Raheem Morris Explains Atlanta Falcons Overtime Decision to Receive vs. Colts

The Atlanta Falcons lost another close game on Sunday; this time to the AFC-leading Indianapolis Colts. The Colts tied the game late after a long kickoff return gave them excellent field position, and a 16-yard scramble on 3rd and 21 set up the game-tying field goal.

The Falcons won the toss in overtime and elected to receive, rather than kick the ball. Conventional wisdom is that a team would rather play defense first, giving the offense the advantage of knowing what they needed to do to win (or tie) when they got possession of the ball. It certainly makes fourth-down calls easier if you know the team that had the ball first didn't score with their possession.

The Falcons have elected to start games with the ball every time they've won the toss this season, and Morris continued that strategy into overtime.

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“That's part of our strategy to get the ball," said Morris on Monday. "You get the ball, you know you’re going to have to get it back. They're going to kind of know what they need to go to win it, but you also know what you need to do on defense to go out there and get a stop."

Morris brought up the factor of a 10-minute overtime playing a factor. Possessions could be limited, and getting the ball first could be crucial in making sure you get the ball last.

"You also have a chance to get that third possession, and then after that, man, it gets scarce for running out of time and going into potentially the tie situation. So, for us, that's kind of which direction we chose to go, and that's something that we’ve talked about ad nauseam a little bit, and that's kind of where we wanted to go with.”

The problem with possibly playing for a third possession is that the Falcons were short-handed on defense. Earlier last week, they cut defensive lineman Ta'Quon Graham. They left defensive lineman LaCale London off the active roster with no injury designation, and defensive tackle Sam Roberts went out in the first series with an injury.

Ruke Orhorhoro played 62 snaps. His previous career high was 43, and he's only played more than 30 four times prior to Sunday. In short, he was forced to play two games. David Onyemata turns 33 on Thursday, and played 54 snaps, his high as a Falcons player and his most snaps since 2020. Zach Harrison played a career high 47, after being out with injury the previous two weeks.

A penalty extended the Falcons' first drive to five plays, but they went backwards five yards before punting.

The defense was gassed. They allowed a franchise record 323 rushing yards, with the Colts' game-winning drive coming on seven plays, with five consecutive runs to close the game.

Kicking or receiving didn't ultimately lose the game for the Falcons. Going 0-8 on third down and an intentionally depleted defensive line were bigger culprits. However, it's another example of the Atlanta Falcons trying to do things differently than the norm, and coming up with the same result: another loss.