Here’s what Falcons interim coach Raheem Morris said after the 34-27 win over the Broncos on Sunday:
On how it felt to get the first win of the season at home: “Oh, man, you have no idea. The elation in that locker room, what it means to this city, what it means to take over this city. The dirty birds are back. You get a win at home, you feel the energy, you feel the juice, and you never apologize for anything that went wrong in a game. You just go out there, and you win football games.”
On the importance of DT Grady Jarrett’s pass rush and S Ricardo Allen’s interception in the game: “That’s what we’ve been talking about the whole year, how you end those games. You want to end those games with correctible moments that you can go back, correct at the wins. Today, Rico Allen getting the big pick, Grady on the pressure. We shined the light on that early in the week. We knew we had a clear-cut advantage in there for him to take advantage of some opportunities to rush, and he absolutely did. Our backers just keep stepping up. I can’t say enough about Foye, can’t say enough about Debo and the things they’re able to do out there.”
On the rotation at nickel cornerback: “You get a guy back, you’re getting healthy and get a guy back as talented as Queze, you want to find roles for him and get him going. You get those guys in the rotation. Blidi is leading our team in interceptions, I think that’s still the case, you want to get him out there. All he does is make plays. You want to get Sheff up and running. He had a tougher day today, gave up a couple of plays — one down the stretch that was arguable as far as the penalty, but it is what it is. But you want to get those guys going. (Isaiah Oliver) 26 has been having a nice time inside playing nickel for us, and 24 (AJ Terrell) has been a stud outside the whole time. I want to keep everybody going and everybody playing and everybody playing fast. Can’t have enough corners.”
On how Denver was able to remain in the game in the fourth quarter: “They started playing that catch-up ball, put you in two minute must situations, and you want to have better pass rush to be able to get to them, and we’re not there yet. Let’s just be clear-cut about that. So you’ve got to force some pressures. You give up a couple of things in the secondary. They had been moving the ball little bit, having some success, but you mentioned the two ones right off the bat — the interception, the sack fumble — the guys get at the ball, don’t matter, had a couple more there. Maybe could have went to New York, maybe taking a little bit of time there. I was kind of pointing up to that clock, slowing it down. Glad I didn’t have a flag because I certainly would have gotten a penalty by mistake.”
On the depth of the wide receiver room: “The depth of that receiving corps, as you know, I hold near and dear to my heart, but to see O.Z. go out there and play some Z for us and jump in for Calvin and get an explosive, to see Blake go out there, Christian Blake, and make some plays, all these things we know these guys are capable of doing. Brandon Powell go out there and play a little inside for us so we can have the ability to put Russ outside. These guys, like I told you, they’re like my children. They’re like my kids, man, little brothers, whatever we want to call them. They go out and make me proud every single week. We can’t wait to get Cal back, but these guys are fired up and ready to play.”
On how he responds to games tightening in the fourth quarter after having a big lead: “I don’t think anybody is arguing about the National Football League being a three-point league every week. All these games go down to the wire. Everybody’s got fight. Everybody’s got dog in them. These guys are going to come out. We knew they were going to come out fighting. We knew they were going to come out slinging that ball around. There’s only a few games a week that don’t go down to the wire, and they’re usually extreme situations, loss of quarterbacks, things of that nature. When you got guys that are capable of playing in this National Football League, you’d better be ready the whole game.”
On how the team has responded over the past four weeks and whether he felt the players were emotionally down at any point: “I wouldn’t say emotionally down, but when you lose, you go 0-5, it’s going to be an issue. And now having the ability to win, that’s called a streak, guys. Guys know what a winning streak feels like. Let’s get the streak going and see how far we can take it going into the bye week and just feel good about it.”
On WR Calvin Ridley’s status going into the bye week: “Calvin is always a fighter. Calvin was in my ear pregame. We sat on the bench. I know a couple of you guys might have saw it. He always is going to want to play. He always going to want to go. Sometimes you’ve got to protect your guys versus themselves, and that’s what we did today.”
On why the offense slowed down after scoring on five of the first six possessions: “Why are you guys so negative is what I’ve got to ask? We scored on five of the six possessions. Stop being so greedy, guys (laughter). They played better defense.”
On the performance of the pass rush: “You know, they went out there, they played hard. They played tough. They stopped the run. Obviously, you don’t get the sack numbers when you go in with the heavier guys. We got some big and thick guys out there rushing for us. It is what it is, man. When you get the win, all hands on deck. Everybody’s going to feel it, man. It’s nice to see us get a win.”
On the plan for the bye week: “Relax, rest, get everybody back. Get your coaches out of the building and get them a chance to go home and do some things for themselves. Get an early jump on the Saints and be ready to play when we get back. Watch everybody else be miserable next week while I sit on my couch and enjoy it.”
On whether he can afford to evaluate players during the second half of the season or whether he’s focused on strictly winning games: “I know you know the answer to that one. We’re a 1-0 mentality. We’re in the moment. We’re going to do what we do.”
On whether CB Kendall Sheffield is injured or just had a rough game: “You don’t make excuses. You know, gave up a couple of catches. It is what it is. Played against a really good player. That Alabama guy is a pretty good player, and that stuff happens. When you go out there and you play against those kind of guys, those Calvin Ridleys, those Julio Jones, those Jerry Jeudys, those people like that, they can play, and they’re going to catch some balls on you. You just got to keep fighting, keep digging.”
On whether the team has done a better job of finding an identity on defense: “We different. Yeah, we different. You just keep singing that to yourself. Man, let’s go out there and play games and get ready to play.”
On how worried he was following the illegal formation penalty that stopped the clock late in the game: “I wasn’t nervous at all. Good thing I had that mask on. It is what it is.”
On CB Isaiah Oliver’s improvement in past weeks: “He’s certainly playing nickel well. He’s certainly been rushing the passer well from the nickel position. He’s starting to get his feet under him there. Let’s see if he can continue to grow and make us a better team.”
On whether the team is up for the challenge in the second half of the season or whether they will continue with the 1-0 mentality: “Somebody obviously doesn’t know me that asked that question. We have a 1-0 mentality. We play the guys that come up. Every single week in the National Football League is a tough week. Every team you play deserves that credit. It’s a privilege to play in this league, and you’d better be up for the challenge every single week.”
On what he’s looking forward to most during the bye week: “Just relaxing. Enjoy the kids and do some of those things. Go with the family and hang out and do some of the stuff we need to do, man. Come back, relax, rest, get our mind right, our mentality right, and be ready to come back and play.”
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