CHARLOTTE – Falcons defensive tackle Ra'Shede Hageman was still hot after the 38-0 loss to the Panthers on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium.
“I know what you’re going to ask and I’ve got nothing to say,” Hageman said as he walked to the team bus after the game. “It’s between me and Cox. That’s it.”
Hageman was the poster-child for how the Falcons blew their cool before getting ran out of the stadium.
After an extra point attempt, a fight broke out on the field that Hageman and fullback Pat DiMarco were involved in. Several players tried to calm down Hageman before he drew a penalty, but he was belligerent. Falcons defensive line coach Bryan Cox, a advocated for drafting Hageman, trying to calm him and pull him off the field.
The two got in an ugly shoving match that Quinn had to go break up.
“They are kind of like father-son,” Quinn said. “Both are emotional guys and (that’s) what makes them both good.”
It was not the only issue that Quinn had with the team. He called them all together to have a discussion about keeping their poise that apparently didn’t pay much attention to.
They Falcons didn’t know show much poise, despite Quinn’s attempts to get the team focused.
The Falcons were accused of loafing last week in the Tampa Bay game and appeared to have another lapse on Ted Ginn’s 74-yard touchdown catch.
“I’ll certainly watch that one closely and see,” Quinn said. “It wasn’t an unusual play for us in terms of how to play the style. He got beat over the top and our defense.”
Quinn was a little disheartened that his team didn’t accept his message about poise.
“I talked about poise on the sideline today with the club,” Quinn said. “We knew that was going to be an important part going into this game. For us to …have opportunities where we lost poise, didn’t make the correct decision. There was still a lot of ball to play when I brought them together.”
Quinn was partly in shock after defeat.
“That’s totally unacceptable,” Quinn said. “All the way (across the board) for players, coaches and everybody in terms of style and attitude that we want to play with.”
