After just 14 words at the post-game press conference on Sunday night, Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid turned his attention away from his team’s 22-17 victory and turned his attention to the opponent – the Atlanta Falcons and their head coach Raheem Morris, who had narrowly lost to the two-time Super Bowl defending champions.
Reid, who has over 400 wins and three Super Bowl titles as a head coach, is convinced that the Falcons have a successful future under Morris’ leadership.
“I take my hat off to Raheem, the new coach here – the Atlanta Falcons are in good hands,” Reid said. “They played hard, aggressive and good football on both sides of the ball.”
Perhaps nothing embodies that identity better than Atlanta’s decision to strike on fourth-and-5 at the Chiefs’ 6-yard line with four minutes left. Trailing 22-17, Morris kept his offense on the field.
“I was in the four-down region for a while,” Morris said after the game. “We wanted to win this football game. We didn’t come here to tie. We didn’t come here to lose. We didn’t come here hoping to win. We didn’t come here to let Patrick Mahomes work his magic.”
“We came here to win the football game on our terms and I lost it, so I’m going to take this medicine all day.”
The Falcons failed to score, but Reid saw the decision differently.
“He stayed aggressive,” Reid said of Morris. “He has a team that he coaches with an aggressive attitude. And that’s what they did.”
Reid’s praise for the Falcons could be heard throughout the Chiefs locker room on Sunday night.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes, a two-time MVP, praised the quality of Atlanta’s secondary and overall defense. The Falcons held the Chiefs to just three net yards in the second half and Mahomes believes Atlanta will get significantly better as the year goes on.
“This is a good football team,” Mahomes said after the game. “I expect them to get better and better because when you bring in a lot of different players, it takes a little while to get it going throughout the season.”
“But yes, this will be a team that will attract a lot of attention as the season progresses.”
Kansas City’s defense had similar praise for Atlanta’s offense. Chiefs defensive end George Karlaftis, who recorded two tackles, praised Falcons running back Bijan Robinson and the rest of the unit.
“He’s a great player,” Karlaftis said of Robinson. “We had a lot of respect for him. Not just for him, but for their O-line, their receivers and their quarterback. They’re a great team. They were tough to beat.”
Robinson had a rough day on the ground, completing 16 carries for 31 yards but managing a one-yard run score. On the Falcons’ final offensive play, a sweep to the left on 4th and 5, he was sacked for a loss of three yards.
Atlanta’s running game struggled overall, as Robinson and Tyler Allgeier combined for 63 yards on 23 attempts, an average of 2.7 yards per run.
The Falcons were more successful through the air, with quarterback Kirk Cousins completing 20 of 29 passes for 230 yards, a touchdown and an interception. However, Cousins was sacked twice and hit 10 times – which Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal said was important to Kansas City’s game plan.
“That’s huge,” Chenal said after the game. “He’s a great quarterback. He’s been a very consistent quarterback and we want to apply more pressure. We feel like we didn’t apply enough pressure the first couple of games and put him out of position a little bit.”
“Any quarterback is going to have problems if you push him out of his spot and put him in an uncomfortable situation.”
The Chiefs managed to do so, although Cousins and the Falcons still had a chance at the end – and perhaps this, rather than the aggressive decision on the fourth attempt, best illustrates the tenacity and quality that Reid sees in the Morris-led Dirty Birds.
However, Morris wants to underline his performance with victories.
“We’re 1-2,” Morris said when asked how he rated the team after three weeks. “It’s pretty simple. The record tells you that.”
