IRVINGTON, NJ –
Raheem Morris is making his second trip to the Super Bowl as an assistant coach.
The Irvington native is in his second year on the coaching staff of the Atlanta Falcons, who will play the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI on Feb. 5 in Houston, Tex.
The Falcons defeated the Green Bay Packers, 41-22, in the National Football Conference championship game on Sunday, Jan. 22, to reach the Super Bowl for the second time in franchise history. It was the Falcons’ final game at the Georgia Dome as the team will move to a new $1.5 billion stadium adjacent to the Dome.
This season, Morris, a former head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is serving as the assistant head coach/wide receivers coach for the Falcons, which boast Julio Jones, one of the best receivers in the National Football League. Jones had nine receptions for 180 yards and two touchdowns in the NFC Championship Game. Mohamed Sanu, a Rutgers University product, is another key receiver for the Falcons.
Morris, 40, was the defensive quality control coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2002 season, his first year with the team. That season, the Bucs won the Super Bowl XXXVII, beating the Oakland Raiders. Incidentally, Irvington native Alshermond Singleton also was a linebacker on that Buccaneers team.
Morris then served as a defensive assistant coach with the Bucs in 2003 and as the assistant defensive backs coach from 2004-05.
In 2006, Morris went to Kansas State to serve as the defensive coordinator. He returned to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the following year and served as the defensive backs coach for two seasons before being promoted to head coach for the 2009 season.
Morris was the head coach of the Buccaneers for three seasons, 2009-11. In his second season in 2010, the Bucs finished 10-6 after going 3-13 in his first year. As a result, Morris finished second in the NFL Coach of the Year voting in 2010, behind New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichik.
After his head coaching stint with the Bucs, Morris was the defensive backs coach for the Washington Redskins for three years before joining the Falcons.
Morris is a 1994 graduate of Irvington High School. He played collegiately at Hofstra as a defensive back. He started his coaching career at Hofstra in 1998 before moving on to Cornell University as the defensive back coach and special teams assistant for the 1999 season. He returned to Hofstra to serve as the defensive backs coach from 2000 to 2001. He also served as a defensive minority intern with the New York Jets in the fall of 2001.
Falcons second-year head coach Dan Quinn also is a New Jersey native. Quinn hails from Morristown.
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