In 2013 and 2014, the Falcons used artificial crowd noise at the Georgia Dome; owner Arthur Blank essentially admitted it earlier this month. So now the question become what the penalty will be.
Appearing on Thursday’s edition of PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio, Falcons G.M. Thomas Dimitroff said that the team expects to learn its fate soon.
While he declined to divulge details regarding whether it was the result of a rogue employee or a collaboration, Dimitroff reiterated that the situation did not occur at the behest or with knowledge of football operations. It’s a stadium operations issue, and that’s not something the G.M. or coach handle.
But the G.M. and coach may have to deal with the consequences, especially if the team loses one or more draft picks because of the situation. Don’t be shocked if it’s a significant penalty; fake crowd noise directly interferes with the ability of the opponent to run its offense. As cheating goes, that’s a fairly blatant violation, and a pretty big deal.