Falcons’ Raheem Morris goes with two first-time NFL signal-callers

Those are some of the key logistical issues that must be decided as the Falcons attempt to end their streak of six consecutive losing seasons after the hire of Morris, a former Falcons assistant who’ll be reintroduced to the local media Monday.

Robinson, in part because he was mentored under the Rams’ system and coach Sean McVay, was a highly coveted offensive coordinator candidate. He agreed to terms with the Falcons after interviewing with the Bears, Patriots and Saints. He also had interests from the Buccaneers and Raiders.

Under the Rams, McVay uses 11-personnel almost exclusively, while the Falcons’ rarely used that formation under Arthur Smith. It calls for one running back, one tight end with three wide receivers.

The Falcons were a heavy 22-personnel team, with two running backs, two tight ends and one receiver.

The Falcons have Drake London, but don’t have a traditional No. 2 or No. 3 receiver. The receivers behind London – Mack Hollins, Scotty Miller, Van Jefferson and KhaDarel Hodge – were unproductive in Smith’s offense, and each could become an unrestricted free agent next month.

Other coaches who’ve flourished after working under McVay include Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, Bengals coach Zac Taylor and Packers coach Matt LaFleur. Also, former Tucker, UGA and Falcons player Thomas Brown was offensive coordinator with the Panthers this season and interviewed for several openings this coaching cycle after working under McVay, a former Marist School standout.

Robinson was a dual-threat quarterback in college. He amassed 10,175 total yards and accounted for 88 touchdowns while at Oklahoma State from 2007-09.

Robinson, of Littleton, Colorado, was redshirted as a freshman. He became the starter in his sophomore season in 2007.

Robinson led the Cowboys to the 2007 Insight Bowl. He rushed for 847 yards and passed for 2,824 yards and combined for 32 touchdowns. His 3,671 yards were a school-record. Florida’s Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow was the only other FBS quarterback to rush for more than 800 yards and pass for more than 2,800 yards that season.

Robinson took the Cowboys to the 2008 Holiday Bowl as a junior. He rushed for 562 yards, passed for 3,064 and combined for 33 touchdowns.

As a senior in 2009, he opened the season with a 24-10 win over Georgia on Sept. 5. His season was marred by a concussion and a hamstring injury. It also didn’t help that his top receiver, Dez Bryant, was suspended.

Robinson played in the Senior Bowl, and the Patriots took a flyer on him in the seventh round (250th overall) of the 2010 draft. He was cut in September and bounced around the league, making stops with the Seahawks (2010), Lions (2010) and Bengals (2011-13).

Robinson played in four exhibition games with the Bengals in 2012, but ended up on the physically-unable-to-perform list because of an elbow injury.

After his career was over, Robinson worked with Pro Football Focus for two years as analyst. He reviewed and graded film of quarterbacks.

He joined the Rams staff in 2019 as the assistant quarterbacks coach and served in the role again in 2021. He was the assistant wide receivers coach in 2020 and in 2021. He was the quarterbacks/passing-game coordinator since 2022.

The Falcons retained offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford and promoted him to run-game coordinator/offensive line. So, Robinson and Ledford will have to blend the two facets of the offense.

Under Robinson this season, quarterback Matthew Stafford earned Pro Bowl for the second time in his career. Also, rookie Puka Nacua, a fifth-round draft pick, emerged in the Rams’ passing attack and had the most receptions (105) and yards (1,486) by a rookie in NFL history.

Robinson had to survive in 2022 when the Rams started four different quarterbacks because of injury, including picking up Baker Mayfield and quickly preparing him for game action.

Lake, 47, was head coach at Washington, but was fired after two seasons and received a $9.9 million buyout. His brief tenure at Washington was tumultuous.

Lake was suspended without pay for shoving and hitting one of his players out of the way of a looming brawl Nov. 8, 2021, according to the Seattle Times. Lake was shown on national TV attempting to separate walk-on linebacker Ruperake Fuavai from a sideline scrum by hitting him in the facemask, then shoving him in the back when he turned to walk away.

After getting suspended, Lake issued an apology in a statement. He was fired Nov. 14.

Lake had been at Washington in various capacities since 2014, including a stint as defensive coordinator from 2018-19. He was the play-caller in 2018 and had the Pac-12′s top defense in scoring (15.5 points per game) and total defense (301.8 yards per game). In 2019, the defense gave up 19.4 points per game after losing nine defensive starters.

Before his stint with the Huskies, Lake was at Boise State. His NFL experience included stints with the Bucs (2006-07, assistant defensive backs), Lions (2008, defensive backs) and Bucs (2010-11, defensive backs).

A native of Walnut Creek, California, Lake played defensive back at Eastern Washington.

After he was fired by Washington, Lake was out of coaching for a season before he was hired as the Rams’ assistant head coach this season.

Williams, 38, was an original member of former coach Arthur Smith’s staff.

Overall, the special-teams unit fell off from 2022 to 2023, as they went from being ranked 10th to 26th in the league in the annual special-team rankings by longtime NFL writer Rick Gosselin.

In the rankings, which have been compiled for the past 38 seasons, teams are ranked 1-32 in 22 special-teams categories, and the Falcons were worst in the league in opponent net punting, at 43.9 yards.

Williams hopes to get punt returner Avery Williams back from knee surgery to spruce up the return game and may need to find a new kickoff returner if Cordarrelle Patterson is not re-signed.

Also, kicker Younghoe Koo may need to face some competition in the next training camp, as he was shaky coming down the stretch last season.

With the Falcons trying to make a playoff push, Koo missed four field-goal attempts over the last five games, including two in a four-point loss to Tampa Bay and two early against Chicago before things got out of hand in the 37-17 loss on Dec. 31.

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