Falcons’ Raheem Morris Sparks ‘ClapGate’ with Accusation Against Mike Vrabel’s Patriots

Raheem Morris and Mike Vrabel were caught up in a controversy when the former seemingly accused the Patriots of 'cheating.'

Falcons’ Raheem Morris Sparks ‘ClapGate’ with Accusation Against Mike Vrabel’s Patriots

Raheem Morris and Mike Vrabel (Image via ML Football/Taylor Kyles/X)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Ever since Raheem Morris has taken over the Atlanta Falcons, the franchise has seen a resurgence. That turnaround, however, is not as fast as what Mike Vrabel has managed with the New England Patriots.

Usually, when a coach with a proven track record comes in and helps turn a franchise’s fortunes around, they are lauded for their achievement. However, when the organization sees its name etched in NFL folklore as a regular ‘cheater’, it is generally hard to shake it off.

Memories of ‘deflategate’ and ‘spygate’ are still fresh on the minds of football fans. Those happen to be the few black marks on the legacy of the great Tom Brady and former Pats head coach Bill Belichick.

It so happens that current Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel was also around when his team was part of these shenanigans. Maybe that is what prompted Raheem Morris to say this after their Week 9 loss.

They did a nice job, they simulated a snap. The ball came early, we snapped early. That was when we got the intentional grounding… Got us to snap the ball, and that’s why the ball was snapped early, and we weren’t ready for the snap.

Raheem Morris told reporters

The play the Falcons’ head coach was referring to happened late in the 4th quarter. As the away team was waiting for QB Michael Penix to finish his goal-line adjustments, his center snapped the ball.

The QB was caught by surprise. Then, as the Patriots swarmed him, he intentionally grounded the football. Morris believes the claps heard before the snap confused the center, who ended up snapping early.

Mike Vrabel dismisses ‘ClapGate’ allegations

As soon as this clip from the press conference went live, it gave birth to the term, ‘ClapGate.’ When it was Mike Vrabel’s turn to speak with reporters after their 6th straight win, they asked him about it.

Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye
Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye (Image via Patriots Wire/X)

I’m tryna not waste any more time looking for anybody clapping. I don’t see anything.

Mike Vrabel replied

Then, a couple of reporters pointed out that free safety Jaylinn Hawkins was caught on camera clapping just before the snap. To this, the 50-year-old replied:

I don’t think that was anybody’s intent, and I don’t think we’ve ever coached that or talked about that. I can’t spend that much time focused on it. Did look at it briefly, certainly didn’t think that was anything, that we did that.

The Patriots’ head coach did not believe that his player clapping had anything to do with the Falcons snapping the ball earlier than they wanted to. But he was happy that his players responded to the snap and jumped off the line as quickly as they could.

Raheem Morris clears the air on Mike Vrabel and Patriots’ ‘ClapGate’

Over the course of the past several hours, a lot of discussions have been held about ClapGate, and how, on one hand, the New England Patriots seemingly find their way into scandals.

Then, on the other hand, many were quick to label the Atlanta Falcons as being amateur in using clapping as a way to signal a snap. When Raheem Morris took to his team’s media booth, the first thing he addressed was this controversy.

This was our players telling us that they simulated a snap out there. They heard something… Again, this was no attempt that those guys did anything wrong. It was snapped early for our fault. It’s on us… That was just me being angry yesterday… I was just being honest about what the guys told me.

Raheem Morris said

The 49-year-old clarified that he does not want this to blow up into a cheating scandal. He was not implying that the Patriots intentionally clapped to confuse his players. Rather, it was their mistake that they could not keep their focus in their loss.

Also Read: