Falcons' Raheem Morris Opens Up on Decision to Fire Ike Hilliard

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga – The Atlanta Falcons left Charlotte after a 30-point Week 3 rout, having failed to score a single point. Criticism flared up all around the team, and the Falcons were quick to shake up their coaching staff. Offensive coordinator Zac Robinson was moved from the booth down to the field, while wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard was terminated.

The decision to move on from Hilliard was a “performance-based” decision, according to head coach Raheem Morris.

“I want a different direction,” Morris said on Wednesday. “I wanted to handle those things the right way. I wanted to be able to go in that room and present to those guys the right way to get things that we want to get done.”

Three weeks into the season, no wide receiver has caught a touchdown pass, and they have combined for just 336 yards receiving on 31 catches with a catch rate of 50%. Running back Bijan Robinson leads the team in receiving (164 yards) and has just two fewer receptions than the top wideout on this roster.

The players and staff have been adamant that it simply comes back to a level of execution that has been lacking thus far this season.

“It’s the NFL, and rent is due every day,” wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud said. “We’ve got to be on one accord in this league. In the NFL, quarterbacks gotta be in tune with the receivers, the linemen gotta be in tune with the running back, the running back gotta be on point with blitzes, and so on and so on.”

The entire offense has struggled, but the numbers with the wide receivers were noticeable, especially after the career years these players experienced the year before.

In his first season with the team last year, Hilliard helped guide Drake London to career highs in receptions (100), receiving yards (1,271), and receiving touchdowns (nine). He joined Roddy White (2010) and Terance Mathis (1994) as the third player in franchise history to record 100 receptions, 1,200 yards, and nine touchdowns in a single season.

Darnell Mooney just missed his second career 1,000-yard season after missing the team’s final regular-season game, but set a career high in touchdowns (five) and average yards per reception (15.5). McCloud set career highs in receptions (87) and yards (686) as the team’s third receiver.

While still only six starts into his career, Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. has struggled recently. He is completing just 58.6% of his passes on the season and has not reached the 200-yard NFL mark in consecutive weeks. In those last two starts, Penix is completing just 31-of-57 of his passes (54.4%) for 307 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions, while the offense has scored just one touchdown.

“I try not to take the blame, but I do feel like I have to help the guys as well,” Penix said. “You know, at the end of the day, the coaches they're going to coach their tails off each and every day. But at the end of the day, the players were the ones that's on the field making those plays.”

After three weeks, the Falcons made it clear that the level of execution falls on the coach.

“I gotta make decisions for the leaders of our group, right? You need to have the environment, you need to have the coaching, you need to have the detail, you need to have everything right in order to get your offense in the right direction,” Morris said.

Firing a coach midseason is always a shock to the nervous system of a team, but for McCloud, the move hit close to home. Hilliard was the coach who not only gave him his big break in this league after he bounced around through four different teams throughout his career. In fact, he said that he came to Atlanta specifically to play for Hilliard.

That made Monday’s decision that much more difficult.

“It reminds you that this league has no loyalty. I mean, it’s football, it’s a day-to-day job, and you’ve got to come pay your dues every day,” McCloud said. “He’s the best coach I ever had, but it’s been real. Just because that happened [the termination] doesn’t make it real, it’s been real, and that’s a part of the game.”

The Hilliard termination serves as a stark reminder that this league is a business, and hard decisions have to be made every week. Teams that are terminating coaches this early in the season could be a sign of things to come, but it can also serve as a jumpstart to the rest of the season.

The Falcons are betting that tough decisions now can keep their season from unraveling. Whether that gamble pays off will become clear in the weeks ahead.