Was Falcons' Arthur Blank right to pick Raheem Morris over Bill Belichick?

Last offseason, the Atlanta Falcons were heavily linked with former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick before Falcons owner Arthur Blank hired then-Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris. 

Morris has since guided the Falcons to a 6-3 record in his first season with the organization. He and general manager Terry Fontenot now have players dreaming big heading into this coming Sunday's game at the 2-7 New Orleans Saints. 

"Our culture that we've built this year is special," Falcons inside linebacker Kaden Elliss recently said, as shared by Marc Raimondi of ESPN. "Starting with Raheem and Terry, and through the players that they brought in this year, and a lot of the guys we kept, it's special and I'm loving it."

The Falcons signed veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180M contract that included $100M guaranteed back in March. According to Pro Football Reference, Cousins began Thursday ranked 13th in the NFL among qualified players with a 60.0 adjusted QBR, ninth with a 101.9 passer rating, fourth with 2,328 passing yards and tied for fourth with 17 touchdown passes on the season. 

Outsiders may never fully know why Blank chose Morris over Belichick. Perhaps Belichick wanted more power than Blank was willing to relinquish, or maybe Belichick simply was seen as a bad fit for the organization. It's also possible that Patriots owner Robert Kraft "'was a big part' of why" Blank passed on hiring Belichick. 

Whatever did or didn't happen last winter, Blank must be pleased about the fact that DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Falcons as massive betting favorites at -1800 odds to claim the NFC South division title this season as of late Thursday morning. One can only guess what the Falcons would and/or wouldn't have been under Belichick at this point of the campaign. 

"I think there's buy-in and belief everywhere," Atlanta right guard Chris Lindstrom added. "I think we've had the opportunities to go win games when we probably shouldn't have, or people didn't think we could have, but we had belief in one another. And when you go out there and you do that -- not once, but multiple times -- I think there's a thought you're never out of it."

Also on Thursday, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Falcons as 3.5-point favorites for this Sunday's showdown at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.