Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris speaks during an NFL football news conference, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
This entails giving the Falcons an opportunity they couldn’t have during what he described as the most agonizing defeat of his professional life.
On January 25, the ex-Buccaneers head coach was named Atlanta’s coach. The Falcons lost the Super Bowl 34-28 to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots after blowing a 28-3 lead, and Morris’s first press conference took place on Monday, the seventh anniversary of that loss. Morris was an assistant for Atlanta at the time.
Morris brought up the loss in the Super Bowl and stated that it will spur him on to win Atlanta’s first championship. The Falcons hired him as an assistant in 2015–20 and as their interim head coach in 2020. He described the pain he felt after that game as “a part of coming home.”
Morris stated, “That 2016 loss stings as bad as any one I’ve ever had,” before going on to say, “Actually the worst I’ve ever had.”
Morris, the defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams who won a Super Bowl following the 2021 season, stated he is driven “to come back here and get some real cool redemption” for the Falcons and their owner, Arthur Blank. “I want to see Warrick Dunn and Arthur Blank hold up the trophy.”
Former Falcons running back Dunn has a small ownership stake in the group. The vice president and chief communications officer for Blank’s family businesses, Brett Jewkes, stated that the 81-year-old was absent from the press conference because of a “minor medical” issue. Blank was sleeping and “doing very well,” according to Jewkes.
Before Morris was hired, many believed that former Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who won one of his record six Super Bowls at the Falcons’ expense, was the front-runner in both of his interviews with Atlanta.
Morris stated of Belichick, “I’ve got so much respect for what he’s done in his career.” “You know what, I would never, ever feel slighted because of how people would perceive Coach Belichick?”
Greg Beadles, the team president, stated that Belichick “was obviously a serious candidate.” You have to have the utmost respect for what he has accomplished in his career. Morris was chosen, according to Beadles, “unanimously” by Blank and the other members of the team that participated in the thorough search.
14 applicants were interviewed by Blank and Terry Fontenot, general manager. Among them were former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel and former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, who was hired by the Los Angeles Chargers.
Morris’s career record, which includes three seasons with Tampa Bay, is 21-38. He was 4-7 in 2020 while serving as Atlanta’s temporary coach. Following the 2020 season, Morris was given another interview; Arthur Smith was hired in the end.
Shortly after finishing his third consecutive 7–10 season, Smith was let go. Afterwards, he was brought on as the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The only team representatives to speak during the Falcons’ press conference last month regarding Smith’s firing were Blank and CEO Rich McKay. The team declared that McKay would no longer have any say in football-related decisions when Morris was hired. In addition to continuing to serve as CEO of Blank’s family businesses, he will now take the helm of Atlanta United, a Major League Soccer team that Blank also owns.
