Falcons’ Raheem Morris: ‘We saved just enough time’

PHILADELPHIA -- Here’s what Falcons coach Raheem Morris had to say after the 22-21 win over the Eagles on Monday:

Opening statement: “Pretty exciting. Pretty exciting game. A lot of fun. That team, especially that team, means a lot to me, and I know it means a lot to you guys and everybody that’s in this room. And I’ll open up questions.”

On his scenario to use their timeouts to try and get the ball back: “Well, we got the ball back there, informed me to drive there, and we didn’t want to waste time at all there. We tried to jump outside. They declined that penalty in order to give them the first down, in order to get off the grass. We knew if we could hold them to three and give our guys a chance to go out there and win the game, we’d have a chance. We saved just enough time for those guys to go down and march down and get that game with a touchdown. I thought that was well managed by us. That was well managed by the coaching staff. That was well managed by the players. You can’t give those guys enough credit. The guys that go in and execute, and all the credit deserves to go to those guys on offense. We talked about operation, we talked about communication, and that was the highest level of it. On both sides of the ball, all phases of the game. I’m really fired up about that.”

On how QB Kirk Cousins played and especially on the final drive: “You know, it’s really what you expect. And you know, it’s a process in this league. It’s really a process in this league, and that’s the process that you go through. You’re not always going to play as well as you want to play. And today he went on to play the important, biggest moments in the biggest times. Those are the things you want to have happen when you get a chance to go out and get wins. It was great to see today with Kirk Cousins.”

On how he prepared his team for a primetime game: “I know you can’t ride the emotional roller coaster. They’re all the same. We’ll go out next week and we’ll attack our process and get right back to it. It’s hard to say the first real test when you played a National Football League game last week. Anytime you get a chance to go line up in between those lines, it’s full go. And that’s what they did today and I’m so proud of them.”

On whether he looked at Cousins before he went on the drive and if saw the confidence in his face: “You know, I did not. Because I know what that confidence looks like from practice. I know what that confidence looked like from every day walking the hallway. I know what that confidence looked like from his process every day and learning and going out there and being his very best self. I didn’t need to look at him during that drive. The team let him know, his guys. We looked at each other before the game and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to go do it for each other.’ That’s exactly what they did.”

On S Jessie Bates III touchdown saving pass breakup, game saving interception and how critical he is: “You got to give Jessie a lot of credit. You got to give everybody a lot of credit. The Eagles are a great offense. They can move the ball in a bunch of different ways, various different ways, and Jesse going out there making those type of plays for us is very important. It’s the reason he’s here. It’s the reason our ownership went out there and put all the money into it, and to what we got going on, on defense and offense and everything else. And it’s really able to put us in position to go out there and win football games. And he’s just a big part of it.”

On how big the offensive line was today: “Whenever you got a chance to go run the football, my steps got wet, so I can’t tell you for how much, but when you get a chance to go out there and be able to rush the football, obviously, we gave a little bit too many rushing yards on their end. But that gives us confidence, that allows us to throw the football, and we got to go out there and make those meaningful plays and meaningful moments, that’s what happens.”

On whether he got a bath: “I got a little one. I think Mr. Blank (owner Arthur Blank) got one too, so I was pretty happy about it.”

On being with teams that have lost divisional round games: “You’re so negative right now. I don’t even want to talk to you.” [Laughter]

On how emotionally refreshing this is for him, as he’s been with the organization for a long time and suffered some hard defeats in this stadium: “You know, for me, I’m never going to ride that emotional roller coaster. Every game you go out there, and it’s a process, right? You play the game, you go out there and try to win, try to give it your best efforts, and you got to be able to deal with the reality of those results. And we won’t ride that way. We won’t talk about the 2018 or 2017, whatever it was in the playoff game, when we couldn’t quite get it done, to go on, to move on to the next round. But you know, they’re all bad. They all hurt. You know, every time you go out there, you get a chance, you don’t get it done what you want to get done. They’re always going to be ones that hurt. They’re always going to be ones that sting.”

On how it feels to win first game of the season: “You know, I’m pretty easy going. I’m pretty steady. And I didn’t come here to beat the Philadelphia Eagles. You know, I was brought here to go ahead and try to put ourselves in a position to win championships, and that’s what we want to do.”

On if a big win can boost the team’s confidence going forward: “I’m sure we’ll find out. Right? You get a chance to go out there and play the game every week, and you got to get these guys ready for the next opponent, right? I said it last week, you can’t let Pittsburgh beat you twice, and I’m going to say it this week. You can’t let this go in the way and get in the way of what you’re trying to do for the following week. You’ve got a short week coming up and we have to go right back at it.”

On the advantage of starting 1-1 as opposed to 0-2: “Yeah, I don’t want to speak in hypotheticals. I’m happy we are where we are, and we’re excited about that. We’ll move on to our next opponent. We got a pretty good quarterback coming into town, and we can’t wait to see him.”

On if the final drive separates Cousins to get over the hump: “No, those moments come in the playoffs. We’re a long way from that. You know, we have to get out here and try to put ourselves in a position to get into those competitive moments so we can show those things. We haven’t shown that yet. We’ve shown it, that we’ve shown the fact that we can go into somebody else’s stadium and win a game, and we’re showing we can win in a two-minute drive, and those are important for us to go find out.”

On Falcons WR Drake London’s play: “You know, it’s not just Drake. We didn’t play well on offense last week. I was very clear about that. We played a lot better today. Obviously, we go look at the tape, and Drake played a big part of that, and so did a bunch of other people, whether it be Bijan (Robinson), whether it be Tyler Allgeier, whether it be all the guys, the o-line, going out there really giving the best efforts and looking forward. And that’s what you got to do. You have to get better and better every time you go out. And that’s what our guys did today.”

On what Falcons London provided: “He provided us with a bunch of catches. He provided us with a great ability to go out there and block. He provided us with great energy. He provided us with great physical presence, all the things that he does. Drake’s just a great man, and we’re glad he’s on our football team.”

On the contributions and expectations from the team: “They did and all those guys, man, they have high expectations. You know, our building is filled with a bunch of expectations for ourselves. We want to go out and be the best versions of ourselves every time we go out there and today, we were.”

On if OL Matthew Bergeron and OL Drew Dalman were standouts in the run game: “I’d like to say that those five guys are outstanding when you rush for as many yards as we just talked about. When you get a chance to get off the ball and come off the rock and be able to hit some of the blocks that we hit today. Got to give our coaches a lot of credit, whether you’re talking about flats, whether you’re talking about lead, whether you’re talking about Falcons assistant offensive line coach Nick Jones just coaching them up front, from individual, taking it to team, and applying what we want to do out there in the football field, in the practice field, and now bringing it to the games so you guys can see it on Monday Night Football is very special to us.”

On why he is holding a football: “I got a game ball. The guys gave it to me. And you know, I’ve gotten a lot of game balls in my day. This one is really special because of that team, because of the people that work in our building, who you are really familiar with, and for the guys that we’re doing it for. When you’re talking about Terry Fontenot, you’re talking about Greg Beadles, you’re talking about Rich McKay, you’re talking about Arthur Blank, you’re talking about Josh Blank, you’re talking about Max Blank, you’re talking about all the guys that sit in those rooms with us and do all the things we want to do, all our limited partners that are here today, all of those guys. It is special in our building. We want to make this thing a special place for us. Everybody but David Bassity. Juking is your specialty.”

On how much of the final drive was planned out versus improvised by Zac Robinson: “You know, we went to a two-minute drive. You know, when you practice the two-minute situation a bunch, we get into our two-minute offense. And we had a couple openings within their defense. And, you know, Kirk Cousins made a bunch of throws and Zac Robinson closed it out. You know, you have to give credit where credit is due. He called an excellent game. I wish we had some of those touchdown drives back that turned them down with three. But whatever, you know, he went out there and scored in his most important time, he was his best when his best was required.”

On Zac Robinson’s confidence: “I don’t know if he ever lost confidence. I don’t know if you’ve been around our building at all, but our building does not lack confidence, and he’s a guy with authentic swagger. He was brought here because of his mental toughness. He was brought here because of the juice that he’s able to bring to what we’re able to do. He was brought here to create with these offensive players that we have, and I never lost confidence in that.”

On how much their plan changed when the Eagles threw the ball on third down during the final drive: “That gives you a little bit of extra time. You know, the whole key there was to get off the grass, and however it was, whatever the case may be, whatever time you need it, you have 30 extra seconds. We were able to score leaving 32 seconds for those guys to go out there and score. We held up on defense. They did not, and we got the win.”

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