Falcons' Kyle Shanahan Briefly Loses Backpack Featuring Game Plan For Super Bowl
HOUSTON (CBS) – Fear not, Patriots fans. There will be no #BackpackGate.
Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan briefly lost his backpack following Super Bowl Opening Night, and there was one key item in it – the team's game plan against the Patriots.
According to USA Today, Shanahan searched frantically around Minute Maid Park, trying to find the backpack.
After about 30 minutes, a writer for the San Francisco Examiner discovered that he had mistakenly taken the bag.
He returned it to Shanahan before the Bill Belichick conspiracy theories had a chance to crop up.
Shanahan told USA Today he was relieved to have the game plan back, telling the newspaper "That would have been bad."
Though the Patriots weren't suspected of nefarious behavior in the case of the missing backpack, a Monday report shows that they're often fresh in the minds of their opponents.
Bleacher Report's Jason Cole reported Monday that former Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan and his staff would shred game plans and other printed materials in their own offices in the week leading up to games against the Patriots.
"Ryan and the rest of the coaches were so concerned that the Patriots would go so far as to pay members of the janitorial staff to steal the information if it was left out," Cole reported. "The Bills did that against no other team."
Fortunately for Shanahan and the Falcons, their game plan is back in the hands of its rightful owner.
