Even if it has lost a little bit of its luster since the departures of Matt Ryan and Drew Brees, the Falcons and Saints rivalry remains one of the better head-to-head matchups in the league today. There is genuine disdain between the two fan bases and the trash talk between the players is prevalent before and after the game, which isn’t as common as it once was in the NFL.
For every Falcons fan, those two matchups with the Aints are circled on the schedule from the moment it is released, and the hope is that Raheem Morris can provide some positive memories in the future. The new Falcons head coach knows all about it, given he spent six seasons with the organization from 2015-2020, ranging from wide receivers coach to the interim head coach.
Like most Falcons fans, I wish Morris had stopped talking after the first four sentences. It’s much more fun to imagine a good old-fashioned feud between Morris and current Saints head coach Dennis Allen, especially with how the last game of the season ended between these two teams.
With the ball at the goal line in a 20-point game, the Saints could have opted to take a knee and run out the clock. Instead, they lined up for a knee and chose to run the ball in for a score, which former Falcons head coach Arthur Smith didn’t take kindly to.
Morris may have been joking about his disdain for the Saints coaches and players. There’s not much of that exists in sports today like it did 20 years ago. With that being said, you’re fooling yourself if you don’t think the ending of that game will be playing all week at Flowery Branch leading up to the Falcons’ first matchup against the Saints. Those are the kinds of plays that players don’t forget. It won’t take much for a veteran coach like Morris to get his guys ready for that one.
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