Eye-opening stat could give Arthur Blank the perfect reason to keep Raheem Morris

The Atlanta Falcons undoubtedly have a playoff-caliber roster, but are sitting at just 5-9 this season and will once again miss the playoffs. The underwhelming season has Raheem Morris on the hot seat, but there's reason to believe that the Falcons' miraculous comeback win could help save his job.

It remains to be known how much the 29-28 win on Thursday Night Football will truly affect his job security, because it doesn't seem like much has changed. However, the fact that the Falcons have struggled to close out games this season suggests no amount of talent could save Morris' job.

Five of the nine Falcons' losses came by one possession, which goes to show you just how close this team is. If the Dirty Birds prevailed in even three of these games, they'd be leading the NFC South, but victories in all five of these games would have them sitting at 10-4 and a near lock for a playoff berth.

Falcons' biggest problem this season is their performance in close games

Two of those games went to overtime against teams in the playoff hunt in the Colts and Panthers, and their one-point loss in New England should have went to overtime (but Parker Romo happened). And even the Week 1 loss to the Bucs could've been a win if Younghoe Koo made a game-tying field goal.

Then there's the loss to the Jets. Zane Gonzalez missed a field goal and Jamal Agnew muffed a punt that set the Jets up inside the red zone, so even that game could've ended differently. Gonzalez only missed his kick due to inclement weather, and it was one of only two kicks he's missed as a Falcon.

If even some of these games ended differently, there would be vastly different conversations going down about the 49-year-old coach. Rather than discussing the hot seat, he would be building up towards a similar reputation in Atlanta as Dan Quinn, especially if he broke the long playoff drought.

Given that all of these teams except the Jets harbor real playoff hopes, this would have shaken up the NFL playoff picture, especially in an NFC South that's already wide open. But instead, Morris mismanaged several late-game situations and the playoff drought will continue for an eighth season.

Arthur Blank will certainly re-evaluate his standing after the season, but even he chooses to give Morris another year, significant changes to the coaching staff are expected in order to address these late-game struggles and time management woes.