Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan heard the referee’s whistle and immediately became irate.
Facing a fourth-and-2 after the Falcons nearly scored a touchdown on the play before -- with receiver Julio Jones dropping a perfect throw from receiver Russell Gage out of the wildcat formation -- the Falcons ran a different personnel grouping onto the field. Once they broke the huddle, everyone lined up in their spots in the formation with Ryan almost under center before the play was blown dead.
Ryan’s reaction made it seem he knew exactly why the referee threw a flag.
Before the call could be announced, Ryan was pointing his finger and screaming in the official’s direction. It was then announced that the Falcons had 12 men in the huddle, which resulted in a five-yard penalty.
Although the Falcons were flagged for breaking the huddle with 12 men, it doesn’t appear the team agrees with this assessment. Offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter said the wildcat play featured “11” personnel -- three wide receivers, one tight end and one running back. The fourth-down play was to feature “22” personnel -- one wide receiver, two tight ends and two running backs -- which is why the Falcons were running different players on the field.
From there, the dispute between the Falcons and the officiating crew appears to be whether receiver Calvin Ridley joined the huddle.
“The way it was explained to me, Calvin was coming back to the huddle and never actually got in the huddle. (He) ran behind the huddle,” Koetter said. “Matt Ryan recognized that if Calvin got in, we’d have too many, so he told Rid, ‘Get out, get out.’ I guess the official must have mistook that to mean he was in the huddle. That’s the way it’s been explained to me.
"I didn’t have eyes on it, and our film actually does not show it. Maybe there is a TV copy that does. That’s one of those things where we have to do a great job of communicating amongst ourselves.”
The NFL stated Sunday night that the officiating crew determined the Falcons broke the huddle with 12 men, with a 12th player running off the field. On Tuesday, following Koetter’s remarks about the penalty, the NFL stated it has not updated its stance.
Per the NFL statement:
"The officials had just brought in and spotted a new ball when Atlanta broke the huddle. There were 11 on the field, with the 12th player going off having come from the huddle. When a team is judged to have 12 in the huddle, or 12 as they are breaking the huddle, the offense is subject to a foul.
“There are times when officials allow a player, usually the QB, to step clearly back away from the huddle while other players substitute. But the officials did not judge that process applicable in this situation because there was no attempt by any other offensive player to step back away from the huddle prior to all players on the offense breaking the huddle.”
What transpired between the two plays was never shown on television and any such footage is not available on the publicly available coaches film released early this week.
Once the Cowboys took over possession following the punt, Fox Sports play-by-play commentator Kevin Burkhardt and analyst Daryl Johnston said they counted 11 men in the huddle on a shot available to them in the booth. Fox Sports rules analyst Dean Blandino, a former NFL director of officiating, also stated he never saw 12 men in the huddle. In the moment, Blandino wondered if the called penalty was an incorrect announcement. Since the game ended, the penalty has gone down in the books as too many men on the field, with the NFL explaining that 12 men broke the huddle.
After the game Sunday, Falcons coach Dan Quinn said he didn’t think the situation warranted a flag.
“I’m just going to say it was one we discussed,” Quinn said. “Hopefully it’s one that won’t happen again because it wasn’t anything that the team had fouled up.”
At the time the penalty occurred, the Falcons were leading the Cowboys 29-17. If Jones had caught Gage’s pass for a touchdown, the fourth-down call would have been a moot point. But with the five-yard penalty pushing the Falcons from fourth-and-2 at the Dallas 41 to fourth-and-7 at the 46, the Falcons changed their decision and punted.
With the Falcons coming away empty, the Cowboys were able to capitalize and score a touchdown eight plays later.
After the Falcons scored the game’s next 10 points and held a 39-24 lead, it didn’t appear the third-quarter penalty mattered that much. But with the Cowboys putting together a furious comeback, punctuated with a bizarre onside-kick recovery and game-winning field goal with time expiring, there was some renewed focus on the penalty that prevented the Falcons from continuing a drive and potentially scoring points.
Of course, there also is no guarantee the Falcons -- who were otherwise 2-for-2 on fourth-down conversions -- would have picked up the first down in that situation.
But with how the rest of the game turned out, the Falcons, even more so now, would have loved to run its originally called play.
“Unfortunately with the penalty, that knocked it back to fourth-and-7, and we had to punt,” Koetter said. “That’s one I didn’t have great vision on. We’ll have to see what feedback from the league comes back from that.”
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