Raheem Morris may have cost the Atlanta Falcons a chance to win Sunday night.
The Falcons coach took responsibility for an “embarrassing” mistake where they only had 10 players on the field on a key third-and-13 conversion that led to Christian McCaffrey’s second touchdown in their 20-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
The Falcons (3-3) were locked in a tight, low-scoring duel for most of the night against the banged-up NFC West-leading Niners. But their two-game winning streak was snapped after managing just 292 total yards — while also failing to stop McCaffrey, who went off for 201 scrimmage yards.
Atlanta will take on the Miami Dolphins (1-6) on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Raheem Morris Takes Responsibility For 10 Men On The Field
The Falcons were still in the game deep into the fourth quarter, trailing 13-10. They had taken a too-many-men-on-the-field penalty that set San Francisco up with a first down at the Atlanta 18 with just 4:05 left yet forced McCaffrey to a five-yard loss that set up third-and-13 with 2:46 to go.
But not only did Atlanta fail to account for McCaffrey, it also failed to put the appropriate number of players on the field for the crucial play.
“There absolutely was [10 men on the field],” Morris said after the game. “It’s absolutely embarrassing, and it’s my fault and I’ll get it fixed.”
Quarterback Mac Jones found McCaffrey for a 17-yard gain, which forced the Falcons to use their first timeout, then McCaffrey willed his way across the goal line on the next play to put the Niners up 10.
When prodded how the failed substitution came about, Morris again reiterated his fault.
“It doesn’t matter [how it happened],” Morris said. “It’s my fault.”
Michael Penix Jr.’s Gaffe Costs Falcons A Field Goal Attempt
Trailing 10-3 with less than a minute in the half, Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. pushed the ball to the 49ers’ 22-yard line, and it looked like Atlanta would close the half with momentum.
Yet, Penix took a massive intentional-grounding penalty that ran out the clock and kept the Falcons from attempting a field goal that could have cut the San Francisco lead to 10-6.
“I’m sure he thought he was outside of the tackle box,” Morris said of Penix. “I thought we would have one more second to kick the field goal. [The ball] landed at 11 seconds; we had the 10-second run off. We thought we’d have one [second left] to kick the field goal. They ended up resetting the clock to make it 10 [seconds].
“They were able to get out of there with no points [allowed], and that definitely came back as a factor to hurt us.”
Morris equated the Penix intentional-grounding penalty to the 10-men-on-the-field mistake and cited those two plays as the difference in the game.
“Any time you play a team like this, or a quality opponent, you’ve got to be on the screws with every single thing,” Morris said. “We were not tonight. It happened in the two-minute [drill] at the end of the first half, and it happened at the end. That’s why they won the football game.”
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