Going into Week 17, the Atlanta Falcons controlled their own destiny. It's a cliché, but it was true. The Falcons walked into their Sunday Night Football matchup with the Washington Commanders knowing that, if they won, they continued to stay atop the NFC South.
If the Falcons were to win out the rest of the way and earn two victories, they win the division and earn an automatic playoff berth.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are right behind them, though, and after beating the Carolina Panthers earlier in the day, the Bucs temporarily held a half-game lead in the division. There was a lot on the line for Washington to end Sunday of Week 17.
Leading up to kickoff, of course, NBC had their crew chatting up just how important this matchup was to both sides. As Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison and Jac Collinsworth were discussing, Dungy mentioned the Falcons defense and their needing to slow down the run game of Washington.
Raheem Morris looked excited and ready for Sunday Night Football
Right on queue, Falcons head coach Raheem Morris crashed the pregame party on set and gave each of the three analysts a hug while looking ready to roll for the night. Spirits were high. Vibes were good. Morris looked and felt the part of a coach that knew what was at stake.
Because he stopped by mid-commentary, Morris was put on the spot when Dungy asked for a quick interview.
"Give us a game plan right now coach. What do we have to do?" asked the Hall of Fame coach.
"Hey we got to go out here and we got to stop this run," Morris said, emphatically.
"As I was saying, they were going to commit to stopping the run," Dungy happily reiterated.
Going into Week 17, the Commanders remained constant in their commitment to the run and were no. 5 in the league on the ground. Washington had averaged 152.7 yards per game on the ground thanks to the tandem of rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and running back Brian Robinson, both rushing for over 700 yards apiece on the season through 15 games.
So, Dungy was right on with his assessment of what the Falcons needed to do and, as predicted, that's exactly what Morris stated in his quick interview after crashing the set.
Defensively, Atlanta owned the NFL's no. 11 run defense going into the game as well. So, this was a matchup of two teams in the top third in this category.