FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – The Atlanta Falcons touched down back in Georgia just after 5 a.m. ET on Tuesday, returning from a prime-time Monday Night Football win over the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium.

About 12 hours later, Falcons head coach Raheem Morris held his weekly press conference virtually the next day. Kirk Cousins’ status as the starting quarterback has been called into question, as it has been every week since the Falcons lost to the Los Angeles Chargers on December 1 following Atlanta’s Week 12 bye.

For the first time, Morris couldn’t or wouldn’t confirm that Cousins ​​would still be the starter for Atlanta.

“I think we have to go through the process,” Morris said. “I think you’ll catch me at a different time than usual. We had more time. We had more time to think about all the things that happened to us.”

“We are in this process right now. We’re still looking at those things and doing the things that we generally do as an organization. So yesterday we had a late game, going into the short week and getting some of that done. “Things you have now are on a different time frame than you normally talk to me about.

The Falcons defeated the Raiders 15-9, ending their four-game losing streak.

Cousins ​​completed 11 or 17 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown. The passing touchdown – a 30-yarder to wide receiver Drake London in the first quarter – was his first since the third quarter of the Nov. 3 win over the Dallas Cowboys; 17 quarters had passed. He was intercepted once on Monday night, which was his fifth straight game with a pick.

Atlanta totaled 93 yards of net passing in Las Vegas, the Falcons’ lowest point total in a game. It was the first time this season that the Falcons averaged under 100 yards passing in a single contest.

“We didn’t play particularly well at the quarterback position,” Morris said. “We didn’t play well at that point (Monday). I like to be open and honest about things like this. There will always be these question marks. There will always be those question marks when it comes to the head coach, when. “It depends on the quarterback. And you have to be really transparent. We have to play better and that’s what we have to do. This addressed something has to happen for us to find ways to win against our next opponent, the New York Giants.

The Falcons begin Week 16 at 7-7 as they host the Giants on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (1 p.m. ET, FOX).

Atlanta is one game behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC South race. However, since the Falcons have already defeated the Buccaneers this season, Atlanta is in the tiebreaker, meaning the Falcons only need to match the Buccaneers’ record at the end of the regular season to win the division and earn a spot in the to secure playoffs.

With the Falcons no longer in control of the NFC South, as they were until their loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Dec. 8, there is a sense of urgency in Atlanta, a must-win mentality that cannot be avoided shrinks back.

Because the stakes are so high, Cousins’ status as the starting quarterback has also come into question lately. He has thrown 16 interceptions, the most in the league – nine of them in the last five games, with just one touchdown and one win in that same span. Meanwhile, the Falcons have another option at wing with their first-round draft pick, Michael Penix Jr.

However, the plan was not to start Penix as a rookie. The plan was for him to develop behind Cousins.

“We talked about bringing in Kirk to give us an immediate chance to win, and then we talked about going out and finding a young quarterback to lead us into the future,” Morris said. “Because we didn’t want to create that rift between Matt Ryan and the next person we handed it over to, which happened to be Kirk. We didn’t want to have that divide again. Those were always the things you wanted.” to think about.

“So it’s just the initial plan of how you want to approach your business and how you want things to happen. You can never say it’s a failure if you hand it over to someone you’ve invested a lot in, someone you’ve invested in.” Someone you’ve done some things with, who got here, someone who has nothing has done anything other than the right things since he’s been here. I never want to take this thing up against Penix and why you don’t want to do something like that. Just being really smart and careful about the way we do our business.”

Whether Morris is willing to change the plan remains to be seen.

“You have to win,” Morris. “We will do our best to win as many games as possible this season. That’s simply our job. I know you’re pretty worried. I know it’s like that for a lot of people. But it’s up to me to stay. “We’re going to be steadfast and make the best decision for ourselves to figure out how to win the next football game.”