Falcons Coach Raheem Morris's 6-Year-Old Son Gave Perspective on Bye

The Atlanta Falcons' bye week was a valuable time of self-scouting and perspective-setting for head coach Raheem Morris.

Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris balanced self-scouting with family time during the team's bye week. / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris and his staff split ways during the team's Week 12 bye, opting to self-scout on their own before reconvening with differing viewpoints.

But Morris, who's been in the NFL for over two decades, is also cognizant of the need to capitalize on the free time the bye week presents. He was still around football -- but instead of being his lone focus, Morris partook in several other sports.

Alongside his wife, Nicole, and children Amaya, Maliya and Jalen, Morris took a brief family vacation before returning home. He emphasized family time, and as a result, found himself immersed in a variety of athletic competitions.

After two consecutive on-field losses entering the bye week, Morris joked his subsequent success in family games came at a good time.

"I had basically the Olympics at my house with my children, where you play basketball, football, pickleball -- whatever ball you got, you play, and you find ways to dominate your kids," Morris said, smiling. "I needed to win."

But Morris didn't always win. And as a result, he received a valuable reminder about perspective within football and the coaching profession.

"We forget sometimes that this is a game and we love it and it's really enjoyable when it's going your way, and we also forget sometimes not to pout when it's not," Morris said. "That's a big lesson I got from my son Jalen this week.

"When he won in pickleball, he was happy. When he did not, he was pouting. I'm not going to let him do that."

The realization was one of several ideas Morris thought about during the bye week. He noted it's a difficult process to separate 'coach' from 'regular human being', though it's made easier by the situation he's in.

Morris said he's confident in the Falcons' effort, roster, staff, owner Arthur Blank and overall personnel, which made the bye week easier to navigate despite Atlanta's season-worst 38-6 loss to the Denver Broncos leading into it.

Rather than over-exaggerating the defeat in Denver, Morris instead found joy -- and motivation from unexpected sources.

"It's harder on us, but then you walk around (and) it gets really easy when you see fans and they show the appreciation that they've shown," Morris said. "Just when you get a chance to pass them in passing and talk about the energy and effort and how fun it is to go to the Falcons games again right now.

"How do you keep that going? That invigorates you to find different ways and different passion to go out there and want to watch more."

And so, even in his week off, Morris found his mind reverting back to the football field. Most times, it was intentional, as he worked through the self-scout he and his staff set out to accomplish.

But sometimes, ideas simply flow to Morris's mind.

"You find times when you should be sleeping on the bye week, doing work and just kind of looking at it and putting stuff and popping in your head just when you sleep, when you do everything," Morris said.

How good are those impromptu thoughts? The Falcons' six-game sprint to the finish line figures to tell all.