The quote that landed on Twitter wasn’t notably ominous. The full feedback positively had been.
Speaking to reporters after Monday night time’s sluggish and ugly win over the Raiders, Falcons coach Raheem Morris didn’t rule out benching quarterback Kirk Cousins. If something, Morris strongly hinted that it’s going to be thought-about.
The first query on Cousins ended with this: “Can you assess Kirk’s play tonight and the place you’re at . . . when it comes to him because the beginning quarterback shifting ahead?”
“He’s acquired to play higher,” Morris mentioned. “And, , clearly, you’ve acquired to return, you’ve acquired to have the ability to have a look at every thing. But, , he needs to play higher. He’s acquired to play higher. We’ve acquired to discover a method to get him to play higher. And, clearly, we’ll get to work tomorrow, and that’s a part of our course of, proper? You go and have a look at the tape, you assessment with the folks it must be reviewed with, , we get all of the coordinators within the room, we’ll discuss with everyone and we’ve acquired to play higher on the quarterback place.”
Look once more on the query, after which on the reply. It begins with Morris saying Cousins must play higher. It ends with Morris saying the Falcons should play higher on the quarterback place, with out mentioning Cousins or Penix.
While movie research and conferences amongst coaches will likely be an element, there’s one other essential angle to contemplate. What are the gamers saying to different gamers and to coaches? Are they prepared for an opportunity, after seeing what Cousins has carried out by way of 14 begins — capped by 5 video games that includes a passer ranking beneath 80?
After giving his reply about quarterback play, Morris was requested a extra particular followup query about Cousins: “If he can’t [play better], are you ready to interchange him with Michael Penix?”
The reply was removed from “no.” And, on this context, something apart from “no” is “possibly” at finest, “sure” at worst.
“You know, we’ve acquired everyone on our roster for a cause, proper?” Morris mentioned. “We’ve acquired a lot to get higher at. And, like, these issues will at all times be mentioned. That’s simply the character of the beast in soccer. It’s simply so closely talked about on the quarterback place as a result of there’s just one man on the market. You know, so, like for us, man, our mentality is to discover a method to win the following recreation, and that’s simply the mentality that we’re gonna have.”
With the Falcons going through a brief week, and given the plan to fulfill and to assessment the movie immediately, be ready for the potential of a leak, adopted by an announcement, that Cousins is down and Penix is up.
It shouldn’t shock anybody if it occurs, based mostly on the issues Morris mentioned after final night time’s slim win.
