Raheem Morris Makes Shocking Admission as Falcons' Season Spirals

The Atlanta Falcons' head coach wasn't afraid to pin much of the blame on himself as losses pile up

Morris openly put the blame on himself as the Falcons keep losing | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

What began as a promising season for the Atlanta Falcons has quickly unraveled into a nightmare scenario. Five straight losses, a starting quarterback done for the year, and a banged-up star wideout have pushed Atlanta into full-on crisis mode. 

With the Falcons falling to 3-7 on the season and lacking a first-round pick in 2026, head coach Raheem Morris’s seat is nearing a boiling point. Asked Sunday to evaluate his leadership during the team’s skid, Morris offered an honest assessment. 

“Not good,” Morris replied earnestly. “You know we’ve lost a bunch of games in a row, in tight moments, and you got to find a way to win those games, man. Like it is definitely on me, there’s no such thing as a losing team, there’s only a losing leader, and I’m the leader, and we lost.”

Morris has just a 32-54 record as an NFL head coach. Since taking over in Atlanta last offseason, the team is 11-16 with him at the helm. Since Atlanta’s hot 6-3 start last year, the Falcons are 5-13, including a 0-5 record against NFC South opponents. 

The numbers paint a grim picture, but the frustration extends beyond the record. Morris, who was the defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams from 2021 to 2023, brought with him passing game coordinator Zac Robinson to be his offensive coordinator in Atlanta and Rams’ assistant head coach Jimmy Lake to be his defensive coordinator.

Lake was fired after one season, after a season in which Atlanta ended bottom two in sacks and the bottom 10 in yards allowed per game. Now Robinson is facing his own wave of scrutiny as the offense continues to sputter and pressure builds on the entire staff, one that Morris handpicked. 

Atlanta’s bold investment was supposed to prevent seasons like this, as Atlanta handed veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins a four-year $180 million contract, including a $50 million signing bonus and $100 million guaranteed. 

“We won’t be picking this high again with the guy that we’ve got [Kirk Cousins],” Morris said last April. “We don’t want to be picking [here] anymore.”

Yet, about a year and a half later, currently, if Atlanta had their draft pick, it would be picking 8th overall, where they picked three consecutive years from 2022-2024.

So Morris has explicitly stated he’s not a good leader of men, and the coaching staff he tried to implement in Atlanta has failed. To make matters worse, he still struggles with game management. 

Adam Amin and Kurt Warner called out Morris’s clock management in Atlanta’s Week 10 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. 

In ESPN's Tuesday poll of over 80 writers, editors and TV personalities of NFL head coach Rankings, Morris came in at 26 out of 32. Of the six coaches ranked below Morris, two were first-year head coaches (Kellen Moore, Aaron Glenn) and two were interims (Mike Kafka, Mike McCoy). 

For a franchise that believed it was on the cusp of competing for the playoffs, the slide has been nothing short of jarring. The coaching staff Morris has assembled hasn’t delivered, the high-priced roster, which he had a hand in creating, hasn’t produced, and the in-game decision-making continues to be an issue. 

And it all circles back to what Morris himself has said, his leadership has been “not good”.

When the head coach directly admits his leadership has not been good, it only strengthens the change that Atlanta may be headed toward inevitable change.