Falcons’ Owner Arthur Blank Weighs In On Team’s Collapse

Falcons owner Arthur Blank is no stranger to seeing his team suffer terrible collapses. Unfortunately, they just seem to keep happening with the Flacons blowing a ten-point lead with less than five minutes left in their game two matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, eventually falling 40-39. The breakdown included a muffed onside kick, in an era where it is almost impossible to lose an onside kick, and the loss had many wondering if Falcon’s coach Dan Quinn, who was on the hot seat for most of last season, should be fired.

Blank, appearing on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Monday to promote his new book Good Company, was asked by hosts Jim Miller and Pat Kirwan to talk about his feelings on the plane ride home from the game. “Well, you think about, do you want to respond out of doing something that’s immediate and respond out of disappointment, that sadness, maybe anger, frustration, which all of our fans felt, and I understand why,” Blank said. “Or think about, ‘How do we correct this? There’s 14 more games to play in the season. We have a lot of games left to play. 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.”

The Falcons are now 0-2, with a difficult path to the playoffs in the hotly contested NFC. They still have a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball and can make a run, but I am curious if Quinn is the coach who can lead that charge or if his reign over the team is snake-bitten after the 28-3 collapse against the Patriots.