Here’s what Falcons coach Raheem Morris had to say after the 22-17 loss to Chiefs on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium:
Opening statement: “You know, tough one, guys. Obviously didn’t get the results you want. Played a tough game, hard game, hard-fought game, and they came out on top.”
On injury updates on C Drew Dalman and T Kaleb McGary: “I’m not sure right now. I’ll get better detailed information on these guys. I just know they didn’t return to the game. I know they wanted to if they could, and they were unable to go. So, (I) don’t have anything on those guys yet.”
On how difficult it was to not have Dalman and McGary on the offensive line: “We won’t make excuses about that. But I got a 69-man roster. Like I told everybody at the beginning of the season, I love the guys I’ve got. The guys that went out there and they fought for us against whoever. I’ll go out there around battle with whoever we got on our football team.”
On how crucial converting third downs are on offense: “Each individual week is its week. We were 2 of 9 this week on third down, and we got to go out there and get better. In order to keep Patrick Mahomes off the field, you’d like to be able to convert some of those. That will help affect some of possession. That’ll affect some of the plays they get on our defense. That can also affect the scoreboard. So every individual week, that’s something we got to get better at. We’ll go work on those things and get those better.”
On Kansas City’s defense affecting the run game: “They did a nice job of standing in some jam fronts. Nice job of getting some 25 fronts, doing some different things in the under. Nice job of sending some saw zeros getting some pressure and things of that nature. They just did a nice job. You got to give (Steve Spagnuolo) a lot of credit for what he’s able to do, able to force the issue, trying to make you pass the ball, not allowing you to run. Didn’t let Bijan (Robinson) and (Tyler) Allgeier get going. Great job by those guys. Hats off.”
On the officials not calling a pass interference on the third down play in the fourth quarter: “I like my money. I like my money that Arthur Blank gives me. I’m very smart enough to be aware enough to talk about officials. They made the call, or they didn’t make the call. It is what it is. We had a chance to win the football game on the last play of the game.”
On going for it on fourth down in the fourth quarter versus kicking a field goal: “I was in four-down territory for a while there. We were going out there to win this football game. We didn’t come here to tie. We didn’t come here to lose. We didn’t come here to hope we win. We didn’t come here to allow Patrick Mahomes to work his magic. We came here to win the football game on our terms and I lost it, so I’ll take that medicine all day.”
On the offense struggling to convert on third down: “Every week in a row, every week is very different. This week, we were not allowed to get our third downs. They did a nice job. You want to be able to do those things and convert those so you can have time of possession differences. You can have more conversions, more runs, more opportunities at it, and all those things were affected by the game in the outcome.”
On whether going down two offensive lineman changes play calling at all: “It can’t. You’ve got to trust your guys. You’ve got to believe in your guys (and) you have to go out there and execute your game plan. There’s a reason it’s called a team. You believe in your guys, you go out there and do it. You rely heavily on the guys that’s out there, the veterans that are able to do it. You’re decisive in your decisions and you go make them and you live with them.”
On whether he feels good about the short runs on the last third- and fourth-down plays: “Obviously you don’t feel good about them now. They didn’t work, right? But you run one up the middle with Tyler Allgeier. You don’t get it, you get knocked back. You get no yards on that play. You get fourth down with Bijan [Robinson], and you get no yards on that play. So, you don’t like the call, you don’t like the results, but that was our plan, and we were decisive. We called them, we were very aggressive and we lost the football game.”
On whether he feels the team had more success in general running the ball: “We really did. We thought we’d have more success. They did a nice job of sending some zero packages, some palms looks and being able to get a bunch of people at the line of scrimmage. They did a nice job shooting some gaps, making some plays there. Good football team. (Nick) Bolton did a really nice job being able to shoot the gap and really make some plays. You know, all those guys, Chris Jones is Chris Jones, and that’s a good football team. That is a very good football team. They were able to come out today and Bolton stopped the run. And vice versa. We were not. They ran the ball pretty well.”
On whether he was pleased with how the defense played: “It’s hard to say you’re pleased with the play of your defense. Like, you don’t choose sides up here. You don’t pat people in the back for losses. We’re not here to do that. We played well enough to give ourself a chance to win the football game but there’s always things you can do better.”
On how he assesses where the team is at with each of the first three games have been one-score games: “We’re 1-2. It’s pretty easy. The record assesses it for you.”
On having two division opponents as the next two games: “We’ve got the pen in our hand, and we can’t worry about the next two weeks. We just have to apply on and be focused on the next opponent, which happens to be a southern opponent, and we’ll prepare ourself and go out there and play that football game.”
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