On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers will kick off their 2024 season with a road visit against the Atlanta Falcons. The Steelers have the longest-tenured head coach in the NFL in Mike Tomlin, but for Atlanta, it’s quite the opposite.
After being hired early in the offseason, Raheem Morris is beginning his first year as the Falcons’ head coach. With his first game leading the team looming, there’s obviously some pressure Morris is feeling.
Morris was asked earlier this week whether there was any additional pressure he sensed, as he prepares to face Tomlin in Week 1.
“I answered a similar question to this on the Pivot Podcast, but not really for me, it’s more for him. He’s the older statesman in this league,” Morris said via a transcribed quote from Teresa Varley on the Steelers’ team website. “He looks on us with a lot of pride and the guys that he’s helped develop and the guys he’s been a part of and he’s certainly that for me. I’ve certainly got a lot of respect for him. As we always will say when we go up against each other, we’re gray matter.”
The added pressure that’s being alluded to is the fact that Morris is facing a coach in which he has a load of experience with. Morris began his NFL coaching career back in 2002 as a defensive quality control coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Coincidentally, Tomlin was Tampa Bay’s defensive backs coach at the time.
Tomlin eventually became the Steelers’ head coach before the 2007 season, and that was the same year Morris took over Tampa Bay’s defensive backs’ coaching role.
Morris does have some experience as a head coach. He became the Buccaneers’ head coach back in 2009 and held the role for three years. Morris’ best season came in 2010, when he led Tampa Bay to a 10-6 record. He was fired after the 2011 season, and in the years after he started to gain some experience on the offensive side of the ball.
Morris was on the Falcons staff in 2020, and became the interim head coach after Dan Quinn was fired, going 4-7 to end the season. The Falcons would then choose Arthur Smith over Morris for the official head coaching job after the season.
While Smith’s return to Atlanta as the Steelers’ offensive coordinator creates some obvious storylines, this could be an interesting one as well, with Morris having a chance to beat the coach that was chosen over him back in 2021.
Ever since working together back in the early 2000s, Morris and Tomlin have remained friends. Morris credits Tomlin as a key mentor for him and has a lot of respect for his counterpart.
Morris and Tomlin have faced each other as head coaches before. They matched up in Week 3 back in 2010, when Tomlin’s Steelers got the best of Morris’ Buccaneers 38-13. This week’s matchup should be another fun installment in the friendly rivalry between the two.
For the Steelers’ sake, they’ll hope Tomlin can get the best of Morris again on Sunday.
