Falcons head coach calls out Bucs’ Baker Mayfield for 'flopping'

During a critical drive after an extended Atlanta possession that took almost nine minutes of game time (and felt like nine years in real life), Mayfield and the Buccaneers were tasked with either tying the game with a field goal or going ahead with a touchdown while down 20-17. During that drive, Mayfield threw the football away while being chased down by defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro, and Orhorhoro hit him a tad late. Mayfield fell — the point of contention here — down near the sideline, and as a result, Orhorhoro was flagged for roughing the passer and gave the Buccaneers a free 15 yards.

That drive would end with Emeka Egbuka catching the go-ahead touchdown for the Bucs with 59 seconds left, and after a missed field goal from Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo, Tampa Bay would win the game 23-20

Here's the roughing the passer play in question:

When Morris was asked about that play, he (only somewhat) jokingly accused Mayfield of flopping after the hit, and he told reporters that he'd even told Mayfield as much when they met at midfield after the game on Sunday.

“Man, that was tough. That was a good flop by [Mayfield], man. That was basketball-esque. He did sell it," Morris said during his press conference on Monday. "Ruke's got to do a better job of completely avoiding that. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to sit here and make an excuse for Ruke. You’ve got to be better. You can't have that penalty. That was critical to put him in field goal range, all those type of things. But that was an excellent job by [Mayfield] on the flop. I told him that after the game yesterday.”

If you watch the play in question, it's not far-fetched to say that Mayfield may have embellished his fall just a little bit, but that makes sense — he was already hit late by Ohorhoro, and in the NFL, any advantage you can get is one you should take. Morris seemed to understand that completely and acknowledged that Ohorhoro has to be more careful, so there doesn't appear to be any serious bad blood between the two parties.

Either way, Morris and the Falcons have an opportunity to get their revenge against the Buccaneers when they play them again in Week 15 on Dec. 11 in Raymond James Stadium.