Falcons' Raheem Morris clarifies simulated snap comments

Shortly after the Atlanta Falcons fell to 3-5 on the season via a frustrating 24-23 loss at the New England Patriots this past Sunday, Falcons head coach Raheem Morris accused Patriots players of "clapping" to simulate Atlanta quarterback Michael Penix Jr. asking for the ball to be snapped on a key fourth-quarter play. 

On Monday morning, first-year New England head coach Mike Vrabel insisted that he "didn’t see anybody" simulating the snap in that instance. Later in the day, Morris attempted to explain why he made his initial comments about the situation. 

Raheem Morris was relaying what he heard from Falcons players about the snap controversy

"This was our players telling us they simulated the snap out there," Morris said, per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. "They heard something, and obviously they did, that’s why he snapped it. This was no intent that they did anything wrong. There was no intent that those guys did anything wrong. We’re just telling you guys what happened. I was asked why the ball was snapped early. It was snapped early for our fault. It’s on us."

With roughly two minutes remaining in regulation of the contest, Penix committed a costly intentional grounding penalty after he seemed not ready to receive the snap. Had any Patriots player been deemed guilty of simulating Penix's call for the snap, New England would have been handed a 15-yard penalty that would have resulted in Atlanta receiving an automatic first down. 

Instead, the Falcons punted the ball on fourth down and then never received it back before the Patriots ran the clock out. 

During his Monday comments, Vrabel jokingly referred to the potential controversy as "Clapgate." According to Josh Kendall of The Athletic, Morris said on Monday that he wasn't trying to spark a "Snapgate" storyline.

Falcons will learn from "Clapgate"/"Snapgate"

"We can’t snap the ball early no matter what anybody does," Morris added on Monday. "It’s gotta be more about us. That was just me being angry yesterday. Someone asked me what happened. I was just being honest with you guys."

The Falcons will look to get every snap right when they face the Indianapolis Colts (7-2) in Berlin this coming Sunday. As of Tuesday morning, ESPN BET had Atlanta as a 5.5-point underdog for that matchup.