Falcons 26, Saints 24
RAHEEM MORRIS: Obviously the results today when you get the win. And then obviously, man, you get out there and get a chance to play that way and to finish the way it finished. A complete team win across the board. Koo finishing that thing off for us. So many things you can correct, and it's always nice to correct those things in a win.
Q. What was the thoughts to send him out there? Been having a good game. 53-43-42 before the game-winning kick.
RAHEEM MORRIS: That thing was ending with a Koo make or miss. Didn't matter where it was from. Koo was going out there.
Q. You said a complete team win. You get the fumble recovery in the end zone by specials. Defense gets a score, and the offense cobbles together enough -- four drives there for you.
RAHEEM MORRIS: Set it off for us today. And we talked about what it takes to win and we talked about our guys being an impact the game. We talking about the team phase of what we could. These guys go out there and play, and those guys covering punts and covering kicks and really setting the edge and doing what we need to do out there was definitely critical and clutch for us.
I was so proud of how they reacted and went out there and played.
Q. How strongly did you consider letting them score earlier down on the 1 yard line?
RAHEEM MORRIS: Used that two time-outs. Oddly enough, believe it or not, we had 56 seconds the other day with no time-outs to get in field goal range to win in a practice setting. We knew we needed a little bit of minute of it, and we used it all. We were able to get that big PI, which oddly enough, happened in practice.
Went out there and we were able to finish that thing with Koo, and it was exactly how we wanted it to go out for us in practice. Would have liked to get closer and take a couple of shots. They played tight coverage. Wasn't able to get in there and took the shot down to Mooney. I was extremely excited about getting that done. We needed about a minute. We had about a minute, and it was well done by those guys.
Q. When was that practice drive?
RAHEEM MORRIS: That was Friday actually.
Q. You had a PI call against Mooney.
RAHEEM MORRIS: It wasn't against Mooney. I would have to go back and see who it was on for you, Josh, but we definitely -- no, you know what, we got a penalty. It wasn't a PI. I won't tell you what it was.
Q. On the three passes before the field goal attempt, took big shots there. Did you think that they would leave that open? It looked like you might take 10 yards to get Younghoe a little closer.
RAHEEM MORRIS: The calls are a little bit shorter, but when you play sticky man coverage like that, it goes to who's open. You take the shots to your best players and you take the plus shots to Drake, take one to Mooney. You give yourself a chance down the field.
We had some shorter people in position to catch some shorter passes. Did a nice job of trying to cover things. You try to uncover on the center cut and try to get to get outbreak and tried to hit a honey-hole shot and see if we can get something going there.
Q. I wanted to ask you about -- you said there were some things that you guys can work on and you're glad it happened in a win. One thing that was kind of like eye-popping on the stat sheet is Kyle Pitts, zero catches today. Just how cognizant are you of getting him more involved?
RAHEEM MORRIS: It's about going out there and winning the game. He had a couple of targets and a couple of things going out that way. We believe we got a questionable call at the end of the stretch to Kyle. Those things always are unfortunate.
Really for me, man, stats are for losers, man. I don't get involved in that stuff. You go out and try to win each game, and we were able to win it today and that's what we did today.
Q. You look at the way this game ended last week, the week before at Philly. How much is this last-minute drama testing your nerves and/or telling you about your team in crunch time?
RAHEEM MORRIS: Welcome to the National Football League. I've been in the league since 2002, and I feel like they all end the same way or around the same way. And it's about having that mental stamina enough to go out and push it and pursue and get your guys to go out and finish.
They've certainly given me a nice chance to go out and finish with our guys. They fight every single week, and I'm proud of them.
Q. Not just today, but in general, how much of your late-game thinking is based on how well your kicker is hitting it earlier in the day? It looked like Koo was striking it pretty well. Did that factor into your late-game decision-making, or is it always the same?
RAHEEM MORRIS: It's not always the same, Josh, but it's always going to be a lot of confidence in Koo. It's hard to say you're not going to have confidence in that young man and what he is able to do. I think it was a 58-yarder and it looked good -- probably a little bit further. You are always going to have a lot of confidence in Koo and what he does and how he goes about his process. As long as his weekly rhythm and routine is good, I think he is going to be good.
Q. Troy Andersen's big game, was that a function of him having a really good day? Did you feel like you were funneling some things towards him the way you played them?
RAHEEM MORRIS: I have to go look at it. I don't think we actually intended to funnel anything to him. It's just kind of how it works. The guy was flying around today making a bunch of plays, making a bunch of tackles. He plays with tremendous speed. He plays with a tremendous violence that we love, and he got it done for us today. It was awesome.
Q. Tyler is running. Talk about that decision to go with him, and then what he was able to do for you today?
RAHEEM MORRIS: Hot man got in there. He got a couple of runs and was able to tote that thing. You just keep feeding him. And he got a couple of really good runs. He was critical for us. He is the heavy back, and he was heavy for us today. Got a couple of yards for us, and we were really excited. I don't know how many exactly. I got it in front of me. I was proud of what he was able to do when he got a chance to play for us.
Q. Could you discuss the play of Dee Alford on Shaheed looked like that play at the end was big. You had to end the game with Captain America on the defensive side of the ball.
RAHEEM MORRIS: The play with Shaheed. Remind me.
Q. End zone, fourth down. Fourth and five.
RAHEEM MORRIS: The previous one before they scored.
Oh, great play by Dee Alford. He is playing his butt off. He plays hard. He gets tough matchups every single week. He was almost the goat at the end of that game with 12 going out there and catching a big catch on the 1 yard line. You know, got a lot of confidence in those guys how hard they play, how much they put into the game.
They play for each other and the love of the team. I'm just excited. I can't wait to go watch the tape and grade the guys and find ways to get better.
Q. (Off microphone.)
RAHEEM MORRIS: The Rook went out when Troy left. Troy had a little injury at the end. I don't have all the details on that. I'm sure you'll be bothering somebody about it. I have a lot of confidence putting him in the game. Our young Rook, captain America, went out there and finished the game for us and was able to go.
Q. When you have a game like today and a game like you had against Philadelphia, do you think you guys could be a team of destiny? You kind of get that feeling?
RAHEEM MORRIS: No. I don't feel like Cinderella. I feel like you got to go out there and play every single game and try to win. And the poised team and the more poised team usually wins. Right now I'm trying to show my team poise and show them poise, what it looks and feels like, what it feels like to be resilient. And they're showing us and our city.
I can't say enough good things about the fan base today. That place was a home field advantage today. That place of rocking. Almost caught me dancing, got me out of character on the sideline. That was outstanding.
Q. Darrell Hodge being in the right place on special teams, I would imagine that was not a surprise to you?
RAHEEM MORRIS: No. How the special teams have been playing for the majority of the year has been really good. Talking about Hamilton, KhaDarel Hodge, and Micah Abernathy. We have people that go out there and play every single week.
We had a clear-cut advantage that we knew we could get something off and we went out and covered the right way. We certainly did that and I'm very proud of that.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports