Raheem Morris is being ridiculed for his handling of the clock at the end of the Falcons’ contest against the Commanders.
Rightfully so, too, because it’s elementary game management, especially with a rookie quarterback making his first road start in a primetime slot. Every fat guy (me) with a beer in their hand (me) on the couch (me) could’ve made that call.
It wasn’t some 50-50 fourth down call. It was rudimentary stuff, and Morris should be criticized very heavily. He took some responsibility but did double down on his “quicker operations” defense, which is mind-bogglingly wrong with a rookie quarterback.
To make matters worse, other than the fact that this isn’t his first rodeo (it was his 75th NFL game as a head coach), the Falcons do have a game management coach, even if a few national pundits don’t know that.
“He needs to hire a game-management coach to help him with these issues because he’s had too much experience to hope he’ll suddenly improve in this area,” Ted Nguyen of The Athletic wrote.
“I am sympathetic to the fact that head coaches are dealing with a hundred different things during the week and during the game. It’s easy to get flustered under high-stress conditions. This is why you hire someone to help you! How did Morris not have someone in the headset whom he trusts imploring him to call timeout?” Sheil Kapadia of the Ringer also wrote.
Yes, those are respected names covering the NFL that don’t know Tim Berbenich is the Falcons’ game management coach. It makes the entire situation that much worse.
Either Berbenich was telling Morris to take a timeout, and he ignored the advice of his subordinate, or Berbenich didn’t tell Morris to take a timeout at the end of the game.
I’m not sure which is worse, but it was a colossal failure at the end of the biggest game of the season. Unfortunately, that seems to a be a theme that follows the Falcons regardless of who is coaching the team.
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Photographer: John Byrum/Icon Sportswire
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