FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Atlanta Falcons coach Raheem Morris said it would be “selfish” to think about his job status over the hard work still being put in by his players.
With the Falcons (4-9) having been mathematically eliminated from the postseason, Morris on Monday said it was not difficult to focus on the task at hand, rather than his own situation, with four games remaining.
He cited players like running back Bijan Robinson, wide receiver Drake London, right guard Chris Lindstrom and left tackle Jake Matthews for everything “they pour into this football team.”
“You want to give it back to them,” Morris said. “For Kaden Elliss going out there and hurting his arm and going back in and finishing that game [against Seattle]. Those things matter to me, and those players matter to me, so I’m going to go give them everything I got. So, to be selfish to think about my own personal stuff, no, that’s not right.”
Morris, in his second year, was asked if he still felt support from Falcons owner Arthur Blank and he said he did. The Falcons are 6-15 since starting 6-3 last season, are en route to an eighth straight losing season and have not made the playoffs since 2017.
The only team with a longer playoff drought is the New York Jets.
“He is 100% in support,” Morris said of Blank. “Support ain’t an issue. He is absolutely outstanding. His ability to listen to us, his ability to be there for us, his ability to be in it with us, is absolutely 100% awesome. And it’s everybody. It’s an all hands-on-deck mentality with the organization, and I can’t say nothing about better.”
Morris said he and Blank sit down before and after every game. Morris said he tells him what the game plan is before each game, and then they break down what went wrong and what went right afterward.
“I think it’s something that I love to be able to do with him, just to show him what the plan is, so he’s not sitting in the box wondering what’s going on,” Morris said. “And then, after the game, we can clearly say and sit there in front of each other and just tell what we didn’t get executed or we did get executed to win a football game and those are the important things to me.
“I’m not there selling Arthur on whatever his decisions are. I got to make my own decisions and go find out what we need to do to win football games. I think that’s the most important.”
Morris said there would no staff changes this week and doing so would be “irrelevant.”
The coach did gave a fiery speech to the team in the locker room after another disappointing loss Sunday. The Falcons gave up a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown when the game was still tied, a blocked field goal on a drive that started at the Seattle 30 following an interception, and a red-zone fumble by Robinson on a drive that could have tied the game.
Elliss said Morris’ “passionate” message to the team was to “fight.”
Morris would not comment on the contents of the speech. The Falcons are on a short week heading into Thursday night’s game at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“Now it’s time for us to put some work in and get some fruit for our labor on Thursday,” Elliss said.
