Here is some of what new Falcons coach Raheem Morris said as his introductory press conference Monday:
On being first Black head coach in Atlanta: “I do understand the importance of being the first Black head coach in Atlanta history without the interim tag. I understand the importance of that for us. I understand the importance for the people before me, the people after me, current people right now. The importance of that and how important it is to the city, particularly where we are right now, the mecca of Black history. I think that’s very important to acknowledge.”
More on that topic: “That’s not about me. That’s about us, all of us. That is the progress. That is the movement. That is what we look for. That’s been talked about every single process that I’ve been through. ... You know what the coolest part of this whole process was, that it wasn’t even brought up, about it being a lack of diversity, about it being a lack of Black people having an opportunity to be head coaches.”
On what he learned from being head coach in Tampa: “The overall maturity of the profession. It’s really what you have to lean on. The overall growth. Since Tampa, I’ve dedicated my professional development to helping whoever I work for at the time.”
More on what he learned from being head coach in Tampa: “When you are 32 years old, you have all the answers. Just ask me and I’ll tell you. What you find out is, it’s a learning process every single day. You better be able to lean on people and talk to people and find out what is the best thing. When I got this job ... I told them I don’t need to be the smartest person in the building. I want to hire, I want to have, I want to be contributed, I want to collaborate with all the smart people you have assembled.”
On getting the job over some big name candidates: “When you are talking about competing in anything you do, you are talking about going against the very best. Coach (Bill) Belichick ... he is going to be considered one of the very best, if not the best, to ever do it in our profession. I have so much respect for what he’s done in his career, I would never, ever, feel slighted (by) the way people would feel about coach Belichick. But you have a process and you have to go through it and let the best man win. Whatever the case may be, I’m just fortunate to be sitting here in front of you.”
On his return to Atlanta: “This is coming home. When you get a chance to go back home in this profession, it is extremely important, it is extremely critical, for everyone involved. And that is a special moment.”
On being part of a Falcons Super Bowl loss: “It was a part of coming home. That 2016 (Super Bowl) loss, it stings as bad as any one I’ve ever had. Actually, the worst I’ve ever had. To be able to come back here and get some real cool redemption. I want to watch Arthur Blank, Warrick Dunn, some of those guys, hold up that trophy.
On quarterback situation: “We’ve had very limited conversations about it right now. The reason being, we’ve got to formulate a great staff. We’ve collaborated more about building this staff. We are almost done. We have a lot of people in place. We’ve had some conversations in brief passing and we have some ways that we can know about getting it, obviously free agency, obviously trade, obviously the draft.”
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