Francesa Blasts Falcons' Quinn For Some Of 'Dumbest' Calls In Super Bowl History
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- Dan Quinn will never live down the decisions that cost the Atlanta Falcons a world championship Sunday, WFAN's Mike Francesa said.
Francesa blasted the Falcons head coach for twice trying to pass in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LI when his team should have been running the ball to kill clock and protect its lead. Francesa said Quinn deserved the brunt of the blame, not offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.
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"There came a point where he needed to tell him to run it, and they didn't run it," Francesa said at the start of his Monday show. "And the fact that they didn't understand time, score, situation, opponent, they went home losers instead of going home winners."
Quinn's first big mistake, Francesa said, came with more than nine minutes remaining in the game and the Falcons leading 28-12. On third-and-1 at the Atlanta 36-yard line, New England's Dont'a Hightower sacked Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, forcing a fumble that was recovered by the Patriots. That set up a New England TD and two-point conversion that cut Atlanta's lead to 28-20.
"At 9:40, if you just go one, two, three, punt, I will guarantee you anything -- I'll wager you my home -- that you will win the game," Francesa said. "But they didn't do that. They went one, two, three, fumble -- strip, when he shouldn't have even been throwing the ball on third-and-1½.
"This is where a coach has to have some foresight and say, 'What am I thinking here? I run the ball into the line. If I get a first down, I'm golden. If I don't, the clock runs or he's going to use a timeout. ... (If) I punt the ball back, I'm still up 16 against an offense that is a dink-and-dunk offense."
Francesa also had a problem with the sequence of calls that followed Julio Jones' remarkable 27-yard sideline catch, which gave the Falcons the ball at the Pats' 22 with less than five minutes remaining.
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"It's 28-20 and you are now in cold field goal range," Francesa said. "You're going to go up two scores. You don't have to do anything except ice the game now. It's over. That play should've ended the game if you're a thinking coach. Instead, two plays later, they have had a guy run out of bounds, a holding call and a sack and they're out of field goal range. The dumbest couple of plays in Super Bowl history, only matched by what Pete Carroll, his buddy, did in a Super Bowl a couple of years before.
"The ball should have never, ever, ever, ever been airborne again. The fact that it was is why they don't have a Super Bowl. I can forgive the first one, which was stupid. The second one borders on the insane."
To listen to the segment, click on the audio player above.
