FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons coach Raheem Morris was a defensive back in college at Hofstra, and Dan Quinn was his position coach in the late 1990s.
They have remained connected throughout their coaching journeys, which included five seasons with the Falcons from 2015-20, when they went to the playoffs twice and nearly won Super Bowl 51.
Morris and Quinn will match wits as head coaches when the Falcons (8-7) play the Commanders (10-5) at 8:20 p.m. Sunday at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, in a game with major NFC playoff implications for both teams.
Morris rose up through the coaching ranks quickly and was head coach of Tampa Bay from 2009-11. Quinn got his shot with the Falcons in 2015 after being the coordinator of Seattle’s fabled “Legion of Boom” defense.
Both had to put in some more time in the assistant coaching ranks before getting shots to return head coaches again in 2024, Morris with the Falcons and Quinn with the Commanders.
“Now, being in the fortunate position of being head coaches in this awesome league, and have a chance to compete against each other at a very high level with high stakes on the line and in prime time,” Morris said. “I just enjoy these moments of (going) against guys that you care about and enjoy these moments.”
But things have gone dark.
“This week, man, he’s got to be a nameless gray face,” said Morris, who played at Hofstra from 1994-97 and was a grad assistant in 1998. “We’ve got to go out there and get a win.”
Quinn, who was an assistant coach at Hofstra from 1996-2000, and Morris exchange text messages on normal weeks. But this is not a normal week. Morris won’t speak with or message Quinn.
“I’ll ban him this week,” Morris said. “I’ll block him on my phone.”
Quinn will go silent this week, too, but he was elated to see Morris land the Falcons job.
“Every once in a while, you get the right person at the right job, at the right time,” Quinn said. “That’s Raheem in Atlanta. He’s always been the right person. This is the right time for him, there, in that city, with this team. I’d imagine there is a certain energy following this team as well in Atlanta.”
Morris was on Quinn’s staff with the Falcons in varying capacities. Quinn clearly trusted Morris with offensive, defensive and assistant head coach duties.
“He’s got the rare ability, street smarts, football smarts, connection (and) football acumen,” Quinn said. “There are a lot of people who know it in the book, but can’t teach it.
“There are lot of guys who know how to play, but can’t articulate it. Rah is the rare one who can motivate you. He can talk tough. Whatever is needed to help a player reach their potential. He’s the type of person that you want to do that.”
Morris and Quinn both have rookie quarterbacks in Michael Penix Jr. and Jayden Daniels. They haven’t discussed how they are working with their first-round picks.
“That has not come up yet,” Morris said. “That’s a good question, but it hasn’t. Obviously, during the draft, all those things came up, but nobody wants to tell anybody nothing. We’ve all got our secrets until we shocked the world at pick eight. But nobody really talks about those things.”
After Quinn was fired five games into the 2020 season, Morris took over as the interim head coach. He went to the Rams and helped them win a Super Bowl as their defensive coordinator.
He was hired to replace Arthur Smith last season.
Morris and Quinn, while with the Rams and Cowboys, have face each other twice.
“We played the Cowboys, I want to say twice,” Morris said. “It could be just once, but for sure once. They kicked our butts a bit last year.”
The Cowboys won 43-20 on Oct. 29, 2023 at Dallas.
Both are enjoying their return to the head-coaching ranks.
“Man, it’s always fun to play against your friends, your confidants, your mentors — whatever you want to look at it as — that we’ve been able to grow up with throughout this whole process,” Morris said. “You know, Dan coaching me in college and then having a chance to work together, then having a chance to really follow the same path to the National Football League.”
But they’ll put all that history to the side and try to make a stride to the playoffs.
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