Arthur Blank: Falcons ‘didn’t clearly understand’ onside kick rules
The Cowboys’ 40-39 win over the Falcons was another reminder that if you don’t play until the clock expires, it doesn’t matter how much of a lead you have in the NFL — a message Atlanta should know better than any other team.
Despite head coach Dan Quinn‘s insistence on Monday that his players were fully aware of the league’s onside kick rules during Atlanta’s late-game blunder, team owner Arthur Blank doesn’t appear to be buying it.
While making a guest appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio Monday, Blank said it didn’t look like his players understood the rules when Dallas recovered an onside kick and ultimately stole the game. Read Blank’s full statement below on Sunday’s outcome.
There’s 14 more games to play in the season. We have a lot of games left to play and there are certain aspects of our performance in the first two games which have been really good. Some other parts have not been good. Clearly our defense is not playing at the level we want to see it play at. And clearly on the last play of the game yesterday our players, you know, didn’t do what they, you know, either what they were instructed to do and they didn’t understand it, or, it’s clear though they didn’t, in my view, they didn’t clearly understand what the rules were and exactly what they had to do. I think that’s demonstrated when you watch the video of it.
Blank was fairly candid in this interview and it was the first time in a while that he, Thomas Dimitroff and Quinn weren’t in lock step amid the chaos. This comes after two seasons of football that felt like a roller coaster slowly making its way up a hill, but the Falcons haven’t shifted that momentum and taken off the way so many have anticipated.
If the team doesn’t come together over the the final 14 games, it will be Quinn’s last ride. He knows that as well as anyone, so let’s see how the team responds in Week 3.
