The Atlanta Falcons have found confounding new ways to lose all season, and they topped themselves in last Sunday's 23-22 loss to the Detroit Lions when their own touchdown cost them the game.
As you surely know by now, Falcons running back Todd Gurley mistakenly scored with less than one minute to go, which gave the ball back to Detroit. The Falcons trailed 16-14 with first-and-goal on the 10-yard line and Detroit out of timeouts — putting them in position to run down the clock and kick a short field goal. Instead, they handed the ball to Gurley, who remembered to go down a moment too late.
Afterward, Gurley said he was “mad as hell” about the play:
“I was trying not to [score] … It’s one of them unfortunate situations,” Gurley said, via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com. “I’ve been, I mean, plenty of those situations my rookie year, six or seven, and I’ve always got down. It was an unfortunate one right there.”
Falcons head coach Raheem Morris took the blame for handing the ball to his running back.
If you found yourself initially sympathizing with Gurley, though — whose No. 1 goal has been to reach the end zone for his entire football life — it may be harder to do so after some new footage of the play. A video that first aired on “Inside the NFL” shows the Falcons huddle prior to the ill-fated run, and Ryan can be seen repeatedly reminding Gurley not to score:
“Hey, don’t score. Don’t score. Don’t score. Get the first. Get the first. Get down,” Ryan implores Gurley, who seems to get the message.
I wish that I had never seen this… pic.twitter.com/XiAwzMWTgX
— 🇬🇧 Atlanta Falcons 🔴⚫ (@ATLFalconsUK) October 28, 2020
After Gurley's touchdown, Matthew Stafford drove the Lions down the field and hit tight end T.J. Hockenson for a game-winning touchdown pass on the final play of the game. Atlanta dropped to 1-6 on the season.
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