Falcons’ Raheem Morris stands by plan not to play starters in exhibition games

FLOWERY BRANCH — Anybody. Anywhere. Anytime ... except in the exhibition games.

Coach Dan Quinn wears his “Anybody. Anywhere. Anytime” T-shirts in Washington these days. Falcons coach Raheem Morris, who was Quinn’s top assistant for his five years with the Falcons (2015-20), has uttered that catchphrase before.

But in the exhibition games, with a chance to get better prepared for the season with a veteran quarterback coming off major surgery, the Falcons elected not to play most of the starters.

That decision showed Sunday in the Falcons’ 18-10 loss to the Steelers. There was the snap that hit a player and was recovered by the Steelers. Also, a key player – tight end Kyle Pitts – failed to line up properly on a play.

“It’s very easy for us,” Morris said. “It’s mitigating injury and playing in the (exhibition) games. You don’t get mulligans for a guy getting hurt in the (exhibition games), right?”

Wide receiver Rondale Moore suffered a season-ending injury in a practice against the Dolphins. Safety DeMarcco Hellams (ankle injury) and outside linebacker Bralen Trice (knee) were injured in the exhibition game against the Dolphins. Hellams can return, while Moore and Trice are on injured reserve.

Morris believes that players’ experience was a factor in determining not to play them in the exhibition games.

“So, guys that played a significant amount of football – Kirk Cousins played 13 years in the league, his 15 snaps (in exhibition) games wouldn’t have prepared him any more for the Pittsburgh Steelers. ... I wholeheartedly believe in that,” Morris said.

Cousins wasn’t very mobile Sunday and didn’t appear to want to push off his surgically repaired right foot. That effected his accuracy, and he had a new stance in the shotgun and pistol formation. He was standing with his feet parallel, while last year, and before that when he was in Washington, he had his left foot forward and right foot back.

He could have tinkered with the stance and maybe tested out the foot in one of the three exhibition games. The Falcons did say they logged nearly 5,000 repetitions over the offseason in a non-live tackling setting.

“Now, could it help them to go out there and get a feel for the pocket, some of those things?” Morris said. “Maybe, but the risk of the injury and the risk reward, I feel really comfortable with not taking (the risk) when it comes to going out and playing football with those guys out there in that situation.”

Morris pointed out that two-time Pro Bowler Grady Jarrett had a strong game. He was coming back from knee surgery and didn’t play in the exhibition games.

“He looked really good,” Morris said.

The coaches have to come up with alternative ways to get the players ready for the season once they make the decision not to play them in exhibition games. It’s sort of like the NBA teams’ “load-management” theory.

“It’s up to us as professionals and coaches to get those guys ready,” Morris said. “We have to get our offense better suited to go and ready to play in those situations.”

Morris touted the two joint practices with the Dolphins. The second one finished early after Moore went down in a non-contact injury. Next year, the Falcons will have an opportunity to hold two joint practices, one at home and one away.

Because the team’s facilities were being renovated, the Falcons did not have a home joint practice, which could have been held before the Jacksonville game.

“ That would be nice,” Morris said. “You’d get the four that you’re allotted and begin to maximize those opportunities to get those things going.”

Cousins completed 16 of 26 passes for 155 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He finished with a passer rating of 59. It was his lowest since he had a 49.2 passer rating in a 41-17 loss at Green Bay on Jan. 1, 2023.

The Falcons’ offense also was predictable. They mostly ran out of the pistol and passed out of the shotgun. Cousins has played most of his career under center, which would force the defense to honor play-action passes.

“With Kirk being here, we’ve been doing the same thing since he’s been here, and that’s how we planned on playing,” Morris said. “We played that way throughout. We played that way for a minute. We’ve done a bunch of different things.”

Morris acknowledged that Cousins may have been a little rusty.

“Probably some rust from not playing for so long, but that’s just with all of them,” Morris said. “Grady had a bunch of rust. We had a bunch of guys out there – Avery Williams (knee injury), Kirk. We want to get better, but we’ve got to play better. At the position, and we’ve got to play better around them.”

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