NFL: Atlanta Falcons at New England Patriots
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Atlanta Falcons coach Raheem Morris had some interesting things to say on Sunday after watching his team go down in a tight 24-23 loss to the New England Patriots. 

During his postgame press conference, Morris essentially accused the Patriots of cheating by implying that they illegally simulated the Falcons' snap count on a key drive that came late in the fourth quarter of the game. With 2:09 left to play, the Falcons were trailing 24-23 and sitting at New England's 48-yard line. On a second-and-10 play, center Ryan Neuzil sent a snap back to Michael Penix Jr. that the QB wasn't ready for. The Patriots quickly rushed Penix and the QB didn't want to take a sack, so he quickly got rid of the ball and he ended up getting called for intentional grounding, which is a 10-yard penalty with a loss of down. 

So Atlanta's second-and-10 turned into a third-and-20 from its own 42. According to Morris, the only reason the bad snap happened is because the Patriots confused his center by simulating Atlanta's snap count. 

"They did a nice job, they simulated a snap," Morris said. "The ball came early, it was snapped early. Within that snap, that was when we got the intentional grounding."

Simulating a snap is illegal in the NFL and it's a strong accusation, so Morris was asked to clarify that he was in fact accusing the Patriots of doing that. 

"They were clapping. Simulated our snap, got us to snap the ball," Morris said. "That's why the ball was snapped early to [Penix], and he wasn't ready for the snap."

If a defense is caught simulating a snap count, that's known as a "disconcerting signal" and it's illegal under NFL rules. If you get flagged for that in a game, it's a 15-yard penalty. If a flag had been thrown, the Falcons would have gotten a first-and-10 at New England's 33-yard line.

So did the clapping actually happen? You can judge for yourself by checking out a video of the play below. 

Here are the two biggest takeaways from the replay: 

  1. The nine Patriots defenders closest to the line of scrimmage definitely did NOT clap. 
  2. If there was a clap, it came from Patriots safety Jaylinn Hawkins. Starting at the five-second mark, it appears that he's looking at the Patriots' sideline trying to get someone's attention. It's hard to tell if he actually clapped his hands, but Neuzil did snap the ball just as Hawkins stopped moving his hands. 

Falcons reaction

Penix was asked about the clapping after the game and although he couldn't say with 100% certainty that it actually happened, he did say that Neuzil definitely heard clapping. 

"Supposedly they were clapping," Penix said. "For us, whenever I'm clapping, that means I want the ball. I knew [Neuzil] said he heard them clapping, and he thought it was my clap, and he snapped the ball. I threw the ball in [Kyle Pitts'] direction. He had just released on a route. I thought I was going to be okay with the grounding part. Obviously that wasn't the case."

So Neuzil definitely heard someone clapping, but he didn't know exactly where the clapping was coming from. 

Patriots deny all wrongdoing

If Neuzil heard some clapping, you'd think someone else on the field would have heard it, but that's not the case on New England's side. Patriots defensive tackle Milton Williams doesn't believe that anyone on his team was clapping. 

"Who was clapping? Did it look like I was clapping?" Williams said, via MassLive.com. "I'm going to go watch and see who was clapping. I didn't hear no clapping. I'm looking at the ball. The ball moves, I'm gone."

If it was Hawkins -- and that's a big if -- he was lined up 12 to 13 yards off the line of scrimmage so it seems like a few other people would have heard his claps if Neuzil did. 

During a press conference on Monday, Patriots coach Vrabel was asked about the possibility that Hawkins may have been clapping his hands to try and mess up the Falcons' snap count and he dismissed that theory. 

"That wasn't anybody's intent, and I don't think that we've ever coached that or talked about that," Vrabel said. "I can't spend that much time focused on it. I did look at it briefly. I certainly didn't think that that was anything that we did -- I mean, I think it's pretty loud, guys are trying to get lined up and I'm glad that we took off when they snapped the ball."

Vrabel was also asked if he was annoyed about the fact that Morris was accusing his team of cheating. 

"I don't think annoyed. I'm trying to not waste any more time looking for anybody clapping," the Patriots coach said. "I don't see anything."

With Morris making public accusations against the Patriots, the NFL will likely be looking into this and it will be very interesting to see what the league finds.