I'm sure the last thing Atlanta Falcons coaches wanted to do was walk through a group of New England fans celebrating their team's historic comeback — or put another way, their opponent's historic collapse.
But that's what happened.
An elevator snafu resulted in Falcons' coaches, including defensive coordinator Richard Smith and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, being stuck outside of their coaching box, according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
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As the AJC explained it, the elevators are normally held for coaches, media, or fans seated in luxury boxes. But the elevators were on other floors, so after about five minutes, the coaches took the stairs. They found themselves on the NRG Stadium plaza level in the midst of New England fans celebrating their win. The AJC continued:
The group waded their way through the crowd for about 50 yards, then somebody shouted for them to hook back because an elevator would pick them up from that floor. So they all walked to the elevators and waited. It was another several minutes before an elevator came, but not before all had vented to stadium employees and Shanahan let out some expletives. Shanahan eventually walked away to lean against a wall and cool off. In total, it was at least 20 minutes from the time the coaches waited for their first elevator before they reached the ground floor.
It stands to reason that Shanahan, especially, would be in a bad mood. His offense blew it at the end, and there are reports that quarterback Matt Ryan wasn't happy with the play calling at the end of the game.
