The Atlanta Falcons are a bad football team. The offense — despite all the talent — is predictable, and the defense has been virtually nonexistent through five weeks. But after Sunday’s 53-32 loss to the Houston Texans, head coach Dan Quinn’s days in Atlanta are probably numbered.
His puzzling decision to not challenge an inaccurately called kickoff out of bounds penalty may end up being the last straw for Arthur Blank — at least it deserves to be.
Despite going into the locker room at half with the lead, the Falcons were outscored in the third quarter 17-0. Atlanta rallied to cut the deficit to eight points with 3:22 remaining in the game. And Quinn elected to kick it deep with replacement kickoff man and punter Matt Wile.
Wile’s kickoff was bad and drifted towards the sideline, but DeAndre Carter elected to field the kick and step out of bounds at the seven-yard line.
The officials, however, ruled that this was a kickoff out of bounds penalty — the incorrect call. In order for Carter to have pulled off such a penalty by receiving the kick, he would have needed to make the catch while already being out of play. Ty Montgomery used that rule to his advantage a few years ago with the Packers.
Carter, though, clearly fielded the ball while standing in play with one foot. It should have been Texans ball at their own 7, but Quinn didn’t challenge the penalty (it is reviewable).
The Texans instead got the ball from their own 40-yard line. Basically, Quinn elected to give the Texans an extra 33 yards of field position in a one-score game with a terrible defense. That, or he simply didn’t know the rules.
Six plays later, the Texans would score a touchdown and put the game away.
Again, this was a blown call by the officiating crew, but the Falcons staff had to recognize that and react. Quinn failed to do so, and it cost the Falcons considerably.
