Falcons coach Raheem Morris on Cousins-Penix Jr. QB situation & Super Bowl experience | Nightcap

hey oo you ever a feeling a bit sluggish slumped OIP poop's new citrusy Ridge Rush is filled with wholesome energy What's that name caffeine energy from green tea wa wao okay okay plus fiber and delicious crisp citrusy taste okay okay I'm feeling this energy basically it's that good clean Buzz whoa whoa hold on now I'm feeling this energy sorry got carried away there but you guys at home can find ollipop new Ridge Rush flavor in a store near you oh y I'm about to go I'm have to go to the bathroom for the commercial [Laughter] [Music] over here he is ladies and gentlemen Raheem Mor the man changed the script guys before we even start I just want to know do you need some fresh legs out there at Camp say that again do you need some fresh leg I can still go I promise you I tell Uncle all the time I still got it even at listen even at 56 I'll tell you this oo definitely can give me a couple of releases there we go and then we're gonna stop right there guys we got no routes coach how you doing I'm doing outstanding I'm in this beautiful city of Atlanta I got I got one of the best fan bases in in the National Football League and and we about to go out and earn it pretty soon and we got so much to prove to the city for the people we bringing this thing back and and it's just an exciting time coach this is your second time being a full-time NFL head coach what can you take into this experience that you learned from your first time being a head coach in Tampa what what is the difference between that Raheem Morris and this Raheem Morris I've said this so many times Shannon that the biggest difference when you're 32 years old you got all the answers MH you know7 be able to take this take this thing and listen to the people listen to the fans you know innovate and create every single day be a part of the culture that's here that's been built already and like all of those things in my life are different because of the experience I was able to go through I remember you came down and been with us in 2012 in DC I was with Mike Shanahan I got a chance to go to La and do these different things and be around different head coaches and I've just grown so much since that moment and I was right after becoming a head coach listen to you talk and the passion and the energy that you brought trying to get players like you two to come play for me and that's what I wanted and that's what we got you draft a what look you signed Kurt Cousins in free agency the eighth pick roll around there's a quarterback available you take a quarterback you've been around the NFL for 25 years you understand the dynamic with quarterbacks they're different than any other position so when you signed Kurt did you think pen penck Jr would be available and once he was available you make that decision that we're going to draft him what was the conversation like between if you had a conversation with Kurt Cousins or you didn't have a conversation or you had a conversation with his agent it goes back uh well before even a conversation with Kurt is when I got the job coming to here in an interview process the the process was about KK you come in you want to get immediate winner right now and how do you do that go get kurk cousins okay that was a part of my interview script that was a part of my plan AR the blank sell a vision sell a dream Terry font know here it is how do we find a way to go get him put him a part of this fold so we can go win football games right now and if we go get them we're gonna be in no position to draft the quarterback in the next couple of years you know when you when you talk about quarterbacks we understand how important that position is obviously in order to sustain a consistent success for any team if you look at the top teams in the NFL it always come down to the quarterback position is there is there a disconnect in any way with the quarterback competing with each other understanding the pressures that are on kurk cousins if he doesn't play well that in job is in Jeopardy I think I think the message was clear coming in right it was open it was honest it was clear Kurt's out starter yeah Kurt's going to take us to places that we want to go to okay and Michael's going to come in and he's going to watch what it looks like what it feels like he want to see what it looked like when you had your quarterbacks in your day with John Elway he want to see what it looked like you ain't have no quarterbacks but what it looked like to go out you've been you won Super Bowls at two different stops you've been an assistant on of a lot of different head coaches what is the common nominator between winning and losing the people it's a people first business in everything we do when you were a raven I watched it live in hand I came into that stadium and I watched the confidence and the people I watched Ray Lewis talk smack I watched you talk smack and we went there like man we about to beat them and then y'all let us know after the game that y'all wasn't and it was it was it was the people that was involved with the organizations it was all about that and here we're building a people first business and we're doing it with us we're doing with our people with our fans and like I just think that's just the messaging like you got to have that type of mentality it's got to be a people first mentality it has to be at all times in everything we do we're talking about with the fans we talking about with our community we talking about in the building we talking about with myself and Terry F know and our relationship Arthur Blank and how he communicates with everybody how we go about our whole process it's the people it's the people it's simple as a coach you know players we come into a season with a goal in mind we set goals and goals that we want to hit standards we want to maintain throughout a season as a head coach for the Atlanta Falcons what are your personal goals for this season you know it's hard to say set goals when you're head coach cuz everybody's got the same one Super Bowl we we all we all got the same one right and make no mistake about it and if you don't win it obviously you don't feel like you reach your ultimate goal I was fortunate enough to do it twice you were fortunate enough to do it three times and I'm G lap your ass I did it I did it I did it on Madden I did it I did that [ __ ] count [ __ ] that we we we count we count those two yeah count that hey no but seriously you you you had a chance I remember you and T teamed up yeah we we went 4 and 12 that year we w we did man we went 4 and 12 me and to oh I don't know what happened I don't know what it was I know what happened a young man named Cody Grim playing safety for rahem moris got a pck six on your boy walked it in and we was talking snack that's right that's right oh know that's right right that's right I'm going remind him ah haven't played this game as long as I have haven't been around it when I tell people when I I I haven't I've never I've been to a Falcon game where my brother played that was many many years ago old fil Fon County Stadium but from the outside looking in I say the Falcons are unlike any other Stadium because if you go to it and you watch it it's an experience it's an experience like no other and if you convinced those fans that you're going to win you saw how excited Troy was in the in in in in the Green Room back there you see how these fans are how do you how do you your message like I'm a winner I've won I know what it takes to win how do you get this fan base behind y'all and say look we need y'all to show up in P the first game is Pittsburgh Pittsburgh travels well how do you get them to make sure they don't sell them tickets and show up I I I can tell you right now Atlanta's not built that way we are from everywhere right we all from everywhere we from New York we from Philly we from everywhere we from Atlanta from all these places right but Tampa but this how you do it I was here in 2016 you got to earn it and then I know the people that were here in 2016 remember what that Dome felt like when we played Green Bay that last game versus Seattle they they know what that felt like inside that Dome and you got to find a way to earn it and bring that back now you got to go finish the deal and that's what we're trying to do so if you go out there and earn it with these fans they're going to show up they're G to show out and it's going to be Just Energy in the building is just unmatched and they going to love you for life forever as a you're a veteran coach now you I mean you like you said when you first got your head coaching job you were 32 years of age now you're 47 this is your second stop so now what is Raheem what is your mentorship or leadership role as you give back to coaches that are in their first year you know it's awesome because that's what you do uh consistently throughout this whole business right I see young coaches all the time and the whole goal is to always give back so if we have ways to ever find ways to get back whether it be youth coaches whether it be High School coaches whether be college coaches whether it be coaches from within that's on the rise I'm finding that new Young Raheem Morris like Mike Tomlin found me I'm finding that guy like rest in peace Monte ke and found me and be to bring those guys into your organization and teach them your ways and then let them go out and Branch off a little bit and find their own way right and then you find your own identity and what it means to be a coach and how you want to form your script and how you want to touch each and every person out here and the individuals that you coach right I I've been fortunate enough to be able to touch people's lives what are you talking about with Ronde Barber from way back in the and we're the same age and I'm able to touch his life or you're talking about jayen Ramsey win a championship out in LA and you're able to touch his life and you become a different coach in his eyes just because of the presence that you have every day and the amount of effort that you giv that one individual to make him better and I want to make everybody in my team feel that way that I'm trying to make them better no matter what the circumstances are whether it's competitive whether it's something I can give them to make them better whatever the case may be you got to be willing to go deeper than that because the relationships matter more than anything I got a question that's a good one being a head coach obviously when you started you were 30 now that you're 47 and there was just a small issue with with Tua and Mr Brian flues as a head coach now how do you navigate knowing which players you can coach hard and which players which to push yeah which ones you can push like how how do you navigate that because the era the era of players night is different I ain't calling nobody soft but you just you got to you got to navigate a little different so I'm saying how do you do that in today's era where the players are making who God knows how much money and really don't take coaching that well you can't do irregular things with regular ass relationships oh [ __ ] wow hold on whoa whoa whoa write that down write that down oo stay with me now stay with me stay with me I got to Ain't Nobody Got no pen well that was a good one boy that was a good one give me give me that give me that one more time let me put it in my phone you you can't do irregular things with regular ass relationships I'mma use that with real so so when when you when you when you live in an era that these players live in right now right and not just at our level right I'm talking like high school your kids right they live in this social media area when they go home and they lose a game they didn't just lose it in front of whoever was at the stadium that night they lost it in front of the whole state they lost it in front of across the world Across the Nation and the stuff that's happening with these kids and how they press that mental health is real because so many people know when you dropped that pass when you dropped it about 16 people knew right when when our high school kids dro the pass now I mean the whole world knows and how do you address that and how do you go about that business right you let them know you in it with him right I'm be right there with him I remember Jaylen Ramsey had a bad game versus the Buffalo Bills on the open after we won the Super Bowl I went to his house and I told him I don't give a damn about none of that we coming out next week we GNA show out and we gonna go get it and I'm GNA fight right with you and I'm I'm I'm going stay in this lab yes Stephan dig got the best of us that day yeah right but the next guy going to get it on his behalf right they want to know you they form like and you got to have that type of style like and you can coach people hard they'll let you coach them hard you can and you know who you can you know who want that motivation you know who want to be driven you smart enough to figure it out you wanted to be driven you a pit bull right you that's who you are you want to be that guy right and then there's guys you got to go Pat the back a little bit and bring them with you okay that's all let me ask you this and we gonna get you here in this one Ro I ain't going no way I'm leading the show you can say as long as you want obviously you had other opportunities how do you convince coaches that look like you that don't feel like that opportunity is ever going to come because you had think about it there was a 15year gap between the time that you were the head coach until you got it again and you had interviews and did you ever think like man I don't know if I'm going ever get another chance to be a head coach again so you ready Shannon it's real simple for me right I was a 32 year old head coach and I did it again and people were telling me you should have had it a long time ago I don't give a damn what you people were saying I'mma work for it I'mma go get it and when it happens I'mma Be Ready so I'mma I'mma keep developing my skill set that when it happens again there's going to be no denying on what you can and how you're going to be able to do it and go about your business and I don't give a damn what color I am results don't know color I like it I like it you look at what you've done you got Grady Jared you bring him back you signed Justin Simmons you signed Matthew judon you just gave AJ Terrell boatload of money you SEC locked him up I drafted him too don't forget you did you did draft him so what is the expectations of this defense considering you've got guys that have been Pro bowls that have been to the All Pro AJ Terrell is one of the better young Corners in the league leue and we know G Jared is one of the outstanding defensive linemen in the league what is the expectation that's your area of expertise as you know as you know it's really simple right stats are for losers yes their expectations is to go out there and beat dogs right we got to find ways to affect the quarterback and make them just feel uncomfortable at all times and once you find a way to make them uncomfortable and you dominate rundowns and you get the ball back then just go watch our offense shine right that's what winning teams do that's that's how you form your identity that's how you make things move that's how the needle moves the next thing you talking about it on your shows about the stats we don't care about none of that we care about the dog mentality that's going to take to get there that's what our that's what our goal is that's what our that's that's what the expectations are I like it ladies and gentlemen Atlanta Falcons head coach your head coach Raheem [Applause] [Music] Morris man see all right [Music]