Thursday’s “First Call” has some quotable lines from Atlanta Falcons coach Raheem Morris in advance of his team’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Atlanta tight end Kyle Pitts insists he’ll be ready for the Black and Gold in the season opener. Kirk Cousins is actually looking forward to the Steelers hitting him.
And we have the latest on Ja’Marr Chase’s situation in Cincinnati.
Pitts vs. Pittsburgh
Kyle Pitts is dealing with a hamstring injury, resulting in him being listed as “limited” on the Atlanta injury report Wednesday.
But the Falcons’ star tight end says he’ll be on the field against the Pittsburgh Steelers this weekend to open the NFL season.
“I’ll see you all Sunday,” Pitts said as part of a social media postWednesday night.
Atlanta coach Raheem Morris also tried to quell concerns from Falcons fans about Pitts’ status.
“He had (a) hamstring a couple of weeks ago, or whatever it was, it really hasn’t affected him too much,” Morris said via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He’s been out there practicing, doing just about everything. We’re ready to go.”
The fourth-year product from Florida is looking to recapture his rookie year stride when he posted 1,026 yards on 68 catches. The next year, he missed seven games due to injury, totaling 356 yards on 28 receptions. In 2023, he posted 667 yards on 53 catches. Over three seasons, Pitts has a surprisingly low six touchdowns for a player who was taken fourth overall in 2021.
Being blunt
Meanwhile, Morris refused to mince words about a pair of Steelers. The first was outside linebacker T.J. Watt.
A reporter asked Morris this week about coaching a “game-wrecker of sorts” on defense in Aaron Donald when Morris was the coordinator in Los Angeles. The reporter then likened Donald’s dominance to Watt’s.
Morris laughed at the “of sorts” characterization.
“T.J. Watt is a game wrecker of sorts,” Morris said. “And I am not going let him go out there and wreck the game. That’s going to be part of our plan — and he still may. That’s what those guys do.”
In two games against the Falcons, Watt has three sacks, 11 tackles and six quarterback hits.
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Message received
Last week on the “Rich Eisen Show,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said, “My friend Raheem Morris better be ready for a Justin Fields package. I don’t want to disclose any strategic approaches, but there’s too much talent to be sitting around watching all day.”
Apparently, Morris is taking that warning to heart about the Steelers athletic backup quarterback.
“Mike told me to prepare for Justin Fields, so we did,” Morris said during a press conference Wednesday. “There are roles that guys are going to play, so expect the expected. That’s what we’ll do. So we’ll go out there and prepare.”
A reporter joked that it was kind of Tomlin to forewarn Morris about Fields’ likely contribution to the game plan.
“That’s a nice way to make me waste time, and he’s the master at it,” Morris said. “He’s conducting a master class on Fields. Or he’s not, and Fields is going to show up.”
Rushing from the quarterback position, Fields already has 2,200 yards and 14 touchdowns over his first three NFL seasons.
You like that?
Back to Watt wrecking games, Morris wants no part of any Steeler hitting Kirk Cousins. The veteran quarterback just signed with the Falcons as a free agent during the offseason. He got a $180 million contract.
The 36-year-old is also coming off of an Achilles tendon injury that ended his season with the Minnesota Vikings in October of last year.
So Morris would like to keep Cousins as clean as possible. But Cousins feels like he needs a little contact.
“In a sick way, you do (want) to get popped,”Cousins said, via AtlantaFalcons.com. “I’ll probably tell the first guy that hits me, ‘Thank you.’ Within reason. It’s good to get that taste of blood in your mouth a little bit.”
Cousins has played against the Steelers twice. He is 1-1. He was 44 of 74 for 545 yards and two touchdowns for a passer rating of 68.8. Cousins has never been sacked by the Steelers, but he has been intercepted four times.
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Back at it
Ja’Marr Chase is back at practice with the Cincinnati Bengals. He rejoined the team’s on-field activities Wednesday.
The All-Pro wide receiver has been staging a hold-in as he has tried to wrangle a new contract from his employers, even though he is just in his fourth year, with next year also remaining under team control.
In 2024, Chase will earn $1.055 million in base salary as part of his entry-level deal. Since the Bengals exercised his fifth-year option this spring, he’s slated to make $21.816 million in 2025.
Via ProFootballTalk, the LSU product hasn’t dressed for practice since Aug. 27. He missed a total of 20 practices since the start of training camp.
Chase had done some individual work as a limited participant and walkthroughs. It is still unclear whether he will play on Sunday.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.