The Atlanta Falcons hired Raheem Morris to be their head coach last month, but franchise owner Arthur Blank wanted to make a few things clear Friday about the team's search and one candidate in particular: Bill Belichick.

Blank, speaking for the first time since hiring Morris, said Belichick was never offered the Falcons job and that Belichick never asked for full control of player personnel or the goings-on in the team's Flowery Branch, Georgia, headquarters.