Raheem Morris initial 53-man roster Press Conference | Atlanta Falcons

[Laughter] I don't know what kind of guy demands to come to a closed practice cuz there's never been a close practice well is now I've never been the head coach never until 2020 hey guess what and that was C of the pandemic guess what happened we got Clos at L back no we don't I sound like that sound like a complaint between you and the league we got has already been fou hey man they put the rules out there for a reason to keep you out of there slid that in there on slid that in there we slide that been slid there since 2020 yeah we get that care of nobody want to see you every no nobody want to see you every day lead the house I gota get out the house what's up L how you doing go ahead ask you a question you just got 30 questions right there go get some gas man Costco run he's lost his mind today guys you know you could have called me to had this conversation right I you have to waste the media's time okay I got my questions right now discuss with Coach Morris the makeup of the 53 man roster yes um you always keep it's not it's you know realistically dlay you got to put it on a different format nowadays because all the new rules that's been put in place right it's like it's the best 69 people that you can keep on your roster because of all the new rules some of the things that you got to adapt and adjust to whether it's a day off or the media you can't come in or it's having 69 players with people that you can Flex up on rosters in order to form your 48 man roster that's allowed on game day or 49 if you keep the third quarterback so all of those things um are always a part of it so like um decisions always made to keep the best people in place in order to find ways to win games as much as we can come on in Josh you're okay you're not fine today the dlay just absolutely took all the fines away from everybody before this press conference started so you're good yes yeah and um uh the practice squad after you that that hustle and bustle to to get your get people back and uh pick up people uh outside of the the the um the rim of the 90 men you already had so the hustle and bustle outside of the 90 man Rim that we already have is being done throughout the whole term of training camp you know we got all these young Scouts upstairs AEM and and uh Ben and all those guys and S and all those guys that just scour through rosters and they do such a great job of watching and evaluating tape and looking at it all and then they able report their reports to Ryan pace and it goes to Cal Smith and obviously it gets to Terry fno and you know those guys had just a rougher time as we doing the draft of staying up here the last couple of days and really discussing and finding out what best fits us and how we go about that process it's been um I I really respect the amount of work that our organization puts into um the bottom and the top of our roster um to to formulate what we're able to come up with like I said man forming that 69 players that can be on your football team um is a special occasion it's it's awesome to watch and it get the information from the other guys when I can sit here with my coaches and evaluate the guys that we have in the roster um they're able to evaluate the rest of the league and find out what's best fits us um who we like to bring in and who we like to see um whether it be now or whether it be future use I think it's always good to go do that with those guys in your in the Super Bowl year how many players were up I know when Green Bay with McCarthy you said that they've had so many injuries that year with 78 players that you know um played in a game or were up and active um so people look at the 48 but you really kind of got to have 8 plus you know it's it's just like I said man like you know you guaranteed 69 guys at the beginning of the season and as we know this game is is historically you lose people just throughout it we talked about how many quarterback plays uh last year alone I think it was 66 or whatever the case may be quarterbacks right so just imagine the other position on the stuff that you go through with attrition and people that are going to come back and how thises thing always cires back to those people and the people that you know and all type of things so like that work um is just critical so like uh the things that our Scouts do behind the scenes the things that our coaches are pass that the things that they pass through our coaches excuse me um all that all that work is all critical uh just throughout the process de let I I got like I said so much respect for all of our um evaluators and all of our people in our front office that's able to go through that process uh with with Terry and all those guys and be able to put us in a position to have the best people on our Rost that we possibly can have I know that people make a lot about initial 53 man but there are a lot of names who meant a lot to um your preseason that are on this practice squad so Carlos Washington Kevin King Chris Blair how important was it to you to keep those guys around very important like like I mentioned Tori like I don't even call it the practice squad I just call it an extension of our roster and I know is I know that's the the term but you know like I I got so much I told those guys yesterday I got so much respect for all those guys the guys that you just named um included with the other guys that we got that I feel really confident other than people that I wouldn't know right off the back of being to flex guys up and exactly what role they be able to play for us right now and those roles obviously get increased as you go throughout a season you're able to prepare and practice and do different things but uh like we talked about injuries happen and you got to have people up um and you got the the tool of being able to flex people up nowadays and that really made it an extension of our a roster especially getting three flexes a person until you got to make real decisions whether you put in 153 or not I can't remember this was you or Terry that said y'all would do this exercise where you would write down the best 53 men on the 90 man roster in regardless of position just who are the best players I'm curious what that exercise looked like and how close this initial 53 man like relay to that that's definitely Terry exercise uh for for me I I I sit in I sit in the uh my office and I kind of do my own deal and then um we collaborate together and see how close we are and a lot of time is really close and then that brings up the ultimate discussion on how you keep the best people um and I know I can rely on Terry Kyle and Ryan to have the best ways and avenues and places and uh ways we can keep the best people on our roster and and and that's when it comes to listening that that skill that we talked about and what's different between Raheem Morris now and then um being able to listen to those guys and figure out how do we do those things and have opinions but at the same time be able to listen to some of the people that's put in those positions that go through that every single day we talked to Kirk during training camp and he was kind of talking about the general anxiety that you have this time of year and getting ready for week one and just making sure you are on your Ps and q's with everything that's getting installed what's it like for a coach especially when you get to this point you know you're just post cuts and you got a week and a half before that first game do you kind of feel that same like nervous not nervous but just that it's okay to stay nervous anness of do we have everything ready yeah it's it's not um you know you prepare for these moments and like for coaches really this is like the best part you know like we just you make the transition from evaluator you know to game planner and you make that transition and you feel really good and comfortable with the amount of stuff that you have and I've been fortunate enough to be doing it for a while that you you start off I remember the first days of OTA days and you feel like you don't have enough and then you feel that nervousness energy that you got to get this stuff in you got to get it install and by the time you get to this point you start to feel really comfortable and you got like you're fully loaded and you're ready to go out there and prepare and play and game plan watch the other opponent and really come up with different ideas and schemes and things that you can do in order to go out there and dictate terms so to speak and like so for coaches this becomes the really you know you I don't even know how to say but you get real tough you know like in your office by yourself you know then that that nervous energy is able to come out you know once the national anthon goes when that first game starts and then once that happens you know was go time and um I know this the Pittsburgh Steelers got a got a flight uh they're coming regardless and uh you better be ready can you confirm that is getting sent to Los Angeles charers still in the process uh so um you know we'll see where that lands out and then obviously when that's able to be talked about when it's not a process anymore um we'll do that sorry Mark coach during uh night cap last weekend you made a couple of comments about what winning teams do and you know how you want to form this team's identity and moving the needle are you satisfied that the players that you have now in the three man roster can do all of those things or still going to make some moves I'm really um more than satisfied um you always are trying to upgrade at all times and it just keeps a subtle Edge right that that Competitive Edge around your team where everybody's competing uh where everybody's trying to be the best version of themselves in order to go out and compete at the highest level every single day um doing night cap was a lot of fun with uh Shannon and oo and being able to talk about some reminiscent things but that that is like the essence of ball when you get a chance to talk to former players I always tell David I like talking to former players why I don't talk to DED by himself because I always love talking to former players when we talking about football and those moments and those things and how you get winning teams and when it happens and and and the things that you go through when that stuff happens it's just so much fun um just exciting exciting times but I feel really good about it me if I've asked you this before it's okay think I have Josh you don't matter you can ask it twice whatever U Kirk's notes how closely have you looked at the notes that Kirk takes during meeting oh you don't look at them I I kind of I kind of sneak and peek at him like I pry he sits he sits right in the front of the room and he's he's maniacal right he has his notes in front of him and he's throwing his plays and they're really small and he's just going through and I just kind of laugh and shake my head like this guy's sick you know and um but it's it's it's really cool to look at when you just watch a professional you know and how he works and how goes to his process and it's it's worked for him clearly you know it's worked for him really well up until this point and um I I just I I just marvel at it because these become stories that coaches can tell to their children these become stories that coaches can tell to the people that they coach moving forward and and and and how well it was done you know no different than when you're talking about former coaches that come to mind for me like ammani kein or Mike Tomlin and some of the processes that they went through some of the things that we did out in La when you got a chance to watch a guy like Eric Garber how you coach wi out things of that nature but all the people that you've been around around you gain those experience is no different than the players you know eventually that will become my idea for some Young quarterback telling him how to do it because that's what Kur cousin did and those stories become legendary and and and if you can just go just take a peek at it man it is really cool to see do you say that to Michael do you say watch this and copy that or do you have to let Michael sort of organically develop his own system I think I think option b you know you kind of organically develop your own system but it's definitely good to see somebody go through their process and what it looked like and then you steal things that that works for me you know and you find a way to do that and you can't make it false enthusiasm that Michael does that but I think it has to be something that maybe he captures from him he may capture that he may capture meeting presence he may capture how to command the Huddle he can capture some of the other things that Kurt does like yesterday we were kind of off a little bit and Kirk and flexion of his voice just absolutely changed the dynamic of the practice within play three and you just noticed that from the outside looking in and all those things you know when you got a chance to get some real good coaching points and some real good evaluation points from Michael rank among details not takers quarterbacks you've been around is there somebody else that pops to mind took you know fill the book or Drew crazy diagram man you know most of those guys that are are are psycho they got their own Rhythm and routine and they're and they're obsessed and uh I was around Matthew Stafford and really I got to put Cooper Cup in this this this category as well where they had this psycho routine where they kind of met at I don't even know what time it was but I know I was walking through and they' be sitting in that wide receiver SL quarterback room whatever it was with their maniacal sick kind of pattern that they did every single week uh in that room and and you know I always swerve around because I didn't want to walk through and disturb him and sometimes I just kind of went through and kind of gave him something just to make it just to normalize him a little bit but um I I don't know about the poker chips you gotta ask I didn't see the poker chips last year the last couple years I was out with them um but I did see what time he got to work um and I remember one time it was this kind of a joke this is during Co I believe they moved the coffee machine into the team room and I would walk by sometimes I see him in the team room and I thought he was just like going through his plays and all stuff in his head and I said something to him one day he was like no I was just sitting there getting coffee I was like oh so I thought I found I thought I stumbled into some sick training but it was just him getting coffee in the morning in the dream room you're talking about kind of transitioning to game planning and you've got familiarity obviously with both your coordinators but for the rest of your staff who maybe you haven't worked with before are there steps you can take dur Camp the preseason to get your game planning process kind of locked down yeah certainly I think as a head coach when you get a chance to um move through accordingly and just kind of see where people's strengths grow and then you kind of see where people are comfortable giving their opinion I think all of those things and and then really is up to me to really encourage that behavior you know I can talk about lead you know like I could tell you exactly what I told him um just throughout the process he has this amazing culture that he's formed in our o line room and I said hey man you got to bring that outside of the o line room and he's been able to bring that culture to the tight ends to our running backs and to our half line drill and the excitement that he able to bring outside of that room with that o line where they're got their own little cultish type Behavior that's starting to spread throughout the team and our offense really speed up the ball is not a saying on a hat it is the the the truth and the statement on how you run the football and like those are the things that you want to encourage guys to do as you walk around even to the coaches that you didn't know as well as you get to know those guys now and like I think we've been formulating that over the last four months and I think those things will come out as we get further and further down the road can you describe the difference between last week and this week not just the amount of players and people that are kind of around the building but also just the vibe now that intensity shifts to kind of going towards one you know last week when you're talking about the competitive nature of people fighting for those roster spots and really the evaluation process for the coaches and really the guys trying to show up what they can do the best and now it's like uh you just trying to get even more specific in your role Clarity in order to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers because nothing else matters right so when we're going out now those are the things and those are the people that are finding those roles and what they have to do in order to go out there to give us the best shot to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers so I think the clarity kind of clears up for us I think it kind of slows down I think some of the things that you're starting to do now is not is not throw up against the wall and see if it's stick it is direct arrows and and darts being thrown at very uh small detailed Precision precise uh targets a couple weeks now that's why I can describe it sorry Jory sorry I thought you're were done um you always cut me off it's okay I know I'm sorc and you pause sometimes and I'm like I do I got this dramatic pauses that's kind of fake sometimes I've been watching too much Denzel Washington guys all right I'm going now the you can't handle the truth Tori no go ahead Tor sorry Josh uh Matthew Jah and Justin Simmons been here now for a couple of weeks um when you look at where they are and they're um kind of integrating them into this roster and into this team what are some moments with them as you're kind of walking around the building that really sticks out that makes you excited that you have those two guys here now did you say Matthew and just Justin right Matthew okay so Matthew um he's a little further along obviously because he was practicing all this time and out where he was at and so we got him already beefed up into his rep counts we got him beefed up into full individual but the personality of Matthew just comes out more and more every single day and he is live wire he is a guy who knows a lot of football he is high intelligence he is high instinctual um and he brings a little bit of the edge and he brings a little bit more fun to a practice even when you get him and you trick him on something he's able to very loudly and very clearly articulate that to the offense oh I knew that was coming but you got me and it's it's um it's a lot of fun with him where Justin's being kind of I'm kind of just letting the Rope out slowly with him and now we're starting to get to some team players and do some of those different things and you're starting to see really the intelligence of Justin and how fast he's able to pick pick it up and communicate with Jesse or Grant or whoever is out there or even Alfred at the nickel spot and some of those spots and how detailed he is in his work and just a true absolute professional so they are different points um but the two guys personality are really ringing out and the character behind both of them in their own different way are really starting to mesh well with our football team you expect Justin to be ready to contribute week I do you know um how much that'll be determined within the next couple of weeks and the preparation uh that we move forward when we get into the Steelers preparation but um I I certainly think he's going to be one of the major contributors to us um throughout what have you seen throughout Camp D'Angelo Malone to make that 53 man roster and what does he mean just like the Special Teams unit yeah let's not even let's not even kid ourselves you guys got a chance to see what D'Angelo means to this football team on every Friday and Saturday he went out there and absolutely dominated the kicking phase um end game you know so like you guys got a better picture of that than most U being to watch those games every single week so like you know these are the these are the factors where I mean you know some people say you know you don't put much value into the preseason games no I do just in different areas and and D'Angelo Malone was one of those guys that we talked about that Ro Clarity he found a role in a niche and he made it that he was undeniable that you had to find a way to keep him on a football team so he can continue to do that at a very high level does Mike Tomlin know that you do a spot on impression of him he absolutely does um he's told the story many of times but he I was his assistant and um I ran he's always he's he's always been developing he's trying to develop me this week through the media trying to give me stuff that I should be working on but um he's um he's always been a guy that's a big part of development it's kind of what we've been as we kind of grown up in coaching whether it was R marelli whether it was Mike Tomlin whatever the case may be when you have younger coaches and people around you you want to give them real Ro Clarity so to speak again so I always ran the the meetings after practice and I ran the meetings and I was sometimes uh doing his voice and he would lean outside of his office which was a closet and he'd go hey you imitating me or you coaching you know and um and and and we all laugh all the players knew um but it it really wasn't really U really picking on him it really was emulating some greatness and some of the things he's able to do like nobody can hold the form like Mike Tomlin uh within the media and and and everything he deals with the uh with the verbiage with his um his unique skill set um with his spot on uh accurate descriptions of the things that he's talking about out so um it's less about me picking on him it's more about me uh really emulating really good things and stealing it and I've been able to do that over the years and it just so happens in week one man he's greaty matter and he knows it if I'm remembering correctly you credited him with like showing you that initiative to like look at both the offense and the defense and um get that experience in both sides what did that look like for you early on you were spot on he was one of the first people to even make me even think that way you know because he had played offense in in college at way M Mary at the tribe as he would say he played at the tribe and he was a receiver and when I met him he was a defensive back coach and he looked at it from an offensive lens and almost everything that we we did and then like I said I went to a very um uh upfront place where you had no Egos and John Gruden allows to be in offensive installs and be able to watch him with his quarterback detail and all those things so we were nosy so we attended as many of those as we possibly could so he was definitely a part of the major part of the encouraging factor of even diving into the offense before I had ever ever even coached it you know the first opportunity I got to coach it was here with Dan Quinn and and and really that was full force no hesitation going into it because of those moments with Mike Tomlin and thinking about the background knowledge that you want to have being a coach on defense having a knowledge to coach on offense and it certainly serves me well right now in the position that I'm in now all right thanks everyone all right guys thank stop complaining