Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta was the site of two close football games this weekend, and a field goal attempt in the final seconds of the game made the difference in both.
In the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Saturday night, Ohio State University kicker Noah Ruggles hooked a game-winning field goal attempt wide left as the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Day, allowing the Georgia Bulldogs to squeak by with a victory and a trip to the national championship game.
On Sunday, Atlanta Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo kicked a last-second field goal to give the Falcons the win over the Arizona Cardinals.
.@YounghoeKoo for the win! #DirtyBirds pic.twitter.com/0dOgr6YFBD
— NFL (@NFL) January 1, 2023
The Falcons posted a tweet celebrating the win that the team later deleted.
Yeah, it’s pretty tacky.
Now, Ruggles’ missed field goal made me giddy as a University of Georgia alumnus and a lifelong Bulldogs fan, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad for the kid. I certainly wouldn’t make fun of him, but that didn’t stop the Falcons.
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But there’s also a little bit of what the fact-checkers refer to as “missing context.” First of all, Ruggles attempted a 50-yard field goal, while Koo’s kick was only 21 yards. Needless to say, Ruggles was attempting something much more difficult than what Koo accomplished.
And then there’s the matter of the bragging involved in the now-deleted tweet. Ruggles was attempting to punch the Buckeyes’ ticket to the National Championship game in a tight game against the number-one team in the country. Ohio State was a one-loss team battling an undefeated team.
On the other hand, the Falcons clinched only their sixth win with Koo’s game-winner, defeating a team with only four wins. All of this amounted to what ESPN’s Marty Smith termed a “weird flex.”
Super weird flex to throw shade on a broken-hearted college kid—using a 21-yard FG to beat a 4-win team to move to 6 wins, no less, as fodder. https://t.co/SOcOpC8YN5
— Marty Smith (@MartySmithESPN) January 2, 2023
Other Twitter users referred to the tweet as “bad form” and “truly disgusting,” while one user said that the team “sunk lower” as a result of the post. Former Atlanta sports radio personality John Kincade said that the tweet revealed systemic problems in the Falcons organization.
The Falcons have had severe disconnects as an organization for a long time now. It comes from the very top.
— John Kincade (@JohnKincade) January 2, 2023
The backlash led the Falcons to delete the tweet, which was probably the best thing to do all the way around. It’s not a good idea to dance on a moment that a young college kicker probably wants to forget for the rest of his life.
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