Atlanta Falcons running back Todd Gurley has scored many touchdowns during his career, but the one he had in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions was the only regrettable one of his career.
The Falcons were trailing 16-14 late in the fourth quarter and had the ball deep in Detroit territory. After putting together a methodical drive and forcing the Lions to use all of their timeouts, Atlanta could have run the clock all the way down and kicked an easy game-winning field goal. However, Todd Gurley had a huge mental lapse and forgot he wasn’t supposed to score a touchdown.
Gurley realized at the last second that he should not have scored, but the ball had already broken the plane.
Gurley clearly wasn’t being selfish, otherwise he would not have tried to keep himself out of the end zone at the last second. He simply lost track of the situation, but you have to think the Falcons talked about it in the huddle before the play.
The mistake was costly. The Lions quickly marched down the field on their ensuing drive, and Matthew Stafford threw a game-winning touchdown pass to tight end T.J. Hockensen as time expired.
We saw a star player cost his team a touchdown with a boneheaded play at the goal line earlier this season, but Gurley’s mental mistake was as painful as it gets. He might never get over that one.
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