Watch Matt Ryan Tell Todd Gurley Not To Score In The Huddle Before His Accidental Touchdown

The Atlanta Falcons are the NFL’s greatest performance artists and will stop at nothing in their quest to lose games in increasingly ridiculous ways. They have, to date, blown a 19-point fourth quarter lead to the Cowboys thanks in large part to the worst onside kick coverage in NFL history, blown a 26-10 fourth quarter lead to the Chicago Bears offense that can’t score, and, on Sunday, lost on a last second touchdown from the Detroit Lions because on the previous drive the Falcons accidentally scored a touchdown to allow Detroit to get the ball back with enough time to drive down the field.

That accidental touchdown came from running back Todd Gurley, who has a rather incredible history of making the correct decision to fall down short of the goal line in that exact situation in years past, but because he is now on the Falcons he is incapable of stopping himself from reaching the disaster scenario. In case that wasn’t bad enough, NFL Films happened to have quarterback Matt Ryan mic’d up on Sunday and video emerged on Wednesday of Ryan explicitly telling Gurley to get the first down but don’t score, emphasizing the don’t score part multipel times before breaking the huddle. Ryan’s reaction as he watches helplessly as Gurley falls into the end zone while trying to stop himself is perfect.

It’s a tough spot for Gurley who seems to expect to be tackled by the defender and the natural instinct of fighting that carries him closer to the goal line and then the defender just kind of lets up which leads him to stumble his way until it’s too late to stop his momentum and he lands on the goal line to the delight of Lions defenders.

It has been a great week for Mic’d Up segments, as we got the tremendous reaction of Budda Baker to being chased down by DK Metcalf on Sunday night, and now get to see the absolute pinnacle of Falcon-ness — being told explicitly not to do the one thing that could result in a loss and then doing exactly that accidentally. It’s the cherry on top of the horrific sundae that is this Falcons loss for Atlanta fans, who now have to watch their team play once again on Thursday Night Football against the Panthers in a standalone spot on the sports calendar where, surely, nothing can go catastrophically wrong.