Falcons coach accuses Patriots of cheating: Breaking down what happened and Mike Vrabel’s response We might have another Patriots scandal on our hands By John Breech Nov 3, 2025 at 10:32 am ET • 3 min read Join the Conversation comments Imagn Images Atlanta Falcons coach Raheem Morris had some interesting things to say on Sunday after watching his team go down in a tight 24-23 loss to the New England Patriots. During his postgame press conference, Morris essentially accused the Patriots of cheating by implying that they illegally simulated the Falcons’ snap count on a key drive that came late in the fourth quarter of the game.
With 2:09 left to play, the Falcons were trailing 24-23 and sitting at New England’s 48-yard line. On a second-and-10 play, center Ryan Neuzil sent a snap back to Michael Penix Jr.
that the QB wasn’t ready for. The Patriots quickly rushed Penix and the QB didn’t want to take a sack, so he quickly got rid of the ball and he ended up getting called for intentional grounding, which is a 10-yard penalty with a loss of down.
So Atlanta’s second-and-10 turned into a third-and-20 from its own 42. According to Morris, the only reason the bad snap happened is because the Patriots confused his center by simulating Atlanta’s snap count.
“They did a nice job, they simulated a snap,” Morris said. “The ball came early, it was snapped early.
Within that snap, that was when we got the intentional grounding.” Simulating a snap is illegal in the NFL and it’s a strong accusation, so Morris was asked to clarify that he was in fact accusing the Patriots of doing that. “They were clapping.
Simulated our snap, got us to snap the ball,” Morris said. “That’s why the ball was snapped early to [Penix], and he wasn’t ready for the snap.”If a defense is caught simulating a snap count, that’s known as a “disconcerting signal” and it’s illegal under NFL rules.
If you get flagged for that in a game, it’s a 15-yard penalty. If a flag had been thrown, the Falcons would have gotten a first-and-10 at New England’s 33-yard line.
So did the clapping actually happen? You can judge for yourself by checking out a video of the play below.
Here is the play that they are claiming that they are clapping. I don’t see a single player doing it.
If there was clapping it wasn’t visible here.Pressure was on Penix immediately because Gwynn was watching for the signal from Penix https://t.co/tpn58UhyPe pic.twitter.com/dYx5X4tYdR— BroTalk (@BKsquared7) November 2, 2025 Here are the two biggest takeaways from the replay: The nine Patriots defenders closest to the line of scrimmage definitely did NOT clap. If there was a clap, it came from Patriots safety Jaylinn Hawkins.
Starting at the five-second mark, it appears that he’s looking at the Patriots’ sideline trying to get someone’s attention. It’s hard to tell if he actually clapped his hands, but Neuzil did snap the ball just as Hawkins stopped moving his hands.
Falcons reactionPenix was asked about the clapping after the game and although he couldn’t say with 100% certainty that it actually happened, he did say that Neuzil definitely heard clapping. “Supposedly they were clapping,” Penix said.
“For us, whenever I’m clapping, that means I want the ball. I knew [Neuzil] said he heard them clapping, and he thought it was my clap, and he snapped the ball.
I threw the ball in [Kyle Pitts’] direction. He had just released on a route.
I thought I was going to be okay with the grounding part. Obviously that wasn’t the case.” So Neuzil definitely heard someone clapping, but he didn’t know exactly where the clapping was coming from.
Patriots deny all wrongdoingIf Neuzil heard some clapping, you’d think someone else on the field would have heard it, but that’s not the case on New England’s side. Patriots defensive tackle Milton Williams doesn’t believe that anyone on his team was clapping.
“Who was clapping? Did it look like I was clapping?” Williams said, via MassLive.com.
“I’m going to go watch and see who was clapping. I didn’t hear no clapping.
I’m looking at the ball. The ball moves, I’m gone.” If it was Hawkins — and that’s a big if — he was lined up 12 to 13 yards off the line of scrimmage so it seems like a few other people would have heard his claps if Neuzil did.
During an interview on Monday with “The Greg Hill Show” on WEEI in Boston, Patriots coach Mike Vrabel denied that any clapping took place. “I didn’t see anything, is that fake?
I don’t know,” Vrabel said before he started to clap himself. “I didn’t see anybody doing that.”Vrabel was aware that the Falcons were using a clap as their snap signal, but he insisted that none of his players tried to simulate it at any point.
“I didn’t see anybody do that, it’s Clapgate,” Vrabel said. With Morris making public accusations against the Patriots, the NFL will likely be looking into this and it will be very interesting to see what the league finds.
Source: CBS Sports
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