Falcons are hoping to follow Rams’ model to sustained winning

With a glowing endorsement from Snead, the Falcons hired Raheem Morris after his stint with the Rams as their defensive coordinator from 2021 to 2024. Morris is hoping that he can turn the Falcons into the Rams of the NFC South, but things have gotten off to a slow start.

The Falcons (6-9) are set to post their eighth consecutive losing season and will face the Rams (11-4) at 8:15 p.m. Monday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“They came in and I marveled, like I told you guys a long time ago, the relationship between Sean and Les,” Morris said.

“Obviously, you’re getting there and getting that thing really rolling. Sean getting that thing rolling on offense. Obviously, they had Wade (Phillips) at the beginning as a staple of a really good defense in the National Football League.”

McVay, a local legend (Georgia Class AAAA offensive player of the year in 2003) who played at Marist and Miami of Ohio, was 30 years old at the time. He hit the ground running, going 11-5 in his first season. The Rams lost to the Falcons 26-12 in the wildcard round of the playoffs on Jan. 6, 2018, but the teams were heading in different directions.

That would be the Falcons last playoff win, while the Rams turned into a powerhouse.

“Had some success there early for Sean,” said Morris, who also coached with McVay in Washington. “I was able to join on there after Brandon Staley had some more success … being able to go on deep playoff runs, things of that nature. Being able to go there and win a championship myself with those guys was absolutely extra special.”

Morris was on the staff of Super Bowl teams in Tampa Bay and Atlanta. When the Bucs won in 2002, Morris was as defensive quality control coach. On the Falcons’ 2016 staff, he was assistant head coach/wide receivers coach.

He also values the time he spent with the Rams.

“I got a chance to see the inner workings of all the people that are involved,” Morris said. “The ‘we-not-me’ mentality. The people that are all hands on deck, everything being about football.”

Morris has made it clear that he wants that type of environment with the Falcons.

“First and foremost, when you’re talking about that place and what it means to everything and how the support system everybody is in, and know what winning is like,” Morris said. “They’ve felt it; they’ve been a part of it. And the competitive mode that I was trying to explain about the mindset you’d better be in when you go play this football team.”

The Rams conducted one of those exhaustive “we’re going to review” everything situations after Fisher was fired. Snead remained on board and advocated for the hiring of McVay after his interview. Snead went as far as to say, “I’m investing in McVay.”

The two have worked well together.

“That’ll be a big part of what we stressed this week, that’ll be a big part of what we stress moving forward,” Morris said. “That’s a big part of showing us examples of what it looks like. So, they’re a clear-cut example of what it looks like. They’ve won at a very high level. They’ve won it all.”

After winning the Super Bowl in 2022, there was a 5-12 season in 2023.

“They fell off,” Morris said. “They found a way to build it back through the draft, through free agency, through whatever any means necessary.”

The Rams rebuilt the defense after Aaron Donald retired mostly through the draft.

“Staying ahead of the curve, finding people that are high capacity to keep everything going in the right path,” Morris said. “I think that’s the biggest part of building anything that you do when it comes to a football team.”

Morris has no problems with saying the Falcons are trying to emulate the Rams, who had 10 consecutive losing seasons before naming McVay the head coach.

“We are, without a doubt, mimicking and mocking that,” Morris said. “Some of the times, you’ve got to block out some of the things that everybody else thinks that you need to do and you need to do things you know were right.”

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS