Raheem Morris bungles clock management as Falcons blow it in Washington

“We put ourselves in this situation,” Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. “We was this close to controlling our destiny, and we let it slip. And that’s the reality of it. We’ve got to let it hurt. We’ve got to let it burn.”

It should burn for Morris, especially. His clock mismanagement contributed to the sting of the loss.

The Falcons led Washington 17-7 at halftime before giving up 17 unanswered points. They tied the game with 1:19 left on rookie Michael Penix Jr.’s clutch touchdown pass to Kyle Pitts on fourth-and-13. The Falcons forced a three-and-out, their first stop of the second half, and got the ball back at their 17-yard line with 40 seconds left.

The first play was a 25-yard pass from Penix to Darnell Mooney. He was tackled with 34 seconds left. The Falcons had two timeouts left. Morris didn’t use one of them. There were 17 seconds left by the time Penix snapped the ball for the next play.

That’s 17 seconds wasted by Morris. The Falcons had time to run just three more plays before Patterson’s field goal try. The Commanders helped them by committing penalties on back-to-back plays, a neutral zone infraction for five yards and a pass interference for 13. There were two seconds left when the Falcons snapped the ball for Patterson’s kick came up short.

Why didn’t Morris call timeout after Mooney’s catch? His answer:

“Probably could have. Thought we could get to the line of scrimmage with our operation being a little bit faster there ... and try to save that timeout. In hindsight, it could have been a better decision to take that timeout, but I wanted to have the opportunity to move up there. You can always second-guess those things.”

It’s not second-guessing to say Morris fouled up by not calling the timeout. It was obvious in the moment. Penix and his teammates apparently felt the same way. They appeared to collectively slow down after Mooney’s catch. They picked up the pace once they realized Morris wasn’t going to call timeout.

It’s hard to blame Falcons players for their confusion. They and everybody else except Morris knew that, after Mooney made that catch, saving a timeout was a secondary consideration to saving time on the clock.

“That’s on Coach Raheem,” Penix said. “He calls the timeouts whenever he feels fit. He trusts in us to get the plays off and make the next play. We all trust coach’s judgment on that, so that’s what we are going to lean on.”

Morris used bad judgment in a big moment. He did the same thing at the end of the first half. The Falcons started a drive from their 28-yard line with 1:53 until halftime and three timeouts left. They still had three timeouts left when Patterson kicked a 39-yard field goal with six seconds until halftime.

I believe Morris also erred in not trying for a two-point conversion after Pitts’ touchdown. The Falcons hadn’t stopped the Commanders on three drives that collectively lasted more than 20 minutes. I thought there was no way they’d stop the Commanders from scoring if they loss the OT coin toss. That’s what happened: Jayden Daniels and Zach Ertz connected for a two-yard TD to cap the game-winning, 12-play drive.

Morris said he didn’t consider trying for a two-point conversion after Pitts scored. That was a defensible decision. The failure to call a timeout after Mooney’s catch was indefensible. Morris said Patterson’s 56-yard attempt was from “desperation range.” It could have been a shorter kick if Morris hadn’t mismanaged the clock.

The Falcons had overcome other mistakes before that. After holding Washington to a field goal from inside their 20-yard line, the Falcons converted a fourth-and-11 from midfield when Drake London got free for a 31-yard catch from Penix. The Falcons had a first-and-goal at the 5 when center Drew Dalman’s direct snap to running back Bijan Robinson was too high. Robinson recovered the loose ball and was tackled at the 26-yard line.

It appeared the Falcons had blown a prime chance to tie the game. Penix connected with London for a 13-yard gain on second down but his pass for London on third down was incomplete, setting up fourth-and-goal from the 13. That’s when Penix delivered his first career touchdown pass, a pinpoint strike to Pitts in the end zone.

Said Penix: “That’s what happens when we are on the same page and everybody is executing at a high level, we make big-time plays. We’ve got the players to do it. We’ve just got to be consistent with it. Find ways to win.”

That’s what Daniels did. Ultimately, he was too slippery for the Falcons. He ran for 127 yards on 16 attempts and repeatedly wiggled away from pass rushers to deliver sharp passes. Daniels passed for 227 yards on 36 attempts with three touchdowns and an interception.

Penix wasn’t as efficient. He had the touchdown pass and an interception while passing for 23 yards on 35 attempts. Penix also fumbled twice. The Falcons were lucky to recover both.

But Penix also made what could have been the game-winning plays, if only Morris hadn’t made suboptimal decisions with time management.

“There are (things) wish we could have back, and there are things that we did good,” Penix said. “At the end of the day, we’ll go back to the drawing board and try to see what we can do better to try to get this win next week.”

The Falcons need that and some help from the Saints to make the playoffs after blowing it in Washington.