PHILADELPHIA — Like every other Eagles rookie, Micah Morris got to experience the atmosphere of primetime football in Philadelphia last Monday, in a matchup against a storied NFC East foe in the Dallas Cowboys.
Active for the fifth time this season, Morris’ on-field contributions were limited to three snaps on special teams. But his impact, at least at the moment, can’t be measured by his role on gameday. Much of Morris’ value is reflected on the practice field, beyond the public eye, where his work on the scout team prepares his teammates for the upcoming matchup. In addition to holding himself to a high standard on the practice field, Morris, a self-proclaimed heavy note-taker, has been equally as diligent in the classroom.
Through the Eagles’ first seven games, Morris’ rookie campaign has been devoted to development and honing in on technique, while also getting his feet wet in a limited capacity. He continues to attack the process with a steadfast mentality, while heeding the direction and leadership of his more seasoned linemates.
As part of my season-long “Rookie Diary” series, I’ll be checking in with Morris every week, learning more about the first-year offensive lineman and chronicling his rookie campaign.
On Thursday, we chatted for our eighth installment.
Andrew: When we last spoke, you mentioned focusing on your combination blocks, being hip to hip with the tackle. What were the results?
Micah: “I think it went good this week. Especially like on the deuces, which is like our duo plays, and like just our B blocks in general. Like you were saying, the combo block with the tackle, I feel like I was able to be good. Whether it was opening up the 3-tech or 4-i’s shoulder so the tackle can overtake, or getting my head in the gap on the double teams going to the left or right, depending on which guard I was at. And then on the duos, I feel like I was good this week being hip to hip and staying in phase with the tackles when we deliver the defender into the second level.
Andrew: Now, when you go into a week with specific areas of focus, how do you balance that with your general responsibilities throughout the week? How do you approach it?
Micah: “Well, like I spoke on since the beginning, just turning it to a habit. Making my fundamentals and technique like the baseline, ’cause whenever you’re fatigued or you’re not exactly focused on it, you’re gonna resort to what you know best, what you have been doing, what you’ve been practicing. And with me being able to practice on my fundamentals and work on it for so long, I feel like now my default is to do the right thing now. So, now I can increase it and build off of it now, ’cause I feel like I have a good base and, I guess, building block to build off of.”
Andrew: That’s interesting. Well, now that you’re entering week eight now, where do you feel that [OL coach] Chris Kuper has most helped you to this point?
Micah: “Definitely technique. I would say, definitely, from college and now is definitely raw, like, as far as technique; it was more brute strength and power. And obviously, it’s is a good thing to have, but just honing in on my technique and understanding, landmarks, hand placement definitely technique. Obviously, definitely, you know, from college and now is definitely raw. Like, as far as technique, it was more brute strength and power, and obviously, I mean, this is a good thing to have, but you know, just honing in on my technique and understanding, landmarks, hand placement, things like that. It just makes the game easier. So, then I can use that as sort of my, I guess, my superpower. It is the strength now, instead of using it as the only thing I had.”
Andrew: Now, you and many of your teammates, you’re not accustomed to losing. So, how are you personally processing that and taking it in stride?
Micah: “Just trusting the process. I mean, everything’s not gonna be perfect. If it was, if it was a perfect world, nobody would lose. So, it’s just understanding that there’s just gonna be growing pains. Just like I have personally, the team is going through that as well, and just we just gotta stick together and keep pushing. And nobody’s coming to save us. That’s what Jordan (Mailata) said. Nobody’s coming to save us, so if we gonna get out of it, it’s gonna be because of the work that we put in and process, trusting it.”
Andrew: And speaking of Jordan, as a young player, what have you learned from watching how he’s handled these choppy waters and trying to keep things moving forward?
Micah: “Oh, I mean, first thing is how a leader leads. Not only by the way he talks and keeps us up, but the way he works. His work ethic hasn’t changed. His work ethic hasn’t dwindled since we’ve been losing. If anything, it’s increased. He’s been leading by example, both vocally and by the work he puts in. And then, just overall as a person, just being a good person, being a good guy, being a good man. And just the talks that we have about life and, I guess, outside of football. It’s just really, really good to have somebody like that here and somebody who is willing to pour into the rookies. And I really appreciate him.”
Andrew: You spoke before about how helpful Landon has been for you in your development. How much of a boost was it to get him back in the room on the field Monday night?
Micah: “Oh, it was amazing for me, just all that he’s given to the game and especially this organization. Like, I remember watching him when he was at Bama. So yeah, it was just amazing ’cause the impact he has on me personally, on this team, the organization, just seeing him back out there doing his thing is awesome for everybody. Definitely uplifting.”
Andrew: You’ve been through a lot of rivalries in college, but what was it like being there, Monday Night Football, the crowd fired up with the NFC East battle going on?
Micah: “Oh, it, it was awesome. I mean, the first thing I noticed was the whole stadium was green because of the lights whenever we ran out. So, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is crazy.’ It was awesome. It was awesome because the other one we had was in Chicago, so it was an away game, so it was my first home one. So, it was awesome. It was amazing.”
Andrew: Well, how about leading up to the week? Veterans like, like Jordan, who have been through so many of these, was there a different tone to the week given that it was an NFC East opponent?
Micah: “I mean, we just look at it as it’s another opportunity to get better. Every game, it doesn’t matter the opponent, we gotta come in and put our best foot forward. So, I wouldn’t say there was anything different, obviously. I mean, obviously it is an opponent, so we wanna win. We wanna go out there and put our best foot forward, so that’s everybody, not just because it’s a (division) opponent.”
Andrew: How about the camaraderie amongst the offensive line? I see that you guys are pretty close-knit. Do you do anything off the field to enhance that?
Micah: “We hang out and go eat. During OTAs, we usually get ice cream, but we don’t really do that anymore. I mean, we’ll watch extra film together. We’ll get on the video game. I think we’re talking about getting on… Call of Duty just came out, so we’ll probably get a group chat started with that soon.”
Andrew: I know [the team] used to do it here where a player would get to pick the dinner menu, and they would kinda rotate through. Do they still do that?
Micah: “Yeah, we do that. We do that.”
Andrew: Have you gotten your chance yet?
Micah: “Yeah, I had mine. Mine was lamb chops and mac and cheese with the butter cake for dessert.”
Andrew: Wow. That’s a good one.
Micah: “And then the long green beans, the string beans. The long ones that’s, like, grilled. I love those ones.”
Andrew: Nice. How do you like the lamb chops?
Micah: “Medium well. Medium well. Sometimes, if it’s fresh, I’ll eat it medium rare.”
Andrew: How about picking songs, like, leading into meetings? Is that still a thing?
Micah: “No. Oh, well, team meetings, yeah. I’m thinking about O line. But no, I haven’t had to pick any of those yet. Yeah, it’s still a thing.”
Andrew: Well, what song would you pick? I feel like I know your answer, but I could be wrong. I think you’re gonna say “6 Foot 7 Foot,” but-
Micah: “Yeah, that’s what I would pick by Lil Wayne, for sure.”
Andrew: Are you a fan of Halloween?
Micah: “I’m a fan of dressing up. But growing up, I would go to church on Halloween, and we would do, like, trunk or… I think it’s called trunk or treat or whatever. We’d do, like, hayrides and stuff, so I would go to church growing up. Like, it’s cool. Yeah, I like dressing up. I think it’s fun.”
Andrew: But are you, uh, are you festive? Like, do you decorate the apartment or do anything like that?
Micah: “Yeah, I got — hopefully it’ll be here tomorrow — the little funny rugs. I got one of those that says, ‘Danger. This may be a trapdoor.’ Then it has, like, the evil pumpkins on the side. And then I painted pumpkins. My apartment complex, they had, I think two weeks ago, it was like a little community event for residents week, so I got the pumpkins painted already. And then I got the, um… what’s the thing from Saw? What’s his name?
Andrew: Jigsaw.
Micah: “Yeah. The doll he uses. I got one of those right at the front door, and it moves whenever it gets sense of heat. So, it’s gonna be fun.”
Andrew: What’s your favorite horror or Halloween-themed movie?
Micah: “Freddy Krueger.”
Andrew: Which one?
Micah: “The first one. But I think my most entertaining one was ‘Freddy vs. Jason,’ just ’cause I thought it was funny. And I watched that when I was older, so I could get the jokes and stuff. And then at the end when Freddy died, but then it goes to him opening his eyes with his head cut off, I thought that was funny. So, that’s my most entertaining one.”
Andrew: I think I’d go with the third one, ‘Dream Warriors.’
Micah: “Okay. Yeah. It was a good one.”
Andrew: But I’m a big fan of the Saw series.
Micah: “Okay. Yeah, I watched all of them before they removed them off Netflix. When I was home before I came back from OTAs, I watched all of them with my dad. Did you watch ‘Spiral?'”
Andrew: No.
Micah: “Yeah, Spiral’s been out for a few… It’s, like, a spinoff from Jigsaw. Yeah. It was good though.”
Andrew: Is it on streaming, do you know?
Micah: “It’s either on Netflix or HBO Max now, but it’s on streaming for sure.”
Andrew: “If you ever got into a jam and had to make one call and you had to call one of your teammates, who would it be?
Micah: “Honestly, Nolan Smith.”
Andrew: Why’s that? I thought you were gonna say Markel (Bell).
Micah: “No, I can’t call Markel. Some, sometimes Markel gets a little busy.” [laughs]
Andrew: I was gonna say, there’s a lot of factors. They have to be available. They have to be willing…
Micah: No, yeah. I think Nolan would answer. I think Nolan would answer for me, ’cause he’s been looking out for me since I was a freshman in college. So, we got history. So yeah, I’d say Nolan.”
Andrew: What have you observed from him, just being around him all these years and where he is now?
Micah: “The first moment I knew he was a leader, my freshman year, we did stadium runs for the first time at Georgia. We’re, like, midway through, and I feel like I’m about to die. I’m like, ‘Why is everybody still going? I don’t wanna do this.’ I’m literally, like, feel like I’m about to pass out. Nolan walked, like, he literally carried me down for, like, five in a row until I got my wind back and was able to finish. But he didn’t question it. He didn’t make fun of me. He didn’t badger me about it or anything. He just put me over his shoulder and literally walked me up and down five times till I caught my breath. Like, I’ll never forget that. That was the moment I knew. And then him being originally, I know he went to IMG, but him being from Savannah, 912, same area code, like, I knew who he was before he even got there.
“And then just the connection that we built, ’cause he was there my first two years, and just the relationship that we built off the field, and then just bonding on the field. Then now, it’s just like the family’s back together.”
Andrew: I know that [his locker is over] there and you’re over here. You have your meetings, he has his, but does he still look out for you that way?
Micah: “Absolutely.”
Andrew: Have you gotten a chance to explore the city since we last spoke?
Micah: “No, unfortunately, ’cause it’s been a short week. But I was able to finish the Spider-Man LEGO set. I gotta take a picture of it, so I’ll show you the picture this week. But I finished the Spider-Man LEGO set, so that was fun.”
Andrew: What was the surprise for your dad?
Micah: “I took him to his first NBA game. Well, I took him to the Sixers game.”
Andrew: Oh, wow.
Micah: “Yeah, when they played the Bucks.”
Andrew: That’s awesome. How surprised was he?
Micah: “He was really surprised. My mom didn’t tell him. He looked like he was about to cry, but he tries to act so tough, but he was about to cry.”
Andrew: Any new additions to the sneaker collection?
Micah: “Did I get any more? Yeah, I got the black pair of the Supreme Air Forces, ’cause I had the white ones already. I got the black pair of those.”
Andrew: Oh, nice.
Micah: “But that’s it.”
Andrew: Have you seen ‘Clayface’ yet?
Micah: “I kinda wanna do that today, too. Maybe I’ll go eat, then go see ‘Clayface.'”
Andrew: You gotta treat yourself every once in a while.
Micah: “Yeah, and it’s a little early. Yeah, I think I’m gonna do that.”
Andrew: And then lastly, just one or two things on or off the field that you’re working to achieve this week.
Micah: “On the field, I would say just continue to trust the work that I’m putting in. Like I said, it’s not necessarily the best situation as far as the team, but just trusting the process and just laying it all out and seeing where things go. And then off the field, I guess seeing the city. I wanna go to the…
Andrew: You gotta check out the historic district.
Micah: “Yes, that’s where I wanna go see, the old historic stuff, so I wanna go there for sure. I think I’ll do that.”
Andrew: Appreciate the time, Micah.
