To beat the Packers on Sunday the Falcons had to overcome the kind of penalties more commonly seen with high school players or even younger.
The Falcons were penalized three times for illegal formation. Those infractions ended up not being costly but linebacker Brooks Reed’s blunder led to a go-ahead touchdown by the Packers with 3:58 left.
The Falcons stopped Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson on third down, one yard short of the marker, at Atlanta’s 15-yard line. But quarterback Aaron Rodgers had noticed Reed jogging slowly off of the field and quickly snapped the ball before Reed reached the sideline.
Falcons coach Dan Quinn noticed it, too. He was sprinting toward an official trying to signal timeout before the snap.
“We thought we had an opportunity to sub and it certainly went quicker than we thought,” Quinn said. “Certainly, my quickness was not up to speed.”
Of Reed, Quinn added: “Neither was his.”
Game officials didn’t call a penalty on the play but Packers coach Mike McCarthy won a replay challenge. The five-yard penalty gave the Packers a first down and three plays later Rodgers threw a seven-yard TD pass to Jeff Janis.
The Falcons have had an unusual amount of penalties for rudimentary mistakes this season. It was the third time this year the Falcons were called for having too many men on the field.
The Falcons were called for illegal formation penalties on consecutive plays in the first quarter on Sunday. They also had to call a timeout when facing a first-and-goal in the third quarter because they were late getting in a substitute for their goal-line package.
The bevy of pre-snap infractions came a week after the Falcons had false start penalties on back-to-back plays late in the home game against the Chargers. Those penalties led to a first-and-20 and Ryan followed with an interception.
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