Atlanta Falcons Owner Calls Out Players for Onside Kick Disaster

The Atlanta Falcons lost in terrible fashion against the Cowboys on Sunday in Week 2. They had the ball rolling in the first quarter after Dallas fumbled the ball four times and then things took a change for the worse.

Atlant lost control, no surprise, and Dak and the Cowboys came back in the second half and to win 39-40 in the stupidest way possible.

Dallas kicked an onside kick and Atlanta watched and waited for the ball to roll 10 yards before recovering it. The rule that all players are supposed to know is that the kicking team needs to wait for the ball to roll 10 yards before they can touch it, but the opposing team can hop on it right away.

Dan Quinn says his players know the rule, but Falcons’ owner Arthur Blank begs to differ.

“Clearly on the last play of the game yesterday our players, you know, didn’t do what they either were instructed to do and they didn’t understand it, or, it’s clear, though, they didn’t, in my view, they didn’t clearly understand what the rules were and exactly what they had to do,” Blank said, via ESPN. “I think that’s demonstrated when you watch the video of it.”

Well, the king has spoken ladies and gents.

Take A Look for Yourself

I’m sure many of you have seen this video numerous times now and wasted time wondering why.

Just watch it one more time and scratch your head.

Atlanta joined in with Dallas and waited for the ball to roll 10 yards. Really, nobody made a move to the ball until it was too late. Falcons safety No. 37 Ricardo Allen was close enough to jump on it or even kick it but for some reason hesitated to do so and moved out of the way for Dallas. I think someone may have paid them…(haha).

This embarrassment is what led to the Cowboys to recover their own onside kick, driving 26 yards down the field. Dallas kicker Greg Zuerlein and hometown hero was sent back out again to hit an easy 46-yard field goal for the win.

And that is the story of how Atlanta got flipped-turned upside down to suffer a very senseless loss when they had the game in the palm of their hands. But, are we surprised?

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A Lot of Ball Left

Even after Sunday’s mishap, Blank is remaining positive because there’s still a lot of ball left and Atlanta has the talent potential.

“Well, you think about, do you want to respond out of doing something that’s immediate and respond out of disappointment, that sadness, maybe anger, frustration, which all of our fans felt, and I understand why,” Blank said, via ESPN. “Or think about, ‘How do we correct this? There are 14 more games to play in the season. We have a lot of games left to play.’

Blank also emphasized that “there’s still a lot of work to be done.” Hopefully, Atlanta starts with focusing on teaching the defense Football 101.

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