Forrest Gump’s mother had it right, “Stupid is, stupid does.”
In the huddle last Sunday, Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Matt Ryan had two instructions for Todd Gurley. “Get the first down and don’t score a touchdown.”
In some games, one out of two ain’t bad, but for instructions from your quarterback that ended up costing your team a win, it was real bad. Gurley got the first down easy, as the Detroit Lions defenders opened the hole, even pushed him towards the goal line, hoping the Falcons running back would score a touchdown and allow their team time to come back.
Here was the situation, the Falcons were inside the redzone and trailing by two points with just over a minute left on the clock. They had a third-and-one situation and the Lions were out of time outs. This is where intelligence calls for getting the first down and then setting up a would-be winning field goal with no time left on the clock for Detroit to recover.
But, after getting the first down, Gurley completed the touchdown run, apparently realizing his error just too late to avoid scoring.
You know what happens next, with Falcons owner Arthur Blank standing on the sideline he watched his Falcons lose for the six time in seven decisions this year. The Lions scored the winning touchdown on the game’s final play. Blank shows up on the Falcons sideline like the Grim Reaper more often than a pumpkin in the window on Halloween.