentioned getting the Darnell Mooney back that we you saw against the Saints. Um, how frustrating is it to to have the inconsistency there, you know, in direct section? Frustrating is probably the wrong word. Um, it’s just more of how to get it going. You know, like, uh, you got to be able to create those things and and how to figure out how to generate some of the speed that we were able to get last week from DT. You know, we’re able to get some of the route savvy from David Seals. Um, he provided us a little bit of spark catching that double post touchdown versus New Orleans. last week he caught a screen. Probably one of the ugliest screens you ever saw in football, but he caught it and was able to get up in there and get it done. Um, and all those different different versions. You know, you have seen Drummond get some really cool things done when it came to um the slider with the timeout at the end of the half a couple weeks ago um and really be smart enough and savvy enough to get those things done. We took a shot to them last week down the field, different things of that nature. But, you know, we’ve been talking about these guys for a while and now you get a chance to see some of those guys go out there and play. It’s kind of a little exciting for me, you know, as opposed to being frustrated. Now, you want to go out there and be accumulate some wins with those guys and be to get those things done, but like when you get a chance to watch other people play and watch people get opportunities, um it’s always cool to see people take advantage of it. How do you feel TJ Yates has been in that? Um is that me or you? Not. I think it’s where they open. That’s Arthur Blank, guys. Um it’s how would you evaluate how TJ Yates has been in that the role of stepping up kind of that receiver? you know, we’ve asked them to do u take on a tall task, you know, having to move into that room and do a couple different things and be able to communicate to those guys at a high level. Um, you’ve watched us be able to move around different personnel groupings and do different things and get some blocking things that we wanted to get done. Um, the attention to detail has been very high. um the demand has been very high and it’s has been a um a really a nice job done by him, you know, of having to step back and do those things and knowing his passions at quarterback, but having the ability to do those things and to create the uh flexibility from all your coaching staff to be able to move around and be able to help out wherever needed and he’s done a great job of doing that for us. On the Seahawk side, Jackson Smith and Jim Buzz exploed this year. He has, man. Yeah. What what kind of threat is he? It’s um he he’s on one of those those those record-breaking paces this year. Um, he’s looked unbelievable. You know, going to watch him now as opposed to watching him when he was a rookie. Um, he’s definitely significantly improved. Um, and not in a in a bad way. I don’t mean that as a shot, but just he has like his versatility and the things that he’s doing. I remember he was primarily a slot as a young player. Then I watched him as a second year player get better. Um, he’s always been very confident. He’s already been high in himself, but now he’s just playing like, you know, that lead dog number one. Um, and I guess stepping into those shoes with the void of DK has really provided that for him, you know, and he’s playing with Cooper Cups, who I know is providing all the savvy things that he’s been able to put on tape, some of those things for him or helping him out at least or at least providing some type of challenge and, you know, because how great Cooper is. But, you know, he has really emerged to one of our league’s best and um, you know, it’s it’s great to see when players develop that way. What’s it been like seeing both of the first round draft picks have the season they had in Jaylen and James? uh expect it, you know, like you draft them for us anyway. You know, I know it’s like um we talked about these things. We talked about these guys being able to provide an immediate pass rush for us and it taking a little bit of time and like to watch these guys go throughout the season and do what you kind of expected from the draft is is is is uh satisfying for for everybody all hands on deck. The people that drafted them, the people that parted the draft, the people that went out and graded them, um the people that brought them here to play. I think those things are kind of satisfying to see those guys have the success that they’re having. Um but those all things come with challenges, right? There’s been mistakes there that we see and we know we had to deal with and they’re going to be learning curves through all those things. We talking about rookies, we talking about second year players, those all going to happen and it’s been um the necessary evil that you have to have to get guys to to play um how you want them to play when it’s time. How have you seen them handle when adversities have come up and just kind of learn from any mistakes that have been made? I’ve loved the way they both kind of handle it. They’ve both been honest. they’ve both been accountable um when it’s been bad things and the same when it’s been good things, you know, like um I watched these guys be able to connect with their coaches better and at a higher level. Um that’s been really cool. I’ve watched these guys being able to connect with their teammates and really the biggest connection that I’ve seen those guys make is with each other. Like I think they hold each other to like this competitive standard that’s really fun to watch. when a when a when when a player goes out on the field and makes a mistake or or something like that. I know everyone’s like, “Ah, it’s all about the coaching and the coaching.” But like at some point, like what’s the accountability also the player? Like you can coach all you want, but at the end of the day, you guys aren’t out there. I love taking the bullets from my guys. I do. And like, uh, that’ll never change, right? Like it’s like when a guy makes a mistake, what can I do better to help them? That’s the way we look at it as coaches. That’s the way they look at it as players. And that’s completely fine. Like, you know, there is an accountability to all of us. And we all have that accountability in this game. We’re entertainers and our job is to go to entertain, but at the same time like like fingerpointing and and and absolutely being honest with each other is two different things and like I always be honest. I’m never going to point fingers. This is the second year in a row you’ve played Seahawks just by a weird circumstance. Um when you look at the tape, are they doing anything differently defensively under a new offensive or offensively under a new offensive coordinator Clint? Oh yeah, Clint’s done an outstanding job. you know, um the whole offense is different is is way similar more similar to ours and and or San Fran version of it. You know, obviously they got the different personnel groupings. They can go out in 11, they can come out in 12, they can come out in 21, they can come out in 22. They got fullbacks on their roster that can do those things in a unique different style of way. Um but a lot of similar concepts, a lot of similar run techniques, and a lot of things that they’re doing like us and like like I said, you know, Jackson Smith and Jacob is really um flourishing in it. I see Coupe doing a lot of the same things that we did the Rams that we do here with Drake. Um you get a chance to see a lot of similarity things and is it’s pretty cool to watch those guys and how they’ve really been able to uh really make plays and do a really good job and Clint’s done a nice job wherever he’s been. You know, he’s had a chance to go do it um in Minnesota a couple years ago which I thought he really did a really good job at and you know obviously it didn’t work out for him there. He got blamed somewhere else go to San Fran, come back and now he’s doing it again. He’s doing an excellent job. So, it’s like, you know, all of those things happen within coaching. All those things happen within plan. It’s like um every year is going to be a different year. And he’s done a great job this year. I think Bjan already has a career high for receiving yards when you’re going against a Charles. I don’t know how many yards he and this is truly an honest question. I have no idea. I think you know how to feel about stats, but go talk something like 74. That’s awesome. Yeah, it’s a but but going against a tough run defense, uh you know, what uh what type of advantage for is it for you to be able to have a guy that’s multi-talented and you can put it put the ball in his hands in different ways? Uh that makes the world of a difference, right? It’s like they got to prepare for them and like we’re going to run our runs and we’re going to have different runs. We’re going to have some of the same runs and we’re going to go out there and run those things and give it to really two really good football players. Um and let those guys see what we can do. We’re going to try to accumulate the yardage that you want to be able to accumulate from a run standpoint, but it is nice to know um that you can throw the football to, you know, really both Tyler and Van and like those guys are going to go out and make plays in the passing games as well. So, like you have options um but these guys are very tough to run. During the ups and downs of the season, who’s kind of surprised you that you’ve seen become even more vocal or kind of just like step up and take accountability with a group of guys in there? uh you know um just recently just Mike Ford you know obviously you know we had our failures on on special teams last week was well documented um and there’s no doubt about that but Mike Ford and how he takes in accountability of it all you know with Josh Woods on special teams of how they take accountability of it all how they’re able to you know clearly communicate to their guys what they want to get done and how they want to get it done I think those things are all you know building blocks and they’re all stones and they’re all signs of really um good foundational pieces for your football team to build on and I think those things will happen for us I was close 594 59 94 5 minutes. I just know he’s been productive, you know, like I don’t I I truly believe stat losers. Um we’ll get Maris tomorrow, but what are the um is this how do you fix the special team coverage issues? Is it a matter of just sending somebody at a head? Not I won’t say header, but you know, you can’t say that. I can’t say that anymore. But I mean, you know, Roger Goodell, that was delay. Was he send somebody to the ball or Yeah. No, it’s just it’s just it’s being disciplined within your leverage. being disciplined within your leverage, right? And when it’s when you got to execute a job, you have to execute a job. And like again, like it’s identifying the problems and without without blaming people, right? But like the jobs are clear descriptions. You have to be disciplining your leverage. You have to go down and and make sure you maintain that leverage. And then after that, you have to make set a block and make a tackle. And those are things that’s going to happen. Those things are part of our game will never change. Um and as long as those things don’t change, you know, they won’t change, you know, like we got to go out there and make those plays and that’s what we have to do. We obviously don’t get to see a lot of practice, but I guess like how much of practice is focused kind of like on the special teams side or do you feel like maybe the emphasis now would be heavier compared to maybe other weeks or is it kind of split evenly? Now listen, it’s hard to say you can dedicate more time to anywhere, right? You got to have timely things about your day, right? And then what’s going to happen is it’s definitely going to create an emphasis, right? The emphasis gets created through what you didn’t do well and what you want to emphasize it on, right? And then how do you go do those things? And like Maris does such a great job every single week of making sure we have tackling drills, we understand, we able to communicate what levers you want to play on. And sometimes in special teams fashion, as we know, those bodies change a lot. So there’s multiple people you’re counting on have to be on the screws in the details of everything. And when you lose some of those voices that we talked about, whether you’re talking about a Josh Woods or not, you lose some of those those team captains and v and voices out there to make sure we absolutely know what’s going on and we don’t lose control or lose uh, you know, sight of that. and and those are some of the things you kind of emphasize this week and I think those are some of the things that you just asked about who’s been the sneaky leaders and who’s been the guys that talking up and I love when that happens because um that’s exactly what kind of stuff you’re talking about. The emphasis will be on those those things with our coverage units. The emphasis will obviously be on the things of making not making the same mistakes and the emphasis will be on getting better and uh that’s all they can do. Anything else? All right, guys.

Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Raheem Morris speaks with the media as the Falcons prepare to take on the Seattle Seahawks at home this Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

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