After dropping their fourth game of the season via a fourth-quarter comeback, Falcons interim head coach Raheem Morris is ready to move on to the next battle.
The Falcons (4-10) are set to face the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs (13-1) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.
“Our Social Justice committee had a quote up on the board and it was kind of fitting,” Morris said on Monday. “It said, ‘I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know who holds the future.’ I thought that was very fitting for us and our deal and how we move forward.”
It’s been a bumpy road for the Falcons, who saw Morris take over as interim head coach after Dan Quinn was fired along with general manager Thomas Dimitroff on Oct. 11.
Morris has demanded that the team focus on the upcoming game. But with the season finale against Tampa Bay after the Kansas City game, Morris and the rest of the team must deal with some football reality.
It’s been tough.
“You’ve got to put your best foot forward every single day,” Morris said. “That’s what every one of my players are doing, that’s what all of my coaches are doing, including myself.”
After Quinn was fired, the Falcons won three of their next four and could have made it four straight if they managed the clock at the end of the Detroit loss.
After the bye week, they have dropped four of five. The highlight of the season was a 43-6 throttling of Jon Gruden and the Las Vegas Raiders.
“We don’t talk about (anything) in the future because we don’t control that,” Falcons linebacker Foye Oluokun said. “Especially with this new GM, I don’t know who these people are. I don’t look at who the potential people are. I’m just focused on these next two games.”
After blowing another fourth-quarter lead against the Bucs on Sunday, the morale would figure to be at a low point. The Falcons kicked away fourth-quarter leads against Dallas, Chicago and Detroit.
“I think as far as our morale, we are always going to keep fighting throughout the rest of the season, just trying to get things right,” Oluokun said. “Beautiful opportunity for us, if we win it, we can feel good going into the end of the season.”
Morris doesn’t have any plans to play and try to develop any of the younger players on the roster.
“We’ve had some younger guys play for us just in general,” Morris said. “We do not really (have) playing options for the future, but more so to try to get the win for the week. We are going to do anything we can as far as younger players, older players in order to try and get a win against this Kansas City Chiefs team.”
Morris believes his team has not checked-out on the season.
“They come out and they play physical,” Morris said. “They play hard and they play smart. They play together. Yes, they make some mistakes from a coaching standpoint and a player standpoint, but I don’t think anybody is pointing figures at each other. I don’t think we’re pointing blame.”
Morris pointed to the team’s handling of the situation after Matt Ryan tossed a late interception that led to the Chargers winning 20-17 at the buzzer on Dec. 13.
“Last week, we talked about putting blame on Matt Ryan and those type of things, but we just don’t do that as a team,” Morris said. “We go in each week and try to figure out what’s necessary to do to get a win.”
Morris believes the team working virtually may help it move on to the next game easier.
“I think the guys do a nice job of re-setting,” Morris said.
Oluokun, who was raised in St. Louis, is looking forward to returning to Missouri to play the Chiefs.
“I don’t even view it as a spoiler role,” Oluokun said. “They are in the playoffs. I think it’s just proving to ourselves that we are capable of being a good team. (Capable) of beating that caliber of a team. I always like playing the best and beating the best. That’s why we play sports.
“We don’t play to play bad teams. We play to beat the best. They won the Super Bowl. If we can pull off a win this week, I’d feel great.”
Falcons’ 2021 draft position
1. Jacksonville
2. New York Jets
3. Cincinnati
4. Carolina
5. Atlanta Falcons
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