BALTIMORE -- Here’s what Falcons coach Raheem Morris had to say after the 13-12 loss to the Ravens on Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium:
Opening statement: “I’m really fired up about the guys that played. I played the back end of the roster (Saturday), getting a chance to go see those guys play. They played physical. They played tough. They’ll make those later decisions for (general manager) Terry (Fontenot) and myself and our organization very tough on us – on getting people who we decide to keep on the roster. Obviously, we’ve got another week next week, and (I’m) looking forward to it. Looking forward to a great week of practice.”
On the decision to go for a two-point conversion at the end of the game: “Go for the win. I don’t think it was even thought about it at that point. I know there (are) no such thing as ties. You don’t go into overtime anymore in the (exhibition) season. You give them a chance to go for the win. Let these guys go for it. (We) got a good look at it. (John Paddock) probably could have pulled it, but I’m not going to second guess Paddock. Paddock had a good day. He went out there and executed. I was fired to watch the young man play.”
On not electing an onside kick at the end of the game: “You can kick the onside kick at the end, but I don’t think that is worth it here in the (exhibition) season – not getting their guys hurt or our guys hurt – (but) that would definitely be the situation where you would do the onside kick. It’s a show look. It would get up there and look like the old thing that you always know what you’ve always seen. You get a chance to tell the official that right there at that point. I told those guys (the officials), ‘No way.’ I told ‘Harbs (head coach John Harbaugh), ‘No way,’ (too).”
On the decision to sit almost 40 players for the game: “We’ve got that tough week of practice that we talked about – those high energy ramp-up deals. That’s kind of how we go about our business where we can mitigate the injuries and do the things that we want to do with the guys we’ve got going. It was a great decision by us. We always make those decisions as an organization. We’ll have a nice little scrimmage for those guys so they can get a feel for what a game is like. Next week would be to ramp that thing back up in practice and get those guys going. We got a chance to see the guys on the bottom end of our roster.”
On his impression of the new kickoff rule: “It’s just exciting. To get the play back in the game was the number one goal. We did that. Now, we’ve got to figure out some of the schematic things that (are) going to happen once the season starts. I’m going to (try) some of those things. A lot of people are just man blocking, so it looks a little vanilla right now. It’s just one of those things that. ... It’s just exciting. It’s the unknown for everybody.”
On not playing QB Michael Penix Jr.: “Last week, we wanted to get (Michael Penix Jr.) out there and get a feel for what it was like in a live game, which we kind of already knew. We wanted to see him be able to answer questions (and) talk about it on the sideline, go out there and execute, make mistakes and know what to do – like when looking the wrong way and getting right to the checkdown. He did a lot of those things live, but took a hit last week. To change the protection, he’s able to clearly communicate those things. We saw enough last week of him and the live stuff. Now, we have a chance to (mimic it) in practice. We give him a bunch of live stuff out there in practice, (and) you do everything that you would do in a game other than get hit. We feel really good (with) where we are at with Michael. We feel really good with where we’re at with the other guys that we sat. We treated that the same way. He showed us last week enough that we don’t have to play him in the preseason.”
On if kicker Younghoe Koo was working on anything specific during the kicks he missed: “I don’t think Younghoe Koo would make excuses. He didn’t have a great day. I’ve got so much confidence in Younghoe that he’s going to go back to the lab and get it right, fix it, and do the things he needs to do to get ready. He did make a great tackle on the first kickoff. I don’t want to see him do that ever again. He definitely went out and did some really good things. (He) made two (field goals and) missed the three. He wants them all back, but he’s mentally tough. He’s sharp. He’ll bounce back this week and be ready to go.”
On quarterback Taylor Heinicke’s performance: “That looked like Taylor Heinicke today. That’s the guy that we know. The baller, the instinctual football player that can go out there and lead an offense. Obviously, [he] didn’t punch it in the end zone a couple of times, [and] we’d like to see him do that, but that was Heinicke – tough player, good throws, smart. He knows what to do, he knows how to do it, and [he] can execute. That looked like Taylor Heinicke today – very comfortable.”
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