Falcons’ Arthur Smith left dumbfounded after officials’ spot of ball on ‘TNF’: ‘Are you f—ing kidding me?’

In 1978, the NFL changed the penalty for blocking fouls from 15 yards to 10 yards, meaning that offensive holding, for the most part, always comes with a 10-yard walk-off. 

That is, unless you are a part of the officiating crew for the “Thursday Night Football” matchup between the Falcons and the Panthers.

Early in the third quarter, the officials incorrectly spotted the ball by 3 yards after a holding penalty called on Atlanta, leaving coach Arthur Smith and the Falcons’ sideline dumbfounded. (LANGUAGE WARNING IN THE TWEET BELOW.) 

The penalty occurred on a second-and-1 play from the Carolina 28. Atlanta running back Tyler Allgeier ran for 9 yards before he was pushed out of bounds, but tight end Parker Hasse was flagged for holding. 

That should have at least resulted in the Falcons moving back 10 yards from the previous line of scrimmage and replaying second down at the Carolina 38. But that didn’t happen. 

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The officials somehow spotted the ball at the Carolina 41, for a 13-yard penalty. That made it second-and-14 for Atlanta rather than second-and-11, or even second-and-shorter because the hold appeared to take place beyond the line of scrimmage. 

Smith was understandably irate and confused on the sidelines. You can pretty easily read his lips to make out the pleasant words he had for the officials. 

Ultimately, those 3 yards did make some difference. After a 5-yard completion to Drake London on the new second down, Atlanta QB Marcus Mariota was sacked on third-and-9 for 5 yards, pushing the Falcons back to the Carolina 41. 

At that point, Atlanta could have called on kicker Younghoe Koo to attempt a 59-yard field goal trailing 13-3. Spotting the ball 3 yards farther up on second down would have made it a 56-yard attempt.

The Falcons elected to punt instead of attempting the field goal, as heavy rain in Charlotte did not make for an ideal kicking environment. In fact, Koo missed two extra-point kicks in the game.