Your 2011 Worst Atlanta Falcons Play Voting

by Dave Choate on Feb 22, 2012 5:00 PM EST in Falcons Talk

CHICAGO, IL - SEPTEMBER 11: Matt Ryan #46 of the Atlanta Falcons fumbles the ball against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on September 11, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois. The Bears defeated the Falcons 30-12. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

This one won't be quite as fun.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pick the single worst play of the 2011 Atlanta Falcons season. Everything that made the nomination list is brutally bad in its own right, but to paraphrase Sean Connery, there can only be one worst Atlanta Falcons play. It helps if you say it in a Scottish accent.

Let's hit the nominees.

Michael Turner gets stuffed at the goal line Week 10 against the Saints, keeping the Falcons from a touchdown on fourth down in overtime and ultimately costing them the game. Right call, terrible execution.
Hakeem Nicks laying waste to the secondary and scoring a touchdown in the playoff game against the Giants.
Someone nominated most of Mike Mularkey's play calls. Here for entertainment value.
Matt Ryan's quarterback sneak against the Giants. Take your pick with either, really.
Any completed Drew Brees pass during the Monday night game with the Saints.
Julio Jones' fumble against the Saints. I'm sensing a pattern here with teams.
Matt Ryan gently places the ball on the ground in Week 1 against Chicago, fumbling away the football and the game.
Corey Peters' encroachment versus Tampa Bay the first time around.

Vote!

Poll

What was the worst Atlanta Falcons play of 2011?

Turner stuffed versus Saints

159 votes

Secondary fails against Hakeem Nicks

16 votes

Mike Mularkey's calls (pick one)

140 votes

Ryan's quarterback sneak versus Giants

61 votes

Drew Brees carves up Falcons secondary

22 votes

Julio Jones fumble against Saints

1 votes

Ryan fumble against Chicago

17 votes

Corey Peters encroachment versus Tampa Bay

45 votes

461 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 17 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

I picked "Drew Brees carves up Falcons secondary"

Because we knew he was going to sling it around to try to get the record against a division rival and yet, we used the same defensive game plan that we would use against a run-first team…against every team we played the past 4 years for that matter.

Dont cloud the issue with facts!

by muuzilla on Feb 22, 2012 5:22 PM EST reply actions

The failed 4th down was the worst for me

I still think they should have ran a HB toss so that the Saints D can’t tackle him head on, if they tackle Turner from the side or behind, he can extend his arm for the first down.

If Halladay, Lee, and Hamels all break their arms while playing tag in the clubhouse, We'll be set

by suicide bunting is a sin on Feb 22, 2012 5:30 PM EST reply actions

But how many times...

…did we see Turner lose yardage on a sweep or toss play because the o-line got shredded and then complain about Mularkey not calling a simple FB led dive through the 1 or 2 hole?

by bobulated on Feb 22, 2012 5:35 PM EST up reply actions

I have to go with Corey jumping off sides.

Because we all know he was probably reminded on the sideline, in the huddle and as he went to the line to hold his water; a pure game-breaking mental mistake while most of the others are simply getting out executed by a HOFer like Brees or the O-line messing the bed.

by bobulated on Feb 22, 2012 5:32 PM EST reply actions

I agree. Inexcusable.

Standing in front of the TV, the transcript from my living room went something like this:

“Just don’t jump offsides. That’s all you have to do. Doooon’t jump offsides. Don’t jump! Don’t jump! Don’t jump! Don’t jump! Don’t jump! Don’- NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! ”

by atlantafalcon on Feb 22, 2012 6:12 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

that defibately a close second for me

maybe a tie
I mock that moment all the time in my head to lighten the mood.
Remember the Eagles did the same thing against the Bills.

by brotherbrown on Feb 22, 2012 9:53 PM EST up reply actions

The MM calls (about 99% of them) was tempting but...

I went with NO stuffing MT like a Thanksgiving Turkey!!

That was just a horrible call!! I know Turner had been schooling them all day but the perfect time to NOT call a play is when everyone on the planet and alien races from at least 8 other worlds is EXPECTING YOU TO CALL IT!!

MM sucks!!

"I'd run over my own mother to win the Super Bowl." - Joe Jacoby, formerly of the Redskins
"To win, I'd run over Joe's mom too." - Matt Millen, formerly of the Raiders

"We now have exactly the same situation as we had at the start of the race, only exactly the opposite" - Murray Walker, Sportscaster

by Blood_Talon on Feb 22, 2012 5:33 PM EST reply actions

My least favorite

is in the Giant game. Fourth and short, deep in our territory, Giant ball. Running play between guard and tackle, perfect Defensive call, Lofton meets the running back right at the line of scrimmage in the hole, man on man, and Lofton gets run over for about four yards. Didn’t stand him up, didn’t slow him down, got run over.

If that had been Tuggle, it would have been our ball.

At that moment, I knew we were not beating those boys, and at the moment the ship sailed on Lofton for me.

by Whopper Dawg on Feb 22, 2012 5:34 PM EST reply actions

I don't want to give the Saints fans the satisfaction

of knowing their team brought out the worse in the Falcons

I touched the garment of Ivan Johnson and I saw the Rapture

by a hooter's baby on Feb 22, 2012 5:38 PM EST reply actions

They already have satisfaction...those jackels will be dinning on both of those games ALL YEAR..."sigh"

"I'd run over my own mother to win the Super Bowl." - Joe Jacoby, formerly of the Redskins
"To win, I'd run over Joe's mom too." - Matt Millen, formerly of the Raiders

"We now have exactly the same situation as we had at the start of the race, only exactly the opposite" - Murray Walker, Sportscaster

by Blood_Talon on Feb 22, 2012 5:42 PM EST up reply actions

Had to go with Mularkey

though it’s hard to single out just one play (I mean look at the ones nominated here and add a zillion others). The Dive, the sneak all had a better chance of sucess if he hadn’t run the same play often enough to be predictable. How many 1st and 2nd downs could we predict the play (and so could the defense)?

by drmondo667 on Feb 22, 2012 6:29 PM EST reply actions

my money personally is on the Matt Ryan Fumble

Clearly because it’s something we can’t see coming.
We all know about Mularkey’s calls
Julio was a rookie.
BVG holes in the defense.

But arguably the best player on our team does the unthinkable at the worse possible time.
This signified we are in for a long day and long season. The way the whole game went, the Bears shredded the Falcons, and the Falcons couldn’t answer, Turner had a fumble and so did Ryan.
How could we win.
The rest of the season was expected.

by brotherbrown on Feb 22, 2012 9:47 PM EST reply actions

I didn't really need to view the results to know who got the most votes...

by mr92687!!! on Feb 22, 2012 11:03 PM EST reply actions

Hmm as I post this there are 88 votes each for Mularkey and the Turner stuff

So how about we have a runoff?

Atlanta sports have singlehandedly crushed my soul.

by Beachy Keen on Feb 23, 2012 2:49 AM EST reply actions

I'm confused about the description....

“Michael Turner gets stuffed at the goal line Week 10 against the Saints, keeping the Falcons from a touchdown on fourth down in overtime and ultimately costing them the game”

We’re talking about when he got stuffed at our own 29, right? Or was there a goal line stop earlier in the game that I’m forgetting?

I’m going with Brees carving us up, anyway. With the overtime call, I at least respected the guts to try it. The performance of our secondary against Brees was embarrassing. 3rd and 10? 3rd and 15? Doesn’t matter. Automatic first down.

by ChardeeMacDennis on Feb 23, 2012 10:29 AM EST reply actions

No, you're right

It seemed so traumatic that I put goal-line. My bad.

by Dave Choate on Feb 23, 2012 1:20 PM EST up reply actions

No worries

I was 95 percent sure that was what you meant. If it wasn’t for Mularkey being on the ballot, the Turner stuff would win in a runaway. As it is, it’s pretty close.

by ChardeeMacDennis on Feb 23, 2012 2:46 PM EST reply actions