PHOENIX -- No worries. Dan Quinn hasn't changed his mind yet.
The Falcons, set to hire the Seattle defensive coordinator following today's Super Bowl against New England, are being investigated for possibly piping artificial crowd noise into the Georgia Dome over the last two seasons.
There's a switch. Here we thought they were just trying to force artificial football on us.
This actually is a serious matter. As our Darryl Ledbetter reports , if the NFL finds this to be true, it can fine the Falcons or, worse, take away a draft pick. The investigation was first reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter. Loud crowd noise by home fans can disrupt visiting offenses and force them to go to silent snap counts, but the Falcons obviously haven't been giving home fans much reason to scream.
Via Ledbetter:
Atlanta is accused of piping in the noise while the opposing team was huddling, trying to call its play. The tactics originated from the Falcons' game operations department.
The game operations department falls under the marketing side of the building, not football operations, so don't blame general manager Thomas Dimitroff or former coach Mike Smith for this.
Quinn coaches for a team that plays before the loudest crowds in the NFL in Seattle. Artificial enhancements aren't necessary. That's not the case in Atlanta. Ironically, however, Chicago fans in attendance at the Georgia Dome were so loud during the late stages of a Bears' win over the Falcons that quarterback Matt Ryan had to go to a silent snap count.
In 2007, New England accused Indianapolis of piping fake crowd noise into the stadium. But the league investigated and ultimately/suspiciously attributed the noise to a CBS production problem. After all of the Falcons' problems in the last two seasons, this is potentially one more embarrassment the team doesn't need. Welcome to the other side of the NFL, Dan Quinn.
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