Arthur Blank is continuing in his quest to rebuild his NFL franchise the Atlanta Falcons, appointing Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to a five-year deal to be the team’s new head coach. The bad news for the Falcons is that the NFL is now investigating claims that it creates fake noise at the Georgia Dome in order to give it an unfair advantage in home games, according to a report by ESPN.
The team failed the make the playoffs this year after going 6-10 and losing its last two games.
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Now that the Super Bowl is over, focus is switching to how the season’s losing teams are trying to improve for next year. Since the Patriots’ and Seahawks’ seasons have officially ended, their staff members are free to sign with other teams. The NFL has a rule which requires each of its 32 franchises to allow an assistant coach out of his contract should he be offered a chance to become the head coach or general manager of another team.
Blank is also considering whether or not to offer Falcons star wide receiver Julio Jones an extension of his contract beyond 2015 when it ends. The owner said that it will be up to his new head coach to make the final decision telling ESPN, “Well, I think it’s a decision that the head coach will look at the talent on the roster. Julio’s been a great player for us and a great talent, and he represents us on the field and off the field as well as anybody else.”
“As the owner, it’s not my decision to make. The new coach will spend a great deal of time assessing the roster and all of our players, and obviously Julio is a critical one.”
As for the crowd noise, the NFL is investigating whether the team amplified it at home game by artificial means over the past two seasons. “We were informed during the season that the league office is looking into crowd noise during our games, ” a Falcons team spokesman said. “We have cooperated fully with them, and we’re awaiting the outcome.”
First “Deflate-Gate” and now “Noise-Gate.” What next, “Wind-Gate” where a team gets caught making artificial wind behind its field goal kicker?
How about “Turf-Gate” where a team somehow finds a way to change the grass to its benefit while on offense.
