Atlanta Falcons coach Raheem Morris admitted after Sunday’s overtime loss to the Washington Commanders that it might have been wise to use a timeout on the team’s final drive of regulation.
Atlanta opened a potentially game-winning drive with 40 seconds remaining in regulation with the game tied at 24. Michael Penix Jr. completed a 25-yard pass to Darnell Mooney. Morris decided against using one of his two timeouts and 17 seconds ran off the clock from the time Mooney was tackled until the Falcons snapped the ball again.
Atlanta eventually used one of its timeouts in a dead-ball situation and then settled for a 56-yard field goal attempt from Riley Patterson that fell short as regulation time expired.
“In hindsight, it could have been a good decision or a better decision to take that timeout, but I wanted to have the opportunity to move up there,” Morris said in his postgame news conference. “You always second-guess those things, you can always second-guess those motives. You can always go back and look at it and see if you can get it snapped a little bit quicker.”
Washington won the coin toss in overtime, held the ball for more than seven minutes and won the game on a Jayden Daniels touchdown pass to Zach Ertz. The Falcons never touched the ball in overtime.
A few minutes earlier, Atlanta tied the game at 24-24 on a 13-yard pass from Penix to Kyle Pitts on fourth-and-goal with 1:19 left in regulation. Morris chose to kick the extra point instead of going for two in hopes the Falcons could make a quick stop and get the ball back.
“That’s Coach Raheem. He calls the timeouts when he feels fit,” Penix said. “He trusts us to get the plays off and make the next play. We all trust coach’s judgment on that, so that’s what we’re going to lean on.”
Morris also chose not to use his timeouts at the end of the first half. After having first-and-10 from the Washington 36-yard line with 46 seconds remaining in the half, the Falcons ran only three more offensive plays while Morris called none of his three remaining timeouts. The half ended with a 39-yard Patterson field goal with six seconds remaining.
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(Photo: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)
