After suffering a crushing 24-23 loss on the road to the New England Patriots, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and coach Raheem Morris expressed frustration with what they thought was an apparent simulation of the team’s snap count by the Patriots’ defense on a crucial late-game play.

Penix looked sharp in his return from injury, and Atlanta had the ball in New England territory trailing by one with 2:09 remaining. On a second-down play, center Ryan Neuzil snapped the ball early, to the surprise of Penix and the rest of the offensive line. Penix was immediately under siege by the Patriots’ pass rush and threw in the direction of tight end Kyle Pitts but drew an intentional grounding penalty. The Falcons were later forced to punt, and that was their final drive of the game.

“They were clapping, simulating our snap,” Morris said. “That’s why the ball got snapped early and Mike wasn’t ready for the snap.”

The simulation of a snap count would have resulted in a 15-yard penalty if spotted by the officiating crew. Patriots defensive tackle Milton Williams denied that his squad used any sort of clapping to deceive the opposition.

“I ain’t hear no clap,” Williams said. “I’m looking at the ball. The ball moves, I’m gone.”

Penix was quick to point out that Neuzil thought he heard a clap from his quarterback, indicating that he wanted the ball to be snapped.

“Supposedly they were clapping, and when I’m clapping that means I want the ball,” Penix said. “(Neuzil) said he heard them clap, and he thought it was my clap and I wanted the ball.”

Neuzil said, “My head was down, thought I heard it, it was just unfortunate.”

Now 3-5, the Falcons face the 7-2 Indianapolis Colts in Berlin on Sunday.

Penix unable to avoid intentional grounding

The television replay didn’t appear to show any members of the Patriots’ defensive front seven clapping, but the sound could have come from a person off screen. Penix said he thought he could avoid an intentional grounding penalty throwing the ball toward where Pitts was aligned, but Pitts had already released on his route.

“I thought I was going to be OK on the grounding part but obviously that wasn’t the case,” Penix said.

It’s the second time this season he has been flagged for a costly intentional grounding. He also was flagged on the final play of the first half against San Francisco. That resulted in a 10-second clock runoff that prevented the Falcons from attempting a field goal. — Josh Kendall, Falcons beat writer