What Dan Quinn Told Raheem Morris After Falcons' Crushing Loss to Commanders

Before the Atlanta Falcons faced the Washington Commanders on Sunday Night Football, Falcons coach Raheem Morris snuck behind Commanders coach Dan Quinn and delivered a hug.

Morris and Quinn have long been friends. Quinn hired Morris to his staff when Quinn became Atlanta's head coach in 2015. Morris stayed with the organization during Quinn's entire tenure, serving in a variety of roles from assistant head coach to receivers coach to defensive coordinator.

And, ultimately, Quinn's replacement as the interim head coach five games into the 2020 season.

But the two remained close -- and on Sunday night, Quinn got the better of Morris as the Commanders (11-5) secured a playoff spot with a 30-24 overtime victory against the Falcons (8-8) at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland. The defeat left Atlanta with just a 13% chance to make the playoffs, according to The Athletic's projection model.

Quinn had a game-specific message for Morris when the two shook hands at midfield after Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels hit tight end Zach Ertz over the middle for a game-winning two-yard touchdown pass.

"What I told Raheem after the game -- I said, 'Man, there's some things that (Daniels) does that you can't put on a card,'" Quinn recalled during his postgame media availability.

Daniels rushed for over 100 yards for the first time in his career Sunday night. After accumulating only 24 yards on two attempts in the first half, Daniels beat the Falcons time and again on the ground in the second half, and overtime rushing 14 times for 103 yards.

Multiple Falcons defenders said postgame Daniels took the game into his hands. He ultimately led the Commanders back from a 17-7 halftime deficit and finished with a career-high 127 yards rushing.

Atlanta sacked Daniels five times, and Morris thinks that number could've been higher by two or three more. But regardless, after the Falcons largely bottled up Daniels in the first 30 minutes, the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year frontrunner ultimately did as he's done time and again this season: do special things.

And the Falcons couldn't do anything about it.

"He was able to create some angles that a lot of people can't create on people," Morris said Monday. "My hat's off to him when it comes to a lot of that yardage. You can go back and reflect and look at a couple things where you can say you can fit some things better on those, but there were a couple things where Jayden turned Jayden.

"I got nothing but respect for him in football. And those guys can have those type of days when they put their mind to it. We've seen (Baltimore Ravens quarterback) Lamar (Jackson) do it, and Jayden's got very similar traits when it comes to those things."

So, the purpose of Quinn's message? Perhaps to tell Morris his defensive staff didn't do anything wrong -- Daniels is merely a special talent capable of beating seemingly sound plans.

And after a 67-plus-minute fight, Quinn had nothing but praise for how Morris and the Falcons handled the night.

"I give Rah and his team a lot of credit," Quinn said. "This is a tough crew."